Find a wide selection of Digital Piano Keyboard Headphones which can be used with any digital piano or music keyboard, for Silent practice at home or for studio use. A good pair of headphones lets you enjoy the sound of your keyboard, and lets you practice in silence. Skip to the best headphones for digital piano on Amazon.
Why Use Keyboard Headphones?
The main problem you face while playing a piano is that it can disturb a lot of people around you, especially if you are still learning. You may want to play the piano late at night, but your neighbors, room-mates, or family may not appreciate the loudness at that time. Even if they don’t mind, you may prefer to learn in isolation until you can play a few songs comfortably. You don’t want them to hear you struggling with the notes.
Using a good pair of stereo headphones for your digital keyboard / digital piano will save you all this trouble (you can’t do this with an acoustic piano).
Almost every digital piano / keyboard comes with a built-in headphone jack that allows you to connect headphones to the keyboard.
The advantage of using headphones while playing the digital piano or keyboards is that you can practice whenever you want to without disturbing others or drawing the attention of others.
Many home digital pianos allow you to connect two Headphones (two female 1/4 jacks) so that you and your partner (or teacher) can practice together.
On keyboards with onboard speakers, plugging a headphone will automatically turn off the speakers.
Some keyboards (stage pianos) do not come with onboard speakers; they are best heard using amps. Headphones come in handy for such keyboards, whenever you want to tickle the keys at home.
Most headphones for your electronic keyboard piano can also be used with other electronic gear like your portable music/mp3 player, or with your laptop / computer.
Top reasons to buy Headphones for Digital Keyboards/Pianos
- One of the most important advantages of using a digital piano is that you can play or practice any time if the day or night. And most adults usually have spare time late at night to play the piano, so why not make use of these features.
- Another good thing about using headphones is that, if you use a really good quality one, it can make your average sounding keyboard much better.
- If you live with other people or live in an apartment complex with thin walls, you can still practice without disturbing anyone
- If you have noisy neighbors, you can focus on practicing
- Accomplished pianist can closely monitor their playing
- If you’re learning, you can focus on your notes and not worry about what others are thinking about your playing
- If your digital piano has two 1/4 inch stereo headphone jacks (female), it means you can connect two headphones to it. It means one more person can play the piano along with you, its perfect for teacher and student playing together.
Ways to Listen to your Digital Piano through Headphones
Here are the various ways to listen to your music keyboard / digital piano through headphones.
It’s easy to connect headphones to digital keyboard instruments as almost all of them come with headphone jacks. Just plug the headphones directly into your music keyboard / digital piano and you are good to go.
There are two additional methods, although the primary purpose of these setups is something else.
Connect your keyboard/piano to your mobile device – smartphone or tablet (the headphones will plug directly into the mobile device). In order to make this connection from the keyboard to the iOs device, you will need the Lightning to USB Camera adapter, and USB A to B cable or MIDI to USB cable (depending on whether your keyboard has a USB port or MIDI ports).
Connect your digital piano/keyboard to a Computer using an Audio Interface (the headphones will plug directly into the audio interface). You will need an audio interface for this
.
Top Rated Headphone / Earphone Models
Whether you own a classic grand piano or a good digital piano keyboard, a really good set of headphones will let you get the best possible sound from your piano.
To get the best hearing experience, you don’t want to pick up just any old set of earphones. In fact, the best quality headphones for digital piano sound even better than your keyboard’s built in speakers, and can make you feel like you are performing on a really expensive piano keyboard. Some of these headphones will make your digital piano much better than what it sounds.
One of the popular brands for keyboard / piano headphones is Sennheiser. Not too cheap and not too expensive – but gives very good quality sound.
If you already have good stereo headphones that you use to listen to media/mp3 player, you may use that. You probably may need an adapter to convert it into 1/4 inch.
A decent, inexpensive pair of stereo headphones will be good enough for your digital piano or electronic keyboard. If you are willing to stretch your budget, you may go in for Sony MDR7506 pro-quality headphones.
The Sennheiser HD series Sony MDR series headphones are quite good and are comfortable to wear as well.
- Best High-end (SONY MDR-Z1R)
- Best Mid-range (Audio-Technica ATH-M50x)
- Best Inexpensive (Sony MDRV6 Studio Monitor Headphones)
Related: Check out other useful accessories for piano keyboards
Sennheiser HD-280 PRO Headphones
These sound great, are comfortable, and easily driven by portable players. When new, it takes a couple of days for it to reach its optimum sound quality. It produces thrilling true-to-life sound, while keeping outside sound where it should be, OUT. Compatible with 3.5mm connectors, these headphones fit around the ear. These are collapsible, and interfold to fit into small spaces. Neodymium magnets are built in for maximum SPL.
Audio-Technica ATH-M50x
The Audio-Technica ATH-M50x professional monitor headphones sound great, and I would say it outperforms some of the more expensive studio monito headphones. A bit pricey but the cost is worth it. These are not noise-canceling headphones, but because they cover the ear, they do block most external noise. Excellent build quality that should last years. It includes an 1/8″ to 1/4″ adapter as well as 3 different cords (all 1/8″).
The Audio-Technica headphones are light and comfortable on the head. They are found in daily use in major broadcast and recording studios, and relied upon by top touring musicians. A-T mics are chosen for Product features: flat, extended frequency response for mixing/monitoring; field-replaceable cables, drivers and ear pads; Rotating earpieces for easy one-ear monitoring.
Sony MDR7506 Professional Large Diaphragm Headphone
Sony MDR7506 Professional Stereo Headphone is perfect for any situation where high quality sound is required. Features a rugged design, convenient folding construction, gold connectors and OFC Cord. The sound quality from these headphones is fantastic and headphones has a good dynamic range.
Lot of traveling musicians use these headphones (folds for easy portability). The noise reduction effect makes it easier to focus on the piano practice.
AKG K 240 MK II
Highly rated professional studio headphones with great bass response. The semi-open design produces a more natural and spacious sound but also makes them less suitable for noisy environments or recording purposes. The cord is detachable (cool feature) and it features a self-adjusting headband for comfort and convenience. Comes with Standard 1/8″ plug with included 1/4″ adapter. It’s more affordably priced and is a popular choice among musicians, producers, and audiophiles.
Bose QuietComfort 25 Noise Cancelling Headphones
Priced on the higher side, these are noise-canceling headphones, perfect for focusing on your playing. These offer excellent audio quality, sounds natural, although they seem to be more focused on high and mid-range sounds than bass.
Bose QuietComfort 25 headphones comes with in-line mic as well, which makes it easy to take calls too (in case you decide to take calls with it).
Headphones: Buying Guide
There are various styles of headphones to choose from nowadays. You get Headphones in various types, such as: In-Ear, On-Ear, Semi-Open, Closed Back, Foldable, for iPhone, gaming, noise cancelling (cut out external noise) and wireless Headphones, and pro DJ / Studio headphones.
The ones used in the recording studio are flat (they do not add any color to the sound), whereas the ones used for enjoying music and for practicing your instruments do add color to the music (they try to make the music sound better).
Over-the-ears headphones can further be divided into Closed-back and Open-back headphones:
- Closed-back headphones have a solid outer shell, and provide excellent noise isolation.
- Open-back headphones have openings (perforations, grills, etc.) in the ear-caps, allowing and sound to pass in and out of the headphone cups. So you can potentially hearing the sounds from the surrounding, and even the audio from the headphones can be heard by those nearby.
Here’s a bit about the technical aspects of headphones.
Noise Isolation vs Noise Cancellation
Sound isolating earphones physically blocks the background noise. These are usually multi-purpose and can be used for your keyboards, for listening to music, and for most general purposes.
Noise cancellation headphones, on the other hand, are specialized equipment, mostly used by studio engineers. With ordinary headphones, you cannot accurately hear the bass, the details, and the dynamics of the recorded sound. That is where a noise-canceling headphone helps you to reduce noise and they also provide clear music with powered isolation. These headphones are generally larger and are powered by batteries.
Top Headphone Brands include Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, Sony, Shure, AKG, Beyerdynamic. These brands make a wide range of headphones (low-end to high-end) catering to different kinds of users – recording artists, disc jockeys, musicians, gamers and music lovers.
Headphone Amps
You also get amplifiers that are specifically designed for use with headphones. It boosts the signal that goes to the speakers in the ear cups which causes the two and makes it possible to deliver a wider spectrum of sound.
In case, your listening device has a low-quality soundcard as some computers do, a headphone amp will also accentuate the poor sounding music as well is the good. To achieve the best quality listening experience is important that each piece of equipment in the sound chain is better than average standards.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
Tony says
All the headphones listed here are good, in terms of comfort and sound quality. Yamaha makes good accessories too, besides musical instruments. You may checkout Yamaha’s HPH series headphones for digital pianos, comfortable and good sound quality.
They have a closed-back headphones that can be used for keyboards as well as in the studio. I think the only issue is that the cushions start falling apart over time, leaving tiny crumbles on the ears and on the floor.
keytarhq says
That’s true of most entry-level closed-back headphones, the cushions losing its outer cover gradually over time.