Had these and couldn't wait to get rid of them. I agree with What Hi-Fi? who gave these 3 stars out of 5 and said they were dull and boring. These headphones do manage to suck the life out of any music.

If you want something to help you relax then these are the right cans for you, but you will get bored and you won't feel much from listening to vocals and music, which for me is like missing the point of music.

I now have Creative Aurvana Live! headphones which are so much better than these. Much more exciting. Much more interesting to listen to. I honestly believe people who rate the HD598 highly don't have another decent set of energetic sounding headphones to compare them with. Once you listen to something like the Aurvana, there's no going back to Boresville.

I would like to reply to some of the ignorant comments made below this review but, for some reason, this website does not allow it. So i will respond to those comments here.

When a respected reviewer like InnerFidelity doesn't even bother to review the Sennheiser HD598 then perhaps it is because he knows they are not worthy of a review. MarcadoStalker7, don't pretend you know my likes or dislikes. I like smooth headphones as much as the next guy, but there is a big difference between smooth and dull.

Negative comments on the CAL! are also way off. Those headphones are praised by the respected reviewers. After all, they made it onto InnerFidelity's Hall of Fame. Go there to read about them MarcadoStalker7, Xinze and skyforger. You all might learn something if you do. Don't even think about comparing the CAL! to Beats and other similar rubbish.

I bought these headphones because of all the hype on forums such as this one claiming they are better than headphones costing several times more. Compared to my £150 Grado SR125i there is no contest. The Grados simply blow these away. Before i listened to the Grados I thought these headphones sounded good. But after i heard the Grados i wanted to sell the Monoprice immediately.

They are about as good as my Koss KSC75 but with a bit more bass. Now I quite like the Koss, so it is no bad thing being as good as those. But the Koss are £12 earphones, so the price of the Monoprice is about right for what you get.

In my opinion, the people who hype these up on forums are too impressed by the low price and have not made proper comparisons to decent headphones. Then there are those who have nothing better to do than to make wild claims about the sound quality of the headphones they own. I would be very careful about believing these people and all of their hype. I was taken in, but I wish I had read reviews from more experienced and trustworthy people who recommend the Creative Aurvana Live in this price range. Those are the headphones i would choose if you are looking to spend little money. The CAL have a similar sound to the Monoprice, but when you compare the two you notice how much more energy and sparkle the CAL have. This extra energy makes a huge difference. They make the Monoprice seem a bit dull and boring. I may even get rid of the Grados now that I've heard how good the CAL sound.

Final negative for me is that the Monoprice are uncomfortable thanks to the fake leather pads that made me sweat after about 10 minutes.