I just discovered that I may have been wearing these wrong (for my ears at least) this entire time. I had been doing relatively shallow insertion with the housing relatively parallel to my ears (cables over the ears), but just now I found out that if I have them inserted deeper with the housings virtually perpendicular to my ears, the sound is completely different. I'm inclined to believe that the latter method is the intended sound signature because the isolation increased dramatically (I used to be able to hear my mouse clicks clearly with no music playing, but now it's barely audible).
Seems like with this insertion method, smaller tips work better for me (currently using the stock small tips). I feel like the bass in bass-heavy tracks is now making my head vibrate.
The odd thing is that I was actually happy with how they sounded with shallow insertion, but after hearing what it sounds like a good seal, I'm not sure I can go back. It was more comfortable with shallow insertion though. I think the negative reviews on Amazon.co.jp complained about comfort over prolonged periods of time, and with deep insertion I can see why now.
