[onebandonesound]

I was listening to my S4's a couple days ago, and I thought "wow, these don't really sound that much better than my old sennheiser cx150s (this were my pre-head-fi days)." I also thought this when I got the s4's, but I contributed that to my ears not being used to them. so I go and dig up the cx150s, and...they sound horrible. absolutely terrible. horrendous fit, shallow insertion, muddy bass, and overall just junk. then I go and listen to my s4's and realize how good they sound. everytime I've tried a new iem, I've constantly overestimated its difference from my last, until I do a comparison later. does this happen to anyone other than me, or am I just weird?

 

[ClieOS]

No, you are not weird, just that most human have extremely short term audio memory.

 

[DervishD]

With time, my short-term audio memory has improved, specially if I concentrate, but I don't have much audio memory, though. I suffer the same problem as you.
 
And I don't know anyone with really good short-term audio memory, except maybe an old acquantaince that has trained ears, and his memory only worked well when only one instrument was involved. Add a couple more and he couldn't indentify tones anymore. So, imagine with the entire sound signature of a phone...

 

[Volxstu]

I get short term audio memory with car audio. You can listen to somebody elses heap and think why doesnt mine sound like that. But earphones i tend to be able to remember quite accurately. This is rather annoying because there is always that sweet spot with IEM's that you can never seem to achieve again for more than a couple of seconds. 

 

[Region2]

This happens to me quite often.  There's a lot of headphones I'll pick up and feel underwhelmed by them and then I'll listen to something worse and immediately I'll appreciate them.  That is why I give extra points to certain headphones that show their worth from the start like SR007 or the LCD2 and the like.  The further I get down this path, the more I find that I am only really happy with more of the high end and the more my wallet cries.

 

[ProjectDenz]

Lol, I when I first got my SE530s I was very underwhelmed as the TF10 that I was used to brought out the flaws in the SE530. Then I listened to my TF10 again. I became even more underwhelmed as the SE530 brought out the flaws in the TF10.

Lesson: Don't get sets of iems that contrast each other's flaws, you will just feel like upgrading.