HD 599 Open Back Headphone

I have had these headphones for 5 years now and let me just say that they have been the best headphones I could have bought. I have used them for mainly gaming over the last 5 years but have used them for music as well and the audio is nowhere near any other headphones. I'm not exactly someone who pays attention to the audio of headphones but I remember when I first got these headphones, I noticed a very noticeable difference in sound quality. They are very comfortable on the ears and I am now looking into buying replacements for the earpads as they have finally started to show true wear and tear but that's to be expected when used for 5 years continuously. If this pair ever happens to give out, I will gladly but new ones from this company.

Solid built quality. Nice to have multiple cables. Very large ear cups, comfortable while wearing glasses for long periods. Fair bit more bass representation compared to competitors in the price range. Frequency response falls apart a bit at low levels. Needed some very serious EQ to get a flat frequency response. It is far too muddy out of the box. I attached the settings I needed to use to get a flat response, though each device will be different and I tend to monitor at very low levels.

So this is my first open profile pair of headphones and I mostly use it to play videogames or to listen to music while I'm on my computer, so to begin with, I got these because they were actually recommended for FPS shooters, I play Overwatch and I can notice a difference between my wireless earphones I was using before and these ones, I am now able to hear footsteps much more clearly and even though I wasn't really sure about the open ear sound profile, because it's not very bassy and it can sometimes feel like your sound is just coming out of a pair of speakers, (not really but that's how I'd describe it) I am overall satisfied with the sound while playing games, I can't really say I'm 100% sure I'd recommend these to listen to music, since I miss the immersion you get from closed ears. So that's the positives and maybe neutrals about the sound, but the 2 stars really come from how comfortable they are. Again, after reading a lot of reviews, these were highly recommended as one of the most comfortable headphones, with some people even mentioning that they own more expensive pairs, but they go back to these because sometimes they even "forget that they're wearing them". I must say that was not the case for me at all, the pads are comfortable and the open ear design makes it much more breathable compared to a closed ear design, but after wearing them for not really a long time, maybe more than two hours, my ears begin to feel very sore and uncomfortable. It doesn't matter if I keep readjusting the headband, or if I take a rest and come back, it just gets more and more painful over time. It gets to a point that I just have to take it off because I start getting headaches, and would just go back to using my laptop speakers. I really wanted to like these ones, and even thought about keeping them for a few years, before I start looking for an upgrade, since these are supposed to be just entry-level headphones. It's been a few weeks since I got them and I still wear them almost every day, hoping that they'll eventually break-in and feel more comfortable over time. If I don't feel like they're getting any better in the next few weeks I believe I'll just end up selling them and start looking for a new pair.

I bought this weeks ago. I am happy with the performance and its aesthetic appearance. However, I hope I understood what open-back meant before buying this model as I want to use Sennheiser brand in public. I am proud with its brand. I am using it for my laptop mainly at home now as I am not able to use this in public. Yet, there rest of the features are pretty good.