[bernado]

I'm liking the price the HD485s can be had for now (£35/$70) in the UK. I have some PX100s which I would like to upgrade for some mellow open phones. I made a post a little while ago where HD6xx series were mentioned for a relaxing listen but these obviousley come at a premium price. As mentioned in the earlier thread I would be using these for chilling rather than excitement and high brightness turns me off anyway but they can be amped. I found amping the PX100s tightened up the bass somewhat so no doubt the same would be true for the 485s, which I understand are big on bass.
Has anyone compared the 100s and 485s?

 

[bernado]

As nobody else will I'm going to answer my own question.
I bought the 485s and the answer is - yes, they are definitely much nicer than my, admitedly pretty tired, px100s. Fist impressions were a little worrying due to excessive bass stomping over every thing else but this has calmed down during burn in. The Sennheiser veil is very much in evidence which is not going to please some people. Grado lovers will find them positively recessed in the mids and beyond but for my nocturnal listening they fit the bill very nicely. I found that removing the driver foam really raised the sound of these phones and removed any muddiness, also tightening the bass. This leaves the drivers exposed though so I need to find a more transparent substitute before I commit myself to modding them.
A/B comparing with my px100s does show how much more space the mids on the 485s have. The px100s sounded pretty congested in comparison. I also noticed that female vocals had a bit of a nasal quality on the px100s compared to the 485s.
Even after around 6 hours burn in they are still pretty bassy. I have EQd it down a little but this may clear up after further burn in. If not then a mod to the driver foam will sort this out I'm sure.
Not the most detailed of phones but for my needs and for the price I'm more than happy.
One word of warning though, don't have any dillusions about wearing these out in public. Any similarity to the design of the px100 drivers you may have noticed in pictures doesn't give you a sense of scale. Think px100s on steroids!