Which headphones brand to buy in 2020

The most common reliability issues that people reported with their headphones are deteriorating earcup fabric and faulty physical connections. In fact, with the worst wired headphones brand in our survey, half of all owners (49%) suffered deteriorating earcup fabric, and 29% had faulty physical connections.

Knowing which brands develop the most faults, and how quickly, can be important factors in your buying decision. That's why each year we ask more than 10,000 Which? members to tell us whether they are happy, or have experienced problems, with their audio products in our unique reliability survey.

Our survey data takes into account the fault rates reported by their owners, plus the severity of these faults and how soon they occurred after buying the product.

In our latest analysis we've looked at the performance of the biggest headphone manufacturers – including AKG, Apple, Beats, Bose, JVC, Samsung, Sennheiser and Sony – and calculated a reliability rating for each one, so you know which brands to choose and the ones to avoid.

In this article:

• The most reliable headphone brands
• Common headphone problems
• Which headphone brand stays fault-free for longest?
• Full results: headphone brands rated
• How we calculate the best and worst brands

Wireless vs wired headphone brands

Here's an overview of the difference between the best and worst headphone brands we've tested. We've looked at the average overall score, reliability rating and customer satisfaction score.

As you can see, there's a significant difference between the most and least reliable of the biggest eight headphone brands. There’s also a huge difference in test scores and customer satisfaction between the best and worst-scoring brands – so these are other important factors to consider when deciding on your purchase. Products can be reliable but unremarkable, and vice versa.

Wireless headphones are headphones that can connect to your devices wirelessly, usually using Bluetooth.

The most reliable headphone brands 

The tables below summarise this year’s reliability results. Each brand is ranked by its customer score, which relates to whether customers would recommend it. The more stars for reliability, the fewer the problems reported.

Only logged-in Which? members can view which brands achieved the ratings and verdicts in the tables below. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.

Wireless headphones

Wired headphones

Only logged-in Which? members can view which brands achieved the ratings and verdicts in the table below. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.

Common headphone problems 

By far the most common problems people experience with their headphones are the earcup material deteriorating, and faulty physical connections with wired headphones (for example,  where the cable meets the 3.5mm plug). Of course, wear and tear should be expected over time, but with some brands up to an enormous 49% of owners experienced deteriorating fabric, and 29% had faulty physical connections with certain types of headphones, which we believe is far too high.

Owners of headphones from our worst-rated wireless headphone manufacturer reported that 13% of its devices had a problem within just three years of ownership – that's nearly one in seven of all owners. And it’s even worse with wired headphones, with 15% reporting faults within five years of ownership from the worst-rated manufacturer. Wireless headphones only became popular in the last few years, partly due to Apple removing the headphones socket from its iPhones, so there weren’t enough owners who had five-year-old wireless headphones  to rate them in our survey.

We believe that headphones should last at least five years without developing a fault, and you should expect no major faults in the first year of ownership. Our data tells a different story.

The tables above show a marked difference between the very best and worst headphone manufacturers for reliability. Indeed, only 3% of wired headphones from our top brand developed even a minor fault after five years of ownership. In stark contrast, the worst performer saw 11% develop faults in the first year alone. For wireless headphones, only 4% of owners reported a fault after three years of ownership for the top brand, and for the worst 10% reported a fault in the first year alone.

For wired headphones in particular, what's interesting – and is a clear example of a false economy – is that cheap wired headphones from some brands are more likely to fail than others. But this certainly wasn't true in all cases, and worryingly the most expensive wired headphone brand in our survey actually had the worst reliability out of the seven top brands we compared.

Wireless vs wired: Which headphone brand stays fault-free for longest? 

The graphs above show how the brand that stays fault-free for the longest compares with the worst brand and the overall average. Which? members can see how brands compare for faults over time in the tables below. The data is a shorter time period for wireless headphones, as they only recently had a surge in popularity, partly related to Apple removing the headphones socket from its iPhones.

The tables below reveal the incidence of faults reported by each headphone brand in our survey.

Only logged-in Which? members can view which brands achieved the ratings and verdicts in the table below. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.

Wireless headphones

Wired headphones

Only logged-in Which? members can view which brands achieved the ratings and verdicts in the table below. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.

How we measure faults and reliability in headphones

The table data takes into account minor, major and catastrophic faults:

• Minor A fault that doesn't affect the product's performance significantly or a fault that only occurs occasionally with minimal impact. This issue may be irritating or annoying but it isn't frequently problematic and you can easily work around it. For example, a slight audible buzz or soft fabric peeling off.
• Major A fault that has a noticeable effect on the product’s performance. This fault affects how you use the product and can be problematic. For example, the volume control buttons on the headphones stop working.
• Catastrophic A fault that renders the product unusable, meaning the fault needs to be repaired or parts replaced before it can be used again. For example, sound stops working in one or both earpieces.

Full results: headphone brands rated 

Choose a brand from the list below to find out more about its performance in our survey.

Only logged-in Which? members can view our exclusive reliability ratings and verdicts. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.

How we calculate the best and worst brands 

Which? has a wealth of information on Britain's favourite audio brands. Every year, we ask Which? members to tell us about the technology products they own, from how likely it is they would recommend a brand, to how reliable the products are once they get them home. This year, more than 10,000 Which? members told us about more than 35,000 devices. We calculate a brand's reliability and its customer score based on the results of our annual survey.

Our reliability surveys, combined with our extensive lab tests, mean we can recommend the best headphones you should buy.

This data is crucial for our testing, too. If a brand falls far below the category average, we take away the manufacturer’s Best Buy status and won’t recommend any of its products unless a marked improvement in reliability is shown.