7 of the Best DJ Headphones for All Budgets
The top cans for DJs from Sennheiser, Sony, AIAIAI and more.
2,5 / 5,0 | 
Whether you’re a beginner spinner or a chief party rocker, these are seven of the best DJ headphones for you.
Best DJ Headphones
Every DJ needs a good pair of headphones. Whether you’re constantly in the mix, occasionally cueing, or just need to plug them into the mic jack to tell the people in front to stop bumping your table, headphones are indispensable for a DJ. You may not always play on your own decks, but headphones? They’re personal.
The best DJ headphones are a different breed from studio or consumer-grade ones. They’re loud enough to be heard in the booth, they’ll give you the frequency response that you need to ensure a solid mix and they sit comfortably, whether you’re wearing them on your head or over just one ear.
Here are my picks for the best DJ headphones available now – and for every budget.
Best DJ Headphones: Hercules HDP DJ45
Everyone has to start somewhere. There’s no shame in being a newbie or even a hobbyist DJ. If you need a set of cans to test the water or just to mess around on the weekend, look no further than HDP DJ45 from Hercules.
These budget-friendly headphones offer a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz so you’ll hear everything that you need to. They sport rotating earpieces, pivoting so you can comfortably move the cup away from your ear to check the room sound. And what a price!
Best DJ Headphones: Sony MDR-7506
Before DJing became the industry that it is today, jocks had to make do with what was available. The go-to headphones for old-school DJs were Sony’s MDR-7506 – and they still hold their own remarkably well.
Designed for studio use and favoured by musicians when tracking, the Sony MDR-7506 have a remarkably neutral sound for the price. Note that they’re not bass-heavy but this can be a good thing, as it will give you a more accurate depiction of what the punters are hearing. With a frequency response of 10Hz to 20kHz, they make solid studio cans too. They’re also extremely comfortable.
Best DJ Headphones: Reloop RHP-10 Mono
While most DJs will reach for the usual headphones with two cups, some prefer the single option. Why bother with a full pair of headphones when you’re only going to be monitoring with one ear? If that sounds like you, check out Reloop’s RHP-10 Mono.
A speaker on a stick, it lets you hold the single can up to your ear to cue – because that’s all you need it for. Of course, you can also cradle it against your shoulder thanks to the sturdy construction and swiveling cup.
It’s also got it where it counts: the sound. The RHP-10 Mono offers 30Kz to 30kHz frequency response with plenty of volume to be heard in a noisy environment.
Best DJ Headphones: Sennheiser HD 25
Few headphones scream “classic” like the Sennheiser HD 25. Used and loved by DJs the world over, these purpose-built DJ cans are like strapping two speakers to the side of your head. You think I’m joking but these have a maximum SPL of 120dB. You may eventually go deaf but you’ll never complain of not being able to hear the cue.
The Sennheiser HD 25 offers more than just sheer brute force. With a range of 16Hz to 22kHz, your frequencies are covered from bottom to top. Comfortable on the head, they even have a rotatable right cup for single-ear use. David Guetta reportedly loves them.
Best DJ Headphones: Audio Technica ATH-M50X
Another highly rated set of cans is Audio Technica’s ATH-M50X. Sleek and black, with a padded strap and dual swivelling cups, they’re designed to look and feel good on the head of a working DJ.
They also sound incredible. Well-balanced with enough of a bump in the bass to let you know what’s going on, their 15Hz to 28kHz range won’t let you down. And with an SPL of 99dB, they have plenty of power too.
Although I wouldn’t recommend non-studio headphones for use in the lab, many users report that they record and mix with Audio Technica ATH-M50X and with no ear fatigue either.
Best DJ Headphones: Technics EAH-DJ1200
I’ve been focusing a lot on frequency response and sound pressure levels in this roundup and while important, they’re not everything when it comes to headphones. Comfort is another, as is cup size. Before buying any headphones, it’s a good idea to try them out to see not only how they sound but how they feel on your head and ears.
Case in point: Technics’ EAH-DJ1200 headphones are very highly rated, with a ridiculous frequency response of 5Hz to 30kHz. They also have Technics’ 270-degree swivel mechanism, making them perfect for single-ear monitoring. However, the cups are on the small side, and this could result in issues of comfort and sound leakage for some users.
Best DJ Headphones: AIAIAI TMA-2 DJ Wireless
Danish manufacturer AIAIAI is a relative newcomer to the DJ headphone world, but since 200,6 it has been releasing forward-thinking and well-received products. Its TMA-2 DJ Wireless is, as the name suggests, designed specifically for DJs and features modular construction: should any part fail, you can get a replacement (or even swap it out for something different).
Of course, the big selling point here is that these are wireless. Not Bluetooth, they instead use a proprietary wireless connection called W+ Link with latency of less than 10ms (as compared to 250ms for Bluetooth). They’re paired with a transmitter, the X03 W+ Link, which you plug into the headphone jack on the mixer.
In practice, we found the latency to be short enough to not even notice, and the headphones themselves to be comfortable and powerful.
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