I'm in the same boat as grignr. Hadn't logged in for a while, since I had been happy with my setup for a while, and missed the HF-2 sale and B-stock sale. I'm not an "every day" Head-Fi lurker/poster. As I recall, I missed the HF-1 sale, too. At that time, in part because resale prices of the HF-1 were so utterly ridiculous, I ended up going a step up and consoling myself with a SR-325i... a very good choice on my part, I think.
So OF COURSE I'm personally happy that the HF-2 are back on the market. Clearly there's demand. I'm considering dropping the dough for them much more seriously than I would if I had to pay extra on the aftermarket. And furthermore, clearly it's still "limited" by any reasonable standard. I bought my 325i way back in Feb '06 as a demo/B-stock model, and it was ALREADY #2640 produced of the gold "i" variety. Considering there aren't even 1000 HF-2's yet, the actual impact of this new production run on the rarity of HF-2's is likely to be minimal.
I haven't read all of every thread relating to the HF-2 buildup and offer, but it does seem that misrepresentations, or at least misleading statements, were made to the members here concerning how many would be made, and when production would stop. It's especially sad that some people may have paid above new value for a used pair when more new pairs were going to be coming down the line.
That said, I have never thought it a good idea that any headphone be "limited edition" in the first place, especially one that already has a limited market to begin with by only being available to members of one particular internet forum. Why bother? It's just blood in the water that attracts speculators. It's an absurd situation when a Head-Fi-branded products are being sold from one Head-Fi member to another Head-Fi member on the FS/FT forums for double their original price, mere months after the initial sale. I think the HF-1 aftermath (and the HF-2 buildup) was a complete disaster for this community in that respect. If they're really GREAT sounding phones, then what's best for Head-Fi is that they continue to be offered to members---and not that they, by their nature, encourage members to scalp other members! Any "limited edition" features should properly be confined to cosmetics or other collateral things, and not to the sound of the cans themselves.
I actually see the "Head-F1" engraving as an attempt to discourage speculation of this kind---it was a cosmetic fault which is, in theory, hard to explain to potential secondary-market buyers outside the Head-Fi community. Far be it from me to indulge in conspiracy theories, though... of COURSE it was really just a mistake.
That said, the best remedy for all involved, as I see it, would have actually been to correct the spelling error on the new run of cans. That way the "limited edition" status of the first 500 would have been preserved through their now-rare cosmetic error. That should have headed off the complaints of the speculators/collectors, who would still have their "limited edition" phone.
