[ElMarcado]

  I feel ya man! Having now a few more headphones to my collection and having listened to different music, games etc I do find the 598se's to be NOT all it was hyped to be, All the reviews online and youtube etc, praising how awesome they sound blah blah blah... I got sucked into it and thought YES this will be bliss for the 150ish price range... WRONG. lol 
Ok yes they are nice and feel great etc. And they make crappy music sound good. And I enjoy them for gaming. And I find them really easy to drive when unamped. But for me they can be a bit too muffled especially when fast bass songs are played. The bass either clips and I have to lower the volume or just can't handle fast bass songs, or deep bass sounds. Yes I like them and keeping them.
But honestly, I was really drawn to them because of how highly praised they were. lol. And that is my main disappointment. But with no expectations they are good but not spectacular and I do enjoy them and just keep in mind some of the limitations when I use them on certain sounds. I hope that makes sense. lol

Try the SZ2000 if you want tight, teeth-rattling, head-crushing, fast, bottomless bass. Perfect for EDM and anything with bass. Never distorts.

 

[endallchaos]

  I feel ya man! Having now a few more headphones to my collection and having listened to different music, games etc I do find the 598se's to be NOT all it was hyped to be, All the reviews online and youtube etc, praising how awesome they sound blah blah blah... I got sucked into it and thought YES this will be bliss for the 150ish price range... WRONG. lol 
Ok yes they are nice and feel great etc. And they make crappy music sound good. And I enjoy them for gaming. And I find them really easy to drive when unamped. But for me they can be a bit too muffled especially when fast bass songs are played. The bass either clips and I have to lower the volume or just can't handle fast bass songs, or deep bass sounds. Yes I like them and keeping them.
But honestly, I was really drawn to them because of how highly praised they were. lol. And that is my main disappointment. But with no expectations they are good but not spectacular and I do enjoy them and just keep in mind some of the limitations when I use them on certain sounds. I hope that makes sense. lol

 
The 598's were never made for bass heavy music.

 

[Primus2112]

   
The 598's were never made for bass heavy music.

 
 

  Try the SZ2000 if you want tight, teeth-rattling, head-crushing, fast, bottomless bass. Perfect for EDM and anything with bass. Never distorts.

Cool! But I did not mean to come across as a bass head. Great suggestion though! I just meant to say that I assumed these pricey and overly hyped (in my opinion!) would handle sudden bassy songs or songs where the bass is really accentuated if they happen to start playing on my playlist etc. Especially if they also have been noted to be bass light. Bah. But it's all good.

 

[MRK1]

While some headphones have too much bass which bleeds into the mids and highs, these have the opposite problem, there is no bass extension whatsoever on these, and also, they don't respond well to EQ, if you boost the bass they will just sound weird and distorted. Maybe it'll improve with burn in, or my sources don't have enough power to get the bass going on them. In my case I think it's too early to tell, I'm giving them a chance since I'm in no rush to return them. The overall sound signature seems to be to my liking, it just seems unrefined/boring for now. I'm sure they will improve.

 

[Melesonling]

You can also try skylet headphone. It is very popular and work well. High quality is better for you.

 

[KopaneDePooj]

@MRK1
 
As others recommended, keep them for a while and try to get used to them.
For me these are perfectly balanced headphones, with bass exactly where it needs to be (good amount and quality), it might work for you or not, but just give them some time. You just need to get used to open, natural sound.
 
Also, these are indeed polite headphones but never boring. But they may sound right with only some genres fore some people. For me they sound good with anything, but that's how I like the sound: not overdone in any way. So at the end, it's a matter of what you're expecting to get. If you want more "presence" try Grados or AKGs but be aware that "presence" may translate to fatigue at the end of the day.

 

[SirMarc]

I'm thinking there are QC issues with these headphones. I know everyone's ears are different, but my SE's have solid bass and don't distort at high volume. I use HD650's in my main rig, and always say damn, these things sound good for the money when I put on the HD598se's...

 

[Primus2112]

I'm thinking there are QC issues with these headphones. I know everyone's ears are different, but my SE's have solid bass and don't distort at high volume. I use HD650's in my main rig, and always say damn, these things sound good for the money when I put on the HD598se's...

I agree.

 

[Arniesb]

I'm thinking there are QC issues with these headphones. I know everyone's ears are different, but my SE's have solid bass and don't distort at high volume. I use HD650's in my main rig, and always say damn, these things sound good for the money when I put on the HD598se's...

You obviously didnt listen at high enough wolumes and or bassy enough music... I tried 3 HD598 and every pair distorted, DT990 also have same issues (3 pairs was tested). My T1 and HD650 never distorts, same was for HD 8 dj.

 

[SirMarc]

You obviously didnt listen at high enough wolumes and or bassy enough music... I tried 3 HD598 and every pair distorted, DT990 also have same issues (3 pairs was tested). My T1 and HD650 never distorts, same was for HD 8 dj.

Wow, I have some hearing loss and listen pretty loud. Be careful man, you're going to damage your ears...

 

[Arniesb]

Wow, I have some hearing loss and listen pretty loud. Be careful man, you're going to damage your ears...

My point was that i had bass distortion on high wolume levels or even at moderate levels, but when playing bass heavy sounds from music or movies (Especially SUB BASS heavy)...

 

[Bansaku]

Re: HD598 bass distortion at high levels.
 
Honestly, I just haven't experienced any distortion at increased volume. Not only do they take well to loudness/music enhancer/bass extension on my three home theatre receivers, using the 3-dot XBass setting on my iCAN micro SE causes no distortion either. Neither did the Creative Sound Blaster suit's bass expander. Only, and only when I increase the volume to defining levels (say, the 2 o'clock position on my iCAN as opposed to the above moderate level at noon, or -22dB on my HT receivers) do I hear distortion. To my ears, using test tone generators (both sine sweep and static tones) the HD598 extends pretty flat down to 26Hz (ish) before a steep roll-off. Yes, listening to the song 20Hz - Shake the Street - HDEND in which there is a constant 20Hz pulse throughout the song, with the HD598s I hear absolutely nothing. But for the rest of the album (which is a high DR, extreme bass test album meant to put your system through extremes) the bass/sub bass is glorious with zero distortion. With the exception of my DT770 Pros and my Mee Atlas/M-Duo, the HD598 holds it's own in regards to bass against every headphone I currently own or have owned.
 
I just don't understand......maybe I have a golden pair? 

 

 
P.S. For me, before burn-in bass was boomy and dry. After a crapload of hours the bass is tight and juicy! Treble also got a touch more sparkle and sheen. Didn't really notice too much with the mids except they got smoother.
P.P.S. I use a 3' aftermarket OFC cable.
P.P.P.S. Want to hear a headphone with zero bass, try the beyerdynamic T70; The HD598s are bass monsters in comparison! What a letdown of a $650 headphone...

 

[MRK1]

Ugh... I don't understand. Listened to the 598 for 2 hours, then put on my miserable, puny, FIVE BUCKS ( + 3 shipping) Chinese earbuds and they sounded way, way, way better (I'm obviously talking about the VE Monk). The bass is there, the vocals are forward, everything is tight and resonating to near perfection, it's just ridiculous. I can hear all the details on the Monk and I can hear it even better on the 598, but they sound hollow, compressed. The voices are distant and muffled somehow. Reviews praised the mids & highs, and I listened mostly to female vocal music such as Jpop, vocal trance, and stuff with violins & piano such as baroque music and various classical piano sonatas (all in flac & 320kbps) and man everything just sounds so awful on these. I also listened to modern orchestral, I have various albums from Two Steps From Hell in flac and they were flat out unlistenable as this kind of music needs some bass.
 
It's so weird because I can hear the tiniest background details very clearly and yet the main instruments and vocals are recessed. Such as the clock ticking sound from Starvation by Thomas Bergersen (flac), I could hear that background sound and the main tune was recessed, like what is even happening here? I can hear the clock as well using the Monk but it's merged with the rest of the music, on the 598 is totally separated and somehow more forward than the main melody.
 
Also, these are fatiguing, and very much so. At very low volume they fatigued my ears a lot, when I took them off I felt like I was just out of a club (even though these have no bass and I didn't listen to any bassy track) and back again to the not-so-crappy VE Monk, I could keep them on for entire days with no issues at a higher volume.
 
I'm seriously tempted to return these and buy the other earbuds from VE, namely the Asura, and an amp.
 
Does anyone here own the VE Monk? I feel silly comparing a 5 bucks earbud to a full size headphone like this, but my ears are telling me the Monk sounds not only more pleasing but also better in basically anything but soundstage.
 
Bottom line, I either have defective ears or defective 598s. I will keep listening and see what happens.
 
Here's a little picture.
 

 

[SirMarc]

It almost sounds like the drivers are out of phase. Weird...

 

[LazyListener]

  While some headphones have too much bass which bleeds into the mids and highs, these have the opposite problem, there is no bass extension whatsoever on these, and also, they don't respond well to EQ, if you boost the bass they will just sound weird and distorted. Maybe it'll improve with burn in, or my sources don't have enough power to get the bass going on them. In my case I think it's too early to tell, I'm giving them a chance since I'm in no rush to return them. The overall sound signature seems to be to my liking, it just seems unrefined/boring for now. I'm sure they will improve.

The 598 bass is neutral to light.  These are not cans for bass lovers.  They're not the best choice for fast or bass driven music, but they do a decent job.  They're excellent for slower music.
 
They do respond to adding bass by EQ, but if you add too much, and play them at a loud volume, you will likely hear some distortion/clipping.
 
I wouldn't expect them to improve much with burn in.  The more you listen to them, the more YOU will get used to them and you may like them (or not), but the cans themselves will not improve noticeably.
 
Also, I had a pair of 598 SE for a while, and the bass on those was noticeably weaker than my Ivory 598s.  We've kind of established in this thread that not every 598 is going to sound identical.
 
Still, regardless, the 598 bass is neutral to light, and yes, they have an overall relaxed sound signature (not forward or engaging that some prefer).  Female vocals tend to be a bit more forward than the rest of the sound spectrum with the 598s.
 
EDIT:  For relative reference, I want to mention that although the 598 bass is neutral to light, they do have more bass than other popular open cans I've listened (AKG Q701, HE400S, DT880), but less bass than the X2.