Hello everyone.
Why not choose the Sennheiser
HD-400 Pro, which perhaps combines the best of the two tonal presentations offered by the two pads (producer and mixing) of the new Sennheiser
HD 490 Pro, while being almost half the price of the latter, and also having a better tonality (less brigh in the treble) than that of the
pre-2023 HD-560S?
In this review of the HD-490 Pro (
https://diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com/headphones/measurements/brands-s-se/hd490-pro/) we learn several interesting things:
1- the HD-490 Pro comes with two different pads that sound different.
- Velvet pads (with memory foam), called “Producer pads”
- Fabric pads, called “Mixing pads”.
2- the HD-400 Pro corresponds to the new 2023 version of the HD-560S, which sounds warmer and less bright (between 4 KHz and 10 KHz) than the old version (pre 2023) of the HD- 560S.
(quote: "The above comparison uses the >2023 HD 560S (HD 400 Pro) as there have been some small changes to the HD 560S as of 2023 making it less 'bright' sounding. The older version (3m cable) is just a few dB 'hotter' between 4kHz and 10kHz").
3-
The HD-400 Pro (aka HD-560S 2023) has an intermediate tone between the HD-490 Pro equipped with velvet “producer” pads and the HD-490 Pro equipped with fabric “mixing” pads; it brings together, in a way, the best of both worlds.
(quote: "What is interesting is that, in tonality, the HD 400 PRO (which is the pro version of the HD 560S (2023)) is right between both HD 490 PRO pad signatures, kind of the best of both worlds?" ).
Otherwise, you will find below the tonal responses (FR) of the
HD 400 Pro (aka HD-560S 2023) and the
HD-560S (pre 2023) versus
Hifiman Sundara (2020) taken as reference headphones for the FR, for its tone, one of the fairest.