Comfort is key when it comes to choosing the right pair of headphones. Of course you have to really weigh your wants and needs because a lot of the top of the line headphones are fairly similar in specs. Sometimes that additional 10,000hz of frequency can make all the difference.
• Dr. Dre Studio Headphones, $349.95 When I first heard about these headphones I didn't think I'd be impressed. I figured I was due for a new pair of headphones (I recently started DJing again) and this was love at first try-on. These are one of the most comfortable headphones I've ever tried on and the music quality is just as impressive, as well as the noise canceling feature. They fold up and come with a carrying case for easy transport to and from shows. I love the simplistic, no fuss design, you certainly don't want to worry about how you and your headphones look while trying to concentrate on the music.
• Sony MDR V700 Headphones, $100.91 These headphones are professional DJ quality for a substantially lower price than the average pro headphones. The features include swivel, auto return swivel and reversible earcups, 10 foot expanding cord and a frequency range of 20-20,000Hz.
• Pioneer HDJ-2000 Professional DJ Headphones, $249.00 Are in the middle price range compared to the other two. These headphones have the ability to fold, swivel and are noise canceling like the others, but the frequency range is slightly better than the Sony headphones at 5Hz - 30kHz.
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Comments (8)
You should try the Numark PHX ;) i was impressed how they were better than my V700 (sound from my point of view and building quality) and also wayyy cheaper with more stuff in the box :D (different wires and earpads)
I'll still take Grados at half the price with better sound.
I'll second what @ichrocke said in terms of the build quality of the V700s. They definitely sound great, don't get me wrong. But for the money, and the fact that they're Sony, the build quality is quite poor.
The piece that holds the earphone to the frame, where it says 'R' for right and 'L' for left breaks quite easily and splits open. There's virtually nothing that can be done once that happens and the headphones don't fit. It's a common complaint I've seen if you Google it.
I can recommend a pair that I got about a month ago- the Phiaton MS-400s. I paid $249 for them but it looks like they're on sale at Amazon for $180. They sound great and look very sleek.
@ben, +1 to the Grados. Not worth it if you want to listen in a noisy environment (and certainly not stylish), but anywhere you can sit and enjoy your music they sound great.
Rob Ungar -> That's exactly what happened with mine.
Personally I'll never buy a Dr Dre... they are way too expensive for what they are...
They are not Dj earphones, and for the price I can have a way better high audio fidelity product. (Not so fashionable I'll admit that)
I recently bought an Urbanears Plattan (for basic/street use) that does the job. (:love: with a fabric wire a remote and a line out :love: for ~75.00 USD)
What about the noise canceling feature nowadays ? when mixing, it used to be unusable in clubs (too many different noises, add high freq buzz ...), is it any better ?
Btw : i found this amazing topic, called "Multi-IEM Review - 125 IEMs compared" there are some really good reviews, if you're interested : http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/478568/multi-iem-review-125-iems-compared-sony-xb40ex-ex85-added-12-08
@ichrocke:
Those Urbanears look great. If I hadn't just spent all that money on the Phiatons, I might have picked up a pair. They look great for a backup set.
I'm not a DJ or a true audiophile by any means, so I just wanted something that has good bass support for a variety of music styles, is comfortable, and of course, stylish. The Phiatons met those criteria.
@kyre grados can be stylish if you maybe go for a more mod look imho...
I wanted a single sided fabric wire, so the choice was very limited by that ... Because I used to have a Koss Titanium (~UR40) which was great but i had to send it back like 4times because of the double plastic wire, so I tried Urbanears and for 70$ that's the best i found :/
I wanted to try the Bower & Wilkins ( http://www.viinz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/bower_wilkins_p5_1.jpg ) but it was way to expensive and the wire was plastic ... (Even my Bose supra has a plastic wire, i'm really considering buying all I need to cover my wires ...)