I was browsing adorama and came across this. Looks like it was only just announed/released today. New open back Sennheiser designed for pro use for mixing and mastering. Interested to see what the frequency response is.
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Sennheiser Launches HD 400 Pro Headphones for Mixing and Mastering
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heraldo_jones
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Interesting proposal and a direct response to the new Beyer models in the 250$ range.
Skinner001
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Will be interested in seeing the measurements. Hopefully it's not a 560s with the "PRO" label slapped on it, slightly different accessories and that's it.
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yea looks like the same driver as the 560s, no idea why it's retailing higher than the 560s.
He's wearing them backwards in the video thumbnail!
You'd think someone would notice if the channels were suddenly flipped while they were mixing a track...
Yearofthegoat
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He's got them on the right way around at about 2:13 into the vid.
But yeah, schoolboy error.
But yeah, schoolboy error.
dougi
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What about wearing them on top of his beanie, which presumably is also covering half his ears!
Yearofthegoat
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I know, it's all style over substance. I'll stick with the 560S I think, despite the 'cool' video.
adama99
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The Adorama article claims that "their excellent sound isolation system should kill any ambient noise in your listening environment".
Right after describing them as open-back headphones in the previous paragraph.
Other than the coiled cable and color scheme, there doesn't seem to be much changed from the 560S (angled drivers with same listed impedance, frequency range, and max SPL). There could be stricter quality control for driver matching like they implemented with the 660S.
Right after describing them as open-back headphones in the previous paragraph.
Other than the coiled cable and color scheme, there doesn't seem to be much changed from the 560S (angled drivers with same listed impedance, frequency range, and max SPL). There could be stricter quality control for driver matching like they implemented with the 660S.
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My guess is it's the 560s with the little high frequency deviation from the harman target removed so that it's entirely more in line with the target. Some people perceive the 560s as slightly hot because of that little deviation.
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Some first measurements and listening comparisons to 560 and 6xx series. https://prosound.ixbt.com/monitors/sennheiser-hd400pro.shtml
Looks like the same headphone from those two measurements, probably within unit to unit variation, but it would be strange for Sennheiser to do such a thing, in terms of them having the same frequency response target, we'd have to see some more units of HD400 pro measured to get a better feel, but they're super close in those two measurements.
I haven't compared the physical specs of the two headphones in any detail, but it looks casually that the earcups might be larger on the HD400 Pro, anyone compared the weight & dimensions of these two headphones?
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You mean a coiled shit-snake of a cable doesn't change the sound?
(Its clearly a very marginally tweaked 560s with a pro label on it- cynical grab for the Sennheiser fan boi christmas money if you ask me)
I compared the specs just now between HD400 Pro & HD560s (see pics), they weigh exactly the same without the cable, have the same quoted THD specs, same sensitivity specs, same impedance, and have the same quoted frequency response range of 6Hz - 38kHz although the range doesn't say much as very different headphones can have the same quoted range (at least with AKG headphones). So with them being the same weight then this means that it's highly likely that all the physical construction is the same at least on a general level in terms of earcup size and headband, etc. So far evidence is showing (including the measured frequency responses in this post: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...es-for-mixing-and-mastering.28633/post-996743 ), that it's either the same headphone or very similar but with different cable.
HD400 Pro Specs:
HD560s specs:
EDIT: I wonder if the more expensive price of this headphone will mean that they will bin it tighter for channel matching & unit to unit variance. Perhaps they realised they had a very capable headphone in the shape of the HD560s and felt like they should charge more for it (remarket it)....at least I hope they give better channel matching & unit to unit variance along with the price increase.
HD400 Pro Specs:
HD560s specs:
EDIT: I wonder if the more expensive price of this headphone will mean that they will bin it tighter for channel matching & unit to unit variance. Perhaps they realised they had a very capable headphone in the shape of the HD560s and felt like they should charge more for it (remarket it)....at least I hope they give better channel matching & unit to unit variance along with the price increase.
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Skinner001
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Yeah, it reminds me of yields of gpu-s - where the top ones get into a Ti version (speaking of NVIDIA here) which can be pushed more in clock speeds etc. while lower quality ones end up being limited a bit and sold as a non-Ti or a lower tier of gpu.
Something similar here, basically the same headphone, but the top tier ones end up being the HD400 Pro, the less perfect ones the 560s.
In the end it depends on whether you want to roll the dice with a 560s (mine are fine, no imbalance, no return, enjoying using them very much) - and potentially returning them once or more - or just coughing up more money to get the 400 Pro - or better said, a proper 506s
Wavebuster
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I wonder if this is what Sennheiser meant when it was mentioned they said they would "increase quality control" for the Sennheiser HD 560S . _.
This could well be the case (their process), it's crossed my mind!Yeah, it reminds me of yields of gpu-s - where the top ones get into a Ti version (speaking of NVIDIA here) which can be pushed more in clock speeds etc. while lower quality ones end up being limited a bit and sold as a non-Ti or a lower tier of gpu.
Something similar here, basically the same headphone, but the top tier ones end up being the HD400 Pro, the less perfect ones the 560s.
In the end it depends on whether you want to roll the dice with a 560s (mine are fine, no imbalance, no return, enjoying using them very much) - and potentially returning them once or more - or just coughing up more money to get the 400 Pro - or better said, a proper 506s
That also crossed my mind, perhaps they meant in the form of the HD400 Pro. But anyway, this is quite a bit of conjecture, everything I've said in this post, so really we'd need to see more measurements of different HD400 Pro's to see how they measure in frequency response & channel matching vs HD560s. At which point we might be able to start concluding if they really are designed to the same target frequency response or not, and if they are, then do they have less unit to unit variation & better channel matching. The problem is it's quite tricky to gather and compare this information with confidence as different testers have different measurement methodologies even if they have the same GRAS rig. It could end up being an interesting question to pose to Oratory if he gets to a point where he's measured a number of HD400's and HD560s'.
I don't think so, it's the same frame they used since the HD555/595.
Wich is both a good and a bad thing. It's reasonably comfortable and more solid than it looks and feels, but the plastic and glue eventually crack and fail, it doesn't last as long as the more expensive HD 600 family.*
Wich is fine for the cheaper entries in that series, but elaborating on my first post, 250$ is way too much for the 400 Pro. It's a 150$ headphone at best, the 560S can be had for 100€ refurbished (most appear basically new) in Sennheisers own outlet store. The HD 6XX is 220$ (175$ or so on sale) in the US and that is just a much superior headphone.
*I had a HD 555 that I suspected to be one of the earlier ones and it just started to fail despite not being used much, still had the original pads in good condition and all.
I also have an early HD 600 probably made between 1998 and 2000, and that thing has almost no wear, it will easily last another 20 years. And it's much easier to fix if something does break since it's all just clipped together.
