Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO placed on a mannequin head, to help show how these headphones would look on the human head. Note that the head is slightly under average sized, so account for the discrepancies accordingly. As with all headphones, getting a good fit and seal is crucial, so make sure to properly use the headband sizing in addition to the extensive ear cup swivel and rotation on offer. The foam supports on the headband may not be too comfortable right away, but they do break in easily—arguably too easily as mentioned before, so having a spare set on hand is recommended. I am happy to say that the clamp force is a non-issue here, with the likes of the HD 650 going overly clampy out of the box. I have enough pressure on the ear cups to where the HD 490 PRO feels firmly secure yet comfortable. Helping tremendously is the part where it weighs only 260 g without the cable, and the cable is also not going to add much mass in addition to being naturally directed away from your neck and shoulders. The pre-installed velvet Producing Pads are also extremely soft and pleasant to use, at least initially, before they start to get warm owing to the weaker heat transfer. The denim Mixing Pads actually are the better choice for long listening sessions despite not being initially as comfortable—they allow more airflow to help keep your ears cooler. I would not have minded some more depth to the ear pads though—especially the Mixing Pads that are smaller—since these are not contoured to be thicker on the back, and there is thus a possibility your ear helix might hit the mesh. Obviously these are open-back sets, so do be aware of sound leakage in either direction and use them in a quieter environment whenever possible.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

Sennheiser is one of very, very few brands that makes its own drivers. This has been the case for decades now, and the HD 490 PRO is no different. It uses a single dynamic driver per side, and I believe this is the latest generation of Sennheiser's Sys38 driver—a 40 mm class dynamic driver using a 38 mm polymer blend diaphragm driven using neodymium N52 magnets and paired to a lightweight aluminium voice coil with a rated impedance of 130 Ω, making it high enough to work well with studio equipment that may have higher output impedances than your usual audiophile headphone amplifiers, while still being fairly easy to run. This is complemented with the 105 dB/Vrms sensitivity, which translates to ~96 dB/mW. Noting these values are at 1 kHz and dynamic drivers can have an uneven impedance curve, I will say the HD 490 PRO is still among the easier headphones to power. You can get it plenty loud off even a laptop's 3.5 mm output, which usually has a mediocre Realtek DAC and amp, and most decent portable DAC/amps will work fine too for home use. In a studio, you'd usually pair this with a mixer that may have multiple channels and a 6.35 mm (1/4") output is basically the default there, hence why the HD 490 PRO cable comes with an adapter pre-installed. You can use it as-is, and if you use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) mixer or controller then you might also want to check out the provided license for the full version of the dearVR MIX-SE plugin which allows you to create virtual studio environments, including with different speakers, for headphone profiles such as the HD 490 PRO.

Frequency Response Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature emphasizing a slightly elevated bass and smooth treble range with detailed mids and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our current headphones test setup uses a set of two custom in-ear microphones for the two channels. These microphones closely adhere to the IEC711 class, but have been tweaked to be more reliable in the >10 kHz frequency range, the precise issue with my previous setup, that is otherwise still very good and will continue to be used for IEMs and earphones. Two soft silicone pinnae are installed on the sides, separated by a distance matching my head, and multiple "height" adapters have been 3D-printed for further customization, based on fit, head size and shape. Each set of microphones has an XLR output I separately adapted to 3.5 mm. I used a transparent source—the JDS Labs Element II—for measurements after confirming it was not a bottleneck in any way. This artificial head simulator feeds the microphone lines into a reference USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, FFT to test for headphone seal, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, netting a good balance of detail and signal-to-noise ratio. The default tuning was used for testing, and no app or program-based EQ settings were chosen, unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is measured at least thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the individual measurements for statistical accuracy.


As before, you can find my headphone frequency response measurements on VSG.squig.link along with all the earphone measurements. Scroll to the bottom and choose different targets there, including two from Harman Kardon developed after years of R&D. The Harman 2018 over-ear target in particular, is a reference curve many headphone makers aim for now, but I find it too bass-boosted for open-back headphones. As such, I am opting for the Harman 2018 curve with the bass target from the Harman 2013 curve, which is what is referred to as the "Harman Combined" target. Before we get talking about the sound signature of the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO, I want to briefly talk about the measurements themselves and the channel balance achieved here. I think a single look at the measurements above can confirm the good driver matching on my set, and this is a randomly chosen retail unit months after the product was launched too. I've of course seen headphones with even better channel matching, but those tend to be more expensive and made in small numbers. Sennheiser produces more headphones in a single week than many of these other brands do annually, and I'll happily take this driver matching knowing it works quite well in any use case you will put it through.

As for the sound itself, we see a clear difference in tonality depending on the pads used. I can absolutely see why the more linear Mixing Pads are named as much here, although I am still confused why the Producing Pads are so decidedly warmer. I get that it can be possibly less fatiguing for some, but I would not be doing much producing on these pads. You will notice either version gives you far more bass extension than your typical open-back dynamic driver set, including from Sennheiser. The Producing Pads arguably feel a touch too pushed though, since there's not a lot of impact behind the notes in the sub-bass or mid-bass alike. The Mixing Pads are way cleaner and actually sound better in my opinion, given there's no bloat and the notes don't feel thin. Pro monitoring headphones are better off without a ton of bass in the first place, and it also helps that the mids transition is significantly more coherent here, although I do appreciate the warmer mids from the Producing Pads for certain male vocals. Most people will likely prefer the Mixing Pads here again though, especially since they offer vocals to be more forward-facing while still giving you an excellent range for instruments. The difference becomes more obvious if you use the MIX-SE plugin with the headphones profile for the HD 490 PRO.

Imaging is also more precise with the Mixing Pads, although you get a wider sense of spaciousness with the Producing Pads. I know many music engineers prefer to have a generally narrow soundstage for mixing and mastering, allowing them to pinpoint any issues quicker, so here the Mixing Pads will again be the way to go. Those who want to chill out to other music might appreciate the Producing Pads for the increased soundstage depth and height though, and them being more comfortable for shorter sessions means I generally found myself using the Mixing Pads for longer sessions with more analytics listening, and then swapping over to the Producing Pads for quick bursts to give rest to my ears in more ways than one. Vocals are fuller sounding with the Mixing Pads, especially for higher pitch female voices, and honestly I'd put the HD 490 PRO's tuning with the Mixing Pads as one of the very best overall. This continues with instrument separation too, with the ability to discern individual strings in a quartet or keys in a piano recital being easier here. Treble is going to be more divisive with the pads I feel, since the enhanced lower treble with the Producing Pads is part of what creates that larger stage and can help with some genres, although it can be bright and fatiguing for others. The Mixing Pads are actually the less fatiguing pads if you are treble-sensitive in general, even if neither is exactly neutral. Neither combination is exceptionally resolving either, and the treble could be smoother too—this is where the HD 490 PRO feels lacking compared to a good set of studio reference speakers for monitoring/mastering use. Ultimately, this combination with the Mixing Pads does not necessitate EQ to get going, and that's a big plus resulting in saved time for many in the studio.


Given that the HD 490 PRO with the Mixing Pads is arguably the way to go for most applications, I decided to use this combination for the comparison section too. Do note that the direct competition to the HD 490 PRO is the likes of the Sony MDR-MV1, the Audio Technica ATH-R70x, the Audeze MM-100, the beyerdynamic DT1990 Pro etc., none of which I have here on hand, unfortunately. I am far more experienced with the audiophile-centric releases from others, and perhaps we will be able to cover Sennheiser non-PRO models too. In the meantime, there's of course the Sennheiser HD 6XX—a less expensive Drop-exclusive version of the HD 650, with the latter actually selling for even more than the HD 490 PRO does. While the HD 650, and HD 600, is renowned for its accurate mids and feels more dynamic in the bass too, I'd argue the HD 490 PRO with the mixing pads offers a more versatile tuning. It also has a better chassis and earcup swivel, can offer more comfortable clamping force, and the headband also feels more sturdy. This is before we get to the use of the newer driver, the more user-friendly cable, and of course the second set of pads. While the HD 650 feels more resolving, especially with faster tracks, I enjoyed the HD 490 PRO for general listening and feel it's more versatile out of the box, as well as if you don't want to EQ. If you prefer a warmer take, but not as warm or boomy sounding as the Producing Pads do on the HD 490 PRO, the Aune AR5000 is worth considering. It's also built quite well, and also happens to have slightly smaller ear pads, but puts out a more relaxing sound with a wider soundstage. Not necessarily the best for studio use, but I can see people preferring it for general media consumption—especially given it costs less. Another set that's come in this price range recently, thanks to HIFIMAN's ridiculous price cuts, is the Ananda line, with the 2022 Stealth Magnets version now being priced around the street pricing of the HD 490 PRO. This is a planar magnetic set offering excellent linear bass and mids, although the build quality could be better and the ear cups have zero swivel. The Ananda Stealth, and no doubt the newer Ananda Nano, are tuned more neutral-bright to where they can be too much for studio use with EQ, but can offer superior resolution and imaging with EQ.