By Stacy Zemon, Publisher & Chief Scribe
As a DJ, headphones are one of the most important audio accessory purchases you’ll make.
They should be loud enough, isolating, comfortable, and help prevent permanent ear damage.
The more effectively your headphones can cut out external noise, the less volume needed to hear your music properly.
There are seven major factors that affect how good a pair of DJ headphones really are. In no particular order of importance, good DJ headphones should:
- Let you use them on one ear only
- Be comfortable
- Have a coiled cable
- Have punchy bass, and clear mids and highs with definition
- Be sensitive
- Be durable
- Be portable
Over the course of my career, I’ve owned several different pairs of DJ headphones. Recently, at The Las Vegas DJ Show, I was given a pair of Hercules HDP DJ-Pro M1001 to try out when I got back home.
Hercules is best know as a manufacturer of innovative and affordable USB MIDI Digital DJ controllers, and the M1001 is the flagship of the company’s first foray into the headphones realm.
The Unboxing
When pulling them out of their packaging, I was impressed with the overall weight and feel of the HDP DJ-Pro M1001. They seemed durable and sturdy, yet not overly weighty or cumbersome.
The HDP DJ-Pro M1001 are designed with a black finish with blue striping and comes packaged with a carrying bag, a 3m coiled cable w/mini plug, and a screw on ¼ inch adapter.
I was impressed to see that the cable could be attached to either the right or left earpiece to fit the needs of those DJs that have a preference to which ear they tend to mix with most.
The ear pieces also pivot in three different ways increasing their versatility even more. The ear cups swivel vertically on the hinge at 180 degrees, while the hinge itself swivels horizontally 90 degrees and toward the inside of the headphones by 120 degrees.
The earcups themselves contain 50mm drivers to handle deep bass and to also completely cover the ears for excellent sound isolation.
The Earcup and headband pads are very comfortable and soft with a leather-like material covering them for ultimate comfort.
The headband is also extendable to fit most head sizes comfortably.
Hercules also included a gold-plated mini-to-quarter-inch adapter so they can plug into any piece of equipment you need.
According to the Hercules website the HDP DJ-Pro M1001 have a 5 Hz – 30 kHz frequency range and a 50 mm diameter driver, with a 32 ohm impedance and sensitivity of 107 dB at 1mW.
What I can tell you is that the result is a clarity and sound that is impressive with crisp highs and deep lows.
In Conclusion
I’d recommend the Hercules HDP M1001 DJ Headphones for any DJ who needs an over-the-ear professional grade headphone that has great sound quality and is very competitive with other $150-$250 range headphones in its class.
Want to see all of the technical specs and other details? You can find them right here at the Hercules website.
