so I just had a pair of AKG K451s delivered; I'd opted for these based on glowing reviews across the net, plus endorsement from various DiSers in other threads.

I went out to do some things and I took the K451s out for a listen. I actually took them off on the walk home, they were that bad. boxy and muddy, just totally sub-standard.

I've been googling for opinion and I've found one review on Amazon for the previous model (the K450s) and the chap who wrote it spoke of them sounding stiff and out of focus before breaking them in by playing fairly loud music through them for, like, twelve hours.

now, the way he described the initial sounds seems to be getting at the same rolled-off treble and awful mids I noticed.

what do I do? send them back? break them in? is that even a thing?