[ORIGINAL MSRP $450. Purchased used in October 2025 for $220 on r/AVexchange. Currently available on Amazon for $349, $399 for Pro Plus model1, and $349 directly from Sennheiser in December 2025]
[Tl;dr: This is a really great product, one that I hope resets expectations in this market segment. Between the two stock pad configurations the versatility it brings is pretty exceptional, as is the comfort. With the velour pads, answers the question, “What if the 6XX had bass and was even more comfortable?” With the tweed pads, answers the question “What if the 600 had bass, better controlled treble, and was even more comfortable?” The only real downside is that the it trades a little bit of resolution and detail for those benefits, but for casual listening I’ll make that trade almost all of the time. If I could only have one headphone across all of my uses … this would make a really compelling case for itself.2 Pair it with a good planar for critical listening (like the HE6se v2 or Arya Stealth) and you’ve got all of your bases covered for substantially less than $1000.
There are headphones I would take over the 490. There aren’t many, and they’re mostly more expensive and come with more limitations.]
Cost-agnostic: 9 out of 10 Denalis
Cost-sensitive: 8 out of 10 Denalis
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
- Introduction
- Review notes
- The Basics
- Sound
- Amplifier Compatibility
- Build Quality & Appearance
- Value & Comparisons
- Overall
Introduction
I’ve talked a lot about my love for Sennheiser and specifically its 6X0 family of headphones; an old 500 series model was my first over-ear headphone, and the HD 6XX collaboration with (then) Massdrop was my first serious, audiophile headphone (and remains one of my favorites, despite a wall of (often arguably better) headphones). I’ve reviewed the 58X Jubilee , 6XX, 600, 660S, and 660S2 over the last couple of months, and I’d review the original 580 or 580 Precision if I could get my hands on a pair in a heartbeat. I have not, however, really reviewed any of Sennheiser’s other offerings (except the wireless ANC Momentum 4), not because I haven’t tried them but because I … don’t particularly like most of them. I generally find the single-entry Sennheisers (500 series, 620, etc.) much less comfortable, and at this point I enjoy the sound of high impedance, dynamic driver headphones through the Apos Gremlin enough that I’m not particularly interested in single-ended only models.5
Enter the Sennheiser HD 490 Pro. When it first came out in January 2024, I largely ignored it (as I ignore most of the non-600 series Sennheiser releases), but it started making some ripples in the community and I started hearing some pretty great reviews. As I’ve been on my Sennheiser review journey, I started paying attention and when a pair popped up on r/AVexchange in October for $220 after I’d had a bottle of wine, Drunk Phil decided to order them. I hadn’t, of course, noticed that they were coming from India during festival season, so I got some good practice with delayed gratification until they arrived on Halloween.
To my mind, the 490 is the first truly innovative product to come out of Sennheiser since … the 6XX? The 600? The 600 was a landmark moment in consumer headphones, but the rest of the line has been pretty incremental changes (some good, some … less good). They offer a different take on a distinctly Sennheiser tune, and are an experiment in providing multiple pads for multiple tunes out of the box.
Review notes
The HD 490 Pro are an interesting product, coming with two different sets of interchangeable pads. I’ll talk about that a little below in The Basics, but most of the testing for this review was completed with the velour-like “producer” pads. I didn’t expect to like them more (I think of myself as being a bit of a neutral-iphile), but as it turns out they just sound good to my ears with the velour for most of my listening.
Testing rig
Based on my philosophy on the allocation of resources in headfi, except where otherwise noted I’m going to primarily be testing these with a Schiit Modi/Magni6 stack, running single-ended via a Hart interconnect and connected via USB-C to a custom gaming PC running the Roon client.
EQ
As noted in the Bathys review, I mostly prefer to test headphones with their default tuning, assuming that most people won’t take the time or make the effort necessary to use a third-party EQ. And the HD 490 Pro really don’t need EQ; they sound pretty good to me out of the box. I have been primarily using the velour (“producer”) pads for this review, though I’ll talk a little about the tweed (“mixer”) pads too.
EQ Update
[EQ Update: :
The HD490 really don’t *need* EQ, and you have two different sound profiles just using the pads.]
Volume
Here are the volume settings I use with the HD 490 Pro (unless otherwise noted, running via Roon with no headroom management, playing Daft Punk’s “Face to Face” from Tidal):
- Mimir/Jotunheim 2 (Mimir has a -15 dB pregain applied via Forkbeard): low gain, 10:30 (balanced); low gain, 12:00 (single-ended)
- Modius/Magnius: low gain, 11:00 (balanced); low gain, 9:30 (single-ended)
- Modi/Magni: low gain, 8:45
- Fulla: 9:30
- Hel2: 10:00
- E30/L30: lowest gain, 10:00
- Chord Mojo: white, light red, red, red
- North American Apple dongle via iPhone 15 (Apple Music): 66%
- Apple dongle via Mac Studio: 90%
My torture testing list
The Basics
The Sennheiser HD 490 Pro are passive, open back headphones designed, engineered, and built by Sennheiser’s Pro Division in January 2024 a couple of years after the sale of their consumer sound division to Sonova. They’re an interesting (and unusual!) product for Sennheiser as they don’t fit into either the existing 600 series (aka “6X0s”) or 500 series of audiophile headphones, now owned by Sennheiser Hearing (the consumer division’s branding post-Sonova purchase). Instead, they sort of sit between them, with a form factor (single-entry) more like the 500 series but a tuning and general quality much closer to the 6X0s. They’re a product of Sennheiser itself (thus the “Pro” designation), but they’re an anomaly in that lineup too, which are mostly … well, targeted at professionals where as the 490 Pro appears to be largely aimed at the audiophile community Sennheiser left behind with the sale of its consumer division.
The 490s are connected to your amplifier by a single 4-pin mini-XLR cable, but that cable input is both balanced-capable and can be inserted into either the right or left cup interchangeably, with a rubber plug supplied to place in the other cup. They’re a medium impedance, relatively low-sensitivity headphone by Sennheiser’s standards, at 130 Ohms and 96 dB/mW SPL, and weigh in at 260 grams, identical to the 6X0s. They ship with one cable, a roughly 6′ 4-pin mini-XLR to 3.5 mm (with threaded 6.35 mm adapter), with a small pig tail near the min-XLR for strain relief, a rubber plug for the unused mini-XLR port on whichever cup you’re not plugged in to, and two sets of pads:
- The “producer” pads, made out of a velour-like material and producing a more v-shaped frequency response; and
- The “mixer” pads, made of a rougher cloth material (Amir from ASR describes it as “tweed”), and producing a more ‘neutral’ frequency response.
The pads are connected via a pair of plastic tabs on either side of the cup, and quite easily inserted (just set them in position and gently press down on either side). The pads themselves are also washable, which is a huge boon for the used headphone market. I’m very curious to see how they hold up, especially after a few washes. The 6X0 family is generally pretty sensitive to pad wear in terms of frequency response, and I’ll be curious to see if the the 490 share that sensitivity.
While they’re a “pro” branded product and given a product number in the 400s, I have been thinking of these as a modern update the 6X0 family. And that’s quite a compliment, coming from me.
The 490 Pro also comes as a 490 Pro Plus package, which includes a semi-rigid case, a second (longer) cable, and an extra headband pad for an extra $50-100. I personally wouldn’t recommend that; these are VERY open-back headphones so I won’t be taking them with me anywhere (so no case needed), I have inexpensive, perfectly functional extension cables if I need more cable length (and I rarely do, doing my listening mostly at a desk), and the headband pad has never been my problem with any Sennheiser headphone.
Sound
Providing two sets of pads out of the box is an interesting (and cool!) choice by Sennheiser. I find myself thinking of the velour (producer) pads as analogue to the 6XX, while the tweed (mixer) pads are closer to the 600. I started out largely using and preferring the tweed pads, but over the last several weeks I’ve found myself gravitating towards the velour pads for casual listening. Swapping from velour to tweed gives up a substantial amount of bass, but gives you noticeably better control in the bass, mids, and treble.
Unless otherwise noted, all listening was conducted with the producer (more v-shaped) pads and no EQ.
Technicalities
The soundstage is generally really good, particularly compared to many of the headphones in the 6X0 lineup. It’s reasonably wide, with good instrument separation within that width. On “Chan Chan”, the bass is far out to the left, the rhythm/left lead guitar a few steps in, the additional (steel?) guitar a few more steps in, vocalists nicely centered, rhythm guitar out to the right, etc. They all feel maybe a hair behind your head, but not distractingly so. There’s not a lot of front-to-back depth, with the guitar riff at the opening of “Love Can Damage Your Health (Laid Mix)” mostly panning left to right rather than rotating around the head, though it gets stronger as the song advances. The cross-channel tom patterns on “Thunder Lightning” are well executed and crisp, but a little less emphasized than on some other headphones.
Detail and resolution are solid for the price point, but not exceptional. I’d prefer a little more warble on the bass notes on “Angel (Blur Remix)” before they settle to their pitch, and anecdotally while I don’t notice anything that is missing, the textures feel less detailed on tracks like “Interlude” or “Only Here and Nowhere else.” [I have no good way to A/B this, but I feel like the detail retrieval (at least perceived detail retrieval) is better with the mixer pads.7] I’ll also note that these are still reasonably resolving headphones that scale well; with the Mojo 2 I definitely notice different things than I do with the Magni. They’re certainly detailed enough to punish poorly mastered or mixed tracks.
Timbre is generally correct, with no particular artifacts affecting how natural sounds are. Sounds are lush and vibrant where they should be, particularly with resonant guitar passages (“Only Here and Nowhere Else”) and larger stringed instruments (the bass on “What Did I Do?”).
The dynamics are about what I would expect. Starting “It’s All So Incredibly Loud” off at a reasonable volume gets unpleasant around 3:10 or so. The microdynamics are better than I would have expected for a dynamic driver in this price range, particularly on the bass. On “Angel (Blur Remix”), the bell tones in both the bass and the treble are nicely accented and solid, though it can be a hair punchy on a track like “Drawn” or “Calls” at higher volumes.
I think the biggest knock on the sound of the 490 I can offer is that they’re not as good at silence or quiet as a headphone like the 6XX; notes linger just a little bit longer with the 490 than the 6XX. It’s a pretty minor quibble, though.
Bass
The bass on the 490 is generally pretty strong, both in terms of quantity and quality. It can be a little muddy on a track like “Out of My Hands” (notes don’t end quite as crisply as I might like on occasion) but does a good job of avoiding boom or splatter on “Superpredators.” It also generally has good punch on a track like “Angel (Blur Remix)”, and you get both full extension on Q-Tip’s bass riffs on “Got ‘Til It’s Gone,” and a very satisfying brain wobble on “Limit To Your Love.” Swapping on the tweed pads cleans up the bass a little, but still lets notes linger a little too much at times.
Midrange
The midrange on the 490 is very good; not quite the best-in-class mids you get from the 600 or 6XX, but very competently produced. Male vocals are strong; Justin Hicks carries through beautifully on “What Did I Do?”, standing out well from the instruments. Same with Jill Scott on “Calls”; even when Glasper really gets going in the last half, her voice cuts through cleanly (both the main melody AND her little runs and counter melodies in the background). There’s maybe a hint of timbre funkiness (very slightly flat?) with female vocals, especially lower pitched ones, but it’s only noticeable during critical listening and doesn’t disrupt casual or background listening at all.
Treble
The treble on the 490 is generally strong, if a tiny bit spicy for my taste at times. The opening guitar riff at the very beginning of “Nobody Speak” is a little sharp to my ears at a reasonable volume. The guitar on “2021” also edges on sharp at times, but mostly stays under control. Interestingly, the muted trumpet solo on “Will O’ The Wisp” is better controlled overall than many other headphones with similar treble profiles.
The treble isn’t so sharp as to be a problem for me for most listening (especially casual listening), but if I were playing an album with a more aggressive treble mix, I’d be tempted to either apply a little EQ or maybe swap in the tweed pads.
Amplifier Compatibility
Like the rest of the 6X0s, the HD 490 Pro are both relatively amplifier agnostic (sounding good from almost anything) and scale surprisingly well (sounding really excellent even with higher end gear, without having any particular flaws exposed). They sound great from the Modi/Magni stack, but they also play really, really nicely with the Chord Mojo 2, one of a small handful of amps that I can pick out in a volume-matched, blind A/B. [During the testing for this review, I realized that there’s a slight echo on the crossing pattern on “Angel (Blur Remix”) that I’ve never really heard before. This is a track I have listened to almost 200 times this year.]8 They also seem to derive some benefit from a tube amp like the Apos Gremlin, at least for folks who like the tube sound.
Build Quality & Appearance
I was very skeptical of the design of the HD 490 Pro when I first saw them. I don’t find most of the single-entry Sennheisers very comfortable (the ear holes are too small, the pads too shallow, and the band design results in some strange pressure points above my ears), and their tunes are generally not to my preference (though they’re not BAD per se).
Let’s just say that I’m a convert.
Connectivity
The HD 490 Pro is a bit of an unusual beast for a 600-adjacent Sennheiser connectivity-wise, eschewing the standard (if annoying) dual-entry Sennheiser 2-pin connectors in favor of a single entry, balanced-capable, 4-pin, locking mini-XLR connector attached to a single cup (though you can choose which). It’s actually pretty great; the ability to swap the cable to whichever side is more convenient at any given moment is a very clever design, and the fact that you can run balanced through a single-entry cable is pretty damned cool.9 While I don’t have any other headphones that use this particular system, I resent it less than something truly weird like the Dan Clark Audio Drummer system, and it’s less expensive than the dual mini-XLR a lot of higher end headphones use.
Construction
Like most Sennheisers, the 490 is a mix of metal and plastic. The grills and the band are made of metal, and almost everything else is plastic. The band expands on either side of the center point, with a satisfyingly click-y adjustment, and with my reasonably large head I’ve got it extended 12-14 clicks across the two sides (about half of max extension). The band is nicely flexible. The cups rotate a full 180 degrees (to flat in either direction), tilt probably 30-40 degrees up or down, and the ear holes are approximately 47 mm x 70 mm (slightly wider and slightly taller than the 6X0s). They’re deep enough that my ears don’t brush the driver unless I really compress the pads.
These are a pretty light headphone at 260 g, basically where all of the 6X0s end up weight-wise. The combination of lightness and plastic construction can make these feel a little cheap (also not unlike the 6X0s), but I’m not worried about accidentally breaking them.
The pads themselves, in addition to being easily swappable, are machine washable which is a great improvement over the 6X0s. They’re definitely more compliant than the 6X0 pads, and the 490’s velour pads are slightly softer than the OEM 6X0 pads.
Overall, a very nicely built headphone.
Comfort
This is the bit that really surprised me. As I noted in the comparison section of my recent 660S2 review, I have never really thought of any of the 6X0s as particularly clampy until I started doing a lot of A/B’ing with the 490 Pro. They’re just … not even a little comparable, even when looking at my seven-year old, well-loved pair of 6XXs. The reduction in clamp force alone would make them more comfortable, but then you add in the 180 degree cup swivel and the slightly increased cup tilt, and comfort-wise it’s a blowout. The 6X0s do have a slightly larger maximum size, but it’s pretty marginal.
The band is reasonably comfortable; the pad at the top is a little squishier than I might prefer (I like to pretty evenly distribute the weight between the top of the head and the cups), but it’s still pretty good (and, unlike most Sennheiser headphones, it’s apparently quite easily swappable, to the point where the Pro Plus version of the 490 ships with an extra one).
The larger ear cups and thicker, more compliant pads also make them more comfortable on the ears, though I think the cup design may put slightly more pressure on the temples of larger-framed glasses like my readers.
Comfort-wise, I would put these just a step or two below the Meze 109 Pros, the single. Most. Comfortable. Headphone. Ever. EVER. The comfort on these is a huge win, and a major upgrade from the (already pretty comfortable) 6X0s. The fact that they’re this comfortable and don’t slide around on my head at all regardless of whether I’m looking up, down, or whipping my hair back and forth, is just impressive.
Appearance
I like the way these look. The 6X0s have always had a bit of a generic headphone look and these change it up just enough to be visually interesting to me. I like the black with white lettering, and the silver headband with the plastic inserts is a nice touch. I also like how well you can see the cups’ internal construction through the grill; it’s a cool design.
Value & Comparisons
Because these retailed at $500 and are down in the low $300s now, I’m going to cast a bit of a wide net, comparison wise.
HD 6XX/600/58X/660S
This hurts me to say, but … I think the HD 490 are my favorite 6X0.
Are they as good as the HD 6XX with the velour pads? Probably not, but they’re damned close. Are they as good as the HD 600 with the tweed pads? Probably not, but they’re damned close. And … they’re more comfortable. By a decent margin. And they’re more flexible, by a decent margin. And they have better bass response than either, by a decent margin, and a perfectly nice treble tuning. Are the mids, particularly vocals, as good? Meh, not quite but they’re really damned good too.
The oddest part of the HD 490 is that they’re being pretty aggressively priced. They released at $450, which isn’t cheap, but compares pretty favorably to the $600 the 660S2 was released at (or the $499 the 660S, a flawed headphone originally sold for). After two years, they’ve come down to $350 for the regular version and $399 for the Pro Plus version, while the 660S2 remains at $479.
I’m not one for conspiracy theories in the absence of evidence, but I find myself wondering if the HD 490 is a deliberate effort to undercut Sennheiser Hearing (the zombie corpse of Sennheiser’s consumer products division after selling it to Sonova in 2021). Sennheiser’s consumer division appears to have been relatively stagnant over the last five or six years, and I find it interesting that this headphone was released via the Pro division and only after the sale of the consumer division. My personal pet theory based on nothing but speculation and circumstance? The Sennheisers weren’t thrilled about having to sell the consumer products division and this is their effort to get back a bit. It’s such a good product, and I don’t know why anyone outside the US would buy an HD 650, 660S, or 660S2 in 2025 when the 490 is going to be cheaper by a substantial margin. And hell, the 600 is only a little bit cheaper!
It’s possible that this is not why the 490 is so aggressively priced; I mean, Sennheiser has been selling the HD 6XX for seven or eight years, and it’s functionally identical to the 650 and consistently less than half the price. It wouldn’t be the first weird choice they’ve made with pricing. But the fact that they release this product now, and keep dropping the price, makes me wonder.
HD 6XX
Let’s talk about that first comparison, 490 with velour pads vs. the HD 6XX (one of my all-time favorite headphones, my personal reference, the stick against which I measure all other open-back headphones). The knock on the 6XX is the lack of bass, specifically, sub bass. The HD 490 fixes that with the velour pads. You trade off a little on the mids, particularly lower mids (and potentially a little coloration at the upper end of the mids), and you get a spicier treble, though that may be part of why the 490 has such a better sense of staging and avoids the dreaded three blob effect.
There are certainly some genres where I will prefer the tuning of the HD 6XX. Anything without a lot of bass, or where vocals matter a lot might do better on the 6XX (though they’re also likely to do better on the HD 600 at that point). If I’m listening to sparser music, acoustic rock, old country, etc., I might choose the HD 6XX over the HD 490 … but I also might not. For gaming, or longer sessions, or where I don’t want to have cables on both sides of my head … the 490 is an easy choice. And that’s a weird thing to hear myself saying. A lot of the time (most of the time, these days?) I’ll trade a little bit of detail and resolution for long-term comfort, and the versatility of the 490 is a nice bonus. If you can only afford $200, get the 6XX. If you’ve got a little wiggle in your budget, the 490 is a nice upgrade pick, and you’re more likely to be satisfied without adding an external amp with it than you would be with the 6XX. If the choice is 6XX + an amp, or the 490 Pro, I’m taking the latter most of the time.
Just for fun, let’s look at a graph, this time courtesy of Listener via the B&K 5128:10
Yup, that’s more or less what I was expecting. I’m a little surprised by how consistently the 6XX lead the 490 through the midbass and mids; I would have anticipated a little more midbass from the 490 but that may be a function of my head shape.
HD 600
Now for that second comparison, the HD 600 vs the 490 with tweed pads. I really, really like the HD 600. I like the HD 600 so much that when I traded them away over the summer after my review (for a pair of Focal Clear, review forthcoming11), I immediately started to miss them and ended up trading for them back a month or two later (for the Airpods Pro 3 I reviewed).
If I’m listening to primarily choral music like Gregorian chant or something a cappella, or something that’s otherwise pretty mids-heavy, the HD 600 is my top choice. As far as I’m concerned, it’s best in class for vocals (though I’ve heard some things that are reasonably close at this point). The trade off for that is VERY rolled off bass (especially sub bass) and a slightly spicier treble profile. There’s a reason I tend to grab the 6XX for casual listening; the 600 falls into the critical listening for certain types of music or albums for me.
I definitely prefer the mids and the detail on the HD 600, and the treble is … different, but pretty much a wash to me, but for everything else I prefer the HD 490. I’ve never thought of the 600 as being particularly clampy, but oh boy is it noticeable when I’m swapping back and forth between the two in rapid succession; to be fair, my 600s are very low hours (probably less than 50) so they haven’t stretched out at all, and I am the second owner of my 490s, but the difference in comfort is stark.
If I were picking one of these headphones, I’d have to go with the 490. It’s not quite as good as the 600 at its own game, but it’s close enough that the versatility and quality of life improvements it brings take it over the top if they’re anything close to the same price range.
With that silly subjective stuff out of the way, let’s get to the important part: the graphs!
This looks right. I’m a little surprised by how much higher the 490s are around 4-5 kHz; I don’t personally hear them as being particularly more emphasized in the low to mid-treble, but then I also mostly don’t hear the 600s as spiky in the upper treble/air.
660S/660S2/58X Jubilee
I’ve reviewed each of these and done pretty extensive comparisons to the 6XX and 600 in each, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time going through them one by one. I’ll sum it up by saying that I’ll clearly take the 490 over the 660S and the 58X; in both cases the 490 does the things I like about them better and avoids some of their pitfalls. I think of the 660S2 as being more or less a more expensive (slightly better?) 6XX but not worth the extra money, and given that I’m picking the 490 over the 6XX most of the time, I’m taking it over the 660S2 as well.
In Sum
Damnit.
Damnit.
The 490 is my new favorite 6X0.
Damnit.12
Arya Stealth
The Arya Stealth are a better headphone than the HD 490 in almost every way, with the notable exceptions comfort, timbre (especially in the mids) and maybe bass punch. [Editor’s note: I wrote that sentence, and then spent several paragraphs disagreeing with myself. I left it in because I think it’s interesting the degree to which my brain assumed it was true until I started really A/B’ing them closely.] I think the soundstage is slightly wider on the 490, but the instrument separation is so very, very good on the Arya. The Arya is definitely a more clinical, obectively tuned headphone with the 490 feeling much more immediate and engaging. I’d take the 490’s bass and mids over the Aryas, and consider the treble to be pretty similar (spicy, but not overly so). The place where the Aryas win out, hands down, is in terms of detail retrieval and layer separation. Very few headphones can beat the Arya Stealth on those accounts, and the 490 is not one of them. I’ll take the timbre on the 490 every time; as I’ve been listening to the Arya again I’ve noticed a few places where it’s got an almost metallic tone in a way that I don’t love, particularly for vocals.
As much as I like the Arya, I find myself very rarely reaching for them. I think that’s mostly due to how much I don’t like the way they fit; I’m the odd guy out in the community that doesn’t love the headband system Hifiman uses on the Aryas/Audivina/etc.; if I get the cups adjusted to the point where they don’t slide on my head as I move around or look up/down, they put a little pressure on the bottom of my ears. If I wear them loose enough to reduce that pressure, they feel sloppy on my head (due in part to the weight of the drivers). I work with a three-monitor setup (with an ultrawide in the middle), and I’m constantly moving my head around during the day. They’re not uncomfortable, necessarily, but I’m always aware of them on my head in a way that I find mildly distracting.
If I were buying one of these pairs of headphones, I think I’d buy the 490 Pro over the Arya; not because they’re better, but because they’re better for my use cases and because they bring versatility. I do way more casual listening than critical listening, and as good as the Arya is at the latter, the 490 excels at the former.
Almost every time I do one of these comparisons I come away saying that I probably ought to sell the Aryas, though, and … they’re still here. So take that with a grain of salt.
With the subjective stuff out of the way, let’s take a quick gander at a graph:
It’s interesting to see how consistently the treble on the Arya is higher than either of the 490 pads; I definitely don’t hear it that way on my head, with the things that annoy me on the Arya (the guitar at the very beginning of “Nobody Speak,” for example) equally annoying me on the 490. I guess I’m not super surprised that I prefer the 490 for bass, though I am kind of surprised that I picked the 490’s mids (with the producing pads)
Meze 105 AER
This one is particularly interesting to me. I think of the Meze 105 AER as an upgrade pick over the non-600 6X0s, and now I’m saying roughly the same thing about the HD 490 Pro. The AER is also one of the single most comfortable headphones I’ve ever worn, behind only the 109 Pro and Empyreans … and now I think the 490 Pro. The 105 require a little bit of fiddling to get comfortable; like the 109 I have to set them on my head and pull the cups slightly out before letting them settle on my ears, but then they largely fade into the background. The 490 are slightly more comfortable up front, but overall they’re pretty similar.
The AER is definitely a warmer presentation. The bass on the AER is stronger and punchier than the 490 running the velour pads, though I think it’s a slight bit less precise and clear as a result. Both are pleasant, and I’m honestly not going to notice a difference in most of my casual listening as my brain quickly adjusts even doing rapid A/B’ing. Mids are pretty similar, with both giving a good, consistent presentation and accurate timbre and balance. Both also offer a very nice, mostly well-controlled treble that occasionally edges up to the line of sharpness without quite crossing over. Subjectively, the detail and resolution is pretty equivalent as is instrument separation, though the soundstage on the 490 is every so slightly wider. I definitely prefer the aesthetics and build feel of the AER over the light plastic construction of the 490, though I’m pretty confident that the 490 are going to be at least as resilient long term.
These are very similar products, in a pretty similar price range (the AER originally retailed for $399, but has recently hovered on Amazon right around the 490’s current $350 price point). The AER comes with a nice, semi-rigid case and two cables to the 490’s single cable, but the 490 brings a second set of differently-tuned pads to the table as well, and if you really want a case the $399 Pro Plus gives you a case, an extra cable, and another headband.13 The 490 is slightly easier to transport with swiveling cups, but also comes with a (less common) mini-XLR connection to the AER’s dual 3.5 mm, the single most common audiophile headphone connector.
This really is a six of one, half a dozen the other situation. You’re not going to go wrong with either headphone; they’re both great headphones for most of my use cases. In the end, I think I’d probably take the 490 over the AER by a very small margin? I keep coming back to the versatility and value argument on the 490; it’s effectively two well-tuned headphones in one, and while I doubt I’ll be swapping the pads out very often in normal use, knowing that I can is pretty cool. It kind of hurts me to say this, but I think the 490 is my choice here.
A digression on the Meze 109 Pro
I’m not going to do a full analysis here, but I’m taking the 109 Pro over the 490 every time. While the 109 might not be my very most favoritist headphone ever anymore (*cough* Emyrean II *cough*), it’s still pretty damned close and as good as the 490 is, it doesn’t really compete with the tuning, comfort, aesthetics, and resolution of the 109. Which it probably shouldn’t, at less than half the price.
(Seriously, I love that headphone, even now that I have it’s much bigger brother on my wall.)
Focal Elex
I have a problem when it comes to the Focal Elex, and it’s probably part of why I haven’t actually done my review of it yet: namely, it’s a headphone I have pretty strong feelings about that aren’t necessarily tied to their objective performance. They were the first “expensive” headphone I ever had the opportunity to spend time with, because my dad engaged in a little retail therapy during cancer treatment and ordered a pair (without consulting my mom, I would note). When he died in 2019, I inherited them from him. They are, genuinely, an excellent headphone, and they blew my mind at the time. They do not, however, hold up against a number of the things I’ve tried in the years since.
The Elex are a good headphone. I refer to them as a Super 6XX and I stand by that; they have a lot of the best traits of the 6XX (great mids, vocal timbre, and controlled treble) with with the addition of bass (particularly sub bass), build quality, style, and (to me at least) comfort.
With all those caveats out of the way, I‘m picking the Focal Elex over the HD 490 Pro at least for music. For me, they’re about as comfortable. I like the aesthetics of the Elex more, and while the 490 Pro bring flexibility and single-entry balanced to the table, dual 3.5 mm is the easiest type of cable to find and swap. I also just prefer the sound. The 490 Pro has stronger but slightly less precise bass, maybe a slight advantage on the mids (both have great vocal timbre; the Elex can be a tiny bit metallic on some kinds of midrange instruments), and the treble is slightly better controlled on the Elex. The 490 definitely win on soundstage, both in terms of width and instrument separation within that stage. That’s probably enough to edge me over to the 490 for gaming.
A quick glance at the graphs:14
Yup, stronger bass performance from the 490, better mids from the Elex, and a bit of a mixed bag in the treble (but with the Elex’s spikes in places that are less problematic for my particular head).
A digression on the Focal Clear
My upgrade pick from the Focal Elex, the Focal Clear, are (not unlike the 109 Pro vs the 105 AER) a clear, substantial upgrade on virtually everything, so if I’m picking the Elex over the 490s for music, I’m definitely picking the Clears over the 490s for music too. Gaming is a closer question; while I think the 490 still has a wider soundstage compared to the clear, the instrument separation within that soundstage is a much more even and I think there’s a tiny bit more front-to-back staging. I’ll have to do some more testing on this bit.
AKG K-701
[Editor’s note: turns out these have a bit of a channel imbalance, with lower frequencies dominating the left channel and higher frequencies on the right; I’m glad to know there’s a reason why the soundstage sounds so weird. Leaving this here as an artifact, but take it with a grain of salt as a result.]
I picked these up the other day for $120 (+ $40 in tariffs, thanks Trump); but they retailed in the $599 range originally (and AKG currently lists them at $599), so I’m going to do a quick comparison just for fun.
Weirdly, I hear a better overall bass response from the K-701 which is NOT what the only graph I could find shows. To my ear that bass is also cleaner and more precise. The mids are pretty similar, though the treble on the K-701 feels a bit rolled off (which is also supported by the graph).
Overall
Overall, I’m really excited about the HD 490 Pro, both as a product and as a sign of where Sennheiser’s Pro Division is headed. The 490 is an interesting evolution of the 6X0 family, and I have long wondered if the reason that those have remained relatively static since the late 90s is Sennheiser being reluctant to undercut their own sales (with the notable exception of the 6XX, but that was largely regionally located and I don’t think then-Massdrop or Sennheiser understood how much that offering would revolutionize the audiophile space in the US). The 490 proves that the lack of innovation isn’t a capability issue, and I’m very curious to see what other products Sennheiser’s Pro division has in development that will feed into the audiophile/prosumer market.
I’m genuinely a little bummed that these have likely displaced a decent chunk of my headphone collection. Even if they’re not quite as good at a particular thing as another pair of headphones, the sheer flexibility and adaptability they offer (without even considering EQ, which they take reasonably well!), combined with the incredible comfort is hard to beat. I’m really curious to see how the aftermarket in parts develops; one of the coolest thing about the 6X0 family is the sheer availability of parts and mods and guidance out on the internet for them, and I’m hoping that Sennheiser decides to reuse this chassis for future designs to create a 4X0 family/ecosystem. I’d love this to be the HD 600 to a new 400 series coming out of the Pro division.
The other potentially interesting question is whether this headphone and its success pushes Sonova into adjusting their pricing. As I noted in its review, the HD 660S2 is a really good headphone, but pretty overpriced for the current market. Between the competition from this and things like the Fiio FT1 Pro, as well as Hifiman’s ever-decreasing pricing for its entry level audiophile products like Sundara and the Edition XS, we could see a real price war and that would be great for our hobby.
In short, I really like this headphone and I feel about it the way I did about the Fractal Scape: I devoutly hope this is just the start of a new wave of products and philosophy for manufacture, and that in a few years this is the new normal.
I commend them to your attention.
Phil’s Matrix of Use
#reviews #headphones #sennheiser #6XX #anc #spatialaudio #meh #2025 #99noir #meze #sunglasses #overear #cans #hifiman #arya #stealth #editionxs #budget #hahahaha
- I wouldn’t order the Pro Plus model. ↩︎
- Who am I kidding? I’m going to take the Empyrean IIs every time, ridiculousness be damned. But this would be my second pick. ↩︎
- I score bass, mids, and treble on a two part scale: 1-5 for quantity (5 being the highest), and A-E for quality (A being best in class, E being laughably bad). For soundstage it’s also a two part scale, with the number representing the width and the letter the separation within it. ↩︎
- For comfort/fit, my scale is A-E with A being disappear entirely into the background and E being I want to tear my ears off to stop feeling these headphones on my head. ↩︎
- Though I’ve recently been made aware that at least some of them are balanced capable, even if they have only one entry point. ↩︎
- Also the Piety/Modi stack; I realized at some point that I had the wrong one plugged in for a bit. The cost of a poorly-lit office. ↩︎
- Nope, I have no explanation why. ↩︎
- In my defense, it’s a testing track for me that I use for microdynamics, bass, treble, and soundstage/channel tracking. I listen to it a lot in any given review. But also it’s a really great song, and an example of a cover that takes a song I love and completely transforms it into another song I love. 😂 ↩︎
- If less uncommon in the Sennheiser lineup than I previously thought. ↩︎
- Though these might actually be Resolve’s measurements? ↩︎
- Another headphone I am disappointed by how much I like. ↩︎
- Damnit. ↩︎
- Interesting how the Pro Plus matches the AER … I’m just kidding. I don’t think that’s intentional, just funny. ↩︎
- It’s worth noting that the Elex is less impacted by pad wear than something like a 6X0; most of the changes are in the middle to upper treble and it mostly (to my ear) just sands the edges off of the treble presentation. My Elex are seven years old at this point, but they’ve also never seen that much use so I’d guess they’re closer to fresh than worn.
↩︎
Phil's Superpower of Enthusiasm 
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