The Flare Audio Reference 1 comes to mind as an expensive underperformer. It retailed for 777 USD IIRC back in 2014 or 2015 but they sounded, for a lack of a better word, like ass.
There’s coloration and then there’s just wrong, and that’s the R1. Weird, cuppy, and honky midrange. No bass and treble. I would’ve expected this from a vintage headphone but hell that’d be giving vintage headphones a bad name. Extremely high clamp and stiff earpads make them impossible for me to wear for longer than 5 minutes at a time, though with how they sounded, I just needed 2 seconds. How they got any semblance of positive feedback is beyond me. Hell, these make the Nighthawks sound good. 
Sorry, had to throw that jab there as well.
Tyll from Innerfidelity has measured them. Here’s the link.
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Haha I’m curious to ask how did you run Ember II? Straight out of the box it isn’t amazing but did you tinker with the Bypasses and pull out the Input Attenuation?
That last part being a big part of why I felt stock Ember II sounds the way it does [underwhelming], but my 2cents is hear Ember II with all bypass pulled and input attenuation removed before you make any judgments. I also enjoy the 6SN7s I hand picked for my system too, as with the bypass active and the circuit “simplified” it can be nosier with lower quality tubes but really shines with some of the nicer NOS tubes. An my preferred tube ran me like $30
As I’ve yet to find a Hybrid tube around it’s price to replace it and yea there’s a Lyr 3 sitting around the office [and yes I compared the two with a New Production Electro Harmonic 6SN7 and my preffered NOS tube] and I still don’t have a need/desire for it over Ember II [as I don’t need the power and don’t want the added “weight” in terms of sound an tonality]
Anywhooooooooooo
Jade II was for me a very expensive under-performer… I’m saddened to say Hifiman as a Brand has more than one product like that. I wasn’t impressed with their new R2R DAP either [an I still happily own an HM901 and HE 4xx]
As for other brands, The Sendy Aiva and Brainwavz Planar come to mind and frankly some Grado Headphones too but the brand as a whole is pretty volatile in terms of Price:Performance some things are amazing for my tastes others not so much
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@MrCypruz
You surely can. Drive them with a properly designed powerful amplifier and it will sing.
This is something hat should be obvious to most, especially when it comes to restored vintage receivers from the 70’s and using one/some that are known for strong dynamics and sustained frequency response over the whole spectrum. Good quality phones generally respond very well to the output swing of parallel wired devices, as they are fed a level of voltage that only high-end HAMP’s can produce.
A caveat though, vintage electronics restored by qualified techs are not cheap (I should know, restoring is part of my audio hobby :D) so it might not suit those seeking bargain power for their cans, to those I suggest using USB-powered DAC’s connected to an average modern stereo amp or a high-end amp if they prefer.
The power will be provided by the computer’s PSU, which are more powerful than serial-wired stereo amps or HT, both of which are unreliable and fluctuate response, usually in a very audible series of phase shifts you can’t miss on the phones.
If it’s better than the Utopia??? That’s debatable and will most definitely come down to personal preference, they’re certainly different.
Exactly, it usually comes down to a preference of dynamics over planars and vice-versa.
PS. It’s cheaper to get a speaker amp vs a headphone amp with clean raw power and “musicality” (lots of quote on quote to this term) to drive them properly. The only “affordable” headphone amp that users reported to drive them properly is the Soundaware P1 ($1,499).
One of the best “headphone amp” I know is the classic Pioneer SX-650… a 1977 vintage receiver that was part of the best series Pioneer ever made, back when Pioneer was a respected perfectionist Japanese corporation. The Pioneer '50 series was nicknamed “silverface” for its drastic change in styling and “silversound” for its very obvious sonic performance. The 650 delivered 35 watts per channel consistent from 20hz to 20kHz and enough swing voltage to easily drive just about any headphone. A restored unit in mint condition could sell for up to $2,000 when parts have to be manufactured to spec in Japan. However less perfectionist but original spec-matched restorations can be had for $500 to $1,000. The SQ on high-end dynamic headphones is unbelievable but fares less well with planars
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