Sennheiser HD-490 PRO Plus

I got my Sennheiser HD 490 Pro to replace an old Audio-Technica ATH-M50 X.
The DIFFERENCE is night and day. Head room, clarity and ability to hear the mix around me. I literally turned around to see where the sound was coming from.
I wish I knew how bad my old headphones were and never used such inferior quality.
They come with free dearVR "virtual studio" plugin. Nothing but cheap and nasty gimmick. Do yourself a favour and DON'T install it. It will make your gorgeous new Sennheiser headphones sound horrible. Trust me or check to see for yourself and quickly uninstall it.

i can't take them off, and i feel like i'm not wearing them at all...
i'm enthusiastically satisfied by my new HD 490 PRO Plus headphones, both sonically and comfort-wise.

here's some background info for describing how comes i'm liking them so much:

my HD 650 have served me for the past 23 years – first model, bought at launch time, which i refurbished after about 10 years with a pair of original / matched drivers ordered at manufacturer's service center, along with factory screens, earpads and headpad.

in 2010 i started to alternate them with a pair of HD 800, silver-finish, just recently launched – which i found especially pleasant when driven by an old Revox amplifier (it made their top end somewhat not as sparky as it came from the SPL Phonitor, that was left to drive the HD 650).

SPL Phonitor didn't outlast them headphones, nor did the really ancient Revox amp – so the time came for a new headphone amp, an RME ADI-2 Pro, onto which i spent less and less time with the HD 800 on.

HD 490 PRO looks and feels worthy of its PRO moniker, less plastic-wobbly than my HD 650, and surely way sturdier that my HD 800.

on a big head like the one i was given, 64cm-sized, HD 490 PRO sit surprisingly comfy, snug as a pair of supple leather gloves, not vise-like squeezing as the HD 650, and way firmer than the HD 800 (whose limited earcups depth's been my major source of dissatisfaction in comfort it).

...i was hoping that the HD 490 PRO would have been comfortable, and more than HD 650 on myself – and, yeah, they feel every bit more comfortable, by and large: i'm wearing them for hours on end, forgetting them on even after program's ended, without any hint of discomfort!

sound-wise, in the upper range of spectrum i find they deliver a lovingly neat, pretty detailed reproduction off a quite wide sound stage – devoid of that somewhat fatiguing top end spark of the HD 800, and definitely more airy than my dark-hued HD 650.

their lower end is the icing on the cake of my listening experience on them, so far: surprisingly deeper, more-3D-like, more physically tangible than both HD 800 and HD 650, yet not altering the balance of any classical music program in any way (with the "mixing" pads).

"best of both worlds" is the closest description i can word for comparing my HD 490 PRO to my HD 800 and my HD 650 – way better than both for the way they feel on my head and ears, and for the way they sound.

now a word of advice to newbies like me: the velcro band provided to keep both cables neatly wrapped is truly effective, hence quite gnawy: you don't want its hooked side to come in contact with earpads or headpad – better swap it for one of those un-harmful elastic hairdo rings!

last, but not least: if you too commute to work with a backpack AND need to bring along your trusted HD 490 PRO, you'll probably want to try one of those backpack models that come with an external net to hold in place a typical bicycle helmet – the sturdy case provided with the HD 490 PRO Plus is truly well made, and quite substantial in bulk (i can even pack my RME Babyface Pro and USB cable inside it, if i remove the second set of ear- and headband pads).