Best over-ear headphones 2024: Tried and tested options for every budget | Expert Reviews

What’s the difference between open- and closed-back headphones?

Closed-back headphones have sealed earcups that prevent a significant proportion of external noise from making its way to your ears. This enables them to isolate sound better and helps them provide a weighty bass response.

In contrast, the earcups of open-back headphones aren’t sealed and allow air to pass through to the speaker element. This reduces air pressure build-up in the earcups and gives the headphones an airy, natural sound. However, it also allows external sound in – and your audio out – so open-back headphones are best used at home or in other quiet environments.

Is driver size important to over-ear headphones?

Generally speaking, the bigger the driver – the component in each ear cup that vibrates to produce soundwaves – the wider the soundstage. This results in better instrument separation, greater depth and a sense of space between you and the music. Driver size isn’t the be-all and end-all, however. In-ear headphones with the audio world’s smallest drivers can sound wider than a set of over-ear headphones – how the headphones are tuned is far more important than the size of their drivers.

What other features should I look out for?

Active noise cancellation (ANC): This handy feature helps reduce the impact of environmental sound on your audio experience. It’s particularly useful in busy urban areas and while commuting and is often accompanied by a transparency mode, which makes you more aware of your surroundings by pumping sound in.

Battery life: This is only of importance to Bluetooth headphones. Given no one likes charging their tech products, the longer a pair of over-ear headphones last, the better. Manufacturers typically state battery life based on listening at around 50% volume, which is important to bear in mind if you like to listen to your music loud. Battery life of around 20 hours should be a bare minimum, though many pairs far exceed that figure.

Controls: You’ll typically find physical control buttons located on one or both of the earcups of a pair of over-ear headphones. These are very easy to use and learning which buttons do what is relatively intuitive. However, some manufacturers incorporate touch controls and gestures into their over-ear headphones. These aren’t to everyone’s taste, so be sure to check what type of controls the headphones you like the look of use.

Carrying case: Most over-ear headphones come with some way of transporting them, though the quality of these differs wildly from product to product. It’s normally a case of you get what you pay for – cheaper models tend to come with fabric bags, while pricier models come with hard-shelled cases that do a far better job of protecting their precious cargo.

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