Not lame at all. I like them. Strings, drums, voices, wind instruments...they all sound great and stage accuracy is outstanding. They are ok for my music, jazz, blues, classical. Bass is well define but its quite tricky to find the right possition for them in the room. I drive them with a ML 331. I like the Verity sound so I think I'll keep them till I can afford a pair of Parsifals....