Gadgetory

hey everyone Jimmy with Jim's review room Sennheiser has always been known for making some exceptional products for consumers I reviewed some of their studio and DJ headphones too they're more mainstream urbanites and momentum line of products all with their own characteristics and of course their own pros and cons so Sennheiser was very nice to send me a review unit to test their open-back HD 598 special edition headphones that are currently priced at 250 dollars retail and sometimes I do see them on sale for $200 on Amazon I'll put a link in the video description below so you can see what the updated prices are today so without further adieu I'm here to help you make a purchase decision welcome everyone to jim's review room go over the physical features first this has been a pleasure to work with the headband up top offers supple leather when touched with fine details of being stitched on the sides underneath features a very plush padding for comfort which I'll get into detail shortly but going down the sides here matte black is offered with a subtle amount of gloss black accents regarding adjustability the headband arms are very stiff and holding its position and gives nice feedback when ratcheting this in and out the only thing that I would make sure that you're aware of these are not meant to be portable headphones so the ear cups don't fold in nor do the ear cups swivel 180 degrees stowing these away will have to be in its full open size that you see here but moving down to the back of the ear cups these I think look spectacular behind the very durable grille as the Sennheiser logo and surrounding the opening is not chrome but it's painted on silver looking at the very bottom of the left ear cup is a two and a half millimeter port with Sennheiser's own locking mechanism which works perfectly fine you can't accidentally or even intentionally pull this wire out regarding the supplied wires there's a 1.2 meter or 4 foot long cord which is very much standard for mainstream consumers but a second longer wire is also provided and what these headphones were more designed for is for connecting this to an amp or a home theater receiver a longer cord has a length of 3 meters or close to 10 feet for your reference further illustration the 3 meter cable features a quarter inch or 6.3 millimeter plug typically use again for receivers and amps and for someone out there that may have only a 3.5 millimeter port said' hazard does offer an adapter to convert the sizes granted this will protrude a bit here from your device but it's a relief to see this offered and you can at least start listening to these right away the shorter cable again only has a 3.5 millimeter jack which is more appropriate for your phone or maybe sitting at the computer and using these to listen with but less going back to the ear cups these features velour earpads here which are super soft and smooth to the ears and surprisingly didn't cause any sweating or discomfort from wearing these for four hours straight I do have a wished a second pair of ear pads were offered as some may prefer the leather versus again this velour material leading into comfort these are super lightweight here putting this on my trusty tried-and-true scale and measured these in at two 144 grams one of the lightest headphones that I've personally tested the plush padding on top prevents any wearing fatigue at the crown of my head and the clamping force on these are very subtle a jaw line where wouldn't notice any kind of wearing fatigue was perfectly fine I didn't notice anything at all because of the huge opening inside and I'm sure due to the open back design that yours always remained cool and breathable to me instead of enclosed and confined wearing these in general has felt very airy with minimal to no effort and just real quick here regarding build quality these do feel top-notch there's no chatter no squeaks there's nothing compromised from what I can tell when I put this through my stress test the same test that I do on all my headphones now I've mentioned the word open back several times so far and some may not be too familiar with this concept since most headphones are designed with a closed back now with the latter sound is confined in the ear cup with minimal to no sound escaping to your environment with many closed back reviews you want minimal sound leaking as much as possible so folks around you can't hear what you're listening to now as for an open back which is what I have here sound leaking will be completely obvious in while wearing these headphones there's minimal to no noise isolation at all you can hear what is going around you as well that trade-off because the sound is naturally not confined into the ear cup and the sound is able to be pushed out in a sense the sound signature is intended to significantly offer much more of an open soundstage as if you were at the concert hall these headphones are intended to be used in the comfort of your own home away from any noise sources to be fully enjoyed not to be worn to the train station and not a way to escape from your kids so this brings me to the sound test in the beginning I quickly stuck this into my phone and gave it a go just to get some initial impressions I'll be honest they didn't provide the wow factor for me unlike the first time I use these Sennheiser HD 8 DJ's the following day I gave these a proper burnin just to be sure and once I plug this into my Pioneer receiver wow what a true difference when I tested music using flat files essentially lossless uncompressed audio files provided much fidelity and clarity in the mids and highs those listening to rock country and/or classical music I think be absolutely pleased the details with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and ac/dc brings new life to their music minor details are now heard almost effortlessly from singers vocals two minor cymbal crashes and even their guitar flicks the resolution of these headphones are truly truly impressive as for pop and hip hop listeners although bass is there to fulfill most audio files for the average consumer they would need just a tad bit more sub bass to make those generous that much more enjoyable now you can always add in a little bit more bass boost with an equalizer to help in that situation but again listening to the powerful voice of Adele right now the piano work of Alicia Keys or even John Legend - one of the hottest artists in the billboards right now Taylor Swift they all did very well regarding spatial sound it's very much they're offering distinct directional sound offering not only left and right audio separation but very distances in front and behind you now I'll be honest there I wish there was just a little bit more here but clearly the HD 598 are not their flagships but at this price range these are absolutely stellar now regarding how loud these can get in my opinion they're loud enough but it did tend to listen at 72 at times 80% volume typically with loud headphones I'm a virgin around 60 to 70 percent instead and listening at higher volumes I didn't notice any distortion on the high notes there's no ear ringing or irritating this to cause any kind of listening fatigue and besides music at home I gave movies a shot and tested a good variety from action movies like heat with Val Kilmer and Robert De Niro played their famous scene in downtown LA after their bank heist and typically I always consider this scene to really prove what headphones can do the balls being shot are usually very high-pitched and sharp over time causing listening fatigue to those listening at higher volumes for the HD 598 you didn't notice this at all trying animated movies which usually has amazing sound quality for the first time I noticed the balloons being released making this rubber bumping squeakier and the hollow air filled balloons bumping into each other like in real life here that is in the movie up now regarding spatial sound I'll admit I wish there was just a bit more movies testing this with transformers gone in 60 seconds Ironman did have the more obvious and apparent scenes at areas with spatial sound be present but I was honestly hoping for just a bit more considering the background and praise on these headphones and less them fully aware these are not gaming headsets there's no microphone on these but if you don't socialize many you don't need a mic while playing I think it's totally fine but the spatial sound again was indeed good in music and movies but for gaming these were holy cow impeccable flying story games like phantom pain your Metal Gear Solid or the Last of Us was great but called Duty and Battlefield I can hear areas where I'm stepping on glass as an example that I haven't noticed before in multiplayer now I have such a huge advantage over hearing the enemy walking by that it can play more strategically you can see in the video here that I pause more often than I normally do anticipating someone walking around the corner and yes for me personally I found these to give me a pretty good advantage over in-ear earbuds I've been using again thoroughly impressed this aspect so to conclude for the average consumer who listens to music through Pandora or slacker radio or even maybe YouTube videos which I have 100% admit do sometimes play self for casual convenience these headphones will really sound tame and just not fun in my opinion because of the low bit rates the lower quality of the stream or audio files you'll have now I don't consider this a true negative or con but I would highly recommend spending some additional money here and start using those flag files for your music I would think this somewhat goes above what an average consumer would purchase but this does introduce you into somewhat of the audiophile world so maybe it is a positive in the end though as for my channel again it's for the average consumer the mainstream market does prefer a bit more bass again the bass here I would consider as being more neutral which isn't bad but again it's a matter of preference and I think mainstream would prefer a little bit more last I wish there was a case so I can stow these away when I'm not using them and offering a port and the right ear cup to listen to audio would have been nice too but again on the positive side I believe which overtakes it overcomes any kind of negative here these are natural easy to listen to sound stages absolutely great for the price point it's comfortable lush meds and being detailed or probably just some of the few things that I can say about this if you can get these at the retail price of $250 I would still recommend doing so if you can get them on sale for 200 it's a serious consideration so how this review helped you in some way be sure to LIKE and subscribe to my channel if you haven't done so already and follow me on Facebook Twitter and or Instagram and again I'm Jimmy with James review room here to help you make a purchase decision you guys take care I'll see you the next one bye