If you love composing melodies on your keyboard, you need the best headphones for piano keyboard to help you fine-tune your composition and listen to every single detail. You can also listen to your composed masterpieces without disturbing other people around you. Moreover, you can keep your composition private until you are ready to share it.
There are hundreds of different headphones for keyboards in the market right now. The best headphone for you will depend on your budget and specific needs. To make it easier for you to pick your own best headphone, we will first share our top 5 picks. Then we will share some general advice on choosing headphones for piano keyboard.
Our choice of the best headphones for piano keyboard
 | 1. Best open-back headphones for piano keyboard: Philips SHP9500 The open back design ensures authentic sound and will keep your ears comfortable for hours of playing | Buy on Amazon |
 | 2. Best professional headphones for piano keyboard: Audio-Technica ATH-M40x Amazing sound quality in all ranges, durable design, excellent sound isolation even in loud environment | Buy on Amazon |
 | 3. Best cheap headphones for piano keyboard: OneOdio Pro-10 Good sound quality for under $50, lightweight, come with two cables that can directly plug into your keyboard | Buy on Amazon |
 | 4. Best cheap keyboard headphones for bass lovers: Neewer NW-3000 With frequency response 10Hz – 26KHz, this headphone has quite strong response at the bass range, at a price under $50 | Buy on Amazon |
 | 5. Best Bluetooth headphones for piano keyboard: OneOdio A70 The bluetooth functionality makes this headphone much versatile. In addition to use the headphone with your keyboard through wired connection, you can also connect it with your smart devices via bluetooth. | Buy on Amazon |
5 best headphones for piano keyboard reviewed
1. Best open-back headphones for piano keyboard: Philips SHP9500
Philips SHP9500 Hifi Precision Stereo Over-Ear Headphones come with 50mm neodymium drivers offers relative flat frequency response across a wide frequency range. You’ll be able to hear a solid bass, transparent mid-range and clear high frequencies. These headphones come with a 1.5m cable for portability and flexibility.
In addition to this, you can also enjoy the double-layered headband cushion for comfort and minimum strain around your ears. You can keep on working on your masterpiece for hours without even noticing these headphones around your head. The breathable ear cushions allow you to wear these for extended periods of time. These headphones also come with a gold plated connector and acoustic system. This gold plating offers a long-lasting lifespan, and you can keep on enjoying these for years to come.
Pros
- Wide frequency response: 12-35000Hz.
- Sound is clear and feels natural compared to close back headphones
- 50mm Neodymium Drivers. The sound is superb at both high fand lower bass range.
- The open-back design and comfortable pads are very breathable, great for long hours of practice
- Fits even the biggest ears
Cons
- If you have to play piano in a noisy environment, this headphone may not offer great sound isolation
2. Best professional headphones for piano keyboard: Audio-Technica ATH-M40x
Audio-Technica ATH-M40x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones offer cutting-edge engineering and professional-grade earpads to offer you maximum comfort and precision at the same time. I’ve used this headphone with my digital piano for two years. When I first used this headphone, I thought I didn’t successfully connected it, because the piano sounds almost exactly the same as playing without the headphone. When I use much cheaper headphones, I always hear a clear loss of authenticity when I put on the headphone. So I highly recommend this headphone for playing with digital piano or keyboards.
The 90-degree swiveling earcups also offer convenience, and you can wear them in any position you want. The detachable cables also offer portability, and you can take these headphones with you anywhere you go.
These are designed to compete with the professional studio monitor headphones. Therefore, you will be guaranteed maximum precision and differentiation for different musical elements with these headphones. The materials used in the construction are robust and offer durability and a long-lasting life span at your fingertips.
The 40-millimeter drivers with rare earth magnets and copper also deliver exceptional performance that is unparalleled. These headphones come with a circumaural design that comfortably fits around the outer opening of your ears. It helps with sound isolation and a noise-free environment without any pain or stress on your ears. You can use this for hours without any problems.
Pros
- Incredible frequency response from 15-24000Hz
- Tuned very flat at all frequency range, makes ideal for playing classical and acoustic music
- Excellent sound isolation with the close-back design
- 40-millimeter Rare Earth Magnet Drivers
- Ergonomic Design
- Portable and Lightweight, only 0.52 lbs
Cons
- Your ear can get a little warm after wearing it too long
3. Best Cheap headphones for piano keyboard: OneOdio Pro-10
OneOdio Pro-10 Wired Over-Ear Headphone is on our list because of its high quality while at a very affordable price. The 50 millimeter neodymium driver creates a faithful representation of music dynamics. This headphone can deliver super clear bass, vocals, and high tones with accuracy. It comes with two detachable cables. The 6.3mm (1/4 inch) cable can plug in most keyboard and digital pianos directly, without needs of additional adaptors.
These headphones offer soft-padded ear cushions for maximum comfort. Therefore, you can wear these for hours and enjoying noise isolation without any pain around your ears. These also offer wireless and wired capabilities, and you can turn them into wireless headphones by detaching the cables
You can also enjoy single-side monitoring with 90-degree swiveling earcups. This attribute offers adjustability and flexibility at your fingertips. This way, you can enjoy a fatigue-free composition experience for hours on your digital piano.
Pros
- Very affordable price (under $50)
- High quality sound especially for the range of acoustic instruments
- Include 6.3mm cable that can directly plug into most keyboards and pianos
- 90-Degree Swiveling and Single-Sided Monitoring
- Soft Ear Cushions
Cons
- The bass range sound may not be as good as more expensive models.
4. Best Cheap keyboard headphones for bass lovers: Neewer NW-3000
Neewer NW-3000 Studio Headphones are lightweight headphones that offer a frequency of 10Hz to 26khz at your disposal. This is remarkable as compared to other headphones within the same price range.
This frequency range allows you to appreciate the different highs and lows of your compositions. Moreover, you can quickly understand the difference between individual musical elements in your composition and fine-tune your music accordingly.
These headphones come with a closed cavity structure that offers an impressive sound quality. This design contours around your ears without any pain. You can enjoy maximum sound isolation and a noise-free environment for composing your masterpiece.
You can turn these into wired or wireless headphones, depending upon your preferences. Similarly, these headphones over 180-degree rotatable earcups for maximum flexibility and single-ear monitoring. If you decide to purchase these headphones for your digital piano, you can enjoy a one-year warranty and lifetime customer support.
Pros
- Very affordable price (under $50)
- 180-Degree Swiveling for Single-Ear Monitoring
- Closed Cavity Structure
- Ergonomic Earcups
- Good bass sounds relative to the price you pay
Cons
- Not the most durable construction
- Isolation of external noise is limited
5. Best Bluetooth headphones for piano keyboard: OneOdio A70
OneOdio A70 Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphones are on our list due to how versatile it is. These offer both wireless and wired capabilities. Note that for playing with your piano keyboard, you can only use the wired connection. The reason is that most keyboards in fact accepts bluetooth connection for output, because of delay and loss of details in the sound. Nevertheless, the wireless connection allows you to use this headphone with your smart phone easily. This way, OneOdio A70 can also be your everyday headphone to use with your phone.
These headphones come with soft memory earcups and a jock lock design to ensure that the cable stays in place throughout your composition and keyboard sessions. The soft memory earcups offer breathable protein skin to reduce the amount of strain on your ears. So, you can keep on playing your digital piano for hours without feeling any pain.
Another interesting use case of this headphone is to share the music with your friend. You can connect the headphone to your phone through Bluetooth, and then connect this headphone to another pair of headphone through a cable. This way, both of you will hear the same music played in the phone.
You can also enjoy vibrant bass and lively highs with clarity and precision. These headphones are also portable and easily adjustable for different head sizes. You can fold them and keep them in your pocket without worrying about damaging the stress-tested materials.
Pros
- Bluetooth connection with 72 hours playtime
- Affordable price
- Foldable
- Soft Memory Earcups
- Jock Lock Design
- Vivacious Highs without Overlaps
Cons
- Not the most durable construction
- Sound quality is not as high as the other headphones recommended here
- Bluetooth functionality will likely not work with keyboards and digital pianos
Guides to buying headphones for piano keyboard
Headphones for piano keyboards have their unique considerations. You don’t want to randomly choose the first set of headphones you see for your piano keyboard and regret later that you don’t feel comfortable wearing it when playing your keyboard. It is worth your time to familiarize yourself with the important aspects of choosing the right headphones.
Make sure the headphone has the right connector
Connector type is often overlooked by most people when they buy headphones for a keyboard or digital piano. If your headphone has the wrong type of connector, it wouldn’t fit your keyboard!
Most keyboards or digital pianos require a ¼ inch plug as the audio input. The ¼ inch plug is also called a phone plug. It is a pretty large plug and it wouldn’t fit into a computer audio jack.
A typical earphone that you would plug into your laptop or your phone uses a smaller 3.5 millimeter plug, called mini-plug. To use a mini-plug earphone with your keyboard, you can get an adapter like this to convert the mini-plug to ¼ inch plug.
Even if it is feasible to do so, I don’t recommend buying the 3.5 mini-plug earphone and use an adapter to plug into your keyboard. The sound quality might be affected. Also practically, I found that those adapters are often sold in bulk and you just end up using one. I still have a bunch of adapters sitting in my drawers. What’s worse, I forgot which drawers I left them in LOL.
Over-the-ear headphones vs other types
There are mainly four types of headphone designs: on-the-ear, over-the-ear, earbuds and in-the-ear. Among these four types, over-the-ear headphones are best suited for keyboard piano or other music creation activities. This is because over-the-ear headphones offer both great sound quality and comfort when wearing for long hours.
If you’re interested, read this article to learn more about the difference between these types of headphones
Open back vs closed back headphones
Open back and closed back are two different designs of the over-the-ear headphones. Open vs closed refers to whether the earcup permits air to flow through.
Open back design headphones usually create more natural sounds. This means that the sound you hear from the headphone resembles closely what you would hear without the headphone. It is also more comfortable to wear it for long hours since pressure and heat wouldn’t build up in your ear.
The cons of the open back headphones are basically the cons of the closed back design. First of all, open back headphones usually cost more than closed back headphones. Secondly, open back headphones offer less sound isolation and are not suitable for use in a very noisy environment.
If you need to spend hours editing or playing music in a not noisy environment, then open-back is your best choice. Otherwise, a lower cost closed back headphones may be sufficient for you.
Understanding Soundstage
The process of recreation of audio is known as the soundstage. This is one of the most important elements when it comes to choosing the right pair of headphones for keyboard and digital pianos.
When you hear someone sing right in front of you, you hear the song from a pure source. On the other hand, when people listen to the same music from speakers, monitors, or other devices, they hear reproduced sounds. It is known as the soundstage.
You need to buy headphones with a wide or spacious soundstage. This means that your headphones will continuously provide clarity. You will notice the difference between different instruments and elements of the music.
Headphones that offer a spacious soundstage offer clarity and allow you to hear different instruments and elements clearly. This way, you will be able to understand your keyboard practice and composition better and fine-tune it according to your preferences.
Comfort Level
Even if you are not a professional keyboard player, you will still spend a lot of time with your digital piano and compositions. This means that you will be wearing your headphones for a long time. However, we all have suffered through horrible headphones that placed a lot of strain on our ears. This is why you need to purchase the right set of headphones that offers comfort and convenience at your fingertips.
The first element of comfort should be the audio quality. If you keep on listening to poor sound for an extended period of time, it can negatively impact your eardrums. Similarly, you can also get a headache from listening to background static or poor sound for a long time. Therefore, you need to test different headphones to ensure that they continuously offer high audio quality.
Secondly, you should check the quality of the earpads and headband. Sometimes, the headphones are too tight around your ears, and it can hurt the outer opening of your ears. You will have to continuously remove your headphones to alleviate the pain before putting them back on to resume your digital piano session.
So, you will need to wear different headphones and test how they feel around your ears. It will help you find the best headphones for keyboard that you can wear for a long period without any issues.
Sound Quality
This is an obvious factor that you need to consider while purchasing the right pair of headphones for your digital piano and keyboard. If your only purpose is to listen to tracks and enjoy the music, you can get any headphones that offer enhanced and loud music.
However, if you want headphones for your keyboard sessions and compositions, you need headphones that offer neutral and well-balanced sound. This way, you will be able to pinpoint any issues with your compositions. It will allow you to fine-tune your compositions before releasing them to the public.
Neutral and well-balanced headphones offer the best frequency response at your disposal. This will help you identify the highs and lows of your composition. You will be better able to understand the impact of different elements and sounds in your composition. So, you will be able to use this information to enhance your music further.
Should you get a Headphone for Piano Keyboards?
The best headphones for the keyboard bring a lot of benefits to the table. You must have wondered whether or not you should even invest in getting headphones for your composition and keyboard sessions. Here are the topmost benefits to help you make this decision.
Pinpointing the Flaws with Compositions
When you invest your money in getting the right set of headphones for your keyboard sessions and compositions, you will be able to pinpoint any flaws with your music. Therefore, you will be able to fine-tune and finalize your composition before releasing it to the public.
The right set of headphones for keyboards helps with sound isolation and a noise-free environment. This environment helps with understanding the transitions from one musical element to the next. You will be able to understand how your music feels and what notes should be enhanced or
dimmed down. These details can help create quality music.
Freedom to play your Piano keyboard
When you get the best cheap headphones for piano keyboard for your digital keyboard, you will be able to master your piano more quickly than before. Since you will be able to practice whenever you have time and no need to be concerned about annoying people around you.
In addition to this, the noise cancellation feature in these headphones will also help you focus solely on your compositions and keyboard practice. You will not be continuously distracted by your environment or other people. This way, you will be able to quickly master the piano and get ready to share your music with the world.
Final Word
If you want the best cheap headphones for piano keyboard, OneOdio Pro-10 is the clear winner here. OneOdio Pro-10 also offers soft-padded ear cushions that help obtain maximum comfort without stretching your budget.
If you can afford to spend a bit more on your headphones, I’ll recommend you to go with Philips SHP9500 or Audio-Technica ATH-M40x. There will be a noticeable upgrade in sound quality compared to the cheaper options on the market. These are professional-grade studio monitor headphones that allow you to enjoy clarity between different vocals, high notes, and musical elements in your music. If you tend to play in a quiet environment, Philips SHP9500 might be a better option as the open-back design is more breathable and will offer comfort for longer playing hours. If you tend to play in a noisy environment, then ATH-M40x might be better option as it offers better sound isolation.
Last update on 2023-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
