Here at WIRED, my colleagues and I test all headphones, including noise canceling headphoneshow you use them. We wear them for weeks to test their comfort, battery life, and the ease and accessibility of their internal controls. We listen to random songs, podcasts and videos, but also curated playlists filled with music we’ve heard countless times.
For me, that means samples from the Beatles, Radiohead, Fleetwood Mac, Beck, Nickel Creek, Snarky Puppy, Frank Sinatra, Depeche Mode, Anderson .Paak, and many others. Each of us has our own list, but what is common is a range of genres to prove how well they work for all types of listeners. Where possible, we take the time to test lossless or high-quality audio codecs for supported devices, and I use Spotify Lossless as my primary streaming source.
To test noise cancellation, my colleague Parker Hall and I take the headphones out into the world, testing them for sounds from lawnmowers, vacuums, construction sites, traffic and other local sounds, including clarity and noise cancellation. Because we’re all sound producers, we also take them to our home audio studios, where we try to cancel their noise against AirPlane drone shows, voice chatter, and white or pink noise played through the studio monitors. When possible, I also take the headphones I’m testing on long trips and flights to see how they react in real-world environments. The goal is to wear these headphones to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.
