Technics RP-DH1250 review

The Technics RP-DH1250 headphones are ostensibly DJ headphones, as can be seen from the many hinges that let you twist them into many different poses, and the dotted circles on the ear cups that invoke memories of the strobe dots of the iconic Technics SL1200 turntable.

The RP-DH1250s certainly feel tough and heavy enough for DJ use, and they stick to your head with enough grip to keep the cans on your head comfortably. We think you’d need to have a very slender head for these cans to slip off when your head’s nodding mid-performance. Although heavy, we’ve worn the RP-DH1250s for long periods without our neck becoming tired or our ears sore.

However, the 1.2m cable with inline remote control that comes with the RP-DH1250s, and the Made for iPod and iPhone badges on the box suggest that these headphones are primarily intended for ‘lifestyle’ use, with occasional use in a club or home-studio. We think that’s a good approach. If you’re paying nearly £200 for headphones you’ll want to get maximum use out of them wherever you can.

The RP-DH1250’s sound quality is good, and predictably best suited to bass-heavy dance music, hip-hop and R&B. Our test tracks had precise bass, booming drums and warm synths, but high-frequency sounds sounded a little numb and muddy. Not tremendously so, just enough to be apparent. This is disappointing when you consider that the RP-DH1250’s are intended for regular use with MP3 players. Just because someone enjoys mixing bass-heavy dance music at the weekend it doesn’t mean they won’t listen to other types of music on their iPod.

Distortion crept in at around 75 per cent of our iPhone’s full volume, but at that volume the volume was too painful for our ears to bear anyway. The RP-DH1250’s provided much better isolation from external sounds than we were expecting, which is a definite benefit if you’re using them in a bar or club. We found that they didn’t leak too badly unless we increased the volume of our iPhone to truly ear-damaging volume.

We like the Technics RP-DH1250s, and could easily live with the headphone’s weak high-end reproduction given that we primarily listen to house and hip-hop. We’d be happy to DJ with them, too, and the RP-DH1250s conveniently come with a coiled cable and a screw-on 6.3mm adaptor for when you want to plug them into a mixer. We also like the way cables must be locked into the RP-DH1250s, as this means they won’t be pulled out of the cans mid-set. However, we think there are better headphones to buy if you have a more eclectic taste in music, such as the Ultimate award-winning Sennheiser Momentums.