Excellent Headphones for Music Listening

A few months ago my $50 noise-canceling Sony headphones decided to stop working. Since I work in front of a computer all day in a quiet office, listening to music is something I do for long periods of time on a daily basis. Recalling how frustrated I'd get constantly replacing the AAA battery in my Sony noise-canceling on-ear headphones, I decided to search for an over-ear style headphone that would passively block outside noise.

After reading a ton of reviews, I decided a DJ headphone would be the way to go. I'm not a DJ, but I don't like constantly buying AA batteries. The music I listen to is mostly ripped in lossless FLAC format, not the lossy garbage-sounding MP3 format that's common in the computer world, so sound quality was also a big concern.

One of the reasons I like large-sized DJ style headphones is the large driver in the ear cups. Larger drivers can move more slowly to produce just as much air as smaller drivers, which results in reproduction of lower frequencies than on-ear or in-ear headphones. Bass response is a lot more full than the other two headphone styles, and as a result the sound from large over-ear headphones is a much warmer and more inviting experience.

I decided the $175-$200 range would be be a good balance between price and performance on my headphone search, and my final list of three headphone models consisted of all Sennheiser headphones. They constantly got the best reviews and a lot of critics swooned over their value for money.

I decided to shop locally for my headphones, as numbers on paper might be fine for some, but in the end - for me - the final sell is in the quality of the sound. I went to a local Sennheiser reseller and tried out two of the models that were on my list. I really liked them both - the third wasn't in stock. While thinking about the two options that were available, I saw the Denon DN-HP1000 box.

I hadn't seen any reviews of these headphones online, but figured I'd give them a go since they were there and priced about the same as the Sennheisers I was demoing. I'd had some positive experiences with Denon in the past, mainly in stereo receivers and amplifiers, but was never aware of the fact that they produced a headphone. Much to my surprise, I found the DN-HP1000s much better sounding than either of the Sennheiser offerings.

It's hard to describe the sound of something on a written review, but the DN-HP1000s are extremely full sounding for a headphone. Performance at high volumes is nice, even without a headphone amplifier. Bass is warm and highs aren't too harsh for the rest of the sound spectrum. I have to admit that I don't usually listen to my headphones very loud, and the quiet-volume quality on the Denons was immediately evident over the quit-volume quality on the Sony headphones I was used to. Even without the volume "cranked," the DN-HP1000s sound very rich.

The build quality on these headphones is very good. The entire headband is wrapped in a faux leather vinyl and is padded. Height adjustments are made where the band connects to each ear piece, just like most headphones. Because they're DJ headphones, each ear piece rotates 180 degrees. It's a cool feature for DJ use as an alternative of just having one ear cup behind the ear, but I don't find myself using it very often.

The foam on each of the ear cups is nice and comfortable. The material that the cup pads are made of seems like a softer version of the material that makes up the faux leather headband. I've been using the headphones for a couple months and the foam pads have yet to break down.

The one complaint I do have about the headphones is the shallowness of the ear cups. One of the good things about this set of headphones, the large drivers, is also contributes to what it its major downfall. The space between your ears and the actual drivers in the ear cups is very small. If I use my headphones for more than 3 or 4 hours at a time, and the padding tends to compress even a little bit, I find that my ears rub on the annoying cloth fabric that covers the drivers inside the headphones. My ears are fairly small and don't stick out, so if you have large ears, this could become an annoying issue.

I know it's nit-picky, but for people with large ears that want to use these headphones for extended periods of time, you may find yourself investing in larger foam surrounds for the ear cups.

The cord that extends from the left ear of the headphones goes about 36 inches before it becomes phone-cord style curly for another 12 inches. I really like this layout, as I'm not constantly running over my cord with my desk chair wheels, as I did with the 5 foot long cord on the Sony headphones. The cord is very well shielded and very thick, and is very high quality. The 1/8" stereo mini-din connector on the end has threads on it for the optional 1/4" stereo adapter, which is included, to screw on and not easily come out or pull off. This would be really nice if you were going to use the 1/4" adapter.

Overall I like the Denon DN-HP1000s quite a lot. The sound seemed better to my amateur ears than comparably priced Sennheiser offerings, and was definitely nicer than the comparably price Sony offerings. I think the headphones are well worth the retail price, and would buy them again. The nice build quality has me convinced that they'll last for quite a while. Shallow ear cups contribute to my only complaint, but this is more than offset by the rich sound quality and smooth bass that are reproduced by the DN-HP1000s large drivers.

Overall they're great headphones for the money. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a good set of headphones in the $150-$200 range.