[NZheadcase]

The Vali might not be suited to the HD598. Just threw that in as having the three stack will give you options for more cans in the future. The Magni would serve the HD598 well. Though it does not need amplification, I find I enjoy it more with rather than without. 
 
Good luck on your search.

 

[bmeat]

void

 

[JBal4]

  these are good headphones. I wonder if i'll regret going to a k240 or a hm5

I had both the hd598 and k240mkii a while back and they are pretty similar in terms of sound and comfort. I thought the hd598 was slightly more comfortable, but I found my self listening to the k240 more because I like the akg house sound a bit more than senn. the 598 sounded damn good but there was just something about it that made all the music I was listening to sound boring in a way. It also could have been the amp or lower quality tunes fault, but regardless the difference is not massive.
 
598 > 240 bass
598 > 240 mids
598 < 240 highs
598 > 240 comfort
just my opinion 

 

[TsukiNick]

 Great set of headphones, the color really stands out though, I would of preferred a classic Grey/Black Headphone but the audio quality more than makes up for some of the draw backs.
 
Pro: Love the open soundstage (my first pair of open headphones.)  Sound quality is wonderful, I was using the ATH-M50s before these and needed something with a better soundstage.  Comfortable as can be, very light headphone with nice padding.
And definitely the price I got them for.
 
Cons: The cable.....what can I say I thought it'd be a normal removable cable where you could replace it with any 3.5mm cable...WRONG have to use the ridiculously long cable and 1/4inch to 3.5mm adapter for my use. (Have it hooked up to my computers Creative Sound Blaster Z.)  A little hard to drive with my phone, but I guess my Audio-Technicas will be my portable headphone.

 

[palmfish]

You can get a 4-5' cable terminated in 3.5mm for less than $20 on eBay.

 

[bugeyed]

  snip
 
Cons: The cable.....what can I say I thought it'd be a normal removable cable where you could replace it with any 3.5mm cable...WRONG have to use the ridiculously long cable and 1/4inch to 3.5mm adapter for my use. (Have it hooked up to my computers Creative Sound Blaster Z.)  A little hard to drive with my phone, but I guess my Audio-Technicas will be my portable headphone.

I highly recommend this product & vendor. They are in China, but ship fast & respond quickly to email inquiries.
 
Cheers,
kev

 

[TsukiNick]

For that price though I'll probably just order the official 3.5mm from Sennheiser.
 
Sorry I'm used to buying 3' 3.5mm cables for .88 USD haha.  But yeah I might just get the cable from Senn then I might work on getting a Fio E17 and USB OTG cable for my Samsung Galaxy S4

 

[joshwalnut]

Jesus, now that's a good deal there folks... $66? You basically stole it. lol
 
I just cut my long cable in half and soldered a new 3.5mm jack plug, if you have a solder gun and can get a jack plug, it's easy peasy.
 
I was also expecting some sonic differences with the cable cut in half... what can i say? ...what a load of..... lol

 

[TsukiNick]

I just decided to get the 1.2m one on ebay. Planning on using it with a DAC/AMP with my phone

 

[pancakeplease]

Bought a HD 598 today.. my previous listening experience was a Shure SRH840 (owned for 2 years), listened to every crap phone at Bestbuy demo stands including bose, beats, low end sennheisers, etc. Was able to listen to Beyerdynamics DT770s today and also ATH-m50s at guitar center. The ATH had the sound I liked but I found HD 598 and I am not disappointed. The mids and high... are ******* INCREDIBLE. The sound is full AND wide. My SRH840s were full but the soundstage was narrow kind of because they were closed headphones. These HD 598 are another animals. Also the SRh840s were ugly, super big and heavy and could not listen for more than 1-2 hours. The HD598s lightweight and fluffy earpads are amazing. 
I need to add that vocals are the ****. The bass can be better but so far I've only tried listening with my computer's onboard line out, no amp. 

 

[ziigmund]

will YULONG U100 pair good with the 598's?

 

[TsukiNick]

  Bought a HD 598 today.. my previous listening experience was a Shure SRH840 (owned for 2 years), listened to every crap phone at Bestbuy demo stands including bose, beats, low end sennheisers, etc. Was able to listen to Beyerdynamics DT770s today and also ATH-m50s at guitar center. The ATH had the sound I liked but I found HD 598 and I am not disappointed. The mids and high... are ******* INCREDIBLE. The sound is full AND wide. My SRH840s were full but the soundstage was narrow kind of because they were closed headphones. These HD 598 are another animals. Also the SRh840s were ugly, super big and heavy and could not listen for more than 1-2 hours. The HD598s lightweight and fluffy earpads are amazing. 
I need to add that vocals are the ****. The bass can be better but so far I've only tried listening with my computer's onboard line out, no amp. 

Should at least upgrade to a discrete sound Card, ASUS Xonars and Creative Sound Blasters work well.
I use mine with a creative Sound Blaster Z and loving it.

 

[pancakeplease]

  Should at least upgrade to a discrete sound Card, ASUS Xonars and Creative Sound Blasters work well.
I use mine with a creative Sound Blaster Z and loving it.

Yeah I'll definitely look into a sound card upgrade. Hopefully not too expensive. Loving the wide soundstage on these open headphones.

 

[Flax95]

I'm currently using my HD 598's with an Asus Xonar STX soundcard (with build-in amp) and I'm absolutely loving it, so that might be an option for you aswell...
Good luck with your phones!

 

[TsukiNick]

  Yeah I'll definitely look into a sound card upgrade. Hopefully not too expensive. Loving the wide soundstage on these open headphones.

Creative Sound Blaster Z has plenty of amping (600ohm headphone amp built in) I can run them at about %20 volume in windows and have it pretty loud with these 50ohms cans.
 
Also the microphone it comes with is very nice, let's you game with any headphone.  Virtual 5.1 is nice as well.
I was originally going to go with the Asus Xonar but in stores I couldn't find any of the PCIE versions so it wouldn't support my motherboard.