Sennheiser HD450/480 old cans revived

[ditton works]

Hi.
About 25 years ago I was lucky enough to receive a pair of HD450's for birthday.

I loved those cans and used my Sony Walkman for hours,days,weeks and years blasting out my favourite music.
Eventually the ear pads desintigrated, the wires broke and I was forced to retire them.
So 25 years on, I found myself wanting a pair of headphones for my iPhone/iPod.
I bought a pair of Sennheiser momentums. I quite liked them but found them a bit equalised (if that makes sense?) a bit boosted..
Firstly I purchased an audio quest Dragonfly black 1.5.
Although iTunes was vastly improved I still wasn't overly happy with the momentums.
Any one familiar with my posts will know I love vintage Celestion speakers, so why not try some vintage-ish Sennheiser's.

Well here they are, my little collection of H450's HD480's (slightly modified) and a pair of HD480 classics.
I love the sound of all of them.
Perfect for taking a stroll with my iPhone or iPod..
480's have better/deeper bass but occasionally I enjoy a lighter/slightly topish sound of the 450's
Well just thought I'd share my latest little audio project..

 

[Mamrak1]

Sennheiser has replacement parts for many of their headphones. You might contact them to find out.

 

[cratz2]

I love the looks of those. HD450s were the first headphones I ever had that cost more than about $20. Well, I think that's what they were... they were open and had red pads. Got a lot of quality use out of those back in the day.

 

[Cscarlet41]

Hi.
About 25 years ago I was lucky enough to receive a pair of HD450's for birthday.

I loved those cans and used my Sony Walkman for hours,days,weeks and years blasting out my favourite music.
Eventually the ear pads desintigrated, the wires broke and I was forced to retire them.
So 25 years on, I found myself wanting a pair of headphones for my iPhone/iPod.
I bought a pair of Sennheiser momentums. I quite liked them but found them a bit equalised (if that makes sense?) a bit boosted..
Firstly I purchased an audio quest Dragonfly black 1.5.
Although iTunes was vastly improved I still wasn't overly happy with the momentums.
Any one familiar with my posts will know I love vintage Celestion speakers, so why not try some vintage-ish Sennheiser's.

Well here they are, my little collection of H450's HD480's (slightly modified) and a pair of HD480 classics.
I love the sound of all of them.
Perfect for taking a stroll with my iPhone or iPod..
480's have better/deeper bass but occasionally I enjoy a lighter/slightly topish sound of the 450's
Well just thought I'd share my latest little audio project..

I had a pair of 480s back in the day. My first decent cans and I was blown away with how good the music from my portable compact disc player sounded. They were never off my head. Cables were an issue IIRC, especially if they touched anything or moved about to much you could hear it in the cans. Also cables didn't seem to last long which was annoying but the sound more than made up for these minor inconveniences.

 

[ditton works]

I had a pair of 480s back in the day. My first decent cans and I was blown away with how good the music from my portable compact disc player sounded. They were never off my head. Cables were an issue IIRC, especially if they touched anything or moved about to much you could hear it in the cans. Also cables didn't seem to last long which was annoying but the sound more than made up for these minor inconveniences.

Cool, glad somebody else remembers these.
I've changed the cables to more plyable and shorter 1.5 meter ones.
These have been covered (more for asthetics) I must say I haven't noticed any audiable cable noise.
Thanks for your reply

 

[boza]

Very cool
Like what you've done with the cables.

 

[ditton works]

Very cool
Like what you've done with the cables.

Thank you. It was very easy to do.

 

[ditton works]

I love the looks of those. HD450s were the first headphones I ever had that cost more than about $20. Well, I think that's what they were... they were open and had red pads. Got a lot of quality use out of those back in the day.

If memory serves I believe my first 450's were around £30, I was very pleased, great birthday present.
I think the 480's were around £50ish.
According to inflation converter that's about £135 in today's money.
I think I would buy headphones this pleasing today for £135, considering my momentums cost nearly double that..

 

[Raynald]

Thanks for posting. I had been trying to remember the models numbers of the most popular Sennheisers I used to sell. The 450/480 were an easy sale, great sound and comfortable. I think the 540 Reference were the step up.

 

[ditton works]

Thanks for posting. I had been trying to remember the models numbers of the most popular Sennheisers I used to sell. The 450/480 were an easy sale, great sound and comfortable. I think the 540 Reference were the step up.

No probs
540's are on my next to purchase list.
They seem to be quite rare and more expensive..

 

[ditton works]

As luck would have it, I've just found and purchased a pair of HD490ii.
Didn't even know these existed, should be arriving in a week or so.
They require a bit of work but that's part of the fun

 

[Raynald]

No probs
540's are on my next to purchase list.
They seem to be quite rare and more expensive..

Yes, this post and the looking around it has made me want a pair of 540 but it seems people have gotten a little carried away with the pricing.

 

[ditton works]

For anyone interested....
If your headband pad has worn out on either 450/480/490 Sennheiser's, the HD25 headband pads fit perfectly.
Cost about £7 from Sennheiser.
Slightly different material but work very well.
The ear pads are still available but not the original headband pad.
Attached by double sided tape, so very easy to replace.
Just thought I would share incase any one is wanting to fix there old cans.

 

[ditton works]

The HD490II's have arrived.
Changed the headband as per hd25 post..
Ear pads replaced.
They sound everso slighty different to my classics, top of the 450's, bass of the 480's. Although I feel I would tire of the 490's quicker than my 480's, I don't mind the slighty "vailed" sound of the 480's.
I have a pair of 450ii's in blue comming soon. I've enjoyed my time collecting, regurbing and listening to the various models in this line up.

 

[ditton works]

Pretty much complete set..
Just classic ii, 480 ii and 490 I to get.