Best Headphones for Mixing Music in 2025

Mixing on headphones presents unique challenges that proper equipment helps address. While speakers remain the preferred mixing platform, quality headphones enable productive work in untreated rooms, during travel, and late at night when monitors would disturb others. The best mixing headphones provide accurate, detailed reproduction that translates decisions reliably.

Why Mixing Headphones Differ from Tracking Headphones

Tracking headphones prioritize isolation to prevent sound leakage into microphones. Mixing headphones prioritize accuracy to enable proper frequency balance and spatial decisions. These different requirements often lead to different headphone designs.

Open-back headphones dominate mixing applications. The open design allows air movement around the drivers, reducing ear fatigue and providing more natural sound reproduction. The improved soundstage helps with panning and spatial effects decisions.

Closed-back headphones can serve mixing purposes but typically present less accurate imaging and wider frequency response variations. However, they remain necessary when isolation matters or when open-back leakage would disturb others.

Best Open-Back Mixing Headphones

The Sennheiser HD 600 ($399) sets the standard for affordable reference monitoring. The neutral frequency response reveals mix elements without flattery or coloration. Engineers trust HD 600s for critical decisions that must translate across playback systems.

The Sennheiser HD 650 ($499) adds slight warmth and bass extension over the HD 600. Some engineers prefer this character for extended sessions, finding it less fatiguing while maintaining accuracy.

The Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro ($599) delivers exceptional detail with Tesla driver technology. The two included ear pads alter frequency response for different monitoring preferences. The build quality justifies the premium price.

The AKG K712 Pro ($379) provides wide soundstage that benefits spatial mixing decisions. The open design and comfortable fit suit long sessions. The 62-ohm impedance works with most headphone outputs.

The Audio-Technica ATH-R70x ($349) achieves reference accuracy in a remarkably lightweight design. The 470-ohm impedance requires dedicated amplification but rewards it with exceptional detail.

Best Closed-Back Mixing Headphones

The Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro ($159) provides excellent mixing capability when open-back designs aren’t practical. The 250-ohm version delivers the most refined sound with proper amplification.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50x ($149) offers balanced response suitable for mixing references. While not as detailed as open-back alternatives, the M50x translates decisions reliably.

The Shure SRH840A ($149) delivers mixing-focused tuning in a closed-back design. The replaceable ear pads and cable add practical value for studio use.

Headphone Amplification

Quality headphone amplifiers improve mixing headphone performance, particularly with high-impedance models. The amplifier affects frequency response, dynamics, and detail resolution.

The Schiit Magni ($99) provides affordable amplification that drives most headphones effectively. The clean power output suits reference monitoring applications.

The JDS Labs Atom ($99) matches the Magni’s performance with different aesthetic choices. Both represent excellent value for studio headphone amplification.

Higher-end options like the Lake People G111 ($399) and SPL Phonitor Mini ($549) provide superior performance for demanding applications. Professional mixers often justify these investments.

Crossfeed and Room Simulation

Mixing on headphones places sounds directly in each ear without the room interaction that speakers provide. This affects how mixes translate to speaker playback.

Crossfeed circuits blend small amounts of left and right channels to simulate speaker interaction. Hardware crossfeed processors and software plugins address this translation challenge.

Room simulation plugins like Waves NX and Sonarworks Reference model speaker placement and room acoustics virtually. These tools help headphone mixes translate to speaker playback more reliably.

Practical Mixing Workflow

Even with quality mixing headphones, checking work on speakers remains important. Headphones and speakers reveal different mix aspects that together provide complete perspective.

Switching between monitoring systems helps identify problems that single-system mixing might miss. Professional mixers maintain multiple reference points throughout projects.

Low-volume mixing on headphones reduces ear fatigue while maintaining decision-making capability. The detail resolution of quality headphones supports quiet monitoring levels.

Extended breaks protect hearing and maintain fresh perspective. Time away from a mix, even briefly, improves objectivity when returning.

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All mixing headphones are available at Guitar Center, Musician’s Friend, ProAudioStar, and Amazon.