Why Are Some DJ Headphones More Expensive Than Others?
June 9th, 2011 | Author: admin
How much money you have to spend to have the headphones that will be perfect for you will depend on what you plan on doing with those headphones.
DJ Headphones can vary significantly in cost, starting in the $20-30 range, to excess of $1000.
High priced headphones are often costly for two reasons: Isolation and Accuracy.
Isolation means how effectively the headphones block out external noise, for example, the pounding speakers from a club or even the kid screaming in the plane seat in back of you while you’re trying to sleep. The better your headphones are at isolation, the more expensive they’re going to be.
Accuracy can be quite important, which is the reason incredibly accurate headphones are very high-priced. If you hear a track on your notebook speakers, then listen to the same song on your car radio you’ll realize that they come across as radically different.
This is because speakers and headphones that are not high quality may have flawed frequency response. This means that various audio frequencies can be louder or possibly softer than they should be. For instance, your computer speakers probably have very little bass frequency response. You are not going to get that subwoofer thump from a notebook. Conversely, if you hear a song on that huge sub you hooked up inside your trunk, you’re probably hearing too much bass, and not nearly enough treble or mids.
Ideally, as a professional DJ or musician you want headphones or speakers that give a flat frequency response. This means that if you listen to a track, the audio you are hearing is exactly the way the recording engineer mixed it, with virtually no flawed frequency boosts.
This can be important, since you would like your mixes to come across the same on stage or in the club as they did when you were creating them at home.
So just how much isolation and accuracy do you actually need?
Well, that depends on what you want to do. Let’s say for instance, that you’re DJing a smaller event at a college, you’re spinning other people’s records and you’re not remixing anything ahead of time or doing anything too complex. Or maybe you just want a nice sounding pair of headphones for casual listening.
In either case you’d be fine if you choose a set of Shure SRH 440s. These headphones sound very good, they give you a good, mostly flat response, and they’re also made well which means they’ll last a long time. Additionally they are extremely well padded and they fit snugly around the ear to deliver great passive isolation. I would highly recommend these headphones for anyone from a casual user, to someone who’s looking to get somewhat more serious about music, but who isn’t completely professional at this point.
However, if you’re thinking about becoming a professional DJ, DJing large clubs where you want to play your own remixes and cue up each song, then you’ll need a set that’s a bit more accurate and isolating, so that you can hear the track in your headphones over the song presently wailing out from the speakers.
Ultrasone DJ1 Pro headphones are good for professional DJs. They are designed to preserve your hearing by way of reducing the actual decibels hitting your eardrum, while maintaining precisely the same perceived decibels. So they as loud as similar DJ headphones but your eardrums receive 40% less damage. Wonderful especially if you’re going to be in the mix for a very long time. Not quite so good, though, if you’re on a budget.
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