Out of the box, the `phones were a huge disappointment: they sounded thin and raspy, had little bottom and no discernible sound cohesion, pretty close to an old Victrola

Listeners with low-bitrate MP3s need not apply, as these phones will mercilessly slaughter lossy files

At this point, I can not recommend these `phones to anyone.

I am sorry to say that these `phones are still lacking in various essential respects: the treble is extended now, but mostly fragile and brittle, the upper midrange is relatively best represented, the lower midrange (celli, woodwinds, percussion) is muffled, mid-bass is still not pronounced and unfocused, deep bass missing

Can be driven well by portable mp3 players and phones.

It's also perfectly driven by a phone or portable player (like my Sansa Fuze)

Don't blame it on the headphones if you jack it into a cheap phone or MP3 player and the max volume isn't loud enough for you