Not the cheapest it has been but still seems to be a very good deal, especially for non-prime shoppers.
CamelCamelCamel.
The colour is part of the reason why I got these.
I got them in this colour too. I don't mind it, but would have preferred black, then my wife wouldn't have spotted the new cans so easily. These really stood out, and she couldn't miss them!
Black is so boring. Every other headphone is black, just like every house built now is grey and white. Soulless and conformist.
Bit dramatic lol.
The appearance of conformity is often desirable.
What are the impedance and sensitivity values? I am wondering whether it is capable directly on phones/laptops.
50 Ω
They sound great on phones/laptops, but the sound controllers on most phones and laptops aren't particularly high quality, so you're not likely to get the best performance out of these headphones.To get the full potential you want a decent quality source, and if possible, some amplification.
I bought this for mobile, havent tried yet https://au.creative.com/p/super-x-fi/creative-sxfi-amp
I used AT a900x for a decade or so, recently bought these senns, a world of difference. Closed vs open makes a massive difference, plus the senns are more comfy and light. I'd say Senns work better for a smaller head, AT for a larger head.
The bass picks up when paired with an amp
Simply by turning up the volume can't match the bass of an amp?
That also turns up the volume of everything else too yano?
Gross colours?
The colours are beautiful, especially the ivory metallic white
Each to their own.
It's not that gross haha, noctua fans are the same colour :O
Noctua fans unite!
(Grabbed these last time and they're very good for the price)
These will go nicely with my noctua fans.
Much better off grabbing the HIFIMAN HE400SE at this price range. $139 is a good price for these nowadays.
Except the hd599 can last decades, you will be lucky the 400se doesnt break in a few years.
Citation from this decade needed
I've had mine for over 3 years now and no sign of significant wear
@KnifeEnthusiastBoi: Which brand are you even providing anecdotal evidence for… I don't anticipate people have issues with anything other than pads/padding within the first 2 years, and for the rest of the headphone to last at least 10 if you're not thrashing it around or standing on the cable while it's still attached to your head.
What's more, almost all issues pertaining to age would be fixed with a screwdriver, affordable spare parts, and some solder for wiring issues, meaning basic third party repair would be cheap or DIY. The only expensive things in either headphone are the drivers themselves.
I bought my HD598s back in 2014. Aside from the headband replacement and ear cup replacement, they're still working flawlessly.
Sorry, going to ask again: what evidence do you have that a headphone first sold in 2016 is going to last decades?
How many parts are identical to earlier 590 or 500 series lines? How does the headband padding hold up over that time? The cable and jack?
What specifically about previous and modern HIFIMAN offerings do you feel is comparatively flimsy from an engineering perspective?
Acceptable fault rates through assembly testing and manufacturing automation are one thing… it's a whole other thing to suggest one is a dinky toy sold in a back alley by a man in a trench coat and the other is some gold standard.
The Edition XS is the least robust HIFIMAN headphone I've seen, and even that has a series of deliberate engineering decisions that are consumer friendly in terms of user experience, initial costs and repair costs.
Please show working, instead of waving your arms and screaming 'China bad'.
Got an Ananda just over a year ago.
Driver was iffy on the left - volume was a bit lower, intermittent distortion etc. Sent in for replacement, Auspost took bloody ages (pandemic slowdowns did a number of delivery times) and when I finally received the replacement pair wasnt super happy with the build quality. There were imperfections in the build, mylar was scratched up and coupled with the really painful experience with Auspost (not really Hifiman's fault tbh) I chose to return it.
Don't get me wrong, SQ was absolutely amazing, but the quality control was not befitting the price tag of $1k+. I then grabbed an LCD-2 from the store after trying it out as my replacement (+a bit of $, why not upgrade at every chance :D) and I find them perfect!
I love what hifiman do, but I feel their QC needs a bit of improvement. I remember buying my first decent earphones (a head-direct RE0) for $100 from them in 2010 (paired with a FiiO amp) and I loved it to bits.
@ThadtheChad: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/comment/12763098/redir
FWIW, in China the Ananda was always sold at roughly the same price point the Edition XS now sits at.
Setting aside tonal balance - at least until very recently - Audeze can't even hit these price points with this level of audio quality yet, which is why you don't see anyone recommending them for wired headphones until you hit that $1500+ range.
HIFIMAN HE400SE is around $200 on sale?
$209 most of the year, cheaper during sale. Occasionally jumps up to $240ish when stock is low.
HIFIMAN HE-X4 from Drop is nearly identical, and can land at $160-$170 on sale too.
plus shipping from Drop and import tax.
@Euthyphro: No, I included all of that.
$89 USD + $20 USD, then 10% GST. Fresh Drop account gets $10 USD off as well.
Only now are exchange rates and shipping fees sending such a deal into $180 territory.
Agree. My Hifiman Edition XS has died twice in 9 months. First time left earcup started distorting and stopped working. Second time, right earcup started making crackling sounds. I wish I had stayed with Sennheiser. Waiting for 3rd warranty exchange.
That's a pretty rare set of circumstances you have there. Thankfully their support is top tier, even though they do try to do low cost and low margin products.
Apparently not, according to Reddit and Audio forums.
@dreamscene: Count the total number. Negative bias applies, as does attentive bias to negative outcomes. The Edition XS also represents a fairly agile product design in terms of speed and cost cutting, so there will be early issues and parts changes. There already has been, in fact.
People want innovation and price progression in the space, this is what it looks like, complete with slightly higher fault rates early on.
The Sennheiser HD 560S is also remarkable progression, and yet no one is bothering to push it forward here for $30-$60 more.
The 599 is built off Sennheiser tech from 40 years ago, and dines out on the reputation of the 580 and the 600 series.
But coming back to your point: if you're going to have early issues with audio output from a planar headphone, it's either going to be a wiring/fastening hiccup or an issue that was missed with matching the drivers. The whole reason planars were so expensive for so long was the effort to match drivers.
The process is much more automated now, and the Edition XS and HE400SE represent significant steps forward in this regard but you will see machines miss a few things that trained people don't, for now, anyway.
@dreamscene: It will be over the lifetime of the product, and their after-sales service handle it all happily for you. What's happened to you is unlucky, but contrast it with the millions of products they've sold.
This is a pretty good deal. But man, keen to cop a 6xx if it comes back down to the same price as last November!
How much did they come down to??
Won't be happening now that they charge GST on Drop purchases, unless there's a massive change in manufacturing costs.
@cactusjuice: Maybe $230 USD with delivery and taxes paid. If you're really lucky and you stack the $10 new user credit, maybe $203.
Exchange rate is the killer though, but even at $300-$330 it's still great value.
Anyone know what the cheapest the HD600 has been on sale for?
6xx really need a decent amp to sound good.
(they sound good without one, but sound HEAPS better running through an amp)
These wpuld be better suited if you were plugging direct in a phone or something.
Yup agreed.
I have a ZEN stack, which also supports 4.4mm balanced, so should be right for power :)
Yep got rid of mine, the amp could drive them (ish) but found them still a bit lifeless so figured I'd get rid of them. Clamp was also very firm.
My husband is looking for headphones for PC gaming. Would this be good for that? He wanted wireless but in terms of longevity I think cable would be better. Or can someone point me to a direction under $200 😊
These are great for PC gaming in terms of sound stage, sound quality, and comfort. However, they have no mic and are open design so they can be heard in the same room.
Ah, thanks, he does have a standalone mic so should be fine. Not sure what the open design means but I'll ask him to consider this 😊
If you use a vacuum cleaner next to him, it’ll drown out the sound unlike closed back headphones. However you’ll be able to talk to him without having to take them off most of the time. Barking dogs, chainsaws and stuff like that can be annoying if you can’t block out sounds with your rooms. Open vs closed is all about compromises. But open is less fatiguing, keeps your ears cooler and has much “wider” sound.
@Valowick: Wow, thanks for the great explanation :D I know he would prefer closed, but it hella annoys me when I have to yell to get his attention so I'm going to go with open haha.
Headphones like the HD599 are known as 'over ear', because the 'cup' fits 'over' your ears, as opposed to 'on ear' and 'in ear' headphones, which are each smaller respectively. The 'cup' part that fits over your ear can either be of an 'open back' design or a 'closed back' design. This refers to whether the back part of the cup is open or sealed.
The advantage of open back design is that it typically results in the benefits that Yuri mentioned (ie better sound quality). The disadvantage is that, because of the open back, the sound from inside can leak out, and sounds from outside can leak in, meaning that people in the same room can probably hear what the wearer is listening to, and the listener can hear what is going on in the room around them.
Closed back headphones tend to offer more isolation from your surroundings, but the expense of sound stage.People around you are less likely to be able to overhear what you're listening to as well.
@kleung: Thanks guys for the examples, really helpful. Decided to go with open so he can hear the what the kids are up to when I'm busy doing something :)
Have this and love it, they are open back so you can hear some sound from outside which is probably what you want when you call him <3.
Open back means the back of the headphone is made of some kind of mesh material that allows sound to leak. Good if you want more of a neutral airy sound and also hear when people are trying to call you
Open back:
Sennheiser HD 560S
HIFIMAN HE400SE (alternatively Drop x HIFIMAN HE-X4 if $40 less)
AKG K612 Pro
Closed back (more isolating, less detail, less spacious sound):
AKG K371
All of them have product listings on this website. Enjoy!
I own two of these and they are my favourite headphones. Insane comfort levels that you can wear them for ages. I'm no expert in sound quality but they sound great to me. I use mine with an amp but they sound just fine on their own and are loud enough without one. My original pair is about 3 years old and they look as good as they were day one.
I still find the clamp a bit tight, any tips beyond shrinking my head?
Maybe try stretching them out over books or something for a bit?
Will give it a burn
I found it loosened up after the first few hours of wearing them. I find the clamp pretty gentle compared to other headphones though.
Not sure what headphones you are coming from, but I found these to be extremely comfortable. Have had some absolute shockers in the past that were unwearable and gave me a headache after 10 minutes.
Nothing really for audio, I have some Audio Technica ATH-ADG1X that are EXTREMELY light on the head and a pair of Bose QC35.
how does these compare to x2hr?
I'd argue its pretty much better in every way - stage, treble, detail and actually has subbass extension rather than a random muddy bump in the bass.
Are the HD 560S a lot better than these? Been waiting on a sale for a while and see they have been in the mid-low 200's in the past
It gets very good reviews and I'm personally waiting for a price drop which never seems to happen… I don't think they'd be worth the extra over the 599, especially when they go on sale, but they are undoubtedly better.
I can't find anything that doesn't distort at 2:30 in dirty nice, edit. My kef100 and Krakatoa subwoofer handle it like a dream. Can someone please help me. Just bought 660s and same result.
Got mine from Amazon AU for $149 couple of months ago.. Very happy with the sound quality.
Have these…love these, but paired with a Fosi amp they are even better. Got mine from Amazon UK in Black - and they are on special right now for around 156 delivered (with Prime).
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-Special-Open-Headphone-B…
Should post this as a deal. $20 cheaper and I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't want a cream/ivory/white/bone white/off white/ash coloured headset :P
Thanks! - done
Seems to be only valid for UK Prime members. Did it work for you with AU Prime membership?
does anyone use these on their guitar amplifier?
These sound warm af. Bloats into the midrange and everything sounds thick and tubby. I'd save up for 6xx or buy something else.
Tend to agree with a lot of jasswolf's posts here. Previously owned the HD 599 SE and 58x and they just didn't sound good. The HD 560S was incredible to me from day one, just sounded right. Price is decent I guess for the HD 599 and similar comfort wise throughout all 500 series, otherwise I can't recommend these.
Grabbed the black ones from Amazon for around this price last prime day. Reccomend hanging out for those if you can't handle the gross colours on these. Have been impressed so far at that price point - haven't needed an amp either to get acceptable sound quality driving from PC/Phone, though they perhaps lack a bit of bass. Vocals, acoustic drums etc come through crystal clear.