Headphone Buying Guide

Prioritize Sound Quality

Even the very headphones can emphasize (or distort) different parts of the audio spectrum, and while you should get the
you might prefer one sound over another. If you can, try headphones before buying. If you buy online, check return policies to make sure your purchase can be returned or exchanged for another model.

Choose a Design That Fits Your Expected Use
Over-the-ear models are great for listening at home but could get in the way while you’re on the go. Sometimes smaller, more portable models sacrifice a little sound quality, but they are definitely handy, and in-ear headphones are easier to manage. If you need some peace and quiet working at home or in other environments, consider headphones with active noise cancellation technology.

For the Very Best Sound, Stick With a Wire
For serious music listening, consider one of the top-rated wired models. Wireless headphones sound good. too, but so far we haven’t found any that provide the sonic clarity of the top corded models.

There are a lot of ways you can cut down on the money you’re spending on headphones. First and foremost, look past brand names and don’t just assume more expensive models are better.

We’ve found that quality and performance can vary dramatically across different models made by the same manufacturer. And many of the top-scoring models in our ratings come from lesser-known companies at prices that can cost hundreds of dollars less than competing products.

Another way to save is to try a refurbished pair. Big retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, and Walmart often sell refurbished headphones. They may have needed repairs or might have simply been cleaned up after being returned for other reasons. Refurbished products don’t always come in their original packaging, but you can score big discounts on popular and well-rated models. Check the return policy, but the retailers we’ve looked at generally offer a warranty.

You may also want to consider headphone repair before you buy a new set. Not all problems can be fixed for a reasonable price, but if you’ve shelled out big bucks for a set of headphones, it’s worth a look. When we checked, commonplace repairs ranged from as little as $30 to around $70. Check out our guide to headphone repair for details.

Lastly, take some steps now to keep your current headphones in shape. If you do it right, regular cleaning can keep your headphones working for months or even years longer than they might otherwise.  

Your next pair of headphones shouldn’t just sound great; they should be built to last, too.

That’s why we conduct annual member surveys, to get a picture of how well headphones fare in the real world and how satisfied owners are with them. In our most recent headphones survey, more than 18,600 of our members told us about their experiences with more than 22,200 headphones purchased over the past five years.

Our predicted reliability ratings use the data from our surveys to estimate how new models from a particular brand will hold up over the first two years of ownership.

We also assign each brand an owner satisfaction rating, based on the percentage of our members who are extremely likely to recommend the product to friends and family.

You can see a full breakdown of our assessment of predicted reliability and owner satisfaction in our headphones ratings.

Every year, CR tests dozens of headphones in our labs. A panel of trained audio technicians assesses each pair by listening to the same set of high-quality music recordings. These tracks were selected to highlight different parts of the audio spectrum—think of a more specific version of bass, midrange, and treble. Other tracks are used to test different kinds of sounds, such as the spatial ambience of the room the music was recorded in, the delicate nuances of the human voice, and audio passages crowded with tons of different instruments. 

We use the same songs to compare the model we’re testing with a standard set of reference headphones that represent different levels of audio quality, a range of Excellent to Poor in our ratings. That gives us a clear, consistent picture of how each headphone measures up.

Personal preferences will influence your feelings about what makes for great audio quality. For example, some listeners want the guttural hit of a loud bass note above all else, while others prefer a more clinical sound that lets you pick out all the fine details. At CR we privilege “accuracy” in audio products, or how well the headphones reproduce the sound of an original recording. In other words, the better a pair of headphones rates in our tests, the closer it’s going to get you to what the producers created in the studio, with the fewest distortions and sonic quirks.