Sennheiser HD 598 Special Edition Over-Ear Headphones - Black (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

REVIEW FOR SPECIAL EDITION, not the standard HD598 - - Comfortable and very high sound quality. There is deep (yet tight) bass - no extra reverb, sharp highs, and a reasonable midrange. These reproduce without any distortion that I could identify, even at high volume and even at the boundaries of harmonic range. The headphones themselves are large and comfortable. They come with two cords - one short and one very long (maybe 10m). They are very adjustable (fit my large adult head, and tried them on my 7yo daughter too). These are NOT noise cancelling or even sound isolating head phones - you will still be able to hear the world around you. They have a standard 1/4 plug, but also a 3.5mm adapter so you can use it with your iphone, etc. They do not come with a case and are fairly large (bulky) for travel use. What makes these special edition different than the standard fare? No real clue. Seems like just an extra cable. The specs are the same. It is black, not tan.

Its vocal reproduction is world class especially the female vocals truly remarkable! Trust me headphones market are so much saturated, when you see a higher priced headphones which are supposed to give a the best audio quality the price you have paid see the difference? more the price better the audio? is it a myth or really does it make a difference? such questions never ends since we are putting so much money for all the audio equipment (im talking from the common people perspective not from the audio enthuus or music professionals because they would just spend loads of money into that anyway). before jumping into the real actual review i will try to explain all the odds that comes into play when you want to listen to the True Music Experience. First of all what all headphone companies are want/trying to give/prove? Best audio quality? so what is the best audio quality anyway? (well people are different so does the tastes so does the headphones and its prices:) lets split these into 3 stages or layers of character say Characteristics of Headphone. 1. Frequency Response 2. Presentation and 3. Features. FREQUENCY RESPONSE: Frequency response of human ears is most of you know 20 to 20K hz. well thats enough i mean really but technically a headphone can able to produce a frequency that beyond the human listening levels which are believed to be a good sign of a headphone okay how much true is that upto the manufactures claim of their products which requires a proper equipment and lab condition atmosphere, but for now we just believe most decent headphones is capable of doing a true 20 to20k hz. Flat frequency response or trying not to color the audio frequency curve so that it can produce what exactly the source has/mastered in the studio by the sound engineers, does it sound reasonable for you? on the other hand we have a colored version of headphones which tends to boost a particular audio frequency like bass (mostly), mids and highs. which gives you a excited or energetic audio listening experience! lets wait that is not exactly true yes but that is what perceived actually by all. Type 1 Headphones: which renders the audio exactly mastered in the source it means requires a good source for good audio listening exp bad source means bad audio coming out of these headphones. Well that is what i prefer source dependent means its just very honest means listener is not fooled by the colorization, as i said above sound quality preference is really subjective but i just dont want to give a very generic review by saying or using the word subjective which we have heard millions of time. Headphone should produce the exact audio which fed through it good means good bad means bad, period! Type 2 Headphones: This is category needs a very detailed explanation but i will try to simplify, these headphones audio response goes like slightly colored, very highly colored, partially colored, favors bass, favors highs, very mid focused or master of none but jack of all which means slightly balanced of all but not in the level of audiophile level clarity and detailing. Okay now we moved past the first stage of Frequency Response to the 2nd stage Presentation. How do they present those freq response is the next stage of the headphone Presentation which is handled by various aspects which is very important or most preferred aspects for a headphone as follows PRESENTATION: (I tied the sub aspects of PRESENTATION into three to simplify the understanding, SOUNDSTAGE, DETAIL and WARM/DARK OR BRIGHT/COLD) Soundstage: how deep the staging of the sound instruments or the overall sound coming from the left and right stereo drivers to your ears like how wide not just horizontally but also how vertically placed sounds coming through which also has another interesting name 3D like presentation. Well right amount of depth is really depends upon the source and how they were recorded. A good headphone shouldnt have any problem with this aspect of natural spatial presentation without any artificially widened soundstage. Most open headphones naturally gives a decent soundstage to best soundstage than your closed headphones because of breathing room for drivers to move freely inside the acoustic chamber. A very good soundstage also gives partially free of any instrument congestion i said because a soundstage may be wide enough bu that doesnt warrant a fully congestion free audio listening so thats where instrument separation aspect comes into play which a sandwich of both soundstage and detailing of a headphone. Best soundstage and detailed headphones gives you almost free of any congestion no matter how many instruments are there in the source how many layers are there in the source it simply cut through and renders the audio crystal clear. Detailing: detailing is actually much important aspect of the presentation stage since this is the only aspect which brings out very finer sounds like singers hum, breathe the texture of the voice and instruments being played and so on. micro detailing is even more of a finer details which brings out unbelievable sounds and its texture to their finest and lifelike sounding which we never heard of in our favorite songs before which is actually very true. Best detailing also reveals recording faults or any dents/dips in the audio source. Finally WARM OR COLD also called as DARK OR BRIGHT sounding, final aspect of the presentation: To simply put warm or dark sounding headphones are mostly fatigue free listening which wont hurt your ears it gives you more relaxed and pleasant sound experience whereas the bright and somewhat cold sounding presentation which tends to cause uncomfortable to the listener when the time passes, well its also little subjective some prefer warmer some prefer brighter, for me its warmer sounding presentation is better for longer listening periods. FEATURES: (Included sub aspects like comfort, build quality and accessories, Overhear headphone only i covered) Not the least aspect but this final stage surely well placed below when compared to other stages of a headphone, consists of build quality plastic/metal/wood, leather/fauxleather/velour pads, detachable cable, how many cables provided and how long they are, has microphone for mobile use?, does it comes with headphone bag/pouch and finally how much comfort are these? but i really go with somewhat decent durable build quality and comfort than the other features, comfort and durability is most preferred feature for me than the other features covered here. Okay finally coming to the actual REVIEW of SENNHEISER HD 598SE, It checks all the good/excited things i have explained above, enough said. still for the review sake im nitpicking: no headphone bag no microphone velour pads are dust magnet Overall..........................................Outstanding!

I love the acoustic signature of an open back headphone. And in my opinion I believe that Sennheiser makes the best open back headphones. The special edition version was a nice touch since I didnt really fancy the original tan version. The HD 598 model has lower impedance so its great for using it without an headphone amplifier, for laptops, mp3 players, smartphones. The higher end models of the Sennheiser HD range require an amp as they are rated at a higher impedance. In terms of comfort, I came from an Audio Technica M50, and I would never go back to those again. The ATH M50s felt like they were compressing my head quite a bit, while these headphones stayed on loosely but not too loose that they would fall off easily. This is my first open ear headphone, and if anything should happen to this one, Id try out the newer version of this model, the HD 599.

Looks great. Very solid...

Great bass quality. Tactile, clear, defined. Quantity? Well thats where subjectivity comes into play. If I were voicing them I would put bass up about half a notch. But musicality and emotional involvement in the music is great - the HD598 delivers very high levels of air, transparency, and clarity. And very very comfortable. And good looking in black! On a value scale 5 stars easy.

good. love it!

These headphones are awesome. Great sound quality and very comfortable. I have an XL sized head and they still fit perfectly.

For my tin ear, a definite 5 stars. After reading so many positive reviews, there was no apprehension for this purchase. Love em.

Not an audio expert by any means, but am very picky about headphones. Love these headphones, stupid comfortable and stay in place. Regularly wearing these for 8 hours and no complaints.

Awesom sounding cans!