If you are on a tight budget but love listening to music on something that sounds better than a pair of tin cans, you should take a look at this list of the 7 best budget headphones. Just like in the list of the 3 best budget laptops of 2015, we are looking for the best price to quality ratio but below a certain amount. Given that a good pair of headphones can run into the hundreds with ease, we could easily set our threshold at a hundred dollars for an acceptable pair of HiFi or studio monitoring grade headphones (depending on what you intend to use them for). However, for this list, we will be looking at seven pairs of cans that will not put a hole in your pocket bigger than $50. I know many people out there imagine a good pair budget headphones as a twenty dollar pair that sounds like a two hundred dollar pair and lasts years and years of abuse. However, such mythical beast has not yet been discovered, although somewhere at a small factory in China someone may already be working on it. For now, if you want to experience a good level of sound clarity and not listen to your favorite songs like they are coming from underneath a swamp, you should be ready to sacrifice fifty dollars or less.
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Let’s clear up one thing first, though. “Monitor” and “HiFi” are words you will see thrown around a lot when looking for a pair of headphones. You will see either on ten dollar pairs and a thousand dollar pairs and the difference is that the latter possibly mean what they say. Monitor speakers and headphones are designed to represent the sound that is being fed into them absolutely accurately. They will not be bass boosted and they will not have more expressed mids or highs, they will push to be as precise as possible. HiFi gear is usually “colored” to sound a lot more entertaining and beautiful to people. This means that the speaker and its enclosure (in loudspeakers as well as headphones) will be designed in such a way that whatever you play, they will emphasize certain frequencies that the majority of people like being more pronounced. The problem with both is that they were used as terms correctly many years ago. Unless you are buying the top of the line type of product or something with facts about it and a reputation that confirms the claims of its makers, you can’t trust these two words. Many lines will call their headphones “Monitor Headphones” just because they have a slightly flatter sound curve (a curve across the frequency spectrum of the headphones which shows which frequency groups are emphasized and which are more humbly represented). Others will slap “HiFi” on anything that is slightly more expensive than their other models.
There are many things to consider when choosing a pair of headphones. Let’s start with something as basic as their impedance. Think of impedance as electric resistance, only applied to magnets. Low impedance headphones require a less powerful source of sound to get loud, i.e. your phone, laptop or mp3 player. Higher impedance headphones will require an amplifier or just any boosting type of circuitry such as that found in external soundcards and mixers. Low impedance for headphones starts at 32 Ohms (the standard for consumer headphones and earphones) and high gets up to 600 Ohms and more. What is more to consider is their level of openness, being open, semi-open and closed, meaning how much noise insulation they provide and then whether they are on-ear or cover your ear. There is much more but let’s take a look at seven models which will leave you will little to consider, ranked by opinions on Amazon, the HeadFi forum and my own experience, having owned half of them.
7. Sennheiser HD 201
Price: $21
Starting off this list is one of the most renowned companies with a pair of headphones that is so common and sought after just because it delivers a very balanced performance at its measly cost. Cons include lack of bass response and cheap feeling build.
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6. Koss PortaPro
Price: $35.00
Like a blast from the past, the PortPros come straight from the dawn of MTV and colorful shorts, delivering amazing performance at that price and form factor. They are, however, designed as a pair to take on the go and not as something you would use in a studio (obviously).
5. Panasonic RP-HTX7-G1
Price:$35.85
Advertised as “monitor” headphones, this pair comes completely closed and pretty comfortable to wear in long sessions. You could use them as an aspiring musician for your bedroom studio recordings but these are still nothing to sit in front of a serious console with.
4. Sennheiser HD419
Price:$32.99
A step up from our number seven and double the price, the HD419s are a pair of headphones that you will not regret buying due to their excellent performance in the price range. Just like the HD201s, though, some people might find them lacking bass.
3. Monoprice 108232
Price: $31.74
Hooray for cheap Chinese clones of headphones you’d have to sell a kidney for. This pair of monoprice headphones are called advertised as “Monoprice Hi-Fi DJ Style Acoustic Pro Studio Headphones” and despite looking overhyped, sound pretty good for their price range according to many.
2. Audio-Technica ATH M20x
Price: $49.00
This second spot is kind of a cheat since they might cost a couple dollars more than 50, depending on where you buy them but the Audio-Technica ATH M20x are probably the entry level studio headphones any aspiring musician on a budget should buy. The come closed with a precise sound reproduction curve and also look quite good, aside from being quite comfortable for longer wearing.
1. Superlux HD668B
Price: $42.89
However, the crown of the 7 best budget headphones as of the writing of this article goes to the Superlux HD668Bs which at their price offer outstanding sound quality and come with a removable cable. They are semi-open and fit comfortably over your ear, using two pads to hold onto your head instead of a headband. Truly a worthy purchase, no matter what budget you are on.
