The Best Budget Headphones for Music Production
Great-sounding, affordable headphones.
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Headphones are a discrete and affordable solution for working on the go, and they’re essential for monitoring while tracking. We’ve selected some of the best budget headphones for music production, and we’ll discuss some features to help you choose the right pair of cans.
In this Article:
Choosing the Best Budget Headphones
Headphones are built with different designs, so it’s important to know some of the basic terminologies to ensure you pick the right type for your specific purpose:
- Closed-back designs offer the best isolation, which means less spill (better for discrete monitoring)
- Open-back designs can produce a more neutral sound and offer reduced ear fatigue (better for mixing)
- High impedance (150-250 Ohms and higher) headphones prefer devices with integrated preamplifiers
- Low impedance (anything below 80 Ohms) should perform well even with consumer devices.
The Best Budget Headphones: Behringer BH20
When you need to stock up on a few pairs of headphones for your rehearsal space, or you simply want an affordable, dedicated pair for your vocal booth, the Behringer BH20 uses a closed-back design, which offers excellent isolation for monitoring while tracking. With the 40mm neodymium drivers, the BH20 produces a 10 Hz to 26 kHz frequency range and a maximum SPL of 99 dB.
Constructed with a familiar shape with a frame that weighs just 260 g in total, the BH20 headphones are equipped with soft ear cushions, providing comfort for extended listening periods. Meanwhile, the BH20 has an impedance rating of 32 ohms, making it suitable for use with a wide range of professional and consumer audio devices.
Included with the BH20 headphones is a 3-meter cable, which gives you some wiggle room, and a minijack adapter for connecting to TRS headphone sockets. In addition, there is a useful carry bag that protects your headphones when they’re not in use and makes for easy transportation. Get it at Thomann.*
The Best Budget Headphones: Shure SRH240
If you’re looking for a decent, affordable option, the SRH240 is a closed-back pair of headphones that offers good isolation. This makes them useful for monitoring while tracking, and you’ll be able to easily work discreetly.
The low impedance rating of 38 ohms means the SRH240 will perform well on a wide range of devices, including consumer devices without an integrated headphone preamplifier.
Downsides? Well, the 2-meter lead is perhaps not the greatest design, but these are still great-value headphones for the price.
- More from Shure
The Best Budget Headphones: Sony MDR-7506
The MDR-7506 has been the industry standard in film, TV, broadcast, and music studios for decades in the US and many other countries too. They’re comfortable, well-built, and offer decent isolation.
In addition, they reach low enough to deal with the frequency range found in today’s more sub-heavy music styles. So whether you use them for recording or mixing, the 7506 will prove equal to the task.
One weak point, however, is that the coating on the earpads tends to flake off after years of frequent use. So to avoid this, you can replace the pads with more durable ones from Dekoni.
- More from SONY
The Best Budget Headphones: Audio Technica ATH-M40x
The popular ATH-M40x is another excellent closed-back design with great build quality for the price. They might not be the best-sounding pair of headphones ever, but as long as you reference back and forth with your monitors, you should be OK.
They do, however, provide an excellent and long-lasting solution for discrete monitoring while tracking vocals or instruments. This is precisely why many studios have batches of them in the equipment locker.
With an impedance rating of 35 ohms, the ATH-M40x is also suitable for consumer devices and is also widely used by DJs.
- More from Audio-Technica
The Best Budget Headphones: AKG K240 MKII
The classic K240 has been part of the furniture in studios since its introduction in 1975. The comfortable semi-open design makes them a great choice for mixing and editing at home or while traveling.
As a package, the K240 MKII ships with both coiled and straight cables, plus an additional set of velour earpads for additional comfort during extended hours in use.
The detail and relative neutrality you get from these headphones are the reason many producers and engineers swear by them – a great value set of cans.
- More from AKG
The Best Budget Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro
It would be impossible not to have Beyerdynamic in the conversation; after all, they did invent dynamic headphones back in 1937! The DT 990 Pro is an open-back design that offers reduced ear fatigue, making it the better choice for mixing.
Being open-back headphones, the isolation properties aren’t the greatest so they’re not ideal for recording purposes. In addition, the 250 Ohms impedance rating means they will perform optimally with devices that offer preamplification.
You can find decent headphone preamps on some desktop mixers, audio interfaces, and monitor controllers, so be sure to get something portable if you plan on using the DT 990 Pro on the go.
- More from beyerdynamic
The Best Budget Headphones: Adam Audio H200
The H200 is a closed-back headphone design that draws from Adam Audio’s extensive expertise in loudspeaker manufacturing. Constructed using soft acoustic earcups, the H200 offers a balance of comfort, pristine audio quality, and excellent isolation for recording. With its 40 mm PEEK Performance drivers, the H200 has a frequency response of 2 Hz -23.5 kHz and a maximum SPL of 112.5 dB.
The H200 is versatile and suitable for tracking as well as mixing, with an impedance rating of 32 ohms that allows optimal performance on a wide range of consumer and pro audio gear. In addition, the H200 has an accompanying plugin that calibrates the main output of your DAW to ensure your mixes translate across all available playback systems.
Along with the headphones, you also get a detachable 3-meter cable and stereo minijack adapter, plus a carrying bag for easy transportation. Overall, the H200 is a worthy addition to the budget end of the headphones market, ideal for the modern music producer or recording artist. Get it at Thomann.*
The Best Budget Headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-R50x
The Audio-Technica ATH-R50x presents a different sonic image with its open-back design, producing a lively, open sound which is perfect for mixing. Built with comfortable velour ear cushions, the ATH-R50x promises the luxury of an audiophile headphone design, at a price more musicians and home studio users can afford.
With the 45 mm high-efficiency drivers, the ATH-R50x offers a frequency range of 5 to 40,000 Hz with a sensitivity rating of 93.3 dB/mW. Although slightly larger than some studio headphones, the ATH-R50x weighs just 207g, so they certainly won’t stop you bobbing up and down while making beats or mixing.
The 50-ohm impedance rating makes them compatible with a wide range of audio devices, so you can use them with synths, drum machines, and grooveboxes in your studio. Along with the headphones, you also get short 1.2-meter and long 3-meter detachable cables, as well as a minijack adapter and carry bag. Get it at Thomann.*
The Best Budget Headphones: Kali Audio HP-1
Besides the popular offerings in the budget studio monitor market, Kali Audio has been busy with some intriguing developments, including its first pair of headphones, the Highland Park HP-1. Rather than creating the HP-1 exclusively for studio users, Kali Audio decided to include some of the features we love from lifestyle headphones.
The HP-1 can function as a traditional wired pair of headphones or as Bluetooth ANC headphones with up to 40 hours of battery time. With a closed-back design, the 40 mm drivers deliver a frequency range of 18 Hz – 22 kHz, and the onboard DSP system allows you to choose between three different voicings, including Studio, Consumer, and Bass Heavy.
Overall, the HP-1 is built for comfort, with a vegan leather headband and ear cups, and it weighs only 150g. Also included is a cable for charging via USB-C, a stereo minijack cable, and a protective carry case to keep your headphones safe and dust-free when you’re not using them in your studio. Get it at Thomann.*
More about the Best Budget Headphones:
- All about headphones
- Closed-back vs open-back
- Thomann’s guide to headphones
Videos:
*Note: This article contains promotional links that help us fund our site. Don’t worry: the price for you always stays the same! If you buy something through these links, we will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!
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3 responses to “The Best Budget Headphones for Music Production”
Gotta say it’s weird as heck not having Slate VSX on this list.
Thanks for the suggestion, but at close to $500, the Slate VSX is far from being a budget set of headphones.
thank you for sharing! watching the video interview made everything click. i’ll be getting a decent pair of closed backs soon.