[Mad Max]

Your post is clearly off topic in this thread.

 

[gargani]

I own the HD 518 and i really dislike the bass on them. It's just to too wobbly/muddy/imprecise.
Listening to Air's "Femme d'argent", it feels like the sub bass and small notes are being swallowed.

I am now wondering if these are simply the wrong headphones for me or whether getting an Amp would improve things?

I am running them via an Sound Blaster Z currently. Yesterday i tried them with a Sennheiser GSX 1000 in stereo mode and I'm IMAGINING that the sound was clearer and tighter, but the difference wasn't worlds. Then again, as I understand the GSX 1000 is not a particularly good headphone amp. The thing is, the SBZ has an output impedance of 22Ohms, so this might be affecting the bass in a bad way.
III
What do you guys think, should I just get rid of the 518's or would an amp tighten them up in the bass department?

I'm using them mostly for gaming and the virtual surround, but even then I can hear that the bass isn't quite how I want it, it sounds often like farting to be honest. Don't get me wrong, I do want cans with a good and powerful bass, but it should precise and tight and offer enough details even in low frequencies.

Opinions?

HD 518 has always sounded weird to me; I just don't like them. Its upper bass/lower mids just are just too elevated, which makes them sound shouty and wonky to me. And that's me running them through an O2 that is known to be lean sounding, so the amp didn't really make them sound better to me.

Most definitely your SBZ increased the HD518 bass to another level of bloatness due to its high output impedance. I don't know the output impedance for the GSX1000 so I can't really tell if a low output impedance amp can make them sound better to you (the O2 didn't for me and that has a 0.54 ohm output impedance). What you can do is plug your 518s into your cell phone, and listen through them for a while to other songs as well, and see if you like them since it's very likely that your cellphone output jack will have a low output impedance (so it shouldn't sound as bloated and distorted).

If you don't like them still, then most likely the HD518's are not for you.

I was able to make the HD518 sound better by swapping its pads out with HD598s, but in return the comfort is worse FOR ME because the softer 598 pads cuz my ears to touch the driver. YMMV.

I agree with crispswish that the 22 ohm impedance will add extra bloatedness as well as a boost to the bass of the 518's. I also use an o2 amp . If I plug the 518's into the headphone jack of my Yamaha stereo reciever, which has a very high output impedance, then plug them into my o2; the bass is way less elevated and bloated , with the o2.

However, even when plugged into an amp or device with a low output impedance; the sound signature of the 518's is to some extent a bloated bass. Probably, because of the elevated bass/lower midrange. Still, when plugged into my o2, It doesn't really bother me.I can understand though, that it might bother some people.

 

[Zimtron]

Your post is clearly off topic in this thread.

Sorry, I don't get the sarcasm?

The HD598's are overrated to high hell, if you want to mod a set of 518s/558s to sound better and spend less then I definitely encourage others to do so. They are literally all the same headphone with different enclosures, I actually found the 598's headband to be less quality ("burl wood").

Cheers.

 

[walk_the_moon]

What you can do is plug your 518s into your cell phone, and listen through them for a while to other songs as well, and see if you like them since it's very likely that your cellphone output jack will have a low output impedance (so it shouldn't sound as bloated and distorted).
If you don't like them still, then most likely the HD518's are not for you.

Tried it on my phone, sounds pretty much the same. Only difference I am able to hear is on the GSx 1000, which is why i believe the combo of low impedance and amp make them soudn tighter.

If you are willing to modify the headphone, add polyester fiberfill: https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/8820243.jpg
This will reduce the resonances hurting bass (among other things) inside of those semi-vented cups. Dynamat Xtreme on the back of each driver magnet will restore treble clarity and tighten up the whole sound a bit (shown in that same photo).
To get inside, pull of the earpads off then remove three screws you see under where they were attached, et voilà.

Studio speakers use that same material to cut down on cabinet resonances: https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/9048630.jpg

Otherwise, no, an amplifier is not the solution at all. Consider instead a different headphone altogether if you don't want to modify your HD518.

Thanks that's some excellent input, also to the others for the valuable feedback, i appreciate it.
I will consider the mod, problem is that this dynamat stuff is expensive and I have to buy a whole roll just for a few snippets of the stuff.

Any comments on this mod?
https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/the-sennheiser-hd518-it-just-needs-to-gain-some-weight.595120/

It's involves putting Plasticine around the outer rim inside the cup. From the reports I read there, bass seems to tighten up quite a bit Thoughts?
Also when doing the polyester fiberfill mod, wouldn't that make the phones more closed and thus decrease the openness of the sound stage? Since I use them for surround gaming, I want them to be as open as possible...

 

[Mad Max]

As long as you don't add too much fiberfill (which would make the headphone sound like you are listening to it with a pillow wrapped around your head), there will be no drawbacks to the soundstaging - on the contrary, cup reverb hurts soundstaging, too, so eliminating it will improve the soundstage all-around and even increase its size a tad bit, too.

Try that mod if you wish as well, but I'd still recommend Dynamat (if you can) over plasticine and blu-tack as it is much more effective per gram. These materials are for reducing the minute vibrations radiating out from the drivers, into the surrounding plastic, then back into the drivers and causing overall coloration, reduction of bass control and subbass extension, treble harshness (in some headphones), soundstage reduction (in some headphones, not HD5x8), and loss of clarity in some part(s) of the audio band. Nothing beats Dynamat, though. You can always resell your leftovers on head-fi due to the many modders that haunt this site, haha. Or perhaps some seller or another might be nice enough to send you a small sample size or can be convinced to sell a smaller quantity to you?

 

[crispswish]

Tried it on my phone, sounds pretty much the same. Only difference I am able to hear is on the GSx 1000, which is why i believe the combo of low impedance and amp make them soudn tighter.

Earlier you said that you were "IMAGINING that the sound was clearer and tighter, but the difference wasn't worlds," I guess you are more certain now. If you think the difference is significant enough to justify the cost, then go ahead and get the GSX 1000 or a low impedance amp.

 

[walk_the_moon]

As long as you don't add too much fiberfill (which would make the headphone sound like you are listening to it with a pillow wrapped around your head), there will be no drawbacks to the soundstaging - on the contrary, cup reverb hurts soundstaging, too, so eliminating it will improve the soundstage all-around and even increase its size a tad bit, too.

Try that mod if you wish as well, but I'd still recommend Dynamat (if you can) over plasticine and blu-tack as it is much more effective per gram. These materials are for reducing the minute vibrations radiating out from the drivers, into the surrounding plastic, then back into the drivers and causing overall coloration, reduction of bass control and subbass extension, treble harshness (in some headphones), soundstage reduction (in some headphones, not HD5x8), and loss of clarity in some part(s) of the audio band. Nothing beats Dynamat, though. You can always resell your leftovers on head-fi due to the many modders that haunt this site, haha. Or perhaps some seller or another might be nice enough to send you a small sample size or can be convinced to sell a smaller quantity to you?

Just wanted to report back. I did the mod suggested by you and what can I say... It's lake I have a new set of headphones! The bass finally has some texture, kick bass has kick and clarity seems to have improved, they also truly sound more open now. Boy I had no idea what differnce such small modifications can make. Listening to music with these cans is finally fun
Just to make sure it's not placebo I first did only the left and the difference was stunning. I can only describe it as the left side having more presence, the other sounded... muffled and boring.

Now I had to improvise a bit since I had none of the materials you suggested. Instead of fibre fill I used cotton wadding, taking care not to add too much.
As for the dynamat, I substituted it with double sided adhesive tape. The tape itself is quite thick (it's some sort of rubber), but I went the extra mile and added some kind of packaging styrofoam I had lying around. No idea if I could have done it better by applying more or less of any of the materials but I'm quite happy with the results. I'm listening to some electronic music as I type this and I just realised I was nodding my head to the bass line

So yeah thanks again. I was seriously considering just getting new cans but I think I'm gonna keep this for a while now

I attached pics in case anyone is interested.

Now I was also considering removing the grills, but since I have no adequate substitute I let them be. I was considering just using nylon stockings but I'm not really sure how that would work/look.
What would be the benefits tho, more open sound I guess?
Cheers

 

[Zimtron]

Tried it on my phone, sounds pretty much the same. Only difference I am able to hear is on the GSx 1000, which is why i believe the combo of low impedance and amp make them soudn tighter.



Thanks that's some excellent input, also to the others for the valuable feedback, i appreciate it.
I will consider the mod, problem is that this dynamat stuff is expensive and I have to buy a whole roll just for a few snippets of the stuff.

Any comments on this mod?
https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/the-sennheiser-hd518-it-just-needs-to-gain-some-weight.595120/

It's involves putting Plasticine around the outer rim inside the cup. From the reports I read there, bass seems to tighten up quite a bit Thoughts?
Also when doing the polyester fiberfill mod, wouldn't that make the phones more closed and thus decrease the openness of the sound stage? Since I use them for surround gaming, I want them to be as open as possible...

I've done the mod in that thread you posted, also removed the back plates to make them open and swapped out the stock pads with some HM5's.

You peaked my interest in these cans again after reading this thread (they were sitting for a few months), my perspective on them is starting to change ... the bass still needs A LOT of work.

 

[Mad Max]

Replacing the grills like some folks have done will simply eliminate the need for the fiberfill.

 

[Nidhal]

Sup guys, sorry if my question was already asked, I don't know how to search inside a thread but does anyone know if these earpads http://headphonespares.sennheiser.c...es/hd-559/ear-pads-andndash-1-pair-hd559.html fit on an HD598? Appreciate ya.

 

[crispswish]

Sup guys, sorry if my question was already asked, I don't know how to search inside a thread but does anyone know if these earpads http://headphonespares.sennheiser.c...es/hd-559/ear-pads-andndash-1-pair-hd559.html fit on an HD598? Appreciate ya.

They will most certainly fit because they still have the same design. HOWEVER, they will change the sound sig and comfort of your 598s because it will be like fitting 518 pads to a pair of 598. The 559s are actually "successors" to the 518, not 558. Your 598 will get more bass, but probably not in a good way for the rest of the sound signature (I swapped the 518 pads to the 598s before). Comfort also went down because the 518 pad just isn't as comfortable as the 598's. I do like the added bass, but overall it wasn't worth it for me to sacrifice other things. You should probably at least go for the 579 pads cuz they should be more similar to the 599 pads, if you cannot get the previous generation's pads.

 

[Nidhal]

@crispswish I've been looking for a black pair of velour earpads for quite some time now, I've found NONE it's driving me crazy (ship to Austria atleast) that spares website doesn't have replacement neither for the 598SE nor the 598SR it's like they're doing it on purpose, I guess my only option is the grey 579 pads.

 

[Midgetguy]

@crispswish I've been looking for a black pair of velour earpads for quite some time now, I've found NONE it's driving me crazy (ship to Austria atleast) that spares website doesn't have replacement neither for the 598SE nor the 598SR it's like they're doing it on purpose, I guess my only option is the grey 579 pads.

Uhhh.....why don't you get the pads for the HD598Cs? It's also an HD598 with black pads and it's available on that site you linked. Honestly can't imagine they're all that different.

I can't make sense of Sennheiser's HD5xx series anymore

 

[Nidhal]

Uhhh.....why don't you get the pads for the HD598Cs? It's also an HD598 with black pads and it's available on that site you linked. Honestly can't imagine they're all that different.

I can't make sense of Sennheiser's HD5xx series anymore

The 598Cs are closed back and the earpads are some kind of soft protein leather not velour.

 

[crispswish]

@crispswish I've been looking for a black pair of velour earpads for quite some time now, I've found NONE it's driving me crazy (ship to Austria atleast) that spares website doesn't have replacement neither for the 598SE nor the 598SR it's like they're doing it on purpose, I guess my only option is the grey 579 pads.

That sucks. Maybe your Austria market demand is small that's why they don't have it because I can find them in the US pretty easily online. Have you tried UK sites? They might ship to Austria since its in Europe.

I'm not sure if there are any differences between the 558/579 pads and 598/599 pads other than their colors. The 598/599 pads may be just bit softer? Or I might be just imagining.

To be absolutely safe, it's probably best to go for the 598/599 pads unless the price is unreasonable. But 558/579 pads should work without problems since they are definitely pretty close to the 598/599 pads than the 518/579's.




I actually asked them Sennheiser USA about the difference between HD558 and HD598 pads. But I'm not sure if I found their answer to be useful. Below are our email conversations:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Product:
Headphone - Wired

Message:
Difference between HD 558 and HD 598's Earpads

Hi,

Is there any difference between HD 558 and HD 598's earpads other than their colors? I.e. Difference in softness, affect on sound, or construction materials? I own a pair of HD 598 and HD 518. Comparing the earpads on the HD 598 and HD 518, I do notice that there is a difference between materials, softness, and affect on sound. I'm just curious about the HD 558's earpads. Thank you.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting Sennheiser Technical Support.

There are no differences that affect documented specifications, but perceptual changes are not uncommon. It is not quantifiable, but even swapping from old pads to new ones in the same style, some people report differences.

Hopefully this helps, and have a good afternoon.

John Rust

Yours,
John Rust
Technical Support Specialist
Tech Support Sennheiser Electronic Corp.
860-434-9190
www.SennheiserUSA.com