Headphones you wish you had or had not bought

[momo7G]

Seen this topic floating around reddit, I want to bring it to ASR.

For myself:
I wish I had NOT bought ,
Beyerdynamic DT 770, the clamping force is too strong for my unusually big head ( I wear XXL motorcycle helmet )
Fiio FH5 In-ear, the sales was a pretty girl ( I know I know, I try to impress but fail )
Sony MDR 7510, bought second hand, one side was broken and seller never been seen.

I wish I had bought,
Audio Technica R70x, Sennheiser HD-600/650, I use USB interface as headphone out, and fear the output is not enough for the headphones.

What's yours??

 

[XpanD]

Creative Aurvana X-Fi. Between having to pay for a new ultra-thin cable because the old one immediately scratched up, the huge clamping force, the tiny ear pads and it just not sounding great in general, that thing was a pain. My father's quite happy with it, though!

The DT 880 Pro has been endgame for me so far, with software correction to bring down the beyer peak. The Pros definitely clamp down a bit harder than the normal ones, but thankfully it seems to be a good fit here.

 

[Fluffy]

For the wish I didn't buy, easy – Beyerdynamic Amiron home. I heard them at a friend's house and after all the Hifimans and HD800, it struck me as finally an open headphone with some descent bass. When I got them I was initially impressed, but the honeymoon phase died out really quickly. First of all, their clamping force is virtually nonexistent. I put them on my head and with the slightest wiggle they would just fall off. And not clamping well also meant that they were not sealing properly so the sub bass suffered. I tried to forcefully bend the headband to increase the clamping strength and that helped a bit, but made them more uncomfortable to wear. And second, that beyer peak just defied every EQ I threw at it. It would sound either too harsh or too muffled, no in between. And third, they have all sorts of crazy distortions at high volume. While they have elevated bass levels, they get compressed and nasty really quick if you pump something with descent bass through them. And there was also plenty of THD nastiness in the treble area that no amount of EQ can fix. After several months of them lying unused in my closet I sold them at a big loss just so I wouldn't have to see them anymore.
Also, the HD58X was a letdown and drove me off the entire HD600 line from Sennheiser.

As for headphones I wish I bought… well, if there's a headphone I really wanted to own, I probably already own it. And if not, that's because the price doesn't permit. I would gladly trade my Focal Clear with Focal Utopia that cost three times as much.

 

[Severian]

Grado SR325is were my first "real" headphone purchase, almost 10 years ago, and while I didn't dislike them per se, they didn't impress me enough to want to take headphones seriously going forward. I was also broke and couldn't justify spending more money on the hobby. So I lived without truly good headphones for far too long.

 

[ernestcarl]

Beyerdynamic DT990.

I would have preferred a second set of DT880s instead.

Although I gave the former to my dad.

 

[JJB70]

AKG N90Q, terrific sound and impressive features let down by poor service.

I am not sure there are any in the wish I bought category for me.

 

[maxxevv]

Regret: Bluedio bluetooth headphone, specifically the T5. You just cannot polish a turd.

Best headphone buy: HE4XX, for what it delivers at its price.

 

[brimble]

I wish I had not bought Stax Lambda Pro Classics, although not out of any disrespect for electrostatics. I found that particular model a hassle to EQ. I wish I'd gone straight to a better electrostatic (eg the Stax Sigma Pros which I now have and love).

 

[Doodski]

I regret buying these Sony headphones. They sound like reallly horrible.
MDR-EX15LP / 15AP In-ear Headphones
MDR-XB50AP EXTRA BASS™ In-ear Headphones

 

[Sombreuil]

Grado SR80i. I tried everything with these headphones, even gluing random things to them in the hope that they would be more confortable. It's a lost cause unless you're into masochism.

 

[Doodski]

Grado SR80i. I tried everything with these headphones, even gluing random things to them in the hope that they would be more confortable. It's a lost cause unless you're into masochism.

Yes, lol... I've seen peeps wearing them around town and they look like old radio receiver sets and have very poor coverage.