We've all grown far too accustomed to the head puckering, bass muffled, ear-smushing, insulated fake spaciness of crappy small speakers strapped to our skulls masquerading as headphones. I've been escaping into under-engineered closed-back headphones since I bought my first copy of Pink Floyd's The Wall the same year of its release. With audio work I've done my best to stay away from headphones, but this never fully took. I own upwards of 18 flavors of conk bonkers, and don't love any of them. Still, I know there must be headphones out there for me.
The HD 490 PRO Plus open-back headphones come tucked neatly into a lightweight (but sturdy) proprietary softshell dark gray carrying case with two styles of comfortable earpads, detachable six and ten-foot cables, a spare headband cushion, and a 1/8 to 1/4-inch adapter plug. The HD 490 PRO is the same headphone without the case, extended cable, and jack adapter. Though definitely lightweight (nine ounces), I wouldn't characterize them as the lightest headphones in the room – likely due to their sturdy build. That's a tradeoff I'll make any day of the week. They are snug, but not head-suckingly tight, and are comfortable enough to even fall asleep in. Open-back designs don't boast passive noise reduction as an inherent feature, but the HD 490s feel a little more private than other open-backs I've used/reviewed, and for a chronic closed-backer like me, they were an easy transition into a different, but welcomed, headspace.
On first use, it was obvious that the HD 490 PRO's drivers needed some breaking in. After a few days of casual listening, the lows filled out, the highs found their detail, and the sound began to bloom. I plugged into my trusty Little Labs Monotor [Tape Op #117], and worked through some balancing maneuvers on an ongoing mix project, including tweaks to the upper midrange and low end boominess of a plucked acoustic upright bass, pulling the hi-hat into the mix, getting the harmonics right on a picked acoustic guitar, and making effects buses feel more natural. I quickly fell into a state of trust with HD 490 PROs, and after a few hours, my ears were not feeling that headphone drag (no noticeable fatigue or ear soreness). However, I believe that after an hour of audio work, one can normalize their hearing to almost any audio situation. So, I went back and listened with my go-to closed-backs: the Audio-Technica ATH-M50xs [#113]. This is not an A/B, nor an apples-to-apples comparison, but my immediate reaction was that the mix choices I made with HD 490 PROs rendered groovy, vibrant, and correct. My secondary reaction was that the Audio-Technicas were more fun, which can be dangerous with headphones. C'mon, man! I'm trying to get some work done.
The HD 490 PROs also translated well to my studio monitors, but I'm temporarily mixing from the dining room. My acoustics are wrong, and my bass management and sub setup is problematic. However, I trust that my room and bass management suck, and I know how it sucks, so I can compensate. But here's the thing: The mix adjustments I made with the HD 490 PROs translated better, pretty much everywhere than the original mix from my studio monitors. This blew my mind, and shifted my perception of what headphones could achieve for audio work.
Before we all do a victory dance, I need to say that I wouldn't characterize these headphones as fun (in a "funsumer" way) – neither are Yamaha NS-10s or Auratone 5C Super Sound Cubes [Tape Op #111]. You get where I'm going here. The HD 490s offer the accuracy of a relatively flat-sounding driver below 1 kHz (when using the fabric ear pads), without the inherent hyped low end and prickly highs found in some of our favorite headphone designs. The dynamic drivers feel super responsive and full without fluffing the sound – there's not that cloudy overt driver compression and rarefaction that thins out the sound. These Sennheisers give me the dynamic accuracy to make informed choices while allowing me to work for my mix. Even when plugged into my MacBook's headphone jack, the HD 490s never felt pushed or underpowered.
We've normalized our auditory collectors to accept what headphone manufacturers are selling us at premium prices, then thanked them for deliberately diminishing our sonic expectations in trade for convenience or, much worse, fashion. The HD 490s are affordable premium studio headphones that you can wear for a full day's session without overworking your ears. This is the headphone for me, and I won't be sending them back to Sennheiser. None of this means I'm abandoning my studio monitors (of course). However, reliable/professional headphones have now become a must-have tool for nearly every audio worker; I recommend you consider the HD 490s. Of course, I did end up listening to The Wall on these, and enjoyed the record in a way I never had before. I could more clearly hear the production and mixing choices, which, in the end, was a ton of fun.
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