Sennheiser HD 490 PRO Headphones Review

The Sennheiser HD 490 PRO have a sleek look reminiscent of headphones in Sennheiser's consumer audio line. They have perforated metal grilles similar to those of the Sennheiser HD660S2, with glossy, black plastic yokes, ear cups that resemble the MOMENTUM series, and an adjustable padded headband. They come with two different sets of earpads. The 'Producing' pads are made of a black velvet-like material, while the 'Mixing' pads are made from a rougher, gray, cloth-like material. Their design also means you can plug in the audio cable on either ear cup, allowing greater flexibility and range of motion. They come in one color variant: 'Black'. It's also possible to pick up the 'Pro Plus' variant, which comes with additional headband padding.

These open-backs have a very comfortable fit when using the 'Producing' pads, even if you wear glasses. The pads have a supple, velvet-like padding that feels great on the skin. While these headphones feel light on the head, they also feature soft, comfortable padding on the headband that minimizes pressure on the top of your head. The 'Mixing' pads are less comfortable but will still allow you to achieve a solid fit if you wear glasses.

These headphones aren't particularly portable, which is normal given that the manufacturer markets them as studio headphones that aren't designed for on-the-go use. While their ear cups swivel so they can lay flat, they're still very bulky and will take up a lot of space in a bag or backpack. They also lack a case to protect them from damage while they're being transported.

These headphones have a decent build quality. While they're light on the head, this is partially a result of their cheap, plasticky build. The ear cups have a nice depth, and the two sets of washable pads seem durable enough. The 'Producing' pads are made of a soft, velvety material, while the 'Mixing' pads are constructed from a coarser, cloth-like material. The headband is also easily adjustable, with replaceable padding that provides a good amount of cushion. However, the construction is let down by flimsy plastic yokes that feel less solid than the other components. Our unit also had two screws fall out of the left hinge.

These headphones have decent stability, which will be sufficient for most studio applications. They'll easily stay on your head while you sit at the mixing console but will likely fall off and need re-adjustment if you find yourself headbanging aggressively to your latest mix.

• Sennheiser HD 490 PRO headphones
• 1/8" audio cable (1.8m or 5'9")
• 1/4"to 1/8" adapter
• 'Producing' pads (attached to the headphones)
• 'Mixing' pads
• Quick start guide and warranty information

The Sennheiser HD490 come with two sets of pads designed to facilitate different professional audio applications. As a result, switching between the two sets of pads results in a different sound profile. We tested these headphones with both sets of pads, but we derived our scores from the tests carried out with the 'Producing' pads, which scored better according to our methodology. Overall, these pads have a more pronounced bass response, while the 'Mixing' pads feature a slightly boosted mid-range that can be useful if you're trying to listen analytically. It's great to have this versatility, as the increased comfort and more exciting sound profile can be useful when arranging and building a track up from the ground. You can then turn to the 'Mixing' pads, with their underemphasized bass and boosted mids, to fine-tune your mix. You can see how the different pads affect the sound profile of these headphones here.

With the 'Producing' pads equipped, these headphones have a balanced sound profile across the entire frequency spectrum. They have a surprisingly good bass response for open-back headphones, though the low-bass frequencies are slightly underemphasized. While the low and mid-mids are very flat, the high-mid response is a little veiled. This carries over to the low-treble range, meaning the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments sound a little dull. The rest of the treble range is a little slanted, so there's plenty of air and high-end brilliance, but sibilants, like S and T sounds, are lispy and lack sizzle.

The frequency response consistency is amazing. Once you find a good fit, you can achieve consistent bass and treble delivery. Both sets of pads perform similarly in this regard, too, so even if you wear glasses or have thick hair, audio delivery consistency won't change if you switch out the pads. You can see a graph of the frequency response consistency with the 'Mixing' pads here.

You can see a graph of the raw frequency response with the 'Mixing' pads here.

The bass accuracy is excellent, especially for open-back headphones with dynamic drivers. While the low bass is slightly underemphasized, meaning your mixes lack low-end rumble, the rest of the range is flat and balanced. Kicks and basslines still have plenty of punch and slam without introducing any muddiness into the mix. On songs like Massive Attack's Teardrop, the kick sounds punchy and has a fast attack while still allowing the bassline to sound clear and present. You can see a graph for bass accuracy with the 'Mixing' pads here.

The mid accuracy is amazing. The response is virtually flat across the low-mid range and there's only a very slight dip in a narrow band within the mid-mid. The top of the high-mid range is slightly recessed, though, which can dull the upper harmonics of vocals and lead instruments. You can see a graph of the mid accuracy with the 'Mixing' pads here.

These headphones have impressive treble accuracy. While the response never deviates greatly from our target curve, there are some inconsistencies across the entire range. There's some roll-off in the low-treble range that robs vocals and lead instruments of some detail and nuance. The mid-treble response is also quite slanted, so the bottom part of the range is recessed, resulting in lispy-sounding sibilants. However, the top part of this range is overemphasized, adding some zing and attack to acoustic guitar picking and the bells of ride cymbals. You can see a graph of the treble response with the 'Mixing' pads here.

The peaks and dips performance is good, and these headphones can mostly control their own sound profile. A slight bump in the high bass adds warmth to your mixes. A small drip in the mid-mid causes lead instruments to lose presence, and a large dip between the high-mid and low-treble robs their upper harmonics of detail. A peak in the low treble is followed by a smaller dip, resulting in sibilants that alternate between sounding dull and bright, depending on their pitch. Finally, a sharp peak at the top of the mid-treble adds a harsh, piercing quality to higher-pitched sibilants.

The Sennheiser HD 490 Pro have great imaging. Imaging performance generally indicates good ergonomics and quality control, which we expect from Sennheiser's professional line. Our unit's left and right drivers are well-matched in group delay, ensuring that bass response is tight and treble reproduction is transparent. They're also well-matched in phase and frequency, although there were some slight mismatches in their amplitude. This kind of imaging performance ensures that objects are well localized within the stereo field. However, imaging tends to vary between units.

The Sennheiser HD 490 Pro have a decent passive soundstage performance. Their open-back design helps create a soundstage that sounds open and spacious, especially compared to closed-back headphones. However, they still sound a little unnatural. They aren't as immersive as top-of-the-line audiophile headphones like the Sennheiser HD 800 S, as their design doesn't facilitate audio interaction with the outer ear in quite the same way. You can see a graph of the soundstage with the 'Mixing' pads here.

The weighted harmonic distortion performance is great. There's a sharp high-treble peak in the right driver when listening at regular volumes, but this will be difficult to notice with regular audio content as we lose sensitivity to this range over time. Otherwise, all frequencies fall within good limits, producing clean and pure audio at moderate and high volumes.

These are the settings used to test the Sennheiser HD490. We used the 'Producing' pads for all tests. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.

The Sennheiser HD 490 Pro's noise isolation performance is terrible, which is normal for open-back studio headphones. As a result, they block almost no bass or mid-range noise by virtue of their design. So if a drummer is rehearsing in the studio next door, lower-pitched elements of the kit, like the kick and snare, will make their way into your audio. They provide a slight amount of passive isolation against higher-frequency noises, like fridge hum, but it's minimal.

The leakage performance is terrible. While these headphones don't leak quite as much audio as other open-back models, like the Sennheiser HD 660S2, their design still means that others near you can very easily hear what you're listening to. Escaping audio is primarily concentrated in the high-mid and treble ranges, so it sounds quite tinny. If you plan to use these exclusively in a quiet studio environment, this will be fine, but if you take them on the bus or train, others around you will hear your audio at regular listening volumes.

The Sennheiser HD 490 PRO come with a 1.8m (5"9') audio cable, with a 1/8" audio jack on one side and a proprietary connection type on the other that plugs into the headphones. They also come with a 1/4" adapter, so you can use them with professional-end devices, like soundcards and headphone amps. Latency via analog connection is virtually non-existent; this is great if you ever need to use them for tracking instruments like synthesizers, as you won't experience any delay between your keystrokes and the audio signal.

You can connect these open-backs to your PC via their audio cable. However, you can't send audio to your PC without purchasing a standalone mic.

These headphones are compatible with PlayStation-family consoles; you can plug their cable directly into your controller. However, they don't have a mic, so you can't send audio.

These open-backs are compatible with Xbox-family consoles if you connect them to the controller's AUX port. However, you'll need a standalone mic to communicate with your teammates.