Hi-Fi or Studio headphones?

[Dejvas]

What's the difference between Hi-Fi and Studio headphones? I'm thinking of buying headphones and came across those two categories so I was wondering what's the difference and what's better. For a brand I would get audio technica and looking for open back headphones because I don't like closed back. I would get something like Audio technica AVA400 or m20x cause I'm on a budget and use it for gaming, music and videos.

 

[Dunlop0078]

Nothing, HI-FI means high fidelity, from my understanding it is just a buzz word. The M20x's are closed back and I believe both are on ear headphones, I personally much prefer over ear headphones. I don't think audio technica has much in the way of over ear open back headphones, they are more known for their closed back designs.

 

[Dragos Manea]

If you want open back Sennheiser has better products, if you want closed back, audio technica has better products.

 

[therealduckofdeath]

When a brand like ATH use the studio moniker it usually means the headphones are a bit more neutral sounding. But, generally those labels are just labels like anything else to make a product stand out. Hi-fi haven't really meant anything since the word was coined. Neutral sound is great if you like to listen for the quality of the recorded sound, but quite colourless if you like to listen to the music. They can of course be "livened up" with an equalizer or an amp with a more defined sound signature (like a tube amp). I agree with Dragos, also have a look at Sennheisers in that price range. They tend to tune their headphones more for the listening experience. A little bit warmer and a little bit more V-shape in the sound.

 

[Kasper Jorgensen]

Studio headphones in general are meant to have a flat frequency response, where hifi headphones do not. The flat frequency response in studio headphones are necessary for the mixing engineer to make correct and unbiased decisions. This is the same as to why they use studio monitors and not hifi speakers in the studio.