The mag probably called them almost industry standard due to their relatively cheap price, rock solid build, comfortable fit, and relatively flat response (and also the fact that they're closed back, which is useful for studio and DJ applications.
The 16ohm model you have is more likely to be used for field monitoring, as it will be far easier to drive by small, built in amplifiers than headphones of higher impedance, which are usually used in studios with dedicated headphone amps.
By the sounds of things you just prefer the Sennheiser sound to that of Beyerdynamic. Youl'll find that most headphone brands have a "house sound", and that by experimenting with different brands you'll find qualities that you like and dislike in each brand. You'll also find that different headphones sound better for different styles of music and have different objectives in mind.
i.e. Some headphones will be built to give a flat response. Some will have a contoured frequency response, that while inaccurate sounds more "hi-fi" and pleasing to the ear on first impression. Some will be made with dramatic peaks and troughs in the frequency response, in an attempt to make a more 'revealing' sounding phone, which emphasises subtleties often missed in recordings.
