So what’s the deal with headphones anyway? There seem to be a million kinds. From terms like over-the-ear or in-ear, wireless or wired, noise-canceling or not, closed-back or open-back, it’s easy to get confused. Today we’re going to demystify the whole headphone thing once and for all so you know exactly how to pick the best headphones. We’ll define all the vocabulary, and the specs that are worth considering.
By the time you’ve read this article, you’ll have way more information as you shop for your headphones. We’ll even throw in some great suggestions for you at the end, just in case you still need some help deciding! If you’d rather not know the details and just want to know our picks, just click here ↓
Why Use Headphones?
Headphones are a great way to immerse yourself more into music, a meeting, or to just block out the noise from the outside world. They’re also an essential tool in music production. Headphones exist in numerous of forms and price points, and all have places where they shine (and where they don’t).
What headphones you pick depends a lot on your goals, so it’s best to start there. What do you want to use your headphones for? This should be the main driving force behind your headphone decision.
What’s Your Goal?
So why do we need to talk about your goal first? Most headphones are designed with a particular use case in mind. Some examples include critical listening uses like vocal tracking or audio mixing. You might just need something for casual downtime at home or while you’re traveling. Or maybe you need some headphones for your workout.
You might already be thinking about how the kind of headphones you’d pick for each purpose might change. Certain features make some headphone types lend themselves to working better in some situations, and worse in others. We’ll come back to setting our goal in a moment once we’ve learned some of the vocabulary.
Let’s Talk Details: Headphone Characteristics
Many headphone differences are fairly easy to spot. Some aren’t as easy, and others you can’t really know without reading a spec sheet. Thankfully you’ll know exactly what you’re looking for after we’ve gone through all the details.
Bear in mind that when we’re looking at the breakdowns of some of these categories and traits, we’re speaking generally. That means there are always exceptions to the rule! In the audiophile world, things get even more in-depth, so we’ll be dedicated a later article to that entirely. Be on the lookout!
Over-the-Ear
Over-the-ear headphones have larger drivers (the speakers that reproduce the sounds we hear) than their in-ear counterparts. As a result, they can generally produce a wider range of frequencies. This means they tend to do a better job of letting the listener hear more of what they’re listening to, from deep bass to high treble.
Often, over-the-ear headphones are designed to create a seal around your ear to provide isolation from the environment around you. Because they don’t make direct contact on or in your ears, these tend to be the most comfortable to wear for longer periods. On the downside, fully covering your ears means they can get a bit hot to wear after a while.
Many high-end headphones designed for optimal listening experiences are over-the-ear headphones. The larger driver size, bigger overall body, and isolating nature lend themselves to dedicated listening sessions.
It’s worth noting that there are some over-the-ear headphones that have an “open back,” meaning they intentionally allow sound to escape out of the back side of the headphones. While this does leave the headphones relegated to more dedicated, at-home listening, these headphones can actually sound almost like listening to high-end speakers. The open back design also helps to combat your ears getting too hot.
In-Ear
In-ear headphones are the smallest type of headphone, and as a result, the most portable. Their small, portable design makes them a great option for travel. They can be held in place either by making a seal in the outer ear canal or by a small band that wraps over the ear. Either way, this can be uncomfortable for some people. Even when they’re worn with properly sized or custom-fit tips, in-ear headphones tend not to be ideal for very long periods of listening.
If you’re looking for a pair for working out, these headphones’ design helps them stay snugly in place. Many in-ear headphones are also made to be sweat-proof, so you won’t have to worry about that causing any problems as you exercise.
Because the design of in-ear headphones places the drivers right inside your ears, they can sound a little more closed off than other headphone types.
On-Ear
On-ear headphones are kind of an in-between compromise between in-ear and over-the-ear headphones. They’re smaller and more portable than over-the-ear headphones, but they sport larger drivers and generally better frequency response than in-ear headphones. Since they don’t cover your entire ear, they don’t get as hot as over-the-ear headphones.
On the downside, comfortability with the on-ear design can leave something to be desired. Because they sit directly on the ear, wearing these for long listening sessions might cause pain over time. This also means that they don’t create a true seal over or inside your ears, meaning they’re less isolating than the other two types.
Frequency Response
Beyond design, there are a couple technical specs you might want to consider for your purchase as well. One of the most important is frequency response. Headphone frequency response is a term that refers to the sound frequencies a pair of headphones is able to reproduce.
Sound frequencies, which we generally perceive as highness or lowness of pitch, are measure in hertz, or Hz. The average human range of hearing goes from 20 Hz (lowest) to 20,000 Hz (highest). You might sometimes encounter 20,000 Hz as 20 kHz, or 20 kilohertz. Any pair of headphones that reports at least these numbers as their frequency response is generally a good place to start.
The other factor to consider in headphone frequency response is that different headphones will actually favor certain frequencies on the spectrum over others. In some, certain frequencies can be underrepresented, too. A great way to understand that is visually:
We look at frequency response charts like the one above in comparison to an assumption that our intended audio signal ranging from 20 Hz to 20 kHz should be perfectly flat and unbiased. For these headphones, some frequencies are accentuated, while others are diminished. Where those hills and valleys occur in the graph results in different sound characteristics.
We tend to describe higher frequencies as bright, sharp, or even harsh in extreme cases. Lower frequencies can be called warm, round, or dull in the extreme.
Because the response chart above actually shows the headphones to stay relatively close to the flat dotted line, these are fairly neutral sounding headphones. Noting the bump in the bass range and general roll-off in the upper treble ranges, we might describe them as slightly warmer sounding.
Impedance
One other spec you might encounter when researching headphones is impedance. Impedance in electronics is defined as resistance to the flow of current, and is measured in ohms, or Ω. Think of it like friction for your audio signal as it travels through your devices. In headphones, this number varies from as low 8 to 600Ω, which is likely the widest swing in impedance you’ll see across any audio device.
There’s a lot of math involved with impedance, but in general the relevant takeaway for this is pretty simple. The lower the impedance, the easier the headphones are to drive and produce signal. The higher the impedance, the more difficult. To simplify things even further, a good way to think about it is to think of headphones as falling into low- or high-impedance categories.
There’s a tradeoff between these two types. Lower impedance means there’s less power needed for your headphones to produce sound. The downside to that is, sending a more powerful audio source through them might lead to distortion.
As you might guess, the opposite tends to be true for higher-impedance headphones. More power might be required for them, but they are less susceptible to distortion. This may result in a cleaner, more noise-free listening experience. As a result of needing more power, you may need a separate headphone amplifier to power high impedance headphones.
Wired or Wireless?
Wires are great for being an inexpensive way for audio signal to travel, but tangles are a drag. Wondering if wired or wireless is the way to go? There are some pretty simple pros and cons for this.
Generally speaking, if you want a high-fidelity, quality listening experience, wired headphones are the right choice for you. Wireless solutions like bluetooth tend to compress audio in a less-than-favorable way, so you lose detail. If you’re after the most accurate and articulate listening experience, wireless headphones won’t usually help you.
The big advantage to wireless headphones though is how freeing they are. They’re a great option if you’re using them for a more casual experience like working out or traveling. You don’t have to stay tethered to your listening device, and you never have to worry about untying the knots your pockets tied.
What is Noise-Canceling?
One more feature that may come up in your shopping research is noise-canceling. A more accurate way to describe this would be active noise canceling. The “active” part means the headphones require some kind of power, like battery power, to perform this task.
In short, active noise canceling is a feature where headphones have microphones to sample the sound around you, and then cancel it out with something called destructive interference. Interference is a phenomenon in sound where the waves made by multiple sounds can either add or subtract to each other depending on their polarity.
The diagram above shows how interference can work. Sound wave amplitudes, which we perceive as loudness, are additive. Since sound waves have both positive and negative amplitudes (think like a speaker pulling in and pushing out), if we add a positive amplitude to a negative amplitude, they subtract. If those absolute values are the same, they add to zero, meaning they’ve canceled each other out.
Active noise canceling like this is great for travel when you really want the outside world to fade away, even when you’re on noisy transportation like an airplane. It’s less than ideal for those that like to exercise outside running or biking, which might not help you to stay alert to oncoming traffic or other things going on around you.
Back to Our Goals: How to Shop
So now that we know more about the what, let’s come back to the why. Why are you buying headphones? Are you looking to record or mix music? Getting something for long trip on a plane? Or maybe you need something portable and waterproof for a workout. Figuring out this answer will guide you in how to pick the best headphones.
Recommendations
Now that you have a good idea of what you should be looking for when you’re shopping headphones, let’s take a look at some of the best options out there. As always, bear in mind that links included to products are affiliate links, which earns us a small commission if you decide to make a purchase through them. These links will never increase your final price, and in some cases might even save you some!
One more note as you browse: These prices we have listed here are estimates. They do fluctuate up and down a little over time, but these figures should be right in the ballpark of what they go for currently at the time of this writing.
Over-the-Ear
Mixing and Recording
Casual Listening and Travel
Critical Listening
In-Ear
Mixing and Recording
Casual Listening and Travel
Workout
On-Ear
Casual Listening and Travel
One Final Note
These recommendations are obviously not exhaustive, and our opinions aren’t the only ones out there. The absolute best thing you can do is to try out as many options out there as you can. You can form an opinion of your own as you train your ears to listen more. Once you know what you like, you can decide for yourself with all the information you have, both from research and from experience!
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