[Tuneslover]

Many were complaining about lack of bass on the 598se but I found it quite sufficient.

Are we talking about the cream coloured or black 598se? I recall hearing the cream coloured ones in a store a few years ago and thought man these have so little bass. A few Amazon Black Friday's ago they were selling the black ones for $100 bucks so grabbed a pair and they had sufficient bass to my ears. They also have a wide soundscape which I really like for TV watching.

 

[nicholars]

I heard the 660s in a shop and I thought they were surprisingly good, from what I have read it looks like the 58x with some basic mods is identical sounding to the 660s?

Is this correct that a modded 58x sound identical to a 660s? As in they literally sound the same with the same quality? To be honest I have no problem at all with the 58x having a few DB more sub bass, I would even say that is an advantage, but in terms of sound quality (soundstage, imaging, grain etc etc) is a modded 58x identical to a 660s except for some minor differences in frequency response?

 

[7keys]

Are we talking about the cream coloured or black 598se? I recall hearing the cream coloured ones in a store a few years ago and thought man these have so little bass. A few Amazon Black Friday's ago they were selling the black ones for $100 bucks so grabbed a pair and they had sufficient bass to my ears. They also have a wide soundscape which I really like for TV watching.

It was the black ones that went on sale a few years ago, big soundstage and nice bass.

 

[MacMan31]

Has anyone here re-padded their HD58X with the original 4 bump headband pad it was initially supposed to come with? I'm thinking of doing that as it seems already time to replace the pad. Definitely seems to squish more than the HD6XX padding.
https://theawesomer.com/photos/2017/12/massdrop_sennheiser_hd_58x_jubilee_headphones_1.jpg

 

[DavidA]

I heard the 660s in a shop and I thought they were surprisingly good, from what I have read it looks like the 58x with some basic mods is identical sounding to the 660s?

Is this correct that a modded 58x sound identical to a 660s? As in they literally sound the same with the same quality? To be honest I have no problem at all with the 58x having a few DB more sub bass, I would even say that is an advantage, but in terms of sound quality (soundstage, imaging, grain etc etc) is a modded 58x identical to a 660s except for some minor differences in frequency response?

While I haven't modded my HD58X I don't think they will ever sound like my friends HD660S with any mods since I don't know how one would get the 58X to be more resolving and reduce the grain and do so without affecting other aspects of the entire sound. With that said and depending on ones preferences I can see some liking the HD58X over the HD660S and others preferring the HD660S over the HD58X.

 

[nicholars]

While I haven't modded my HD58X I don't think they will ever sound like my friends HD660S with any mods since I don't know how one would get the 58X to be more resolving and reduce the grain and do so without affecting other aspects of the entire sound. With that said and depending on ones preferences I can see some liking the HD58X over the HD660S and others preferring the HD660S over the HD58X.

Hm interesting thanks for the reply, Is the grain and resolution a big difference or very small, for example 1% or 20% difference?

 

[DavidA]

Hm interesting thanks for the reply, Is the grain and resolution a big difference or very small, for example 1% or 20% difference?

I'm not sure how I would quantify the differences but I can say this much: I have 3 friends who have purchased the HD58X and they all have decent hearing and all three can tell the difference in grain compared to another friends HD660S and my HD650 so I'd consider the difference in grain to be noticeable by most. Resolution on the other hand is a bit harder to determine and these 3 friends that own the HD58X can't say for sure if the HD660S is a more resolving headphone but they will all agree that the HD700, HD800, HE560 and RS2e are quite a bit better in this area.

 

[Electrolite]

I heard the 660s in a shop and I thought they were surprisingly good, from what I have read it looks like the 58x with some basic mods is identical sounding to the 660s?

Is this correct that a modded 58x sound identical to a 660s? As in they literally sound the same with the same quality? To be honest I have no problem at all with the 58x having a few DB more sub bass, I would even say that is an advantage, but in terms of sound quality (soundstage, imaging, grain etc etc) is a modded 58x identical to a 660s except for some minor differences in frequency response?

Freqeuency response wise the 58X can sound similar to the 660 but they will lack in other aspects like detail, the grain issue, maybe less resolving? The 660 is more refined but imagine the 58X as a rough diamond that can remind you well of the 660 but if you look close it's more limited.

About the grain I noticed I had issues with the 5k peak, I lowered it and it helped for me, I did other changes I can't remember all the EQ I did but the last days were great I had no grain issue at all with the 58X, somehow they were as smooth as never before, even treble heavy sounds, were never sibilant.

 

[nicholars]

Freqeuency response wise the 58X can sound similar to the 660 but they will lack in other aspects like detail, the grain issue, maybe less resolving? The 660 is more refined but imagine the 58X as a rough diamond that can remind you well of the 660 but if you look close it's more limited.

About the grain I noticed I had issues with the 5k peak, I lowered it and it helped for me, I did other changes I can't remember all the EQ I did but the last days were great I had no grain issue at all with the 58X, somehow they were as smooth as never before, even treble heavy sounds, were never sibilant.

Makes me think that the grain issue might be partly due to the peak at around 5-6Khz / general treble area FR on the 58X and also the lower resolution might be due to the increased mid bass area on the 58X, which again makes me think if a modded 58X, (which makes the frequency response very close to the 660s), would end up sounding identical to a 660S, or if there are differences in the drivers that cannot be modded with bits of damping foam. Hard to know if the "grain and lower resolution" people are hearing is actually just the frequency response highlighting different areas of the sound. But DavidA you have a lot of headphones in your sig, so I assume you would know the difference between frequency response and grain / resolution.

 

[Tuneslover]

I just ordered a Koss Porta Po and then continued by ordering a pair of YAXI ear pads.

Yaxi pads for my PortaPro arrived yesterday. Free shipping from Japan and only took 10 days. I'm thinking about getting their Yaxi pads for my HD650 which I could also try with one of my HD58X pairs. Just a bit too pricey so I'm not pulling the trigger...YET.

 

[Electrolite]

Yaxi pads for my PortaPro arrived yesterday. Free shipping from Japan and only took 10 days. I'm thinking about getting their Yaxi pads for my HD650 which I could also try with one of my HD58X pairs. Just a bit too pricey so I'm not pulling the trigger...YET.

Did it improve sound for you? If you ever get the Yaxi pads for the Sennheiser please post your review, these pack lack information, no one talks about them

 

[Tuneslover]

Did it improve sound for you? If you ever get the Yaxi pads for the Sennheiser please post your review, these pack lack information, no one talks about them

I never heard of Yaxi until reading about them a couple of weeks ago on Head-if.org in reference to the Koss PortaPro. I heard good things about these Koss portable headphones and decided to order a pair from Amazon and immediately thereafter the yaxi pads.

The first thing I noticed with the YAXI pads is that it improved the clarity and detail of the PortaPro from top to bottom compared to the stock pads. The bass level was as good if not better, to me it tightened up the bass. $12 a pair is a pretty risk free investment.

Google “yaxi headphone pads” and you’ll see their website including which headphones they make pads for. They slso link reviews on their pads (including Koss PortaPro & HD650).

 

[Electrolite]

The first thing I noticed with the YAXI pads is that it improved the clarity and detail of the PortaPro from top to bottom. The bass level was as good if not better, to me it tightened up the bass.

Google “yaxi headphone pads” and you’ll see their website including which headphones they make pads for. They slso link reviews on their pads (including Koss PortaPro & HD650).

Yeah these are the only 2 reviews, no mentions on reddit nor here and other forums (I never did a deep search, I searched for "yaxi" term in the 650 and 600 threads but nothing about those pads anywhere.)

 

[Tuneslover]

Yeah these are the only 2 reviews, no mentions on reddit nor here and other forums (I never did a deep search, I searched for "yaxi" term in the 650 and 600 threads but nothing about those pads anywhere.)

They are from Japan and very popular in Asia, however they are virtually unknown in America and Europe.

 

[MisterMonsieur]

I heard the 660s in a shop and I thought they were surprisingly good, from what I have read it looks like the 58x with some basic mods is identical sounding to the 660s?

Is this correct that a modded 58x sound identical to a 660s? As in they literally sound the same with the same quality? To be honest I have no problem at all with the 58x having a few DB more sub bass, I would even say that is an advantage, but in terms of sound quality (soundstage, imaging, grain etc etc) is a modded 58x identical to a 660s except for some minor differences in frequency response?

I had the HD660s for 2 weeks and got my HD58X modded, bought a 2nd HD58X to compare modded vs stock and I can say for sure that with solderdudes mods you can minimize the grain and make the HD58x much flatter sounding, killing the peak and thus the grain.
HD660s still sounds flatter vs the modded HD58x but dayum it is a very close competition once your HD58x is modded. Some purists won't like the mod but if you listened to the HD660s.. you should definitely try modding a HD58x. It is so easy to do!