[khoi14021993]

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I had my HD598 for 1 month then I sold it because it has no place in my headphones inventory. The HD598s do have amazing value. They are so damn worth it for their sound. And yes they are not demanding at all. Feed them with average portable rig and lame 320kbps tracks they could still sound good.
 
Best Headphones ever b/c their amazing value? No... Those cheap-as-screw Koss PortaPro may not agree. They have been sold well for several decades for a reason. Performance-wise, no. And they don't belong to the Hi-End category at all. Mid-range should fit. I notice that many people in this thread use portable devices as source. So for the portable rig, I have to point out that there are much better alternatives, Beyer T5p, T70p, Denon A100, Ultrasone Editon 8, just to name a few, and there are more. Yes, you need to spend a HELL lot more but they are clearly better in SQ according to my experience (I owned or have listened to all of them with proper source and amp,).

 
Excuse me for being ignorant, but as a high school student, these cans are too expensive for me ( not to mention a proper rig to make them sound good). It will probably cost no less than $1000 for that system. On the other hand, spending like $500 ( HD598 + e7 + e9) to get 8/10 or even 9/10 of their SQ, wouldn't you call it amazing value?

 

[swbf2cheater]

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Excuse me for being ignorant, but as a high school student, these cans are too expensive for me ( not to mention a proper rig to make them sound good). It will probably cost no less than $1000 for that system. On the other hand, spending like $500 ( HD598 + e7 + e9) to get 8/10 or even 9/10 of their SQ, wouldn't you call it amazing value?

 
If you require an amp, the Fiio E9 will max out the potential of the 598 for only $110 or so new on ebay.  I don't think it requires amping at all if you are using a media player with high output like the Fuze or the J3.  ( J3 sounds marvelous with the hd 598 and nothing else )  The Fiio e11 is also a winner and meshes well for only $60 bucks or so?
 
All in all if you go the used route you can spend around $325ish for an excellent HD598 setup, I don't even use an amp with my J3, it is not at all needed as the Cowans output is high enough to make most low to mid tier amps sound worthless.  Even my cavalli cht made almost no difference what so ever vs just using the j3 alone.  The sansa fuze also sounds good out of it, its output is extremely powerful and more than enough to push the hd598 to very satisfying levels without amping, also note Sandisk 32gb class 4 micro sd cards are now dirt cheap at like 40 bucks new and sometimes less on the dailysteals type sites.  All in all for around $300 total if you got everything used the sound quality is unbeatable.
 
I paid $120 for my mogami hd598 recable right here on head fi, unrivaled SQ for such a price.  Only beat by its older brother the HD 580 but that requires massive amping to sound great
 

 

[khoi14021993]

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If you require an amp, the Fiio E9 will max out the potential of the 598 for only $110 or so new on ebay.  I don't think it requires amping at all if you are using a media player with high output like the Fuze or the J3.  ( J3 sounds marvelous with the hd 598 and nothing else )  The Fiio e11 is also a winner and meshes well for only $60 bucks or so?
 
All in all if you go the used route you can spend around $325ish for an excellent HD598 setup, I don't even use an amp with my J3, it is not at all needed as the Cowans output is high enough to make most low to mid tier amps sound worthless.  Even my cavalli cht made almost no difference what so ever vs just using the j3 alone.  The sansa fuze also sounds good out of it, its output is extremely powerful and more than enough to push the hd598 to very satisfying levels without amping, also note Sandisk 32gb class 4 micro sd cards are now dirt cheap at like 40 bucks new and sometimes less on the dailysteals type sites.  All in all for around $300 total if you got everything used the sound quality is unbeatable.
 
I paid $120 for my mogami hd598 recable right here on head fi, unrivaled SQ for such a price.  Only beat by its older brother the HD 580 but that requires massive amping to sound great
 

I agree that the J3 is enough to drive them, but since I use the HD598 mostly at home, I think it's a better idea to spend on a decent amp like the e9, rather than going for the J3. I use the HD25>e7>Ipod touch g3 when I'm going outside. I just prefer Itouch since they have many interesting games . By the way, where did you get it recabled? I'm very interested in this.

 

[palmfish]

I think the value quotient is relative and highly subjective.
 
Yes, the HD 598's sound wonderful and are relatively affordable. However, Koss Porta-Pros sound surprisingly good and cost $30 - an outstanding value. I've also heard great things about the Fostex T50RP - very affordable at $70.
 
The Sennheiser HD598 usually sells for around $200, which, depending on your income and "audiophileness," may or may not be a good value. I paid $270 for my HD 600's and think they were an outstanding value!
 
Whether they are a good value or not, there's no denying they are a terrific headphone though.

 

[swbf2cheater]

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I agree that the J3 is enough to drive them, but since I use the HD598 mostly at home, I think it's a better idea to spend on a decent amp like the e9, rather than going for the J3. I use the HD25>e7>Ipod touch g3 when I'm going outside. I just prefer Itouch since they have many interesting games . By the way, where did you get it recabled? I'm very interested in this.

The problem is that my e9 didn't have a soundstage or output high enough to show a difference, actually the e9 made the stage worse vs just the J3 alone, made it sound more distant, short, but noticeably wider.  They are easy to drive, lightweight amping wont do much for it.  Thankfully the E9 is very cheap and easily found so if you dont like it you can always return it or resell it easily.
 
Another user had it done and I bought it used off of him.  It is just wonderful.  The stock HD598 cable is of a poor quality, I was interested in a recable only for shorter cable needs.  

 

[khoi14021993]

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The problem is that my e9 didn't have a soundstage or output high enough to show a difference, actually the e9 made the stage worse vs just the J3 alone, made it sound more distant, short, but noticeably wider.  They are easy to drive, lightweight amping wont do much for it.  Thankfully the E9 is very cheap and easily found so if you dont like it you can always return it or resell it easily.
 
Another user had it done and I bought it used off of him.  It is just wonderful.  The stock HD598 cable is of a poor quality, I was interested in a recable only for shorter cable needs.  

Interesting. Now I'm more curious about how the J3 sounds, but unfortunately I'd have to stick with my Ipod touch g3 for a while 

 

 

[MorbidToaster]

The reason the J3 is awesome is all the customization options you have for the sound. There's just so many little tweaks you can make it get it to sound perfect. 
 
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Interesting. Now I'm more curious about how the J3 sounds, but unfortunately I'd have to stick with my Ipod touch g3 for a while 

 

 
 

 

[wind016]

 
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Interesting. Now I'm more curious about how the J3 sounds, but unfortunately I'd have to stick with my Ipod touch g3 for a while 

 

Quite frankly, I found almost any of the Korean mp3 players to sound better than any of the Apple products. Whether it's Iriver, Samsung, or Cowon, they all have better and cleaner sound customizations. Even the EQu app is poor sounding compared to the options in the Korean players. If you don't EQ or do any of that stuff, the Itouch is fine.

 

[khoi14021993]

Normally I don't do any EQ on whatever I'm listening to. The difference seems minimal, but I think that's just me though. 

Besides, I don't want to keep EQing all over again if I listen to different genres. To keep it short, just being lazy 

 

[swbf2cheater]

Thats not how the J3 works.  You get 4 PAGES of pre sets, all of them have a purpose.  All of the non reverb presets are well thought out and make sense to the genre, I think Jazz is the best, it retains a big sound with the best clarity but I also have a few presets I use for certain songs.  You can also save your own custom EQs and you have a TON...repeat...A TON of options to select.  You will hear a difference and it only takes a few taps to get to the EQ menu, tap the main bar title, tap the iIi looking icon that is the EQ menu, first selections will be your customized EQ, done.  Takes less than 2 seconds.

 

[Qui audit]

Lots of people mention that re-cabling improves the sq, how significant is the effect? How much would it cost me (I'm in the UK) and does anybody know where/how I could get it done?

 

[palmfish]

I've had the chance to listen to recabled HD600's, 650's, and LCD-2's (the LCD-2's were Rev. 2 with ALO cable) recently. Side by side with their stock counterparts. Even with their owners swearing up and down about how great they sound, I never was able to tell the difference.

 

[bbophead]

Like

 

[swbf2cheater]

The difference is minimal unless one of the cables is very poor quality.  I mean, a $1 cable from the dollar store or something wont sound as good as the mogami cables for example, you'll notice some haze, tinnish highs and bloated bass vs a decent cable and better
 
its the difference from the decent cable to the expensive cables that I just dont hear much of a difference in.  The stock hd598 cable is somewhere between the dollar store and decent, so any upgrade is bound to show minimal differences, and in my case the difference is only just barely audible.  I hear a noticeably smoother bass and the absence of tin cup highs in certain tracks I know and love that, tracks I've listened to for a long time on the stock HD 598 had certain cues for example that were really metallic sounding.  After listening to the recabled version with the same eq, source and amp, those metallic and ugly highs were gone.

 

[MorbidToaster]

Recabling sound changes are grossly overstated around these parts. The nicest thing about recables is improved cable quality (ie. build quality), and customized length/termination (not to mention they're sexy). 
 
That dual entry cheater is rocking' is stunning. 
 
I'm recabling my LCD 2 because I want a longer cable that gives me balanced and SE options (via adapters), and improved flexibility. I could care less about sound changes...I actually hope it doesn't change. lol