8 Best Headphones for 2024: What We Tested and Loved

How we tested

Over the years, we have tested a plot headphones at Mashable. To determine the best of the best, not just picking what’s hot right now, we looked at our reviews from current and former technology journalists, editors and business reporters, then compared our scores to what the people are buying these days. As always, we’ve done our research to make sure we don’t leave any major stones uncovered, and the result is this list – our favorite headphones of 2024 (so far).

In making our selections, here is what we weighed:

• Her: Since headphones are primarily a way to listen to audio, if a pair of headphones doesn’t sound good, they don’t make the list — that goes for our budget pick, too.

• Noise Cancellation: These days, some form of noise cancellation is almost essential for any pair of headphones. We prioritized models with solid noise cancellation.

• Comfort: What’s the point of a good pair of headphones if they’re too uncomfortable to wear?

• Personalization: Whether it’s ANC levels, transparency modes, or touch controls, headphones that let you adjust settings will make them feel like they were made for you.

• Battery life: Most wireless headphones on the market rely on Bluetooth connectivity. So it’s essential to have a battery you can rely on for at least a few hours of listening time.

• Special features: When testing headsets and earphones, we also take into account any other special features they offer. For headphones in the $200-plus price range, we expect at least a few special features.

You may notice that the AirPods Max are missing from our top picks. It’s not that we don’t like them – in fact, we think they sound and look great. But when we reviewed them, we found that they didn’t have a convenient storage option, never really turned off (thus draining otherwise long battery life), and that they were simply too expensive to warrant an unqualified recommendation. We understand if you love them regardless, but personally we think there are better options at lower prices.

The only products on our 2024 list that haven’t been hands-on tested by Mashable staff are the Skullcandy Sesh Evo headphones. Skullcandy has been one of our budget favorites in the past, and we’ve found from looking through the reviews and specs that they perform well in the criteria above.

With our January 2024 update, we also removed the Amazon Echo Buds as our top pick for budget ANC headphones after testing the Beats Studio Buds+. Although slightly more expensive, we found that the Beats offer better overall value in terms of sound quality, ANC efficiency, and overall feature set.