OneOdio Monitor 60 Professional Headphones Review

Finding an affordable set of headphones for professional use is tough. Many headphones feature hyped bass and treble frequencies with midrange buried, which are fine for casual listening, but not great for professional audio. OneOdio has attempted to combine features audio professionals need with a sound signature that’s still fun to listen to with the Monitor 60 Professional Headphones. As you’ll find in this review, not only did the company succeed with this mission, but it also kept the price affordable.

This is a sponsored article and was made possible by OneOdio. The actual contents and opinions are the sole views of the author who maintains editorial independence, even when a post is sponsored.

Inside the Box

Despite the affordable price tag, quite a few nice extras are included with the OneOdio Monitor 60 Professional Headphones. The first that you’ll notice when you open the box is the faux-leather carrying pouch.

The company also included three separate cables (these are removable and replaceable) in the box. You get a coiled cable with a 1/4-inch TRS jack, a straight cable with a 3.5 mm TRS jack, and a shorter cable with a microphone and built-in remote with a 3.5 mm TRRS jack for using with a phone or tablet.

Features

Before we move to the standard features, there is one unique feature of the OneOdio Monitor 60 that you won’t find in many headphones. Each ear cup has an input jack. The right side is for the cables that come with the headphones – these have a key, so you can only plug them in on this side.

The input on the left ear cup is more interesting, as this takes any standard 1/4-inch TRS cable. If you need an extra-long cable or type of cable not included in the box, you can plug any cable with a TRS jack into the headphones. If you’re using these on stage, for example, this could be very handy.

Moving on to the usual features, the OneOdio Monitor 60 feature 50 mm neodymium drivers. These have an impedance of 38 Ohms and a sensitivity of 110+3dB. If you’re not sure what this means, basically, you can use them with anything from a smartphone to a headphone amp without having to worry about them not carrying enough volume.

These are wired-only headphones, so you won’t find any Bluetooth connectivity. On the upside, this does mean you don’t have to worry about batteries.

Build Quality & Comfort

Like most headphones, the OneOdio Monitor 60 are constructed mostly from plastic. This keeps them light enough that you don’t feel like you’re wearing a set of heavy speakers on your head all day.

The headband is made of metal, meaning you don’t have to worry about them breaking from simply taking them on and off. This is a solid piece of metal but fortunately doesn’t add too much to the weight.

These headphones feature rotating ear cups. This is a key feature for DJs, as it lets you listen to the headphones with one ear while paying attention to the music coming out of the speakers with the other. The swivels here are made of plastic, but in our testing, they didn’t feel prone to breaking.

Don’t worry about putting the Monitor 60 headphones on backwards. The insides of the ear cups are labeled with L and R for left and right. In case that wasn’t enough, the hinges are labeled as well.

The ear pads have memory foam inside and a protein cover that feels like leather without the clammy feel leather ear pads can have at times. These are also removable, so if you have a brand of ear pads you prefer, you can swap them out. The standard ear pads are plenty comfortable, however.

While testing the OneOdio Monitor 60, I had them on for hours without any discomfort. Because of the metal headband, the headphones have a fair amount of clamping force to stay on your head, but the soft ear pads kept them from feeling too tight.

I didn’t encounter any heat issues, which can be a problem with some headphones. The ear pads here felt breathable enough that this was never a concern.

The Testing Process

Different people use headphones in different ways, so we tested the OneOdio Monitor to reflect this. As OneOdio recommends these for DJs and general pro audio use, we tested using quality headphone amps, but this isn’t the only way we tested.

Plenty of people use headphones with smartphones and laptops, so we needed to know how the OneOdio Monitor 60 Professional Headphones held up here. We also compared the headphones with other models ranging in price from $35 to $400 to see how they fared.

For critical listening, we tested the OneOdio Monitor 60 powered by a Schiit Modi digital to analog converter (DAC) through a Schiit Asgard headphone amp. To compare with other headphones, we used both headphone outputs of a Focusrite Clarett 8pre audio interface. In head-to-head comparisons, we matched levels as best as we could to minimize volume-related differences.

For both of the above, the source was Audirvana running on a MacBook Pro. We also used this Mac’s built-in headphone output to test how the Monitor 60 headphones sounded with a weaker headphone amp.

Finally, we tested them on the go using a Sony Walkman NW-A35 digital audio player. Most people don’t listen to music on dedicated players these days, so we also tested on an iPhone 13 using Apple’s Lightning to 3.5 mm audio converter.

Sound Quality

The OneOdio Monitor 60 Professional Headphones are relatively low impedance and high sensitivity. This means you won’t have to worry about them not getting loud enough plugged into your smartphone. It also meant we barely had to raise the volume on the Schiit Asgard to get them to a good listening volume.

The first thing that we noticed is that the Monitor 60 handled sub bass well without the pronounced lower-midrange boom that many headphones use to sound artificially bass-heavy. These are meant to give a fairly accurate representation of the music you play, so they aren’t as hyped in the bass frequency as headphones you may be used to.

That isn’t to say the sound signature is totally flat. There is a noticeable dip in the midrange, similar to what you’ll find in many consumer headphones. This is nice if you’re casually listening to music but less good for reference listening.

The upper midrange and lower end of the treble spectrum sound slightly pushed relative to other frequencies. Because of this, poorly mixed music can sound harsh on the headphones, but a great mix will still sound great.

These are closed-back headphones, so the soundstage will be narrow compared to open-back headphones. That said, there was plenty of stereo separation, especially on songs that are mixed “wide,” with instruments panned far left and far right.

Thanks to the high sensitivity and low impedance, there is little to no difference when listening on a dedicated headphone amp versus plugging directly into the MacBook Pro. This was true when using the headphones with the Walkman and the iPhone as well.

Should You Buy the OneOdio Monitor 60?

If you’re interested in DJ’ing, the OneOdio Monitor 60 Professional Headphones are a great buy. The multiple cables mean they’ll work with whatever you need to plug them into, and the swiveling ear cups are a key feature.

For those more interested in the production side, there are better options, but many of them will cost more than double the price of the OneOdio Monitor 60. If you’re just starting out or could use a set of professional closed-back headphones that bleed less audio into microphones, the OneOdio Monitor 60 Professional Headphones are a solid, affordable option.

If you’re a music listener looking to upgrade from the earbuds that came with your phone, the OneOdio Monitor 60 Professional Headphones are a great option. They’re comfortable enough to wear for hours and offer a solid sonic upgrade from many headphones in the same price range.