Headphones you regretted buying the most - Page 5

Denon D2000. I was blindsided by three things:

1. Harsh treble
2. Recessed mids without careful source/amp matching
3. Earcup pivot screw falling off by itself

Koss Pro-4AA; My first foray into full sized headphones before I had stumbled upon head-fi. Heaviest object I've worn on my head, and the sound was quite distasteful. (veiled and no soundstage to speak of.)

Probably the Shure SRH840. I mean, I got it for a good price, but it's the only headphone I got where it wasn't so much as upgrading, more going sideways. It is great for trips as it's easy to drive and built like a tank, but I really don't use them much.

The reason why I'm keeping them at the moment is just to have a closed can around and for the trips I'll make during the summer. It's a shame that there are so few good, efficient and durable closed headphones around!

shure 840

The phone on my head right this minute K701 they are harsh - no bass ....wait... what was that .... the bass just kicked in - wow - smoothness - extension - crystaline! Oh, I see: it just passed the 300 hour mark. WOW, they took EXACTLY 300 hours to burn in.

HD 595 - bought after reading the headroom review that some prefer them over 650. I thought they would make a good compliment to my 650. Yes I did prefer them over my 650 and now I dont.

The HD 595 should only be used if you are a hard core gamer, for this type of soundstage, you'd have to pay much more. So for gaming and light musical listening, it's a steal.

The sound quality is near identical to the Hd 485, that sells new for like 70$.

Yeah lots of 595 listed - but in all fairness they are a good headphone, very versatile indeed.

long time ago.... the grado SR-80, unnatural sound, uncomfortable and cheap construction.... what was I thinking????

Oh without a dout they are great. Incredibly comfy, sexy, awesome soundstage. I think people list it because they made the mistake of buying it thinking it was a good musical listening headphone when it really isn't. It's soundstage for gaming and classical through a great amp is where it shines.
But overall its a great headphone, just not in terms of sound quality.

I'll tell you what though, when I used it with Call of Duty Modern warfare 2 in recent times, I never had people sneak up on me and knife me to death as often as without using them. Can easily pick up the minute pitter patter of feet very far away Lots of people called me cheater because I heard them coming a mile away hehe, but i would just type "nah, its my headphones, they are awesome, I can literally hear your heartbeat in the game :P

Koss "The Plug." RatShack put them on sale for roughly $10. Absolutely the worst phones I have ever heard. Worse than iBuds. NOT worth ten bucks.

How can a company that makes the blessed PortaPros and the KSC75s sell such garbage?

AKG k702 w moon audio black dragon cable

-because I got it when I only had funds for a portable amp, which lead me to 4-5 months of "I wanna sell this cans away.. it sounded terrible..."
-because it is harder to mod to balanced compared to a k701

should have gotten the k701 in the first place and not gone through all the hassle

enjoyed both fyi

Soundmagic PL50 - did nothing for me.

Sorry, but I have to challenge this post, as much of it as I understand. How can a headphone be "great, just not in terms of sound quality". I thought that was what a headphone was for. Personally I consider the 595 a brilliant phone (I listen to classical/orchestral) and really don't know what a lot of the posters here are on about. Which brings me to the topic of this thread:

I regret buying every headphone that doesn't have Sennheiser printed on it. I've been through just about every phone recommended on this forum, from Grado SR80 through Beyer DT880 and Denon D2000 to AT AD700/900 and AKG 702, and found them all coloured and over-bright. The only phones I can listen to are the Senn 595 and 650. The 595 in particular is a bargain at its price (except that the 555 can be modified to replicate it). It's hard to think of another phone that imposes so little of its own character on the music (even the 650 has a "dark" signature). I can only think that those posters here who list the 595 are looking for something that adds to the music, makes it more exciting. The 595 is as close in balance and tone to the sound of live music in a concert hall as I could hope to find in any phone near its price.

So there.

Sony EX700LP. The only good thing about the purchase was getting the full set of sony hybrids. That's about it. It is an awful IEM and sounds terrible because of its harshness in the treble.

This thread highlights how different peoples tastes and opinions are.

Several posts for Shure 840's as regrettable choice; I love mine.
Posts both for, and against MS1's. I regret ever buying mine.
Other regrets: Shure e2c (muddy bass), JVC Air Cushion (or whatever they are called-terrible)