Because lots of DAPs have either
a) acoustic characteristics that are absolutely not acceptable in this day and age (i.E. more than 1 ohm output impedance, output power barely above that of a phone, a SINAD value that barely reaches the triple digits etc.) or
b) a maddeningly slow SoC (if I just...
I have a pre-2021 version of those, and vastly prefer their out-of-the-box sound over that of all my other headphones (Ether CX, HD660S, DT 177X GO). The weight is actually a boon for me, because I'm autistic, and they are like the headphone equivalent of a weighted blanket for me.
@Dan Clark
Kind of off-topic, but are you planning on giving the Ether 2 a closed-back sibling? Also, I may or may not have squealed like a high school girl upon seeing the MrSpeakers in this forum