Sennheiser India launched the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO, the company’s top-of-the-line professional studio headphones for mixing, mastering, and producing. It features a lightweight, ergonomic design that eliminates any pressure points, as the headband does not press on the sensitive parts of the head.
The headphones feature an extremely wide, dimensional sound staging for precisely localizing the components of a mix, neodymium magnets for superior driver performance, voice coils ensuring fast and authentic sound reproduction, and a special low-frequency cylinder for an accurate frequency response.
The company offers two different sets of ear pads – Velour for a slightly warmer response and Fabric for a very flat, neutral sound that helps dive into detail when a sound reference is needed in finishing off a mix.
The HD 490 PRO includes a free license for the Dear Reality dearVR MIX-SE plugin, turning users’ DAW into the ultimate virtual mixing environment via advanced spatial audio technology.
There’s also a Plus variant of the headphones called the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO Plus that includes a case, an additional 3 m headphone cable, and an extra fabric headband pad.
Sennheiser HD 490 Pro Specifications:
- Accoustic principle: Open
- Transducer principle: Dynamic; 38mm transducer
- Max. sound pressure level: 128dB
- Impedance: 130 Ω (1 kHz)
- Weight: 260 g (without cable)
- Dear Reality dearVR MIX-SE plugin included
- Two unique sets of washable, replaceable ear pads
- Box Contents (HD 490 PRO): 3.5 mm jack plug to 6.3 mm adapter,
1.8 m cable, mixing ear pads, producing ear pads, Quick Guide,
Safety Guide - Box Contents (HD 490 PRO Plus): 3.5 mm jack plug to 6.3 mm adapter, 1.8 m cable, and 3 m cable, mixing ear pads, producing ear pads, extra headband pad, case, Quick Guide, Safety Guide
- Power rating: 300 mW
Pricing and Availability
The Sennheiser HD 490 Pro and HD 490 Pro Plus retail for an MRP of Rs. 34,500 and Rs. 41,300, respectively. These are available via Amazon.in at discounted prices of Rs. 27,590 and Rs. 32,990, respectively.
Regarding the announcement, Vipin Pungalia, Country Manager & Director-Sales Pro Audio at Sennheiser said,
If you compare today’s music productions with that of ten, 20 years ago, you will notice how the massively increased computing power and complex parameter automation have changed the way in which music is made. In every genre, engineers and music creators are continuously pushing boundaries, creating extremely complex mixes that can be prone to so-called ‘audio blind spots’. Mixes can be crowded and muddy, with too many instruments sitting at the same position and their frequencies competing. For the engineer or musician, it becomes difficult to hear each individual instrument or voice distinctly. This goes to show the importance of a good pair of studio headphones.
Regarding the matter, Gunnar Dirks, Sennheiser Product Manager, said,
All these features combine to enable music professionals to identify and resolve any panning placement issues and troublesome low-end frequencies – ensuring clear mixes and superbly refined masters. The HD 490 PRO studio headphones put you in full control of every detail.
The development of the HD 490 PRO was preceded by the biggest professional headphone survey we ever did, where users voted neutral and flat reference audio as the most important feature. However, when we took a look at market figures, we discovered that a slightly warmer sound was preferred over a 100% neutral response. Therefore, we decided to give our customers two headphones in one – by providing two different sets of ear pads that were carefully designed to shape the sound differently.