I agree with some of your points (and have also forced friends to do double blind tests on their shiny new toys), but the problem is the price point. I'm not an audiophile either, but for $200, it better justify itself. To me, $200 is really expensive for headphones. And from the zillions of comments and reviews I've seen, you can get the same quality from a competitor for $50. It's borderline a Monster Cable scenario.