HD 598 For Gaming

I've been thinking of picking up a pair of sennheiser HD 598s for gaming.I can find them for 148 right now. I'd be pairing them with a modmic 4.0 and astro mixamp. At the moment I'm using astro a40s which are on their last legs, will I notice much of a difference? Is there anything else at this price point (mic included) that I should look at instead, such as the sennheiser g4me zero's? 

 

Thanks for any help guys!

Ya the 598s are good headphones I personally find sennhieser headphones very comfortable. This headset might be good too if you are just looking for a replacement for the astros.  The 598s with mod mic would be best though.  If you are looking to save money get the 558s  they are $50 cheaper for basically the same thing.

You're gonna love the depth of the sounds as far as soundstage is concern (I listen to Darren Korb's Bastion Soundtrack with this). It's 50ohms so you might experience hissing on astro mixamp since it's only meant to power 32ohms.

If you can, use a separate amp with it using this as a connector between your Astro Mixup and whatever amp you choose.

Although, the hissing won't be as bad as I make it out to be, and in fact, you won't notice them once you get even the subtle of sound like ambiance in a game. 

Welcome to the mid-fi world!

 

HP150 is a great all-arounder. Plus it is easy to drive. A Clip + can drive them adequately. The detail and separation on them is class leading for closed back in the price range. Personally, I am not a big fan of open backed headphones. Unless you live alone, there is usually going to be background noise. Even the sound of typing can be enough to get in the way when using open backed headphones (I personally experience this problem with my Q701).

Hi NoSwitch, I own both the HD 598, and Sennheiser Game One (those are the open headsets).   I can tell you that the earcups are smaller on the G4ME ONE headset, which is kind of disappointing.  It is convenient to plug straight into a PS4 controller (if you buy an adapter for that).  But, overall I'd recommend getting the Sennheiser HD 598, they are awesome, and have a great soundstage, hearing the environment around you.  I'd say get the 598s, because, you can use them with everything, and they really are great for gaming, music, and movies.  

 

Get the HD558's. Same drivers as the 598. Just do the foam mod and burn them in for about 200 hours and you will never look back.

There's no evidence to suggest that burn-in helps in any noticeable way. 

you're kidding right? the first time i put on a pair of 558's they sounded abysmally shitty it took at least 20 hours of usage before they even sounded decent.

No, I'm not kidding.

It's a placebo.  Expectation bias is a thing.  You expect it to change over time, so your brain assumes that it changed and tricks you into thinking it sounds better.

I picked up the 598's a while ago and have been consistently pleased with their gaming/movies performance. I prefer a closed grill fro music (Audio Tech M50), but the sound stage on the 598's are pretty damn awesome. Highly recommend. 

Evidence is my ears.

I walked into a JB hi fi shop when I first got my headset. They had for testing a pair of HD558's that played music constantly (so people could walk in and try them out before they bought them) I asked the guy if I could listen side by side the burnt in pair (after I explained what it was because the 558's played music for hundreds and hundreds of hours in its current life) and a fresh pair.

The difference was noticeable. The burnt in pair sounded warmer and a little smoother. They are not analytic so for studio/professional use they are not preferred but they are amazing to listen to. If only mine had not been sat on.....

This can again be easily explained by expectation bias. Hard measurements have so far been inconclusive at best, and at worst have disproven the hypothesis that burn-in does anything beneficial.

You also have to consider the fact that you have no idea if these two pairs of headphones were made in the same time frame, or if one of them might have been out of spec and still managed to get past QC.

I'll also continue to stand by my stance that if a product in the consumer electronic market requires burn-in that is not done at the factory (not all products should be broken in at the factory; can you imagine factory broken boots?) then the manufacturer has not done their job correctly, and you should be angry about this.

If there is any benefit to burn-in that the company producing these products firmly believes in, they should do the burn-in process AT THE FACTORY so you get a finished product, and not one that requires you to wait until after the return policy has expired to decide if you like "how they're supposed to sound" instead of how they do sound.

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Do you have a source? I'd very much like to read on this. And no I don't think a couple of hundred hours sitting and playing music would be economical for any manufacturer. I think they'd rather get them out the door quick than have to have them sit and take up space.

Expectation bias? I am a skeptic when it comes to these things. I did not expect to hear any difference. While it is true that they may have been manufactured differently I do believe my headphones burnt in over time of using them. I remain a firm believer and I do not believe it is out ignorance.

Can't seem to find the one relatively scientific approach to the matter anymore, but I'll update if/when I find it, and trust me, I'll be searching.

As for the economics of burning in the headphones in the factory, which of these options would you choose:

1.) Spend time breaking them in properly yourselves. Measure them again to make sure they meet spec before shipping them. Spend a known amount of money on QC.

2.) Allow the users to do this themselves. Risk possible damage, headphones that aren't within spec anymore, and unknown return/shipping costs.

Any company as large as Sennheiser should have no issue setting up a dedicated burn-in room for the headphones. It's not like it would slow down overall production any; it would just offset batch production by a day or so.

And all of this is not to say that there will be absolutely no difference at all. Certainly the moving parts will wear ever so slightly over time. However, the changes are miniscule, and there hasn't been any evidence supporting the claims that it's a major change, let alone audible.