Man, I feel your pain, quite literally. After an hour or two of wearing them, my ears hurt in the same areas. I gave up once and bought sennheiser mtw3's to try something new, but the anc on those isn't as good (it's adaptive, and the changing intensity of its anc makes me feel sick). Now, I just kind of ignore the discomfort for the sake of a quieter workplace. Hope you're able to find something that helps, or maybe something else that works better for you.

I find them a bit boring compared to some other headphones, or at least compared to others I own. They are very competent tonally (and come with tuning pads for minor adjustments), but they lack the impact and dynamics I would normally look for. It doesn't lack bass, but it has a somewhat polite feeling and presentation to it.

As I described it to a friend once, it's like a butler was bringing my music to me rather than a normal waitress. It's the same song, just more polite

The Noire is my personal favorite, but I can understand why some people might not enjoy it as much tbh

My time with the MG was short, but iirc while they do sound different, they don't sound that different. If you're comfortable with using eq, I'd say that it would be well worth the price!

Oof, definitely a bit of a price difference there. I also own the OG version though, and personally think they're the better of the two anyways

MG or OG?

If you don't want to use your whole budget right away just to experiment, you could always go with something good but cheap like moondrop aria's. Then you can see if it's what you're looking for, and upgrade after