Thanks for the kind words all. I am not well versed in headphones at all, so I was a bit concerned that I would get some "strange looks" for posting an off the wall review that flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Good to know, that my experience with these is similar to the general consensus.
One other thing to note, that I forgot during my write up, is the supplied cable. I have nothing negative to say about it at all, and (I cannot stress this enough) LOVE the generous length. It allows me to comfortably move around the room, and sit back from the t.v., to watch movies comfortably with these on.
I am undecided about the twist to lock end however. While it seems like a great idea to avoid accidentally pulling the cable out, I also worry about accidentally stepping on it, or otherwise jerking it way too hard, and causing breakage. I am hoping this is a good design, but only time will tell on that.
The thickness and pliability of the cable seem to be quite good as well. Even with the length of the cable, I haven't experienced any issues with tangling. Kudo's to Sennheiser on that.
Having said all that, I am a bit surprised that Senn did not include an additional shorter cable for portable/on the go use. Sure, open back 'phones aren't generally considered to be portable phones, but the 598s seems to be driven decently well with an ipod, so you would think that Senn would want to try to take advantage of that segment of the market as well. Especially in this day and age, where personal/portable audio players are king.
