The Top 5 Budget Studio Headphones of 2024
Studio headphones are designed for people who take their audio seriously. Whether you’re actively recording, mixing and mastering, or you’re simply an enthused music fan who appreciates critical listening, studio headphones offer you a heightened listening experience that you’re just not going to get with other headphones. While regular consumer headphones offer enhanced bass and treble — which is perfectly fine, and in many cases preferred for casual listening — studio headphones are specially engineered to provide you with a more accurate representation of the audio via flatter frequencies. This ensures that no frequencies are artificially boosted or diminished, allowing producers and engineers to hear every detail of their mix in its raw and pure form. By utilising studio headphones, artists can create music that translates well across various playback systems, from high-end speakers to budget earbuds.If you strive for professional sound quality, and want to ensure that your final product sounds balanced and authentic in any listening environment, then studio headphones are a must.
The Best Budget Studio Headphones Under $300
Audio-Technica ATH-M40x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones
Price: $179.00 (down from $199.00)
Design: Constructed from high-grade materials with a durable build, these Audio-Technica ATH-M40x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones excel in professional studio tracking, mixing, and DJ monitoring. They feature swivelling earcups for convenient one-ear monitoring, enhancing the studio experience. They come with a matte black finish with silver-grey accents that highlight the logo. The ear cups are designed to rotate easily and remain cool even during prolonged use, and the headband is well-padded for extra comfort.
Sound Quality: These headphones offer exceptional sound isolation. They are tuned flat so as to enable accurate audio monitoring across the extended frequency range. The standout feature of the ATH-M40x is its versatile connectivity. It supports Bluetooth for wireless use and includes both a standard straight cable and a coiled cable for flexible connection options. The cables have 3.5 mm connectors at each end and a proprietary locking connector for a secure fit on the headphone side.
Pros: Made from high-quality materials to ensure both durability and comfort, these headphones offer exceptional sound isolation in noisy environments provided by the circumaural design that contours around the ears. They are also collapsible for easy, space-saving portability.
Cons: Though they are designed for comfort and ease of use, some users may still find them too large and cumbersome, though this very much boils down to personal preference.
Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm Closed Studio Headphones
Price: $265.00 (down from $299.00)
Design: The Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm Closed Studio Headphones offer exceptional comfort with their lightweight build and roomy earcups. They feature a robust spring steel headband with a soft inner headband, and come with a single sided cable gold plated jack plug.
Sound Quality: Featuring an innovative bass reflex system, and a reliability and accuracy that could only be engineered by the Germans, these studio headphones are geared to offer peerless quality for your monitoring, mixing, vocal tracking, or any other activity where sound isolation is paramount.
Pros: These headphones are used in studios all over the world, and for good reason. They are known for their consistent quality and their power handling capacity of 100mW. With readily available replacement earpads and headband parts, these headphones are a long-lasting and excellent choice for your ongoing projects.
Cons: The Beyerdynamic DT series headphones come in range impedances, and models with higher impedance levels require higher power amplifiers to reach the same volume, which may be of slight annoyance to some users.
AKG K361 Closed Studio Headphones
Price: $249.00
Design: These AKG K361 Closed Studio Headphones offer a design that’s as sleek as it is sturdy, with a lightweight build that’s still robust enough to withstand an active lifestyle, and their plush ergonomic earcups are so comfortable you’ll gladly leave them on for hours on end.
Sound Quality: Precision-engineered to reproduce natural, balanced audio with exceptional detail, the AKG K361s allow you to make more confident decisions while mixing and editing. Offering deeper bass and higher highs than any other model in their class, these headphones boast an impressive frequency response of 15 Hz to 28 kHz.
Pros: The AKG K361s offer natural, balanced audio with deep bass and clear highs, making them ideal for detailed mixing and editing.
Cons: The closed-back design, while great for sound isolation, may cause some discomfort or heat buildup during extended use, which can be a drawback for long recording or mixing sessions.
Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO 250 Ohm Open Studio Headphones
Price: $279.00 (down from $299.00)
Design: The Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO 250 Ohm Open Studio Headphones is an open dynamic headphone of supreme quality, perfect for the most demanding professional and audiophile applications. With extremely soft ear pads, adjustable sliding earpieces, and a flexible coiled cable, these headphones ensure comfort during extended listening sessions.
Sound Quality: Known for a more natural, airy sound with a broad soundstage, thes studio headphones are ideal for detailed listening and mixing. The lightweight diaphragm and moving coil provide a pulse characteristic similar to electrostatic headphones, while the precisely tuned frequency response delivers a natural and balanced sound.
Pros: Extremely comfortable and accurate open studio headphones that are expertly designed for hours of mixing and critical listening.
Cons: Their open-back design provides a more natural and spacious soundstage, but also allows sound to leak in and out. If this is an issue for you, then we recommend the Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 Ohm Closed Studio Headphones.
Audio-Technica ATH-M20x Professional Headphones
Price: $99.00
Design: The Audio-Technica ATH-M20x Professional Headphones are engineered to deliver a comfortable listening experience with their rexine padded ear cup cushions, which keep your ears comfy while also ensuring sound isolation and minimum bleed. They are specially designed to facilitate long sessions of 5-6 hours.
Sound Quality: The ATH-M20x features 40mm custom drivers that operate within a frequency range of 15-20,000Hz. With an impedance rating of 47 ohms, these headphones effectively reduce buzzing sounds. They also excel in sound isolation and offer impressive depth. They also offer excellent noise isolation, with the ability to effectively block out a significant amount of external noise.
Pros: These headphones offer excellent clarity and overall performance, with a comfortable fit suitable for extended use. They provide great value for money and feature a robust build quality that withstands regular use.
Cons: The Audio-Technica ATH-M20x may seem like it's a little quieter than some higher end models, and its click-in 1/8-1/4 adapter can sometimes be prone to crackling, but other than that it’s a quality bit of kit.
Buyer's Guide for Budget Studio Headphones
When shopping around for your next set of studio headphones, we recommend that you factor in the following considerations so that you can purchase the best set of headphones for your needs.
- Back Design: Back Design refers to whether the headphones are open-back or closed-back. Open-back headphones have ear cups that are open or have grills, allowing air and sound to pass through. This design provides a more natural and expansive soundstage, making the audio sound like it's coming from around you rather than inside your head. However, open-back headphones offer little to no sound isolation, meaning external noises can be heard, and others nearby can hear what you are listening to. Conversely, closed-back headphones have sealed ear cups that prevent sound from escaping and block external noise from entering. This design provides better sound isolation, making them suitable for recording environments where preventing audio leakage is crucial. They typically offer a more focused and punchy sound but can sometimes feel less natural than open-back headphones
- Isolation Level: The isolation levels refer to how well the headphones block external noise and prevent sound from leaking out. Closed-back headphones typically provide high isolation, as it’s required in studio environments to ensure that the wearer is not disturbed by external noises, and to avoid unwanted sound from leaking into the microphones. On the other hand, open-back headphones provide low isolation, making them less suitable for recording in noisy environments but often preferred for mixing and mastering due to their more accurate and natural sound reproduction.
- Frequency Range: The Frequency Range indicates the spectrum of sound frequencies that the headphones can reproduce. Most studio headphones cover a range from about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, which encompasses the range of human hearing. This is known as the Typical Range. Conversely, there is an Extended Range, which is found in some high-end studio headphones that can offer deeper bass (below 20 Hz) and higher treble (above 20,000 Hz). This can be beneficial for capturing more detail in the audio.
- Impedance: Impedance refers to the electrical resistance of the headphones and affects how much power is needed to drive them. Headphones with Low Impedance (below 50 ohms) require less electrical power to reach a given volume level, and they can be used with portable devices like smartphones and laptops without requiring an external amplifier. They are suitable for casual listening and some studio applications. Headphones with high impedance (above 50 ohms) require more power to achieve optimal performance and often benefit from being used with dedicated headphone amplifiers. They are typically used in professional studio environments where high-quality sound and precise audio reproduction are critical.
Conclusion
Minidisc stocks a wide range of high quality budget studio headphones as well as other premium audio equipment. With over twenty years of industry experience, we are devoted to making each customer’s experience as quick, simple, and enjoyable as possible. Got a question? You can get in touch with our friendly staff via the Minidisc contact us page.