HeadphoneOverreview

Sennheiser HD 400 PRO

Studio magazines call it a bargain reference; headphone forums call it an HD 560S with a black badge and a higher price.

31 sourcesUpdated
$279Typical US price

Score aggregates reviewer opinions across topics.

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Sennheiser HD 400 PRO

The short version

What to know.

A light, comfortable-for-most open-back whose response the rigs read as near neutral: within about a decibel of the HD 560S, with more sub-bass than Sennheiser's HD 600 and a 2–2.5 dB lift around 3.5–7 kHz on two of the three squig rigs. Reviewers broadly agree on good detail and a precise, mix-friendly stereo picture, and on an honest, unhyped tonality. They split on almost everything a buyer feels. Value: the studio press calls it a bargain, while forum owners note that the identical HD 560S costs about $80 less in the US. Comfort: most find it all-day light, but a third report a firm clamp or an ear touching the bump inside the cup. Bass: deep and clean to most, too lean to trust for some mixers. Treble: smooth and non-fatiguing to most, while others hear a clear 4–6 kHz lift. Soundstage: wide to most, headphone-like to a few. Build: solid enough, or cheap-feeling plastic.

About this product

Sennheiser Professional's open-back studio headphone (Art. no. 700047), launched in December 2021. Sennheiser has confirmed it is acoustically the HD 560S: the differences are a black logo, a second 3 m coiled cable alongside the 1.8 m straight one, and where and for how much it is sold. Not the closed HD 480 PRO or the larger HD 490 PRO, and not the unrelated closed-back consumer HD 400S.

The HD 400 PRO was the first open-back in Sennheiser Professional's studio range after the company sold its consumer division to Sonova in 2021. It is pitched at mixing and editing: a light plastic frame, velour pads, angled 120-ohm drivers, a locking single-sided cable, and both a coiled and a straight lead in the box. Within days of launch, owners worked out — and Sennheiser confirmed — that it is the HD 560S under a black logo, with the same driver and tuning.

That has made it one of the oddest records to read. The studio magazines reviewed it as a new pro tool and nearly all liked it, often a lot. The headphone forums reviewed it as a re-badge and argued about the price. Both sides are describing the same headphone. This review draws on 30 independent sources: four measurement rigs, ten editorial reviews in English, Russian and Polish, two video reviewers, the Head-Fi and ASR threads, nine Reddit voices, and buyers on Thomann and Amazon.

A good fit for

  • Mixing and editing on headphones in a quiet room, where detail and stereo placement matter most
  • Buyers who can find it at or below the HD 560S's price, or where only the pro range is stocked
  • Anyone who wants a coiled cable in the box and a light frame for long sessions

Think twice if

  • You can buy the HD 560S for less — it is the same headphone
  • You have a large head or ears that stick out (the clamp and the cup bump are the usual complaints)
  • You need isolation for recording with live mics or working in noise
  • You are treble-sensitive and already found the HD 560S's presence region too much

The reviewer consensus

Agreement &
disagreement.

6 / 12topics divide opinion
isolationtonalitydetailimagingmidsdynamicsvaluecomfortbasstreblesoundstagebuild
1 Strong agreement5 Mostly agree6 Divided opinions

Common ground5

  • Good detail retrieval and a precise stereo picture for panning work
  • A near-neutral, unhyped tonal balance that suits mixing more than fun listening
  • Light (240 g) and easy to drive from most interfaces, though cheap laptop outputs can fall short on volume

Points of contention6

  • Value: a studio bargain versus a re-badged HD 560S sold for about $80 more in the US
  • Comfort: all-day light for most versus a firm clamp or a cup bump that rubs some ears
  • Bass: deeper than the HD 600 line to most, too lean to trust in a mix to some

A closer listen.

12 topics · 6 divided
Left: criticalRight: positiveTighter lines: more agreement

Value

Leans positiveDivided opinions
Reviewer sentiment19 supporting sources
CriticalNeutralPositive

Band: opinion spread · Dot: weighted average

Sources split, and the split follows what the reviewer compares it with. Judged as a studio tool at $249–279, the press is close to unanimous: Sound On Sound, AudioTechnology, Recording, MusicTech, iXBT, Estrada i Studio, Mixdown and askdrtk call it far better than its price. Judged against the HD 560S, which Sennheiser says is the same headphone and which costs about $200, a third of the weighted record calls it a re-badge sold at a premium for a coiled cable. That third includes Auriculares Argentina, the ASR thread and owners on Reddit and Amazon. In some markets the 400 PRO is the cheaper of the two, or the only one stocked, and the argument flips.

Measured

US street price $279 at every authorised dealer (October 2026) against $199.95 for the HD 560S at Sennheiser's consumer store; third-party Amazon stock sells at $229 and used units at $150–190.

vs. listeners — Sennheiser's own reply on X settles the hardware question: 'There was no reason to change the excellent acoustics of this model.' So the split is about price and channel, not sound — and the gap is market-dependent.

Where it splits
Worth every penny — a near-reference open-back for well under the usual price of one.69%

“Try these and you may not feel you need to spend more.”

Sam Inglis, Sound On Sound
A re-badged HD 560S at a premium — buy the 560S and keep the difference.31%

“Les recomiendo el 560s que sigue siendo para mí más Pro que el 400 Pro inclusive”

Auriculares Argentina, YouTube (Spanish: 'I recommend the 560S, which for me is still more Pro than the 400 Pro')
Link to this topic

The hardware

Specifications.

Checked

Design

Type
Open-back over-ear
Drivers
1 × dynamic

Electrical

Impedance
120 Ω
Sensitivity
110 dB/V≈ 100.8 dB/mW
Frequency response
6 Hz – 38 kHz

Connection

Cable
Detachable
Plugs supplied
3.5 mm, 6.35 mm

Physical

Weight
240 g

Ships with two cables: a 3 m coiled one and a 1.8 m straight one, both with a screw-on 6.3 mm adapter. Manufacturer-published figures, not measurements · from sennheiser.com, assets.sennheiser.com.

Follow the evidence

Sources 31

1–6 of 31 sources

Read with context

Limitations & method.

As of

What to keep in mind 7

  1. A read of where the reviews land as of October 2026. Most professional reviews date from the December 2021 launch, and Sennheiser has since added the closed HD 480 PRO and the larger HD 490 PRO above it.

  2. Sennheiser quietly revised the HD 560S around late 2022 (a shorter cable and, some measurers find, a slightly calmer treble). Nobody has confirmed whether the HD 400 PRO changed too, so older and newer units may not sound exactly alike.

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