Sennheiser HD 25 Professional Headphones

As any DJ worth his reputation knows, the headphones you use are almost as important as the records you play. Although you can pretty much use any pair of 'phones for monitoring your mixing, there are certain factors that optimise the experience. It just so happens that the HD 25s are excellent in the areas I speak of:

Comfort: the band at the top of the headphones is flat and quite wide, making it comfortable on even the baldest head. The cans themselves have very soft padding around the rims so they sit well on the ears. After wearing them consistently for a number of hours, my ears did begin to ache a bit but that's true of any headphone - you do need to move them around occasionally.

Flexibility: heads come in all sort of shapes and sizes and, to cope with this, the HD 25s can be moulded to suit your particular (or maybe peculiar) bonce. The band across the top can be split and the two sections rotate about the cans (as illustrated in the picture). The distance between the top of the band and the cans themselves can also be adjusted to accommodate the biggest DJ's ego... er, I mean head. Additionally, one of the cans can be rotated so that it doesn't cover one ear, an interesting feature which takes some getting used to if you do the more common 'one on the ear, one on the cheek' method.

Sound Quality / Response: These are the best pair of headphones I've experienced when it comes to frequency response and, once again, they prove they've been made with the DJ in mind. Of course the most important element of the sound for a dance DJ particularly is the bass kick and the HD 25s reproduce the sound with aplomb. The sound is never dull or blurred - it's sharp and punchy. the high-end response is less impressive but that matters less in this environment.

This is definitely a pair of headphones you'll wear inside - you'll look like a try-hand wally if you wear them on the train (not that I've tried...). Overall, they do a superb job specifically as DJ monitors and also for use with a computer - the soundscape created by the HD 25s makes them superb for games playing. Less expensive that the really high-end equipment but perfect for the enthusiast.