Working with headphones in a DJ, club, or recording studio setting has its own very particular set of highly-specialized challenges and audio requirements. We'll try to address the various ways headphones can function in that demanding environment here!
The first thing to determine your headphone selection is whether you will need "open" or "closed" earcup headphones to best suit your needs... "Closed" (aka 'sealed') headphones have one-piece, non-vented earcups that provide a significant degree of ambient noise blocking (called ''isolation''), thus allowing to clearly hear the music in the headphones without having to crank the listening level to overcome club noise. Naturally, lower volume levels allow for greater concentration and less listening fatigue during long work sessions. But keep in mind that a poorly designed closed-construction headphone can sometimes have a slightly "boxy" sound or accentuate an unnatural bump in the bass response. Conversely, open headphones have fully vented earcups which help to provide a more expansive, airy-sounding overall tonality and better audio detail accuracy throughout the entire frequency range. The huge drawback of open designs is that in loud settings ambient noise will easily leak into the headphones and likely prove very distracting to your work.
Sonically speaking, for club or working DJs, keeping on top of turntable cues, scratch /mix synchronicity and multiple audio sources demands headphones that are especially clear on the top and bottom of the audio ranges. You'll want headphones with really good extension on both the bass response and upper treble detail like, for example, the well-priced, sealed-earcup Ultrasone DJ1Pro, or the Sennheiser HD25-1.
Another major factor to consider is your source, or what you will be plugging the headphones into. Some DJ mixer consoles require the use of low-impedance/ high efficiency headphones since their built-in headphone jacks may not offer enough power to cleanly drive high-impedance headphones to maximum sonic performance. Professional-grade audio mixers usually have slightly better quality headphone outs. The nicely efficient Sennheiser HD280Pro headphones excel at this application and offer good sound quality and a really solid ambient noise seal at a great price. The AKG k-81DJ is another valid option for DJ’s on an extra-tight budget seeking efficiently designed headphones.
Nevertheless, a dedicated headphone amp hooked into your audio output in between your headphones will not only broaden your potential choices of workable 'phones but will also fully maximize the sound quality of any headphone you use. With computer-based recording/mixing applications adding a dedicated headphone amp could prove highly beneficial since many of our amps offer USB connections & internal digital-to-analog converters (DACs) that will easily surpass the performance of even upgraded computer audio soundcards. HeadRoom's smallest amps are found in the easily portable Mobile Line and feature one amp with a USB port Total BitHead and one without Total AirHead which means even our least expensive products can potentially provide big sonic gains that will help your work sound as powerful and accurate as possible. For an bigger jump up the headphone amp food chain, the HeadRoom Micro Amp and Micro DAC products are thoroughly audiophile-grade and provide truly impressive audio performance from any source. The Micro Amp and Micro DAC deliver superb tonal precision, an expansive dynamic range, and ultra-transparent musical detail resolution. The Portable Micro Amp allows for on-the-go listening with rechargable batteries and internal DAC option, providing a small and convenient method for high quality listening and recording in the field. We recommend the Micro products for demanding professionals seeking to accurately analyze the subtle nuances of the recording and/or musical performances.
Finally, if you are DJ who also produces music, you may require two headphones: one for DJ work; the other to do high-quality, realistic mixes with deep access into the subtleties of the recordings. For final mix-down, open 'phones like the HD595 and HD650, the AKG 601 & AKG 701, or beyerdynamic DT-880, will likely have a deeper sense of the the true room sound, better presentation of the overall soundstage image, and clearer access to subtle recording details.