Buyer's Guide: Open Back Headphones

The Facts

Open back headphones (sometimes referred to as vented) are designed to allow sound out through the back of the earcup. This design gives a character to the sound that is often described as having an open soundstage, or natural. One reason for this is that there are less reflections than a closed back (or sealed) design.

Open back headphones are often regarded as providing a more accurate sound than the closed back variety. The best audiophile grade earphones are normally open back. For example Sennheiser's HD650 headphones are open back.

A disadvantage of the open back design is that the sound is able to leak out and people nearby can hear the sound made by the earphone speakers. This means open back headphones are not normally suitable for use in public places or where the sound made by the headphones can be distracting to people nearby, e.g. in an office.

The open back earcup also allows ambient sound leak in to the listener's ear. This lack of isolation from external noise means open back headphones are not suitable for listening in noisy environments.

Our Opinion

If you are looking for the best high fidelity headphones for home listening a good set of open back headphones will serve you very well indeed.

Sennheiser make some excellent open back design headphones it may come as no surprise to some that we would recommend the Sennheiser HD650 full size open back headphones.

Audio-Technica have a great range of open back headphones. For a mid-priced high quality open air design the Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 full size open back headphones are a great choice. The AD700's also look fantastic. We are big fans of the design and build quality of Audio-Technica's range of full size HiFi headphones.

Buying Ideas

Audio-Technica ATH-AD700

The full size headphone market if often dominated by Sennheiser with it's HD range, but there are other options. A solid performer in the full size headphone category are the Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 open back headphones, which have a very open and natural character to their sound and come highly recommended (RRP is £99).

Audio-Technica are the number one headphone brand in Japan, and for good reason. The AD700's are very well engineered and the sound is very neutral and a little more lively than the equivalently priced Sennheiser HD595.

Grado SR80

Next up we have to mention one of the Grado SR range. Choosing the best Grado headphone is a little tricky as they are all excellent, but the sensibly priced Grado SR80 headphone is a worthy contender for best mid-priced on ear Hi-Fi headphone (RRP is £110). The SR80 is a beautiful sounding headphone, with excellent clarity through the mids/highs, highly detailed resolution and a solid bass kick. Grado's have a very up-front sound that really makes your music sparkle.

Unlike some audiophile class headphones, both the Audio-Technica ATH-AD700 and the Grado SR80's are sensitive enough to give good response without any dedicated amplification, as they are both rated at a very efficient 32 ohms.

All of the Grado range are fully open back, which means sound can leak in and out of the ear cup. If this isn't a problem then the SR80 could well be the best headphones you have ever listened too.

Sennheiser HD650

Probably the most often recommended pair of full size Hi-Fi headphones on the planet are the extremely refined Sennheiser HD650 headphones. The HD650's have an excellent reputation among audio enthusiasts for good reason. Providing a beautiful silky smooth response across the entire audio range the HD650's really do make your music come alive.

The HD650 earpads are circumaural, which means over the ear, and are very comfortable indeed for long term listening. We often recommend a dedicated headphone amplifier with the Sennheiser HD650's as low quality headphone outputs will have trouble driving the 300 ohm drivers with any authority.