TOP 5 full-size over-ear headphones for music lovers

In the assortment of most headphone manufacturers, two extremes are easily found: on the one hand, flagship models with biting price tags and the functionality of an Inspector Gadget's wheelbarrow, on the other, the usual models without the bells and whistles that most people buy. In the case of JBL, the role of people's headphones was taken over by the Tune family. Or just JBL T. As statistics show, the JBL Tune 700BT wireless model, released in the spring of 2020, is of the greatest interest to the public.

And this interest is well founded. At a price of $60, they give exactly what you expect from good headphones in 2020. For starters, the battery life is impressive. According to JBL, the battery lasts about 27 hours, but in our case they were discharged after about 25 hours. The headphones were connected to the smartphone via Bluetooth all the time and played at a volume of 70 - 80% of the maximum. Even if 25 hours of work is not 60, like the "long-liver" Dali IO-4, but it's still impressive. At the same time, they have a rather comfortable headband and ear cushions that are pleasant to the touch, thanks to which the headphones sit comfortably on the head, do not hang out and do not put pressure on the ears. Adding more versatility is wired connectivity, multipoint support, and swivel and foldable ear cups that make it easy to carry the headphones. Only the buttons for switching tracks and controlling the volume turned out to be unsuccessful, which overlap each other.

As for the sound, there is a classic JBL without any surprises. JBL marketers were targeting young people who prefer pop, hip-hop and electronics, so basses rule the roost. However, he does not climb too much to the fore, covering the rest of the instruments. Yes, and the character has become softer, or something. Models that we had on tests a couple of years ago often played with anguish, as if the last song was playing at the party, and tomorrow it was work. As for the detailing and construction of the scene, everything is tolerable, but no more. However, this is not so much a model for audiophiles as universal everyday headphones, so we will not demand such tricks from them.

The ATH series of headphones from the Japanese brand Audio-Technica has long been respected by both professional sound engineers and ordinary music lovers who are looking for maximum sound quality at a reasonable price. In this case, the younger models of the line will be out of competition, which cost a little more than the mass market models from JBL and Sony, but in terms of sound quality they are one (or maybe two) steps higher.

If we compare the ATH-M30x with older models, we will see an almost identical design and similar characteristics: 40 mm dynamic drivers, low impedance for adequate work with portable players and smartphones (47 ohms in this case) and traditionally "adult" sound is actually studio level. At least that's what we expected. In fact, it turned out to be a noticeable difference from the reference ATH-M50x with their monitor sound. Here the sound is darker: the upper frequencies are not so airy, and the bass, on the contrary, is more noticeable, aggressive and percussive. And with the stage, the 30s work not so subtly, as if the instruments are standing right in front of the listener, creating a powerful wall of sound.

In general, this suggests a comparison rather with some JBL on steroids that bassheads love. If you are looking for a more honest and delicate sound, then you better look towards the more sophisticated and expensive model ATH-M50x.

Now, great news: both appearance and design are almost identical to the most popular model in the ATH-M50x line: solid build, reliable headband design, thick, soft ear cushions rotate in two directions, making the headphones easy to assemble and hide in a case. When unfolded, they sit comfortably on the head, and thanks to soft velor ear cushions, the ears are less tired during the heat. But the package is simpler to reduce the price: instead of a pair of interchangeable cables, we got only one non-removable one and a carrying case is simpler here.

It's no secret that many brands take a different approach when designing studio headphones and regular models for listening to music. In the first case, the model must meet a number of requirements (moderately flat frequency response, sound detail and dynamics, durability of the structure), and it will be judged by professionals. In the second case, it is not necessary to match something; bright packaging and advertising with Cristiano Ronaldo or Dr. Dre. Therefore, it is not surprising that many music lovers buy studio headphones in pair with a hi-fi player.

A great example of this is the SRH940 over-ear headphones from the American brand Shure.

And it is precisely this “studio-ness” of theirs that is indicated by numerous reviews on foreign and domestic forums and music parties: the sound is extremely detailed, with an excellent balance between the heaviness of the bass and the lightness of the high frequencies. Everything sounds exactly as the sound engineer who mixed the album intended, and not the Beats engineers, who raised the peak around 100 Hz by 5 - 6 dB, just to make the bass pump even in the subway. Most of all we liked their, if you will, "musicality". The Shure SRH940 makes you want to listen to music again and again, they do not tyre you with dryness or unnecessary analytics, like many other studio headphones.

In general, the last paragraph in itself is a serious bid to buy. But do not rush, there is another side of the coin. Shure screwed up with the design, which turned their lifespan into a rather expensive lottery. For some users, they work without problems for 2-3 years, for others, plastic arms crack after six months of operation. Considering how convenient the design turned out, this becomes doubly insulting. How can one not recall the story with the recent Focal Listen Pro, which also played at the level of headphones with twice the price tag, but could fail after a year or two of use?

The Danish brand Dali is well known to all fans of hi-fi acoustics, but these guys are really newcomers to the headphone market. Realizing this, they were in no hurry to go anywhere, for a start they went through a dozen prototypes of varying degrees of success. Until, finally, they got really competitive headphones that meet all the requirements of the time. And it’s true that this is never a Chinese OEM - a separate R&D team was founded to create them, which for several years poached specialists from competitors. Looking ahead, we note that all this was not in vain. Dali IO-4 not only meet modern requirements, but surpass them in many ways. For example, how do you like the ability to work up to 60 hours on a single battery? Of course, here you need to take into account many different factors, such as the sound source and volume, so we immediately say that during the entire test we were not able to defuse them.

The list of additional benefits of Dali IO-4 can stretch for several paragraphs, so let's go over the most important ones. First of all, we highlight a well-thought-out control system, water protection of the case, universal USB-C for charging and listening to music from a laptop, as well as damn comfortable ear cushions with “memory” foam, reinforced headband attachments and swivel cups. On the points of "convenience" and "durability" Dali IO-4 get 5 out of 5. By the way, if the lack of noise isolation disappoints you in this entire list, we have good news. In parallel with the IO-4, the Danes released exactly the same IO-6 headphones with almost standard noise reduction.

When designing the speakers, the engineers did not step on the throat of their own song and used paper-fibre speakers, well-known to fans of the brand. It turned out great: IO-4 bribes with overall timbre richness, transparency in the upper middle and an abundance of details even at low listening volumes. Their presentation is dominated by lightness and airiness, with high intelligibility of instruments in the entire register. Jazz, classical music, and in general any music with an abundance of live instruments and details, especially benefits from this. But sometimes you want power and dirt, like in the days of illegal British raves. And here the Dali IO-4 is a so-so assistant, they lack fangs. As for the rest, there are no complaints and sheer delight, you can't expect such sound from a wireless model for $300.

The Denon AH-D5200 stand out with their closed acoustic design and stylish zebrano wood cups. It is an exotic species of extremely durable wood with a texture reminiscent of zebra stripes. Together with the wood-matched brown leather headband, the headphones look 11 out of 10. Instead of fast food music from the Spotify charts for the Denon AH-D5200, you want to set aside a separate day, hit nostalgia, collect your favorite records and not be distracted by anything but music. Moreover, the design of the headphones turned out to be extremely comfortable, and the foam-filled ear cushions fit on the ears like native ones. We suspect that durability is also in order here - the aluminium frame and metal arms look reliable.

Now let's return to the zebrano tree, which performs not only decorative functions. It is characterized by a high density of the material and, accordingly, better copes with the resonances of the cabinet, making the sound clearer. It would certainly have been used more often if not for the complexity of processing. However, Japanese designers went even further, building diaphragms for 50mm drivers from some tricky light and at the same time very rigid material that dampens vibrations in the diaphragm. And the speakers themselves were fixed on special vibration-damping suspensions. Such a set of measures made it possible to minimize resonances and parasitic overtones, achieving a dynamic and accurate sound in the spectrum from 5 to 40,000 Hz.

Another thing that surprises. Many headphones were made with an eye to certain equipment. So to speak, “street” models with high sensitivity can sound unpleasant on a thoroughbred amplifier, and high-impedance audiophile models, on the contrary, will not be able to swing properly on a smartphone. In this regard, the Denon AH-D5200 sit on two chairs without any problems, working both as headphones for a smartphone / laptop, and when connected to an amplifier. In both cases, the headphones deliver excellent tonal balance with well-accentuated bass, neat, tidy mids, and extremely detailed highs. For some, such detail will even be a minus, since MP3 compression artifacts will crawl from everywhere. All things considered, the price of the Denon AH-D5200 is impressive. Don't get me wrong, $500 for headphones is a lot, but a couple of years ago, the company's audiophile models cost twice as much.