[AudioThief]

Getting used to sound sounds somewhat delusional tbph. Glad you kinda got rid of it.

On the plus side, no where to go but uppppppp.

I definitely don't agree with this. i was underwhelmed by my TH900s first couple of days, but then I took a complete 180 and been in love ever since.

 

[xeriminox]

My biggest disappointment was the MrSpeakers Alpha Prime. After reading so many wonderful reviews I was eager to give them a try. I don't know if I got a dud or what, but a more boring, lifeless headphone I've yet to experience. Fortunately, MrSpeakers exchanged them toward an Ether C1.1 which I had for over a year and like quite well. It was the headphone I imagined the Prime to be in my mind's eye from what I'd been reading.

 

[thatonenoob]

I definitely don't agree with this. i was underwhelmed by my TH900s first couple of days, but then I took a complete 180 and been in love ever since.

As a TH-900 owner*, I can see what you're coming from. But the problem is - the TH-900 isn't a bad headphone. If you're forcing yourself to get accustomed to a headphone that may be widely regarded as being bad (and I'm not sure the flare audio is, as I've never heard that), then that's an issue. TH-900 has many redeeming qualities - soundstage, air, bass, detail retrieval, etc. It's a great tradeoff for its known weaknesses in my opinion.

An analogy, if you will. Forcing yourself to get used to a bad sound is like driving at 20 mph and convincing yourself that that's a "fast speed".

 

[AudioThief]

As a TH-900 owner*, I can see what you're coming from. But the problem is - the TH-900 isn't a bad headphone. If you're forcing yourself to get accustomed to a headphone that may be widely regarded as being bad (and I'm not sure the flare audio is, as I've never heard that), then that's an issue. TH-900 has many redeeming qualities - soundstage, air, bass, detail retrieval, etc. It's a great tradeoff for its known weaknesses in my opinion.

An analogy, if you will. Forcing yourself to get used to a bad sound is like driving at 20 mph and convincing yourself that that's a "fast speed".

I agree that you could get used to something bad and that wouldn't be advisable. I just wanted to underline that, well, first impressions doesn't mean something is bad!

 

[thatonenoob]

I agree that you could get used to something bad and that wouldn't be advisable. I just wanted to underline that, well, first impressions doesn't mean something is bad!

Gotcha. I do agree, extended listening/ auditioning is a good idea for most competitive earphones/headphones. Especially if that first impression is from a show floor. Cheers!

 

[TWerk]

Personally, i need to hear something at home for awhile to see if it agrees with me. Even with a 30 minute listen, it would give me a feel maybe, but I need a lot of time with it through lots of music to see if there are issues. Especially fatiguing treble can be an issue you don't notice in a short demo. Once when I have it on for 3 hours, day after day, through my favorite songs (that I have a good ear for) can I really make up my mind. Even then, it could takes months of listening to make a final decision!

But usually, with an initial listen you can rule out major issues, like the sound signature not at all being your taste. But then again, like audiotheif said, this can change too...

 

[Jmask5]

Pretty much everything for me is a disappointment. When I went from my 5 dolar headphone to a $1000 at the time the change was very drastic. Anything i lstend to since then has been well meh. Except for HE-1 that was amazing.

 

[TWerk]

Pretty much everything? Haha. Now that's an honest head-fier!

What are some of these headphones you heard that disappointed you?

 

[Hutnicks]

I agree that you could get used to something bad and that wouldn't be advisable. I just wanted to underline that, well, first impressions doesn't mean something is bad!

As a TH-900 owner*, I can see what you're coming from. But the problem is - the TH-900 isn't a bad headphone. If you're forcing yourself to get accustomed to a headphone that may be widely regarded as being bad (and I'm not sure the flare audio is, as I've never heard that), then that's an issue. TH-900 has many redeeming qualities - soundstage, air, bass, detail retrieval, etc. It's a great tradeoff for its known weaknesses in my opinion.

An analogy, if you will. Forcing yourself to get used to a bad sound is like driving at 20 mph and convincing yourself that that's a "fast speed".

More like driving a car that only does 20mph and convincing yourself a Konigsegg cannot be any better

 

[MaceHane2]

With going a bit mad over the past year - over 20 pairs of 'phones, I really have been fortunate as all I can say is kinda the Focal Spirit Classic - not because it's disappointing per se, but because I so, so much prefer the Focal Spirit Pro! But the Classic is lots of fun as an out 'n about 'phone.
But yeah, so glad I auditioned the Elear as I happen to have been using my T5p2 that day as my mobile 'phone, and the Elear was so inferior to it in all departments that I was shocked. I know, one is open one is closed, but I felt that the tonal signature was similar - it's just that the T5p's were so much better I thought I must be losing it!
But no, £800!! As was said above re post-HD800 .... I too really feel that all this rush of super-expensive headphones are companies taking the proverbial, and unfortunately folks ARE happy to carry on paying. Got a P9 for £500 and I love them. Got a EL-8 for £340 new and I love it ......

Edit: completely forgot to add, as I owned it for a meter of days! The Hifiman Edition X. All I will say is that I heard very little improvement over my HE400s with ZMF Ori pads. If anything I actually liked the 400s sound more. I couldn't believe it but I trusted my ears. Plus, I found the build quality atrocious for over a grand. Back they went.

 

[Slaphead]

Pretty much everything? Haha. Now that's an honest head-fier!

What are some of these headphones you heard that disappointed you?

Well, I guess once you've made the jump from $5 to $1000 headphones you're never going to get that "OMG WOW" feeling again. Once you're at that level the best you can hope for is finding a "flavour" that suits you better. Hence, I guess, the disappointment.

 

[kman1211]

My biggest disappointment has to be how a closed fairly cheap vintage Beyer that I am in the process of slowly modding pretty much ruined almost everything else for me, it sounds so much better than anything I've owned. It made me disappointed in a different way, in that in how much money I wasted in this hobby when a modded DT 480 can simply outpace everything else I have owned. I use the Amiron Home as a more soft-sounding, relaxing, more comfortable, and open compliment but won't hesitate to say the DT 480 is better.

In terms of what headphone disappointed me the most, it would have to be the Sennheiser HD 555, it was so grainy and dull sounding, no soul to it's sound, it was my first open-back headphone and first headphone I did research on and honestly put me off of Sennheiser early on and made me wait much longer than I should before trying the HD 600/650 which I liked a lot.

 

[Maru10]

In terms of what headphone disappointed me the most, it would have to be the Sennheiser HD 555, it was so grainy and dull sounding, no soul to it's sound, it was my first open-back headphone and first headphone I did research on and honestly put me off of Sennheiser early on and made me wait much longer than I should before trying the HD 600/650 which I liked a lot.

Second that. I was so let down by Senn555 that I've never went around to try anything else from sennheiser. My next step was Beyer dt880 and I have never looked back.

 

[FastAndClean]

my biggest disappointment is similar with kman1211
AKG K4, 33 years old small dynamic driver electret driver hybrid, in stock form was awful, dull and muddy, the driver's was overdamped with foam
when i modded them, the sound become super smooth, clean and fast, very hight level of details without sounding bright
that made me realize that i spend a lot of money and time with other headphones that was not as good like 20 dollars K4

 

[ruthieandjohn]

NAD hp50. Much hype about their conformance to the Sean Olive curve, their room-like feel technology, and their presence on a Wall of Fame. Completely BORRRING.