

Open-back and closed-back headphones refer to whether the back of the headphone driver is covered or revealed to the environment. Open-back headphones are great for specific environments but closed-back headphones are more versatile. Should you get open or closed-back headphones? Fortunately, there are plenty of easy-to-use USB interfaces available to streamline your production process. While consumer headsets don’t typically require an amp or DAC, studio headphones often do. Nothing is perfect, but the closer you can get to that ideal studio response, the more accurate your mix will sound across a variety of consumer headsets. This means that the drivers don’t emphasize or de-emphasize any particular note more or less than the others. When looking at our objective readouts in individual reviews, keep an eye out for relatively “flat” response lines. If you’re recording or creating music, you’re going to want a pair of headphones that reproduce a relatively neutral frequency response, to allow for accurate, consistent mixing.

The HD 280 Pro is a passable budget option.Īny set of headphones has a designated frequency response, which indicates how well a particular headset can reproduce all of the tones within a given range (typically 20Hz-20kHz).
