[Headzone]

I think the HD598 are kinda overpriced at the moment. And people claim that Q701 doesn't sound good without a proper amp. How about some DT990 pro's? They're 180$ on amazon with a behringer amp bundle.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

The DT990 Pro is incredibly different from the Q701 and HD598. The 990s are bass and treble oriented, while the others mids oriented, with a slight tilt towards treble. 990s while great (IMHO), won't be as good as the others for vocals, but will make up for it in fuller bass, and energetic treble.

In short.

DT990 if you wanna dance
HD598/Q701 if you wanna be intently listen to the singing itself.

 

[Ultrazino]

Dude, no. The HD598 has still no "tilt towards treble". It's warm. That's it! And the HD598 I know has absolutely no treble peak like you say. It rolls off smoothly in the highs. I hear what I've posted here.
 
I also don't agree with the DT990. In all the time I had the 600 Ohm version (paired with A1), there was absolutely nothing that would make me want to dance. Rich bass, no punch (I found it to be bloated).
 
We seem to have extremely different hearing.
 
Edit: Also the K701 isn't mids oriented.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

 

[leng jai]

Here is my take on the HD595 and K702:
 
HD595: Warmish sound with an emphasis on midrange/vocals. Bass impact is pretty neutral and the treble has a slight sparkle but not overly emphasized.
 
K702: Abnormally large soundstage which messes with its vocal performance. To vocals never sound right on them - they sound distant and sometimes echoey. Sound signature is definitely on the bright side.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Here is my take on the HD595 and K702:
 
HD595: Warmish sound with an emphasis on midrange/vocals. Bass impact is pretty neutral and the treble has a slight sparkle but not overly emphasized.
 
K702: Abnormally large soundstage which messes with its vocal performance. To vocals never sound right on them - they sound distant and sometimes echoey. Sound signature is definitely on the bright side.

For the sake of having someone not die on me:

I agree with leng jai on most of this, though I consider the HD598's to be just very slightly bass shy, and the sound to be more NEUTRAL. I didn't get any warmth from it, but I was using the E9 which is a very neutral amp. I can see this headphone TURNING warm with a tube/warm amp. I definitely still get a very slight treble emphasis.

BTW, I A/B'd the HD598 directly with the PC360, which is essentially an HD595 with a mic. The PC360 came out as the more neutral of the two, with a tilts towards being slightly WARM as a whole (definitely warmer than the HD598, which is why I say the HD598 is on the brighter side). The PC360 had more bass (I'd call it's bass response neutral, therefore calling the HD598 slightly bass shy). HD598 definitely had more mids and slightly more treble.

I agree mostly about the K701, though off the E9, the mids were quite upfront in comparison to the bass and treble, so yes, I'd call them mid-focused, and yes, noticeably brighter than the HD598.

I'm wondering if people are pairing these headphones with tube amps, which would definitely make the HD598 lean towards warmth.

As for the DT990... I won't even go into that here... because frankly, that's off-topic, and I really don't wanna get into it with someone who's about to roid rage.

 

[Ultrazino]

My impressions of the HD598 rely on iPhone 4 (close to 0 ohm output) and A1 amp (100 ohm).
Maybe it's time you give up and agree with the consensus.
 
Of course warmth is a very subjective perception, but experience and relative comparisons have taught most of us (not you, I guess) that the HD598 has a warm tilt. This is also obviously shown in both posted frequency graphs. It's not a "warm" headphone as such, but it's warmer than what reality sounds like. And Sennheiser does this on purpose. This is where the Sennheiser sound comes from. Elevated mid bass with warm mids. This is what makes them enjoyable to most and has a relaxed presentation.
 
Now the K701 looks extremely neutral on the graphs. However, It's lacking fundamental tone (sound becomes brighter) and it lacks resonance, making it sound thin and lacking body. Thus it appears bright and cold instead of actually neutral.
Further, the AKG has a very distant sound. Vocals never sound like they are upfront and personal or even in your head. This is completely different to the mid presentation of Sennheiser. In comparison, I don't see how you could say the AKG is mid oriented.
 
However, the human can only judge in relations. Objectivity does not really exist so we have to rely on experience. From other threads I have already noticed that we come from entirely different directions and also want to perceive sound differently. I see your posts all over the place and you seem to always have an opinion.
But in this thread, as I like neither of the two discussed headphones, I am as objective as I can be and my opinion heavily matches the consensus, especially with that of a well known German HiFi forum.
 
Have a nice day.

 

[tdockweiler]

We could all argue this all day and never get anywhere. Kind of like with the people telling me the Q701 is a clone of the K702

Now I'm a fan of the E9, but don't use it a lot. I don't think it's as flat as a pancake, but pretty close. One thing it seems to be is fairly treble happy (slightly). Once you connect the E7 to it, it's like a double whammy. I always felt too that the E9 gave some headphones an artificially huge soundstage and I'm not sure how.
 
I should connect my HD-598 up to my E9 and see how it is. Maybe perhaps it's less warm, however this is posible? I don't think the E9 is even remotely warm, but I've tried the HD-598 with many different sources and always felt it was warm. Not very warm or slightly warm, but just warm. People coming from say an HD-650 wouldn't call it even remotely warm I imagine.
 
I don't think it matters since everyone has different impressions. Nobody here ever agrees on anything

 
BTW I do think the K702 is fairly mids oriented. It's funny how the last posted was describing the K701...all of that most definitely applies to the K702 (lacking body etc), but doesn't apply to my q701 on any amp. Don't ask me why...Q701 is almost as warm as my K601 somehow.

 

[lejaz]

X2  definitely on the bright side compared to almost every phone I tried.. Mids sound kind of pale and diffuse....not enough weight and solidity. Agree about the sound stage....very wide, but also very unnatural.  Never heard the Q701 however. Hopefully it has more body in the midrange. 
Quote:

Here is my take on the HD595 and K702:
 
HD595: Warmish sound with an emphasis on midrange/vocals. Bass impact is pretty neutral and the treble has a slight sparkle but not overly emphasized.
 
K702: Abnormally large soundstage which messes with its vocal performance. To vocals never sound right on them - they sound distant and sometimes echoey. Sound signature is definitely on the bright side.

 

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

Come on guys, the op is looking for some advice and this argument is not helping him or her.

To the op, if you can possibly hear the headphones (or even change your choices to ones you can hear) that is by far the best approach. It is extremely difficult to work out from the descriptions of others if you will like any given headphone. By analogy, say your interested in buying a new brand of coffee and some people say it is delicious and others say it is a bit too bitter, the only way to know if you will like it is to try it. Of course, you might approximate a little from others descriptions (perhaps you like bitterness in general) but you still will not overcome the fact that people have radically different ideas of what bitter is and when it becomes too much. Descriptions in audio are much the same and hence they are extremely fallible (as evidenced by peoples constant bickering over what graphs mean in relation to what they hear).

I will say this however, I own k702 and am very pleased with them. I think they can really fit in to a decent rig and be very pleasing. BUT, even amongst those who like them, they are generally held to require a fairly good set up (source but especially amp wise) and if you are not already packing such gear or do not intend to acquire it in the near future, then perhaps consider giving these a miss.

Sorry that this.reply does not give you any kind of definitive answer but I am afraid that this is just the nature of audio. Recommendations may help to a point, but I really would strive to audition the gear, even if it means entertaining other options.

I hope this helps a bit and best of luck in your search.

This is exactly what I needed to hear to make a decision between the 2. I am being dead serious... Thank you for saying all this. I couldn't figure it out. But now I realize if I want to spend a ton of money for audio nirvana and for gaming, the akg's would be the way to go. Or if I want an ignorance is bliss approach, safe my money and go HD 598. There is way more to this but this is the simplest way for me to describe it.

 

[BunnyNamedCraig]

It's total preference, try to listen to both, both are good for gaming, sound stage ect, blah blah blah. I need to listen to both but everyone on here gave me tons to think about and I truly appreciate it. I am new to this forum but I have gotten so much out of it. I really love reading what you guys say. It's helping me curve my decision to go from astro 40s with mix amp, to debating between all the silly priced aug and the HD's

 

[natebizzle]

So before reading this thread I was thinking about the HD598's and now after reading I am looking at both these and the AKG K701. I plan on buying an amp and DAC so the 701's may be a good addition and it sounds like I should be able to enjoy the 598's without said amp and DAC in the meantime. Anyone from Melbourne, Australia know the best place to go to potentially get a listen to both of these??

 

[KCxSmacker]

  Did someone say the HD-598 is not warm?! Huh

That's news to me. If someone was comparing it to an HD-650, then sure. To me, even the K702 is warm, but the the HD-598 is even warmer. This to me is what makes it's mids so good. It's a good balance between the two types of signatures I like. I usually prefer something a little thinner sounding and analytical, but the HD-598 gets the pass from me. If it wasn't warm, it's sound just wouldn't be the same IMO.
 
I also don't agree that the HD-598 is like a baby K702. To me, the KRKs come closer to that description, but they're closed. I don't ever consider the HD-598 to be bright and analytical. Fairly bright, but not really.
 
The HD-598 and Q701 are two of my favorites.
 
The HD-598 is slightly smoother sounding than the Q701 and more forgiving of crappy recordings. The Q701 is fairly forgiving, but not as much as the HD-598. The HD-598 can actually tame some harsh recordings, but very slightly. They can still annoy me.
 
Id say the HD-598 has more bass impact and the bass on the Q701 just sounds a bit different. The Q701 definitely has more treble, but it's still smooth unlike the K702.
 
To my ears, the HD-598 probably has the larger soundstage, but this varies and I haven't done any side by side comparisons. I think the Q701 has the better and more accurate soundstage though.
 
Now the mids...the HD-598 mids seem warmer, slightly fuller sounding and more textured at times. This makes them so addicting to listen to. Unfortunately the HD-598 loses out on sound clarity a bit to the Q701. Q701 also has that clearer sound with more detail. I've found the HD-598 very detailed, but it's not overkilll. I actually would rank it above the HD-650 and HD-600 in this area.
 
With the Q701 and HD-598 you can't go wrong with either. I'd say there is  no winner and they're both good. That's why I kept both. I use both about equally. HD-598 is nice because it actually sounds good from even a Clip (don't ask me how!)
 
BTW I don't think the Q701 sounds the same as the K702. It's best to try them both out before saying this. Some will and some won't hear a difference. I just know that the K702's treble is really bothersome for me, but on the Q701 I have, it's not a problem. I actually find the Q701 much warmer than the K702 too. Mids are much fuller sounding. Mids on the K702 felt a bit lean for some reason. Same amp and everything.
 
 

Not much I can say to add on after reading this. I hate when people say warm/neutral like its a black vs white argument. In general the HD-598 is a very neutral headphone with a little drop of warm that makes it such a wonderful headphones. Anyway. One thing many have not touched on is comfort and fit. I have yet to this day, found a headphones that is as light, comfortable, AND breathable all in one little headphone. Something the 701 gets a not so close second in. As of now the 598 is $181 on amazon.