I want to buy a new pair of headphones. I’ve had a pair of Sony headphones for years that sound great and cost me $45 (£33.64). How can some headphones cost hundreds of dollars? Also, are wireless/Bluetooth headphones any good? Sara

Headphones, like most technology products, are subject to the law of diminishing returns. Most cost from about £25 to £350, but you can pay more than $50,000 for a pair of Sennheiser Orpheus headphones, or €100,000 for the bejewelled bling of Focal Utopia headphones by Tournaire.



Starting at the low end, you can usually get better sound quality by paying a bit more, and there are lots of good options in the £100-£300 range. Beyond that, you may have to pay a lot more to get marginal improvements. The best strategy is to quit when you can’t hear a significant difference between the best ones you’ve heard and any more expensive model. Alternatively, quit when you reach your budget limit.

The obvious problem is that you have to listen to headphones to find the ones you like best. For high-end shoppers, this may mean visiting specialist shops, hi-fi exhibitions and ultimately the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Which I did.

Educated auditions

A proper headphone test would involve trying different headphones with the same source material under the same conditions, and checking your impressions against headphone frequency response graphs. “Same conditions” means “same volume level” because louder usually sounds better.

So you’re not going to do a proper test. However, you can compare new headphones with your current ones, using a good quality source: an MP3 player or smartphone with a few high-quality sound files that you know well. That eliminates some of the variables.

Which sound files? Pick something you like that includes a mixture of voices and instruments, including low bass notes and high trebles. Examples include the Eagles’ Hotel California and two Pink Floyd songs, Time and Money (including the chat at the end). Also try to include a live music track. Singer-songwriters have their uses, as do piano trios and string quartets. Live acoustic recordings make great headphone tests.

Try to avoid asking yourself if something “sounds good”: the brain is adept at picking up audio clues and filling in things you can’t hear (see psychoacoustics). Instead, listen for details. How clearly can you distinguish different instruments? Does a guitar/piano/flute/etc sound like a guitar/piano/flute/etc in real life? Are the different instruments clearly separated in space, and are their positions stable?

Better quality headphones reveal more detail. If you are trading up, you should expect to hear things you’ve not heard or noticed before. Sometimes you can hear too much detail, including bad edits on recordings.

Want the perfect song to test out your potential new headphones? Look no further than the Eagles’ Hotel California. Photograph: RB/Redferns

Ask yourself if there’s a good balance between bass, mid-range and treble. Some people prefer a bass boost, but too much becomes a bad thing. A boosted treble can reveal more detail but sibilance is too much of a good thing, and quickly becomes fatiguing.

And the most important thing: do the headphones sound “musical”? Are your feet tapping? Despite your attempt to be analytical, have you been seduced into enjoying the music? Some hi-fi products do that, even though they may not have the best tech specs or the best lab test results. Those are the ones to buy.

Incidentally, most people can learn how to listen better. Harman’s How to Listen (for MacOS and Windows) is a good starting point. Pro Audio Essentials offers a gamified way to start developing the listening skills you’d need in a recording studio.

Types of headphone

Headphones now come in a wide variety of species, and it’s not unusual to own different headphones for different purposes. Traditional headphones come in on-ear and over-ear versions, which is mainly a matter of taste. Open-backed versions let more sound in and out, which suits home use. Closed-back versions are better for commuting.

Headphones for travellers can be foldable and often include noise-cancelling, where Bose is the market leader. Headphones for gamers usually include a microphone. There are small and light headphones for the exercise market, and earbuds that provide extreme portability.

Some models offer extra bass, if you only listen to the sort of music that needs it. In my experience, headphones marketed for pro, studio or DJ use generally sound better, even if you’d be hard pressed to find real pros using them.

Try lots of different headphones to find out which type you prefer.

Over the past decade, wireless and Bluetooth headphones have become more popular, thanks partly to some dramatic increases in sound quality. Nonetheless, wires remain cheaper and work better. Wireless systems can suffer from lag, which can be annoying when watching movies. They may sometimes lose the connection, or run out of power. Adding wireless costs money so, at any given price level, wired headphones almost always sound better.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy wireless headphones, because there are advantages to not being tethered. But you should check for lag if you plan to watch movies.

Possible options

It’s not worth spending a lot of time trying headphones if you’re spending £50/$50 or less. Reading some online reviews should be enough, especially if you stick to major brands such as AKG, Audio-Technica, Grado, Sennheiser, and Sony.

Sadly, Sennheiser has dropped its cheap and lively HD 202-II headphones, and the 2006-vintage HD 201 (£24.99/$29.95) seems to be on the way out. The HD 206 (£23/$34), launched this year, appears to be a reasonable replacement, though AKG K92 (£36/$59) or Creative Aurvana Live (£59.99/$50) headphones would provide a step up in quality.

Among the pricier headphones, I like the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x (£121/$129), which are billed as “professional monitor headphones.” It may therefore be worth trying the cheaper versions, the ATH-M20x (£42/$39) and ATH-M30x (£59/$59).

If you prefer on-ear phones, you could try the AKG Y50 headphones (£59.95/$109.85, but there’s a yellow version for $89.95). AKG also does a Y50BT Bluetooth version, which pushes the price up to £114/$149.99.

However, at these price levels, the open-backed Grado SR80e Prestige Series (£95/$99) and the closed-back Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO (£114/$155) headphones are worth a listen. The DT 770s come in three different impedance levels. The 32 ohm version is suitable for smartphones and portable devices. The 80 ohm version is for studio use, and the 250 ohm version for professional mixing.

Headphones like these have been around for many years, and people will still be buying them long after trendier models have come and gone.

How about earbuds?

Earbuds have dramatically improved over the years. Photograph: Google

Early earbuds, like early Bluetooth headphones, generally sounded awful, but today you can get very good sound quality for relatively little money.

The SoundMagic E10 Isolating Earphones seemed to become an instant classic at £34.99/$41.99, and they are hard to beat at the price. Sony also has a great track record for earbuds, and the MDR-EX650AP (£37/$40) is a popular alternative. You could spend a long time arguing which is best, but I suspect it depends a lot on the shape of your ears, and how well the earbuds fit.

I’m not sure it’s worth spending a lot more on products that are so easily broken or lost, unless you’re willing to pay for high quality wireless earbuds. Indeed, you could just buy Panasonic ErgoFit earbuds for around £14.90/$11.99 and replace them as often as necessary.

Either way, there are hundreds of headphones and earbuds on the market, and you should buy the ones you like best. The final decision is always personal.

Have you got a question? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com