I've been doing a bit of reading up on the Xiphos (cool shape - actually looks comfortable to sit with) and the pickups look very interesting, d'Activator passives with active tonal attributes. The main problems I see with this guitar are 1) the Edge III tremelo - it's one of the lowest quality on Ibanez guitars and is notorious for going out of tune and 2) although the neck is a through fit (which is a good thing) it is painted which ruins it for me. My feeling is that if this model takes off you could see a 7 string model next year pimped up with a 25.5 scale 3 piece wizard neck and Lo-Pro tremelo (As per the Jem and Prestige models). That would be a killer axe for metal.