I just wanted to post a correction to what I wrote on 25th September 2014: these headphones are NOT harsh, but they are revealing of sub-par audio sources.
I have always liked Apple and I was under the impression that they only used top quality components. I have now had to revise that opinion. The L2s do sound a little harsh at times when listened to via the headphone socket on my iPhone or iPad. But used with a Samsung Galaxy S4 this is not the case, the sound is smoother, richer and fuller than the sound from my iPhone 5 and no less clear. The iPhone has more treble 'edge', but it's noticeably 'thinner' and just doesn't sound as good as my S4. I have since read that Samsung use a high quality Wolfson DAC, whereas Apple just use a fairly standard Cirrus Logic audio chip. I only found this out after I had clearly heard the difference for myself and wanted to find out what each manufacturer was using.
I have to say its slightly dented my faith in Apple. I currently own both an iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S4 and I do not use my L2s with my iPhone any more, as the slightly edgy sound ends up annoying me, but I'm happy to listen to them with my S4.
+1 to Samsung, -1 to Apple.
I would like to stress again that I am absolutely not an Apple-hater. I previously owned a Galaxy S2 and the sound from that was genuinely awful. Compared to the S2, my iPhone was so much better, I was convinced the harshness was coming from the L2s - I now know it wasn't. I know I could use a separate DAC with my iPhone, which would improve the sound, but I don't really do my 'serious' listening on my phone anyway and the quality of sound direct from my S4 is more than 'good enough'. It's unfortunate that the sound from my iPhone definitely isn't.