[J Ottawa]

It’s sexy. Buy it

When funds permit it! Other stuff is calling me...like a new water heater in our home.

 

[Mike F]

FWIW I have the black NDH 20 and the black finish is very tough, actually, but I have marked them in one place (against the fairly sharp edge of an aluminium iMac keyboard) and you can see the silver (aluminium) underneath the black paint. The same mark on the 'silver' version would be almost invisible.

 

[KingForKings]

I always switch between NDH30 and Sony M1ST with Yaxi Pads. The Sonys are somehow better with voices and volume scaling. I can clearly heard volume differences on M1ST because I hate how everyone has different mic volumes on discord. Very easy to hear different sounds in every type of media from music to gaming. NDH30 always is able to resolve every frequency without distortion. The only song I know directly which does not work on Sony is Nee by Empire, a Japanese Idol Band. What the Sony can do is separating layers of music, mainly bass - mids - treble and even further. On the other hand I know no headphone which can show music and audio in general as a whole in a very good natural and clear way.
So in the last months, I am only using my Sony MiniDisc player R50 in recording mode - paused. It is really a delight to know how well it can drive up to HD600, never start struggling without telling at 75% volume it gets thin on every headphone and offer mega bass for the rare occasions I want to use it. The size and timbre is surprisingly normal, leaning into a dark sound with soundstage and good or perfect imaging.

 

[headstef]

A very interesting open back model with essentially neutral tunning has appeared from Sennheiser (pro division). It is the HD-490 Pro, possibly placed in the € 400-500 price range, which IMO says a lot for a pro-oriented model. It is already discussed here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sennheiser-hd-490-pro-plus-coming.971458/

with some posts here, too:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/save-the-date-a-sennheiser-ces-debut.971243/post-17932361

It looks like a very well thought design (construction wise) and it has an off centered driver, placed lower than center and two kinds of pads for different purposes/tunning. In the appearing video by CustomCans there's a FR graph comparison with HD-600 which also looks quite promising. Let's hope the HD-490 Pro will sound as good as it looks! I wouldn't be surprised if it is at least as good as the best of the HD-6## series.

 

[Rob80b]

It looks like a very well thought design

And it looks like Sennheiser were listening.

Timestamp for 10:06 in link. Guy from Sennheiser talking about the headphones.

 

[Mike F]

A very interesting open back model with essentially neutral tunning has appeared from Sennheiser (pro division). It is the HD-490 Pro, possibly placed in the € 400-500 price range, which IMO says a lot for a pro-oriented model. It is already discussed here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sennheiser-hd-490-pro-plus-coming.971458/

with some posts here, too:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/save-the-date-a-sennheiser-ces-debut.971243/post-17932361

It looks like a very well thought design (construction wise) and it has an off centered driver, placed lower than center and two kinds of pads for different purposes/tunning. In the appearing video by CustomCans there's a FR graph comparison with HD-600 which also looks quite promising. Let's hope the HD-490 Pro will sound as good as it looks! I wouldn't be surprised if it is at least as good as the best of the HD-6## series.

You need to get them and do a comparison for us!

 

[headstef]

You need to get them and do a comparison for us!

Not a bad idea, but I keep stopping my self from buying another NDH 30 (black)!

 

[KingForKings]

I directly read "silently replaced the hd600" but HD series is Sonova x Sennheiser not Sennheiser Pro, 2 different companies?!

 

[KingForKings]

https://www.sennheiser.com/en-in/product-families/hd-490-pro-mixing-headphones
vs
https://www.sennheiser-hearing.com/en-DE/ (this is the en-de not en-int but the saem goess for both web sites, naming-wise)

 

[jonathan c]

Same phones. Black version just look badass and being that it’s open back and has no reason of being black in color in the sound production/studio field makes it triple badass lol

The black makes the orange look killer .

 

[jonathan c]

Speaking of killer .... a good description of the sound from this ensemble.

[cable: Lavricables Grand Silver; h/p/a: Sparkos Labs Gemini; tube: M(arconi)-O(sram)-V(alve) A2900]

 

[FritzS]

Should the new Sennheiser HD 490 Pro complement the Neumann NDH 30? Or even rival it?
https://www.sennheiser.com/en-us/catalog/products/headphones/hd-490-pro/hd-490-pro-700286

 

[Mike F]

Should the new Sennheiser HD 490 Pro complement the Neumann NDH 30? Or even rival it?
https://www.sennheiser.com/en-us/catalog/products/headphones/hd-490-pro/hd-490-pro-700286

There seem to be two models, but given the price point, and the fact that both they and the NDH 30 are made by Sennheiser Pro, one would have to assume that they are not intended to compete. That’s not to say that you might not prefer the 490 over the 30 of course.

 

[chesebert]

There seem to be two models, but given the price point, and the fact that both they and the NDH 30 are made by Sennheiser Pro, one would have to assume that they are not intended to compete. That’s not to say that you might not prefer the 490 over the 30 of course.

I think you get more things in the box with the Plus model - extra cable, extra headband pads and carrying case.

 

[FritzS]

Compare
https://www.sennheiser.com/en-us/catalog/products/headphones/hd-490-pro/hd-490-pro-700286
versus
https://www.sennheiser.com/en-us/catalog/products/headphones/hd-490-pro/hd-490-pro-plus-700287
What's in the box