You are not exaggerating. I have a N95-1 and feel exactly the same. My biggest complaint is the high amount of static hiss that the phone puts out.
I've discovered that the best thing is to buy head/earphones with an attenuator. Then you crank up the volume on the phone almost to the max and set the attenuator on your earphones cord to minumum. That way it filters out all of the audible layers of hiss.