[RnB180]

Grado SR-80s

 

[sgrossklass]

1. Counterfeit Sony earbuds. At least they were cheap, but looked and sounded like it.
2. Sennheiser HD535. I could never really get into the sound of these, too hollow, cool and aggressive sounding, though they have good, punchy bass. (Smells like V-shaped EQ à la Philips.)
3. Sennheiser HD497. Sounds rather "closed". Recessed upper mids with sibilance peak and strange glitter on top, no, that's really not my cup of tea.
4. Sennheiser HD430. Nice-looking, rather comfy cans, but BRIGHT. Well, at least they had a nice OFC cable I could use otherwise.

Now, what about some *positive* surprises?

1. Sennheiser HD420 SL. While a bit soft in the lower bass, not very sparkly in the highs and a bit mid-centric in general (not to mention rather diffuse soundstaging), these are fairly good in bringing the 'soul' out of music with their warm, laid-back (if a bit touched up in the upper mids) presentation - nice 'easy listening' cans that sound as open as they are. And they didn't even cost me a lot, though the studio cabling I got them with was somewhat clumsy (insert HD430 cable here

). Never thought they'd get as much listening time as they do now. Now if they only were a tad more comfy during extended listening...
2. Philips SHP805. Lots of headphone for little money, EQ- and modding-friendly.

 

[creyc]

UE Super.fi 5EBs.

I think someone forgot to install the high-frequency drivers in my pair!

 

[creyc]

UE Super.fi 5EBs.

I think someone forgot to install the high-frequency drivers in my pair!

 

[Glod]

Grado's. At least the PS-1 and HF-1 were not what I had expected. Anyway, thanks for letting me listen to them last meet boys.

Perhaps a different amplification and source I will change my mind next time.

 

[Rayman2k2]

Bose Triports


Who knew something that looked so good sounded so bad?

 

[darkninja67]

Probably my AKG K26Ps. Not as good as I had hoped for but what can you expect for the price I paid I guess. All other buys have been great or better than expected.

 

[JunktionFET]

My biggest disappointments thus far have been:

1. AKG K280
2. Sennheiser HD250 II

 

[jumpinjohn1234]

shure e4g
where's the bass?

 

[PaulRivers]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fewtch Sennheiser HD-280. Maybe I didn't break 'em in long enough, or maybe I didn't use a good enough source, or whatever. IMO HD280's do have their place: On a pilot's head in an aircraft monitoring communications, or on a submarine listening to the sonar pings. Music? Forget it...

haha Yeah - me to! With all the reviews about how great these headphones are, I expected them to sound fantastic. Technically, they sounded fine. Enjoyment-wise, all my music sounded flat and unenjoyable. I compared them to the Sony MDR-V600 and MDR-V700DJ and my music sounded better on *those*. Huge dissapointment.

 

[doctorjuggles]

My biggest disappointment so far is definitely the Sony EX71. No fault of this forum, but when I first started investigating the possibilities outside of stock buds, EVERYONE recommended them on the 'less audiophile' forums.

Shelled out £30 for those things and they were terrible.

My second biggest disappointment is the fact that the Shure E2s sound great for their price and I wanted them as a second pair of portable cans, but I just cannot get a good fit with any of the supplied fittings. Not so much a fault of the E2s though.

 

[SeptemberWasp]

Although they are cleaning up a bit with burn-in..

My Senn HD 555's have by far been the most disappointing for me. As I am new at this it's debatable that I compared them to my w1000's, which probably isn't a fair battle. Nevertheless, the hype these headphones seemingly received here I thought was uncalled for.

 

[incognitoedleon]

Without a doubt the Panasonic HJE50. I misread and thought these were Y-cords. Boy was I wrong! These were neck chains to the extreme. One side was around 7 inches, while the other was something like 24 inches. What in the hell were they thinking? It didn't help that they had pathetic mids and highs, as well as buckets of s-s-s-s-sibilance.

 

[granodemostasa]

the K701. i reallly expected it to knock the HD650 out of the water; instead they make something built for popular music! how well, i had to stay with old 650 since i could find non better for my purpose.

 

[NelsonVandal]

1. Creative EP 630. Like nails on a blackboard. Screaming upper mid. No details. Absolutely awful. They're now in the wastebin.

2. Sennheiser PX100. Extreme coloration in the mids. Low resolution in the highs. Now modded without plastic junk in front of the membrane and foam pads like grados or 414:s the sound is ok. Still there's the issue of grainy treble and the typical slow Sennheiser sound. But the lower end!! - the bass is fantastic. I can really hear sub 30 Hz notes with impact.

3. Philips SHP895. Screaming upper mids and highs. Boomy bass. Impossible to enjoy music with them. I was about to throw them away as well. Now I've done some serious tweaking and they sound great. Like PX100 they're now without the **** in front of the membrane, and I got rid of the mids/highs issue. Lower density foam homemade earpads, Blue-Tac and lamswool damping got rid of the boomy bass issue. A bit like Beyer DT 990. Very enjoyable.