Japanese manufacturer Pioneer is one of the pioneers (pardon the pun) of the dance scene, producing turntables, mixers, digital controllers and DJ headphones for almost 40 years. If you ask an old-time partygoer what he associates with the raves of the 90s and 2000s, the list will most likely include sunglasses, yellow gloves, mineral water for the price of champagne, Technics turntables and Pioneer mixers. Personally, we'd add the Pioneer HDJ professional DJ headphones to this list.


At a quick glance, the representatives of the Pioneer HDJ series are not much different from ordinary on-ear headphones, but here is a case where the devil is in the details. The first fundamental difference is the nature of the sound and the emphasis on low frequencies. This is a critical factor, without which it will be difficult for a DJ to hear the thump of the kick drum and the rumble of the bass when a giant club sound system is blaring nearby and you need to hit the beat of the next track. The second emphasis is on the strength and flexibility of the design. No matter how legendary the party turns out to be, the DJ must be sure that the structure will not crack from falling off a table or being jostled in a bag. The third most important element is the rotating cups, which simplify the mixing process, making it possible to simultaneously hear music from the headphone and the club sound system.

It should be noted that Pioneer has come quite a long way from old-school classics a la HDJ-2000 to much more modern options a la HDJ-CUE1BT and HDJ-X5BT with Bluetooth connectivity and support for Hi-Res codecs. Unlike older DJ models that were designed to work with turntables and analog mixers, these options were made with an eye on modern digital decks a la the Pioneer XDJ-RR and XDJ-RR. Although, of course, the series is still dominated by more classic closed headphones with a regular or detachable audio cable.