Don't think anyone replied to you. Let's take a step back. "Balanced" means that the speakers are getting fed individual signals out of phase, +/- with a dedicated ground path, as opposed to a signal that runs in total to ground (+/gnd). This is used to eliminate noise as the positive flows to the negative, and any "noise" that is not in BOTH the waveforms flows to the dedicated ground path. What this means is that it is IMPOSSIBLE for a headset to be "not a genuine balanced configuration." If a speaker has a positive and negative terminal, it can be "balanced." Now, that said, the CABLE on the headset may or may not be WIRED to balance the signal. As someone who has ripped open the ENTIRE headset for a recable, I can say that it IS possible to balance it. There are 3 viable methods, depending on how dramatic you want to get.
1. Turns out, the headset is actually wired to accept balancing AT the recable. The cable insert on the headset is a TRRS jack, NOT a TRS. If you pop open the left cup, you will see that there are actually FOUR leads soldiered onto the jack PCB. That means the EASIEST solution is to either buy or make an XLR-4p (or whatever termination you prefer) to the TRRS end. If you search "HD598 Recable" on google, you will be lead to a Head-fi forum post of someone who did just that. It's very straight-forward.
2. You can clip the wires off the PCB and remove it, wiring both of the 2C Litz wires into the cable directly, terminating as you see fit. This is just a more dramatic version of #1, running a dedicated balanced cable as opposed to utilizing the TRRS jack for cable-swapping (and eliminating a connection point in the mix.)
3. You can do what I did: Completely strip out ALL of the wire and replace it. There are a couple options once you've gone this far. What I did was run my OWN cable from one earcup to the other through the headband in an effort to preserve the left-hand cabling. It required extensive modding that has already come to bite me in the butt. I had to do lots of compromising of the structure that has caused a break in the housing. I also screwed up the driver and had to replace the assembly. The easier method is to turn the headset from a left-sided cable to a split-Y cable by drilling out one of the earcups to run the wire onto the driver assembly (If you go this route, don't forget your strain relief!).
I ran 18AWG wire instead of the 28-32AWG Litz wire that it comes with. This required me to drill out the brass fittings and to put pressure in certain places for strain relief and to actually just have it fit. this caused the swivel fitting on the right ear to crack and come unseated permanently. This means no clamping pressure holding the earcup against my head. I have this fixed with Duct tape, but it destroyed my aesthetic on these cans and I have no real way to fix it short of replacing the whole housing. So, the extensive modding I did is not advised unless you are both tolerant of failure and accepting of non-ideal recovery solutions. Thankfully, it has no affect on sound quality
Which, I might add, benefited from the balancing. It slightly (but noticeably) reduced the "static fuzz" sound I was getting from my headset when my amp was turned up very high. I have a tube amp and it also reduced the cable microphonics by a considerable portion.I just got a set of classic Audeze LCD2's (vintage 2011). I built a balanced cable for them as well. I've spent some time on them and I ABSOLUTELY love them, but they are a bit too "serious." I break them out when I REALLY want to do some critical listening, but they're heavy, fragile, and the planar drivers create a pressure inside the cup that can be quite fatiguing. I have found myself revisiting and re-falling in love with my 598's again. They are ALMOST as good, WAY easier to listen to, and WAY less serious. When I'm looking for a high-quality casual experience, it's just hard to beat them. I still have to bring my gear over to my brother's to test out his HD6XX's and see how they compare, but for now, these guys continue to be my go-to set of cans.
Last edited:
