Neutral bright sounding which to me is pretty boring, but still sounds pretty good. I've had two pair - the first iteration and the second updated model. I feel like the first iteration were better and more comfortable than the revision they recently did, so if you can get a pair, I'd recommend trying to track down the first iteration.

I'll give it a check. It's weird because it was like that right of out of the box plugged into my DAC, but I'll give it a look over regardless.

It is rather frustrating for sure. Finally find a pair that sound super good and they have QC issues... I may try my hand at replacement first before writing them off altogether. I did get them off Amazon, and I read another post stating they stopped selling them off Amazon UK due to so many returns. It's unfortunate you have to essentially play the Hifiman lottery to see if you get a good one or not. I wish there was a Sennheiser headphone that had this same sound signature.

I'll have to look into the Moondrop Venus! I'll give your post history a look as well. It's been quite the adventure so far just trying to find the "right" headphone for me. I was convinced the Edition XS was it until I got buzzing noises. Maybe I'll get lucky with them and if not, try something else. Thanks again for your suggestions and whatnot!

Yeah I may end up sending them back and not trying to get a replacement. Any suggestions on a similar headphone by chance? What are you currently listening to?

I definitely think that some companies suggest the long burn-in hours as a means to cut down on returns tbh. I don't necessarily subscribe to the idea of burning in headphones much, and would agree that it's our brains getting acclimated to the sound more so than the headphones breaking in.

Thank you for your input. I had a feeling that might be the case which is unfortunate since they sound so good despite the plasticky buzzing noise. I might give them some additional time. I have until March 26th to return them if it doesn't go away. Hifiman said that their planar headphones take up to 150 hours of listening to break in, so I might just go nuts with them to see. But agreed, they shouldn't sound like that out of the box.

I did, yeah. Tried oratory's eq settings and a few others and while it helped, it wasn't enough for my tastes. That was really my only complaint besides some spikey treble and my ears aren't a huge fan of brighter headphones.

This is how I felt as well. Had the 560s, got the 660s, and then an 800s. I have a laptop and desktop PC, and was originally using the 560s on the laptop paired with a SoundBlasterX G6 and the 660s w/ a JDS Labs Element III. Once the 800s came into my life, the 560s got sold, the 660s moved to my laptop, and the 800s now live on my desktop :)

I also have 3 pair of their "gaming" headsets (EPOS/Drop ones): PC37X, Game One, and the GSP 370. I think I'm done spending money now...