[Gravit8]

Hey guys, I've had the HD558s (foam mod) for about a week now, and have been really enjoying them...  While reading other's thoughts I found this article http://marlene-d.blogspot.com...
 
If you scroll down to the "Tech Section" he claims that plugging the headphones into anything greater than 60 OHMS will cause the sound to become extremely bassy (referring to the large spike in the impedance response chart), and flood the mids and highs. So to test this I unplugged them out of my Magni and into the stock output on my computer.  Wow, the mids and highs became far more clear, and the separation in instruments felt almost double it's previous capacity.  Now I'm sort of a noob to this HiFi world, could someone please either confirm that this is the case, or if it's just placebo effect?  Only reason I doubt it's a placebo effect is that I WANTED to like the sound coming from the magni better, considering it costs $100 and the chip on my MOBO is probably worth $2.  
 
If you look to this graph here > =2861&graphID[]=2851&graphID[]=573&scale=30]http://graphs.headphone.com... you can see that the HD598 & HD600 have similar impedance response forms.  So if you have either of those, any information would still be relative I think.
 
Any input or experience here would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[PurpleAngel]

Using an amplifier like the Magni, should be helping to bring out detail and making the bass have less of a booming (louder, less detail) sound.
What motherboard are you using?
I'm assuming your plugging the Magni into the same port that you also plug the HD558 straight into?

 

[Lumos]

What is your source- from where signal goes to Magni? Probably you double amping and thus getting mess 
If you want more bass try to EQ them
 
I have Magni/Modi HD558, 598, 650 and 600 are on the way. compared to other amps like O2 and Fiio E11 Magni is less bright...

 

[Gravit8]

The magni's source is a Modi.  I've checked and double checked, there's no EQ on either.  Nothing on the media player, or through windows.  Why are the headphones rated at 50 ohms if they need 300 ohms to reach their full " potential ".  Why is there such a big spike at that 100hz range? Other than Sennheiser, I couldn't see anything similar from other headphones when looking through graphs.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  The magni's source is a Modi.  I've checked and double checked, there's no EQ on either.  Nothing on the media player, or through windows.  Why are the headphones rated at 50 ohms if they need 300 ohms to reach their full " potential ".  Why is there such a big spike at that 100hz range? Other than Sennheiser, I couldn't see anything similar from other headphones when looking through graphs.
 

Is the Modi the USB or optical unit?
I'm guess Sennheiser designed there HD558s to work well with A/V receivers and powerful headphone amplifiers.
The reason being, that it is thought that with a high impedance, it requires a lot of voltage to overcome that impedance, and the more voltage, the better control over the diaphragm, so the better the audio quality.
But I'm really just guessing on why Sennheiser designed the HD558 the way they did.

 

[Gravit8]

  Is the Modi the USB or optical unit?
I'm guess Sennheiser designed there HD558s to work well with A/V receivers and powerful headphone amplifiers.
The reason being, that it is thought that with a high impedance, it requires a lot of voltage to overcome that impedance, and the more voltage, the better control over the diaphragm, so the better the audio quality.
But I'm really just guessing on why Sennheiser designed the HD558 the way they did.

It's USB.  I understand using higher ohms for the better control, but why only in that specific range?  So the article that I posted you think is crap?

http://marlene-d.blogspot.com...
If you scroll down to the "Tech Section" he claims that plugging the headphones into anything greater than 60 OHMS will cause the sound to become extremely bassy.

I'm not defending him, I just want to know. 
Thanks for the help btw!

 

[PurpleAngel]

  It's USB.  I understand using higher ohms for the better control, but why only in that specific range?  So the article that I posted you think is crap?

 
I never read the article until you posted the link and I would not think to call it (you know what).
I can only make guesses (with my tiny brain) about your headphone issues (situation).
Wonder if there is something defective in your Schiit hardware?
You might try plugging the Magni into the motherboard's headphone jack to see how affects the sound.

 

[Gravit8]

   
I never read the article until you posted the link and I would not think to call it (you know what).
I can only make guesses (with my tiny brain) about your headphone issues (situation).
Wonder if there is something defective in your Schiit hardware?
You might try plugging the Magni into the motherboard's headphone jack to see how affects the sound.

You seem a bit self loathing there hahaha... I think were allowed to call it crap xD  The guy owns his own blog, he doesn't post sources or any factual data, it's all just biased opinions.
 
Alright I'll try that.  It seems as though if I EQ out the bass (around 100 hz region) while using the magni, I can get the same effect as plugging them into the headphone jack.. The bass tends to leak into other tonal regions on these cans it seems.  

 

[Lumos]

I tried HD598 with old Dell laptop jack and then Magni/Modi.  Yes, bass became boomy... well... I call it degrading sound. 558/598 is really bass light only 650 has substantially more bass but it is not very well articulated and tight.
 
Impedance bump is designing error and not supposed to be better for any gear you plug them into. 

 

[fabiobueno]

I had the same experiencie with HD598 and ODAC+O2. It sounded a bit better straight from a laptop headphone jack...

 

[Lumos]

  I had the same experiencie with HD598 and ODAC+O2. It sounded a bit better straight from a laptop headphone jack...

Please elaborate what do you mean in better? more bass?

 

[fabiobueno]

 
Please elaborate what do you mean in better? more bass?

More clean sound.
 
From the Odac+O2 the HD598 had more bass, but overall sounded a bit muffled.

 

[fabiobueno]

I should add that this only happened to the hd598, any other headphone that I plugged into the O2 sounded great...
 
This year I got a Schiit Vali, but my hd598 is borrowed to a friend, so I never got to test them together...

 

[Lumos]

  I should add that this only happened to the hd598, any other headphone that I plugged into the O2 sounded great...
 
This year I got a Schiit Vali, but my hd598 is borrowed to a friend, so I never got to test them together...

So you have just great onboard sound then

 
haha no disrespect but what you are saying is impossible.
what is your onboard sound card? Realtek?
 
by the way I have Asus Xonar U3 output impedance is 23 Ohm and 598 sound much more worse...

 

[Blackened7]

Without an amp, how are they? Are they good/better than the M50's? I ordered the 558's and I hope they're good.