You’ll likely use headphones more than any other piece of hi-fi equipment. At any one time in the What Hi-Fi? office, at least half of us are using them (and not exclusively due to our questionable personalities).
We are well aware there is personal preference in what you want from your headphones – even we aren’t precious enough about hi-fi to assume the success of companies such as Beats is reliant only on good marketing. But by and large, there is no reason you ought to expect a radically different level of performance to that of your amplifier and speakers.
You may already have your own playlist to test equipment before you buy it – if not, it’s a worthwhile exercise – but here we put together a collection of tracks that will highlight what we believe to be the most important aspects of your headphones’ performance. Find the accompanying playlist on Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify.
