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Do I need an AMP/Dac for HD599?

DotoreN

I recently bought the HD599 due to the positive reviews as my old planetronics 780 doesn't work anymore, but I personally feel like the HD599 is inferior in sound. It sounds a bit boomy/muffled.

I've never bought a soundcard, amp or dac before, so I have no idea if I need it and if I do, what to buy. So i'm looking for advice.

 

So my question is; Will an amp or dac make the HD599 sound different/better?

 

My budget is around 50 euro's if that's the case.

Advice is appreciated.

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No, you do not need an amp for it. I also owned an HD 599, didn't need an amp. Once you start using headphones that are like 150 ohm, then that's when I'll consider an AMP/DAC combo.

"Audiophilia... when you start to hear voices in your head."

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What motherboard do you have? It may just be Sennheiser's sound signature. I find the vocals to be a bit too veiled, and the overall sound too smooth, but this is of course personal opinion and most people love their 599

That's an F in the profile pic

 

 

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On 1/8/2019 at 7:12 AM, Froody129 said:

What motherboard do you have? It may just be Sennheiser's sound signature. I find the vocals to be a bit too veiled, and the overall sound too smooth, but this is of course personal opinion and most people love their 599

Sorry for the late response, but yes I agree with your description. Is it worth trying a HD600 with amp though? I only hear good things about the hd600 and it's in a completely different price class as the hd599, so is this worth considering or are they too similar in sound signature?

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2 hours ago, DotoreN said:

Sorry for the late response, but yes I agree with your description. Is it worth trying a HD600 with amp though? I only hear good things about the hd600 and it's in a completely different price class as the hd599, so is this worth considering or are they too similar in sound signature?

Although I would love to do so, I've never tried out the HD600 (well I did but the input was so bad that Earpods would sound the same), so I can't give input there. I would go to a shop and ask to try them out

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On 1/7/2019 at 10:52 PM, BLCT said:

Once you start using headphones that are like 150 ohm, then that's when I'll consider an AMP/DAC combo.

You know that's not true, i have 35ohm headphones ( HE4XX ) and they need as much power as HD600 if not more. For example im using FiiO K5 which is 1.5W @ 32ohm but i still can listen on high gain and pretty much maxed out, seems like they need like 3-4W for full potential ( not only for volume, but sound quality too ). Sensitivity is as important as Ohms.

Well, the HD598 is somewhat easily driven, but still a bit benefits from AMP, the HD599 needs alot more power than 598, so yes you need ( but possibly not 100% necessary, just see if you're happy with the volume ). 
 

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Don't buy 599. They are vastly outclassed by the HD600 and HD6XX for around the same money.

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4 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

Don't buy 599. They are vastly outclassed by the HD600 and HD6XX for around the same money.

599 is around 130Euros. That's like 100Eur cheaper than used HD600 or new HD6XX. 

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On mass drop the 6XX is at 200€.

This is my opinion, but if you're planning on keeping for a long time what you're buying, might as well spend a little more and get the better performer, now if you really can't spend/justify spending 70 more, well I can't blame you.

Obviously I'm going with what others are saying I have no idea how they perform at all, I bought the 6XX yesterday, but apparently it's basically the best in price to quality and all that.

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10 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

Don't buy 599. They are vastly outclassed by the HD600 and HD6XX for around the same money.

 

5 hours ago, Exaco said:

599 is around 130Euros. That's like 100Eur cheaper than used HD600 or new HD6XX. 

 

25 minutes ago, BMW_X6_50i said:

On mass drop the 6XX is at 200€.

This is my opinion, but if you're planning on keeping for a long time what you're buying, might as well spend a little more and get the better performer, now if you really can't spend/justify spending 70 more, well I can't blame you.

Obviously I'm going with what others are saying I have no idea how they perform at all, I bought the 6XX yesterday, but apparently it's basically the best in price to quality and all that.

 

When I got the Hd599 i was quite dissapointed by the sound, i'm not sure if it's the headphone or the sennheiser sound signature. Is giving the hd600 a try? Money isn't a real issue, but i'm a bit skeptical since I didn't like the hd599 and i'm not sure how similar it is to the hd600. Should I give it a shot or just try a different brand

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2 hours ago, DotoreN said:

 

 

 

When I got the Hd599 i was quite dissapointed by the sound, i'm not sure if it's the headphone or the sennheiser sound signature. Is giving the hd600 a try? Money isn't a real issue, but i'm a bit skeptical since I didn't like the hd599 and i'm not sure how similar it is to the hd600. Should I give it a shot or just try a different brand

Well, i didn't heard the 599, but i heard from other "audiophiles" thats a bit better than 598 ( its like between 598 and HD600 ). 
Also what do you dislike about them? For me the 598 was quite decent and had that nice sound profile where everything is almost perfect and well balanced.

But i had only 200Eur budget for next upgrade so i got the HE4XX instead of 6XX and i totally don't regret it, they're clearly level above the 598 ( maybe they're even better than 6XX especially for gaming ). 

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1 hour ago, Exaco said:

Well, i didn't heard the 599, but i heard from other "audiophiles" thats a bit better than 598 ( its like between 598 and HD600 ). 
Also what do you dislike about them? For me the 598 was quite decent and had that nice sound profile where everything is almost perfect and well balanced.

But i had only 200Eur budget for next upgrade so i got the HE4XX instead of 6XX and i totally don't regret it, they're clearly level above the 598 ( maybe they're even better than 6XX especially for gaming ). 

I'm really bad at describing sound, but to me they sounded too 'dark' or maybe 'colored' ?

I liked the sound in music and absolutely didn't like it when playing battlefield 5 and hearing my friends on discord. I currently jumped back to the plentronics gamescom 780. Even though this is a budget headset, it's the best sounding headphone i've heard so far.

 

But since this headset is nearly dead, I want to replace it and the HD599 just didn't do it for me. So i'm kinda wondering if trying the hd600 is worth it as I didn't like the sound signature of the hd599.

 

I'm just a bit clueless at which headphone I could give a try as I still want an open headphone (as I can't stand not hearing myself while talking).

 

Currently thinking between hd600, beyerdynamics 990 pro, AKG K/Q701, 712 or ATH-AD7XX

 

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14 hours ago, DotoreN said:

I'm really bad at describing sound, but to me they sounded too 'dark' or maybe 'colored' ?

I liked the sound in music and absolutely didn't like it when playing battlefield 5 and hearing my friends on discord. I currently jumped back to the plentronics gamescom 780. Even though this is a budget headset, it's the best sounding headphone i've heard so far.

 

But since this headset is nearly dead, I want to replace it and the HD599 just didn't do it for me. So i'm kinda wondering if trying the hd600 is worth it as I didn't like the sound signature of the hd599.

 

I'm just a bit clueless at which headphone I could give a try as I still want an open headphone (as I can't stand not hearing myself while talking).

 

Currently thinking between hd600, beyerdynamics 990 pro, AKG K/Q701, 712 or ATH-AD7XX

 

I would go with 6XX or 4XX, 4XX is more flat than 6XX and better for gaming as i know. 6XX should be better for music.
I've also did some research on the Massdrop AKG K7XX and seems like its level below 6XX / 4XX. The AD700X i know has huge soundstage, but probs arent that good in sound quality ( since they're around 60-100eur and i've seen used for like 40-50eur ).  
Also HE4XX that i currently use doesn't have much bass by default, but with some EQ they have it more than enough and its really nice and realistic bass, the sub bass is pretty good ( sounds like my subwoofer, while the 598 for example is artificial af and has pretty much zero sub bass ), but to get the good bass on planars u need good AMP, since its like +12dB ( -12dB preamp ) on low end to compensate the volume.


P.S. I've noticed that the 598 sounds bit darker on my onboard compared to AMP, so that also could be the case for not having an amp. 
You could pick some amp atm ( since you will need it anyway in the future for next headphones ) and see if that helps.

I would recommend FiiO K3 ( low power @ ~200mW its like the E10K just new and better ) or the FiiO K5 ( no DAC, but you can use FiiO DAP as DAC - 1.5W ).
Not really sure about other options in Europe, maybe the cheaper DAC-X6 also ( 910mW ). Or if you're willing to wait longer and pay customs:
Schiit Magni 3 ( 2W ) or JDS Labs Atom ( 1W ) from US. p.s. wattages is based @ 32ohm. Also all of these are around 100eur or below.

 

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