The Behringer HPX6000 headphones are designed for DJ use, have an on-ear fit and are quite bass heavy. We decided to see how they work out for electronic drumming since they are an easy to find budget headphone option.
Sound Quality
I wasn’t a huge fan of the sound quality of these headphones. The sound is very dense and not very clear with a lot of the music I tried out. They sounded best with electronic and hip-hop music, but even then I still found the sound to be muddy.
The bass heaviness is quite apparent, and the bass overpowers much of the lower mid-range. While they are bass heavy, it’s kind of a hollow bass sound that they offer up.
The mids and highs are ok, but they don’t offer much clarity either. The higher end of the spectrum sounds better when the low end is focusing more on sub bass than anything else.
I could see these qualities being just fine for DJ use. I’ve performed some electronic music live and I didn’t really find myself requiring the highest audio fidelity from my headphones. I just needed to hear where I was at in the tracks so I could cue things in at the proper time and get levels correct. For those purposes these headphones sound just fine.
I wouldn’t find myself turning to these for anything else though, especially for use in the studio. They just don’t have the type of sound that I’d find useful in a studio environment.
Closed Back, Over Ear Design
These headphones are designed as over ear headphones, but the ear cups don’t fit entirely over my ears. They are also very shallow, so it kind of feel like the whole ear piece is just sitting flat on your ears. They don’t create much of a seal for me, but the noise isolation is somewhat decent.
Then I used these on electronic drums, the noise isolation was a little more apparent. They weren’t terrible, but they were lacking in the noise isolation I was used to from some of my other over ear studio headphones.
Comfort
These are decently comfortable headphones, and they are pretty lightweight. The ear cups look larger, but they are shallow and don’t fit entirely over my ears. It feels like one large, flat pad sitting on top of my ears. The headband seemed fine in terms of comfort and these headphones overall feel like they have an average amount of tightness.
I wore them for a while when playing electronic drums, and they seemed comfortable enough to get through a practice session.
Build Quality
The build quality feels pretty cheap with a lot of cheap plastic. I expected that maybe there would be metal in the headband adjustment rails at this price level, but those looked plastic too. The ear cup pads feel like they are made with some nicer covering than the cheaper Behringer headphones, so that’s a plus.
I find the plastic parts to look a little chunky around these headphones, which gives them a bulkier appearance. For as much plastic as there is, they look pretty sleek overall, which is good.
Coiled Cable
These headphones employ a coiled cable that is about 9 feet long when fully stretched out. The cable is detachable, which is nice. It also has an L-shaped plug which is more ideal for DJ use. It comes with a 1/4″ adapter.
The cable was long enough for electronic drumming, but I found it to work a little better when used with an extension cable to give it a little bit more length so I could move it over my shoulder and out of the way.
Are These Good For Electronic Drummers?
While they wouldn’t be one of my top picks for electronic drummers at their price level, they can work sufficiently for electronic drummers. The noise isolation isn’t that great, but it’s there. The comfort is ok. I personally didn’t really like the sound and found it to be too bass heavy for me, but when used on an electronic drum kit they don’t sound that bad since the mix is much cleaner when it’s just a single instrument such as a drum kit.
Technical Specifications
DJ
Almost over ear, closed back
50mm
98 dB (±3 dB)
N/A
24 Ohms
20 Hz – 20 kHz
90˚ forward
Yes
3m coiled, detachable
Pros
- Affordable
- Detachable coiled cable
- Collapsible design
- 90 degree ear cup swivel
Cons
- Cheaper plastic construction
- Not fully over-ear
- Sound quality isn’t that great
Overall Rating
2.5 out of 5.0 stars
Sound Quality
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Spaciousness
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Clarity
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Comfort
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
Construction
2.5 out of 5.0 stars
Value
2.5 out of 5.0 stars
The Verdict
These are a decent pair of budget DJ headphones, but for any other use they will probably come up short.
They have pretty cheap construction relying on lots of plastic. The sound is very bass heavy and not very clear. The ear cups don’t really feel like they are fully over ear and they are pretty shallow. They are collapsible, have 90 degree rotating ear cups and a detachable cable, which are some nice features. For my purposes, I wouldn’t pick these over any of my studio headphones in this price level, but I could see their usefulness for DJ’s.
I am looking for a really good, if not BETTER set of headphones. My main and only use will be listening to Blues and hard Rock music from CD’s played in my Chev Utility and also directly from my PC in my study. I checked out quite a few sets within my price range of R1,000 to R2,000 and selected the Behringer HPX6000. But then I read Luke’s comments on it and heard what my son Martin in Cape Town said – so now I’m put off.
What the hell else can I look at in the above price range??
I will really appreciate your straight and true comments and recommendation please Luke.
It looks like R2,000 converts to roughly $100 USD. In that price range or less I currently like the Audio-Technica ATH-M20X and M30X (for a lighter fit), the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro (they’re a little bulky though) and I’ve also been using the Sterling Audio S402 which I like. Sterling is lesser known but they sound great to me and I paid about $50 for them.