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RE: I need headphone help!

I received the Sennheiser HD 598 headphones in the middle of May. I like them a lot. The sound is smooth and spacious. They are very comfortable. As Chuck Y said, they are very easy to live with. The only ergonomic problem is that the cable has a 1/4" inch jack, so that it requires the included adapter to fit into my laptop. I have found the headphone outputs of laptops to be somewhat fragile. But I acquired a short 90 degree 1/8" jack to 1/4" female cable so that the headphone out on the laptop is subject to less strain.

The build quality seems very good, although I doubt if they are quite as tough as my older Senn HD 280Pro phones. The HD 280Pro is not as open, specious and detailed as HD 598, but they are still quite listenable and, being closed phones, the sound isolation is very good, when that is desirable. They are very clear on voices, though not more so than the newer phones.

The HD 600 is a much higher impedance phone, and so probably would not work as well as well from my laptop. The HD 598 measurements indicate a slightly more even response, but from what I understand of headphone measurements, the HD 600 measures very well, as do the HD 650 and a number of other phones that everybody seems to like.

I sent away for a HeadRoom Total Bithead headphone amp so the higher impedances of the more costly Senns would not be a factor. They say it is capable of driving any headphone except the AKG 1000 and electrostatic headphones. I have attached it to the cover of my laptop. I am not sure that it sounds any different than the soundcard in the laptop, but it does have their switchable crossfeed circuit, which has a subtle effect and makes the image a bit more spacious. It is certainly easier to use its volume control than to change volume on the computer.

Edit 20/06/2012

I have done more testing and the Total Bithead sounds smoother, more spacious, and has more bass and higher highs than I get from the soundcard on my laptop.

I played a few things on YouTube through my main system by connecting the headphone outputs on my laptop and the Total Bithead fed by the USB port, via a converter from a 1/8" headphone jack to female RCA sockets connected to a long interconnect to a spare tape input (input impedance 100 kilohms) on my preamp. The difference in highs and overall detail was evident.

I also compared a couple of CDs played on my laptop using the HD 598 headphones connected to the headphone jacks of the laptop and the Total Bithead. Similar result, definitely more highs and more low end, and a more open, spacious sound.


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"A fool and his money are soon parted." --- Thomas Tusser



Edits: 06/10/12 06/20/12

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  • RE: I need headphone help! - Pat D 09:23:31 06/09/12 (0)

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