I suppose the best way to describe them would be "neutral", in the literal sense. There's no emphasis on the bass, mids, or treble. They're revealing of bad recordings, but don't do it quite as obviously as the UERMs do sometimes. They're the most neutral closed headphones that you will find, as the top-tier closed headphones such as the th-900, t5p, d5000, d7000 lean towards the bassy side.