i don't understand the meaning of the world "audiophilia", at least in this context. maybe i can't use the dictionary as well as you do.
however, it was ectactly my point.
i am not the one who got lost in the hobby. hifi is the place in which i found the most screweed up people, and i also like shooting!! and that should mean something.
If you think abouti it, from a logical pov, there in nothing logic about PRE ORDING things. you do that , why? because you trust... what?? that the new model will be better? different enough to justify keeping it along the older model?
let's pretend for a bit i am not the one who got lost but the one who found himself, just for a bit....
in 2025 there are still people that "believe" that a power chord should costs 400something. or that a copper cable is capable to smooth the frequency range!! ahaahahah and i would be the lost one?

))))
i was just saying (you are right i am not in the right place), that zmf rise in the market is not justified by great projects became reality but by other factors.
since thx to some brands, in the 1k-2k market there is very little worth considering, because yes, there is a "right" way of listening to music (i am talking about ... HIGH FIDELITY!!), I have to stick to what i can afford. thank god i managed to lay my hands on an ex demo pair of stealth and always like i said before, i have to search cheaper options that allow me to get at least 70/80 of what stealth is capable to do if well driven. considering that technology should get better costing less, if zmf, or audeze or i don't give a f. who will do it, since i am not a fan boy of anything, i am not part of a cult, i won't pre order something because i TRUST the brand. it doesn't make sense.
what freaks me out is if someone would build the perfect headphone, the real hi fidelity king, people will always continuing buying stuff because he doesn't want to listen to what an artist did in a production study, but to "nuances" of the same music that he play ever and ever and ever every time he buy a pair of new hp.
and a/b the two. from an external pov seeing a man who does that is something that is quite horrific (told by the people who saw me years ago, listening to the same 20 tracks, that even depeche mode would like to stop me from listening to them if they knew WHY i am literally using their music.. to test a cheap of chinese driver, finallly some dynamat, implemented in a wooden cup with a grill designed by a 70yo lady)