Excellent review!

Thanks for the review Jawm, seems like its just like the 448s, though from what you say I guess the sound quality has been improved but along the same lines...and the bass seems to be as it was in the 448s. Looking forward to try these sometime myself.

Thanks for the nicely in-depth review!

@bala, I've heard one person say these are an improvement in every way, and someone else say they are very similar except better bass, in regards to the 448's. So I suppose the only way to know is if you can hear these yourself, which sounds like you are. If I beat you to it I'll be sure to let you know.

How are the headphones now?

@XxDobemanxX, They are very nice! I use them all the time with my music, and they seem alright for my casual gaming on the PC. However there are still some genres I and particular songs that don't sound too well with these. I think house is really something I try to avoid expecially if it has vocals. They just get messed up and interfere with the other sounds. If you are considering getting these, I'd try to look at the 448's. They are $60, and Sennheiser said they have the same acoustics as the 449's. But I'm not entirely sure as to the extension of the difference between them since I have not used the 448's before.

i am getting the HD 449 already , many reviewers have stated that it is better than the HD 448 and i dont listen to house . have you ever wonder if a cheap headphone is more porpuseful than a hifi one ? for example you say these headphones dont sound too well with house,but i had a $5 generic brand headphone (rofl) and it sounded to my ears good with every genre though at that time i didnt know what highs mids lows meant, so if i had known about highs and so on i would of said the heaphones were crappy muddy and so on but they sound good .

@XxDobemanxX I think you have already made up your mind about the 449. Yes, the 449 is better than the 448 - but not at twice the price! I think the HD518 is a wonderful purchase at that price point, unless you are particular about it being a closed can.

@bala lol your right , i thought about the 518 but i need a closed can though (HD 518 is more comfortable and i worry about the HD 449 earpads because they look easy to tear).

@XxDobermanxX just remember I don't know very much so take this with a grain of salt lol