[GoodBoy]

Hi

I bought an HD599 SE this week.
Im using it with a SoundBlasterX G6 DAC.

Is normal that at first listening the headphone sounds horrible ?
After 10 hours of burn-in, now sounds better but i still found the female voice ( male voice is ok ) sighly recessed and the bass extensions that bloods in some songs.

How many hours of burn-in are necessary after can i take a decision of sound performance ?

Read my post above. There are basically (or at least) two versions of 599 tuning. One is your pair that can be described as warm and bassy. The other one has more forward vocals, less bass overall a bit brighter and more "aggresive" presentation with details a little more audible. It's not to say one is better than the other it's up to one's prefference as well as source you're listening at for example warmer bassy 599 sounded overblown on my PC DAC which has bumbed up bass on its own, but they sounded much better on my smartphone with much more neutral dac. To me the warmer version has some addictive lush sound that I find super relaxing and balanced I think this "version" has more of that famous sennheiser veil / midbass hump. I find this tuning to be superior for movies as it gives you similar experience to the cinema speakers. However the other "version" has it's own qualities being much more precise, engaging to listen to. For some types of music the warmer one can be boring and dull, while brighter one can be shouty at times and too aggresive which can also be fatiguing with some music. Your 599 is the one with best bass and powerful kick, which is a bit lacking in the other one that has more of audiophile neutrality. I still don't know which "version" is more accurate to how sennheiser designed them, that's the question only they could answer but I guess if asked they will never admitt there are differences in given batches of theoretically same headphone model. I would advice you to order replacement compare and stick to the one that's better for you. Or send back both if you think there's somethin wrong with each pair. Like I said I had 5 pairs in total 3 of which sounded like your pair, 2 less bass louder vocals, a bit better for analyzing details.

 

[paulguru]

Read my post above. There are basically (or at least) two versions of 599 tuning. One is your pair that can be described as warm and bassy. The other one has more forward vocals, less bass overall a bit brighter and more "aggresive" presentation with details a little more audible. It's not to say one is better than the other it's up to one's prefference as well as source you're listening at for example warmer bassy 599 sounded overblown on my PC DAC which has bumbed up bass on its own, but they sounded much better on my smartphone with much more neutral dac. To me the warmer version has some addictive lush sound that I find super relaxing and balanced I think this "version" has more of that famous sennheiser veil / midbass hump. I find this tuning to be superior for movies as it gives you similar experience to the cinema speakers. However the other "version" has it's own qualities being much more precise, engaging to listen to. For some types of music the warmer one can be boring and dull, while brighter one can be shouty at times and too aggresive which can also be fatiguing with some music. Your 599 is the one with best bass and powerful kick, which is a bit lacking in the other one that has more of audiophile neutrality. I still don't know which "version" is more accurate to how sennheiser designed them, that's the question only they could answer but I guess if asked they will never admitt there are differences in given batches of theoretically same headphone model. I would advice you to order replacement compare and stick to the one that's better for you. Or send back both if you think there's somethin wrong with each pair. Like I said I had 5 pairs in total 3 of which sounded like your pair, 2 less bass louder vocals, a bit better for analyzing details.

Hi

Actually mine is not warm, sound is also too bright for me for now.
The bass is deep and sometimes seems to lacking, but also seems the upper bass bleeds in the mids actually, after 20 hours of burn in.

So ... i want to know if is the headphone to be like this or if still need to be burned again ( hoping the sound will change ), and how many hours is necessary.

 

[GoodBoy]

Wouldn't count on burn-in to change the sound in a significant way... Looking at your bass description I immediately associated it with my warmer pairs. No matter the tuning "version" all 599's have that famous sennheiser midbass hump, just one more than the other. If your pair is lacking in bass department and at the same has a bit brighter presentation then you have more aggresive tuning not the warm one. You'll not be happy with the warmer tuning since that one has even more bass "bleed" and somewhat distant vocals. Anywho I'd try at least one replacement since you probably bought it at amazon.

 

[paulguru]

yes, i bought it from Amazon.
The Special Edition you can buy only in Amazon, and is necessary bought from Amazon to do test and returns.

 

[paulguru]

Is possible that the soundstage is not hide ? I remember 598 was a very wide spaciousness.
My MSR7 is a closed headphone but seems to have a very similar stage.

 

[Ivan4you]

The soundstage of the hd599 is very poor.My closed Sony MDR1am2 is much better in soundstage and detail.
Wy the 599 for Some people is heaven,i don,t understand.

 

[McLambo]

Must be then that there are indeed multiple versions of the HD599..

...mine sounded a bit flat and narrow when i started listening, but after a couple dozen hours it sounds very pleasant, and the sound stage widened quite a bit... It's now wider then my closed back gaming headset based on BD design

 

[paulguru]

Must be then that there are indeed multiple versions of the HD599..

...mine sounded a bit flat and narrow when i started listening, but after a couple dozen hours it sounds very pleasant, and the sound stage widened quite a bit... It's now wider then my closed back gaming headset based on BD design

couple of dozen ? So around 24h of burn-in ?

 

[McLambo]

couple of dozen ? So around 24h of burn-in ?

At least. I was so put off by the sound out of the box that i stacked it away in a closet.

Picked it up again a month later and gave it another try.. after a couple of night i am really quite fond of it now.

 

[armdias]

Guess it depends on what pair will you get. I went through 5 pairs of these and there are basically two types of tunning - one with wide soundstage, but somewhat boomy looser mellow bass almost identical headphone to 598 with same level of midbass hump I guess metal got that one based on his thoughts and YouTube review. The other type has more aggresive sound, less midbass hump, more dynamics, tighter more impactful bass kick, but a bit narrower soundstage. First one is like sennheiser oldschool 5 series lineup, while the other is more in trend with 58X and 660S. Which one you prefer and if you wanna play a lottery ticket is totally up to you, but if you get one and not be fully satisfied get at least one replacement to compare.

GoodBoy, this is a bit late question, but I also bought the HD 599's this weekend, Ivory model, and after reading your post something clicked...

This is the thing. I really like the sound of my new 599's, this is the first pair of quality cans. The issue is that they seem to lack bass. The problem is that I don't know if this is "normal" for better/quality and open-back headphones or if I have the less bass model that you mention. For comparison, my other cans are the Sennheiser's cheap HD 202 that I use for about 4/5 years and on them, everything seems more "tight", focused and with considerable more bass. This is my "reference" and I don't know if the relative lack of bass that I find on my 599s, compared to the HD 202, still is the version with the more bass on them.

Like I said, these are my first quality cans and I don't know if the HD 202 that I have are so much bass heavy that my reference is somewhat distorted (like, they are somewhat like Beats cans, too much bass and since I got used to them for so many years now everything seems less bassy)... For getting a bass closer to the HD 202's I have to bump the 60Hz by 7db and 170Hz by 3db on VLC Media player EQ (just a rough estimate).

Another thing that may help. I don't know if you are familiar with Metallica's Master of Puppets album, but on the 599s the guitars sound different to what I always heard, it's like their frequency changed and went from the, it's like their sound went from "sssss" to "zzzzz" (this is just an attempt to describe what I'm hearing).

Also, I just was able to use them for about 2 hours since I bought them, I don't know if the still need to burn-in...

So, I'm asking for your opinion:

- based on this do you think I have the lesser bass ones (keep in mind that my reference are the HD 202's)? Or do you think I don't have an educated hear, coming from the cheap HD 202 and now everything seems to lack bass (just like coming from Beats)?
- in the meantime, did you find some kind of pattern, like from serial 515245 to 845121 are the bass heavier ones, out of this range are the loose bass ones? Or did you know if Sennheiser gave a word about this?
- any test that I can do or some test that you can suggest to determine which version I have?

I'm a bit reluctant returning them because they were the last pair in the shop and I got them at a very good price (a flash sale), and ordering another pair to compare would cost me the double of what I paid...

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[armdias]

By the way, just to add to my previous post, I'm using FLAC files (CD quality and up) and my DAC is a Cyrus SoundKey.

 

[armdias]

Bump

 

[GoodBoy]

Well what can I say I'm propably sending back two pairs I currently have while still being within amazon return window policy.... After testing 5 pairs total I kinda know how they should sound I mean the flawless one. Guess I'm gonna wait for one more pair.
Everything about these can affect the sound, starting from pads, cables, diiferent clamping force and finally driver tuning/pairing. Basically all units I've heard had theoretically same tuning, but there were significant differences making one pair more bassy and/or boomy, while others more trebly and/or shouty vocals, one very wide open soundstage, other congested and narrow.... On top of that sound is affected furthermore by pads, clamp and cables. Remember to use and test them with longer cable from the start. Short one is crap quality it makes an impression like there's no soundstage and affects frequencies in a bad way especially when listening from PC. Looks like this short cable is designed for only mobile use with smartphones and such.
And btw, there are also differnces in built quality. Like I said the clamp can vary from very weak in one pair to very strong with others. Some units had more of a matt plastic finish, other more shiny. Some had pads with short velour "hair", others were longer and more fluffy. Some pads were flat making my ears touch inside of a cup, others gave big space. I kon't know maybe they make these headphones in two or more different factories or something...

 

[MatukaHiFi]

Well what can I say I'm propably sending back two pairs I currently have while still being within amazon return window policy.... After testing 5 pairs total I kinda know how they should sound I mean the flawless one. Guess I'm gonna wait for one more pair.
Everything about these can affect the sound, starting from pads, cables, diiferent clamping force and finally driver tuning/pairing. Basically all units I've heard had theoretically same tuning, but there were significant differences making one pair more bassy and/or boomy, while others more trebly and/or shouty vocals, one very wide open soundstage, other congested and narrow.... On top of that sound is affected furthermore by pads, clamp and cables. Remember to use and test them with longer cable from the start. Short one is crap quality it makes an impression like there's no soundstage and affects frequencies in a bad way especially when listening from PC. Looks like this short cable is designed for only mobile use with smartphones and such.
And btw, there are also differnces in built quality. Like I said the clamp can vary from very weak in one pair to very strong with others. Some units had more of a matt plastic finish, other more shiny. Some had pads with short velour "hair", others were longer and more fluffy. Some pads were flat making my ears touch inside of a cup, others gave big space. I kon't know maybe they make these headphones in two or more different factories or something...

That's very interesting and surprising... I use the thin 3.5mm-1.2m long cable with my HD599s. So you mean the cable which plugs one end into the headphones (locks in place) and the other end is 3.5mm? Cuz I can't use 6.3mm and the adapter that came with it broke easily. I don't know what cable I could buy to replace the one I'm using. It's also been tangled. I use that thin and short 3.5mm cable and it's attached to a unknown brand 3.5mm extension cable, which plugs into my desktop PC's front/top audio panel. I think they sound great, could perhaps benefit from a better cable or DAC/AMP though... I don't know. But I've been satisfied with my HD599s. It's true that the bass is warm/natural/boomy, instead of punchy and hard-kicking (depending on the song of course but in general). I don't know where to get a good quality cable for my HD599s in Europe, can anyone help? One that plugs into the headphones with the other end being 3.5mm, and not very short (or if it's short then I'll need to use an extension cable with it). I'd like to buy one, even if it won't improve the sound too much. Because the one that came with the headphones has gotten tangled/worn out.

 

[Ivan4you]

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