Buying Guide

So, you’re looking for headphones. You’re training for a marathon and your current pair keeps bouncing out; your new home theater setup keeps waking up your kids; maybe your iPod headphones just broke. No matter what you’re looking for, there’s a pair of headphones out there just for you: it’s just a matter of knowing what you want.

We’ll start with the basics. There are three basic types of headphones: in-ear, on-ear, and over-ear. They each have their pros and cons, so we’ll go over each.

In-Ear
Since the iPod came out, in-ear headphones are everywhere. In-ear, true to their name, sit inside your ear. These headphones are great because they’re highly portable: they have shorter cords, their ear buds are tiny, and there’s usually no band circumventing your head.  In-ear headphones can easily be crumpled up into a pocket when not in use. If you travel a lot, or would simply rather not look like you were wearing ear muffs, then in-ear is a good choice.

There are two different types of in-ear headphones: they either rest in the ear, like iPod headphones, or protrude into the ear canal, like Shure’s 6isolator headphones. The ones that rest in the ear will typically fall out easier, but are also less invasive. Many people don’t like the in-canal headphones because the intrusion feels uncomfortable. If you’re not sure whether or not you’d be in this camp, we recommend doing a test run with a cheap pair of ear plugs. If you can stomach the ear plugs for a few hours, you shouldn’t have a problem with in-ear headphones.

On-Ear
On-ear headphones rest against the ear as opposed to intruding into it, like the Bose QuietComfort 3 headphones. Typically these headphones will have pads covered in foam padding and cloth and come on a band. Other headphones may clip onto your ear. Since they stay on the outside of your ear, these headphones are a good solution to the aforementioned in-ear uneasiness.

On-ear headphones can often offer better sound quality than in-ear headphones. Of course, the downside is that, since they don’t fit into the ear canal, on-ear headphones can’t provide the same ambient noise seal that in-ear headphones can. The weaker the seal and the further the distance between the sound element and your ear canal, the larger impact external noise will have on your listening experience. Also, on-ear headphones are typically less portable and a bit more obvious than in-ear headphones.

Over-Ear
Over-ear headphones are like on-ears, but they actually encompass the entirety of the ear. While on-ear headphones form a seal with the top of your ear, over-ear headphones form a seal around your ear. Since your entire ear is covered, less outside noise will interfere with your listening.

The downsides to over-ear headphones are fairly easy to see. If you’re not a DJ, then wearing a pair of over-ear headphones will certainly make you look like one. They’re huge, and sometimes heavy, so you’ll have to hold your headbanging at bay if you want to keep them on right. They’re also less likely to have collapsible bands, and more likely to have gigantic, unwieldy cords, making them a bit inappropriate for travelers.

Noise Cancellation
Once you’ve got an idea of what type of headphone you’re looking for, chances are you’re going to wonder what all the noise cancellation fuss is about. Noise cancellation is a feature that’s becoming increasingly prevalent. Since every other headphone box will boast some sort of noise canceling feature, it’s important to know exactly what you’re dealing with.

First of all, there are two different types of noise cancellation: passive and active.  If the box proclaims the headphones have passive noise cancellation, it might as well be blank. Passive noise cancellation simply means that the headphone is blocking external noise from reaching your ear. You could cover your ears with your hands and call it passive noise cancellation. Since all headphones are solid objects that fit over your ears, they will all have passive noise cancellation to some degree. Typically on-ear headphones are the worst; over-ear is slightly better; in-ear is the best, since they’re essentially ear plugs with speakers.

Active noise cancellation is a different story. The first step to understanding it is to remember some high school science. If one thing has stuck in your head about sound waves, it’s what they look like on a graph: a zigzag on top of a horizontal line. The straight line represents no sound. The distance between the zigzag and the straight line is called amplitude; basically, amplitude is how loud a certain sound is.

Active noise cancellation measures surrounding noise. When it figures out what the world around you sounds like, it plays back sound of the opposite amplitude. The two sounds, then, basically cancel each other out, leaving you with just that horizontal line. Of course, the process isn’t perfect, so it can’t eliminate al external sound. Also, if you’re not used to the sensation, you might feel like you need to pop your ears.

Why you should never settle for packed-in headphones
Most of you reading this are probably doing so because you recently bought a media player and the in-box headphones broke or were terrible. This isn’t surprising. Generally, if the headphones are a freebie then they’re just a cheap afterthought. The manufacturers of a device will obviously spend much more of their resources on their product, meaning the packed-in headphones get the leftover scraps. This results in some bad headphones. Many people upgrade their media players, use the packaged headphones, and think they made a bad purchase; if they invested in some better headphones, they’d find their players were capable of far better sound than the headphones will allow. Therefore, to get the best quality out of any new media player, you should really invest in a nice pair of headphones.

Also, if you have old headphones, you should also look into new ones. Headphones, especially lower-end ones, tend to break down faster than people realize. New ones will sound better, block outside sound better, amplify better, and provide better frequency response.

Other Tips
Here are a few other miscellaneous tips for you intrepid headphones buyers out there. First of all, if you tend to fly a lot, don’t get wireless headphones. Wireless headphones, like cell phones, should be shut off while the plane is in the air. Though they probably won’t make the plane explode, they could cause some interference on the pilot’s end. Also, if a flight attendant catches you wearing them, that’s an automatic embargo on your free soda and peanuts.

Another headphone feature to look out for is whether the headphones are open-back or closed-back. The average headphone user will be most familiar with the closed-back design. These headphones have a plastic covering on the outside which muffles noise, helping to keep your music to yourself. Open-back headphones don’t have anything shielding your sounds from the outside world. Now, there are various reasons why both exist – open-back provide a more airy sound, allows each ear to hear both channels, lighter, etc. – but if you’re buying headphones so your late night action movies won’t bother your roommate, it’s a good feature to know about.