The 6 Best Headphones For Music - Fall 2020
Reviews

If you like the thump and rumble of your favorite tunes, the Sony WH-1000XM3 Wireless are the best headphones for music with a lot of bass that we've tested so far. They have a warm sound with a deep, punchy bass great for EDM, hip-hop, and R&B that's sure to easily please most listeners and is versatile enough for all genres and content. They also have excellent 27-hour battery life and look and feel premium and well-built.

If you want more control over their sound profile, you can tweak it via a graphic EQ or presets in their great dedicated companion app. There's also a ton of other features to help personalize your listening experiences, like a dedicated bass slider, virtual soundstage options, and room effects. They also have the best ANC (active noise cancelling) we've tested, making them a great choice to give you quiet wherever you are.

Unfortunately, they use touch-sensitive controls on their ear cups, which can be a bit finicky and don't work properly in colder climates. They also lack some features that are beginning to become more common, like an auto-off timer and multi-device pairing. That being said, their well-balanced sound profile, comfortable and premium design, and great customization options put them among the best wireless headphones we've tested.

The Sennheiser HD 800 S are the best headphones for soundstage that we've tested. These premium open-back headphones generate an incredibly natural, spacious, and wholly immersive listening experience that makes your music sound like it's coming from all around you. Their well-balanced sound profile should also please audiophiles, as their very neutral mid and treble response makes vocals and lead instruments sound clear, present, detailed, and airy, though some may find them to be a little too bright.

They're very well-built with a sturdy-feeling design made of high-grade plastic reinforced by a metal frame and a braided detachable audio cable. Their spacious, well-padded ear cups should ensure you don't experience any discomfort, even during long listening sessions. They're also fairly breathable, so your ears shouldn't sweat too much while wearing them.

Unfortunately, these headphones are very expensive. That's without mentioning an amplifier is needed to get the most out of them. As to be expected for a pair of open-back headphones, they do an awful job of blocking out ambient noise, so they're particularly ill-suited for listening in a loud environment. Still, considering their ability to provide an impressively well-balanced and immersive listening experience, these are among the best open-back headphones we've tested.

The best headphones for music primarily driven by vocals and instruments that we’ve tested are the Philips SHP9500. These open-backs deliver a remarkably neutral mid-range and impressively well-balanced treble, ensuring that the vocals and lead instruments are clear, present, and detailed. Combined with their expansive, spacious soundstage, these are a great fit for an immersive listening experience while listening to jazz or pop.

Thanks to their lightweight design and generously padded ear cups and headband, they're also comfortable enough to wear for hours at a time. They feature a mostly plastic construction, reinforced with thin metal headband, and feel decently well-built. Their audio cable is detachable and can be replaced if it gets damaged, which is a nice touch.

Unfortunately, their ear cup hinges feel a tad flimsy and could break if they're overly stressed. They're also quite bulky and lack a carrying case or pouch, making it a little more difficult to enjoy your music if you're traveling from place to place. Still, considering their relatively budget-friendly price point, these are a great choice for more vocal-heavy music.

The best headphones for music in the budget category that we've tested so far are the Anker SoundBuds Curve Upgraded 2019. They offer an excellent price-to-performance ratio, and their 18.4-hour battery life is the longest we've tested on a pair of wireless in-ears to date. They don't enter the ear canal as deeply as most other in-ear options, making them quite comfortable, even during longer listening sessions.

Their sound profile is fairly excited with a good amount of extra bass that isn't overpowering or boomy, making them well-suited for most popular music genres from rock to EDM or pop. If you want to quickly skip to the next track or pause your music, it's easy to do with their intuitive and easy-to-use in-line remote, and they're even rated IPX7 for sweat and water resistance, though this isn't something we test for.

While the earbuds are made from good quality and dense plastic, unfortunately, the cable connecting the L/R buds is quite thin, though this is common with headphones at this price point. They also don't have a dedicated companion app, so you can't change their sound reproduction via EQ settings. That said, they provide outstanding value overall and are among the best headphones that we've tested.