Not sure what happened to the pair that you were listening to but the AKG K371 is beautifully tuned with a good bass shelf to boot. I feel the pair you listened to was altered in some way as typically it's such a pleasant headphone for all genres and it makes no sense what happened to you. The only real complaint from most people is that the band is very fragile. I listen to mine often and I just can't believe how much I like them for what you pay especially because I do have a more expensive critical listening headphone. I keep coming back to my K371.