[Spider7]

Thanks for the advice everyone

I bought a pair early this morning and just received notice that they shipped (Although someone here bought the pair from ebay that I had my eye on at work!)

I almost made a mistake and bought the $150 Bose Triport ones yesterday at bestbuy, but someone recommended I come here first and I'm glad I did

I did see a lot of mention of the A900's here, but the 595's seemed to have a better overall liking from the impressions I've seen (comfortability, portability, and great sound) - It should be really nice to see how they turn out

People say that they leak sound in almost everything I've read - is it really that bad? I know I've had ones in the past where people nearby can hear part of the beat coming from your headphones - but are these to the point where they can clearly hear everything? It doesn't bother me but I'm interested in how bad they are on this set.

EyeAmEye also mentioned a problem with it is the cord length - is it too short? too long? or is there some other problem to worry about with it?
In the past my big griped have been a shortness in cord length (which works fine for a portable, but trying to watch a DVD is near impossible without an extension cable)

As far as music goes, I listen to a little of everything but most of my collection would probably be Pop, Rock, and Techno.

Another problem with my previous sets were the lack of ANY bass for some reason - do the 595's provide decent bass for music/movies that make use of it?

Finally, I do intend to plug it into my computer (for music as well as movies) but all of my audio outputs are located on the back and I'd hate to keep reaching back there to plug in/unplug it when I want to switch it to the receiver or take it out with me - if I get a cord extension cable will it really cut down on my sound quality?

Thanks again for the help with all of this

(EDIT: Bolded the questions to seperate them from my running-on

)

 

[The Monkey]

Re: leakage. Yes, other people will be able to hear clearly what you are hearing.

 

[Jesse40902]

I had a pair of hd555 and the build is same to the hd595.....its not that loud with normal hearing. But if you plan to blast it , people is going to hear it.

 

[Spider7]

Well thats good to know now before I start walking around with the sound blasting out of them and not noticing

Another couple of questions in addition to the ones above..

I was reading some reviews of it on Amazon.com and they mentioned not using the headphone adapter it comes with (the 1/4" to 1/8" plug) as it can cause too much stress on the headphone jack.. and to instead get the Grado 1/4" to 1/8" jack.. Can anyone tell me what this means?

Another review also mentioned how much better these sound with an Amp.. other reviews have said that the difference is minimal at best - does anyone have a definite answer on this?

As an addition to the above, I have no clue what to look for (or even where to look) for a headphone amp.. Can someone direct me to a relatively cheap one that would work good for this pair of headphone? And are these 'specialty items' or would I be able to go to Bestbuy or Frys and buy one?

Thanks again

 

[Jesse40902]

If your talking about amps, best buy dont sell those. I dont think any major/wholesale places sell it.

Also for the 595, you dont need an amp....If your going to get an amp, you might as well buy the 580 since its a big increasements

 

[Spider7]

Awesome

I wasn't looking to buy an amp for it (and it was one of the reasons I went for the 595's opposed to the 580's which people seem to say need an amp).

I did notice the 595's I bought are the 50ohm version opposed to the 120ohm version - without having a clue what the difference is.. can someone explain this to me?

 

[Jesse40902]

Hey spider, I was in your shoes about a month ago. The 120 and 50 ohm really has minor differences. With 50ohm, the headphone is easier to drive than the 120 ohms.

In short terms, you got what people considered the "better" version. Now listen to some music and I would love your early impressions

 

[padi89]

The headphone jack on the HD595 is a 1/4"(large plug) and it plugs into a 1/8" adapter(small walkman style jack) so it can be plugged into a portable device.On the HD595 this is a pretty thick and heavy 3" long adapter at the end of your cable which can be a bit annoying sticking out of portable devices.Because of its size and weight some people say it could be putting unnessecary stress on the input jack of your source.With the Grado adapter its just a short cable with a 1/4" at one end and 1/8" at the other so no stresses involved.They cost around $15 with free delivery from www.sound-room.com. As for an amping YES they really improve with an Amp(porta corda mkIII usb) and it really gave my 595 the kick up the arse they needed,now i never listen unamped .But it is not nessecary at this time and you will probably end up getting one in the future anyway as long as you are around this place.

 

[Spider7]

That really makes a lot of sense, and I can see it easily causing damage.

I'll definitely give impressions on it once I get it (Monday) - I also have the Grado headphone adapter coming on Wednesday.

I hate to bump this, but another question - I hear all this talk about 'breaking the headphones in' -- is this better to do by just using them normally, or leaving them on (non-stop) for the 3-4 days it takes?

If its the latter, is there any specific type of music that seems to work best, or volume level to play the music at?

 

[donunus]

Not burning them in is fine but OOOh it will sound like dooodooo out of the box. I know my 555s did

 

[padi89]

Spider the hd595 does not sound like doodoo out of the box.If its your first set of highend headphones they are going to be miles better than your bog standard
headphone.Sure they improve with time,but if you enjoy what you hear from day one then just let them burn in through listening.

 

[donunus]

to put it this way, my px100s were more enjoyable than my 555s when i first put them on without even a minte of burn in. Waaaay bad. my zen micros earbuds were more fun to listen to. It wasnt my ears that needed the burn in. The cans just made a veeeeery big change from 0-50hrs and became more dynamic and smoothed out still even at the 150hour mark. If the 595 is like the 555 it will have a very annoying bright upper midrange and a nasal thin sound out of the box. bass starts kicking in at about 10-20hours and the annoying upper midrange turns to a fast soaring sound especially with strings....oooh very good for the price cause none of my grados can touch them now in the region that i hated them for out of the box. The 555s are still congested compared to hd650s though. Maybe the 595s are much better at this than the 555 hmmm don't know, I havent read anyone saying that the 595 is less congested when many instruments play all at the same time compared to the 595

This is one of the reasons I never opted for the more expensive 595... I figured if I wanted another senn then maybe a 650 or orpheus will do the trick

 

[padi89]

They do take a long time to burn in but i would hardly call it doodoo straight out of the box,they certainly aint THAT bad.Remember he just probably dropped $100 or more on the HD595 i certainly wouldnt like to be told they suck from day one.

 

[Spider7]

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind.

To add (yet another!) question..

My PC has a pretty standard soundcard and its lodged in the very back making it hard to reach at.. I was looking into a USB Sound Card (or headphone port) and came across this:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1122654484359

It seems to get very favorable reviews (on Circuitcity.com and Amazon.com), but it sounds like its an equalizer that mimics Surround Sound on headphones.. I know this is often a problem and was wondering what a general opinion on a device like this (for use with headphones like the HD595) would be?

It would just be for use with Movies/Music on the PC from time to time. The other option would be to plug it into the headphone-out port on the my soundcard.

 

[The Monkey]

Total Bithead for you.