Sennheiser HD 598 vs Beyerdynamic DT 990 (250 Ohms)

[Unhelpful]

Just now, Dackzy said:

I  have one in the front of my C70 case the rest are corsair sp and af fans.

Ah nice, what color C70?

[Dackzy]

Just now, JoeyDM said:

Ah nice, what color C70?

Black or as the call it gun metal black

[Unhelpful]

Just now, Dackzy said:

Black or as the call it gun metal black

Nice. Someday I want to do a green build with a bit of modding, full blown camo. Then again, I feel like that must have been done to death.

[Dackzy]

Just now, JoeyDM said:

Nice. Someday I want to do a green build with a bit of modding, full blown camo. Then again, I feel like that must have been done to death.

I think that would be a bit hard to find a motherboard and gpu that will fit that. I have seen a camo build and it was epic, but I think a lot of people are doing that type of build just like black and red builds was all over the place.

[Majestic]

1 hour ago, Thony said:

Still getting used to less artificial bass on Dt990s compared to my gaming Sivmberia S2 headset.

Fixed that for you.

[jollyoljosh]

I've used (and owned) both the Sennheiser HD 598's and the Beyerdynamics and I can say that the obvious choice for casual listening would be the 598's. They have a pretty flat sound signature and they won't mess you about too much.

 

The DT990's are the better choice when it comes to a pair of headphones paired with a DAC / Amp. You'll get slightly better quality sound out of the 990's, whilst being restricted to where you can wear them.

The 598's are my personal preference between the two, but that's mainly because they're so light and easily distinguishable, and I'm on the move a lot - so that generally helps. however if you want a more hi-fidelity setup then I recommend you stick with the 990's + E10K.

 

Also might I recommend that if you're looking for an Amp, try out the 'Little Dot' series, I believe Linus has done a video about one of the models of Little Dot Amps.

 

[Dackzy]

2 minutes ago, jollyoljosh said:

I've used (and owned) both the Sennheiser HD 598's and the Beyerdynamics and I can say that the obvious choice for casual listening would be the 598's. They have a pretty flat sound signature and they won't mess you about too much.

 

The DT990's are the better choice when it comes to a pair of headphones paired with a DAC / Amp. You'll get slightly better quality sound out of the 990's, whilst being restricted to where you can wear them.

The 598's are my personal preference between the two, but that's mainly because they're so light and easily distinguishable, and I'm on the move a lot - so that generally helps. however if you want a more hi-fidelity setup then I recommend you stick with the 990's + E10K.

 

Also might I recommend that if you're looking for an Amp, try out the 'Little Dot' series, I believe Linus has done a video about one of the models of Little Dot Amps.

 

He does not need an amp or dac to drive the 990 250 ohm so that is really just misleading, if you need an amp to drive them then you have a bad motherboard, and if you dont have noise or any other problems, guess what an dac would be a waste. The "little dot" series are tube amps and they distort the sound, and makes it warmer that is not something I would recommend doing to the dt990, if you want warmer sound get some other headphones.

[jollyoljosh]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

He does not need an amp or dac to drive the 990 250 ohm so that is really just misleading, if you need an amp to drive them then you have a bad motherboard, and if you dont have noise or any other problems, guess what an dac would be a waste. The "little dot" series are tube amps and they distort the sound, and makes it warmer that is not something I would recommend doing to the dt990, if you want warmer sound get some other headphones.

Come to think of it you're right! I DID have a bad motherboard when I had those headphones.

I had a really old Gigabyte Durable-4 motherboard.

That's why I had to use a DAC - to get rid of all the terrible background noise; it's been so long I'd forgotten.

 

As for the Little Dot series of Amps - I haven't used them with a pair of DT990's so I wouldn't know, I use a LD MkIV with a pair of Sennheiser HD 650's, I just found that for a cheap tube amp brand that Little Dot seems to be a pioneer right now, and obviously if you want a better AMP, you have to spend more money.

 

Thanks for your input, though.

[Unhelpful]

23 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

I think that would be a bit hard to find a motherboard and gpu that will fit that. I have seen a camo build and it was epic, but I think a lot of people are doing that type of build just like black and red builds was all over the place.

Sabertooth Tuf series mobo and probably custom loop.

 

This is way down the road.

[Majestic]

14 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

He does not need an amp or dac to drive the 990 250 ohm so that is really just misleading

Safe	85 dB SPL	0.28 Vrms	1.12 mA	0.31 mW
Moderate	100 dB SPL	1.58 Vrms	6.32 mA	9.99 mW
Fairly Loud	110 dB SPL	5.01 Vrms	20.04 mA	100.4 mW
Very Loud	115 dB SPL	8.91 Vrms	35.64 mA	317.55 mW
Painful	120 dB SPL	15.85 Vrms	63.4 mA	1004.89 mW

To be honest, they aren't the most efficient pair of cans either. To get them to run max volume (100mW) you need 5 VRMS. Which is not something motherboards deliver. Even going for something like "moderate" requires 1,6VRMS. 

 

SSL can keep repeating the DT990's don't require amplification, but you'd need a very good onboard audio to get them loud.

[Dackzy]

9 minutes ago, Majestic said:

Safe	85 dB SPL	0.28 Vrms	1.12 mA	0.31 mW
Moderate	100 dB SPL	1.58 Vrms	6.32 mA	9.99 mW
Fairly Loud	110 dB SPL	5.01 Vrms	20.04 mA	100.4 mW
Very Loud	115 dB SPL	8.91 Vrms	35.64 mA	317.55 mW
Painful	120 dB SPL	15.85 Vrms	63.4 mA	1004.89 mW

To be honest, they aren't the most efficient pair of cans either. To get them to run max volume (100mW) you need 5 VRMS. Which is not something motherboards deliver. Even going for something like "moderate" requires 1,6VRMS. 

 

SSL can keep repeating the DT990's don't require amplification, but you'd need a very good onboard audio to get them loud.

Well headphones only need to get to the sweetspot aka how high you want the sound to be and most motherboards can do that.

[Dackzy]

19 minutes ago, JoeyDM said:

Sabertooth Tuf series mobo and probably custom loop.

 

This is way down the road.

Yeah... Maybe there will come a other camo motherboard out from msi or gigabyte.

[Majestic]

Just now, Dackzy said:

Well headphones only need to get to the sweetspot aka how high you want the sound to be and most motherboards can do that.

Which dB would you say is the sweetspot? Do you account for hearing ability or age?

[Dackzy]

Just now, Majestic said:

Which dB would you say is the sweetspot? Do you account for hearing ability or age?

I said AKA how high you want the sound to be. It's personal, but I think most people keep it under 85db.

[Unhelpful]

3 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

Yeah... Maybe there will come a other camo motherboard out from msi or gigabyte.

Well I was thinking of just camo-painting the dust cover for the sabertooth.

[Dackzy]

3 minutes ago, JoeyDM said:

Well I was thinking of just camo-painting the dust cover for the sabertooth.

Then you can paint any motherboard with a cover.

[Unhelpful]

Just now, Dackzy said:

Then you can paint any motherboard with a cover.

Well red PCIE slots would stick out like a sore thumb, the sabertooths have tan ones, which would fit this perfectly?

 

Dislike Asus?  

[Dackzy]

4 minutes ago, JoeyDM said:

Well red PCIE slots would stick out like a sore thumb, the sabertooths have tan ones, which would fit this perfectly?

 

Dislike Asus?  

Nah I love asus when it comes to screens and components, my build is asus and corsair.

[Unhelpful]

Just now, Dackzy said:

Nah I love asus when it comes to screens and components, my build is asus and corsair.

Heh, fair enough. Know of any other fitting mobo? I only say sabertooth for the tan PCIE slots, which I don't think any other with a cover has. And I'm not really comfortable painting / plastidipping them.

[Dackzy]

Just now, JoeyDM said:

Heh, fair enough. Know of any other fitting mobo? I only say sabertooth for the tan PCIE slots, which I don't think any other with a cover has. And I'm not really comfortable painting / plastidipping them.

No.

[SSL]

25 minutes ago, Majestic said:

Safe	85 dB SPL	0.28 Vrms	1.12 mA	0.31 mW
Moderate	100 dB SPL	1.58 Vrms	6.32 mA	9.99 mW
Fairly Loud	110 dB SPL	5.01 Vrms	20.04 mA	100.4 mW
Very Loud	115 dB SPL	8.91 Vrms	35.64 mA	317.55 mW
Painful	120 dB SPL	15.85 Vrms	63.4 mA	1004.89 mW

To be honest, they aren't the most efficient pair of cans either. To get them to run max volume (100mW) you need 5 VRMS. Which is not something motherboards deliver. Even going for something like "moderate" requires 1,6VRMS. 

 

SSL can keep repeating the DT990's don't require amplification, but you'd need a very good onboard audio to get them loud.

 

Your credibility just tanked.

 

I have first-hand experience with DT-series headphones, running from a variety of devices. Pontificating at me about theoretical numbers on a chart is not impressive, or related to reality. No fucker on earth realistically needs 110dB; sad to say but the vast majority of music available does not have the dynamic range to warrant that kind of output level.

 

I am disappoint.

[Majestic]

16 minutes ago, SSL said:

 

Your credibility just tanked.

 

I have first-hand experience with DT-series headphones, running from a variety of devices. Pontificating at me about theoretical numbers on a chart is not impressive, or related to reality. No fucker on earth realistically needs 110dB; sad to say but the vast majority of music available does not have the dynamic range to warrant that kind of output level.

 

I am disappoint.

You're disappointed because you have personal experience and I don't? Numbers corresponding to amplification are hardly subjective, and are quantifiable. Neither did I say 110dB, i looked at the 1,6vrms for "moderate". Max volume is not something you go after, ofcourse. And I specifically said "to play them loud". Not say "to play them at a reasonable level".

 

It either is easy to drive..or it isn't. And eventhough I respect your knowledge, I'm not ready to base my opinion on the sole premise of yours. I think appealing to authority is really a bad way of doing things. Nothing about these cans indicates they're easy to drive (96dB/spl, 250ohm), theoretically.

 

I might agree with you if I listenened to them on an array of devices, but alas, I don't own them. So I remain skeptic.

 

If I look at my own cans, and in particular the K612. Those only get loud on my Objective2. The rest (onboard, D1, HTC M8, FiiO X1) plays them at sustainable/reasonable volumes only. And those are 101dB/SPL / 120 ohm.

[SSL]

Just now, Majestic said:

You're disappointed because you have personal experience and I don't? Numbers corresponding to amplification are hardly subjective and quantifiable. Neither did I say 110dB, i looked at the 1,6vrms for "moderate". Max volume is not something you go after, ofcourse. And I specifically said "to play them loud". Not say "to play them at a reasonable level".

 

It either is easy to drive..or it isn't. And eventhough I respect your knowledge, I'm not ready to base my opinion on the sole premise of yours. I think appealing to authority is really a bad way of doing things. Nothing about these cans indicates they're easy to drive (96dB/spl, 250ohm), theoretically.

 

I might agree with you if I listenened to them on an array of devices, but alas, I don't own them. So I remain skeptic.

 

I'm not taking issue with the fact that you aren't taking my word for it, but that for some reason you have decided that arbitrary numbers have specific meanings. At the end of the day, "loud" is subjective, and so by extension is "easy to drive". While numbers might be objective, their interpretation isn't so cut and dried. There isn't a magical line where a headphone becomes hard to drive.

[Majestic]

10 minutes ago, SSL said:

 

I'm not taking issue with the fact that you aren't taking my word for it, but that for some reason you have decided that arbitrary numbers have specific meanings. At the end of the day, "loud" is subjective, and so by extension is "easy to drive". While numbers might be objective, their interpretation isn't so cut and dried. There isn't a magical line where a headphone becomes hard to drive.

So it's semantics then.

 

True, there are no hard lines. But we can atleast draw 'some' lines in the sand, albeit crude ones. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic;

 

90dB/SPL is unlikely going to be efficient enoug for phones, 110dB/SPL likely is. It's hard to tell between those numbers what the tipping point is. Maybe it's something we need to work on?

[FunkyFeatures]

On 19/03/2016 at 1:20 AM, thegingertator said:

Hey y'all!

I have finally decided to bite the bullet and rid myself of the awful Turtle Beach x12 gaming headset. They have been my daily driver for a long time but the discomfort, mediocre sound quality, and unnecessarily long cable for my applications have made me decide that it is time for an upgrade. I initially I looked at the AKG Q 701 Quincy Jones Signature with a FiiO E10K but later decided against the AKGs due to their fatiguing amount of detail in the high end. I have now narrowed my search to the Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro-250 OHMs and the Sennheisher HD 598s. I still plan to get the FiiO DAC because of its reasonable price and features. My question is, if I listen to mostly hard rock (we are talkin' Alter Bridge, Soundgarden, System of a Down, Slash, Halestorm) which of those two headphones fits my use case? I also do some light gaming, (TF2 kind of stuff nothing immersive)

 

Thanks so much!

Kellen

HD 598 (imho) more neutral

DT 990, more fun, not as neutral, and to some ears can feel painful to listen to bad audio from YouTube. The DT 990 has a V shaped curve if I remember correctly. Mids are toned down, so you get more bass and high end sound, which makes it fun.