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Studio headphones for music production
You might be thinking about buying a good pair of headphones. Sound engineers and studio owners need them for session musicians during studio recordings. Home‑studio producers want support for producing and mixing their songs. The term "studio" in the various headphone types suggests the right qualification. To avoid wrong decisions before purchase and so you can order online with confidence, we address the decisive questions here.
What should you pay attention to when buying studio headphones?
Top of the list is sound quality. Depending on taste and your own sonic expectations you can already narrow down your choices. If you spend many hours in the studio, you will appreciate a comfortable fit. This immediately raises the question of an open or closed design. A high impedance provides solid headroom. High impedances may mean an additional investment in an amplifier. And then there's the price factor. Many brands now offer a solution for every budget. You don't have to invest huge amounts to get started.
What makes a good studio headphone?
A good studio headphone fulfils its purpose. That starts with the appropriate design. For recording vocals, closed headphones are the right choice. They isolate excellently from external, unwanted sound sources. Open designs let ambient noise through but sound pleasantly airy and transparent. When mixing, individual instruments can be better located and corrected if necessary.
Good mixing headphones have as neutral a frequency response as possible. They neither emphasise bass, mids or highs. Slight resonances can be corrected with control‑room equalisers. Good headphones are accurate in their transient response and, for example, do not continue to resonate after a recorded kick drum. This is important for using transient designers such as limiters and compressors.
What studio headphones cannot do
Studio headphones are specifically designed for mixing and mastering. However, they cannot replace a proper mix or master checked on near‑ or mid‑field monitor speakers. Reliable headphones are an indispensable aid for checking and referencing created mixes. You get an additional sonic perspective. Depth staging and the stereo panorama are presented from a different viewpoint. This can lead to a better mix!
Amplifiers and useful accessories
Most headphones of this type can be connected directly to an audio interface. Amplifiers become useful when you want additional functions, such as crossfeed — the simulation of loudspeaker playback. Or when the impedance (600 ohms) is very high or several headphones need to be connected simultaneously.
When choosing an amplifier, pay attention to the amp's own sound. A neutral‑sounding headphone can remain neutral through a preamp, or sound more analytical, American or more like HiFi depending on the amp used. Interchangeable cables and ear pads made from different materials significantly increase service life. Stands ensure correct storage and reduce wear.
How much does a studio headphone cost?
Cheap models are available in specialist shops from €30. The mid‑range price is between €200 and €300. The top‑of‑the‑line league plays at over €1,000.
Entry‑level models often advertise a covered frequency range of 20 Hz – 20 kHz. Humans can perceive exactly this range. Studio headphones should definitely be able to reproduce this spectrum. More important than the frequency range is a reproduction of the individual frequency bands as neutral as possible. That requires technical effort and has its price. The most expensive models not only feel extremely high‑quality, but their sound is much more balanced compared with the inexpensive representatives.
Which brands produce studio headphones?
You can choose and buy your desired product from a wide range of manufacturers in our shop. Well‑known names include AKG, Audio Technica, Beyerdynamic, Shure and Sennheiser.