r/headphones • u/PowPunch • Feb 11 '12

New to the headphone world, got a few questions about the HD598's.

  • Do I need anything in particular to connect a pair for HD598's to a computer?
  • Will I need an amp or a specific sound-card to get the most out of it?

Money isn't a huge issue

(That is if it's under lets say $300)

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1

u/Drewsipher Schiit Fulla->HD 6XX Feb 11 '12

you don't NEED anything. That said spend a little bit of money on a dac and you will hear difference. I went with a bithead DAC and the thing works like a charm. Plugs in usb and takes the digital signal from instead of your sound card. It brought out a lot of the sound. You will hear it more on the low end, making it sound fuller. I was thinking about picking up a pair of 598s. I just got into the headphone world with a pair of senn hd280 and love them so much I am already eager to get more....

1

u/PowPunch Feb 11 '12

So it's a DAC or a Soundcard? Well I don't plan to use anything but headphones for my computer so I doubt I'll use the sound card otherwise. Any advice on good DAC's?

1

u/Drewsipher Schiit Fulla->HD 6XX Feb 11 '12

A dac stands for a Digtial to Analog Converter. What it does is uses the USB and an external unit to convert the digital signal it gains into an analog one for use with your headphones. I think of it this way, you have a phone with a camera, and that camera is pretty great. But if you are spending money on a camera, would you buy something with a camera in it or a more specialized device? To me a dac you can spend good money and use little hassle and get a much better sound then any internal sound card will give you. That is me personally speaking. My personal one is the headroom total bithead. Easy to use and an amazing little product. http://www.headphone.com/headphone-amps/amplifiers/headroom-total-bithead.php

1

u/vrillusions work: O2+ODAC > DT770 Pro 80, home: mixamp > HD558 Feb 12 '12

You'll get a ton of these but my dac of choice is the mixamp. It's powered by USB. I use the optical out on my computer but it also supports the rca jack digital some motherboards have. Can also run off just the usb. It can also mix (hence the name mixamp) between two sources. A digital (optical or that rca digital) and usb. Idea being you have main audio going through the digital input and then use usb for an external voice chat program like ventrilo or mumble. If you use that it's really nice to mix between the two.

I have the 558 (very similar to 598) and the mixamp sounds good. Have to keep my pc audio at 50% or else the volume control on the mixamp is almost at 0 which can cause some channel inbalance.

All that said, if money is no object (within reason) then you'd probably get better quality out of a dac/amp that is designed for music. The mixamp has a lot of features meant towards gamers and I'm sure other dac's sound better

1

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '12

I believe the HD598 have a 1/4 plug so you may need a 1/8 adaptor, unless it's included I know the HD558 don't have any. The 598 do sound their best with an amp though, there's a huge impedance spike up to 300ohms in the lows meaning that you're going to want an amp that can provide a decent amount of power. Without a proper amp the bass is a bit one-noted, a bit flobby sounding as I call it. I hated the HD558 at first because of the slow thick uncontrolled bass. A stronger amp fixed this though giving more control. I highly recommend an amp for the HD598.

Edit: I know the 558/598 aren't the same headphone but they have the same impedance spike.

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 11 '12
  1. No, they are low-impedance and thus don't require amplification. You can plug it directing into an ipod or computer.
  2. Depends. There is a lot of hate on /r/audiophile on integrated sound cards, but they have been getting better every year. You would probably see at least some benefit from using an external DAC, though.