Sennheiser HD 598 SR review — open-back spaciousness and a fit that lasts for hours

2026 update: Ported from the old VuePress blog. The HD 598 SR is an Amazon-exclusive black variant, and as of 2026 new-stock circulation has all but ended (citation needed). On the open-back side, the HD 599 and HD 560S remain in the current lineup as natural successors. The review angles here — open-back soundstage, fit, and how it compares against closed-backs — should still be useful, so I kept the bones and only cleaned up the wording and structure.

I have used the Sennheiser HD 598 SR open-back headphones for a long stretch of work and personal listening, and this is the write-up.

For anyone who has not owned an open-back before, the first wall is the same: “sound leaks out, outside sound leaks in.” Whether you can live with that splits the verdict cleanly in two. If you can — at home, in your own room, doing remote work — the HD 598 SR is a more honest way to enjoy music than most closed-backs at the same price.

The verdict — still a working pick for a fixed home setup

Short answer: the strengths are the open-back spaciousness and the lightness over long sessions. The price for that is zero isolation and audible leakage, so it does not belong outside or in a shared room.

Three reasons.

• Wide soundstage: as an open-back, the “inside-the-skull” feeling is muted. It pays off for film, streaming, and live recordings
• Light fit: the clamp is moderate, and the over-ear cups fully surround the ear, so multi-hour use does not tire you out
• Removable ear pads: cleaning and replacement are easy, which suits long-term ownership

On the other hand, look elsewhere if any of these apply:

• You also want to use them outside or on a commute: open-backs leak heavily in both directions and are unusable in public spaces
• You share a room and listen late at night: someone seated next to you will faintly hear what you are playing
• You need wireless: the HD 598 SR is wired only, with no Bluetooth support

Build and accessories

Short answer: the all-black finish reads as calm and restrained. As an Amazon-exclusive color, it is the one to pick if the cream of the standard HD 598 is not your taste.

The HD 598 SR is the Amazon-exclusive variant of the HD 598, with the cream finish swapped for black (citation needed). For most home and remote-work setups, the SR is the easier color to live with.

The housings are vertically elongated ovals. If you are used to round earcups it looks unusual at first, but the shape follows the outline of the ear and settles in cleanly once worn.

The cable is detachable and exits from the bottom of the right cup. Being able to swap only the cable when it eventually breaks is a real plus for long-term ownership.

The bundled accessories are as follows.

In the box

• 3 m cable with a 6.3 mm stereo plug (for desktop amps and audio interfaces)
• 1.2 m cable with a 3.5 mm straight plug (for PCs and phones)
• 6.3 mm to 3.5 mm adapter

The inside of the headband is cushioned. The L / R marks live on the inside as well, so you can tell the sides apart by feel in a dark room.

The length adjustment is nearly continuous in feel, so larger heads fit without issue (the photo shows the headband at full extension).

What worked

Short answer: the soundstage, the long-session comfort, and the ease of maintenance — those three carry the headphone.

Open-back soundstage and an honest balance

As an open-back design, the HD 598 SR avoids the “stuffy, inside-the-skull” feeling closed-backs tend to have. There is a sense of air, closer to listening through speakers.

Low end on an open-back will always sit below an equivalent closed-back by construction, but the HD 598 SR puts out what the music needs. Bass and kick do not vanish, and no genre falls apart.

If your daily listening is EDM or hip-hop where the low end has to push the song, this is not the right fit. For most other listening — vocals, acoustic music, film, games — it stays enjoyable without forcing anything.

Over-ear comfort that holds up over long sessions

The combination of fully over-ear cups, an open-back chamber, and a moderate clamp means very little listening fatigue.

Unlike in-ears or closed-backs, heat does not build up around or inside the ear, so it stays comfortable even in summer. Half a day of wearing them during remote work is genuinely low stress.

Tool-less, removable ear pads

To remove a pad, orient the logo downward and pull it straight off (it comes free with a soft click). Cleaning and replacement are easy, and that pays back the longer you own the headphone.

After a few years of use, swapping only the pads extends the life of the rest of the headphone. Sennheiser has supplied replacement pads for the HD 598 family for a long time (citation needed).

What didn’t

Short answer: zero isolation, wired-only operation, and the practical difficulty of buying one new today.

Zero isolation — not for outside, not for late nights

By construction, leakage in and out happens essentially without filtering.

• People next to you can faintly hear what you are playing
• Voices and household sounds come straight in
• Noise cancellation is, of course, not on the table

This is a design characteristic rather than a flaw — but it is the line item that decides whether the headphone is “wrong tool for the job.” For listening alone in your own room at home, it is not an issue. For an office, a cafe, or a bedroom that shares a wall with family, this is not the headphone to choose.

Wired only, no Bluetooth

By 2026 the default is wireless. The HD 598 SR is wired only, designed to plug straight into a PC, a desktop amp, or a phone.

Phones no longer carry a 3.5 mm jack in most cases, so a USB-C or Lightning DAC dongle is an extra step in the chain.

Price band and current availability

At the time of writing, the street price was around 20,000 yen (citation needed). That is not entry-level.

On top of that, as of 2026 new-stock circulation has effectively ended, which makes “buy new” hard to recommend (citation needed). Looking at the successor open-backs — the HD 599 and the HD 560S — is the more realistic move.

Comparison: open-back HD 598 SR vs same-price closed-back / wireless

Short answer: the HD 598 SR wins on “at home, fixed setup, wired, soundstage-first.” Outside that, a different category is more comfortable.

The HD 598 SR’s winning lane is narrow: at home, in your own room, wired is fine, soundstage matters. For anyone who lands in that lane, the listening experience is clearly better than a same-price closed-back or a budget wireless.

If there is any chance you will want to use them outside or on a commute, buying a closed-back or a wireless ANC pair from the start tends to have fewer regrets.

FAQ

Q. Can I plug them straight into a phone? A. If the phone still has a 3.5 mm jack, the 1.2 m cable plugs in directly. Most current phones have dropped the jack, so a USB-C or Lightning DAC dongle is needed separately. By impedance, the HD 598 SR is generally easy enough to drive from a phone (citation needed).

Q. How does it differ from a closed-back? A. The biggest gaps are soundstage and isolation. An open-back like the HD 598 SR has speaker-like air around the sound, without the boxed-in feeling. The trade is heavy leakage in both directions. A closed-back does the opposite — strong isolation and strong low end, at the cost of heat and pressure around the ear over long sessions. Open-back for listening alone in your own room, closed-back for outside or shared rooms — that is the simple split.

Q. How does it compare to wireless headphones? A. Setting tuning aside, the operational gap is the big one. Wireless asks you to manage charging, pairing, and latency, in exchange for the freedom of no cable. The HD 598 SR has no charging, no latency, and a stable connection by virtue of being wired, but the cable is always there. For a desk-bound remote-work setup, wired is often the easier choice.

Q. Are they comfortable over long sessions? A. The combination of an over-ear cup, an open-back chamber, and a light clamp puts fatigue on the low end of the same-price range, in my experience. Unlike in-ears that push into the canal, these only surround the ear, so the pressure is mild. Comfort still varies by head shape, so trying a pair for ten or fifteen minutes in a store before committing is the safe move.

Verdict — for someone happy to keep them at home

The HD 598 SR is a still-useful open-back if you are clear about the use case.

It suits home listening — remote work, music, film, games in your own room — where the wide soundstage, the long-session comfort, and the easy maintenance all show up in daily use.

It does not suit using them outside, sharing time with family in the same room, or operating wireless-first. For those uses, the design loses by construction.

If you are buying new in 2026, new stock has thinned out, so it is worth looking at the successor lineup (HD 599 / HD 560S) at the same time. On the secondhand or clearance market, the HD 598 SR is “the black HD 598” — the sound is the same as the standard version, so picking on color preference is fine (citation needed).