You mean the open-box section of their store.

I think this is good news; the old packaging was wasteful. Most people are either going to throw out the box or just store it to gather dust. Anyone that actually needs a hard case for transporting these headphones frequently (???) can buy one separately. It's kind of ridiculous for $200 plastic headphones to come in such an elaborate case that weighs significantly more than the headphones themselves, think of all the extra weight and cost and environmental impact moving all that around the world for what is essentially a marketing gimmick ("the unboxing experience") that most people don't care about. Fine, if you want to spend $2000 on a headphone, maybe you are entitled to such a gimmick but for these, better to modernize it and keep the price low.

By any chance, can you confirm that yours were made in Ireland?

You're comparing a closed-back headphone to an open-back. Is it possible you're just hearing the "reverb" sound of a closed environment? In other words, if you plug your ears, you will hear "white noise" that is simply the trapped sound waves bouncing around in your ears. I wonder if that's what you're hearing. Are you sure the noise is coming from the drivers?