- Wired headphones for making music.
- Wireless headphones or earbuds 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 on 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 have just one pair of headphones or earbuds. I have more than your local Best Buy.
This is because different headphones and earphones excel in different areas and are useful for different things. For example, if you’re producing music, you want headphones that don’t favor your audio: you want to hear any mistakes. If you are making music for others to listen to, it will help you to listen to it with the same headphones and earphones that they will listen to. And since you’re also a music fan, you also want headphones that make your favorite music sound fantastic.
Finding headphones to do all those different jobs soon adds up, 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 that I recommend you take into account for this Black Friday.
The essential: AirPods (or Sony equivalent)
Apple’s AirPods (and Sony equivalents, like the WF-1000XM5) are the headphones that many of your listeners will use, so if you’re making music for a wide audience, you’ll want to check out how your own music sounds on a set of these.
Which one you choose depends largely on budget and personal preference, but from a purely practical perspective, the AirPods 4 are much more likely to get decent discounts on Black Friday than the AirPods Pro 3.
Keep an eye out for AirPods Pro 2 deals, though: Now that Apple has discontinued them, retailers will be shifting what stock they have left. They are still a great pair of headphones for everyday use.
For everyday listening on buses, trains, and dog walks, I use different headphones: the Bose QuietComfort 2 headphones, which I’ve had for a few years and are now available in even better versions; Check out the new Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones (2nd generation). You really can’t go wrong with Bose headphones, especially when it comes to ANC, but I think many more of your fans will listen with Apple or Sony headphones.
In the studio: Beyerdynamic Pro over-ear headphones
If some weird law made it illegal to own more than one pair of headphones, I’d keep my Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro headphones.
They are exceptionally comfortable even during very long sessions and offer a sound that really works for me when I’m mixing: not too flattering, but not painfully harsh either. They are also very suitable for recording vocals, as they do not leak too much audio into the microphone. And because they’re wired instead of wireless, there’s zero latency, which is crucial in 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 headphones you try with your music, the more likely you are to detect problems, and sometimes I hear things on my AirPods Max that I didn’t detect when using my Beyerdynamics. But honestly, the reason I have really nice headphones is because I like really nice headphones, especially for analyzing or just enjoying other people’s music.
Headphones I would recommend in this group also include the superb Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 (there is a newer model, but the S2 is where the deals are) and Cambridge Audio’s very impressive and aggressively priced Melomania P100, as well as wired options like Grado’s SR80x. These are the headphones you buy because they’re worth it.
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