Quote: If you find the price difference negligible, I would get the HD 600 because they are more of a vintage item. In addition, many recordings have been audio engineered using HD 600.    But if you consider the price difference, the HD 598 is by far the superior purchase. The HD600...

Quote: Couple things I want to address here: 1) Irrelevancy of price: in the headphone world, higher price does not necessarily mean superior quality. Price is determined for various numbers of reasons (materials, production, audience, etc.). Forget about the price.    2) Q701 and...

Quote: I am running them with the E17 currently. Subtle difference whether you amp it or not (but I feel the same way with practically all headphones below 300 ohms). That said, yes they are great even without an amp. Some argue that an amp with more current input would make a difference...

Quote: Oh yeah definitely. The way I got this name in the first place was because the Nwavguy had a reputation for this name. I thought it'd be fun to take it and heck, it was available. I'm a big Harry Potter fan as well. And I did start this thread about a year ago and it's interesting...

Ugh a few weeks after I purchased the Mad Dog w/ dog pads the alpha pads come out :( But whatever. I'm still quite excited about this.   The Mad Dogs do need a slight raise in (some) parts of the midrange area so the alpha pads would make a good upgrade. But $60... 

^ LOL 

Haven't been on head-fi for a while... 960 posts since I left this thread. Time to get out my reading glasses.  

Pads --> pads to make a noticeable difference to the sound. Probably more noticeable than upgrading your amps... The question is whether it is worth the money.    EQ --> I've had the opportunity to borrow a Q701 twice and they both had to be severely EQ'd for me to enjoy them. I'm not sure...

Best advice: get a different headphone.    K701 is notorious for listening fatigue. An amp/ dac upgrade isn't going to miraculously tame those peaks in the treble region. 

Quote: I would have to disagree with you on the imaging. But I'd agree with you on the upper mids. They are smooth but I can see how people may find the upper mid of the HD598 to be a bit too forward. Of course this isn't always a bad thing, the same way a boosted bass isn't always...

HD-598 is a bit lacking in the area below 70 hertz (subbass). However, it has plenty of midbass and upperbass, clearly obvious from the piano tracks I listen to.    The HD-598 has noticeably more clarity in the midrange than the HD-595. Clearly, people who have found only subtle differences...

Quote: Yes. The placement of your headphones as well as how used the earpads are affect how you perceive the sound significantly. It could be for good or for bad.    The HD598 is largely neutral, and I find that neutral headphones tend to need greater volume to sound great. I find the...

Quote: The HD598 lacks subbass but has quite a bit of mid-upper bass.    I think the problem here is that you are too used to the sound of earbuds, which emphasize a certain part of the frequency response. Meaning, even if you listened to a pair of $1000+ headphones, there's always this...

It's a myth that the HD6xx series are better than the HD5xx series. In terms of minor technicalities like distortion and slightly wider frequency range, yes the HD6xx are designed to be better. But me and many other audiophiles can testify to you that the HD5xx series have a superior soundstage...

Quote: I've listened to the Q701 and the K701 separately, so I never made a direct comparison between the two. But despite everyone saying the Q701 is improved over the K701 (which could be true), it still maintains its biggest flaws (treble peaks, imaging, tonality, etc.). It's not even...

Quote: K701 is definitely not an upgrade.   I think from this price onwards, you'll find that technicalities (THD, frequency range, etc.) matter less than how the headphone is tuned (frequency response, soundstage, etc.) It is mostly about finding what you prefer. If you want a...

Quote: When people talk of something sounding a "class above", it is usually just psychological bias. Consider the Mad Dogs I own for instance. I bought it because there are people out there who have actually sold their LCD-2/ LCD-3s because they find the Mad Dogs to be in the "same league"...

Quote: If you listen at average volume, enough sound will leak out that another person will be able to makeout what song you are listening to. If you listen at below average volume, then it will be fine. However, since these have no noise isolation, people tend to increase their volume more...

Quote: This all depends on what genres you listen to. The HD598 doesn't sound TOO different from the HD595 but is this a bad thing? The HD595 has one of the best soundstage of any headphones, with a very neutral frequency response considering the price. The HD598 has lower distortion, more...

Quote: Yes E7 is fine. 

Quote: I agree. Straight from the CD or a reliable source, 192 or 256 kbps is fine. 

For those genres, go with the HD598 or HD600. And between the two, I would go for the HD598 which I find superior despite the price difference. The HD650 is a bit too dark for those genres and the Grados/ AKG can be easily fatiguing unless you are willing to EQ. And if you look at people's...

Quote: Hmm I just finished practicing the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 a few min ago.    I'm all for EQ myself. Maybe I should give the DT880 another chance, with the treble EQ'd down? 

Quote: I did read your post. Even within classical music, you have to be specific. For instance, if you listen to cello music I doubt you'd perceive the 598 as being harsh. With the upper registers of the violin, I could see how one can come to that conclusion though. With organ music, I...

Quote: Btw for low level listening, some people believe that V-shaped curves of the frequency response will be more present than with neutral curves. And both the DT880 and HD598/650 are relatively neutral.    DT880 doesn't have the harshest treble but it should be tamed down. Like I...