I recently reviewed a set of headphones by SMS Audio– the Street by 50 Active Noise Cancelling model which I enjoyed especially while watching movies. Now, I’ve got a set of DJ Pro headphones under the same brand to check out.
The DJ Pro headphones are similar in sound to the Street by 50 ANC set, but of course lack the active noise cancellation functionality. They do a great job with passive cancellation however. I haven’t tried the Street by 50 non-DJ set, but I would imagine the sound profile is similar to that as well. The DJ Pro headphones add a new feature which allows each side of the headphones to swing backwards. This allows a DJ to listen to the source using one ear and listen to his surroundings with the other. The build quality of this mechanism is very nice, but it’s almost too secure. It takes two hands to swivel a side without pulling the headphones off.
The frequency response is not even close to neutral. If you’re an audiophile stay away. This doesn’t matter for aspiring DJs, however, as the response curve perfectly fits house/dance/hip-hop/rap music that is often the primary style of music at a club. The bass is extremely pronounced while the midrange is a little bit muddy. Quite surprising however is the lack of distortion at high volumes. These drivers are bass heavy but they can sure handle it.
The ear cups are extremely comfortable– a feature full-time DJs will surely love. You won’t easily fatigue wearing these headphones. In addition, the ‘phones come with two cables: one with an inline microphone and one with a partially coiled cable perfect for a large DJ-ing environment. Finishing off the package is the very cool, football shaped semi-hard case for storage of the headphones.
The primary drawback of these headphones for DJs is the cumbersome mechanism for listening with one ear. If you don’t need to move it around much, it’s not a big deal. If you’re looking for some high quality, audiophile level headphones, you should look elsewhere. If you are looking for some very comfortable headphones with insane bass and pretty cool looks, the Street by 50 DJ Pro headphones could be for you.
