hd 598 vs akg q701

Solution
depends on what you're after in terms of sound quality.

the akg q701 is more high/mid focused with poor bass output and tend to be rather bright on treble, almost sibilant. the sennheiser hd598 is fairly neutral across the board with a tad more bass and is more smooth sounding instead of detailed which makes it a bit less fatiguing.

the q701 is more comparable to the ad500x/ad700x than it is the hd598.

for movies and music not just gaming i would say the hd598 is better suited. if you're looking for brighter headphones or something with more bass kick yet still open design then perhaps the dt990/dt880 are worth reading about as well.
depends on what you're after in terms of sound quality.

the akg q701 is more high/mid focused with poor bass output and tend to be rather bright on treble, almost sibilant. the sennheiser hd598 is fairly neutral across the board with a tad more bass and is more smooth sounding instead of detailed which makes it a bit less fatiguing.

the q701 is more comparable to the ad500x/ad700x than it is the hd598.

for movies and music not just gaming i would say the hd598 is better suited. if you're looking for brighter headphones or something with more bass kick yet still open design then perhaps the dt990/dt880 are worth reading about as well.
 
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shaqblogs2011

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Oct 19, 2011
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I have an HD598. It is a terrific pair of headphones. You can literally listen to these for hours with barely any strain! Very comfortable too.
The downside is, touch on the lower side on bass. Bassheads will find this lacking big time. But some would say just the right touch of bass. I personally find it lacking a bit on the midbass. I guess I am used to my subwoofer pounding the living daylights out of me when I am listening with my system. :)
I dont care about below 40Hz content for music.
 
which headphone sounds like you would enjoy it better? i would worry less about your soundblaster z and more about what you like the sound of. the akg cans are very bright so unless you like bright cans you might get fatigued by them easily. good cans for sure, if you like that type of audio style.

again, i'd like to know why you are concerned about the Z. for either of the above headphones the z's amp is a bit too strong and you might be running windows volume levels lower than average. i would say that the akg's are going to be just a bit harder to drive than the senns though.