Andertons Scoreboard: Best Closed-Back Headphones £40-£70 (2022)

The Andertons team has reviewed the best closed-back headphones in the price tier £40-70, for all those who want high quality on a budget! Read on to find out what models we chose and which one suits you best. From mixing to field recording, we'll give you the best option to fulfill your needs.

Anna Colombo

Anna Colombo

A while ago, the Andertons Team rated their favourite headphones in the price tier £20-40. We’re back with another chart scoring our favourite pairs of cans between £40-70. These models are aimed at all music producers and musicians who want to get a high-quality monitor of their performance and also get good feedback in terms of mixing.

Out team tried different brands and types of closed-back headphones, ranging from Sennheiser to AKG. We rated them based on comfort, sound quality and build to give you an insight of the overall performance.

Check out the rest of our headphone ratings here:

Sennheiser HD200 Pro Headphones – £62

The Sennheiser HD 200 Pro headphones offer fantastic isolation and over-ear comfort of a closed-back design; great for a studio environment. Additionally, unlike many “fashion headphones” at this price point, the HD 200 Pros feature a balanced and uncoloured frequency spectrum that’s essential for creating a good mix.

Rating:

  • Comfort – Our staff ranked how comfortable they found these on their heads. – 3.6/5
  • Sound quality – Our staff rated how they thought these headphones sounded with this price point of £40-£70 – 3.6/5
  • Build quality – Our staff compared how well the build quality and durability of each headphone was. 3.3/5

Final score: 3.5/5

 

Audio-Technica ATH-M20X – £49

The ATH-M20x Professional Monitor Headphones deliver exceptional audio clarity with supreme comfort and usability and will make your first steps into tracking and mixing a walk in the park! Boasting sleek, modern cosmetic design, teamed up with, undeniable articulate performance, tuned for enhanced low-frequency performance.

Rating:

  • Comfort – 4.0/5
  • Sound quality – 3.9/5
  • Build quality – 3.8/5

Final score: 3.8/5

 

Audio-Technica ATH-M30X

The Audio Technica ATH-M30x professional monitor closed-back headphones are tuned for highly detailed audio. Featuring a strong mid-range definition, these versatile monitoring headphones are ideal in a variety of situations. Designed primarily for studio tracking and mixing, they offer added features for increased portability, making them a great choice for field recording.

Rating:

  • Comfort – 4.5/5
  • Sound quality – 4.1/5
  • Build quality – 4.3/5

Final score: 4.3/5

 

AKG K245 – £49

The AKG K245 boast the largest-in-class 50mm drivers for great low-frequency extension, superior sensitivity and low impedance. This makes them some of the best headphones for editing audio and mixing your music. Their peculiarity is the foldable design, that allows you to carry them everywhere, from the studio to the train.  All of the critical pieces are metal, including the hinge, guaranteeing they last through heavy use.

Rating:

  • Comfort – 4.4/5
  • Sound quality – 4.2/5
  • Build quality – 4.5/5

Final score: 4.4/5

 

 

AKG K240 MKII – £57

The K240 MKII professional over-ear, semi-open headphones are a long-time standard in studios, in orchestras and on stages around the world. Its advanced Varimotion 30 mm XXL transducers deliver solid low end, accurate mids and crystal-clear highs. The semi-open design provides the airiness of open headphones with the powerful bass response of closed designs. For more than three decades, professional engineers and musicians have made the K240 the most widely used headphones in studios and at live consoles around the world.

  • Comfort – 3.5/5
  • Sound quality – 3.3/5
  • Build quality – 3.4/5

Final score: 3.4/5

 

Shure SRH240 – £44

The SRH240 Headphones from Shure provide excellent sound reproduction and comfort. With 40mm neodymium dynamic drivers optimized for general listening and monitoring, these closed-back Headphones reproduce deep bass with clear mids and highs. Impedance, power handling and sensitivity are all calibrated for connection to most consumer and professional audio devices. Includes threaded 1/4″ (6.3mm) nickel-plated adapter.

  • Comfort – 3.5/5
  • Sound quality – 3.5/5
  • Build quality – 3.3/5

Final Score: 3.4/5

 

Shure SRH440 – £65

The SRH240 Headphones from Shure provide excellent sound reproduction and comfort. With 40mm neodymium dynamic drivers optimized for general listening and monitoring, the SRH240 Headphones reproduce deep bass with clear mids and highs. Impedance, power handling and sensitivity are all calibrated for connection to most consumer and professional audio devices. Includes threaded 1/4″ (6.3mm) nickel-plated adapter.

  • Comfort – 3.6/5
  • Sound quality – 3.9/5
  • Build quality – 4.0/5

Final Score: 3.8/5

 

Best Headphones £40 - £70

How We Rated the Headphones:

The Andertons team gathered together to rate these headphones and give you as many opinions as possible, not only the ones from our experts from the Pro-Audio team. We selected 20 people from our staff members from different departments, from drums to mail order and gave them the headphone to try and test.

There were 3 main categories we measured, we then took the average score from each category to see which one came out on top. The 3 categories went as follows:

Comfort – We consider how comfortable they feel on our heads! Considering the size of them, how the cushions fit our ears and how comfortable the material is, this is to make sure they’re good for extended use!

Sound quality – Here we’re looking as to how they generally sound, thinking about the frequency response and how they sound dynamically. In addition to this, we compare the sound against other headphones in the price range to see which one comes out on top!

Build quality – For this, we look at the general sturdiness of the headphones and what material they’re made from. While this also ties into the comfort of the headphones, we check to make sure they’re fit for the demands expected of them!

When doing these rankings, we took the price point into account. In our analysis, we focused on the range £40 – £70, to ensure we were comparing models in the same price/quality tier and kept you well informed!

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Anna Colombo
Anna Colombo
Anna is a Digital Product Marketer in the Tech and Pro Audio Department at Andertons. She brings the daily dose of *pinched fingers emoji* to the office as she's Italian. She also makes alternative pop music and her favourite synth is the Roland Juno.

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