36 AWG sounds like the engineering problem I ran into with my current Corsair® HS-1A's; I lost sound on one speaker, almost certainly due to an overstressed cable. Would all headphone manufacturers used 18 AWG for over-the-ears like Heil®, who build serious headsets for radio station use, with five different microphones available in their Pro-Set line. The Media Pro uses an electret mic; all other models use 600Ω dynamic mics.)

Do you seriously think a company like sennheiser would make a flagship headphone and then "bottleneck" it with a cable? Ridiculous.