Disclosure: DJ TechTools sells AlphaTheta gear in our store, including the HDJ-F10 and DJM-V5.
AlphaTheta just announced the HDJ-F9, a $349 on-ear version of its SonicLink wireless DJ headphones. It’s the second SonicLink pair after the over-ear HDJ-F10 from October 2024. They’re also the first set to pair by tapping the headphones against a compatible mixer.
A smaller, cheaper SonicLink headphone set
(if you own the right mixer)
If you’ve missed the details, SonicLink is AlphaTheta’s own 2.4 GHz wireless link, separate from Bluetooth, with a 9ms claimed latency. For context, sound travels about three meters / 10 feet in 9ms, so on paper this is about the delay you’d hear from a booth monitor a few steps away. Typical Bluetooth on the same headphones runs 200 to 300ms (I’m using AlphaTheta’s own numbers here) which is fine for a podcast, but too slow for DJing.
The HDJ-F9s weigh 285 grams (versus the F10’s 356 grams), and the on-ear fit is the same basic shape as the DJ stalwart Sennheiser HD 25s booths. Swivel hangers handle one-ear monitoring and resting on the shoulder. AlphaTheta doesn’t list active noise cancelling on the F9 spec sheet (it’s a bit of a difference from the nicer HDJ-F10s, which have ANC, though Phil at Digital DJ Tips found it hissy in his review).
The battery for the headphones is rated at 7 hours over SonicLink with the status LED on and 9 with it off. When it runs out, you can switch to a (included) coiled locking cable.
Touch pairing is the new trick. Tap the headphones against a DJM-V5 running the latest firmware and they connect. The V5, which launched in January at $2,199 as the first mixer with a SonicLink transmitter built in, is the only device AlphaTheta currently mentions will support it.
Most DJs are gonna need the transmitter
Without a DJM-V5, DJs will need a HP-TX01 transmitter ($159, sold separately), which plugs into any mixer’s headphone out. That makes wireless cueing on the HDJ-F9s cost a $508 total.
For comparison, AIAIAI’s TMA-2 DJ Wireless is also on-ear, claims roughly 10 ms over its W+ Link, and sells for $299 with the transmitter in the box. Within AlphaTheta’s own lineup, the F10 currently lists at $599 with its transmitter, so the F9 saves you about $90 if you’re set on SonicLink.
A few other things worth knowing:
- Most booths don’t have SonicLink. Outside a DJM-V5, you’re bringing the transmitter to every gig and plugging it into the house mixer. This also means two batteries to keep charged instead of one.
- iPhone users wait on the app. “HEADPHONES CONNECT” is Android-only at launch, with iOS coming “at a later date.” This is how AlphaTheta delivers firmware updates (and how you change the status LED color).
- 9ms is an “ideal conditions” lab number. It’s a 2.4 GHz link sharing air with every phone and wireless mic around.
The HDJ-F9 headphones $349 (excluding tax). AlphaTheta’s release says late October, but the Pioneer DJ store is already listing it as in stock.
