Behringer BH 470

When you first see the Behringer BH 470, you can’t believe your eyes: these 20 Euro headphones look very professional, their contours look elegant in brown and grey; the large oval ear cups have a stylish matt finish, and the Behringer branding is striking yet discreet. The chrome trim on the edges further enhances the design and provides a touch of smart “bling”. The grey-silver cuffs and headband are made of plastic, but are not made in one piece. The connections are not glued, but screwed together. Behringer relies on stable metal for the nine-step extendable and snap-in bracket extensions, which are reinforced on the inside with an anthracite-coloured plastic band for aesthetic reasons. The extremely soft padding with a cover of reddish- brown imitation leather both on the headband and on the ear pads promises comfort and a product which would be pleasant to use.

You’d usually expect to pay five to ten times as much for headphones with this kind of style, so what’s the catch?! Qualitative compromises have to be accepted in the fixed nature of the capsule padding and the spiral cable, which has a length of 3 meters, firmly connected to the left ear cup. They do not come with a protective case. But at such a competitive price, simply buy new ones when they wear out. The only additional accessory is an adapter from mini to 6.3 mm jack plug.

Wearing comfort.

Although the BH 470 looks very powerful for its size, with a weight of 220 grams (without the cable) it is a true lightweight even if it doesn’t look it. The plastic construction pays off in this aspect of the design. The extremely luxurious padding on the headband and the shells cushions makes for a comfortable fit. If you wore them for hours at a time, then the shells might press somewhat uncomfortably on the cheekbones eventually.

The extendable headband, which is easily adjustable and snaps firmly into place, ensures the optimum fit on your ears so that nothing slips. The ear cups can be positioned with joints, around the y-axis (90 degrees) and around the x-axis. In addition, the ear cups can be folded up to save space when transporting the headphones.

With their oval driver opening, the ear cups offer a lot of space even for large ears, as well as very good hold. The earpads literally cling to the ear without constricting it. The BH 470 also offers enough space between driver and the ear which not only creates room for the sound to unfold, but also prevent vibrations being transmitted to the ears at hefty volumes.

Sound

The specs for these headphones promise a sound image worthy of professional use in the studio: 40 millimetre dynamic drivers that transmit between 20 and 20,000 Hertz, which, thanks to the very low impedance of 34.6 Ohm (average) and 102 Decibel (manufacturer’s specifications) of sensitivity, seem to be quite loud. Nevertheless one should not expect too much for just 20 Euros, or should you?

We tested by playing electronic music with a lot of depth: Röyksopp “Sordid Affair” and Moderat “Therapy”. I really wouldn’t have believed the BH 470 had that much sub! In addition, the warm groove, whose notation can be heard in detail, offers plenty of room for mids and highs. In other words, the sound provides a slight bass accentuation, without the loss of transparency of the instruments that are located in higher frequencies. They also transmit the transients, be it through kicks or hi-hat, in a sharp and disciplined manner. But were they better with organic or synthetic music? We played Kool &The Gang’s “Summer Madness” and can say it was at the very least well balanced. Also here the bass comes into its own very well. Even the almost painful frequencies at the end of the song don’t bring these headphones to their limits.

In a direct A-B comparison between the BH 470 and studio headphones that sell for around 200 Euros, the results seem to proves that the studio headphones aren’t too expensive, rather than the BH 470 are on sale too cheap. The differences to be heard are rather very slight, other models may certainly represent the upper-frequency range more concisely, but you don’t miss it when just listening, it’s simply a pleasing sound. In the studio, their transparency and credible sound are good, but the slight bass accentuation is a bit strange when producing and mixing. After all, for this job, a truer sound is needed. That’s why I would only attest a limited suitability for studio use. The volume is also a real blast, thanks to the sensitivity and impedance, these headphones deliver a crisp signal even when the outputs are weak. If you like it really loud, go for it! Even if the level makes the ear cups vibrate, the headphones reproduce the signal consistently without distortion. In addition, the closed cups isolate you very well fro your surroundings, which means that the driver signal hardly deviates from ambient sound, and outside noise only contaminates the sound to a small extent. That’s why I would recommend the BH 470 for DJs, because in the booth sound can be loud and even rough, but these headphones tolerate this very well.