Bought into the planar hype and now my ears are confused

Noticed something weird after taking a 3 week break from my main IEMs and using only a cheap pair of earbuds I found in a drawer. When I went back to the IEMs, the bass was overwhelming and the mids sounded recessed, like someone had scooped out the vocals. Turns out my brain had adjusted to that flat, undetailed earbud sound and now my reference point is ruined. It took another 4 days of switching back and forth before my ears recalibrated to enjoy the IEMs again. That reset made me question if I actually like my expensive pair or if I just got used to the extra treble. I tried a few other budget sets at a local shop in Austin and honestly struggled to tell a $40 pair from my $200 pair in a blind test. Has anyone else gone through a hearing reset like that and come out the other side with different taste? I'm starting to think I wasted cash on diminishing returns.

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fisher.mason24d ago

Now my reference point is ruined" hits hard because I went through the exact same thing last year. I swore by my $300 set for months and thought I could hear all these little details, then I spent two weeks using nothing but my phone's stock buds on a work trip. Came back and my nice pair sounded so sharp and thin that I almost sold them. After a week of going back and forth they sounded normal again, but it really made me admit how much of this hobby is just your ears getting used to whatever you've been hearing lately. These days I mostly chase a sound I actually enjoy instead of trying to hear things I'm supposed to hear.

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