[inthearmsofrain]

Right now, i only notice a little grain in recordings produced by a potato. In a good recording i don't hear any.
For example, a song that sounds very grainy in my experience with the HD-598's:




Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhj5OQjiU5k

The treble in this song just sucks, because of the guy who produced it. And the song itself sounds not-so-good in my HD-598's.

-

In the other way, there are recordings who sound with absolutely no-grain, very detailed and lively on my HD-598's, like these:




Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNYg2iTEhmA




Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J4Onll7VNs




Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ronQLKSY0

Those are what i consider, at least, ''good recording'', and, in my experience, sounded full-bodied on my 598's, without any flaws.

Obviously, you need to assure that you are listening to good quality formats, at least 320 Kbps, MP3 or AAC.

A question: what is your source?

I'm confused, opeth damnation is one of the best sounding albums on my 598s...Steven Wilson is an amazing producer as well

 

[Bansaku]

I'm confused, opeth damnation is one of the best sounding albums on my 598s...Steven Wilson is an amazing producer as well

 
Going to 2nd that. I just did an A/B test of the YouTube video to my ALAC 16/44KHz copy in my library. Quite a bit of quality difference between the two. Opeth is one of the few modern metal bands that sounds great on the HD 598. Children of Bodom for example, not so much.

 

[MarcadoStalker7]

I'm confused, opeth damnation is one of the best sounding albums on my 598s...Steven Wilson is an amazing producer as well

IMO he's an amazing producer, but only in Porcupine Tree and his solo project.
Just compare the production of Damnation (Opeth) with The Raven That Refused To Sing (solo project), or Deadwing (Porcupine Tree). Damnation sounds crap in comparison, and Blackwater Park too.
 
The older albums produced by Dan Swanö have a more pleasant sound for me

 

[MarcadoStalker7]

   
Going to 2nd that. I just did an A/B test of the YouTube video to my ALAC 16/44KHz copy in my library. Quite a bit of quality difference between the two. Opeth is one of the few modern metal bands that sounds great on the HD 598. Children of Bodom for example, not so much.

Compressed Metal sound sucks even on a Orpheus ^^
I'm a very fan of most Metal, but only for the music. For sound, i prefer to listen some audiophile recordings and deal with it

 

[Bansaku]

  Compressed Metal sound sucks even on a Orpheus ^^
I'm a very fan of most Metal, but only for the music. For sound, i prefer to listen some audiophile recordings and deal with it

Truthfully with the HD 598 I am the same, in fact I have listened to very little of my preferred genre, metal, with the exception of old school bands like Rush, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and whatnot. I was just stating the comparison between the YouTube and my lossless. As I stated before, compressed music sounds like poop, even with my beloved metal. Don't get me wrong, they sound good in general, but not when stacked against original vinyl or 24-bit audiophile HD tracks; Literally night and day. I did just download today Dream Theatre - Dream Theatre 24-bit remastered and wow does it sound fantastic. I want to barrow my brother's collection of Megadeth and Metallica he has on vinyl and see how they sound.
 

 

[MarcadoStalker7]

delete.

 

[MarcadoStalker7]

Delete.

 

[BillsonChang007]

Because of HD600... They can be found for $300 easily I guess?

 

[MarcadoStalker7]

Because of HD600... They can be found for $300 easily I guess?

Delete.

 

[MarcadoStalker7]

Delete.

 

[MarcadoStalker7]

Truthfully with the HD 598 I am the same, in fact I have listened to very little of my preferred genre, metal, with the exception of old school bands like Rush, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and whatnot. I was just stating the comparison between the YouTube and my lossless. As I stated before, compressed music sounds like poop, even with my beloved metal. Don't get me wrong, they sound good in general, but not when stacked against original vinyl or 24-bit audiophile HD tracks; Literally night and day. I did just download today Dream Theatre - Dream Theatre 24-bit remastered and wow does it sound fantastic. I want to barrow my brother's collection of Megadeth and Metallica he has on vinyl and see how they sound.

I heard the song Fade To Black from Ride The Lightning - Metallica in OGG 320 (Spotify Premium) on my pair and sounded astonishingly amazing! :O
Cool song too :3

 

[zanox]

  Right now, i only notice a little grain in recordings produced by a potato. In a good recording i don't hear any.
For example, a song that sounds very grainy in my experience with the HD-598's:
 

 
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhj5OQjiU5k
 
The treble in this song just sucks, because of the guy who produced it. And the song itself sounds not-so-good in my HD-598's.
 
-
 
In the other way, there are recordings who sound with absolutely no-grain, very detailed and lively on my HD-598's, like these:
 

 
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNYg2iTEhmA
 

 
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J4Onll7VNs
 

 
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ronQLKSY0
 
Those are what i consider, at least, ''good recording'', and, in my experience, sounded full-bodied on my 598's, without any flaws.
 
Obviously, you need to assure that you are listening to good quality formats, at least 320 Kbps, MP3 or AAC.
 
A question: what is your source?

 

  Right now, i only notice a little grain in recordings produced by a potato. In a good recording i don't hear any.
For example, a song that sounds very grainy in my experience with the HD-598's:
 

 
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rhj5OQjiU5k
 
The treble in this song just sucks, because of the guy who produced it. And the song itself sounds not-so-good in my HD-598's.
 
-
 
In the other way, there are recordings who sound with absolutely no-grain, very detailed and lively on my HD-598's, like these:
 

 
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNYg2iTEhmA
 

 
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J4Onll7VNs
 

 
Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ronQLKSY0
 
Those are what i consider, at least, ''good recording'', and, in my experience, sounded full-bodied on my 598's, without any flaws.
 
Obviously, you need to assure that you are listening to good quality formats, at least 320 Kbps, MP3 or AAC.
 
A question: what is your source?

the songs you labelled as grain free sounded grain free on my hd 598 as well without a single hint of grain. so is it safe to conclude that im listening to bad recordings mostly?

 

[zanox]

   
What songs are you listening too, and do ALL songs have grain? Artists and title please. Went through a 5 hour listening session last night (to help burn in my new D1) and I will say this again, ZERO grain with the exception of the recording (there are a few songs in my 14,000+ library). And I listened to the HD 598 loud too.

all songs don't have grain. the ones @MarcadoStalker7 linked me as grain free sounded grain free on my HD 598 as well.
even that opeth song didn't sound grainy. it just had a lil grain like the marcado described as his experience too.

 

[MarcadoStalker7]

If that matters, my source is: iPod touch 5G 64GB and Spotify 320.

The iPod touch 5G is severely underrated, and sound better than those ******* audiophile junk who receive more love than the iTouch. People think it's bad because it's called "iPod", ******* injustice... ;_;

PD: Another song that surprised me IME with my 598's is Opeth's To Bid You Farewell from Morningrise (1996).
Some say that album is very bad recorded, but for me sound great.

 

[jodgey4]

I'll be trading the 598's back tomorrow, thought I'd give some last impressions...
 
Compared to my LCD-2's the first thing I hear a much more pronounced and smooth treble, which makes cymbals sound killer, esp. in jazz. They are less engaging, which can be good, but the lack of clarity in those upper mids can be a bit awkward if you are intending to listen to music, rather than just have it going on in the background.
 
For gaming, they're not any better, maybe a little better FR balance, more open feeling (psychoacoustic I'm sure due to the lighter weight and FR)... but Fazor imaging is a force to be reckoned with. I only really tried with CS:GO, which doesn't have the best audio, but they seemed to do as well as any other can I've ever tried. I'm not much of a believer in soundstage differences between similar designed headphones... most full sized headphones sound the same to me +/- imaging capabilities. In fact, they weren't even that much better than my PC163D on-ears (which are on par sonically due to better bass extension and neutrality minus some clarity). But again, CS:GO isn't that great for audio. I like that they are so easy to drive, and scale up very well. These + a good soundcard would still be killer for gaming on a mid-fi budget.
 
I also just bit the bullet and bought some Q701's... so I can't wait to compare the two, though I won't have them at the same time. The last entry audiophile/mid-fi can I want to try after that is the DT-990 Pro (I consider the HD600 kind of stuff to be a different tier despite being considered 'mid-fi' by many.)
 
Anyways, I've had a great experience with them, and I understand why so many can't get rid of them even after owning 'nicer cans'. Smooth and light, great looks, comfortable, easy to drive, scale well. That checks a lot of great boxes for many people.