[Asr]

The IMAGE is very easy to plug in and unplug, a lot more than the CK7 that I previously owned. The eartips fit snugly into the earcanal yet easily pull out. It takes only a few seconds to seal them in when inserting. I haven't worn these for more than a few hours yet, I'll get around to trying that eventually.

For the record I haven't been documenting sonic differences as burn-in progresses, I'm really not interested in doing so. My take on burn-in is that if something changes I should be able to notice it without taking notes, and I shouldn't have to stop it in intervals either. I prefer setting unattended burn-in for a day at a time, or longer.

Currently these have a very good frequency balance. It's not tipsy towards the treble at all. I'd say its focal point is on the lower mids. It delivers a clean enough sound that's not metallic or harsh and is much more in line with an integrated, musical presentation. Overall I'm not sure which full-size headphone offers a similar sound. It'd be closest to probably the AD2000 except without the mid-range coloration and less speed.

And the bass is still really nice on them. Of all the headphones I've heard, this one "thunks" probably the best. The kick drum on Massive Attack's "Teardrop" has a nice weight to it. However its lack of speed is a noticeable detriment on that track and there's a textural problem on the kick drum (as in, you can't really tell it's a kick drum with these, I only know having heard this track on the DT880 and AD2000).

Decay is really fast on them, highly noticeable with the belly drums on Massive Attack's "Inertia Creeps."

Finally, listening to Mezzanine has allowed me to formally test bass extension. In a word: oops. These drastically peter out after 40 Hz. I'll have to do formal listening later to find out where it finally goes completely inaudible.