I’ve recently reviewed the HD 480 Pro on our YouTube channel (linked above), and to be brief: it’s cracked. Seriously, its so good it dampens my typical cynicism and makes me feel excited about headphones again.
I will say this about the HD 620S, it inspired me to get into the scientific side of headphones so I could understand why the tonal balance looked generally ok on measurement rigs but sounded horrible on my head, overly bright and scratchy. I think I get even less bass than you did due to glasses and bushy beard. I am not sure how it was developed but it seems like they designed it to measure well on a rig with perfect seal but I am not sure how much they listened to it because everyone I have demoed it to has immediately said it sounds too bright without EQ (even compared to my open backs! so not consumer audio biased).
I picked up the Bose QC Ultra Gen 2 on Resolve’s recommendation and it actually seems to handle all of the above quite well without extensive EQ tweaking. After very easily dropping the bass and treble through their app I think it sounds excellent with isolation and transparency modes and has mostly replaced earbuds/IEMS for my daily open office use. Different use case but I would be curious to hear your thoughts on comparison if you’ve heard the QC Ultra. I also think it would be cool to see how the adaptive devices are working on all of your actual heads and compare variance vs. traditional closed/open back headphones.
Honestly just raising it a decibel around 180 Hz with a Q of 2 was basically perfect for me, though it must be said, if people have more or less hair than I do, it might change the result they get in this band and they may not require anything even be filled in. As always, listen first, then make adjustments based on what you wanna change!
this looks like what i wanted the 490 to be, and hopefully more comfy than 630 stock pads. velour doesnt seem to get sweaty for me. its also crazy how much the 490 pads seem to ruin it lol
Definitely more comfy than HDB 630, and yeah I think with the extra bass and clarity focused mids you’ll find HD 480 Pro enjoyable, if my memory of your taste is correct!
i might shelf down bass, idk, its probably fine. i notice on your head theres a signiicant channel difference at 7k. i wonder how much that could contribute to perceived spaciousness.
As far as how that affects my perception of space, no idea! If anything, I think the lack of low end isolation + the midrange tuning has a part to play there.
Great review! Looking forward to see the 5128 DF-compensated measurements as well as measurements on other heads to understand the variance better (which is typically huge for close-backs).
I would love to hear your thoughts on the comparison between the HD 480 Pro and Sony MDR-MV1.
After watching your videos comparing which headphones make a great platform to EQ, I compared the HD 490 Pro and MDR-MV1 in store. I preferred the fit of the Sennhiesier slightly but the bass of the Sony was so much more enjoable and suited my music and gaming needs. Even with EQ, I could not get the low end rumble or impact on deep synth bass, drums and bass guitar on the HD 490. Though vocals seemed a little more cohesive on the HD 490 out of the box.
So the HD 480 Pro looks like it might deliver where the HD 490 Pro didn’t for me in some ways.
However, I noticed in your review scores the biggest diferences between the HD 480 Pro and the MDR-MV1 is the bass and treble. And to my suprise the Sony scores higher in bass. Can you expand on these scores a bit please.
How does this sound compared to capra satyr 4? They both seem to have quite smooth upper treble and delayed ear gain response. I built my own pair of satyr 4 after I read your CanJam impression and it sounds fantastic.
Why are people not hyping up this headphone? Looks extremely good I don’t see a reason to recommend like 95% of other headphones especially taking the build and comfort into account.
Thank you for the review listener. I look forward to seeing the raw 5128’s on this.
I also wish there were some better-sounding headphones in the studio space. It’s why I’ve stuck with the DT770 as long as I have, even though it’s a bright boy. (EQ can fix that though.)
The HD480 Pro is about 2-4x the price of some of the other headphones mentioned in the video. So you are probably going to pay a little bit of a premium for that extra comfort and bass response.
The AKG K371, Shure SRH440A/840A, FiiO FT1, and Beyerdynamic DT270 Pro might be some other good choices for comparison. But those are also about half the cost of the HD480 Pro.
It also seems like your homey at GC was confusing the “Pro” with the “Plus” on this model.
Also, there is a DT770 with a detachable cable, that came out not too long ago. It is the DT770 Pro X. (The extra 7 is not a typo.) I can’t really recommend it though, because the measurements look worse than the version with the fixed cable.
I’ve never had the cable break on my DT770 (knock wood). Though I’m probably more careful with it than alot of studio users. What wears out for me are the pads. The headband started to shed pleather after a couple years. But I actually like it better without the pleather. And the seams will often split on the ear pads.
All the parts are replaceable on the DT770 though. Some thread can fix the seams. And I find it a very comfortable headphone. I wish it had a little better quality drivers though, with better distortion, and a little “flatter” default response. With some EQ, it can sound quite good. I recommend the 250 ohm over the 80 ohm version of the DT770 btw, though it may require an amp.
A comparison to the HD550 and the post-2022 HD560S with 1.8 meter cable would also be interesting, since those are the two headphones I’m currently trying.
Must be some generational thing, like “sick” as a synonym to excellent…
