| Few headphones are ideal for both at-home listening and professional audio work, but the Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X over-ears ($299) handle each task with aplomb. These stylish closed-back headphones are slightly bulky, but fit comfortably and don’t leak much sound. Best of all, they produce accurate audio that sounds fantastic, but doesn't embellish mixes with extra bass or overly crisp highs. All of these qualities help the DT 700 Pro X earn our Editors’ Choice award for studio headphones. A No-Nonsense Design The headphones are available only in black, but their massive, gray, velour earpads add some color to the design. The earpads are exceptionally comfortable and create some distance between your ear and the drivers, which sit behind recessed cloth grilles. The circumaural (over-ear) design is ideal for tracking and mixing—the headphones won't leak audio into open mics or block most outside noise. The underside of the headband features thorough, faux-leather padding, while the exterior surfaces have an eggshell-like finish. The Beyerdynamic logo and DT 700 Pro X branding respectively emblazon the headband and earcups. You can remove and replace the earpads as well as the headband pad, but the headphones don't ship with any extra parts. Internally, newly developed Stellar.45 dynamic drivers feature neodymium ring magnets and an integrated damping layer. They deliver a frequency range of 5Hz to 40kHz, with an impedance of 48 ohms. beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X in studio 1 The headphones ship with two straight cables. Both terminate in a mini-XLR connection at one end and a 3.5mm connection at the other—they respectively measure 9.8 and 5.9 feet in length. Both also come with a quarter-inch headphone jack adapter. In addition to the cables, you get a large drawstring protective pouch. Note that the cables lack an inline remote or mic—this used to be more of an annoyance before phone manufacturers started moving away from physical headphone jacks, but computers still have those connectors and plenty of people use headphones for video calls. Pro gear often omits the mic and remote on cables because they aren't relevant for studio or professional use, but we would have preferred if at least one of the cables had a mic. Transparency and Clarity First On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the headphones deliver an accurate low-frequency response. At high volume levels, the drivers don't distort, but it's possible to get them to do so depending on your gear. Most pro recording and home stereo gear won’t push the drivers too far, however—we connected the headphones to various sources (including an iMac and a McIntosh C31V receiver) and never encountered distortion. The bass depth is powerful and clean; not really boosted, but certainly capable of reproducing every bit of deep bass information in a track. Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a song with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the DT 700 Pro X's sound signature. The drums on this track can sound thunderous on headphones that boost the bass dramatically, but here, they simply sound sound full and round, with plenty of low-frequency thump. The high-mids and highs aren't overly bright, either. The headphones emphasize clarity and accuracy, and as a result, deliver an exceptionally balanced, transparent sound signature with no obvious lean to the lows or highs. beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X in studio 2 On Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum loop receives enough high-mid presence for its attack to retain its punch, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat come across with an appropriate amount of force—the sub-bass doesn't rattle your skull, nor does it sound thin and brittle. The bass thump of the drum loop gets some power, but again, not to an excessive degree. Similarly, the vocals benefit from plenty of high-mid presence without ever veering into overly sibilant territory. Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene from John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, give the drivers a chance to shine. Despite their closed-style design, the headphones still sound open and spacious on recordings that have a realistic room sound and stereo imaging. Thus, classical and jazz recordings sound phenomenal—the lower-register instrumentation is full-bodied and rich, while the higher-register brass, strings, and vocals get lovely detail in the highs and high-mids. The percussion and room sounds on Miles Davis’ “Pharaoh's Dance” sound magical through these drivers. Nothing ever sounds too bright or too bass-forward, as the headphones give equal space to the mids. That balance is what makes the pair ideal not just for tracking and mix-checking, but also for listening to your favorite recordings. A New Favorite for Accurate Sound Beyerdynamic's DT 700 Pro X headphones are a top choice for studio work thanks to their excellent clarity and accurate sound; they present the lows, mids, and highs in perfect harmony. They're also just as well suited for relaxing and listening to music—the earpads are comfortable and the drivers let all genres shine. If you're looking to spend around $300 on a pair of wired headphones ideal for both home and studio use, these are the ones to get, and our Editors' Choice. If $300 is more than you want to spend, we remain ardent fans of the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro, a $99.95 recording studio staple. For more, we also like the Philips Fidelio X3 ($349), the Blue Ella ($699.99), and the HiFiMan Ananda ($999), all of which are currently available at a significant discount that brings them closer in line with the DT 700 Pro X. That said, for professional monitoring, Beyerdynamic's headphones remain the pair to beat. |
