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Coming from the smoother MS1 (which I still have), I owned the MS2i for half a year and sold them for financial reasons and out of personal genre unsuitability. Nevertheless, owning these famous fons was a real honour for me, the most beautiful looking cans existing actually. And it's not just the looks...

Good fons, _very_ good fons generally, but there is also a tendency of "sonic overkill" and listening fatigue. I guess that has to do with too much energy (BANG!) in a too small soundscape. That can be great for concentrated or critical listening, but doesn't work well while doing something else (e.g. reading headfi threads). No surprise that approximately 70% of the german headphone freaks, who tried them at meetings, regarded the MS2i as "Good, but not my cup of tea".

Compared to the MS1, the genre bandwidth is a bit restricted. I personally adored the MS2i for Drum & Bass or Classical chamber music, but they didn't work with synthesizer-heavy Electronica such as Ambient or Trance. I'm not a rockhead, so I traded them for CD3Ks (very reasonable exchange under such circumstances). The new owner of the MS2i definetely is a rockhead and likes them so much that he thinks about upgrading to the MS Pro.

Possible modifications: Reversed 414 pads sound almost as good as bowls, but provide mentionable comfort. The ugly pad colour can be dyed to at least something brownish. A 100 ohm resistor calms down things, but also kills details (I didn't like that). I heartly recommend the "Liberator" distance pieces from darkaudio in Poland, which increase soundstaging significantly, with the disadvantage of _slightly_ less bass punch.

Summary: Good stuff, but beware, things can be shrill and exhausting. In difference to its small brother MS1 or its cousin HF1, the MS2i is not to be regarded as everybody's darling. But if stringed instruments play a dominant role in your music collection, a more natural and thrilling presentation is hardly to be found.