I've been to tons of live concerts. When the bass is so bloated that it looses coherency that is what I call too much. When I listened to bass heavy music on the RS-1s using the flat pads it was too much IMO, while with the bowls [when positioned properly] it sounded fine. I can definately understand the draw to the flats though, as when I listened to music that didn't have a lot of bass they sounded lovely. I think that ultimately I would probably settle on crushed bowls so that I wouldnt have to swap them. If I get a RS-1 or MS-Pro, my K340's aren't going anywhere, so rather than switching pads for different music... I can just switch headphones.