The sound is nice and clear, but whether I'm listening to music for fun, or if I'm working on a project, the discomfort becomes unbearable after just a few minutes.  It is to the extent, that I'm shopping for new headphones now.  I just activated my head-fi account just today for two reasons.  (1) is to get info on new headphones, and (2) is to warn people about these headphones.  That is all.  Thanks for reading.