HD 598 louder in one earcup?

[Suppressd]

So in some songs that I listen to with my HD 598s I feel like the right ear cup has more sound. But in others they seem equal. Is it because one side is playing more bass? Is there any way to test this? I have tried putting them on backwards and the right earcup still has this effect.

[Hackentosher]

Perhaps it's just the stereo mixing of some of the songs? Try making sure all your connections are good.

[Philosobyte]

There's no scientific way to test this without a microphone. It could be that your drivers are poorly matched at the factory - I remember hearing the 598 seems to have worse matching than the 558. I notice this with my Sony MDR-V6 headphones too, but instead of with certain songs, it's with certain volume levels. 

[Flight1sim]

I thought this was happening once but a reboot of my laptop seemed to have solved it. If not then u should rma if possible

[Suppressd]

There's no scientific way to test this without a microphone. It could be that your drivers are poorly matched at the factory - I remember hearing the 598 seems to have worse matching than the 558. I notice this with my Sony MDR-V6 headphones too, but instead of with certain songs, it's with certain volume levels. 

goddamn that's upsetting. not sure tho i cant truly tell 

[SSL]

There's no scientific way to test this without a microphone. It could be that your drivers are poorly matched at the factory - I remember hearing the 598 seems to have worse matching than the 558. I notice this with my Sony MDR-V6 headphones too, but instead of with certain songs, it's with certain volume levels. 

 

The drivers aren't matched period. The whole 5x8 uses the exact same model of driver. And thus you can get channel imbalance as much as +/-3 dB at points across the frequency range.

 

I suspect that is the case here. Contact Sennheiser for an RMA, or if you purchased from Amazon, simply request an excahnge; they are very accommodating to legitimate issues like this.

 

Probably the reason that you are hearing the imbalance only in certain songs is because the difference isn't constant at all frequencies; likely it only affects a portion (or portions) or the response, thus causing it to become more apparent in songs that emphasize those frequencies.

[Suppressd]

Perhaps it's just the stereo mixing of some of the songs? Try making sure all your connections are good.

that's what i was thinking but i'm not positive. 

 

I thought this was happening once but a reboot of my laptop seemed to have solved it. If not then u should rma if possible

i don't use a laptop if that makes a difference

[Suppressd]

The drivers aren't matched period. The whole 5x8 uses the exact same model of driver. And thus you can get channel imbalance as much as +/-3 dB at points across the frequency range.

 

I suspect that is the case here. Contact Sennheiser for an RMA, or if you purchased from Amazon, simply request an excahnge; they are very accommodating to legitimate issues like this.

 

Probably the reason that you are hearing the imbalance only in certain songs is because the difference isn't constant at all frequencies; likely it only affects a portion (or portions) or the response, thus causing it to become more apparent in songs that emphasize those frequencies.

that makes sense, or as suggested above it could just be stereo mixing of different songs.

[Flight1sim]

that's what i was thinking but i'm not positive. 

 

i don't use a laptop if that makes a difference

Just try rebooting/reinsterting the chord etc. 

[SSL]

that makes sense, or as suggested above it could just be stereo mixing of different songs.

 

That possibility can be eliminated by examining the tracks in question with software.

[Suppressd]

That possibility can be eliminated by examining the tracks in question with software.

what software?

[Philosobyte]

that makes sense, or as suggested above it could just be stereo mixing of different songs.

That's possible, but we can be pretty sure it's a driver matching problem due to 

 

1. SSL's opinion. He's always right.

 

2. Look at the first graph with the 598 http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/SennheiserHD598.pdf

There's what looks like a 2 - 3dB difference between the right and left drivers (blue and red) through the highly important frequency response range of pretty much 0 Hz to 1500 Hz. In other words, through all the bass and half of the midrange. 

and then look at the first graph with the DT880 and a bunch of other headphones:

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/BeyerdynamicDT880600ohm.pdf

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AKGK701.pdf

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/AudioTechnicaATHM50x.pdf

http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/VModaCrossfadeLP2.pdf

 

It's clear that the 598 is an anomaly, and thus driver matching can be a tangible issue if you get unlucky.

[Philosobyte]

what software?

Audacity, for example. If you invert the phase of one of the tracks and combine them back together as mono, most of the sound should cancel out. If there is far more residual sound in one ear than the other, then it's a stereo mixing issue. If there is little to no residual sound at all, then it's not an issue with the song.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Philosobyte

[SSL]

Audacity, for example. If you separate the stereo into tracks and invert the phase of one of the tracks, most of the sound should cancel out. If there is far more residual sound in one ear than the other, then it's a stereo mixing issue. If there is little to no residual sound at all, then it's not an issue with the song.

 

Audio differencing problably won't help much as a stereo recording will be expected to have differences between the channels. Better to look at the average RMS of the waveform, and the meter toolbar.

[Blitzz71]

Well bow I doubt about getting 598... Is this a common issue with these headphones? Sorry for off topic

[SSL]

Well bow I doubt about getting 598... Is this a common issue with these headphones? Sorry for off topic

 

I haven't seen enough measurements to say. I think it's fairly normal for headphones in this price range to have some degree of variation.

[Suppressd]

I haven't seen enough measurements to say. I think it's fairly normal for headphones in this price range to have some degree of variation.

 

Lmao can the audio really get that much better with more expensive headphones? I always thought upwards of $150 was a lot for headphones but I guess I'm learning that these are considered "budget" or "value" audiophile headphones.

[SSL]

Lmao can the audio really get that much better with more expensive headphones? I always thought upwards of $150 was a lot for headphones but I guess I'm learning that these are considered "budget" or "value" audiophile headphones.

 

Yes. I've gone from $90 > $380 > $900 headphones and each step is an improvment in various ways.

 

Of course, the pricing as you go up is hugely inflated. It's also hard to quantify the improvement; I'm not sure it is meaningful to say that my current headphone is 10x better than the one I started with. But they are undoubtedly better; there are some things that sub-$100 simply can't be expected to do.

[Suppressd]

Yes. I've gone from $90 > $380 > $900 headphones and each step is an improvment in various ways.

 

Of course, the pricing as you go up is hugely inflated. It's also hard to quantify the improvement; I'm not sure it is meaningful to say that my current headphone is 10x better than the one I started with. But they are undoubtedly better; there are some things that sub-$100 simply can't be expected to do.

 

Interesting, sometimes when you think something is so good for so long you don't think it can possibly get better.

 

Yeah that can go with anything though and I'm sure it's definitely justified in your case.

[SSL]

Interesting, sometimes when you think something is so good for so long you don't think it can possibly get better.

 

Yeah that can go with anything though and I'm sure it's definitely justified in your case.

 

True. I can say from experience that it is hard to imagine what "better" sounds like until you hear it; and you may not even know it when you hear it at first if, as you say, you are used to a certain sound.