[stefancolson]

Ultrasone Proline 2500. They sounded like someone took a BROKEN pair of the cheapest headphone Grado makes, fed them so much signal that they were or the verge of blowing up, then shoved them down my throat and started punching me in the face. The fact that they cost more than $300 was an extra little kick in the balls to boot. Hands down the worst sounding piece of audio gear I've ever heard. Period. Complete garbage. Show me a man (or woman) that likes his Ultrasone Proline 2500s, and I'll show you a man who has ears made of lead.

 

[vagarach]

Shure E3C. I bought them for $250 CDN (i.e. full canadian retail) and they sounded only very slightly better than my HD497's, but lacked a full, smooth sound, even though IMO they produced enough bass, it was just that what bass there was ended up sounding rather distant and subdued. So the price/performance ratio is insanely out of proportion.

The whole experience left me disappointed in high-end earbuds. To get good sound you *really* need to spend some bucks. But thanks to Futureshop's highly liberal return policy and "IEM? huh? whats that?" sales staff, I got my money back and bought some HD555's instead, which are totally worth the asking price.

 

[boss]

UE Super.fi 5 Pro: I bought these because I was interested in getting an introduction to the world of IEMs, and because I got a good deal. They didn't impress me out of the box, so I gave them a week to burn in. So, after a week of burn in and a week of listening, I plugged in my old faithful, the HD497, and found I greatly preferred them to the UEs. The forward, aggressive sound terribly fatigued my ears after an hour. Bass was there, but it was more of a detached *thump thump* bass that did not meld well with the midrange. Mids were acceptable. Highs were harsh. Actually, "harsh" would be a good way of describing their entire sound signature. I often felt as though I was simply listening to sound rather than listening to music while wearing these.

My complaints aren't limited to the sound: I knew from members' warnings that they protruded a bit more from the ear than the average IEM, but I had no idea that they stuck so far out that wearing a winter hat with them was painful. Also, I was expecting good isolation, but the isolation was about equal to the average pair of closed cans (yes, even with the foamies).

A very disappointing impulse purchase.

 

[Connectz]

Please please please, stay away from the BOSE QC2's. They sound very very very, VERY bad for the price. My KSC75's sound better.

I knew better than to buy anything made my BOSE but I just bought them anyway. I even felt a pang of stupidity as I walked out the store. It wasn't even 8 hours gone by when I decided to return them. Thats when I got on the net to do some research and found this cool place.

Now I can't wait for my DT 880's to get here!

 

[y0da]

HD515- for the money i paid this was a horrible choice and a good example of my tendancy to impulse buy...i wish i would of saved the money and got something higher up the grado chain and then tried out another less expensive seinn can

Super.Fi.3 these sound ok but they made me realize that IEM's are not really my thing

I can't wear them more then an hour at a time and my KSC-75's sound just as good to me

 

[Pace]

The HD212Pro...

I had a a rather bass-heavy speakersetup at the time, so I thought that I'd purchase a bass-heavy headphones so that my ears wouldn't have to adjust them between headphone and speakerlistening... only thing I wasn't expecting was the fact that the cans were way too bass-heavy. Well, sold them to a friend and he's been very happy with 'em.

 

[cheechoz]

For me, it was the ATH-A900. I was reading so much on the forums of how good a set of cans it was, so I finally decided to get one! Turned out to be a sound I just couldn't deal with! This was the biggest shocker out of all the cans I ever heard!

 

[stewtheking]

Every so often I regret my RS-1, and think about selling it to fund even more of my audio journey. Then I listen to them again, and those stupid foolish thoughts disappear.

 

[milkpowder]

Surprisingly, my HD414 padded PX100. I sold it for a mere $35 altogether and have regreted it since! They are just so good.

EDIT: Oh my gosh I am so careless....

 

[CousCous]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheechoz For me, it was the ATH-A900. I was reading so much on the forums of how good a set of cans it was, so I finally decided to get one! Turned out to be a sound I just couldn't deal with! This was the biggest shocker out of all the cans I ever heard!

Mind describing why you didn't like them in a bit more detail? Been thinking about getting the A900's, since I want a decent sound without an amp.

 

[nsjong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkpowder Surprisingly, my HD414 padded PX100. I sold it for a mere $35 altogether and have regreted it since! They are just so good.

LOL. This is the buyers remorse thread. Not the seller's.

 

[PeeeMeS]

UE-10, when I look back
Totally not worth the $

Add the fact that mine broke

Will have to spend more $ to get them fixed

 

[photek]

the sennheiser hd-515 (still have them)
Panasonic Traditional Headphones (RP-HT355) (returned them)

 

[deez]

my regrets for phones purchases so far were sony MDR-v900s, which i got to try to better the MDR-7506 sound. though more expensive, they in fact were less controlled, especially in the bass ranges where they had an unacceptable midbass mud.

and

the sennheiser hd-280 pros. they sounded great except for the fact that it seemed i was listening to a "veiled" version of superb sound. i burned them in for >50hrs and still felt i was being starved of the full music experience by the dreaded sennheiser veil. these were a less regretful purchase though, as it opened my eyes to the remarkable clarity and sound reproduction i had forgotten sennheisers acheive. as a result of this regretted purchase, i determined that the senn sound was for me, but in open form instead. now i just hope the 580s don't give me a veil when i mate them with a dedicated amp and replace the foam with stocking-type material

in retrospect, if i had burned in the 280s for 200+ hours i may have been perfectly happy, as it seems many feel they need an especially long burn-in period. however, the new 7506s i got to replace my old broken ones are once again providing me with what i would call the best closed can for critical monitoring / performance situations.

 

[JMcMasterJ]

UE-10 pro. I like them, but they were too expensive. I am regretting the investment because I can't sell them.