Replacement inserts for the inside of the cups without the protruding L & R letters that don't change the sound would be nice, I would buy something like that.
@@CustomCans Sennheiser has sold its consumer audio division to Swiss-based medical hearing company called Sonova Holding AG. The business included headphones, soundbars and DACs. However professional headphone still own by Senheisser, therefore I don't think it came from the same designer.
Just gave these a run along with the HD800 S today gaming, music, movies and spoken word. I felt the HD800 S have a bit better image transition almost blurring the lines and tricking you into a 3D sound by comparison. Spoken word is more true to life on the HD800 S and just a tinge more separation. HD800 S sound slightly clearer overall. That said, the fact that the 490 Pro rivals the HD800 S for $1200 less is astounding. I could easily listen to them over the HD800 S any day of the week and wouldn't feel as if I'm missing anything.
i love the new look you have, beard and hair fits you well. also, i may be interested in these headphones, thanks for the well-detailed review as always
Man, it would be tremendous if you could do a comparison video on HD490 Pro vs DT 1990 Pro. Titled something along the lines of "The Best Flagship Senn vs Beyer Studio headphones." Among other categories, I'm really interested in how they especially compare in the mid-ranges.
I have both and let me tell you, (to my ears) if you look at the frequency response graphs for each of them at rtings, for example, you'll get a very precise idea of what they sound like. The DT 1990 Pro feel more overall competent now that I have many hundreds of hours with them but barely so, to the point that it's not really perceptible except for the soundstage sounding slightly better in the Beyerdynamics, but the HD 490 Pro are, sadly, so much more comfortable around my big-ish ears that I cannot use my 1990 Pro's that much, sadly. Breaks my heart, to be honest. Oh, the 8k range is more tamed in the Sennheiser's but I have quite the treble tolerance, so I am not bothered by the Beyerdynamic peak in that region.
@@bananawarlock3981 Thanks for the impressions. I have the DT 770 Pro X LE as my main closed-back and I'm comfortable with its treble. In fact, I thought due to my comfort with the treble on DT 770 Pro X that I'm now safe with the treble on other Beyers, as well. However, now I hear people say that the treble on the 1990 pro is worse than any other Beyer that they've tried. So, I'm probably at a loss in my calculations here, especially so because I can't test these headphones prior to purchase. My research for a pair of open-back, dynamic-driver headphones has come down to the HD490 Pro and DT 1990 Pro. Multiple times, I have looked at the FR graphs on Rtings and other reviews for these headphones. But, it's hard to discern and imagine the real differences between them just by looking at the FR graphs before putting them to the test. For all intents and purposes, I have to relay on the other people's experiences with them. So, it's grand that you have experience with both. How do you compare the imaging, separation, clarity, treble, mid-ranges and vocals on the HD490 Pro and DT 1990 Pro? The music genres that I mainly listen to are americana, country, classical, and neo-classical.
@@bananawarlock3981 It's great that you have both. Thanks for the impressions. I only have a DT 770 Pro X LE as my main closed-back. So, now, I'm on the hunt for a good pair of open-backs. I'm comfortable with the Beyer treble on the 770 Pro X LE, but I don't know if I'd be comfortable with the treble on the dt 1990 pro, too, since I haven't heard this pair yet. In fact, that's the issue, I don't have access to any of these models for a test prior to purchase. How do you compare imaging, resolution, separation, clarity, mid-ranges and vocals on HD490 Pro and DT 1990 Pro?
Interesting release. Headband reminds me of the Austrian Audio headphones. The bass port extension with the foam gasket is a neat hack for getting the bass below what their cheaper drivers can usually do. Price will probably be dumb though.
It is too soon to tell if these will be good value or not... I am not the best at reviewing the sound so I will wait and see some other reviews but they certainly look to have a nice flat response so should be good for mixing and mastering
Are you one of those " planars are superior" guys? Driver alone doesn't describe what the headphones can do. Focal Utopia is a dynamic driver headphone that sounds better than many expensive planars
Judging only by the graphs on the Sennheiser site (there's an interesting interview in the Sonic State review where the topic of graph publication hesitancy is touched) I would say this might be a winner! The HD600/650 where good with acoustic music, but with modern music three major flows emerged: - a bit too much energy in the 2-3k region - not enough energy in the upper treble (the veil, that gets worse as pads age, pretty visible in the crinacle graph), that gets unnoticed until you EQ up the 6-10k region - not enough bass extension (and a belly on 80-100 Hz) They say this one is made for modern music, and in fact it has: - less energy in the 2-3k region - upper treble extension - bass extension Looks definitely on the same philosophy of the HD560S.
@@joseluishernandezseptien well, a term I used to embrace anything electrified, from '50s rock till today. Led Zeppelin are not that demanding for bass extension, but the excess energy in 2-3k is a problem. With some electronic music or even some generic thick production stuff like Lady Gaga or Billie Eilish the need for a full range device becomes evident, since extension up and down is missing and you can't even turn up the volume since the upper mids 2-3k are sticking out.
3:50 Damn! So that's why the HD25 have the cable on the right! They are specifically marketed for ENG (electronic news gathering). Cameraman... that's why!
@@CustomCans Whaaaaat? You just learned some english form an italian dude XD What's next for the future? You teach me the perfect carbona? XD XD XD Seriously, let's talk business. May I add a suggestion to your catalog? The old Denon AH-DX000 and Fostex/E-MU headphones (they're all the same, basically) have a ring of dense open cell foam 7mm thick around the driver, visible right after removing the pad. That part degrades over time like the pads and there's no way to find it in Euroland. Compass in USA has it as part number Fostex 1416449811, but they won't ship abroad. It might be EVA foam, but I'm not sure, I would need a selection of material at hand and then it would be easy to identify the correct material just by touching. It's for sure an open cell foam since blowing through it is possible, but is very very dense since very little air can pass, and when it passes is slowed down a lot. With your expertise in materials you may be able to find the correct one to fix this degrading acoustical part...
I seriously considered these, but there was so much hate from reviewers. Nearly went with the HD650’s as I already enjoy the Sennheiser Game One’s, essentially HD558’s with a quality mic for gaming. Enjoy my beloved Phillips SHP9600’s when I’m not using the Game One’s… So I got the HD800S, for gaming on my Xbox XS, EQ’d, with Dolby Atmos. 👌🏼 I still want the HD650’s and these HD490’s, but more than anything I want the Koss KSC75X’s.
@@CustomCans it might have come across in a rude way, by whining I meant complaints about the stilen design, I should have been more specific and perhaps phrasing it in a better way. Looking forward to dee what you do with these headphones
Thank you for this breakdown of the parts! How hard would it be to convert the 4 pin mini XLR to a standard 3.5mm connector? Looking to use an inline mic with these, but there are no boom mics with a 4 pin XLR connector in the market
@@CustomCans thanks for the reply! I don’t mind getting my hands dirty and have soldered before, just not with audio equipment and not in years haha. Just wanna make sure I’m not missing something big :)
Are these in any way a successor / upgraded model to the HD650’s? I just purchased a set of the HD650’s from Sennheiser and, for the same price, I would be able to pick these up instead if I return the HD650’s once they arrive
I think it would be best to see if there are any other reviews out there, I really like tham and would say they have better soundstage and bass than the HD650 but it would be totally down to personal taste which one is right for you
@@CustomCans Thank you. The more information that comes out about them, the more validated I feel in the decision to return the HD 650s. I’m someone who wears glasses regularly and that’s just one of the multiple QAL improvements the 490 pros seem to have in their arsenal
Thanks for being the first to post a video for these on TH-cam. I picked up these as well and I'm interested in building a balanced cable for them. I noticed in some of your other videos that you build cables, I was wondering if you could recommend a good audio cable wire (I'm assuming I just need something with 4 internal cables to build the balanced cable). I already have a Neutrik 4-pin XLR connector and a Rean 4-pin mini XLR connector. Originally I was just going to use an ethernet cable for this as I have plenty of those around and I used one to build a balanced cable previously, but I wanted to use a proper cable this time (I have no idea what wire gauge is the proper one to use). I'd rather not buy a full spool of wire (unless its cheap). Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.
As a small upgrade to HD600 I guess they're nice especially with the new shape and mini xlr. But unless they have lower THD they'll still be meh. They lack a lot of bass and when you add the required ~10dB at 20Hz they will prolly distort quite a bit :/
With the velour pads the bass is pretty flat down to about 40hz and has a bit more than the stock HD600 but, yes, I will have to take a look at the distortion on them
@@CustomCans Definitely an appreciable change but like cmon sennheiser. Subbass was the only real achilles' heel of the HD600. And yeah, maybe some custom pads would help even more.
@@buka9330 these measureents are very different from those done by sonicstate and sennheiser themselves. The reviewers all say this pair has a lot more subbass than the 600 with the velour pad.
2:51 Seems like an odd choice to make those letters raised, people with more protruding ears will be more likely to hit those than if it was just flat against the bottom of the cups. Edit: Oh it's foam, though it was plastic. That's an easy fix then, no dremel needed :D
Hi, Jason , great interesting video, apparently there is a pro plus with nice case and place for cables etc , looks a great package. They are £349 and for the plus it’s £399. I bought you bass mod kit for my Hd6Xx recently and found really improved bass and now I use them as my go to headphones. Regards mark
Yes, I checked that they are set up properly for balanced and am listening to them as I type this with a fancy 4pin XLR balanced cable into my amp... They are really nice. I think the sound staging may be even better running balanced off my amp
Awesome review, Sennheiser does already have an open back pro model (400 pro) but that was based closely off the 560s. This one seems to be its own beast entirely, but it appears to be using a similar driver to the 560s, 280 and 58x. Maybe they modified it somehow? Regardless seems like a very nice can.
Wow, this is is news for me. They look great, I wonder what it will be the price. I always thought that sennheiser was going with the higher number = pricer, but this will be more expensive than 560s?
I found a place purportedly selling them and the pricing on there is 399 euros for the HD 490 Pro which seems to be a standard version that comes with two sets of earpads, and a single cable. There's also the "HD 490 Pro Plus" which reportedly comes with two different length cables, an extra headband cushion and case, but that one's a fair bit more at 479 euros. Edit: Corrected my comment, both models apparently come with the two sets of earpads.
The thing is they number differently on the Pro line compared to the consumer line. Sennheiser's HD400 Pro is just the HD560S with a different cable and they've come out and said as much, so as far as the pro line goes this is still higher number so I'd expect more expensive.
You could in theory but a standard audeze style cable would not work unless you reconfigured them internally - you would need a custom dual entry cable just for these... we could make you one ;)
Yeh - I think these could be a future classic - I really like the swivelling earcups and single sided cable which is a nice bonus over the HD650 for studio use
what about HD490 or DT990 or DT1990? Which one's better? I'm still considering this 3 though, coming from producing hip-hop music, that one thing coming from HD490 is that the DearVR SE mix is very tempting.@@CustomCans
@@8CJ1 It is totally down to personal taste. The HD490 probably have the flattest response - the 990 ans 1990 both have quite a big peak at around 8k which helps pick out details and issues with the mix but that peak could lead to you dropping the treble in the mix if you are using them as your only reference. The 1990 has better sub bass, staying pretty flat down to 10hz where as the 490 start to roll off noticeable at 40-50hz
@@CustomCans this is nice. Give us your hearing impressions please. How do the mids sound (voices)? Are they warm full and lush sounding like the HD600 or thin and flat?
The difference between HD 490 PRO and HD 490 PRO Plus headphones is the accessories included with each: HD 490 PRO includes: 1.8 m cable, mixing ear pads, producing ear pads HD 490 PRO Plus includes: 1.8 m cable, 3 m cable, case, mixing ear pads, producing ear pads, extra headband pad
Lol - you are right. I am awesomely dyslexic and have a Y chromosome so don't often read the instructions. I can see by the number of exclamation marks how upset you were and would like to apologise for any distress I may have caused
None, it is just the raw measurement other than the mic calibration. Our rig is not the best so I would probably wait for some decent measurements to turn up online
@@CustomCans I have the same issue, my minidsp ears isn't the best but I have huge database of high end cans and I find heq compensation to be the easiest to read where my ideal line is 10hz-3000hz flat then a small rise to 4khz then a dip to 5khz then a rise to 9khz then a slow dip after that.
It has been a while since I had a listen to some 1990s but from what I can remember, the treble is much less prominent on the HD490 but the sub bass on the DT1990 is better. I think we have some 1990s in the workshop so I may have a listen and compare this week
@@CustomCans Thank you. I mean compensated one with the bump around 3K , the usual for IEMs and headphones , if you know what I mean .Besides , how does it sound ? Any comparison or description could be useful .
I lost all faith in Sennheiser with the so called 'HD 250 tuned' HD 300 pro headphone fiasco....they claimed their engineers had matched the tuning to the classic vintage HD 250. This was complete BS. The bass sounded dreadful. They have now removed all reference to that claim. :) I wish they wouldnt rename their NEW headphone with the SAME name as the previous HD 490 ?? Anyway...they worthy of a listen
@@CustomCans Imagine they relaunched the HD 540. In many ways it would outmatch a lot of 'modern' headphones :) Such a beautiful natural sounding headphone. The HD 540 Gold was a thing of beauty
Hey, these new Sennheisers do look *better* than what i consider the lowest end of Sennheiser, that i am used to - the HD 598 SE. Nope, not being snobbish, but listening since ca. 2013/14 with my HD 650, everything less doesn't sound good enough for my needs. This HD 490 Pro does look interesting, Jason. ;) Somehow, the driver reminds me about the HD600/650 series....from design.
At least, the company who bought Sennheiser some time ago, does know how-to create interesting designs...from aesthethics, this new HD 490 Pro (?) does look way better, than a ordinary 200-300 bucks Sennheiser HD59x, HD6XX/600 series for real....because their have been at least two (???) Sennheiser HD 490 headphones out before...@@CustomCans
Lol - probably not.. It was just when I saw the press pictures it looked like they has straight up copied what we did on the HD600 series. The first project we worked on for sennheiser was creating custom HD25 for a colab with Adidas for the 2012 olympics and have been a partner ever since. I am working with their pro team in the US on a project at the moment so some people at sennheiser definitely follow what we do.
So sennheiser took their cheap plasticky hd560s, wrapped it with nicer materials, their in an extra pads, added some better cords and jacked up the price by $300 . Voila!!!! A brand new model!!!
I think that is the same for most open backed headphones. We get a lot of 10+ year old headphones in for servicing and it is not as much of a problem as you would think
the frewuency graph even prooves it again, they lack bass like every sennheiser and you say they are "warm sounding" WTF Not everyone in the audiophilke community only listens to classical music or music with guitars. Nah for me the 490pro look like a cashgrab like the 660s2. rather will buy a hifiman edition xs. the 490pro should be balanced and flat for "pro" use in the studio, but they clearly lack bass again. not good
If you’re buying an Edition XS you’re clearly not in the target demographic for this headphone. I don’t know a single mix engineer that’s using a HiFiMan in the studio. Not to say they don’t exist, they’re just not as common as Beyerdynamic, Audeze, and Sennheiser. You’re making the classic mistake of expecting a pro audio headphone to meet your “audiophile” expectations. That’s on you, not the company. Enjoy your Edition XS. Meanwhile, the professionals that have been asking for an update to the HD600 with some added bass extension (which this does have if you actually read the graph) will happily buy this model without concerning ourselves with your unmet expectations. And by the way, that bass that you enjoy so much on other tracks was probably mixed and mastered on monitors or headphones with a bass response that would likely trigger you as much as you were triggered by this frequency response. That’s the point; accuracy, not embellishment. So when you turn up the volume, you don’t get masking, or muddiness in your low end, so it doesn’t bleed into your mids, causing your bass guitars and kick drums to blend together.
these cans sound nothing than the rather boring HD650s - you should try them yourself. they work well with modern music and deliver enough bass in the lower frequencys...
@@jeanbeezy indeed. I got my unit today and they really are a step in the right direction. The bass extension is such that I no longer need to switch to my reference monitors to check low frequencies during a mix. Which can be disruptive to the process. These are indeed a great leap ahead of the 600 series and I’m even finding myself wearing them for casual listening instead of picking up my Focals or Audeze’s.
glad to hear an opinion from someone who have to check a mix on headphones too. i also found the HD650 inconvenient for mixing purposes due the lack of lower bass frequencies and overpowering midbass. i dont have that problem on the HD490. @@Silverjerk
Replacement inserts for the inside of the cups without the protruding L & R letters that don't change the sound would be nice, I would buy something like that.
funny, i know a owner of the 490 pro. he has put out the inserts and the sound is better without he says.
The design looks like when Momentum 4 and HD600 have a baby
Probably designed by the same team ;)
@@CustomCans Sennheiser has sold its consumer audio division to Swiss-based medical hearing company called Sonova Holding AG. The business included headphones, soundbars and DACs. However professional headphone still own by Senheisser, therefore I don't think it came from the same designer.
Just gave these a run along with the HD800 S today gaming, music, movies and spoken word.
I felt the HD800 S have a bit better image transition almost blurring the lines and tricking you into a 3D sound by comparison. Spoken word is more true to life on the HD800 S and just a tinge more separation. HD800 S sound slightly clearer overall.
That said, the fact that the 490 Pro rivals the HD800 S for $1200 less is astounding. I could easily listen to them over the HD800 S any day of the week and wouldn't feel as if I'm missing anything.
looks like a good successor, the 4 pin mini xlr is nice
Yeh these feel really nice - I will be having a good listen over the next few days and may do a comparison with the HD660
Would be great to see that!
I wonder why they did not extend them further down flat to 20 hz - any idea why they didn't take the chance?
@@CustomCansWhy would you compare them to the 660s, literally one of the worst headphones sennheiser had made, using scrap parts nonetheless...
@@CammyFi just because i have some to hand and suspect the HD490 probably sounds a little better
@@CustomCans Very fair, a low bar. But fair
I recently purchased a pair of new HD600 HPs to complement my HD 380 Pro closed-backs, but these look really nice! Thanks for the review.
I have the HD 380 pros. And have been looking at the hd600 to compliment them... 😅 For recording I want to use the hd380 pros and for mixing the hd600
i love the new look you have, beard and hair fits you well.
also, i may be interested in these headphones, thanks for the well-detailed review as always
Thanks ;)
Man, it would be tremendous if you could do a comparison video on HD490 Pro vs DT 1990 Pro.
Titled something along the lines of "The Best Flagship Senn vs Beyer Studio headphones."
Among other categories, I'm really interested in how they especially compare in the mid-ranges.
I have both here, I may do that
I have both and let me tell you, (to my ears) if you look at the frequency response graphs for each of them at rtings, for example, you'll get a very precise idea of what they sound like. The DT 1990 Pro feel more overall competent now that I have many hundreds of hours with them but barely so, to the point that it's not really perceptible except for the soundstage sounding slightly better in the Beyerdynamics, but the HD 490 Pro are, sadly, so much more comfortable around my big-ish ears that I cannot use my 1990 Pro's that much, sadly. Breaks my heart, to be honest.
Oh, the 8k range is more tamed in the Sennheiser's but I have quite the treble tolerance, so I am not bothered by the Beyerdynamic peak in that region.
@@bananawarlock3981 Thanks for the impressions.
I have the DT 770 Pro X LE as my main closed-back and I'm comfortable with its treble. In fact, I thought due to my comfort with the treble on DT 770 Pro X that I'm now safe with the treble on other Beyers, as well. However, now I hear people say that the treble on the 1990 pro is worse than any other Beyer that they've tried. So, I'm probably at a loss in my calculations here, especially so because I can't test these headphones prior to purchase.
My research for a pair of open-back, dynamic-driver headphones has come down to the HD490 Pro and DT 1990 Pro. Multiple times, I have looked at the FR graphs on Rtings and other reviews for these headphones. But, it's hard to discern and imagine the real differences between them just by looking at the FR graphs before putting them to the test. For all intents and purposes, I have to relay on the other people's experiences with them. So, it's grand that you have experience with both.
How do you compare the imaging, separation, clarity, treble, mid-ranges and vocals on the HD490 Pro and DT 1990 Pro? The music genres that I mainly listen to are americana, country, classical, and neo-classical.
@@bananawarlock3981
It's great that you have both. Thanks for the impressions.
I only have a DT 770 Pro X LE as my main closed-back. So, now, I'm on the hunt for a good pair of open-backs. I'm comfortable with the Beyer treble on the 770 Pro X LE, but I don't know if I'd be comfortable with the treble on the dt 1990 pro, too, since I haven't heard this pair yet. In fact, that's the issue, I don't have access to any of these models for a test prior to purchase.
How do you compare imaging, resolution, separation, clarity, mid-ranges and vocals on HD490 Pro and DT 1990 Pro?
Interesting release. Headband reminds me of the Austrian Audio headphones. The bass port extension with the foam gasket is a neat hack for getting the bass below what their cheaper drivers can usually do. Price will probably be dumb though.
It is too soon to tell if these will be good value or not... I am not the best at reviewing the sound so I will wait and see some other reviews but they certainly look to have a nice flat response so should be good for mixing and mastering
Are you one of those " planars are superior" guys? Driver alone doesn't describe what the headphones can do. Focal Utopia is a dynamic driver headphone that sounds better than many expensive planars
looks like the massdrop hd58x driver but with the extra tuning behind it. People used to tune the 58x with things behind the driver
Yeh... could be
Judging only by the graphs on the Sennheiser site (there's an interesting interview in the Sonic State review where the topic of graph publication hesitancy is touched) I would say this might be a winner! The HD600/650 where good with acoustic music, but with modern music three major flows emerged:
- a bit too much energy in the 2-3k region
- not enough energy in the upper treble (the veil, that gets worse as pads age, pretty visible in the crinacle graph), that gets unnoticed until you EQ up the 6-10k region
- not enough bass extension (and a belly on 80-100 Hz)
They say this one is made for modern music, and in fact it has:
- less energy in the 2-3k region
- upper treble extension
- bass extension
Looks definitely on the same philosophy of the HD560S.
Yes - I am looking forward to having a really good listen over the next week
What is modern music?
@@joseluishernandezseptien well, a term I used to embrace anything electrified, from '50s rock till today. Led Zeppelin are not that demanding for bass extension, but the excess energy in 2-3k is a problem. With some electronic music or even some generic thick production stuff like Lady Gaga or Billie Eilish the need for a full range device becomes evident, since extension up and down is missing and you can't even turn up the volume since the upper mids 2-3k are sticking out.
More low end @@joseluishernandezseptien
3:50 Damn! So that's why the HD25 have the cable on the right! They are specifically marketed for ENG (electronic news gathering).
Cameraman... that's why!
Nice fact swap - now I know what the ENG stands for on the HD25 page
@@CustomCans Whaaaaat? You just learned some english form an italian dude XD
What's next for the future? You teach me the perfect carbona? XD XD XD
Seriously, let's talk business.
May I add a suggestion to your catalog? The old Denon AH-DX000 and Fostex/E-MU headphones (they're all the same, basically) have a ring of dense open cell foam 7mm thick around the driver, visible right after removing the pad. That part degrades over time like the pads and there's no way to find it in Euroland. Compass in USA has it as part number Fostex 1416449811, but they won't ship abroad. It might be EVA foam, but I'm not sure, I would need a selection of material at hand and then it would be easy to identify the correct material just by touching. It's for sure an open cell foam since blowing through it is possible, but is very very dense since very little air can pass, and when it passes is slowed down a lot. With your expertise in materials you may be able to find the correct one to fix this degrading acoustical part...
I seriously considered these, but there was so much hate from reviewers. Nearly went with the HD650’s as I already enjoy the Sennheiser Game One’s, essentially HD558’s with a quality mic for gaming. Enjoy my beloved Phillips SHP9600’s when I’m not using the Game One’s… So I got the HD800S, for gaming on my Xbox XS, EQ’d, with Dolby Atmos. 👌🏼
I still want the HD650’s and these HD490’s, but more than anything I want the Koss KSC75X’s.
Both pad sets have a feature built in made for wearing glasses. There's no need to remove you glasses when using HD 490 PRO Headphones.
That is a good idea... I will give it a try
thanks for the teardown
No Problem ;)
please mod this headphone in the future. that would be nice.
How is it that I can't find any information about these anywhere else.
I may have jumped the gun a little, they are not officially released until tomorrow
Whining aside this was a pretty informative video, I was interested about the build quality.
Thanks
@@CustomCans it might have come across in a rude way, by whining I meant complaints about the stilen design, I should have been more specific and perhaps phrasing it in a better way. Looking forward to dee what you do with these headphones
Thank you for this breakdown of the parts! How hard would it be to convert the 4 pin mini XLR to a standard 3.5mm connector? Looking to use an inline mic with these, but there are no boom mics with a 4 pin XLR connector in the market
It would be pretty easy for us to do but it is one of those things where if you have to ask... you may not be able to do it ;)
@@CustomCans thanks for the reply! I don’t mind getting my hands dirty and have soldered before, just not with audio equipment and not in years haha. Just wanna make sure I’m not missing something big :)
since the pro 400 is the 560s, what will the consumer model of this be called? 690?
I don't know... these may be pro only
69X hihi
that would be the drop version not the consumer senny version@@biomechanism1
Are these in any way a successor / upgraded model to the HD650’s? I just purchased a set of the HD650’s from Sennheiser and, for the same price, I would be able to pick these up instead if I return the HD650’s once they arrive
I think it would be best to see if there are any other reviews out there, I really like tham and would say they have better soundstage and bass than the HD650 but it would be totally down to personal taste which one is right for you
@@CustomCans Thank you. The more information that comes out about them, the more validated I feel in the decision to return the HD 650s. I’m someone who wears glasses regularly and that’s just one of the multiple QAL improvements the 490 pros seem to have in their arsenal
Thanks for your review! I wonder how they compare to the Neumann NDH-30?!
I have not tried the NDH-30 yet
Doesn't BOTH sides of the headphone require its own connection, in order to achieve a balanced signal?
no - you can use them with a single sided balanced cable
Thanks for being the first to post a video for these on TH-cam. I picked up these as well and I'm interested in building a balanced cable for them. I noticed in some of your other videos that you build cables, I was wondering if you could recommend a good audio cable wire (I'm assuming I just need something with 4 internal cables to build the balanced cable). I already have a Neutrik 4-pin XLR connector and a Rean 4-pin mini XLR connector. Originally I was just going to use an ethernet cable for this as I have plenty of those around and I used one to build a balanced cable previously, but I wanted to use a proper cable this time (I have no idea what wire gauge is the proper one to use). I'd rather not buy a full spool of wire (unless its cheap). Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.
As a small upgrade to HD600 I guess they're nice especially with the new shape and mini xlr. But unless they have lower THD they'll still be meh. They lack a lot of bass and when you add the required ~10dB at 20Hz they will prolly distort quite a bit :/
With the velour pads the bass is pretty flat down to about 40hz and has a bit more than the stock HD600 but, yes, I will have to take a look at the distortion on them
@@CustomCans Definitely an appreciable change but like cmon sennheiser. Subbass was the only real achilles' heel of the HD600. And yeah, maybe some custom pads would help even more.
@@buka9330 these measureents are very different from those done by sonicstate and sennheiser themselves. The reviewers all say this pair has a lot more subbass than the 600 with the velour pad.
@@buka9330 If these improve on the 560S/400pro in the soundstage department and they EQ as well as them then I’m in
2:51 Seems like an odd choice to make those letters raised, people with more protruding ears will be more likely to hit those than if it was just flat against the bottom of the cups.
Edit: Oh it's foam, though it was plastic. That's an easy fix then, no dremel needed :D
Yeh - it is pretty soft so should not cause issues
@@CustomCans I've noticed my ears get irritated by just the touch sensation, without much pressure.
Clean hair is looking clean my friend!
Thanks - I am more aerodynamic now ;)
good video my guy, Looking forward for Philips shp 9500 mod kit
Maybe one day - we have a big queue of things to desing before that though
Thanks for this first peak
My pleasure 😊
Nice take a look video! Sub'd.
Thanks and welcome aboard
Hi, Jason , great interesting video, apparently there is a pro plus with nice case and place for cables etc , looks a great package. They are £349 and for the plus it’s £399. I bought you bass mod kit for my Hd6Xx recently and found really improved bass and now I use them as my go to headphones. Regards mark
Thanks, glad you like the mod
I didnt know Sen was split in two, interesting
Yeh ... It is really annoying for us as we can only buy from the Pro range so don't have access to a lot of their headphones
Do the pro plus come with a balanced cable
No but we can sell you a pair with a balanced cable for a little extra ;)
@@CustomCans I can't seem to locate any hd 490 pro on your website
@@imliimits3530 Ah Sorry - I will get the guys to fix that tomorrow
Did you end up trying out a balanced cable to see if it works?
Also which would you rather have? HD490 pro, HD600 or R70x?
Yes, I checked that they are set up properly for balanced and am listening to them as I type this with a fancy 4pin XLR balanced cable into my amp... They are really nice. I think the sound staging may be even better running balanced off my amp
@@CustomCansNice man! What amp?
Nice review! Any idea when these are coming out? I can't find anything about them on Google lol
23rd of Jan I believe
Thanks a bunch
Should be out today (23rd of jan )
Awesome review, Sennheiser does already have an open back pro model (400 pro) but that was based closely off the 560s. This one seems to be its own beast entirely, but it appears to be using a similar driver to the 560s, 280 and 58x. Maybe they modified it somehow? Regardless seems like a very nice can.
Ah - yes, I forgot about the 400 pro.. I will have to get some of those in at some point as well
I think these might be pretty similar to the Neumann NDH-30
@maegnificant I have played with the NDH-20 but have not tried the NDH-30 yet. I may have to order some in at some point
@@CustomCans it's also based on carefully selected 560s drivers. Love the thing.
The 400 pro are the 560s in a different color and an added cable. They're the same headphone.
Wow, this is is news for me. They look great, I wonder what it will be the price. I always thought that sennheiser was going with the higher number = pricer, but this will be more expensive than 560s?
I saw one for like 440€😅
Yeh - I am not sure what the price will be but £300+ I would have thought
I found a place purportedly selling them and the pricing on there is 399 euros for the HD 490 Pro which seems to be a standard version that comes with two sets of earpads, and a single cable. There's also the "HD 490 Pro Plus" which reportedly comes with two different length cables, an extra headband cushion and case, but that one's a fair bit more at 479 euros.
Edit: Corrected my comment, both models apparently come with the two sets of earpads.
The thing is they number differently on the Pro line compared to the consumer line. Sennheiser's HD400 Pro is just the HD560S with a different cable and they've come out and said as much, so as far as the pro line goes this is still higher number so I'd expect more expensive.
@@HeavenlyArmed Oh, that makes sense
Can I use 4.4mm balanced cable plug into both cups?
You could in theory but a standard audeze style cable would not work unless you reconfigured them internally - you would need a custom dual entry cable just for these... we could make you one ;)
Un sure bout this, not falling for the 560s in the tail pipe trick…
I have still not taken a look at the 560
490? how do they come up with these numbers
Who knows ;)
reminiscent of shure 1840
I have never had the Shure 1840 in - I may try to get my hands on them at some point
Where the hell did these come from? Price seems reasonable if it outdoes the hd650.
Yeh - I think these could be a future classic - I really like the swivelling earcups and single sided cable which is a nice bonus over the HD650 for studio use
So DT900 PRO X or HD490 is better for mix and master music production? 😂
I would say the HD490 but they do cost more - they are both pretty good value.
what about HD490 or DT990 or DT1990? Which one's better? I'm still considering this 3 though, coming from
producing hip-hop music, that one thing coming from HD490 is that the DearVR SE mix is very tempting.@@CustomCans
@@8CJ1 It is totally down to personal taste. The HD490 probably have the flattest response - the 990 ans 1990 both have quite a big peak at around 8k which helps pick out details and issues with the mix but that peak could lead to you dropping the treble in the mix if you are using them as your only reference. The 1990 has better sub bass, staying pretty flat down to 10hz where as the 490 start to roll off noticeable at 40-50hz
Hi, are HD 490 pro really balanced if I buy a balanced cable?
Just weird how sennheiser didn't advertise this capability of them if true.
Is the grill of the earcup metal or this hp complety made out of plastic?
The grill is metal
@@CustomCans this is nice. Give us your hearing impressions please. How do the mids sound (voices)? Are they warm full and lush sounding like the HD600 or thin and flat?
Had no clue these were a thing massive upgrade to the 560s just cause of the metal headband imo
Yes I got my habds on them early
These or the Beyerdynamic 900 Pro X?
I suppose it would be down to personal taste but I would 100% go for the HD490 over the 900Pro X
@@CustomCans Appreciate the feedback
Do you know wht's the difference to the pro plus version? (besides price)
i don't know yet but I suspect they will come with extra accessories
The difference between HD 490 PRO and HD 490 PRO Plus headphones is the accessories included with each:
HD 490 PRO includes: 1.8 m cable, mixing ear pads, producing ear pads
HD 490 PRO Plus includes: 1.8 m cable, 3 m cable, case, mixing ear pads, producing ear pads, extra headband pad
@@jimmyinmusic8156 thanks
Dońt know which pad is which ćause people never take a detailed look at the instructions nor the info writen in the box!!!!!!
Lol - you are right. I am awesomely dyslexic and have a Y chromosome so don't often read the instructions. I can see by the number of exclamation marks how upset you were and would like to apologise for any distress I may have caused
What compensation did you use on the measurements?
None, it is just the raw measurement other than the mic calibration. Our rig is not the best so I would probably wait for some decent measurements to turn up online
@@CustomCans I have the same issue, my minidsp ears isn't the best but I have huge database of high end cans and I find heq compensation to be the easiest to read where my ideal line is 10hz-3000hz flat then a small rise to 4khz then a dip to 5khz then a rise to 9khz then a slow dip after that.
how would you compare it to the 1990 pro with A pads?
It has been a while since I had a listen to some 1990s but from what I can remember, the treble is much less prominent on the HD490 but the sub bass on the DT1990 is better. I think we have some 1990s in the workshop so I may have a listen and compare this week
What's the impedance?
1 million shekels xx
130ohm
@@CustomCansThat's good, not too high, not too low.
Do you have any readable graphs ?
Our rig is not super accurate, it would be best to wait until someone does some better ones
@@CustomCans Thank you. I mean compensated one with the bump around 3K , the usual for IEMs and headphones , if you know what I mean .Besides , how does it sound ? Any comparison or description could be useful .
@@danrdey I am not great at describing the sound but there should be some more reviews out over the next few days from people with golden ears ;)
Is it a 3.5mm with a screw on quarter inch adapter?
Yes I think it was from what I remember
Love you bro!
P.L.U.R
Where was it made? China, Ireland, or Germany?
These are made in Romania like the HD25
I lost all faith in Sennheiser with the so called 'HD 250 tuned' HD 300 pro headphone fiasco....they claimed their engineers had matched the tuning to the classic vintage HD 250. This was complete BS. The bass sounded dreadful. They have now removed all reference to that claim. :)
I wish they wouldnt rename their NEW headphone with the SAME name as the previous HD 490 ?? Anyway...they worthy of a listen
Yes - cashing in on nostalgia ;)
@@CustomCans Imagine they relaunched the HD 540. In many ways it would outmatch a lot of 'modern' headphones :) Such a beautiful natural sounding headphone. The HD 540 Gold was a thing of beauty
Hey, these new Sennheisers do look *better* than what i consider the lowest end of Sennheiser, that i am used to - the HD 598 SE. Nope, not being snobbish, but listening since ca. 2013/14 with my HD 650, everything less doesn't sound good enough for my needs. This HD 490 Pro does look interesting, Jason. ;) Somehow, the driver reminds me about the HD600/650 series....from design.
Yes. looking at it again, it i pretty similar to the HD600 driver. I am looking forward to having a good listen over the next fiew days
At least, the company who bought Sennheiser some time ago, does know how-to create interesting designs...from aesthethics, this new HD 490 Pro (?) does look way better, than a ordinary 200-300 bucks Sennheiser HD59x, HD6XX/600 series for real....because their have been at least two (???) Sennheiser HD 490 headphones out before...@@CustomCans
But 599 sounds better than 600 and 650 has no sound stage
want want want
yeah, they are pretty nice
is this new?
Yes - I think they are due to officially be released tomorrow
So its 560S Makeover :)
Sony's MDR MV1's are £349 and they are simply fantastic. I would expect the 490's RRP to drop.
Yeh - I fancy having a go on those at some point
@@CustomCansHappy to mail my set down. How destructive would the 'testing' be?
Did you say Sennheiser HD600 successor? Take my money!
599 sounds better than 600 always has done always did
😂
We will have to wait for people with better ears than mine to do a decent comparison but they look promising
So Senheisier are busy watching a 10k TH-cam channel for ideas? Right
Lol - probably not.. It was just when I saw the press pictures it looked like they has straight up copied what we did on the HD600 series. The first project we worked on for sennheiser was creating custom HD25 for a colab with Adidas for the 2012 olympics and have been a partner ever since. I am working with their pro team in the US on a project at the moment so some people at sennheiser definitely follow what we do.
So sennheiser took their cheap plasticky hd560s, wrapped it with nicer materials, their in an extra pads, added some better cords and jacked up the price by $300 . Voila!!!! A brand new model!!!
Impedance, Sir?
130ohm
@@CustomCans Thank you. the first review is out. lf "Sennheiser HD 490 PRO Headphones - The New Reference" by sonicstate
Dust will enter the speaker vent
I think that is the same for most open backed headphones. We get a lot of 10+ year old headphones in for servicing and it is not as much of a problem as you would think
Seems very cheap on build quality, i hope they will not disort on higher volume so easy like the old HD490
In real life the feel pretty good - Super light but sturdy
These headphones have nothing in common with the original HD490 on any level.
the frewuency graph even prooves it again, they lack bass like every sennheiser and you say they are "warm sounding" WTF Not everyone in the audiophilke community only listens to classical music or music with guitars. Nah for me the 490pro look like a cashgrab like the 660s2. rather will buy a hifiman edition xs. the 490pro should be balanced and flat for "pro" use in the studio, but they clearly lack bass again. not good
Don't worry, I don't think sennheiser are going to force you to buy a pair ... everything will be OK
If you’re buying an Edition XS you’re clearly not in the target demographic for this headphone. I don’t know a single mix engineer that’s using a HiFiMan in the studio. Not to say they don’t exist, they’re just not as common as Beyerdynamic, Audeze, and Sennheiser. You’re making the classic mistake of expecting a pro audio headphone to meet your “audiophile” expectations. That’s on you, not the company.
Enjoy your Edition XS. Meanwhile, the professionals that have been asking for an update to the HD600 with some added bass extension (which this does have if you actually read the graph) will happily buy this model without concerning ourselves with your unmet expectations.
And by the way, that bass that you enjoy so much on other tracks was probably mixed and mastered on monitors or headphones with a bass response that would likely trigger you as much as you were triggered by this frequency response. That’s the point; accuracy, not embellishment. So when you turn up the volume, you don’t get masking, or muddiness in your low end, so it doesn’t bleed into your mids, causing your bass guitars and kick drums to blend together.
these cans sound nothing than the rather boring HD650s - you should try them yourself. they work well with modern music and deliver enough bass in the lower frequencys...
@@jeanbeezy indeed. I got my unit today and they really are a step in the right direction. The bass extension is such that I no longer need to switch to my reference monitors to check low frequencies during a mix. Which can be disruptive to the process. These are indeed a great leap ahead of the 600 series and I’m even finding myself wearing them for casual listening instead of picking up my Focals or Audeze’s.
glad to hear an opinion from someone who have to check a mix on headphones too. i also found the HD650 inconvenient for mixing purposes due the lack of lower bass frequencies and overpowering midbass. i dont have that problem on the HD490. @@Silverjerk