[pyrexshorts]

Does anyone know if I can do the foam mod for the HD 579?

 

[shurealltheway]

Ok here's what you all have been waiting for haha. So I've been doing a back and forth between my 598 CS,and my brand new 599's, and using my favorite closed backs of all time as my reference headphones, my trusty Shure 1540's.

So I like the 598 CS's. I consider them warm neutral to slightly V shaped. They're a fun signature that are well worth their $99 price tag. I've already reviewed them earlier so I'm not doing it again as nothing has changed. Now to the 599's.

My God! These cans are simply awesome! They're not a little better than the CS's. They're a huge step up. In fact, I will never reach for the 598's again. I gave them to my son after one day with the 599's. They aren't built as well as my 1540's but sound wise, it's very hard to discern much difference. I was lucky to nab them during Black Friday deals for $174 and I am just floored by them at that cost. Now that I've heard them, I would have gladly paid $300 for them without batting an eye. The soundstage is fantastic, the highs are clear with no sibilance or harshness, the mids are liquid gold, and the bass is perfect. Everything is balanced with no bleed and far less resonance or boominess compared to the CS's. And I don't know if they're different drivers or because they're partially open back, but the decay is noticeably superior to the CS's, so they seem to handle speed and pacing much better. And one area where the CS's clearly lacked was dynamics. When a track goes from quiet to crescendo, the CS's sound dull. But the 599's seem to be equal to my 1540's at excelling with dynamics. I mean, they leave the CS's face down in a pool of blood here.

Comfort wise, they're all very good. I find all three headphones to be extremely comfortable but my 1540's are the most comfortable headphone I've ever worn.

I don't know what else to say. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the CS's sounded for $99. I expected my 1540's to sound good for $500 or they would have been sent back in a New York minute. And I am floored by how good the 599's sound for $174. With the exception of build quality, I just couldn't ask for more for that price. If they are sonically inferior to my Shure's, it's going to take a lot more time to find out, because so far all I can hear is that they're a little different...

And they definitely do not need an amp to display this awesomeness. Right from my iPhone they're bread and butter.

I agree with everyone on here who said they're disappointed with the sound leakage of the CS's. So here's something funny. Even though the 599's are semi open, they don't really leak much more. You definitely, as the listener, hear more coming in, but sound out is almost a wash.

Oh by the way, owners of the CS's, DITCH THE CRAPPY CABLE IMMEDIATELY! The short cable that came with my 599's without the built-in controls makes the CS's sound a little better.

Did I say I love them yet? Okay. I love my 599's. Thank you Sennheiser. Well played.

 

[chipstjuven]

I got the HD 4.30 the other day and I must say they are very decent sounding. Lots of bass for a Sennheiser headphone. At first I thought vocals sounded a bit tinny and a little distant, but I don't hear it like that that anymore. Must have gotten used to the sound quickly!
Great build, comfort, isolation and mic+remote. Just what I was looking for actually! Oh and they look gorgeous.

 

[HiWire]

I saw the HD 599 in a store and I was impressed by their build quality. There was a HD 598 as well, so I could compare them side by side. The HD 599 looks better in person than it does in pictures, and of course its visual color palette is a little less warm than the HD 598. There wasn't time to listen, but I'm going to try to audition them soon.
 
I hope Sennheiser builds a Special Edition version of the HD 599 as well. Beige and brown don't match my equipment very well.

 

[Sp12er3]

@chipstjuven oh that's interesting.. May i ask If it's build at least as good/ better than the price may indicate? And how about its comfort?
It might be a good headphone to recommend to people/ as a gift
And, waiting for a more concise review of its sound from you

 

[chipstjuven]

@chipstjuven oh that's interesting.. May i ask If it's build at least as good/ better than the price may indicate? And how about its comfort?
It might be a good headphone to recommend to people/ as a gift
And, waiting for a more concise review of its sound from you

Yeah they feel really sturdy. The only other pair I've owned in this price range that had better build quality was the Sennheiser Urbanite, which was built like a tank (but doesn't sound as good as these IMO). I think they're comfortable. The pads are really soft. If your ears aren't too large they will cover them completely and isolation will be awesome.
 
I'm not very good at reviewing audio gear, all I can say is that they don't have any of the "congested" sound I dislike in some closed headphones (I've had this problem with Philips Citiscape Downtown & Fischer Audio FA-003). Instead they sound clear and open. Smooth and detailed at the same time. Being closed they obviously lack a huge soundstage but you won't have a problem distinguishing different instruments in the sound mix. The bass has awesome impact and goes really deep (at least down to 30hz), other than that, I'd say they're fairly balanced.
 
Love 'em!

 

[dweaver]

I got the HD 4.30 the other day and I must say they are very decent sounding. Lots of bass for a Sennheiser headphone. At first I thought vocals sounded a bit tinny and a little distant, but I don't hear it like that that anymore. Must have gotten used to the sound quickly!
Great build, comfort, isolation and mic+remote. Just what I was looking for actually! Oh and they look gorgeous.

that sounds very promising .

 

[Sp12er3]

Thanks for that impression i like the look of this new line more than both the Urbanite and Momentum line, I'd try to get some eartime with these when I find one

 

[pyrexshorts]

Hello,
 
I recently bought the HD 579's and realized that it's possible to do the foam mod, and possibly make them sound like the HD 599's.
 
The mesh on the back of the headphones are exactly the same as the 598's, which I presume are the same as the 599's.
 
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/5g6jjs/foam_mod_for_hd_579/
 
I also posted a short impressions in the thread.
 
If anyone is willing to post the insides of a 599 to confirm, I would be grateful.

 

[Argyris]

  Hello,
 
I recently bought the HD 579's and realized that it's possible to do the foam mod, and possibly make them sound like the HD 599's.
 
The mesh on the back of the headphones are exactly the same as the 598's, which I presume are the same as the 599's.
 
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/5g6jjs/foam_mod_for_hd_579/
 
I also posted a short impressions in the thread.
 
If anyone is willing to post the insides of a 599 to confirm, I would be grateful.

 
Sounds like what I said earlier has now been confirmed: HD 579 = HD 558. It wasn't hard to work out. There's still three open back models in the range, and the sound descriptions are all very similar to those from the previous iteration of the lineup. They just dropped the HD 51x model designation, bumped it up to the HD 55x slot, then bumped the displaced HD 55x into the new HD 57x position. Then they added an HD 569, which is allegedly virtually the same as the HD 598 Cs, for good measure.
 
I'd really love to know the thought process behind all this, especially since the HD 598 Cs didn't appear until after the new HD 5x9 lineup was announced.

 

[ganroxex]

I recently tried out the HD 599 at the Headphone Bar, and that is one of the reason I've recently acquired a HD598. But I am feeling slightly disappointed with the purchase, now I really want to go back in-store to figure out why.

 

[Sp12er3]

Double posted

 

[Sp12er3]

Do that and report back your findings.. After you've given at least minimal amount of burn in time to the 598 also

 

[ganroxex]

Well I went in the shop today to find out what's missing. What I can gather from my 30 minute session there is that  the HD 599 has a boost in bass presence, a more contained soundstage compared to the HD598, and the trebles were a lot less shinier. The only discovery I had to get used to is that the newly acquired bass dwarfed a bit of HD599's mids, making the sound signature slightly darker, but even in that statement, I am not referring to HD599 as a dark headphone by far.

 

[LazyListener]

  Well I went in the shop today to find out what's missing. What I can gather from my 30 minute session there is that  the HD 599 has a boost in bass presence, a more contained soundstage compared to the HD598, and the trebles were a lot less shinier. The only discovery I had to get used to is that the newly acquired bass dwarfed a bit of HD599's mids, making the sound signature slightly darker, but even in that statement, I am not referring to HD599 as a dark headphone by far.

I wonder if that silver plate partially covering the grills has anything to do with the boosted bass and smaller soundstage over the 598.
 
Were you able to compare both 599 and 598 back to back at the store using the same equipment, or are you just going from memory?