Best Bass Headphones in 2020

If you listen to a lot of bass-heavy genres like dubstep, EDM, or hip-hop, you likely want a pair of headphones that can add a solid amount of punch and thump to your music. While a lot of headphones are bass-heavy, it’s important to find a pair with a balanced enough sound profile that maintains detail in the rest of the mix, so your music doesn’t sound muddy or muffled.

We’ve tested nearly 450 pairs of headphones and below are our recommendations for the best bass headphones to buy that won’t sacrifice too much detail for a bass-heavy sound. It should be noted that these picks aren’t the ones with the highest scores in the bass accuracy category box, but rather the ones with the most enjoyable bass performance, even if their bass isn’t accurate. See our recommendations for the best headphones for music, the best earbuds for bass, and the best audiophile headphones.

1. Sony MDR-XB500

2. Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO

3. V-Moda Crossfade M-100

4. Sennheiser Pro HD 25

5. Skullcandy Crusher

Bass headphones are headphones that emphasize the bass more than the other frequencies. There are all kinds of tricks that manufacturers can use to achieve this, including adding passive components in the signal path. Sometimes the designers may not even have consciously tried to emphasize the bass. The end product simply came out that way.

In the budget class, some measure of bass boost can be very useful. It can really flesh out the sound because, let’s face it, you’re not going to get high-end drivers at this price range. It’s also great if you tend to listen at a lower volume.