Are you confused about which headphone to buy? With so many brands and models on the market we can understand that, so hopefully we can help you by explaining some of the differences between the products on offer, and guide you enough to find the right headphone for your needs.

The Basics
There are two basic types of headphones: ‘open back’ and ‘closed back’. This refers to the outside of the earpiece on a standard headphone being either sealed or open with some type of grille.

In the early days, headphones were all closed back until one manufacturer found that it was possible to get a better sound by allowing the diaphragm to move freely in open air. This is logical since enclosing the back of the headphone makes the diaphragm push and pull against a fixed mass of air that operates like a spring, opposing the movement of the diaphragm.

So open headphones today generally sound better than closed, and it is in fact easier to get an open back headphone to sound good, than it is a closed back headphone. However, with technology today, there are some extraordinary headphones on the market that are closed back, most of which come from Audio-Technica.

"The situation in which the headphone will be used is what will determine the type of headphone you should buy."

The draw back of an open back design, is that the sound leaks out of the headphone. This can annoy those around you in a work environment, or when listening to the TV while your partner sleeps etc. If this is not an issue for you then you want an open back headphone.

In the recording studio, closed back headphones are the ONLY option as they prevent the headphone mix from leaking back into the microphone you are singing in to, in the case of vocal tracking. So generally, for best sound, buy an open back headphone, but ONLY if your situation permits.

As mentioned earlier, the top end Audio-Technica headphones such as the ATH-W5000 are an exception to this rule. Through some clever engineering they have developed what is easily one of the finest headphones on the planet, and it is a closed back design! Other models in their range like the ATH-A1000X and the ATH-A2000X are also superb closed back designs.

Next: Ear-Canal Headphones ->