The Best Wired Headphones for Serious Listening

You might, like us, associate Japan’s Final Audio with high-end headphones and even higher-end headphones—but it’s a broad church, and Final wants to cater to as many folks as possible. Its E500 in-ear headphones are yours for the price of a couple of drinks at an upscale bar, but are longer-lasting and offer a great deal more pleasure in the long run.

Despite being close to “disposable” at this price (good news for those of us who don’t take the best care of our possessions), the E500 use the same 6.4-mm full-range dynamic driver that shows up in some of the company’s much more expensive earbuds—and they sound much more accomplished and enjoyable than the price suggests they might, even if they’re slightly lumpy in absolute terms. The 1.2-meter cable resists transmitting noise well, the build quality is perfectly fine, and the sound will suit anyone who values a punchy, upfront presentation nicely.

There are five pairs of silicone and foam ear tips in the package too, so these Final are almost worth the asking price in accessories alone.

Anyone who takes even the slightest interest in headphones, microphones or any of the other nuts and bolts of the recording studio knows the name Shure. And while the company has made its name and enviable reputation mostly with its pro equipment, it’s increasingly a force on the consumer side too. The Aonic 3 (no, we don’t know what it means either) don’t look especially like Shure’s more usual in-ear monitor design—they don’t twist into the wearer’s ear and hook cable over the ears for ultimate stability, for example. But believe us when we say they sound like a Shure design all day long.

Where dynamic response, detail retrieval, soundstaging, and tonal balance are concerned, the Aonic 3 are the best thing around at anything like the price. They’re an entirely convincing listen, and their vented balanced armature driver digs deep into the bottom of the frequency range as it extends to the very top. And thanks to a lightweight and carefully ergonomic design, they’re extremely comfortable. You might be tempted to remove the detachable cable and fit a pair of Shure wireless adapters—but while the sound quality will be unaffected, we can’t say the same for the fit (or the looks).

Altruism is in short supply in the world of consumer electronics, but there’s no getting away from the suspicion that Chinese specialist FiiO has your best interests at heart. How else, really, are we to explain the lengths the company has gone to with the FT3 wired over-ear headphones?

The FT3 are built mostly from anodized aluminum, which looks and feels upmarket, and is shaped to suspend a couple of 60-mm full-range dynamic drivers the ideal distance from your ears. The drivers are made from beryllium and diamond-like carbon, and you have a choice of suede or pleather earpads to keep them in position. They’re supplied with 3 meters of extremely high-grade cable from Japanese specialist Furukawa, and the cable is offered with four different terminations: 3.5 mm and 6 mm unbalanced, or 4.4 mm and XLR-4 balanced alternatives.

The upshot is a pair of headphones that sounds even more expensive than it looks—and it’s safe to say it looks a lot more expensive than it is. Thanks FiiO, our ears appreciate it.

It’s safe to say that Campfire Audio has always gone its own way. From the way its in-ear headphones look and are finished to the way they’re packaged and christened, there’s no mistaking a Campfire Audio product for the work of any other brand. Most of the time, that’s an entirely good thing.

Certainly, it’s a good thing where the Holocene are concerned. Your not-inconsiderable outlay buys an angular-yet-comfortable machined aluminum body that houses three (count ’em!) balanced armature drivers per side, detachable cable on beryllium connectors, silver-plated copper cable in a “smoked” finish (because why not?), and a carry-case with some glow-in-the-dark elements (likewise). And it also buys zippy, articulate, and startlingly muscular sound of a type that makes the best of pretty much any genre of music you care to listen to. The Holocene aren’t especially indulgent of inferior source players—but then, you didn’t spend this much money on some bespoke in-ear headphones in order to drive them with the cheapest smartphone you could find, did you?

Even by the singular standards of Portland, Oregon's Campfire Audio, the Andromeda Emerald Sea in-ear monitors are a peculiar proposition. The nuts and bolts of what makes an outstanding (and expensive) in-ear headphone are in place: In each citrus-green earbud’s 3D-printed acoustic chamber, there are five balanced armature drivers giving a claimed frequency response of 5 Hz to 20 kHz; three silver-plated cables are supplied, fitted with 2.5 mm, 3.5 mm, and 4.4 mm terminations. But with the science taken care of, Campfire Audio is free to concentrate on what it does equally well: mystifying drama, and plenty of it.

They’re packaged in a laser-cut “dimensional folding case” (read: box), and come with no fewer than three carry-cases of various sizes and materials. A little folder in the box contains warranty information, user guide, certificate of ownership, a trading card detailing their excellence, and a signed short story about the “daring and amazing adventures of Captain Francis Aristarchus.” And, of course, there’s a little beckoning metal hand, as drawn on the packaging, that fits into the upright lid of the box and serves as a support for your cables between uses. Because of course there is.

When a company is evangelical about a particular technology (as Audeze is about planar magnetic drivers), it can sometimes be a weakness as much as a strength. In this instance, staying true to its engineering principles means Audeze has had to find a way to incorporate the notoriously sizable planar magnetic driver technology into a product that needs, almost by definition, to be as small as is reasonably possible.

So while getting its favorite type of driver down to just 18 millimeters for implementation in the Euclid is impressive, it’s still quite a lot bigger than any alternative dynamic driver, and it means the Euclid are a fair bit bigger than any of the other in-ear designs in this list. If you’re blessed with particularly petite ears, they may well not be for you. That would be a pity, though, because they sound more than good enough to do justice to Audeze’s formidable reputation—they’re fast, energetic, lavishly detailed and thoroughly musical. A little more low-end heft wouldn’t go amiss, but that’s nit-picking on our part. The Audeze Euclid are a thrilling listen.

It’s hard to make a tiny little product look and feel very expensive indeed—but if you deploy textured, milled aluminum on the outside, that’s a start. And if you fit a pair of 7-mm full-range dynamic drivers augmented by as-complex-as-they-come Helmholtz resonator chambers on the inside, the spec sheet starts to look expensive. And if you provide a choice of three detachable cables—a 3.5-mm unbalanced version, plus 2.5-mm and 4.4-mm balanced alternatives—because headphones like this aren’t designed to be plugged into any old smartphone, the Sennheiser IE900 start to look very much like the money’s worth.

And, as long as you don’t just plug them into any old smartphone, they sound the absolute business too. Their tonal balance is exquisite, the soundstage they create is enormous, their detail retrieval is little short of fanatical. Low-frequency presence and control, dynamic potency, and out-and-out fidelity are of an entirely different order to that of any “ordinary” in-ear headphones you’ve heard. Really, there’s only the reality of the asking price that should make you think twice.

First things first: Don’t imagine you can use your Grado SR325x in public without making yourself deeply unpopular. Their open-backed configuration leaks sound outward almost as readily as it directs it to your ears—so these are headphones to enjoy during some alone time. And anyway, the staunchly retro looks of the headphones themselves might make you think twice about wearing them in public even if they didn’t act like some sort of sonic sieve.

But with that out of the way (and a mention in passing for the chunkiness of the cable the headphones are wired to—it is properly chunky), the rest of the news is all good. The sound they make, no matter the source they’re attached to, is brilliantly balanced and coherent. In every department, the SR325x are entirely convincing. They have clarity to spare, and the sort of out-and-out fidelity that can make you reappraise even those recordings you’ve heard a hundred times before. On a dollar-for-dollar basis, you can’t do better than these Grado.

We can all agree that this is not a lot of money to pay for a pair of over-ear headphones, even if you only consider the cost of materials and ignore the hours of engineering that are involved. So yes, there are bound to be compromises. What’s truly remarkable about Austrian Audio’s least expensive pair of headphones is just how mild those compromises are, and how far from affecting the actual sound quality of the Hi-X15 they are.

Yes, these headphones can sound very lively when they’re box-fresh, and they never sound less than energetic. But there’s nothing feral about the way they perform, and where soundstaging and dynamics in particular are concerned, they punch well above their weight. The overall sonic signature is spacious, detailed and naturalistic—similarly affordable alternatives like to offer overcooked bass in an effort to ramp up the excitement, but the Austrian Audio are admirably faithful to the source material. As long as you don’t mind headphones with a few too many colors in their visual palate, there’s plenty to admire here.

“Listening” can take a number of forms, and the headphones most suitable for you will depend on the sort of listening you want to do. Most of the headphones on this list are designed for recreational listening, which is what most of us do with our headphones most of the time. The Røde NTH-100 are fine for recreational listening, but they’re also very useful for “critical” listening of the type that DJs, recording engineers, and other audio pros like to indulge in. Not many headphones can cover both bases, and even fewer at such an affordable price.

Keep the price uppermost in your mind and the Røde are well-made and finished, and even quite good-looking in a purposeful sort of way. And no matter the kind of listening you’re using them for, they’re expressive and even-handed with your music. They’re not the most animated headphones you ever heard, sure, but that’s not to say they’re in any way dispassionate or boring. If you can tolerate how warm the earpads will eventually make your ears, the NTH-100 are brilliant value for money.

Neumann is acclaimed for its iconic studio microphones, which have recorded virtually every song you’ve ever liked, but they’re increasingly stepping into the audio reproduction space. These open-backed studio headphones are designed to make mixing easier for when you’re not at your desk, with a transparent soundstage and flat tuning that lend themselves to clinical listening.

They’re light and comfortable for extended listening sessions, and the soft velvet earpads are more cozy than any leather. I also like the cool orange accent on the inside of each earcup—a nice touch for when you slide them over your head.

Wood, as we all know, is a very credible acoustic material—that’s why all those musical instruments are made from it. And Audio Technica has been utilizing wood’s numerous acoustic advantages in the construction of its headphones for decades now. The fact that it looks indulgent and expensive, and quite dramatic, is purely coincidental. The main housings of the ATH-WP900 are made of machined maple, with a decorative slice of flame maple (supplied by storied Japanese guitar brand Fujigen) on top. It looks great—and, according to Audio Technica, will deepen and mellow its luster over time.

Which is all very nice, but wouldn’t count for much if these headphones couldn’t do the audio business. But the Audio Technica are an even-handed, entertaining, and remarkably revealing listen. They’re far from the most tolerant of lower-resolution recordings, it’s true, but as long as you pander to them just a little they’ll reward, where precision and musicality in particular are concerned, like there’s no tomorrow.

Admittedly, if you put this third generation of Beyerdynamic’s near-legendary T1 wired, open-backed, over-ear headphones in a line-up with the last two versions, only the eagle-eyed would be able to tell the difference. And in truth, not all that much has changed beneath the skin, either. But what that means is the T1 G3 are headphones that are among the most comfortable to wear and most rewarding to listen to around.

In fact, there has been one significant change: The G3 are easier to drive than the model they replace, which means laptops and smartphones can now achieve meaningful volume levels. But really, to hear them at their best, the Beyerdynamic need to slot into an already sorted and high-achieving audio system—that’s when their remarkable powers of resolution, their insight, and their ability to tease the finest, most transient details from a recording really come to the fore. They’re a forceful and authoritative listen, but never overblown or overbearing.

As we’ve mentioned elsewhere, Audeze as a company is keen to the point of being evangelical about the benefits of planar magnetic driver technology. And if it’s properly implemented, the advantages where transient response, low-frequency control and overall analysis are concerned can’t be easily denied. But it’s equally true to say the technology is space-hungry, which is why anyone with a head of, let’s say, less-than-average size, is going to feel somewhat swamped by the sheer size of the LCD-X.

But if the headphones fit, there’s little to be gained by not wearing them. They’re so eloquent, so dynamically adept both in the broad and finest senses of the word, and so forensic in their insight that in the best circumstances they can create the impression of instruments being physically present rather than existing as an element of a recording. And they can do this without sounding forced, or willfully analytical—at their heart, these are headphones that want you to enjoy the music rather than admire how very clever they are.

No, they’re not cheap, and frankly they don’t look like they cost two grand in any major currency. Like almost every pair of Grado headphones, the amount of noise they leak out of their open-backed earcups makes every other brand’s open-backed headphones sound like they’ve taken a vow of silence. And if there’s a headphone cable more prone to twisting in on itself and then being reluctant in the extreme to untwist itself, well, we’ve yet to encounter it.

Despite all this, though, the Grado GS3000X Statement are among the very best headphones ever offered for sale. Sound is delivered by a 52-mm full-range “X”-driver positioned in a hybrid metal chamber that’s integrated into a Cocobolo tropical wood housing, and the combination of the driver technology and the inherent acoustic properties of the natural material result is audio quality that’s almost humbling in its positivity, its expansiveness, and its almost instinctive correctness. Everything else is basically an apparatus to position these housings and drivers over your ears correctly, and it’s hard to know what else you might realistically want.

Romania’s Meze Audio has been quietly establishing a bullet-proof reputation for high-end, high-achieving headphones with more than a hint of the over-designed about them. So it should really come as no surprise that its new Elite over-ear headphones are pricey, perform superbly, and seem to have been designed by someone who should have had their pencils taken away a lot earlier in the design process.

You know a pair of headphones is all business when, in addition to the more common selection of different cables, they’re supplied with a selection of earpads in order to offer slightly different sonic characteristics. But no matter if you prefer Alcantara to Alcantara-with-leather-core, you’ll be treated to exquisitely poised, staggeringly insightful, hugely expansive, and utterly convincing sound quality. The level of bite and drive they can summon is almost startling, but they’re in no way aggressive or in-yer-face. Instead, the Elite are as muscular, as tender, as dynamic, and as soothing as the music you’re listening to requires.