Other than a few notable exceptions, the closed back market is almost exclusively geared for work/portable (read: kid) use. The guy at work isn't exactly concerned with ultimate sound quality, because he's working. The kid with his MP3s and Youtube rips could's tell good sound if it bit him in the ass. What's the point, when neither of these two groups, aggregately, aren't willing or unable to utilize a higher performance envelope. The serious audio market wants open-back. Same reason we see complaints about long cords. The headphones in question were meant for home use, for a listener who knows why he's spending the money and is not planning on sitting behind a desk, not child barely old enough to get a driver's licence who wants to wear his $1500 cans outside as a status symbol.