I found these brand new at a local thrift store brand new for $30! To me due to them being very colored to my ears, they're not worth that. Their sound signature just doesn't play well with my ears.
They do feel like the bass is a bit excessive. I think it seems worse than it is due to a severe lack of treble. These aren't as dark as the TMA-1, but maybe close. Some of my favorite tracks seem to sound a bit murky and almost congested. Total lack of sound clarity, but some other tracks are fine.
I was shocked at how fatiguing the mids are on this thing. It's not only the upper mids, but also the lower mids. I never had a headphone this fatiguing in the mids. This is also with many ruler flat sources and amps. Most of the time vocals felt as if the person was shouting in my ears.
To bring any sort of balance to this headphone I had to EQ down the lower/upper mids and crank up the treble a tad. Didn't need to touch the bass. At this point it now has a decent enough sound. I just can't believe these retail for $100! Wow! I should note that I love headphones with slightly forward mids. These actually make my DJ100 sounds like some sort of neutral studio monitor, which it's not.
Instead of these I would suggest the Koss UR-55, UR-22v, DJ100, Beyerdynamic DT-235 or even the KSC75. The PX100-II is also good when well amped. Even the XB500 sounds better when VERY well EQed. With that you crank up the treble and EQ down the bass.
It could be i'm sensitive to this forward of mids, but who knows.
NOTE: BTW I think this enclosure is just holding back the sound/driver perhaps. These actually seem to have surprising good sub-bass. It's even more present than my KRK KNS-8400. I bet the Uptown is far better. I bet the enclosure and pad design is what's hurting the treble.
10/5/12 UPDATE:
These are awesome now! 5/5 stars! Just kidding.
Since I hated these since day one I dismantled them and noticed 2 black tabs on each side of the driver. On the Inner Fidelity website, his pair has them removed.
Maybe mine has a manufacturing defect? I removed the tabs exposing the white fabric paper. Unfortunately it's near impossible to get them back together. Must require magic. It's impossible and took removing the "screen".
Now they sound decent. A little more treble, less shouty mids and more balanced bass. Is this a defect? Maybe Philips can tell me. Unlikely they hang out here. If ALL downtowns come with the black tabs in place than no wonder I hate them. It's super easy to remove them, but DON'T DO IT! Opening the headphone up ruins them mostly. I got lucky.
If the Uptown has decent treble and less forward mids I'd probably like it.