[fallrsk]

  what is a good cheap amp for 598 that make no enphasis on bass ?

I always recommend the smsl m2. It's straight forward and stays true to the music. No additional color whatsoever, goes up to 24/96 and retails for $60 last I checked. Be sure to check it's not faulty as some people have run into issues, but I can't complain about mine whatsoever. Also, it's very susceptible to EMF from poorly grounded computers but you will not hear the noise on the 598's due to the resistance damping or whatever it's called.

 

[LazyListener]

  So HD598SE sounds different compare to HD598? How much is the different

To me they sounded VERY different so I kept the ivory 598 and sent back the SE.  In simplest terms, the ivory sounded warmer, fuller in the bass, and smoother in the mids/treble, whereas the SE sounded brighter and thinner and weak and narrow in the bass.  Also, the Ivory sounded more spacious and dimensional.  All compared back to back with the same cable (long cable).  The short cable made both sound thinner and less spacious.

 

[LazyListener]

I juat dont get how this is possible...there has to be a reason. These are the same price are we sure its not all in our heads? Alot of the sound differences between amps that people talk about ive found to be very subtle for example ratber than a night and day difference...and i think sometimes its my imagination that my q1 sounds better or different than my onboard sound.

Absolutely 100% without a doubt sure that the differences I heard between Ivory 598 and black SE were not in my head.  The differences were very obvious.  I compared them back to back, back and forth several times, but I heard the differences right away.  I don't know why they sounded different.  I just know that they did.

 

[LazyListener]

  I think I've heard more people talking about burn-in with these headphones than with any other headphone. Weird. I think that suggests that subliminally people might not be satisfied with these headphones or feel something is missing.

Another theory... could it be that manufacturing differences are causing people to hear them differently, so when they read a review that describes the sound signature as being one to their liking, they purchase the cans, and when they don't hear the same thing, assuming due to manufacturing differences, they feel burn in is the next logical step to get to where they want to be.  After burn in, some people will start to hear what they initially expected to hear, whether it's a material/physical change or psychological.  Again, just a theory.

 

[LazyListener]

My primary criticism of the 598SE is that they sound like good headphones instead of sounding like a good performance. They're not immersive; but they sound technically good.

Hmmm.  I would agree with you when it comes to the SE.  I found them to sound somewhat flat.  However, the Ivory 598s have a very wide and spacious soundstage, and I find them to be very immersive.  With the right recordings, I swear I can hear the ambient and reflective sounds of the room in which they were recorded.  It sounds like I'm in the room where the recording took place.  Of course, this is all relative.  I'm sure there are plenty of other headphones that sound way more immersive than the 598s.

 

[LazyListener]

Well the cans I compared them to are all 2-3x the price so I'm not surprised: but the X2 sounds like you're in the front row below a high stage. The 325e sounds like you're in a garage and the band is playing right in front of you. The 400i sounds like you're in an OmniMax and the performance is wrapping around you. The 598SE sounds like you're listening to good headphones; there's no spatial change.

So here's the thing.  I compared my Ivory 598 to many popular headphones before I finally just kept the 598.  I used iphone 6 and Fiio E10K as my sources.  The surprising thing, the Fiio didn't improve the soundstage or immersiveness of the 598.  I even thought it shrunk the soundstage a bit with the 598.  However, the Fiio dramatically improved the soundstage of the AKG Q701 when compared with iphone 6.  So when it comes to immersiveness, soundstage, and dimensionality, I would rate in this order:
 
Q701 with E10K
598 with iphone 6
598 with E10K
Q701 with iphone 6

 

[LazyListener]

Just thought I'd share this here. I posted in the 'SE' thread but it will probably do more justice here. This is my experience so far with the hd598 and the hd598se.

====

I'm sitting here with a brand new 598se and a brand new 598. They sound different.

I've played the same music though them for about 10 hours each so far. No matter what cables I use, the sound is different. The 598se has more treble emphasis and the 598 has more of a mid-bass presence.

I actually prefer the sound of the 598se. It sounds more open to me. I can 'hear' the bass more whereas the 598 I 'feel' it more. Also bass extension seems better on the 599se but it may be because I hear less of the mid bass. The 598se seems to have much better clarity to me. Where the 598 seems extremely similar to my 558...like almost the same headphone with a slightly bigger soundstage.

Glad to see I'm not the only one hearing those basic differences between the Ivory 598 and black 598SE, although I see you and I have different tastes.  I prefer the warm, full, smooth, and laid back sound of the Ivory.  I found the 598SE lacking bass and upper mids/low treble were too much.
 
It's almost like Sennheiser "lifted the veil" with the 598SE.  There's more "clarity" but at the expense of smoothness.  Some of the other cans I auditioned had the clarity in the mids/treble but never sounded even slightly harsh or sibilant.
 
This is just conjecture.  Still could be manufacturing differences.  But now we have 2 people that hear basically the same thing, but with different preferences.

 

[LazyListener]

   
I have a used beige, and an SE with a few hours on it.  The SE is far darker and bassier.  It's not some minor "maybe I kind of hear the difference when A-B'ing."  It's obvious.
 
I put them on the burner now and will compare them again in a few days.  If the SE brightens up to the beige level, that'll be some impressive burn-in.

Wow!  So you're hearing them in the opposite end of the spectrum.  Could Sennheiser's manufacturing really be off by that much?  It would explain some of the reviews I've read here and on Amazon, some calling them bass heavy, some bass neutral, and some bass light.  But that could also be due to listener preferences and what they're used to.

 

[LazyListener]

   
Didn't someone here check with Sennheiser and was told they are identical, aside from the color?  It's got to be a batch variation thing.

If the differences I heard between 598 and 598SE are due to variations in manufacturing, then that is some serious variation and shouldn't be acceptable.  Manufacturing tolerances should be tight enough to produce no significant variation in the final products.  The differences I heard sounded like 2 differently tuned headphones.

 

[LazyListener]

   
If it's a burn-in thing, then all the burn-in deniers will have some thinking to do.  If it's a batch to batch thing, then Sennheiser quality control will have some thinking to do.
 
The current difference between my used beige and new SE is more different than the bass difference between the DT880 and DT990.  It's completely obvious.
 
I haven't done a direct comparison, but the SE has to leak more than my DT990.  I put them on my burning station in another room yesterday, and I don't crank the volume above "fun listening level," but it still needed multiple layers of thick materials over it to not hear it outside the room.
 
Whether it's burn-in, or quality control, or something else, maybe this explains why when someone asks about how much bass the HD598 have, answers can be all over the place.  "They don't have much bass at all."  "Lacking bass."  "Pretty strong bass."  "I don't know how anyone could need more bass than this."  

I honestly don't think the sound differences I heard are due to burn in.  The 2 cans sounded very different out of the box.  After about 20 hours, the SE MAY have sounded a bit smoother than new, but still sounded very different compared to the Ivory 598.
 
Also, I believe, and this is just from memory, which is not very reliable, that my current Ivory 598 sound warmer in the vocals than my first pair of Ivory 598.  I thought my first pair of Ivory 598 sounded like my perfect headphone, but I was forced to return them when the black friday 598SE special came out.  Still, I love the sound of my current Ivory 598.  It's just that I think the mid-vocal range on the first pair was brighter and more to my liking.
 
BTW, I totally agree with your assessment on all the varying comments we read about the 598 when it comes to bass.  Makes me think that not all of them are due to listener bias.

 

[LazyListener]

  Oh dear god, I can't even wear them anymore lol! They feel off, sound claustrophobic and just don't give you the same feeling; they're a bit sterile. They're almost pin flat though which makes them great for monitoring, which is all I will end up using them for.. (if I ever decide to try my luck at music production for real)

I thought I heard a treble spike somewhere in the MDR-7506 when I auditioned them.  I couldn't listen to them for long because of that.  Of all the cans I've tried, I thought the Oppo PM-3 sounded the most neutral/flat.  I think they would make great monitors.  Amazing cans for EDM.  Skrillex sounds like nothing I've ever heard on them.  Of course, those are much more expensive.

 

[northcarohio]

Hey all,
 
This is my first post on the forum and the 598s are currently my only nice pair of cans so I figured I would comment on them. My desktop setup is FLAC or Spotify>Fiio E07K Andes>HD598s. I primarily listen to classical and jazz as well as a few select bass-heavy electronica artists. I think the 598s handle all of those genres just fine, although I boost the bass a bit to give them a fuller sound.
 
I absolutely love the 598s for classical. I boost the bass to +6 through the Fiio's EQ to round out the low end and they sound fantastic. The soundstage is excellent and I think the separation is great for the price. They aren't too hard to drive, but I definitely notice an improvement when using the Fiio versus running straight out of my older Macbook Pro. 
 
Lately I've been hooked on recordings by the Swedish recording label BIS. I encourage any classical lovers to check their recordings out..especially the Minnesota Orchestra Beethoven and Sibelius cycles. They are available on Spotify as well as SACD for those interested.

 

[IBPhoenix09]

I use them with audioquest dragonfly v1.2 and I am very satisfied. Can't wait for the new red version of the dragonfly to appear!

 
This is my plan as well, The 598's are so much better than the cheap ear buds I used to use with my computer but If the v1.2 is any indication the new dragonflies will make them sound better. I heard they have efficient enough power to run off a phone (I think both iOS and Android) with the proper cable. It pretty much made the decision for me.

 

[WilliamLeonhart]

There's plenty of amp/dac choices for the hd598, but I'm sure the dragonfly v1.2 is among the best in the entry-level range. If you can move up the jds c5d and the dacport are also great too.

 

[therealjustin]

Amazon sent me a replacement HD 598SE because of the headband peeling and I have been comparing both pairs. There is no doubt, the new ones definitely sound different!
 
The replacement pair is a bit warmer and the soundstage is slightly wider. It sounds more alive if that makes sense. The serial number of the old pair is 11XX and the new pair is 22XX.