HD598 Disappointment

Burn in will help, report back after 50 hours.

E7 will help a bit as a DAC and amp but the real picture will render itself with

a proper desk sized amp being fed by a decent sound card or stand alone DAC.

I have no firsthand experience here, but I'd give both the drivers and your ears some time to burn in before making any final judgments.  Most people here tend to believe in driver burn-in (not sure where I stand on it), so it's quite possible the sound at the high end will open up a bit.  You may be able to get a better idea of what to expect from some of the bigger HD 598 threads like this one and this one.  Either way, your ears will take some time to adjust to the smoother highs after listening to the brighter AKG headphones.  As Gwarmi said, report back in 50 hours.

An amp may very well help with the male vocals though, and I've read advice suggesting one for the HD 598's:  The HD 598's have an impedance of 50 ohms overall.  That's a bit borderline, but they have a huge spike in the mid-bass range, where their impedance reaches about 275 ohms.  The spike peaks at 100Hz, which is lower than most male vocals, but it extends into a relatively wide range before tapering off completely, and that range definitely includes a lot of male vocals.  You can check out a graph of their impedance vs. frequency here:

http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=7&graphID[]=2851

Judging by the graph, I'm not too surprised that male vocals aren't being presented as well as they could be.  The E7 should definitely help, but the spike is so big that a more powerful amp would probably still show gains.

You'll probably want a bit more confirmation before going and blowing money (or switching headphones) though, so I'd wait for a more experienced poster to give you a more concrete answer about exactly what the HD 598 require (you can also probably find one buried in existing threads too).  In the meantime, this should at least give you a clearer sense of what you're dealing with.

if its out of the box impression, burn in. definitely should fix up within 48 hours.

Burn in won't help much. The only thing that will happen are your ears adjusting to the more laid back treble on your HD598s compared to the AKGs.

IMO the HD-598 doesn't really have laid back treble. To me, it has even more treble than the HD-600 and HD-650 (with stock cables).

I think the problem could be due to amping. Most people on here say they need no amp, but I disagree. Look at the graph on Headroom's website and you'll see there is a spike near 100hz up to 275ohm or something like that.

Even a $25 E5/E6 might help.

BTW I never had a Sennheiser that needed any burn-in to sound very good. Lucky me. I'm also a huge believer of burn-in.

Also..see if you can try another source and check if you get the same results.

Burn in + an E7, i own this setup and it works awesome. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdockweiler 

IMO the HD-598 doesn't really have laid back treble. To me, it has even more treble than the HD-600 and HD-650 (with stock cables).

I think the problem could be due to amping. Most people on here say they need no amp, but I disagree. Look at the graph on Headroom's website and you'll see there is a spike near 100hz up to 275ohm or something like that.

 

Even a $25 E5/E6 might help.

 

BTW I never had a Sennheiser that needed any burn-in to sound very good. Lucky me. I'm also a huge believer of burn-in.

 

Also..see if you can try another source and check if you get the same results.

my hd 650s sounded pretty good without burn-in. however, they definitely open up with burn-in

and hd  5xx series, most people consider them to be brighter than the hd 600/650s...

the hd  650s in particular have very smooth laid-back  treble that is completely the opposite of bright. its just slightly rolled off but very clean and smooth. never fatiguing. 

My first "serious" headphone was 702, and honest, I have been a burn-in believer since that day. It took more than 200 hours for my phone to settle, but you should notice the difference within the first 50 hours. I locked it in a drawer, and keep sound flowing through the phone overnight. Some people just burn 300 hours straight, but I would recommend at least to give it a break every day.

The impression you had, was exactly what I experienced with 702.

You just made the exact same update I have been thinking about for a while.  I currently have the AKG K518DJ headphones with the bluetack mod.  Would it be possible for you to explain what the differences in sounds are like?  Do you have the Blue Tack mod?  I am just wondering if it is going to be significantly better than my current AKGs.  Any opinions would be good! Thanks!

I had the same reaction when I got my 598's a couple of weeks ago.

50+ hours of burn in made a big difference to me.

In my case, the burn in was "unattended", so it wasn't a matter of my ears gradually adjusting to the headphones.

I've also found that amping takes them up a notch, but they're quite enjoyable straight out of my Sansa Clip+ and Fuze (Rockboxed)

They are currently my favorites, though the Grado 325i's are a very close second.

YMMV

:)

Sennheisers can sound a little dark when you compare them to AKGs... if burn-in doesn't work, try equalising the 10kHz up by 4-5dB and then scale it down a little on 9kHz, on 8kHz, until you hit 0db, which should be about 2-3kHz. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianthomas7 

 

Don't have the Blue Tack mod. The AKG has a much more shallow/flat and focused sound, much brighter, highs more shrill. This ends up giving vocals slightly more texture to my ears. Also performers better on low bass, resonates cleaner and more pronounced. I would explain it as having the typical v shaped "rock" eq setting vs. the much more balanced 598.

 

The 598s sound much fuller, seem to surround your brain. They sound great, just a bit muffled. As weird as it may be, I would say the soundstage is actually better on the AKGs in terms of how distant instruments are from each other, but the 598s definitely handle more complex sounds/multiple instruments better. I know that may not make sense, but it is what my ears hear. The 598s really stand out on mid bass, really controlled and thumpy but clean

 

Hope this helps a little, still need some time with them.

 

I don't know if you are still keeping your AKGs but you may want to try the blue tack mod in the future.  It can be fully reversed anyway so it wouldn't hurt and you could end up with a headphone which you like.  For me it made the soundstage wider and the bass was toned down.  Other people say it increases the mids and trebles but I never perceived that.

Thanks for the opinions, they are helpful.  To be honest I expected the HD 598 to absolutely blow me away with all the praise they get round here and for them to be far better than my AKGs with soundstage and audio quality.  Still thinking about getting them!