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

These are the perfect headphone for home computer/music use. They sound amazing and at $99 on sale you cant go wrong. Even at full price Id buy them again in a hearbeat. I listen to almost all kinds of music. I mostly enjoy classic rock and classical music but when I listen to bass heavy stuff the 598s still sont skip a beat.

HD598 is a real good pair of open-back headphones which only ask for an entry level price among the most professional ones. The earcups are big and soft enough and very comfortable to wear for a long time (didnt notice too much clamping force for me). It doesnt require a lot of input power to drive, so its ok to use it daily as portable headphones with smartphone. You will hear the high-quality sound and very wide soundstage right out of the box. It does perform even better sound if you have a decent AMP and DAC. By the way, if youre going to use HD598 for your PC and smartphone most of the time, youd better go with the black special edition, as it comes with an additional 3.5mm headphone jack cable. Otherwise, you would have to carry the bulky 3.5mm adapter all the time.

Very comfortable for a long time usage. Ive had them for two years now and Im still amazed by the quality of those headphones. I strongly recommend.

Il suono non è da Sennheiser, non convince. Il rapporto qualità prezzo è pessimo. Mi sento di non consigliare lacquisto.

Unottima cuffia comperata ad un ottimo prezzo. Consigliabile per chi ama il suono morbido della Sennheiser - o per chi lo vuole provare.

Ill start off by saying that I am by no means an audiophile. These are my first pair of headphones that Ive owned that arent marketed as a gaming headset, so my experience is definitely that of a newb. With that being said though, this review might be helpful to someone who is in a similar situation, where they dont have years of experience with audio equipment and are interested in upgrading their listening experience without really knowing where to start. So as I mentioned prior to this headset I exclusively used headsets that were marketed for gaming, generally meaning that theyre of lower quality sound wise and have a built in microphone (the lower quality bit is not always true, just happens to be the case a lot of the time when compared to higher grade headphones) and they served me excellently over the years for what I needed them for. Ive owned 2 different pairs of Siberia V2s, as well as a Razer Kraken which I returned after not being overly fond of the microphone quality. With all of that being said, the Sennheiser HD 598s are absolutely, undeniably incredible when compared to what Ive been used to. Starting with what is included in the box. Sennheiser definitely took a minimalistic approach to this and packaged really only the things that youll need: the headset itself, an extremely long cable that ends in a quarter inch connector, an adapter for that quarter inch connector that turns it into a 3.5mm connector, and finally a much shorter cable that natively ends in a 3.5mm connector so you dont have to worry about the added bulk of the adapter. All very high quality here. Next the build quality. They are surprisingly lightweight! When I originally saw the photos online I was a little bit wary that they would be bulky and heavy, but funny enough when I picked these up from the mailbox in the amazon box I was wondering if they even put anything in it. To my delight at not wasting money, they were indeed inside the amazon packaging. The material that the cans are made of is a plastic, but it doesnt feel like a cheap plastic though, definitely has a premium feel to them. Which is augmented by the cushions. Allow me a minute to say that I had only had headphones with a leatherette padding on them, and as a result I figured that was as good it got. I was sorely mistaken. These headphones do not use leatherette and feel infinitely better! Theyre super soft, very similar to a velvet type of material and the cushion itself is extremely comfortable. Not having the leatherette means that there wont be that suction to the side of your head which really helps to reduce and even eliminate sweat. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, the cables are definitely durable enough to endure the regular wear and tear as well. Now for the meat and potatoes, the sound quality. When perusing the internet for a newer and more robust headset I came to learn that headsets can be categorized in one of two ways: open back, and closed back. A closed back headset is ideal for noise cancellation because it doesnt allow external sound waves to enter into your ear canal. So an optimal use-case for a closed back headset would be an airplane, or on a bus, or somewhere that the noise may prove to be a nuisance. On the other hand you have open back headphones. Take everything that I just mentioned about closed back, reverse it, and you have open back headphones. They freely allow sound waves to travel into your ear canal and do very little to isolate the listening experience. So clearly this type of headset would not be good for listening in noisy places. The use cases for this style are much more personal, such as in the comfort of your own home where you wont be disturbed. (also as an aside, the opposite is true as well about sound where if you use an open back headset sound will actually leak out of the headset and may cause disturbance to those around you). The Sennheiser HD598SEs are of the latter school of thought, they are open back designed. From what I said it would not be wrong to come to the conclusion that closed back are simply better because they eliminate the sound and isolate the listener, but that isnt always the case. Using an open back headphone is something that is difficult to put into words, but it improves something known as a sound stage. Think about it like this: if youre sitting at your computer and everything is silent and you hear a knock at the door, you can almost immediately determine generally where the sound came from, including details like how far away it was and how loud it must have been. Well, a sound stage is similar in the sense that it allows us to pinpoint locations of things around us. This is where an open back headset will really shine because it widens the sound stage, allowing for better accuracy when you detect a sound (this is extremely useful when playing a video game like Counter Strike). Its truly amazing, and something that aside from saying that it works and how it works, you have to experience it for yourself. If all of that technical mumbo-jumbo didnt put you to sleep, then in much less technical terms these are by far the best headset Ive had the pleasure of listening to. Sounds are crisp and clear, but dont hurt your ears because of it.Overall a very solid product by Sennheiser. Also to those wondering a few basic questions that I myself wondered, such as if an amplifier is necessary and my answer so far is no. They have a relatively small impedance, which basically translates into they require a small amount of power to make them sound awesome. This is so true that when plugged directly into my iPhone 6S they are incredibly loud, and sound great. My computer, the place where I do the majority of my listening, has an onboard sound card and while most people will look at me with loathing and contempt for defiling the good name of listening to music, has been more than adequate. So again, overall I easily give the HD598SEs a 5 star review and the only thing that I can say is that I wish I bought them sooner.

Incredible headphones that beat every other pair ive owned, including mid-high level AKGs and Sennheisers. Extremely clear and revealing, these phones will bring new listening pleasure to old familar songs. Drops a star as they are very (very) leaky. I get dirty looks if using these in the presence of other people, even at low levels. Also these are relatively low impedence so need driving hard, id recommend a headphone amp with these if using from an ipod or similar.

The comfort is perfect. A lot of people were complaining that it leaks sound, BUT its NOT true if you play it low. What I mean by low you can fully hear the whole song (each and every note), and its quite enough that if you place them around your neck while playing there will be ZERO sound leak. I have tested this by going to a dead quite library room, and I was shocked at the performance of these... Rate helpful if you found it helpful, but if not please comment why.

Das tolle Angebot (99 Euro für die SE-Edition) bei Amazone hat mich verführt, diesen Kopfhörer zu kaufen. Schon bei den ersten Vergleichen (als Klassik und Jazzliebhaber) fiel mir auf, dass dieser Kopfhörer zu anderen preislich gleichen Produkten bei anspruchvoller Musik/Aufnahmen nicht mithalten kann. Es fehlt mMn die Klarheit, das räumliche und detaillierte Klangbild. Man hört bei Orchestern z.B. keine Instrumente heraus, alles wird vermanscht (gemischt). Natürlich gibt es eine Käuferklasse, die nicht diese Anforderungen stellt. Für diese gibt es mMn sicherlich auch preisgünstigere Angebote. Wurde zurückgeschickt und die Ersatzlieferung einer anderen Fabrikates (Teufel/Aureol) hat mich zufriedengestellt. Das Hörergebnis ist auch in verschiedenen ausländischen Zeitschriften ersichtlich, wo das deutsche Fabrikat oft nur durchschnittlich bewertet wurde. Kurze Charakteristik (für mich): Badewannenklang.

Superior Product with awesome performance. These headphones reproduce a crisp and clean, yet warm sound for the listener... at any volume! These babies provide satisfaction across the entire frequency range... highs to lows and everywhere in between.