Sennheiser introduce the HD 480 Pro

New closed-back design promises honest' low end

Sennheiser have just announced the launch of a new pair of flagship closed-back headphones which they say eliminate two of the most common complaints about closed-back designs: accurate bass reproduction and comfort.

Edit: Our review of the new cans appears in the May 2026 issue of SOS, which has just landed! Click here to take a look (print / web / app / replica / PDF editions).

Designed to excel at tracking, production and mixing work alike, the HD 480 Pro are said to be the company's most versatile professional headphones to date. The all-new design employs multiple stages of passive sound shielding, while the ear pads feature soft grooves designed to accomodate the temples of glasses and deliver the precise seal that is required to ensure accurate audio reproduction. There's also a series of design elements that fall under the collective term of a Vibration Attenuation System, which Sennheiser say all help to eliminate unwanted vibrations, reflections and distortion.

Much like its open-back counterpart, the HD 490 Pro, the new HD 480 Pro benefit from several Sennheiser-patented features, including:

Special Axes Geometry: The mechanical design makes sure that the headphones optimally adapt to the head and maintain an equal contact pressure no matter what the shape of the user's head. The listening experience is consistent across users.

Comfort zone for glasses: The ear pads do not press on the temples of glasses but rather have a soft zone, which ensures good sealing and high comfort at the same time.

Blocking of cable-borne noise: Near the earcup, the detachable connection cable features a coiled part, which effectively decouples the HD 480 PRO from any structure-borne or handling noise, such as that transmitted when the cable hits the desk.

The new HD 480 Pro have been designed to match the performance of the open-back HD 490 Pro as closely as possible.

Our developers have been working painstakingly to bring the sound of the closed HD 480 Pro as closely as possible to that of the open HD 490 Pro. Which model is the better choice for you really depends on how you work. The open HD 490 Pro will be ideal for mixing in quiet environments, while I would recommend the closed HD 480 Pro for applications where you need isolation, for example when you're tracking vocals in the room, when monitoring or using them as an FOH reference, or simply when you're working in the same space as others. - Gunnar Dirks, Senior Product Manager for Professional Headphones, Sennheiser

Tech Specs

Acoustic principle: Closed

Ear coupling: Circumaural

Transducer principle: Dynamic

Transducer diameter: 38mm

Frequency response: 3Hz - 28kHz (-10 dB)

Sensitivity: 107dB SPL (at 1 kHz/1Vrms); 98 dB (at 1kHz, 1mW)

Max. SPL: 130 dB (1kHz, 5% THD)

THD:

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