- Wired headphones for making music
- Headphones or wireless headphones for listening
- Choose headphones and earphones that your listeners are likely to have
- Older models tend to get the biggest Black Friday discounts
As a recording musician, I have strong opinions about headphones and earphones because I spend a lot of time using them, both as a music creator and a music fan. And that means I don’t just have one pair of headphones or earphones. I have more than your local Best Buy.
This is because different headsets excel at different things and are useful for different things. For example, if you produce music, you want headphones that don’t flatter your sound: you want to hear the mistakes. If you’re creating music for others to hear, it helps if you listen to it with the same headphones and earbuds they will listen to. And because you’re also a music fan, you also want headphones that make your favorite music sound fantastic.
Finding headphones to do all these different jobs adds up quickly, so I tend to make a wish list and then wait for events like Black Friday so I can get the ones I want for a little less money. These are the ones I recommend you keep an eye on this Black Friday.
The essential: AirPods (or Sony equivalent)
Apple’s AirPods (and their Sony equivalents, such as the WF-1000XM5) are the headphones that many of your listeners will be using, so if you’re creating music for a large audience, you’ll want to check how your own music sounds on a set of them.
Which one you choose depends largely on your budget and personal preferences, but from a purely practical standpoint, the AirPods 4 are much more likely to get decent Black Friday discounts than the AirPods Pro 3.
Keep an eye out for AirPods Pro 2 deals, though: now that Apple has discontinued them, retailers will be moving what stock they have left. They remain a great pair of everyday headphones.
For my daily listening on buses, trains and walking my dog, I actually use different headphones: the Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones, which I’ve had for a few years now and are now available in even better versions – see the new Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd generation) headphones. You really can’t go wrong with Bose headphones, especially when it comes to ANC, but I think a lot more of your fans will be listening with Apple or Sony headphones.
In the studio: Beyerdynamic Pro on-ear
If some weird law made it illegal to own more than one pair of headphones, I’d keep my Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro on my ears.
They are exceptionally comfortable even during very long sessions and deliver a sound that really suits me when I mix: not too flattering, but not too harsh either. They are also well suited for recording vocals because they don’t leak too much sound into the mic. And because they’re wired rather than wireless, there’s no latency, which is crucial for live performances.
I have the 80 ohm versions, but there are 32 ohm versions that are easier to drive for phones and tablets, as well as 250 ohm versions for studio setups.
Because I’m worth it: AirPods Max, B&W Px7 S2, Cambridge Audio Melomania P100, Grado SR80x
The more you test your music with headphones, the more likely you are to spot issues – and I sometimes hear things on my AirPods Max that I didn’t spot when I was using my Beyerdynamics. But in all honesty, the reason I have really good headphones is because I like really good headphones, especially for analyzing or just enjoying other people’s music.
Headphones I’d recommend in this category also include the superb Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 (there’s a newer model but the S2 is where the deals are) and the very impressive and aggressively priced Melomania P100 from Cambridge Audio, as well as wired options such as Grado’s SR80x. These are the headphones you buy because you’re worth them.
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