[Mike Walker]

First, this was more than 20 years ago. There was (almost) no subjectivist press to tell us how necessary it was to "warm up/burn-in" audio gear. Just as well, I'd have gotten a good laugh out of it. I remain convinced that what changes with "burn-in" isn't the gear, but our perceptions of it. WE SIMPLY GET USED TO WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE! If there were REAL differences in performance, we'd be able to measure them (as changed..probably lower resonant frequency in driver elements, changed/lowered distortion figures, etc). But whether I deliberately "burned-in" the 'phones or not, they were BURNED IN. I listened. OH BOY did I listen. After all, we had spent what was then a LOT of money on them. They were listened to enough hours to have fully "burned-in" by any reasonable definiton of the term, but to no-avail. They sounded in the end, as they did in the beginning...horrid!

Perhaps it's because I'm a "professional listener", but I can lock onto how a component sounds VERY quickly, with familiar source material (a recording I've listened to many times on many systems, or preferably some of my own work). The only thing that changes over time is that I get listener fatigue (you do too, even if you don't recognize it), and become less able to hear problems after a long session.

Anyhow, I have in the past hooked up the AT's again, and quickly concluded they were as bad as I originally thought. Have you heard them? These were some SERIOUSLY bad headphones. Not even a grey area here, guys! The Koss UR-20 is INFINITELY superior (and it's CRAP!) It illustrates something I have discovered (gratefully)...nowhere in audio does price have as little to do with quality as in headphones. There are WONDERFUL models for 50 bucks and under (Sennheiser PX-100, Koss KSC-35), and simply horrid ones that sell for hundreds!

 

[Jahn]

Could the electrostatic drivers have deteriorated over 20 years?

All joking aside, and burn-in debate aside, you've clarified to me that you warmed up that electrostat rig over the course of several hours of listening. (which I think isn't voodoo, you really do have to wait for the charge to get going).

It's an interesting thing to say that if something starts to sound a bit better after a constant listen, it's because you listen less critically due to listening fatigue. My opinion for an electrostat would be because in the beginning it just wasn't ready to be heard, and later, it was. When I get listening fatigue, things usually sound worse, not better.

But all of that is window dressing. The meat of it is that you gave it the old college try and the cans still sucked. So maybe that pair in the store WAS magic, who knows! If I ever had that situation, where I bought a new pair and I thought the store pair sounded better...I wonder if I would have had the gumption to go back to the store and ask for the demo pair in exchange for my new pair - "hey, you're getting a new pair to start over as a demo, let's swap!" It would make for an interesting argument.

 

[Mike Walker]

This was a small-town store, more than 2 decades ago. The 'phones weren't even set up for a demo. I bought them based upon hype...electrostatics MUST be better (electrets actually...meaning they had permanently charged elements). Since the store was a big advertiser on the radio station I worked for, I felt that I couldn't take them back. So I "ate' the money.

As for listening fatigue, I wasn't really relating that to my observation that over time we simply get used to how things sound. One observation was that (in my opinion) when listening to an item day in and day out, over a period of time, we get used to, and learn to "listen through" it's faults. The other was that in a CONTINUOUS long listening session, particularly at relatively high volumes, when one has been listening critically for HOURS (as in a recording/mixing session0, we simply get tired, and capable of making dumb mistakes. Whenever possible, I'll "track" (record) in one session, and mix later in another...with "fresh ears". I'm not along in this, many, perhaps most engineers and producers have noted the same effect.

As for the Audio Technicas, my guess is that the elements have "discharged" at least some over the years. A pair of nearly 30 year old electret microphones still works, but I think their output is lower than it used to be. Probably the same with the 'phones. And I'll bet they still sound bad!

 

[Jahn]

Ah, I can see how store/job relations might have restricted you, that's too bad. As far as fatigue, making mistakes after doing something for too long is a given no matter what it is I guess - like if I stare at this screen non-stop I'll start missing some words/numbers that start floating around the desktop...I'll join you in solidarity over this point then - trash those electrostats and wear the KSC-35 with pride!

 

[ajt976]

So far, my biggest dissapointment was the Senn HD-595's. I even posted a thread about it here. I was soo sad. I drove a good hour from home just to look at these headphones, and when I put them on I almost cried. I seriously thought that I would be walking out of that store with my first pair of Senns, but now that I think of it I'm glad I tried them out first! It could have been worse if I just ordered them and was stuck with a pair of 'phones I didn't like. O well, back to my Grado's

!

 

[Jacques]

I did get lucky for the most part but I ended at some point with 2 'lemons': AT-EHM7 had a cool look but not sound to match it and the MDR-V900 that had no soul at all.

 

[Skipinder]

Sony 7506 was a big dissappointment to me, came this close to buying them, glad I didn't.

PX200 were a dissappointment, but that was mainly becasue I couldn't position them right to get any bass out of them. HD497 were a dissappointment, don't know why, just didn't like them.
Oh and the PX100 kinda dissapointed me, lots of people recommend it over the Portapros, but I think the Portapros are much better. Maybe I'm just no a Senn guy...

 

[warpdriver]

My most disappointing:

The Shure E3C. I like to hear clean treble, but the E3C rolled off so much treble I thought they were defective.

It was the first time I spent over $100 on headphones (I actually paid over $200 CAD), but these things weren't as good as my $40 CAD PX-100's.

 

[GotNoRice]

Thanks mostly to this forum, I’ve yet to buy a pair of headphones that I have been disappointed in.

HD280 – My brother got a pair of these so I got plenty of chances to try them out. They just seemed like they were mostly mids. The highs were less harsh than the Sony 7506’s I had, but the mids were a little blaring and where was the bass? He seems to like them though, so maybe it’s just a difference in preference.

HD570 – My friend let me borrow his pair for a week. Similar complaints to the 280s; lack of bass, blaring mids.

The two good cans I’ve had and really liked are the Sony MDR-7506’s and the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro/80’s. Perhaps my dislike for the sennheisers is more a reflection of my preference for bass heavy headphones.

 

[riker1384]

The Panasonic HJE-50P sound pretty shrill to me.

 

[Firestarter]

in my head-fi journey, i've purchased the Sennheiser HD 497's, HD 555's, HD 595's and HD 25-1's, as well as the Koss KSC-50's

i loved each and every one of them, only the Koss' went and disappointed me by breaking.. but i'm feeling the itch to get some streetstyle KSC 55's

edit: looking at that list, i'd conclude that i am a basshead

 

[noypi]

sony ex-51

tried to eq it to just minimize the piercing highs but finally gave up on it for a pair of px-100's

 

[ken36]

I'm very positive about all of my headphones, past and present. If I feel even the slightest disappointment, I know I can sell them to a real guaranteed, fanboy.

 

[mektarus]

The HD497 disappointed me. I already had a pair of SR80's and at the time I joined Head-fi the HD497's were still being hailed as one of the best budget headphones around. So I decided to make them my second headphone purchase. While there was nothing technically wrong with the 497's, I found them boring and uninvolving. I also found them rather uncomfortable (but, then, I have a pretty big noggin').

 

[ScubaSteve87]

Grado 325i, and the Grado line in general. But the 325i's just hust my ears to listen to and were sooo fatiguing even though I did enjoy the sound