[sacguy231]

Ok, I've been a lurker here for a while, maybe it's the rum: time to start a thread prompted by a recent sale. What's your biggest headphone disappointment? Perhaps a pair that you were desperate to love but just couldn't? Or maybe something profoundly different than your expectations? For me it was the Pioneer SE-Monitor5 that I just sold. UGH, I REALLY wanted to like these. The build quality was excellent, and they were comfortable as could be. They felt great to touch and look at. I tried every EQ setting known and I simply couldn't get them to jive with my ears. After a whole year of ownership I maybe put 5 hours on them. What a shame. I hope they serve the new owner well....and if you love the SE-Monitor5, no offense intended! Maybe they just weren't my style. I'm still a bit heartbroken that I couldn't love them, and I held off for too long when I should have sold them right away. But that's the game, right? So what's your heartbreak?

 

[Mediahound]

For me, Audeze LCD-4z. They had driver issues 2x in 1.5 years. Also still too heavy, although I did like their sound signature a lot. But for the price paid, they were a huge disappointment:

 

[Raketen]

My first and only CIEM. At the time there weren't so many "high end" UIEM options while CIEMs could have more than two or three BA drivers as well as the assurance of proper tuning without all the variances of fit & tip selection etc... so I was pretty excited.

Wasn't really the manufacturer's fault, just CIEMs as a form factor don't necessarily work out for everybody and I found out the stupid, time consuming & somewhat expensive way.

 

[SilverEars]

For me, Audeze LCD-4z. They had driver issues 2x in 1.5 years. Also still too heavy, although I did like their sound signature a lot. But for the price paid, they were a huge disappointment.

Yeah, I hate that companies are charging that significant amount. There's a lot of people that probably shouldn't take such huge losses.

I know retail is rediculously expensive. Did you get it discounted from a dealer?

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

Aeon Flow Open, that headphone sounds like a £200 headphone at best. Never heard a meant to be hifi headphone sound so compressed, lifeless, like warm mushy poo.

 

[grogg]

Probably my first big headphone purchase - DT770. I remember being told by many that these were the best closed back options for music and gaming. I was a broke student at the time so i saved up my money for a while and bought a pair.

Sounded good at the start compared to my cheaper headphones but then the ear fatigue hit. The treble was just too much for me and I could not stand them after about 40 minutes of music or gaming.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

ATH W3000ANV

What's not to like from this headphone? Gorgeous look, comfort to use (fan of ATH wing), limited edition with strong history (50th yrs anniversary), and back then, original retail price was make sense (for me). Tried so hard to love the sound, but simply couldn't.

So yeah, there were a time when I felt sad because I could afford a headphone that I wished for, but I couldn't like the sound.

 

[koven]

Sadly the Empyrean is top of my disappointment list...

 

[Mediahound]

Sadly the Empyrean is top of my disappointment list...

I've heard the same from a few others. Seems that headphone is over-hyped.

When I previewed them I heard this constant mid-bass thump that is just not natural.

 

[NA Blur]

Any top-tier Grado. They are antiquated, sound terrible, and I've ordered 2 sets that didn't have the wood sanded or finished. It makes no sense that a $600 Grado should measure the same as a $80 headphone in the same line.

Now if Grado were to actually enclose their driver, tune to match the Harmon curve, and start selling that variant I may be interested again.

 

[koven]

I've heard the same from a few others. Seems that headphone is over-hyped.

When I previewed them I heard this constant mid-bass thump that is just not natural.

Yes mid-bass too present and bleeds, recessed treble, mediocre resolution, all in all kind of a hazy sound, I suppose the good news is it takes the edge off poor recordings. Comfort and build are easily flagship quality but the sound is more e.g. Arya and Clear tier than HEK and Utopia. Many happy owners though, no offense intended, just different strokes for different folks..

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I can't find the first pair of Sennheisers I bought and I can't even remember the model number.

 

[SilverEars]

Sadly the Empyrean is top of my disappointment list...

I've heard this pretty much.

I disliked the Auteur and sold that off quickly as I could. It just sounded too colored, and had a sound that had an enclosed space kinda sound I can describe as 'tubby' I really disliked. It some brightness somewhere up top just stuck out. I compared it to HD6XX, and just found HD6XX more accurate. Auteur was what $1600?! No thank you. I will not be looking at another ZMF again. If it was much lower priced, maybe. Not interested in Verite with this experience. I could care less how the wood looks, it needs to sound right.

Forget it was Eikon or that other closed one, but the tuning had wood resonance! Bloomy wood resonance? Seriously?

Audeze headphones? Resolution was avg for the price. Upper-mids recessions? Not all that open/airy sounding? LCDi4 at $2.4k was huge, huge disappointment. EQ was placebo, and didn't fix it's issues. I don't like thick mids and recessed upper-mids. Please no such level of color.

 

[chesebert]

Senn HE-1 and the mandatory Ultrasone E10

 

[chesebert]

Aeon Flow Open, that headphone sounds like a £200 headphone at best. Never heard a meant to be hifi headphone sound so compressed, lifeless, like warm mushy poo.

EQ the mid bass bump and put 1W behind the cans will change your opinion of its sound signature. That mid bass bump really muddies everything above and below.