What makes a really great pair of headphones? The basic answer used to be sound quality, but modern headphones offer so much more than just audio chops. Think premium designs in on-trend colourways, active noise cancellation (ANC), wireless connectivity, multiple microphones for crystal clear calling, and voice assistant support—not to mention travel–friendly, foldable designs and huge batteries for long-haul convenience. There are even customizable smartphone apps offering minute control over your cans' EQ and operation, and low-latency modes for smoother gaming and videos.
But what happens if you remove the aesthetics, the hi-tech features and brand preconceptions, and just listen to them? Armed with a blindfold and six of the most popular pairs of over-ear headphones available, WIRED commandeered a recording studio in East London to find out.
Brave enough to take part in our blind listening test was Isabel Gracefield, producer, cowriter and head engineer at London based RAK Studios; Ian Lambden, a vastly experienced audio post-production engineer; songwriter and producer Steph Marziano, who has worked with the likes of Hayley Williams from Paramore; and finally, Mike Kintish—award-winning genre-spanning songwriter and producer, who has collaborated with artists including Becky Hill and Jonas Blue.
As for the headphones on test—and with the exception of the Nothing Headphone (01) which had not officially launched at the time of testing—each has received rapturous praise and accolades in numerous publications including WIRED. The all-star line-up included the Sony WH‑1000XM6 ($448/£399), Nothing Headphones (1) ($299/£299), Soundcore Space One Pro ($200/£150), Bose Quietcomfort Ultra (1st Gen) ($429/£350), Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 ($449/£399) and the latest version of the Airpod Max ($549/£499).
Each expert was interviewed separately, and had no prior knowledge of the headphones or brands on test. They were not allowed to touch the headphones while listening—anyone who has worn the AirPod Max will be familiar with the metal casing for instance—and, in the interests of keeping it as fair and mainstream as possible, we only played them Blinding Lights by The Weeknd, which with 4.9 billion streams, was, at the time, the most listened to track on Spotify. Cruel but fair.
ANC was turned on for all headphones—much to the annoyance of our experts—and we streamed at Spotify Premium's 320kbps (the test was carried out before Spotify Lossless was released). This too elicited a less than positive response from our high-res loving team, but as this is how the majority of people listen, we deemed it the fairest assessment. Each pair of headphones was given a letter—A, B, C, D, E, F—and the testers were free to switch between pairs to compare and contrast. The contenders were as follows: