We've been looking at DJ headphones this week in the DJ Tech Direct Blog. After checking out some of Sennheiser's new headphones set to be released at the end of the month, we thought it was best to have a more in depth look at their main rival, the Pioneer HDJ2000 DJ headphones .

Pioneer are responsible for some of the most aspirational and industry standard DJ equipment, which we've seen right the way through from their Rekordbox DJ software integrated into their CDJ Range, to their new portable and affordable DJ controller the DDJ SB. For us, the HDJ 2000 exceed all expectations an despite being released over three years ago (May 2011 to be precise), the 2000s are still one of the most in demand DJ headphones, and it is easy to see why...

Build Quality

Firstly, you'll notice that unlike pretty much all other monitoring headphones, they are constructed from of a magnesium alloy, which makes them more robust than rival plastic headphones and other best-sellers. The luxury leatherette ear pads are made from low-rebound polyurethane, provide a soft and natural feel as well as cushioning the ears and head for an unrivaled degree of comfort. This heat sensitive memory foam allows the padding to mould around the shape of your ears sealing out unwanted resonance and producing high clarity in sound. Most other headphones struggle when competing with background noise, especially in noisy DJ booths. This normally means in order to hear you must be exposed to loud sound in your headphones - The Pioneers combat this issue as the memory foam moulds and shapes around your ears, this means you can have the headphone volume lower, naturally benefiting your hearing during prolonged use.

Sound Quality

The ability of the Pioneer HDJ 2000 are capable of delivering astonishingly loud sound and simultaneously shield from external noise. As well as great looks, intelligence is also incorporated within the functional design. The spring loaded cup holders are constructed with flexible magnesium swivel mechanism for customised positioning on the head and maximum comfort. It features over-sized 50mm dome drivers, meaning the bass frequency drops down to 5Hz while the highest frequency extends to 30,000Hz (which is beyond what humans can hear!) resulting in ultra-defined audio. A lot of smaller cupped DJ headphones don't quite isolate your ears as they should from external noise which we all know is essential when monitoring. The mono switch is a thoughtful extra you don't see on a lot of other headphones out there which makes itself useful for one cup monitoring as you can hear the whole mix of the track you are playing. Gift packaged and coming boxed with a lined interior and foam protection, the Pioneer HDJ 2000 comes with a velvet-style pouch and 3m detachable and replaceable coil cable. The cable can be removed after use to ensure it doesn’t get pulled and torn which poses an extensive inconvenient problem with other headphones.

The Best DJ Headphones Ever?

Originally only available in silver, the headphones are now available in an Aston Martin-esque charcoal black and a glossy white finish. Whether you're looking at the specs on paper, or if your trying them out in store there's no denying that they are one of the best headphones available to DJs at present . The original Pioneer HDJ 2000s, the Black version and White version are all available from djtechdirect.com now!