Since my endgame-for-at-least-a-little-while headphone, the RAAL SR1a, is taking a break due to my Jotunheim R frying, I have been spending time listening to my other headphones, including my Monkeypod VC.
It has a very unique quality among all my headphones: I find it infuriating. There is a gap in the frequency response which makes them sound uneven and horrible with most recordings, and they are also just so boring and dead (this is coming from someone who likes the HD 800 S). You might think the problem is that I'm using a THX AAA 789 amp, but I took my Woo Audio WA 6 (tube amp) out of the closet and let it warm up, but it didn't magically make the VC likeable - same problems, but now more muffled. I also always try a bunch of different pads, but none of them fix the response gap flaw. I do not understand why anyone likes this headphone, and the reality seems to be that most people LOVE it, and compare it favorably to other super expensive headphones, even!
And it isn't like I can't appreciate headphones that don't have my preferred signature (brighter than the Harman target, to put it simply). I don't prefer the HD 650 over much besides the VC, but I admit that they sound good and don't have any glaring flaws besides being boring (but more alive than the VC). I have a pre-fazor LCD-2, and it is too dark for me, but at least it has great bass. The Koss KHP30i is warmer than I tend to prefer, but it makes up for it by being involving and euphoric/musical. The VC just sounds like someone took a neutral headphone (depending on the pad, I guess) and ruined it by eq'ing out some of the frequency range. It sounds wrong, it isn't musical, it isn't involving. It just makes me angry and wonder what is wrong with my hearing/brain that I am pretty much alone in thinking this. I just don't get it, at all.
It's bad enough that I have sometimes thought that maybe I just got a bad one - but that is unthinkable, given the way these headphones are caringly handmade and tested.
Dunno what my point is in posting this (I'm not trolling - the above is accurate to how I think about the VC) except to update and state that I still hate the VC, and to warn that not everyone thinks these headphones are great, or even worthwhile - always listen to a headphone for as long as possible before buying! I went in blind, and it was one of the worst decisions I've ever made.