Sennheiser HD598?

[chopnhack]

Ok, a slick deal came by and I saw $30 and burl accents... that caught my eye

When of course I clicked the link I saw the price tag of $200+ jaw drop..

How much better are the HD598's over the lowly HD202's that I own. I find the 202's to not only be comfortable but they offer excellent noise cancellation and seem to be true to their sound with good l/r balance...

Would only an audiophile notice the difference?

[LCHIEN]

amazon reviewers liked them pretty much.

HD202 are closed phones.
HD598 are open back phones so there won't be any noise cancellation, at all, plus some noise leakage will occur (people can hear your music).

[chopnhack]

I thought noise cancellation was a must for accurate sound reproduction... some of these reviews lead me to believe that open back 'phones may be necessary to recreate some types of music?

I'd love to go to a store and try these out just to see what difference could be perceived... wondering if its like trying to get that last 1% of perfection where you pay 99% more

[cabinetman]

Ok, a slick deal came by and I saw $30 and burl accents... that caught my eye

When of course I clicked the link I saw the price tag of $200+ jaw drop..

How much better are the HD598's over the lowly HD202's that I own. I find the 202's to not only be comfortable but they offer excellent noise cancellation and seem to be true to their sound with good l/r balance...

Would only an audiophile notice the difference?

I wouldn't be much of a help for noticing the difference. All the years of running a router, table saws and other tools, have taken a toll on my hearing. I still have hearing, but also have tinnitus. As for headphones, I still use an old set of Koss Pro 4A. They seem OK to me.

Wife and I were at a mall one night, and stopped in a Bose store. They had a display of headphones. They sounded pretty good...I guess.

.

[LCHIEN]

I thought noise cancellation was a must for accurate sound reproduction... some of these reviews lead me to believe that open back 'phones may be necessary to recreate some types of music?

I'd love to go to a store and try these out just to see what difference could be perceived... wondering if its like trying to get that last 1% of perfection where you pay 99% more

These are intended for accurate reproduction in a quiet location like your home living room. Sort of raises a question as to why don't you just use some nice speakers but some people like headphones special spatial feel and its also cheaper than a good set of speakers. and you can play it louder than speakers an not bother the neighbors.

[chopnhack]

These are intended for accurate reproduction in a quiet location like your home living room. Sort of raises a question as to why don't you just use some nice speakers but some people like headphones special spatial feel and its also cheaper than a good set of speakers. and you can play it louder than speakers an not bother the neighbors.

My house is kinda open and sound doesn't have to travel far before it reaches either children's bedrooms so if I want to listen to something its going to be on headphones. Do I own nice speakers? No. I have an old Panasonic with tiny speakers, kids seem to like the music that comes out of it, but they are not audiophile quality

[LCHIEN]

My house is kinda open and sound doesn't have to travel far before it reaches either children's bedrooms so if I want to listen to something its going to be on headphones. Do I own nice speakers? No. I have an old Panasonic with tiny speakers, kids seem to like the music that comes out of it, but they are not audiophile quality

you're the candidate for headphones. If the family is in the next room and quiet then open headphones are OK for you. If they are watching TV in the same room or perhaps doing homework then closed headphones would be better than open.

OTOH, there are people who say the kids should get used to dealing with outside noises to deal with distractions later in life.

The next part of the equation is what is audiophile quality worth to you?

[chopnhack]

you're the candidate for headphones. If the family is in the next room and quiet then open headphones are OK for you. If they are watching TV in the same room or perhaps doing homework then closed headphones would be better than open.

OTOH, there are people who say the kids should get used to dealing with outside noises to deal with distractions later in life.

The next part of the equation is what is audiophile quality worth to you?

Valid points. As for distractions, I am a bit mixed on that one. I don't think children should have to sleep through too much noise. As for what quality is worth, well its always worth what its worth, whether one can afford or wants to assign that much coin to it is another matter. I can honestly say my cheapy HD are very satisfying. I was curious as to how much better these could be for nearly $200 more!

[LCHIEN]

Amazon will take them back if you don't think you like them!

Its nice if we can all have quiet to go to sleep. If your kids can sleep through a noisy environment that may be a advantage when going through college dorm days or the army. Perhaps Living next to the freeway where real estate is 20% cheaper. Or, if their S.O. like mine likes to watch TV to go to sleep.

[SHADOWFOX]

I do not have the HD598 but I do have a Beyerdynamic DT990 600 OHM headphone and it is driven by a solid state headphone amp. I have 2 little kids that goes to bed at 8PM so I have to settle with listening to my records via headphones at night.

When I listen to Bill Evans, Brubeck, Davis, Coltrane, or Forcione record, I don't do anything else, I just listen and enjoy the music (well I do enjoy scotch while listening).

I also have a Grado SR80 and Sony MDR-V6 and both of them are sub $100.00 cans and have had them for years and still use them a lot.

Look up your local Hi-Fi stores and see if they have the HD598 or other cans of similar level and my recommendation is to check them out and audition them. The good thing with auditioning cans at your local hi-fi stores is that the cans have had burn-in time (sometimes).

[chopnhack]

Its nice if we can all have quiet to go to sleep. If your kids can sleep through a noisy environment that may be a advantage when going through college dorm days or the army. Perhaps Living next to the freeway where real estate is 20% cheaper. Or, if their S.O. like mine likes to watch TV to go to sleep.

I did that growing up... so providing better for my children has always been high on my list of priorities.

Thanks Shadowfox, next time I around town I will see if I can demo out a pair. I wonder if bestbuy has something like that locally..

[cabinetman]

My house is kinda open and sound doesn't have to travel far before it reaches either children's bedrooms so if I want to listen to something its going to be on headphones. Do I own nice speakers? No. I have an old Panasonic with tiny speakers, kids seem to like the music that comes out of it, but they are not audiophile quality

I have some great speakers, and as good as they sound to me, headphones provide much different sounds. It seems by isolating all other noises you hear sounds that you don't get from speakers.

.

[mpc]

The other advantage headphones have over speakers is a known (and minimal) sound absorption pattern. Stuff in your house (carpet, fabric on furniture, etc) absorbs/dampens some frequencies more than others, altering what you hear. Walls, bricks around fireplaces or whatever, window glass & mirrors, etc. reflect sound differently, also altering the magnitude of some frequencies more than others. Headphones minimize those losses.

High-end factory car audio systems often have customized frequency equalization to compensate for the acoustic characteristics of the interior. Costs a pretty penny to conduct the tests and then tailor the speakers & equalizer curves.

Headphones also place the speaker output straight into your ears... most home speaker setups are along one wall with the "listening" couch on the opposite wall or maybe in the middle of the room (like home theater TV surround sound diagrams). So the "stereo" separation effect is somewhat dulled. Of course you might have home speakers placed like the headphones especially in an audiophile's home... but I'll bet that's a small fraction of most home stereo installations.

One "oops" that happens on home systems, or in add-on car installations, is to flip the "+" and "-" leads to one speaker. Doing that can make the speakers "phasing" backwards ==> so they cancel each other sometimes/some frequencies, really goofing up the sound quality.

mpc

[chopnhack]

Great points guys and that is why I probably enjoy using them so much! Every nuance is there, just like the artist intended :-)

[cabinetman]

You might want to try on your different choices to see how they feel, and ease of manipulating the controls.

.