Headphones for Home Listening

What to look for when choosing headphones for home listening

Type

• Over-ear headphones - comfortable during long listening sessions; high sound quality. Due to their larger size and weight, they are less portable.
• On-ear headphones - usually lighter and smaller. Compared with similarly priced over-ear headphones, they are less comfortable.

Connections

• Wired headphones (3.5mm jack, USB) - compared with similarly expensive wireless heahphones, they offer better sounds quality but less freedom of movement.
• Wireless headsets (Bluetooth, radio frequency) - with no wires, they provide greater freedom of movement (Bluetooth headsets have a range of approx. 10 metres from the playback device; radio frequency up to 100 metres). Wireless headphones have built-in batteries and must be recharged.

Construction

• Closed - dampen ambient noise.
• Open - provide high-quality sounds (less distortion) but with some ambient noise
• Semi-closed - a compromise between open and closed headphones.

Useful functions and features

• Volume control - located on the headphones or cable.
• Folding design - for easy portability.
• Rotating ear cups - comfortably listen to music in one ear (especially useful for DJs).
• APTX and AAC - codecs for Bluetooth headphones that guarantee higher quality sound.
• NFC - technology used in connection with Bluetooth headsets, which accelerates and facilitates their connection with the playback device.