How to test headphones

A minimum eight to 10 hours of battery life, plus the ability to work when they’re charging or connected via a cord: The top Bluetooth headphones should last a full workday at a minimum, and you should still be able to use them while they’re charging or connected with a cord. Otherwise, if your battery dies in the middle of something important, you could be out of luck.

When selecting the top wireless headphones, our expert panelists consider the sound quality, fit, ease of use, and comfort of each pair we receive. Those pairs that perform well qualify for further testing by me. This includes testing the microphones over phone calls, with background noise and wind noise. I check the Bluetooth signal strength by wandering a good distance away from my phone, putting it in a pocket or bag, walking outside, and going several rooms away. I tinker with the included apps and any bonus features (like location services, voice activation, dual-device connection, and control customization). If applicable, I mist the headphones with water to see how moisture might impact the touch controls. I try each pair on with glasses, too. And if the headphones have active noise cancellation that sounds subjectively effective, I pass them on to Brent for measurement.

Finally, I test battery life by playing music loud enough to drown out an air conditioner (for most, this is around 60% maximum volume) and timing how long it takes for the battery to die.

If a pair of headphones is stellar enough to be considered as a pick, I spend around a week using that pair in an effort to suss out long-term listening comfort, as well as any potential flaws that we may have missed in the initial testing.

With the removal of headphone jacks from mobile phones, Bluetooth headsets have become a must-have companion for mobile phones. Compared with ordinary Bluetooth headsets, noise-cancelling headphones have an additional noise-cancelling function, but the price is often several times more expensive.