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Headphone buying guide: How to find the audio companion for your ears

5.10.2020

Translation: machine translated

Music, audio books, podcasts or phone calls: none of these would be possible without headphones. But not all headphones are the same. Find out the differences here.

Equipped with the right knowledge, it should then be easy for you to choose the right headphones for you. You should know these points:

Types of construction: In-ear, on-ear and over-ear
Connections: Bluetooth and cable
Quiet: headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC)
No more tangled cables: true wireless headphones

Types of construction: In-ear, on-ear and over-ear

There are three different types of headphones: over-ear, On-Ear and In-Ear. The names explain the differences pretty well. In-ear models are placed in the ear and are comparatively small. They are available with a cable to the phone, only with a neck cable that connects the two earbuds or completely wireless. The latter are the currently very popular true wireless headphones.

On-ear headphones rest on the ears. They do a poor job of keeping out ambient noise and are more suitable for use in the quiet of your own home. Over-ear headphones, on the other hand, are ideal for travelling or in the office. They enclose the ear, making them more comfortable and shielding you acoustically from your surroundings. Ideally, they ensure that you don't have to endure the conversations of your fellow travellers on the train. Active noise cancellation increases the shielding from the outside world.

Connections: Bluetooth, cable and codecs

Bluetooth is the wireless connection standard for headphones and more and more smartphone manufacturers are dispensing with the classic headphone connection on their devices. However, there are still good reasons to be able to use a cable - at least optionally:

With a cable, you can use your headphones in places where Bluetooth pairing is not possible - such as on an aeroplane .- If the headphones run out of battery, you can still listen via cable
The connection is more stable and the sound is usually better than via Bluetooth.

If your smartphone no longer has a 3.5 mm connection, you can usually use the USB-C or, in the case of the iPhone, the Lightning connection as an audio output, but you will then need headphones with a suitable plug on the cable.

As soon as a device can play sound and supports Bluetooth, you can connect your Bluetooth headphones to it. However, so-called codecs ensure that the sound quality is better and there are fewer delays during transmission. With AAC and aptX - including the further development aptX HD - there are two major competing codecs for audio transmission via Bluetooth. Most Android smartphones support aptX, while Apple iPhones support AAC. It is therefore worth briefly checking whether the headphones you are considering are compatible with your smartphone.

If you want to use the headphones not only for listening, but also for phone calls or video chats, they need a microphone. This is included with many models, but not all of them.

You can use these criteria and other information to feed our filter and thus customise the selection of headphones to your needs. If you want to find out more about a model, you can find the tests from our editorial team here. .

Quiet: headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC)

Whether in the office, on the train or at home: If you want to isolate yourself acoustically from your surroundings, there's nothing better than headphones with active noise cancelling or. "Active Noise Cancelling" (ANC), as it is called in English. These models not only try to shield your ears, but also listen to the noise in your surroundings and try to reduce it with counter-sound. This works better with background noise in the office or the sound of a train than with voices.

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You can see how widespread ANC has become by selecting it in our filters. You will still be shown many headphones. I would narrow down the selection further in the next step with the battery life. The headphones should last at least 30 hours. I don't want to charge them every day and have to take into account that active noise cancelling drains the battery faster than the conventional operating mode.

If I fill our filters accordingly - ANC and at least 30 hours of battery life - these are currently our favourite headphones with active noise cancellation.

If you want to filter by brand or colour, you can hier die Auswahlkriterien anpassen.

An end to tangled cables: true wireless headphones

True wireless headphones are practical. No more tangled cables! Just plug them in, wait for the Bluetooth pairing and listen. But I'm also prepared to sacrifice battery life and sound quality. Apple helped true wireless headphones make a breakthrough with the AirPods, but the choice has now become very large.

Some models, like the AirPods, hang out of the ear, bringing their microphones a little closer to the mouth and sometimes providing a little more space for the battery. Other models only sit in the ear cup. Here you have to go according to your preference: There are buds that have no silicone attachments, or classic in-ears that can be customised to the ear thanks to attachments.

Battery life is of course important, but unfortunately only of limited use as a criterion. While some manufacturers state it as a total time, others differentiate between the running time of the earbuds and the total time achieved by charging them in the transport box. However, you should not expect battery life as long as with the over-ear models.

These are the five most popular true wireless headphones we currently have.

Active noise cancelling has now found its way into the small true wireless headphones. Although the earphones are located directly in the ear canal, not all of them fill the entire ear and are as good as the over-ear versions when it comes to shielding from the outside world. It's worth ignoring the inflexible models and choosing the ones with soft plugs.

If you don't like any of them, you can add your own filters here. And this applies not only to colours, but also to the codecs mentioned above, which are suitable for either Android smartphones (aptX) or iPhones (AAC). You can also enter your budget

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Jan Johannsen

Senior Editor

Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.de

When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.

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