• Recommended by TR Sennheiser HD 598   Our Score   User Score
Best Deals  Review Price £167.99  The Sennheiser HD 598 are
open-backed headphones, the speakers covered by a metal grille
rather than solid plastic, metal or wood. Open headphones
typically have a breezy and, perhaps predictably, more open
sound than closed-backed equivalents, but often also offer less
powerful bass.  These headphones have that open, airy sound but
do not suffer from a lack of bass. The low-end has a lighter
touch than the more expensive HD 650, but there's easily enough
to satisfy all but the most incorrigible basshead. Even when
powered by a humble iPod Classic, they do justice to a bass-
heavy dance track like Sleep Deprivation by Simian Mobile Disco.
They are open, articulate and detailed - and seemingly
effortlessly so.  We plugged them into a DAC and full-size
headphone amp to see if they benefit from further amplication,
and found that high-end resolution improved significantly and
bass extension and presence improved. The