NHD: Sennheiser HD 490 Pro

[laxu]

I've been using the Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250 Ohm as my everyday headphones for years now. They are very comfortable, but they are not accurate. They have disgusting amounts of high end emphasis, which makes anything guitar sound pretty harsh.

I use Sound Source on MacOS to apply AutoEQ correction to them, and on modelers used global EQ. That works well enough. I used Sonarworks Reference ID's IR-based solution before, but got so frustrated with its bugs (crashing on wake from sleep, crashing whenever another audio interface or modeler got turned on, correction not working without restarting the app...) that I requested a refund.

My other headphones have been the Sennheiser HD 6XX 300 Ohm (that's the actual model name, 6XX). They're a variant of the HD 650 afaik. Great headphones for modelers especially, but they press on my head a bit too much to be comfortable for long time use, and the ear cups could be a tad larger. They sound really good out of the box though and I'll recommend them any day for use with modelers that can drive them.

I found an open box Sennheiser HD 490 Pro (these were released at the start of 2024) for a bit less money and ordered them. They are exactly what I was looking for: Reasonably accurate headphones without correction, that are also very comfortable. They feel a good chunk lighter than the HD6XX. Being able to swap the cable to either side is a nice plus as my DT990 Pros had it on the wrong side and the HD6XX has cables coming from both sides.

Their novelty feature is that they come with "Producer" and "Mixing" earpads. The Producer earpads are a comfy velour type you find on most Sennheisers. The Mixing earpads are more of a cloth material and unfortunately nowhere near as comfortable. The mounting system for these also makes it cumbersome to switch them, it takes just enough time to not be something you swap regularly. But apparently the Producer ones give a bit better overall results while the Mixing ones are more lean on the low end.

They definitely do make the headphones have a different character. The Mixing ones are more "airy" to my ears, probably due to less low end and maybe some treble or high mids emphasis. I think I will stick with the Producer ones just because they are more comfortable. I was surprised that they made a very noticeable difference so they are not a total gimmick! With faster switching I could see these being useful.

Overall the sound is very similar to the HD 6XX, but I think the HD 490 Pros manage to sound more "3D" and "open". It's early days, but I definitely like them so far and they'll be my new main headphones!

 

[MirrorProfiles]

I’ve heard good things about these and heard they compare favourably to the 650’s. Keen to try them especially as someone who doesn’t really like headphones, especially because of comfort. What headphone amp are you driving them with?

 

[laxu]

What headphone amp are you driving them with?

I'm just using the one on my Audient EVO 8 audio interface.

When I was using the Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 2nd gen, I compared its headphone amp to an old Marantz receiver, and the Fractal FM3 (which has a great headphone amp). Other than max volume on tap, I could not tell any real difference with 250 or 300 ohm headphones. 6i6 vs EVO 8 was also pretty much the same.

The HD 490 Pros are 150 ohm headphones so a bit easier to drive.

 

[bikescene]

How is the low end on these HD 490s compared to your HD6XX?

 

[laxu]

How is the low end on these HD 490s compared to your HD6XX?

I think the 490s are clearer in the low end. But you definitely have to compare to notice the difference.

The price difference of the HD 490 Pro vs HD 6XX on Amazon US is about $60, and with that price difference I'd take the 490 definitely.

It's hard to explain but there's something more natural about the sound of the HD 490 Pro and that could entirely be nothing more than because they are more comfortable on my head.

Neither are good tracking headphones because of their open back nature. The HD 490 probably leaks sound even more than the HD 6XX.

 

[bikescene]

I think the 490s are clearer in the low end. But you definitely have to compare to notice the difference.

The price difference of the HD 490 Pro vs HD 6XX on Amazon US is about $60, and with that price difference I'd take the 490 definitely.

It's hard to explain but there's something more natural about the sound of the HD 490 Pro and that could entirely be nothing more than because they are more comfortable on my head.

Neither are good tracking headphones because of their open back nature. The HD 490 probably leaks sound even more than the HD 6XX.

Thanks. I was looking into the HD6XX a few months back and noticed that the HD490 had come out this year. There wasn't much online feedback at that point.

I currently use the HD58X for listening, and may look into upgrading in the future. From reading online, the HD6XX has a little clearer bass than the HD58X, which is why I was wondering

 

[laxu]

Update after a few months.

I found out that you can get the Dear Reality dearVR MIX-SE plugin for these. My box was just missing the activation code, so I requested one from Dear Reality.

This plugin is similar to e.g Slate VSX where it emulates different rooms ranging from mixing studios to cars, living rooms and whatnot for checking how your mix might sound on shittier gear.

It has a list of compatible headsets so you aren't limited to only one maker's headphones. The headphone compensation seems to be basically just flattening the frequency response via IRs similar to Sonarworks. I didn't feel the headphones truly needed it, but hey, every little bit helps, right? It even supports the different HD 490 earpads.

It seems to work well, I even slapped it on SoundSource (it can load AU plugins) to use it all the time in desktop use when using headphones, even though I had to raise its latency a bit to avoid pops and clicks.

Neat little extra for sure.

As for the headphones themselves, I use them every day and they are nice and comfortable. The DT990 Pros are still the comfort king, but the HD 490 Pros are second.

The stock 1.8m cable is annoyingly short, even just making it 2m would help. Sennheiser has a 3m cable but I can't seem to find one for sale locally or at Thomann.