Review: Behringer HPS3000 Studio Headphones

The Sound

The sound quality is below average for studio headphones, but at the same time it’s not that bad when you consider the price of these headphones.

You’re not going to get an incredible amount of clarity, detail and spaciousness with these. They have a bit of a muddy sound in parts of the frequency spectrum and the low end is lacking. But the sound still manages to be decent enough for studio monitoring, for playing electronic instruments, or for casual listening.

The highs and the upper mid range are fairly well pronounced, if not a little too much so. There’s a lack of crispness in the high end, but the sound is also very present. I find that things like vocals, crash cymbals and heavily distorted guitars have a little too much bite for my own tastes, and those things can sound a little harsh on these headphones at higher volumes.

The mid range sounds like it’s missing something when I put these side by side with other more expensive headphones, but on their own without comparing it’s not as noticeable.

The low end is lacking the most. I don’t really hear any good representation of sub bass. And things like bass guitars and kick drums can sometimes feel like they’re way in the background. To get a better feel from the low end, an EQ is required but even then they still struggle. Simply cranking up the volume didn’t work for me since the mids and highs can get a little harsh with louder volumes.

Another thing about these headphones is that it seemed like I really had to push the volume on my devices to get to a usable volume with them. I had to turn my drum module all the way up when I had these plugged in, and even then I wished I could have gone a little louder. The thing about that is that it doesn’t really make sense to buy a headphone amp to push the volume on these, since you can simply get better headphones if you’re going to start going that direction and spending more money.

For all my complaints of the sound – they still sound much better for studio use than any other pair of $20 headphones I’ve tried. So that’s still a compliment to these headphones at the end of the day.

Closed Back, Over Ear Design

These are adjustable, over-ear headphones that use a closed back design. The ear cups are big enough to fit over my ears, but they don’t offer a lot of extra room to work with, so they might feel on the smaller side for those with larger ears.

The closed back design offers a little bit of noise isolation and the ear cups actually feel like they create a good seal around my ears. It’s not very good noise isolation, though, and it blocks out just a small amount of environmental noise.

Comfort

The comfort level of these headphones was average but not bad for such a cheap pair of headphones. My head is a little bit on the larger side and these headphones fit me just about perfectly with the headband fully extended.

I had just enough room to wear them over my hat, and no more. The ear cups fit over my ears, but just barely. They felt a little more tight on the side of my head, but not in a bad way. The tightness helped create a better seal with the ear cups. The ear cups are a little stiff and they are average in thickness, but they provide decent padding. I think people with larger heads will be the most likely to find them to be uncomfortable.

One negative thing in terms of comfort is that there is zero amount of horizontal swivel on the ear cups. The lack of horizontal swivel limits their ability to conform to the shape of your head. The padding on the ear cups isn’t forgiving enough on it’s own to make up for the lack of swivel.

Build and Toughness

These are fairly cheap headphones and built with mostly plastic. Most people who own them find them to be durable if handled with care. You will want to be careful about abusing them, as they do need to be taken care of to stay in good condition. The plastic parts are susceptible to breaking if dropped or crushed.

Some people say that the foam ear pad covering deteriorates and flakes over time, which is to be expected from cheaper headphones like this. But that is more of an issue for heavy use over long periods of time. One thing to consider about these is that you can’t replace the ear pads like you can on some other headphones, which is a notable limitation. Buying another pair of these headphones is actually probably cheaper than buying aftermarket ear cup replacements anyways, which is kind of funny, and negates the issue of ear pads wearing out from a cost standpoint.

The Cord

These headphones have a single cord on the left ear cup. The cord is a little over 6 feet long, which is a pretty good length for this price range. The cord is fairly thin compared to some more expensive studio headphones. The connector is L-shaped and 1/8 inch by default with a 1/4 inch adapter included.

Are These Headphones Good For Electronic Drummers?

In my opinion, these are a decent pair of headphones for electronic drumming if you really want to be frugal. These are available as low as $15, which is supremely cheap. And at that price they aren’t that bad.

The offer a little bit of noise isolation. The lack of noise isolation for me at least was in the low end, where I could hear the thump of my kick pedal on the kick pad more than I could hear the thump of the kick drum from the sound module.

The drums and cymbals around the kit sounded good on these headphones, even if there was a little more bite in the high end. The sound quality issues that I experienced with full mixes weren’t as apparent on an instrument such as a drum kit on it’s own.

The comfort level was good enough to wear these for a practice session, and they don’t get overly warm. So that’s a good thing. The cord was also long enough that I didn’t need to use an extension cord.

The Verdict

The Behringer HPS3000 headphones are a nice surprise for less than $20, they are very usable for that price.

They have drawbacks when compared to more expensive headphones, but at their price point they can be a good entry level pair of headphones. If you absolutely can’t spend more than $20 and need a pair of headphones for electronic drumming, these can be worth grabbing. If you can spend closer to $50 there are better options such as the Audio-Technica ATH-M20X. If you are an audiophile with high sound expectations, you might want to look at some more mid range or high end studio headphones and skip over these.