Over the last 50 years I've heard a lot of bad, very bad, most of it I have forgotten, because it was bad! I will probably get into trouble for posting here, so forgive me for not mentioning a lot of the obvious. 1. Monster Cable speaker wire, being someone with an electronics background, I was very hard to sell on the idea that speaker cable (given sufficient current capabilities) could possibly make any difference, but a friend lent me his Monster Cable to replace my 14 gauge with the assurance that I would hear a difference, and I was completely blown away by the result. It sounded worse, much worse! The bass was tubby and undefined, and all the detail had vanished. The sound field collapsed entirely. So I was forced to research, and do a lot of listening, and finally come up with my own cables that I use to this day (this was sometime in the early 80's).2 & 3. The worst "A" rated speakers I ever heard were the Infinity Betas (the high frequencies are so harsh that they give me headaches after only a few minutes listening) until I heard the Watts, which have the same issue only to a greater extreme, actually I have a problem with a lot of High-end gear that mistakes over emphasized high frequencies for greater detail.4. Most car audio, especially supposed high end rigs, or factory set ups.5. Having just dipped my toe into this new world of high-end headphones, IEMs, DACs and Amps and this complex market of "objective" vs "subjective" sound, I am sure the worst is yet to come.
Lenovo computer headphone jack: this might be the reason that I started this whole journey.
So it definitely was the Lenovo... when I tried out he Hammo
Think it's about time I updated this...In no particular order: Audez'e LCD-1: Stock HD800? Nope. Grados? Nuh-uh. These take the cake. The cold, shrill, piercing, shrieking cake. Think TH600, tilted up, plus peaks, without a single iota of warmth or bass emphasis. Sony MDR-SA3000: Lowest fidelity known to man. Grainier than fucking sandpaper. Bass and treble have been lopped off with a machete. Distant, cupped presentation only makes it worse.Pioneer SE-700: Place a headphone inside a C clamp and attach it to your head, and you have the general idea. No padding, no bass, no treble. Headstage has been smashed into skull with a jackhammer. Less efficient than the HE-6.Bang & Olufsen U70: Just tried this one again yesterday. Nothing but huge low quality bass. Ortho Beats. Except I'd take the old Studios over these based on sound alone. Factor in comfort, and I'd rather be deaf.BEYER DT48S 5 ohm: PFFFFF. This? Are you fucking kidding me? THIS is the crown jewel of vintage DT48s? Oh, wait, nevermind. This is the exact headphone you want if you listen to nothing but transients. Makes perfect sense.
I might be struggling here, in part because I rather praise the good than criticise what I consider, er, not good.Audeze LCD 2 and 3 - I got very excited about these...twice as you can see. HF is partly to blame, but I accept 98% for the rest. I thought that the amp was the problem (all that praise in reviews, so it must be something wrong with the rest of my rig, right?). I tried them with three amps - a Violectric V200 (hey, this amp is not bad at all IMHO), DAC/amp separates from Audio GD's top end and a Lehmann HP amp. I had some very nice pure silver cables made for them, and that did add some sparkle and speed, but...What can I say? Firstly, they sound muddy across the frequency range (although through the veil I think they had an extended FR). Secondly, they seem to squash dynamics a tad and suck a bit of life out of music, especially rock and dance. Poor PRaT? The bass (lower and upper) is fulsome but without enough zing or definition. The highs are there, but they are veiled without much sparkle. Thirdly, these cans are very uncomfortable - heavy, hot and awkward to wear. Lastly, from memory and it was a while ago, I think the sound staging and channel separation were just average.
