@savenger: I'm right there with you, I went through several weeks of an intense love-hate relationship with a borrowed pair of RE0s, hated them for their sound signature and loved them for being just a loaner
My listening consists of 50% classical, 30% acoustic jazz and folk and only a small amount of bass driven music. After an abundance of rave reviews and one of the longest appreciation threads I've ever come across I simply couldn't believe what I was hearing. A thin and unrealistic presentation within the confines of a miniscule soundstage. Even their famed highs appeared somewhat squeaky to my ears. I still remember thinking, if that's what it takes to be a serious audiophile I'd rather take a pass.
Of course it is possible that my pair was defective, but posts like yours make me think they weren't.
i've had pretty much the exact same experience. but a bit different
it was only one week (well... more like 2-3 weeks but the first 1-2 were one year ago) but i agree fully with many sentiments expressed here regarding the really unrealistic soundnow, i'm not really a basshead (i really really like my dba2, for example, but i also mostly agree with mvw2 that it lacks a bit of body/weight to the note and that it's maybe a bit too aggressive and so sacrifices a bit of dynamic range. at the same time, i also love my W3's despite being constantly reminded of its midbass hump) but i do like my bass and texture and the re0 just didn't deliver. i tried it with all different kinds of music i like to listen to (from extreme metal to ambient to classical and some jazz) and this was the only 'phone i've heard that made me feel all my favorite music was boring it was so dull and unrealistic. i've been to plenty of gigs (arena concerts, music hall performances, fully acoustic gigs...), rehearsals etc in my life and i've never heard instruments and voices sound so dull (not dull as in "lacking details" but more like "so unexciting it hurts"), boring and lifeless
it reminded me of an article i've read some time ago (iirc it was by clieos) "neutral vs natural" where the writer put a b&w pic for neutral and a full color one for natural. and here's what i picture like the re0: imagine what would a really natural and realistic picture of one of your favorite "things" look like in full color and taken by a good, professional photographer with minimal (i.e. almost 0) photoshopping. that photo tells a story. it has meaning and a "life" of its own. that's say the "natural, realistic, reference sound". the re0 to me sounds like a b&w photo taken by a total amateur (i.e. completely uninteresting frame) with some heavy photoshopping to enhance sharpness. and that photo is viewed on a subpar lcd monitor with "blacks" that are overly noticeably gray. you're looking at it and you cannot help being bored by the whole composition and you notice that something is off (besides the blacks being gray
) and just unnatural. plus, you notice that it's just a "picture". it has no story behind it.to me, the re0 are good at reproducing sounds, but horrible at reproducing music. it's like a conductor without passion and clueless as to what the piece he's conducting signifies and what is the story behind it. or a player only seeing notes in the sheet and not an actual composition and so he plays the piece without passion, energy or substance. boring
