Akg K518Lewht K 518 Le Limited Edition Headphones (White)

Background (reposted from my Head-Fi.org post):
Since I bought my AKG K702, I pretty much sold off all my headphones that were worth selling, and pretty much have only used the K702 at hom (I use the Portapros and KSC75 for travel). However, I missed having a pair of closed headphones (the M50's were my favorite of the bunch I had), and contemplated rebuying them, but didn't want to spend that much money. My search led me to the AKG K518LE, which are supposed to be bass monsters. Here are my thoughts:

Fit and Finish:
The K518 comes in a nice package - the LE package is nicer {IMO) than the DJ or the K81 pictures that I have seen. While the K518LE/K518DJ/K81DJ are technically the same headphone, the LE is different from the 81 and the DJ in that the cable is much shorter - only 3ft to be exact. I don't have a need for a long cable, so this was actually a plus in my book. I didn't have to tie anything up!

The headphones are lighter and more...Read more

I purchased these headphones for my 16 year old for Christmas. He used them for two weeks and then BOTH earpieces broke in the exact same spot. One earpiece I would have suspected he wasn't treating them properly, but both in the same spot indicated that there was a defect in the manufacturing. I had my receipt and warranty so I didn't see a problem with getting them replaced. I was wrong! This company didn't even want to see the earphones. They told us over the phone they would not replace them. I insisted that they should inspect them, certain they would come to the same conclusion I did. Wrong again. I sent them into the service dept. at my own expense and they promptly told me NO they would not honor the warranty. I could of course buy a new pair from them. I wouldn't spend another penny on this company let alone $140 for defective merchandise with a bogus warranty!

I got these on amazon while looking for a closed headphone for the office so my coworkers wouldn't hear everything like they do on my Grados. So, I took the plunge hoping they would be good based on the reviews here and on head-fi.

Equipment/Source: Zune 120GB with 320kbps mp3 files run through a Fiio E5 amp.

Lets get on with the review.

Comfort: These are quite uncomfortable...more so than any other headphone I've tried. I don't have a big head but these are seriously tight. People who say that Grados are uncomfortable haven't experienced these yet!! If I didn't weigh as much as I do, someone could lift me with these headphones on my head!! I will try stretching these out on some speakers for a few days and see if it helps.

Sound: This is where you think: "I'll live with the clamps!!!" Of course there are better sounding headphones out there but you'd be hard pressed to find something that sounds so good for this price. Although...Read more