How to choose headphones you can keep: wireless or wired, battery, safety, and used checks

What to take away

Start with the situation, not the specification

Write down the two or three places you will use the product most. For each, note the background noise, how long you listen in one go, whether you need to hear your surroundings and whether anyone else must hear the same sound.

The table below is an Editorial suggestion, not a test result. It shows how that list tends to narrow the choice.

Editorial suggestion: fit comes before tone. A pair that clamps, slips or heats up will not be worn for long, so try over-ear models for at least half an hour and try each ear separately with in-ear tips, because one ear may need a different tip size. If you buy online, check the seller's return window first. The technology buying guide explains why a return window is worth more than any spec sheet.

What wireless actually gives you

Bluetooth is not one fixed audio path. The parts you can check are these.

The baseline. The Bluetooth SIG's Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) sets the requirements for high-quality audio distribution between devices, and the SIG's own LC3 characterisation paper describes SBC as the codec that A2DP uses.

Optional codecs. Makers add their own. Sony's help guide for the WH-1000XM5 lists SBC, AAC and LDAC as supported codecs for music. Check what your phone or computer supports as well as the headphone box.

LE Audio. The newer standard runs on the Bluetooth Low Energy radio, where Classic Audio runs on the Bluetooth Classic radio. The SIG's LE Audio page describes the LC3 codec, support for hearing aids and Auracast broadcast audio, which lets one source broadcast to an unlimited number of listening devices. The LC3 paper notes frame durations of 7.5 ms and 10 ms. It also cites an analysis in the Gaming Audio Profile that reaches a total system delay close to 30 ms or less for a gaming set-up. That is a design target for a full LE Audio chain. It is not what an older headset will deliver.

Calls. On classic Bluetooth, calls normally use the Hands-Free Profile, a different path from music. The LC3 paper describes narrow band as 50 Hz to 4,000 Hz and wide band as 50 Hz to 8,000 Hz, and names CVSD and mSBC as the older voice codecs. Narrow band covers a much smaller slice of the sound spectrum than music streaming does, so call audio can sound thinner. Editorial suggestion: record a short call with each candidate and play it back.

Range and delay. The SIG's range page says the effective, reliable range runs from under a metre to over a kilometre and depends on the radio, transmit power, antenna and path loss, and lists walls, windows and obstacles of glass, wood, metal or concrete as things that weaken the signal. For video, watch lip movement on the exact app you use. For music production or fast games, a cable removes the question.

If something misbehaves after you buy, the headphone and speaker faults guide gives a symptom-led order of checks, so this guide does not repeat it.

Wired, and what to check on the cable

A wired pair has no pairing, no battery in the headphones and no codec. It needs the right output. A phone without a headphone socket needs an adapter. Check the plug size, whether the adapter and your device support the microphone, and how long the cable is.

Detachable cables can be swapped, which keeps a pair alive after the common failure at the plug. Editorial suggestion: if you want a pair to last a decade, favour detachable cables, replaceable ear pads and a maker that sells them.

Battery life and repair

Wireless earbuds and many over-ear models have a sealed lithium battery. Makers say run times vary with use: Sony's WH-1000XM5 specifications note that charging and usage hours may differ with conditions of use. Fairphone's own capacity figure after 500 cycles (below) shows that makers expect a battery to lose capacity over time.

Fairphone's Fairbuds XL is a useful marker for what a repairable design looks like. The maker's product page says the battery is user replaceable, quotes up to 30 hours of playback with noise cancelling off and up to 26 hours with it on, and states a battery life of 500 or more charge cycles while maintaining 80 percent capacity. These are the maker's claims, not independent measurements. They show which questions to ask of any pair:

For the broader rules on repair and warranty, see the repair or replace guide. When a battery does reach the end of its life, a swollen cell is a hazard. The swollen battery guide explains what to do.

Listening safety

Safe listening depends on level and time, not on price. The WHO's safe listening Q&A gives this table for weekly listening:

The same page advises keeping device volume at no more than 60 percent of maximum, resting your ears regularly and using well-fitted noise cancelling headphones so you need not turn the volume up in noisy places. It advises contacting a professional about persistent tinnitus. Editorial suggestion: percentage volume is not a decibel reading, so treat 60 percent as a rough guide and use your phone's own listening level feature if it has one.

RNID's guidance on how loud is too loud says repeated or long exposure to 85 dB or above can cause hearing loss, that the safe exposure time halves with every 3 dB increase, and that a nightclub playing at an average 100 dB puts you at risk of damage after 15 minutes without ear protection. It also gives a quick check: if you cannot talk to someone about 2 metres away without shouting, the noise is likely dangerously high.

The WHO and the ITU have a global standard for safe listening devices. It describes a sound allowance that tracks exposure against 80 dB for 40 hours a week for adults, a personal listening profile and automatic volume limiting. Look for a phone or player that offers exposure tracking and a volume limit. The standard has a separate child mode of 75 dB for 40 hours a week and a password-protected parental volume control. Editorial suggestion: if you choose headphones for a child, set the limit before they use them.

Buying used

Used headphones can be a sound buy when the drivers are fine. Editorial suggestion: treat the battery and the pads as the parts that wear out first. Use this order.

Your rights depend on who sells. In the United Kingdom, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 chapter on goods applies to a contract for a trader to supply goods to a consumer. Under section 9 goods must be of satisfactory quality, but that does not cover anything specifically drawn to your attention before the contract, or anything an examination you made before the contract ought to have revealed. The short-term right to reject runs for 30 days from delivery, and section 19 treats goods that do not conform at any time within six months of delivery as not having conformed on delivery, for the repair, replacement, price reduction and final right to reject, unless it is established that they did conform or the presumption does not fit the fault. A private seller is not a trader, so that chapter does not apply to the sale. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 section 13 implies a term that goods sold by description will correspond with the description, except where the Consumer Rights Act chapter covers the contract. Ask Citizens Advice if a dispute arises. For refurbished stock, see the refurbished tech warranties guide.

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