I had the Brainwavz HM5s they never left my desk and where never misshandald.
The gimbles broke in under 2 months. This is not considers a manufacturing defect so it isn't coverd under their warenty.
Granted other than bad material choises and carp warenty they sounded good...
I love the m50x I have them myself and i would recommend them to anyone, but i do fully agree with you that it has a drop all the time. We should give other excellent headphones a chance.