NS10s aren't quite as bad as their reputation, but they are rather "forward-sounding", a noticeable mid/high peak in response. In turn, this is very handy for p

NS10s aren't quite as bad as their reputation, but they are rather "forward-sounding", a noticeable mid/high peak in response. In turn, this is very handy for picking out distortion and noise in recordings, they tend to beat you over the head if you have too much sibilance going on. I wouldn't want to use them as my only speakers for listening to music, but I can definitely see how they come in handy as a reference tool. Same reason as why many studios have Avantone ("Horrortone") MixCubes and various other less-than-HiFi loudspeakers in addition to their nice monitors, and why they check their mixes on car stereos, bluetooth speakers and clock radios. They want it to sound good on the gear normal people use, not just high-end studio monitors.