Feature: DJ Headphones

Monday, 20th November 2006 at 5:58 pm / Words: Alex Maresh

I will talk from the point of view of a DJ, so I will take into consideration the properties a pair of headphones should have for this purpose, proprerties that I consider absoulutely neccesary.

Depending on the necesities, but especially on the money, a pair of headphones can cost between 20 and 200 $ or even more, considering what you need : power, fidelity, lower weight, durability etc.

I will try to enumerate the existing headphones, starting with less professional products, but much cheaper and ending with the more professional ones. Probably the most used, but also the cheapest ones are the headphones produced by Behringer. If you don’t ask to much from your headphones, you don’t look for fidelity or power, or if you don’t have too much money, you can chose to buy a pair of headphones BEHRINGER HPX2000 for about 28$, with a frequency answer between 20 Hz and 20 kHZ, 64 ohmi impedanta and with a maximum power of 1000 mW or you can chose the studio type BEHRINGER HPS3000 at about the same price.

We could continue with STANTON. The quality is higher and they are a little more expensive. You coulad use them in the club too, if you don’t expect too much of them. You can chose between STANTON DJ PRO 1000 MK II S at about 60$, with a frequency answer between 20Hz and 20kHz, 100 ohmi impedanta and 500 mW power, STANTON DJ PRO 2000 S at about 90$ with a frequency answer between 20 Hz and 30 kHz. If you want something more from this brand, I recommend STANTON DJ PRO 3000, a small copy of Sony, as being the most professional product of Stanton, having a better sound quality and having passive High and Low Pass filtres. In this category we can put other brands like Numark, Omnitronic etc. For the same price, but with higher quality there are some products from Sennheiser, like HD212 at about 70$ or HD215 at about 80$, with a frequency answer between 12 Hz and 19 kHz and 30 ohmi impedanta.

As for the professional products, we could talk for days and days about which are better, which last longer, which have higher fidelity, which can use lower frequencies, which use higher frequencies and so on. There are so many models and so many brands, but I will talk about the ones that the DJs use more often. The first professional models, and the cheapest ones, are the ones from Sony, more exactly MDRV500 at about 80$ and MDRV700 at about 100 $, with a frequency answer between 5 Hz and 30 kHz, 20 ohmi impedanta and a power of 3000 mW. This product is one of the most used in the past, but nowadays it still offers a good quality/price balance. We can include in this category brands like Pioneer and Technics. Both offer quality products, like the well-known model Pioneer HDJ1000 at about 150 $, frequency answer between 5 Hz and 30kHz, 40 ohmi impedanta and a power of 3500 mW. These headphones offer a better sound quality and a higher frequency answer. A problem of these headphones is their dimension, but also the bad combining of the components. I don’t think it is necessary to tell you that they are all „Made in China”, and that is obvious … Indeed, the electronic components are original, which is obvious in terms of sound, but the materials they are made of are of very low quality. As for me, this pair of headphones broke down in three months in two different spots. Let’s also mention Technics RPDH1200 at about 150$, frequency answer between 5 Hz si 30kHz, 50 ohmi impedanta and a power of 3500 mW. The ones from Denon launched a professional model of headphones Denon DNHP1000, which cost abaout 160$, model which I haven’t already touched.

Probably one of the most professional products are the Sennheiser HD25, which has two models, HD25 with 70 ohmi and 16Hz – 22kHz and HD25-SP with 85 ohmi and 30 Hz – 16kHz, and prices between 200 si 250 $. This model is the most used by the majority of DJs all around the world. The first thing I can tell you about these headphones is that “Made in Ireland” is written on them. The headphones weight 140 g, probably the lightest from this category, they have an impressive sound quality and they last incredibly long. And one thing is for sure. They won’t break. I have such a model of headphones for almost half-a-year now, and I am very satisfied with them. Sennheiser HD25-SP is built of different parts that you can always change or repair. If, for example one of the headphones is broken, you can just throw it away and replace it. Some of the DJs that use this kind of headphones are Chris Liebing, Richie Hawtin, Magda etc.

In the same category we mustn’t forget another important brand, AKG. Maybe the most powerful studio headphones brand, offering an impressive fidelity, has a professional model for DJs, AKG K-181 with a frequency between 5 Hz and 30 kHz , 42 ohmi and a power of 3500 mW, which you can buy for about 190$.

Almost all of these products can be bought from specialised stores, but also on-line from www.djstore.com, www.decks.de, www.musik-schmidt.de, etc.