[willy156]

Is Amazon an authorized Sennheiser dealer does anyone know for sure?

From what I read, yes as long as it was "fulfilled by amazon" this is because the SE was a specifically made to distribute on Amazon. you'll notice a couple other sellers selling the headphones now for a lower price. Also, linustechtips commented on his recent video on the 598SE and says he has spoke to Sennheiser and they are indeed authentic 

 

[GrahfShiro]

  Just wondering when you did the authentication code, did you include the hologram sticker? There's an extra number to include at the end which can only be seen at an angle with the hologram sticker. 

Well what is asked of you on the site is the ID number above the QR code, not the 6 numbers on the hologram sticker. I tried it both by entering the ID code, and then by scanning the QR code with my phone and both failed. 
 
With the 518's once you enter the ID number, it takes you to another page and shows you the hologram and asks you to check if it's identical to the hologram that is on your box. If it is, you have an authentic product. But with the 598's I never get to that point because it doesn't accept the ID number (nor the QR scan). 

 

[GrahfShiro]

  From what I read, yes as long as it was "fulfilled by amazon" this is because the SE was a specifically made to distribute on Amazon. you'll notice a couple other sellers selling the headphones now for a lower price. Also, linustechtips commented on his recent video on the 598SE and says he has spoke to Sennheiser and they are indeed authentic 

I just saw his comment on that 598SE video he did. So they are indeed authentic. Awesome!

 

[ztreb185]

 
 
They sound identical. After approx. 20 hrs of burn-in. 
Identically awesome.
 
End of story. 

 
Definitely black > beige.  The beige doesn't look that great in person.

 

[_js_]

 

 
 
They sound identical. After approx. 20 hrs of burn-in. 
Identically awesome.
 
End of story. 

 
Definitely black > beige.  The beige doesn't look that great in person.

Personally I much prefer the black!  One of the reasons I jumped on the 598SE deal is that I have been worried about what I would do if my 595's get damaged or lost.  I would have looked for a used 595 or just settled for the 598 beige, but I really do not like the look of the beige 598's.  So the SE was a no brainer for me.  For that price, why not get one?!?  I can also keep them at work, or just as a backup pair, etc.  Unless I really dislike them, then I will return them.
 
So, hey, question for y'all.  I read on headphone dot com that they think the HD700's are like a really awesome extension of and improvement on the HD595's--same sound signature, just better in all respects.
 
What do you all think?  Is this true?  Because I do love the 595 sound signature, and I have been interested in the HD700's for some time now.  Love to hear what people think.  TIA.

 

[_js_]

I seem to be cursed when it comes to headphones and UPS! My 598SE's were guaranteed to arrive today but there is absolutely no tracking info on them at all except that they left the facility and were delivered to the carrier. That's it. And it's 5:23pm here and I highly doubt that they will be delivered today despite the tracking saying that they will be.

Had a very similar experience when I bought my Grado RS2e's.

Sigh. Oh well.

 

[7keys]

I seem to be cursed when it comes to headphones and UPS! My 598SE's were guaranteed to arrive today but there is absolutely no tracking info on them at all except that they left the facility and were delivered to the carrier. That's it. And it's 5:23pm here and I highly doubt that they will be delivered today despite the tracking saying that they will be.

Had a very similar experience when I bought my Grado RS2e's.

Sigh. Oh well.

I can't be too sympathetic considering you have a Grado RS2e to listen to while you wait.   

 

[_js_]

I seem to be cursed when it comes to headphones and UPS! My 598SE's were guaranteed to arrive today but there is absolutely no tracking info on them at all except that they left the facility and were delivered to the carrier. That's it. And it's 5:23pm here and I highly doubt that they will be delivered today despite the tracking saying that they will be.


Had a very similar experience when I bought my Grado RS2e's.


Sigh. Oh well.

I can't be too sympathetic considering you have a Grado RS2e to listen to while you wait.   

LOL!

Except I don't! Loved them but they gave me (or brought out my) tinnitus. Really bad. And once I stopped listening to them the tinnitus went away two or three weeks later, getting better each week. It's possible all of it was coincidence and it certainly is only anecdotal in any case (although others had this same experience I found out), but I just really didn't want to take any chances! Tinnitus is really awful! And I didn't want to keep them just for their good looks. Also didn't have any success EQ'ing them. I could make them easy to listen to but then they were boring.

It's funny because many find the Sony 7506's too harsh and fatiguing but I have no problem with them at all. And I never listen to my music loud. I bring musicians ear plugs to the movie theater.

It all really sucked since I loved the RS2e's a lot.

But I will say that it makes the HD595's all the more impressive because they are not boring and not dull or recessed in the treble. They have a great high end in my opinion. And yet at the same time, they are about the least fatiguing headphones I personally have ever used. Quite a remarkable achievement!

 

[_js_]

So, in an unexpected turn, I received my 598SE's at 7:30pm!

They failed authentication.

Only just started listening to them but so far I like my 595's better. But I'll burn them in and give them a lot more listening before I draw any conclusions.

Love the short cable!

Am thinking I may return these and jump up to the HD700's if I'm not more impressed after burn in and extended listening.

 

[kayza]

So, in an unexpected turn, I received my 598SE's at 7:30pm!

They failed authentication.

Only just started listening to them but so far I like my 595's better. But I'll burn them in and give them a lot more listening before I draw any conclusions.

Love the short cable!

Am thinking I may return these and jump up to the HD700's if I'm not more impressed after burn in and extended listening.

I bought the 598se's and have hd700s that I will be selling, assuming I like the 598s. Get hold of me in a couple days for some feedbacks on the differences.

 

[_js_]

Reading reviews on Amazon, I came across one where the guy got a response from Sennheiser about the 598SE's not authenticating. Short version is that they haven't added it to their authentication page but they assure us all that if it comes from Amazon it is authentic.

As for the sound, these definitely need burn in! Mine are already sounding better than right out of the box.

 

[LazyListener]

Agreed!  I try not to rely on my "acoustic memory" but more on mental notes I made during critical listening.  For example, on the brand new beige model I had for a month, I NEVER heard any annoying sibilance, not even on day one, and I played hudreds of different songs on them.  Sibilance is something I'm very sensitive to and can't stand.  If the beige model exhibited ANY annoying sibilance, I would have noticed it.  The new SE's I have definitely have some annoying sibilance that the beige ones didn't.  Also, electronic handclaps sound aggressive on the SE's, especially at louder volumes.  Speaking of louder volume, the SE's hurt my ears at higher volumes, whereas the beige ones never did.  Simply put, these new SE's sound brighter and more aggressive to me, then I ever recall the beige ones sounding.  During my entire time with the beige ones, I never complained of any of these issues.  To me, they sounded superb.  I was in awe of how detailed they sounded while still being so relaxed.
 
Yesterday I did a short comparison of a couple of other phones I'm trying out right now -- the Q701 and the HE400S -- to the SE's.  Both exhibited no annoying sibilance, but both had less bass.  When I first compared the beige 598 to these 2 phones, I preferred the neutral/slightly warm tone of the 598 to the Q701's more clean, crisp, analytical, and bass light sound, as well as the HE400S's more natural lifelike midrange, but unimpressive bass and treble.  Both those cans sounded brighter to me than the beige 598.  Comparing them to the SE, I actually prefer the sound of the other 2 phones, even though bass is lighter.  The new SE simply sounds too bright and sibilant compared to the beige 598 I had.  I have no doubts about it.
 
Now, I'm only at about 7 hours of use on the SE, so I'm hoping that break-in fixes these issues.  I think the bass has blossomed somewhat during the first few hours.  Also when I first started listening to them, I had to turn the volume way up.  Now, I find myself turning the volume down.  Is this another phenomenon of break-in, that is they open up and play louder given the same power, or is this a mental thing?  If I recall, I had to do the same with the beige 598.

 

[LazyListener]

  The best way to compare these headphones to the originals imo, is to have same amount of hours burnt into them, THEN blindfold yourself and put each headphone on at a time. Listen and maybe you'll hear the difference. Knowing which headphone you put on could affect your outcome. 

Agree that is the best way.  Unfortunately, not able to do that in my case right now.  Hopefully, others here will be able to do some good comparisons and post their thoughts.

 

[LazyListener]

Acoustic memory is notoriously short lived and unreliable. If you can't compare side by side you probably should be cautious about making comparisons! I know first hand how significant psycho-acoustics can be.

This doesn't mean that the differences you are hearing aren't objectively there, of course. There could really be a difference between the SE and beige, or it could be due to break in to some degree or it could be just manufacturing tolerances. But to really know you'd need to perform blind A/B/X testing, or at least A/B testing.

Good to know that they are authentic!

Sorry, I posted a reply forgetting to quote you.  Please see my other recent post beginning with "Agreed!"

 

[LazyListener]

  I have found that no two headphones sound exactly the same, even within the same model number. Most people don’t have multiple pairs of the same model headphone so believe they all sound the same. I’ve had ten or twelve pairs of the Senn PX 100ii which I modded for friends or sold……and I found they all had the same overall tone but each had slight differences in treble, midrange and bass.
 
Right now I have two modded SennGrado's (PX100 in tone-wood cup), one that has a nice mid-bass hump and another that has a more balanced frequency response. 
 
All that to say……they can be using the exact same driver even though you are hearing differences between the Burl wood and the black HD 598s. 

I'm guessing you're alluding to the possibility that slight manufacturing variations can cause such differences in sound of the same exact model.  If so, my gut tells me this is probably true, but I don't know enough about headphone manufacturing to understand why this would be the case.