Headphones are a core tool for many Berklee courses, particularly those involving recording, mixing, and critical listening. Because students work in a variety of environments—typically outside of a traditional studio—having appropriate headphones is essential for accurately monitoring audio.

Professional vs. Consumer

Headphones are often described as either professional or consumer models. Professional headphones are generally designed for critical listening tasks such as recording, mixing, and monitoring, and therefore trend towards a more neutral or balanced frequency response so that the user can hear as true of a representation of the audio as possible. Consumer headphones, on the other hand, are more often tuned for enjoyable listening and may emphasize frequencies in the bass or treble ranges to create a more engaging or ‘fun’ sound.

Utility

There are several common use cases for headphones, each with different priorities:

Mixing
Headphones suited for mixing usually aim for a neutral, balanced frequency response to support accurate monitoring. While headphones cannot fully replace studio monitors in a tuned environment, many professional models provide a very reliable reference. Engineers often learn the characteristics of their headphones and compensate for any coloration.

Mastering
Mastering places a high emphasis on accuracy and detail. Open-back headphones are often preferred due to their more natural soundstage and reduced resonance.

Recording
For recording, minimizing sound bleed into microphones is the primary concern. Closed-back headphones with good isolation are typically used in live recording environments.

Casual Listening and Reference Checking
For casual listening, comfort and convenience features such as isolation, wireless connectivity, and adjustable EQ are often prioritized. From a production perspective, referencing mixes on consumer headphones can also be useful, as they reflect common real-world listening conditions.

Recommendations

Below are our recommendations for headphones for a variety of use cases. Our recommendations are divided into the following categories:

• Foundational: A great starting point that will serve almost all use cases, easy gear to build upon.
• Advanced: A slightly higher point of entry, price-wise. These headphones may have some more unique features or higher-end materials and build-quality.
• Premium: These headphones are for when budget is not a concern. None of these models are required for our courses, but these high-end options are worth mentioning.

Foundational

Closed-Back

Sony MDR-7506

• Closed-back, dynamic
• Driver: 40 mm
• Impedance: 24 Ω (at 1 kHz)
• Frequency response: 10 Hz to 20 kHz

 

Audio-Technica ATH-M40x

 

• Closed-back, dynamic
• Driver: 40 mm
• Impedance: 35 Ω
• Frequency response: 15 Hz to 24 kHz
• Detachable cable helps with longevity and is replaceable

 

Sennheiser HD 280

• Closed-back, dynamic
• Impedence: 64 Ω
• Frequency response: 8 Hz to 25 kHz
• Detachable cable

 

 

 

Open-Back

Philips Audio SHP9500

 

• Open-back
• Driver: 50 mm
• Impedance: 32 Ω
• Frequency response: 6 Hz to 35 kHz
• Detachable cable

Note that these headphones have a very extended frequency response, which in theory means they should very easily be able to handle the audible frequency spectrum cleanly, as they're designed to greatly exceed the range in which we can hear.

 

 

Semi-Open

AKG K240 Studio

• Semi-open
• Driver: 30 mm
• Impedance: 55 Ω
• Frequency response: 15 Hz to 25 kHz
• Detachable cable

 

 

Advanced

Closed-Back

 Beyerdynamic 770

• Closed-back
• Impedance: 80 Ω
• Frequency response: 5 Hz to 35 kHz
• Detachable cable

Note that the 770, 880 and 990 are all from the same family, but offer different workflows of closed, semi-open and open respectively.

 

Audio-Technica ATH-M50x 

 

• Closed-back, dynamic
• Driver: 45 mm
• Impedance: 38 Ω
• Frequency response: 15 Hz to 28 kHz
• Detachable cable

Shure SRH840A

• Closed-back, dynamic (neodymium)
• Driver: 40 mm
• Impedance: 40 Ω
• Frequency response: 5 Hz to 25 kHz
• Detachable cable

 

 

 

Open-Back

Sennheiser 6xx

The Sennheiser HD 6XX is essentially a reissue/revision of the Sennheiser HD 650, created with the website Drop. It’s widely treated as part of the same HD 600 / HD 650 family, which would also be a recommendation.

 

• Type: Open-back, dynamic
• Frequency response: 10 Hz to 41 kHz
• Impedance: 300 Ω
• Detachable cable

Note that due to the impedance of these headphones, a headphone amp, or an interface which is capable of driving them is strongly recommended.

 

 

 

Premium

In the premium range, any headphones by Audeze or Focal would be an excellent addition, with a very strong mention to the Sennheiser HD800 headphones too. It is worth mentioning that we don't typically recommend headphones in this price range for most students, and a solid headphone amp would be worthwhile to take full advantage of them. 

Other Mentions

Steven Slate Audio VSX Headphones

Another set of headphones worth mentioning for their novel approach to monitoring are the Steven Slate Audio VSX headphones for mixing. These headphones are modelling, and use software to aim to replicate the audio experience in noted studios, clubs, cars and even model other headphones mentioned in this article, along with AirPods and iPhone speakers. 

It's important to note that without the software, the VSX headphones aren't typically recommended for use as they have a very unique bypassed profile that allows the software to work at it's best with them. Because of this design, you will not get the benefit when using with anything outside of a Mac or PC with the VSX software installed. 

However, in practice the results of the VSX software give the user a very wide range of listening environments to compare their mixes and are a novel and creative approach to monitoring headphones for mixing.

Apple AirPods

While mixing on AirPods is not typically recommended, it can't be denied that they are one of the most ubiquitous and popular headphones available today. Because of this, it's important to consider listening to your mixes on AirPods to get an impression how a large swathe of listeners will hear your music.