Reviews by codythelucario
Edit 3/30/23 - I realized that giving it 4.5 stars is a bit too high to be honest, so I dropped it down to four. I am also a beginner audiophile so please take my review with a grain of salt. I would recommend taking the other reviews more seriously.
599s are good till you realize the 560s exist.
It's gonna be a short review so I'll just get straight to the point.
Methodology
- Listened on: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 with Peace APO tuned to Harman Target, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with Wavelet with AutoEQ and limiter on, wired with apple dongle
- Tracks listened: some classical music, "Don't Drift Too Far" by Elephant Revival, RapCaviar playlist on Spotify
Results
The 599s are the kid in the back who knows everything and has a loudspeaker but is shy. The 599s have the detail, it's there but its chillin in the background. You have to listen harder for the specific nit-picky detail and it's there but more recessed, but in a good way where they're in the background. That same kid/headphones also has loudspeakers with bass, so when he decides to play music you get to party with these with the lower-bass.
Mids and Highs are very good. Present in the headphones. All tracks in these frequencies are clear enough to listen to.
Lower-Bass is excellent. Very good for RapCaviar and other modern rap songs, may get in the way for songs using acoustics but you can EQ that down and problem solved. Doesn't remove detail, just is a distraction to it.
Mid-bass, that's where I will dive in specifically.
On "Don't Drift...", they're essential to the openness of the song. It sounds very spacious in there and you're relaxed. However, it can be a bit overpowering there as sometimes it can distract you from the detail, but more often than not, you will feel relaxed and happy with this mid-bass open on this song. On classical same story.
It's a necessary evil, where it overpowers the song but also contributes to the airiness and openness of the song itself.
When I listened to RapCaviar though, it becomes the Achille's heel of these headphones. It detracts from the vocals rappin out and overpowers the song along with the Lower-bass. Lower bass is good itself, but if combined with this part of the frequency it just detracts from the song entirely.
This is just rawdoggin the headphones without any EQ.
However, using PeaceAPO and Wavelet does the trick. It minimalizes this part of the frequency to where you can enjoy the mids and highs as well as partying to the lower-bass while you're at it. I recommend you use these settings as displayed below, (edit 3/30/23) although I would in the end just recommend you to tune to your preference, as not everyone prefers the Harman target.
Without too much emphasis/deemphasizing the mid bass, the frequencies of the sound profile are excellent.
Everything else about the sound profile is good. Detail as I said above is excellent, just recessed like the kid in the back corner that knows everything and not the focus of the room. Soundstage is excellent and realistic.
The extra goodies are satisfactory for the most part. Comfort is one of the best out of all headphones I wore in my entire life. You just put it on and you barely notice while multitasking or playing video games. The colors are eye-candy and the cables they provided get the job done for the most part. However, there is no hard case and I had to purchase that separately which I disliked.
Conclusion
The 599s are the kid in the back corner, and the sound overall is pleasant and audiophile. Well, except for the mid-bass, because it muddies the sound. However, EQing it down will fix this issue and once that's done the sound profile is excellent across the board.
However, the 560s also exist. I recently tried them out at Best Buy and I love the detail in those because its straight in your face. The 560s are the overachiever kids, the streaming service with a premium subscription. The 599s gives you what you need, but are more chill and know how to relax.
Overall, I'd say these are excellent, but for the price point hovering around the $110s lately they're not worth it. Get the 560s they're worth the extra $40 USD. However if you find these on sale at around less than $100 these will not disappoint unless you're just want to squeeze every last drop of that detail.
TL;DR: 599s are the chill, quiet, and smart kid with party speakers in the back, so they perform very well while bringing fun into your music. But there is boomy mid-bass so EQ it. However the 560s provide more value on the market lately so just get that if you have neither. But, 599s are worth keeping and not too necessary to upgrade from (to the 560s) if you already have them. These won't disappoint if you find them at less than 100 US Dollars.
599s are good till you realize the 560s exist.
It's gonna be a short review so I'll just get straight to the point.
Methodology
- Listened on: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G15 with Peace APO tuned to Harman Target, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with Wavelet with AutoEQ and limiter on, wired with apple dongle
- Tracks listened: some classical music, "Don't Drift Too Far" by Elephant Revival, RapCaviar playlist on Spotify
Results
The 599s are the kid in the back who knows everything and has a loudspeaker but is shy. The 599s have the detail, it's there but its chillin in the background. You have to listen harder for the specific nit-picky detail and it's there but more recessed, but in a good way where they're in the background. That same kid/headphones also has loudspeakers with bass, so when he decides to play music you get to party with these with the lower-bass.
Mids and Highs are very good. Present in the headphones. All tracks in these frequencies are clear enough to listen to.
Lower-Bass is excellent. Very good for RapCaviar and other modern rap songs, may get in the way for songs using acoustics but you can EQ that down and problem solved. Doesn't remove detail, just is a distraction to it.
Mid-bass, that's where I will dive in specifically.
On "Don't Drift...", they're essential to the openness of the song. It sounds very spacious in there and you're relaxed. However, it can be a bit overpowering there as sometimes it can distract you from the detail, but more often than not, you will feel relaxed and happy with this mid-bass open on this song. On classical same story.
It's a necessary evil, where it overpowers the song but also contributes to the airiness and openness of the song itself.
When I listened to RapCaviar though, it becomes the Achille's heel of these headphones. It detracts from the vocals rappin out and overpowers the song along with the Lower-bass. Lower bass is good itself, but if combined with this part of the frequency it just detracts from the song entirely.
This is just rawdoggin the headphones without any EQ.
However, using PeaceAPO and Wavelet does the trick. It minimalizes this part of the frequency to where you can enjoy the mids and highs as well as partying to the lower-bass while you're at it. I recommend you use these settings as displayed below, (edit 3/30/23) although I would in the end just recommend you to tune to your preference, as not everyone prefers the Harman target.
Without too much emphasis/deemphasizing the mid bass, the frequencies of the sound profile are excellent.
Everything else about the sound profile is good. Detail as I said above is excellent, just recessed like the kid in the back corner that knows everything and not the focus of the room. Soundstage is excellent and realistic.
The extra goodies are satisfactory for the most part. Comfort is one of the best out of all headphones I wore in my entire life. You just put it on and you barely notice while multitasking or playing video games. The colors are eye-candy and the cables they provided get the job done for the most part. However, there is no hard case and I had to purchase that separately which I disliked.
Conclusion
The 599s are the kid in the back corner, and the sound overall is pleasant and audiophile. Well, except for the mid-bass, because it muddies the sound. However, EQing it down will fix this issue and once that's done the sound profile is excellent across the board.
However, the 560s also exist. I recently tried them out at Best Buy and I love the detail in those because its straight in your face. The 560s are the overachiever kids, the streaming service with a premium subscription. The 599s gives you what you need, but are more chill and know how to relax.
Overall, I'd say these are excellent, but for the price point hovering around the $110s lately they're not worth it. Get the 560s they're worth the extra $40 USD. However if you find these on sale at around less than $100 these will not disappoint unless you're just want to squeeze every last drop of that detail.
TL;DR: 599s are the chill, quiet, and smart kid with party speakers in the back, so they perform very well while bringing fun into your music. But there is boomy mid-bass so EQ it. However the 560s provide more value on the market lately so just get that if you have neither. But, 599s are worth keeping and not too necessary to upgrade from (to the 560s) if you already have them. These won't disappoint if you find them at less than 100 US Dollars.
