Sennheiser HD 599 Special Edition, Open Back Headphone, Black - Exclusive to Amazon

I brought these headphones about a month ago and decided not to review them until I'd spent at least 10 or so hrs using them, listening to a range of music ,rock, pop, jazz but mainly classical.So far I've found them very comfortable even when I've used them for listening sessions over 3 hrs or so. The sound is nicely balanced thru the frequencies and the sound is spread over the wide 'sound field'.They are a bit big and bulky (but light in weight), Also they don't fold and allow a lot of sound escape. So they're the not ideal for travelling but better suited for home use. The construction of the phones are mostly plastic but they well built and robust.These headphones are the best phones I've ever owned (so far) and considering what I paid for them (about £70). THEY ARE A STEAL.Foot note.Allow a few hrs of listening through these head phones to allow your hearing and brain to get used to the sound they make and also for the transducers to 'bed in' and loosen up a bit. The sound really do's seem to improve and get smoother as you them. To my ears anyway.-

I use 2 pairs of these when I'm teaching guitar silently. They have great pass through so you can clearly hear the room and have a conversation with them on, and the audio quality is superb too. They are nicely light and very comfortable with soft velvety ear cushions, the adjustable size seems to fit all (I have age ranges for 10 year olds and up and no-one has complained they don't fit). For the price these are an absolute steal when compared to the white/brown version of the HD599. Excellent.

These are definitely the most comfortable headphones I have used and the sound quality is also well up there with the best medium priced units. I have Bose Quiet Comfort II and Ultra headphones to compare them with and the sound quality is not that much different, if at all. Obviously the Sennheisers are wired whereas the Bose are wireless but, for my purposes, this is not a problem. I find that the Bose are uncomfortable after quite a short period whereas the Sennheisers can be on for quite a time without any problem. The fact that the ear padding is velour rather than PU leather means that they don't get sweaty like the others. Also the pressure is a little lighter than the Bose which improves the comfort. Overall great value if you don't mind having the 'restriction' of being corded.

Good build quality, but the synthetic ear surrounds feel cheap.Whilst I understand they are open backed so there will be sound leakage, there seems to be an awful lot, even at lower levels - meaning buying them so as not to disturb my wife when we're both doing different things in the living room, is still not achieved.Disappointed that longer leads aren't available, as 3m is on the limit of how close I can sit to my amp. I have bought an extender that does the job.Overall though, sound is good, and they are comfortable to wear for long periods.

When I first listened to these headphones through an iPad Pro with a DAC adapter I was shocked at the distortion coming through that I didn’t usually experience.After listening to a wide variety of music on Spotify I started to notice it was the audio quality of the stream, rather than the headphones so as an experiment I signed up to Tidal and started to compare the same track across the two platforms.What I found was these headphones excelled when listening to music through Tidal but were easily overdriven when used with Spotify.Overall they have a very pleasant and warm tone with good mid range clarity and they don’t overdo low frequencies and weight the bass too heavily.The fit is fine for my head size and I have no issues with prolonged use and have even slept listening to music. The ear pads are extremely comfortable and in these colder months a pleasant change from the Audio Technica ATH-M40x that I also use but which have a faux leather ear pad that get very cold in winter.I get that these are special edition and the colour scheme is black and silver, rather than the cream and brown of the non-special edition. It seems the more unique colour scheme of the originals are where you pay the extra money so I’m happy to have saved substantially by opting for the special edition colour.I didn’t intend to buy these as I’d lined up a pair of Grado headphones to buy but the ease of ordering on Amazon Prime and getting quick delivery meant I took a punt and was pleased with how things worked out.Personally I prefer a slightly warmer sound over a colder more clinical sound so these suit me well and have a decent cord length with a choice of 2 detachable cables. They’re both straight cables but I believe that the Audio Technica cables such as their coiled one will also fit this.Just be aware that these may make your current set up sound worse because they perform so well and will highlight any imperfections.