My E10s are coming in tomorrow. I'll comment on them after listening for a while.

Let me tell you my impressions and thoughts of Fiio E10 when pairing with HD598. You feel like the mid and high somehow are so far far away and there are many negative things but I let you experience by yourself.

I looked and Amazon still hasn't even shipped out my hadphones yet ...bastards.

Anyway, is the 1/4in cable that comes with the Sennheiser HD598s good enough, or should I look into getting a better one?

If so, suggestions?

Secondly, Which would pair better with them:

Fiio E17 or

Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1

My initial impression is... damn. For better or worse, it seems to make the headphones a lot more transparent compared to the Xonar DG. The flaws of both the music you listen to and the flaws of the headphones themselves are a lot clearer now. The bloated bass of the DG is gone (thank god), but now modern songs sound unforgivably loud (which is to say the mids tend to overpower everything). Although most of my albums sound worse now (Like Cheryl Lynn's Preppie, Quasimode's Sounds of Peace, and almost everything mastered after 1991), some sound way, way better. (Michael Jackson's Thriller and Daft Punk's Discovery being standouts.)

I'm probably still going to keep it, though. It plays nice with my sensitive IEMs and there's always a chance it'll sound better after being burnt in (AKA "I'll get used to how it sounds and tell myself that the machine somehow magically changed itself.")

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatboyMac 

 

I'm probably still going to keep it, though. It plays nice with my sensitive IEMs and there's always a chance it'll sound better after being burnt in (AKA "I'll get used to how it sounds and tell myself that the machine somehow magically changed itself.")

lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatboyMac 

My initial impression is... damn. For better or worse, it seems to make the headphones a lot more transparent compared to the Xonar DG. The flaws of both the music you listen to and the flaws of the headphones themselves are a lot clearer now. The bloated bass of the DG is gone (thank god), but now modern songs sound unforgivably loud (which is to say the mids tend to overpower everything). Although most of my albums sound worse now (Like Cheryl Lynn's Preppie, Quasimode's Sounds of Peace, and almost everything mastered after 1991), some sound way, way better. (Michael Jackson's Thriller and Daft Punk's Discovery being standouts.)

 

I'm probably still going to keep it, though. It plays nice with my sensitive IEMs and there's always a chance it'll sound better after being burnt in (AKA "I'll get used to how it sounds and tell myself that the machine somehow magically changed itself.")

The HD-598 should never have mids that are overpowering everything or too forward. On a very transparent setup the entire signature should be pretty smooth. Even for the really bright recordings with the mids/treble cranked up at the studio it's not too bad. For me the 598 took a slight edge off some bad material.

I hated the E10 with the HD-598. My impression was that it shoved the lower mids right up in my face and made it way too fatiguing. Yes, the 598 fatiguing! Not sure how that's even possible! I think the upper mids and treble were reduced a little.

Any headphone with forward mids and that's somewhat warm is no go for me with the E10. I also disliked it with the DJ100. The E10 however was OK for the AKG Q701.

For the 598 my onboard Realtek HD sounded smoother/flatter. I prefer the cheap X-Fi Go Pro for the 598 as a budget DAC/amp. Some complained about hissing or noise but I didn't have any.

I bet the E7 would be a much better match for the 598.

BTW the DG measures flat it seems until it has a 64ohm load and then it seems to go downhill. Here's a review with measurements:

http://ko.goldenears.net/board/1178592

If you have a Best Buy in your city you could always try the X-Fi Go Pro and then return it if you hate it. I paid $35 for mine.

For the 598 I was pretty impressed with it. You don't even need to install it's software! I just had to select it in windows from the system tray.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chimmycham 

I looked and Amazon still hasn't even shipped out my hadphones yet ...bastards.

 

Anyway, is the 1/4in cable that comes with the Sennheiser HD598s good enough, or should I look into getting a better one?

If so, suggestions?

 

Secondly, Which would pair better with them:

 

Fiio E17 or

Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1

.

I have the HD598's and the Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1 Plus.  

I got them both about a month or two ago.

I think they pair well together - but I believe that any "pairing" is dependent upon 3 things:

1.  The combination of headphones, amp and source (MP3, turntable/cartridge, CD player, etc etc)

2.  The type of music - jazz, rock, pop, classical, electronic, etc etc

3.  The listener's ear (most important part).

Given that, I listen to mostly jazz (all types) through a variety of sources (although mostly turntables - AT1240USB, Technics SL-1200M3D's, and CD players and MP3 players (various ones)).

The "pairing" works well for me - given my old ears and everything mentioned above.

So - the only real way is to try the pairing yourself.  If that means buying both and trying, so be it.

If it means it doesn't work for you and you sell the equipment used, and try another pairing, so be it.

That's the cost of finding what works for you.

.

Anyone here EQ their 598's with Electri-Q? Currently using foobar's built in graphical EQ negatively to get a bit more punch out of my bass, but I hear graphical EQ's aren't an optimal solution. I'm just interested in seeing what you guys use, and if I may ask for some presets to try myself. I'm not very familiar with tweaking Electri-Q manually, I'm afraid.

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArcticZero 

Anyone here EQ their 598's with Electri-Q? Currently using foobar's built in graphical EQ negatively to get a bit more punch out of my bass, but I hear graphical EQ's aren't an optimal solution. I'm just interested in seeing what you guys use, and if I may ask for some presets to try myself. I'm not very familiar with tweaking Electri-Q manually, I'm afraid.

 

Thanks!

i use equalizer by nevi, its a plugin for winamp. basically its a 250 band qraphic eq  from -60 till +20, works kind of like a paremetric eq since you can make rather smooth curves with them

I've read that using a better cable than the one provided by Sennheiser makes a world of difference.

I'm a musician and have got 3-4 Monster Cables from Guitar Center.

Would one of these suffice, or would you guys recommend something else?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdockweiler 

 

Switched to the Mogami and there's a huge increase in sound clarity and the mids are just how they should be. Yes, with the Mogami I could even say the HD-598 is nearly crystal clear. I couldn't quite say that with it's stock cable. The Mogami seems to offer the best soundstage too. So, can't say it enough, if you want the same signature of the HD-598, but improve it by a ton, use Mogami.

 

For people who aren't believers of cable upgrades, try a stock HD-598 and one with a cheap Mogami cable. All my other headphone cable upgrades made just minor differences. I'm a believer of the fact that 75% of stock cables are junk.

Why are all of these people soldering anything?

The cable is detachable..

Am I missing something here?

I am really loving my HD 598s!   What woud be the next headphone up that will make a large and obvious improvement in music sound quality?  I mainly listen to classical, some jazz, and a little bit of classic rock.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitchflorida 

I am really loving my HD 598s!   What woud be the next headphone up that will make a large and obvious improvement in music sound quality?  I mainly listen to classical, some jazz, and a little bit of classic rock.

probably the HD700, and the HD800 if you wallet can handle it, but do note starting from the HD650 you are going to have to pick your amps wisely. a lightly amped HD650 would probably sound worse than a lightly amped HD598 (used C-entrance DACport to test). but if properly amped the HD650 would probably outshine the HD598. but do note that the amps are probably going to be expensive as heck too.
or you could head in a different direction and get the HE500 or LCD2 if you ever want a darker sound signature.