Nobody else has tried to recable theirs yet and void their warranty? If only more people could hear the benefits (don't give me the lecture please
) then they'd be more likely to do it. I seriously can't imagine listening to the HD-598 on the stock cable any more. I've now recabled the HD-598 about 6 times and have yet to kill it's driver. I've had a few close calls. It's actually not that difficult.
I still think Mogami is very very good for it, but it's signature isn't as smooth, but still very close. People who love goods mids would be best with the Mogami.
I originally used Belden 1192A, which is very thick. I said it made them too fatiguing, but maybe not really after all. It could be I was too quick to judge that wire with them and maybe my ears were already too fatigued. One reason I wanted to give it another chance is that I absolutely love my Belden interconnect cables. Only cost me $2 and I prefer them to the Monoprice cable, a Best Buy junk cable and my new Mogami cable. I think the Belden is the only interconnect where I'm pretty positive I can actually tell a difference. Normally it's extremely difficult. With headphone cables it's 10X easier.
So I made another Belden 1192A cable for my HD-598 and I love it. I've been listening to it now for about 3 hours and zero fatigue. Man, this headphone now sure has quite a lot of detail! Stock, not really. An hour back I was convinced nearly that it was close to being a detail monster, but that's a bit overkill. On lots of songs now you can pick up stuff you normally wouldn't hear, even recording hiss and really tiny background details.
Biggest improvement so far is the bass is a lot better (not more) and there seems to be more treble. For people who complained the HD-598 didn't have enough treble (do they even exist?) the Belden is worth a try. The Belden really seems to be the best now despite the Mogami being really good too. I don't know why, but the Belden really does seem to improve the soundstage and the amount of detail. I'm not sure if people will find the treble fatiguing, but it's not a problem for me. The HD-598 will not seem to "tame" a bright recording less now. The mids are most definitely more forward on the Mogami for sure. Even more than stock, but not enough to be a huge problem.
The Belden 1192A is a really thick cable so that may explain any improvements over the Mogami, but I don't know.
I have my new K501, but I don't know if I like it more than the HD-598 or not. Both are so different, but the K501 soundstage is far better. Maybe I could do a K501 vs HD-598 review sometime. Stock HD-598 would lose out easily. Both of them aren't going anywhere for sure. The HD-598 actually might have as much treble as the K501 now, but I'm not sure. Anyone else own both headphones? Which one do you prefer? HD-598 is still impressive for vocals.
