Best DJ headphones 2026: Beat-perfect cans and in-ears for every budget

DJing, like any form of performance, can be an extremely intimate thing. This is true in a philosophical sense: whether you’re playing out to a party of one or a room of thousands, it still comes down to just you and your tracks, to a careful combination of selection and skill. But it’s also sort-of true in a literal sense. Everything coming out of the mains is the fruit of your labour, for everyone else to hear – but in your DJ headphones something very different is taking place, and it’s yours alone.

That something is, of course, your cue mix: the private audio feed through which you audition tracks, find your cue points and manage your transitions, all in the name of a seamless sonic journey for everyone else in the room, on the stream or listening to the recorded results on Mixcloud. That cue mix is your lifeline, and you want to make sure you have the best possible grasp of it. Which means owning a pair of the best DJ headphones.

Realistically, any set of wired headphones can be used as a pair of monitor headphones for DJing. But not all of them will be good at it. DJ headphones have a few jobs to do: give you a clear and honest representation of your cue mix, including the EQ moves you’re making; isolate your ears from the aural distractions of your surroundings; and, in live scenarios, defeat the loud, rumbling tidal wave that is the main PA mix in the process. The best DJ headphones can do all three, and remain comfortable all the while.

Of course, everyone’s tastes will differ when it comes to what constitutes the single best DJ headphones on the market. This is precisely why I’ve gathered the best for this guide, each of which excel in a different category.

In my opinion, the Sennheiser HD25s are amongst the best headphones for DJs around, providing a closed-back design that rejects external noise with a high level of attenuation to ensure you can hear yourself on a loud stage. If you need something a bit cheaper, check out the Pioneer DJ HDJ Cue 1, which delivers a lot of value for money.

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Best overall

While everyone will have their own personal preferences and tastes, the Sennheiser HD 25 is as close as you’ll find to a universally well-loved set of cans. The HD 25s are designed specifically for monitoring, providing high levels of attenuation over external noise and the ability to cope with extreme volumes with ease.

They feature a rotatable capsule for single-ear listening, and while the leatherette pads aren’t the most comfortable in the world, they certainly perform better than others in the same price bracket.

Expert Verdict: Sennheiser HD 25

Expert Verdict: Sennheiser HD 25

Dave Clews

"Great for listening, DJ-ing, location recording and tracking, but perhaps not the best choice for mixing on, the HD 25’s are Senn-sational, all-round workhorse headphones that you should be able to rely on for years to come."

Read more: Sennheiser HD 25 review

Best budget option

Pioneer DJ’s budget headphones take many of the winning design choices from the brand’s more expensive HDJs – feature elsewhere in this guide – and bring them down to a price point to suit beginners and cash-strapped DJs.

While the sonic specs, such as impedance and frequency response, don’t quite match Pioneer’s top-end cans, they’re still very impressive for a set of entry level DJ headphones. Sonically, these outstrip many of the more expensive pairs on the market.

The thing we like most about the Cue1s though is their styling. Many budget sets of DJ headphones tend to look cheap and toy-like – HF125s we’re looking at you – but the Cue1s have a stylish and pro-feeling design, which can be customised by purchasing replacement coloured ear pads and cables. The sharp look is matched by some DJ-friendly design touches, such as the lightweight, foldable body and detachable cables.

If you want to go fully wireless, Pioneer also produces a Cue1 BT model offering Bluetooth functionality for around £30/$30 more.

Best lightweight option

Given their look, it doesn’t take an expert to work out that the HDJ-CXs (£120) are Pioneer’s answer to Sennheiser’s industry-leading HD25s. Much like that widely-used set of DJ cans, the HDJ-CXs are designed to be lightweight but robust, making them ideal for DJs regularly shifting them on and off the ear.

They also feature easily replaceable cables and accessories, which should extend their lifespan, especially for regularly gigging DJs. That said, they’re not quite as ‘rebuildable’ as the HD25s.

Where Pioneer believes its cans have the edge over the competition is in the sound, as well as the level of comfort over long periods of use. Whether that’s enough to topple the champs in this sector remains to be seen!

Best for durability

The V-Moda brand has been widely well-regarded for its DJ-friendly headphone fare, and particularly for the sheer customisability of earlier iterations. Today, under Roland, that customisability may not be quite the same – but the ruggedness and repairability still very much is, as demonstrated by the V-Moda M-100 Pro.

The M-100 Pro boast 45mm ceramic drivers with an extremely precise, articulate sound to them. These drivers are housed in bombproof earcup enclosures, with replaceable pads and shields for a relative lifetime of wear. Each earcup swivels for ease of single-ear listening, and an audio output on each earcup means you can pick which one hosts the cable.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better-designed set of DJ headphones, even if that pointy aesthetic doesn’t quite win over everyone. They’re also a little on the pricey side, but that price buys something that sounds great and won’t quit on you.

EXPERT VERDICT: V-MODA M-100 PRO

EXPERT VERDICT: V-MODA M-100 PRO

Jon Musgrave

“The M-100 Pro is designed for DJs and beat makers, offering punchy loud delivery in a stylish and robust design. If that’s what you’re after, then the M-100 Pro is a must-try option.”

Read more: V-Moda M-100 Pro review

Best for customisation

Danish brand AIAIAI delivers a bit of Scandi design flair with its TMA-2 range. The real hook with this range comes in your ability to design your own dream setup. From the types of drivers employed to the headband and cable – everything is up for customising here, depending on your requirements.

There are, however, a selection of models available as ‘presets’ if you’re not interested in the process of choosing your own. One such design is this DJ-centric setup, which is spec’d for powerful, bass-heavy sound and includes a robust, reinforced headband.

Higher up the price range, AIAIAI has also recently released the new TMA-2 Studio Wireless+ headphones, which are created in collaboration with Richie Hawtin. These boast ‘ultra-low latency lossless’ Bluetooth audio, although come in at nearly twice the price of the standard DJ configuration – and we’re not convinced it’s worth shelling out on wireless functionality in the DJ booth.

Best for live use

Audio-Technica is well-respected in the DJ world, and the ATH-M50x’s do a great job of showing why. They’re well-built headphones, for a start, which look like they could survive years of service before they give out. We also liked the over-ear design which, when combined with the closed back, means isolation from external noise is great.

There are a couple of DJ-specific tricks too, like swivelling earcups and interchangeable cables, making for a solid mid-range choice all round.

Expert verdict: Audio-Technica ATH-MX50

Expert verdict: Audio-Technica ATH-MX50

Daniel Griffiths

"The M50x may be more expensive than the outgoing M50 (which is now under £100) but it's worth it. And if £100 is your limit try the M40x or bag an old M50."

Read more: Audio Technica ATH-MX50 review

Best for balance

Another big brand in the DJ world, Pioneer has as much heritage as anyone so you’d assume its upper-mid range headphones would be good. You’d be right too! The Pioneer DJ HDJ-X10 are over-ear closed back headphones with what Pioneer claims is the widest frequency range in any DJ-specific headphones. Quite a claim, but we can attest to the great listening experience we had from them. The highs were high, the lows were low, and everything was a balanced and clear as you’d hope.

Pioneer also says the HDJ-X10 were subjected to ‘military grade’ testing while they were being developed, so you’d imagine they’d stand up to small to medium sized venue use pretty well.

Best wireless

The AlphaTheta HDJ-F9 are the latest wireless on-ear DJ headphones from camp AlphaTheta/Pioneer, and a great example of what good wireless can be. The SonicLink protocol is ultra speedy, promising a latency as low as 9ms. When combined with newer AlphaTheta/PioneerDJ equipment like the SonicLink-compatible DJM-V5 mixer, this wireless connectivity is a convenient dream; you just tap the F9 up against it, and they connect immediately. For non-SonicLink devices, you’ll need a separate transmitter unit, which runs the bill up a little; a small shame, but no dealbreaker.

Using Bluetooth, the HDJ-F9 can run for up to 25 hours; using SonicLink, they can run for up to 9. If you’re the nervous type, and prone to a long rehearsal before a long live set, you’re not likely to want to rely on SonicLink to see you through – and good thing too, as the F9 won’t charge during active use. Luckily, there’s a 3.5mm output on-board too for conventional, passive, wired use.

I won’t lie: these are a little expensive, and even more so if you want to use that low-latency wirelessness with older DJ equipment. But they’re undeniably good value, both for the quality of that connectivity and the general quality of sound on display. If you want to lose the wire, this is a good set to think about starting with.

Best in-ears

Typically, in-ear monitors (IEMs) excel at completely blocking you off from the outside world. They are traditionally used by musicians, so they can hear what their fellow performers are playing and ensure they stay in time, tune and sync with each other.

And, while the Westone Audio AM Pro X 10 IEMs perform this task admirably, they also warrant inclusion on the list thanks to their passive ambience functionality. Essentially, thanks to some clever filtering, the AM Pro X 10s do let in some noise, so you get the best of both worlds. A clear feed of what you’re playing, and then an idea of how the crowd is hearing it too.

We loved the included carry case, and the different ear-tips, which meant we could find the perfect fit for our ears. The cable is fairly short, so you might need to factor in an extension, but otherwise, there’s a lot to like here - especially if you’re yearning for an end to spending your evenings with bulky over-ear cans on.

Expert verdict: Westone AM Pro X

Expert verdict: Westone AM Pro X

Chris Corfield

"For the price, the Westone AM Pro X10 monitors are in a field of their own. Passive ambience and high-quality build make for a compelling overall package."

Read more: Westone AM Pro X review

Best budget in-ears

Sennheiser is one of a few brands duking it out in the entry level when it comes to in-ear monitors – and it’s one of the best to do it, too. The IE 100 Pro are a pair of single-driver IEMs designed principally for musicians to use on stage (though there is also a Bluetooth-equipped dongle accessory that makes them useful for wireless day-to-day listening); they also lend themselves very well to DJing.

The IE 100 Pro have a full frequency range, albeit with a little bit of high-end roll-off and a little bit of a lacklustre low end. Don’t mistake that lack of weight for a lack of detail, though; there’s a shedload of information in these things, and it separates individual elements well. The star of the show is the isolation, which does a great job of keeping the main PA out and letting you focus purely on what’s in your ears.

It’s in this way that the IE 100 Pro are particularly successful as budget in-ear monitors for DJing. In lively rooms with unruly sound, these are a great compact option for controlling your own monitoring situation, and keeping yourself in the groove.

EXPERT VERDICT: SENNHEISER IE 100 PRO

EXPERT VERDICT: SENNHEISER IE 100 PRO

James Grimshaw

“The Sennheiser IE 100 Pro are a set of passive in-ear monitors aimed at the budget end of the price spectrum - and in my view, they exemplify value for money. They provide exactly what you want to be hearing in loud environments, they do a great job of isolating you from what you don’t want to hear, and they’re comfortable for long stretches too. I wouldn’t recommend them for at-home mixing, but they lend themselves well to musicians, FOH engineers and gigging DJs alike.”

Read more: Sennheiser IE 100 Pro review

Spec comparison

How to choose

Choosing a pair of DJ headphones is a different process from choosing, say, studio or home listening headphones, as they are engineered for differing requirements. For example, the most important quality of studio headphones is the ability to reproduce the sound as accurately as possible to aid in mixing and mastering.

In contrast, many headphones designed purely for music listening will flatter the sound, boosting the bass or applying a ‘loudness’ EQ to increase its impact.

But when you’re DJing, you’re not focused on the subtle nuances in the music for making minor EQ adjustments, nor are you reclining and enjoying that rich, deep bass from a new track. DJs have different headphone requirements.

They need to be able to hear the mixer signal clearly above the noise of large club sound systems and the crowd, so the quality of the signal and the effectiveness of the earpieces in reducing external noise should be central considerations in your buying decision.

Design & durability

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When considering your DJ kit, the build quality of your headphones is a crucial factor. Your headphones are likely to be the most used item in your kit. They will accompany you to and from your gigs, be adjusted all night, taken on and off, and then stuffed in your bag at the end of the evening. Therefore, they need to be hardwearing. This knowledge empowers you to make an informed decision.

Remember, cheap headphones are always a false economy. Investing in a decent set of headphones is a decision you won't regret in the long term. Just make sure you don’t leave them in the booth after your gig!

Comfort is a major consideration for DJ headphones that might not seem immediately obvious. You’re going to be wearing your headphones for hours on end, often in hot, sweaty conditions, so getting a pair that fits well and is as comfortable as possible is not just important, it's vital. Your comfort matters.

The headphones in our guide range from larger models that fit completely over the ears to smaller headphones that sit on rather than over the ears (called, helpfully, ‘over-ear’ and ‘on-ear’ headphones). There can sometimes be a pay-off between the comfort offered by lightweight on-ear headphones and the sound isolation capabilities of heavier over-ear headphones, which should be considered, too.

FAQs

Glossary

Unsure about some of the terms used in this guide? We've got your back...

Beatmatching: Beatmatching is the practice of synchronising one track with another, by aligning beats and matching their BPMs. This is typically done in DJ headphones, using cue mixes to align tracks and enable clean blends.

Bluetooth: A wireless communications standard used by hi-fi equipment to transmit audio over high-frequency radio. It’s typically high-latency, meaning conventional wireless headphones are not suitable for DJing with; low-latency wireless DJ headphones do exist, though, some of which feature in this guide.

BPM: This stands for ‘beats per minute’, referring to the tempo of songs and beat effects.

Closed-back: Closed-back headphones have earcups with completely enclosed bodies. Closed-back designs make for the best DJ headphones, on account of their passive sound isolation properties.

Cue mix: The cue mix is the mix that plays through the headphone output of a DJ mixer, and which enables the auditioning, cueing and blending of tracks separately from the main mixer output.

Driver: In headphones, the driver is the part that receives an electrical signal and converts it into kinetic energy – hence, sound. On- or over-ear headphones typically have one driver per earcup, but in-ear monitors can use multiple drivers in order to build a full frequency range.

EQ: Stands for equalisation, and can refer to the sonic profile or frequency response of a pair of DJ headphones; it also refers to the control of frequencies on a DJ mixer, whether using channel EQs, isolators or a filter effect.

Frequency range: This describes the window of sound a pair of DJ headphones can reproduce; the average frequency range of human hearing is 20Hz – 20kHz, so most viable DJ headphones meet this range as a minimum.

Frequency response: Refers to the sonic profile of a pair of DJ headphones, where some frequency bands may be emphasised over others. Frequency response is, occasionally, also used to refer to frequency range.

Impedance: A pair of headphones’ impedance is the ‘load’ it presents to an electronic sound source like a DJ mixer, as presented in Ohms. This load can impact volume and fidelity in subtle ways; higher-impedance headphones are preferred in studio settings, while lower-impedance headphones are happier working with smartphone or laptop aux outputs.

In-ear monitors (IEMs): Earbuds designed with a flat frequency response in mind, and a full range of frequencies on tap. In-ear monitors are a low-profile alternative to DJ headphones, and in some instances better-suited. For instance, loud live environments present a risk of hearing damage to performing DJs, and in-ear monitors provide better passive protection from those high volumes (provided you keep the volume of your headphone mix low, of course).

Isolation: In the context of DJ headphones, this refers to the passive isolation of your ears from external sound. Closed-back headphones are better for passive sound isolation, enabling you to focus on the cue mix without being distracted by sounds elsewhere in the room – live sound systems included.

Latency/Low latency: Latency is the delay experienced by an audio signal when it passes through a digital signal chain, including Bluetooth transmission. Latency is created where audio processing takes time; in DJing, high latency ultimately means a delay between doing something and hearing it. This is why Bluetooth headphones are typically unsuitable for DJing, since they can cause a latency of up to hundreds of milliseconds – long enough to impact your performance. specially-designed low-latency wireless headphones exist that cut latency down as low as an imperceptible 9ms.

Lossless: Lossless audio is audio that hasn’t lost any information since its initial production. Audio becomes lossy with certain digital compression algorithms, and with certain wireless communication protocols. The best wireless DJ headphones use lossless, low-latency audio codecs for transmission of information from mixer to headphones.

On-ear: On-ear headphones have small earcups, and are designed to sit on top of your ear as opposed to around them. They can be less claustrophobic-feeling than over-ear headphones, often at the expense of long-term comfort.

Open-back: Open-back headphones have earcups with vented or open-grille backs. Open-back headphones have sonic benefits over closed-back headphones in studio environments, but are less optimal for performance, due to poor sound isolation.

Over-ear: Over-ear headphones have earcups that fit around the ear, cushioning it completely from the outside world.

How we test DJ headphones

Our guide to the best headphones for DJs is based on the experiences of our team of writers and reviewers. What we look for in a set of headphones for DJ use isn’t exactly the same as the way we’d test a set of headphones for studio or home use. Of course, it comes down to sound quality in part; we’ll use each set of headphones to play tracks we know well so we can hear the nuances and differences. In the case of DJ headphones we’ll focus particularly on electronic, pop and dance music.

As much as the sound though, the criteria for testing a set of DJ headphones comes down to how they feel in use. A good pair of cans for mixing need to feel comfortable but reliable. How heavy are they when worn around the neck for long periods? How easy is it to get them on and off your ears when beatmatching? Do they feel sturdy enough to stand up to regular gigging and if anything breaks, how easy are parts to replace?

Find out more about how we test music gear and services at MusicRadar.

Why you can trust us

With more than 17 years of experience, MusicRadar is the premier music-making website in the world. Run by musicians for musicians, we offer expertly written gear round-ups and high-quality, authoritative reviews by an extensive team of highly experienced industry professionals.

We also interview world-renowned musicians and stars about their creative processes and the nuts and bolts of their gear and technique. This gives fans an insight into the actual craft of music-making that no other music website can.

But that's not all. We also provide excellent tuition, from bite-sized tips to advanced techniques and guidance from recognised musicians.

As well as delivering high quality written reviews and features, we also produce a wealth of video content on YouTube. MusicRadarTV is where you'll find all of our access-all-areas interviews, hot gear demos and exclusive video lessons.

Below you'll find more information on the authors of this guide.

Chris Corfield

Chris Corfield is a journalist with over 12 years of experience writing for some of the music world's biggest brands including Orange Amplification, MusicRadar, Guitar World, Total Guitar and Dawsons Music. Chris loves getting nerdy about everything from guitar and bass gear, to synths, microphones, DJ gear and music production hardware.

Si Truss

I'm the Managing Editor of Music Technology at MusicRadar and former Editor-in-Chief of Future Music, Computer Music and Electronic Musician. I've been messing around with music tech in various forms for over two decades. I've also spent the last 10 years forgetting how to play guitar. Find me in the chillout room at raves complaining that it's past my bedtime.

Harold Heath

Harold Heath is a UK music writer and author. A DJ since the late 80s, Harold also produced a few hundred singles and remixes and two artist albums, and worked as a performer, ghostwriter and music-technology teacher. His first book Long Relationships: My Incredible Journey From Unknown DJ to Smalltime DJ was published in 2021.

James Grimshaw

James Grimshaw is a freelance writer and music obsessive with over a decade of experience in music and audio writing. He's lent his audio-tech opinions (amongst others) to the likes of Guitar World, MusicRadar and the London Evening Standard – before which, he covered everything music and Leeds through his section-editorship of national e-magazine The State Of The Arts. When he isn't blasting esoteric noise-rock around the house, he's playing out with esoteric noise-rock bands in DIY venues across the country. James has also been DJing as a side hustle for the past couple of years.

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