The Best Open-Back Headphones
Reviewed September 2026.
Most of the open-backs worth owning want an amplifier. The Sennheiser HD 600 and HD 650 are 300 ohm headphones, the affordable HIFIMAN planars are insensitive by design, and the HD 800 S and nearly everything above it assumes one exists. That is the first real question about an open-back: what is going to drive it.
It is a smaller problem than it sounds. In 2026 a phone means a dongle anyway, because the jack is gone, and a dongle with a real amplifier stage is already an amp, just a small one. A desktop amp that does the job costs less than most of the headphones here, so buy it before you buy the second headphone. The method behind the order below is in how we listen.
| Pick | What it is for | Impedance | Sensitivity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sennheiser HD 650 | The one we hand people first | 300 ohms | |
| Sennheiser HD 550 | If you are not going to buy an amplifier | 150 ohms | High |
| HIFIMAN HE400se | About a hundred dollars | Twenty-five ohms | 91 dB, so a phone will not get it properly loud |
| Focal Clear Mg | The one to stretch for | 55 ohms | Sensitive, the easiest here to drive |
| Sennheiser HD 6XX, about $220 | The one we would buy | The 650 driver |
The one we hand people first
Sennheiser HD 650
If you told us nothing about yourself and stood in front of us, this is what we would put on your head. The HD 650 has been in production since 2003 and nobody has made it obsolete. Voices and guitars sit where they sit in the room, and it is honest about the recording without being cruel about it.
It is a 300 ohm headphone, and it wants an amplifier. Which amplifier is a separate question, and the amplifier guide answers it. The HD 600 is the same headphone tuned brighter, and which of the two to own is an argument that has run for twenty years without resolving.
The used version of this pick is further down.
Spend less
Sennheiser HD 550
If you are not going to buy an amplifier, buy this instead of the 650. The HD 550 replaced the HD 560S in 2025, clamps lighter than it did, and at 150 ohms with high sensitivity it reaches a proper volume off a laptop with headroom left. Nothing else at the price does the job better.
If you would rather have a planar at this money, the FiiO FT1 Pro is the easy one to drive.
The one for about a hundred dollars
HIFIMAN HE400se
A hundred dollars is where most people start, and this is the first open-back we can recommend at that number. The HE400se is a full-size planar at a price where that should not be possible: at a hundred dollars a dynamic driver is what you normally get. Twenty-five ohms looks easy, but 91 dB sensitivity is low, so a phone will not get it properly loud. Budget for the amp; it costs about what the headphone does. HIFIMAN's build is inconsistent enough that we would buy it somewhere that handles warranty claims without an argument.
The one to stretch for
Focal Clear Mg
This is for the person who has lived with a 6-series and knows exactly what they want more of. If that is bass with real weight, the Clear Mg is the answer, and at 55 ohms and sensitive it is the easiest headphone on this page to drive. It is also the heaviest of the dynamics here, and you notice that when you pick it up.
If you want space more than weight, the HD 800 S goes that way, and it is bright enough that some people never make peace with it. If you want the planar at less money, the HIFIMAN Arya Organic is the one to hear, with the 400se's build caveat.
There is more above the Clear Mg and the HD 800 S, and it costs three times as much. Before you spend that, stop reading and go and sit with one somewhere quiet.
The one to buy
Sennheiser HD 6XX
The 6XX is an HD 650 in dark blue, sold through Drop for a decade at well under the 650's price, and two hundred thousand went out the door. Drop closed in March, and Sennheiser now sells it directly for about $220. No dealer has ever been allowed to carry it, so we cannot sell you one: buy it from Sennheiser. It is still the best one there is to buy: the driver is the 650's, every wearing part is a Sennheiser spare or a Dekoni pad, and the sound is the first pick on this page. Check the pads, because flat foam changes the sound more than any cable ever will, the headband cushion, and the cable pins, which loosen; then play something quiet and listen to each side alone for a buzz.
Used ones are everywhere. One that comes through here gets graded before it is listed.
Who should buy something else
Your room is not yours alone, or somebody in it is asleep: open backs leak both ways and no open back at any price fixes that, so read the closed-back guide. You want it forward and fast with the guitars up front: that is a Grado SR80. It's a different headphone, not a cheaper one.
If you already own an HD 6XX, HD 600 or HD 650
You do not need a new headphone. Start with pads. Press the foam on yours. If it stays down it has compressed, and the seal and the clamp are not what they were. A fresh set of Sennheiser or Dekoni pads is the cheapest thing you can do to a 6-series and the first thing we would do to one. Second, an amplifier, because 300 ohms asks for one. If the pads are fresh and the amp is real and you still want something, the next step is the Clear Mg or the HD 800 S, not another 6-series, and hear both first.
One rule for all of them: match the headphone to your listening hours, not your budget ceiling. An expensive headphone you wear twice a month is a worse buy than a cheap one you wear every evening.
Come and hear it
If you are ever near Livingston, Montana, the listening room at Free River Studios, 215 E. Lewis St #301, is free and by appointment. Bring your own music, and ask before you drive what is on the stand that week, because it changes.
Third floor at 215 East Lewis Street in Livingston. Bring your own gear in if you like. Write to hello@sonictempleaudio.com and we will find an hour.
Liner Notes
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