I had the same issue with my old sony headphones. I dont have the issue with my shure set.

I was going to upgrade my e3's with e4's, but I went with the superfi 5pro's instead. I could not be happier. They are excellent for the ipods crappy eq. They are a little bigger than the e3's but the 5 pro's make up for it in huge sound. The difference was like night & day.

Im looking to replace my e3's & move to something that will have better bass response & treble that is musically pleasing, not overly harsh. I find the E3s to cause some ear fatigue when I listen for long periods. Im sure if the ipod came with a graphic EQ or allowed EQ presets from iTunes to...