If you’re pursuing high-end headphones that offer the best audio quality above all else, you’re in the right place. While most audiophile headphones are not great for everyday use, they are great for immersing yourself in music at home. They have a spacious soundstage that mimics speakers and reproduce sound accurately. While most of these come with a hefty price tag, we have included a budget option to get you started.
Best Audiophile Headphones
Sennheiser HD 800 S
If you're looking for the best sound experience, try the HD 800 S. The sound quality earns these top marks in all disciplines, as do the workmanship and comfort. They are a sophisticated tool for music enjoyment and a magnifying glass for sound engineering and professional work.
The HD 800 S features an open-back headphone design and is equipped with dynamic drivers. Like other open-back headphones, they are not versatile and are not designed for outdoor or casual use. They are very comfortable, with oversized earpads that envelope the ears – suitable for long listening sessions. The design is excellent, and they feel very sturdy. It is slightly identical to the original HD 800, but these feel well refined.
These are some of the best-sounding headphones around for sound quality. The open-back earcup design creates an outstanding large, natural, and spacious soundstage. This makes them more immersive, as audio feels like coming from in front of you. The bass is slightly anaemic, but the HD 800 S have an accurate and neutral sound profile suitable for different music genres.
Best Budget Audiophile Headphones
Meze 99 Classics
The Meze 99 Classics are great budget audiophile headphones you can try out. They sound great and have the build and style to match that. Compared to some high-end headphones, these offer much value for less.
The Meze 99 Classics is a gorgeous pair of headphones with a matching sound. They are an affordable pair of audiophile quality headphones that continue to dominate the market. Their build quality is great and feels premium, while the comfort is just sensational. The 99 Classics have a unique style for a headphone at this price point.
The sound of the Meze 99 Classics is well-balanced, elegant, and precise. The bass is emphasized and extends fairly low. The mids are superb and bring out the best in voices and instruments. Overall, the 99 Classics make for a great pair of headphones for pleasure listening.
Best Wireless Audiophile Headphones
HIFIMAN Ananda BT
If you're looking for the best audiophile-quality wireless headphones, the HiFiMAN ANANDA-BT should be your best pick. The build is nice, the comfort is great, and they sound perfect for a pair of wireless headphones.
For most audiophiles, wireless headphones do not cut it as a worthy comparison to wired audiophile headphones. However, the HiFiMAN Ananda Bt is an exception. These are the Bluetooth version of the HiFiMAN Ananda and support Bluetooth 5.0, LDAC, HWA, aptX SBC and aptX HD, designed for high-quality audio.
The Ananda BT features a build quality and comfort similar to the original Ananda. However, although most Bluetooth headphones are meant for portability, these are not. In place of a cable, you get a button that controls them and a detachable mic. The ANANDA BT comes with a battery life of about 10 hours. We can confirm about 8-9 hours from testing when listening at high volumes.
For the sound quality, HIFIMAN describes the HiFiMAN Ananda BT as being the best audiophile quality Bluetooth headphones, and from our review, they are right. The sound profile is fairly neutral but lacks a punch in the bass. The soundstage is wide and sounds natural, thanks to its open-back design.
Audiophile Headphones Buying Advice
Headphone Design: Over-Ear vs On-Ear vs In-Ear
Over-ear headphones, also called circumaural headphones, are the type that usually goes over your ears. Most often, over-ear headphones are big and bulky, which limits their usage at home or in the office. Though big, they offer better comfort levels than on-ear and in-ear headphones. This means they can be worn for long listening sessions without fatigue.
On-ear headphones are popular because they are more versatile and portable than over-ear headphones. They are also called supra-aural headphones and sit directly on the ears. Unlike the bulky design of over-ear headphones, on-ear headphones are usually more compact, which makes them ideal for moving around.
The comfort, however, ranges between different on-ear headphone designs. Factors that affect comfort include materials, earcup size, and clamping force. The sound quality of on-ear headphones also varies and will depend on the pair in question. However, they offer less isolation, which is not bad for headphones made to use when moving around.
This is The Sony IER Z1R In-Ear Monitors
In-ear headphones, canal phones, earphones, earbuds, IEMs, or intra-aural all refer to headphones that go into the ear canal or sit inside the outer ear. They are popular because they are cheap, sleek, and subtle. The major drawback of in-ear headphones is the sound quality. Most of them are cheaper knockoffs, which gives them subpar sound quality. See our IEMs vs earbuds guide.
However, this is not the case with all earbuds. Many audiophile-quality earbuds deliver better sound quality than some good-sounding headphones.
Check out our informative post comparing these headphone designs.
Closed-Back vs. Open-Back Headphones
Open-back headphones are the best choice if you’re looking for the best audiophile-quality headphones. Open-back headphones allow air and sound to pass through the earcup freely. This reduces the build-up of low frequencies and resonances. The sound of open headphones can be described as natural, airy, and transparent.
While they sound fantastic, open-back headphones are best used at home, away from the noise. The open earcups mean a lack of isolation, and you’ll hear everything around you. They will also leak out sound, so if you work in an open office space, everybody will be able to listen to what you are listening to.
Closed-back headphones are sealed around the back, which blocks sound inside the earcup enclosure. While they may not sound natural or airy as open-back headphones, they offer noise isolation by blocking out unwanted noise. This is why closed-back headphones are better for portability than using them at home.
The Meze 99 Classics in Their Storage Case
Though open-back headphones reign as some of the best audiophile headphones, there are closed-back headphones that are worthy of audiophile status. The Sennheiser HD 820 and Focal Elegia are some of the best closed-back audiophile-grade headphones.
Impedance and Sensitivity Explained
We have an article addressing and explaining the importance of headphones’ impedance and sensitivity. This article was written for good reasons. When picking your preferred headphones, the impedance and sensitivity values are one of the most important specs to check.
Headphone impedance tells you how much power your headphones need to be driven sufficiently. Sensitivity, on the other hand, gives you an idea of how loud a pair of headphones is likely to be. We don’t need to delve deeper into the impedance and sensitivity, but the upshot is: that the higher the impedance, the more power you’ll need. The advantage of higher impedance headphones is that audio is accurately reproduced.
You don’t need an amp for a pair of headphones with an impedance of fewer than 32 ohms. You might require an amplifier from 32-100 ohms, but you can also run them off a portable device like a mobile phone. Over 100 ohms, you’ll need a dedicated headphone amplifier. Most audiophile headphones have higher impedance values, which means you will require a headphone amp, which is something to think about before purchasing a pair of audiophile headphones.
Do You Need a Headphone Amp or DAC?
Headphones are essentially small speakers that go on your head. Like all speakers, they require amplification to sound best. Mobile phones and other playback devices have miniature amplifiers that can power most headphones and IEMs to a sound level you can hear.
However, you might require an external headphone amplifier for other headphones to get the best results. This is especially true for most audiophile headphones because of their high impedance numbers. An excellent example on this list is the Sennheiser HD800S with an impedance of 300 Ohms. Using the HD 600 with a smartphone will underpower it, and you will not get the best out of it, thus the need for a good headphone amp.
Testing The Audeze LCD-XC With Different Headphone Amplifiers
A DAC, short for Digital-to-Analog Converter, is a piece of hardware that converts the digital sound signal to audible analog sound waves. Digital audio information is stored in binary form (1s and 0s). A DAC converts these 1s and 0s into an analog signal.
A DAC chip comes built-in in all playback devices, including smartphones and computers. However, the quality of these inbuilt DAC chips is not always good. An external DAC is needed to offload the task from the playback device to get the best audio quality. An external DAC reduces signal interference caused by poor circuits and other electrical interference around you.
Headphone Driver Types Explained
There are six types of headphone drivers around. These include dynamic, planar magnetic, electrostatic, balanced armature, bone conduction, and hybrid drivers. A headphone driver is a unit that converts an audio electrical signal to sound waves. We have an in-depth post on the different headphone drivers. However, let’s go through the three main ones.
Dynamic or moving coil drivers are the most common type of headphones you’ll find in most headphones. The three main components of a dynamic driver are a magnet, voice coil, and diaphragm. Sound is transmitted via the moving coil, which reacts with the magnet, thus moving the speaker’s diaphragm and producing sound. It’s an easy and relatively inexpensive method of producing sound. The Sennheiser HD 800 S, which tops our list, is a dynamic headphone.
Planar magnetic drivers have grown in popularity over recent years. Audio companies such as Audeze and HiFiMAN top the lists with some of the best planar magnetic headphones around. Instead of using a voice coil, the wires are embedded and spread in the diaphragm. Two permanent magnets sit between the diaphragm and react with it as the electrical audio signal is transmitted. Planar magnetic headphones are usually but not always more expensive than dynamic driver headphones.
Electrostatic headphones are the creme de la creme of headphones. We have not included them in this list because they deserve a list of their own. Electrostatic drivers use a different mechanism to produce sound. They use a thin, electrically charged diaphragm sandwiched between two conductive plates. When electrical signals pass through the metal plates, their charge alternates between positive and negative, which moves the diaphragm between them, creating sound.
Do High Prices Mean Better Sound Quality?
This is not a simple question to answer, as you might think. You always get more with a higher price tag – better headphone construction and premium materials. However, this is not always the case, and you should be able to point out snake oil headphones. Some headphones come with crazy figures that do not supplement their value.
One of the headphones brands we point out is beat headphones. The brand is big, and while they have some good headphones, most are overpriced. Here at soundphilia, we recommend choosing the right pair for you.
Headphones vs Speakers for Critical Listening
Hi-Fi enthusiasts and headphone lovers will always disagree on which is better for critical listening. However, headphones are superior for critical listening compared to speakers.
For speakers, a proper setup is needed. Your system and room acoustics both affect the sound quality. You need to work on the room with a good hi-fi system. This is because the sound will interact with the space creating reflections that will color the sound. You can minimize this by adding non-resonant materials to your walls.
The Sennheiser HD 800 S and Mass Kobo Jaben 393 Balance Output Headphone Amplifier
The room is not an issue for headphones – there are no walls, ceiling, or floors for the sound to bounce off. The headphone driver is closer to your ears which minimizes the colorations of the sound. However, the soundstage is different compared to the speakers. With headphones, you will sacrifice some soundstage and imaging.
You can check out our headphones vs speakers post to help you make an informed decision. However, choose a setup that works for you. You can get both and use each setup differently. For example, watching movies is better with speakers, while listening to music privately is better with headphones.
