The best headphones of 2024: from Nothing to Sony

How much time do you spend listening to music on headphones? A couple hours a month, a week, or a day? Whatever your answer, it’s not just about the quality of your favorite music (or audiobook), it’s also about whether your headphones are comfortable and whether they’re affecting your ear health.

In recent years, more and more people have been switching to wireless headphones, whether they’re earbuds or large over-ear headphones. Of course, there are still corded headphones in our world. But the sound quality of wireless models has advanced to the point where they’re on par with wired versions.

It’s time to take stock of the audio results and determine which wireless headphones were the best of the year in 2024.

Apple AirPods 4

These new Apple headphones came out as great as the previous ones. If you prefer in-ear headphones to in-canal headphones (like the AirPods Pro), and you’re an iOS user, these are definitely your choice. So what’s new this year, let’s take a look.

First of all, they’ve updated the chip. That means the headphones themselves will last longer and perform better. Secondly, there are now two versions to choose from, with and without noise cancellation. Maybe for you it is not so important, but it is better to overpay a little and take a full set with noise reduction (which, by the way, works perfectly) and enjoy the music as long as possible. They also got the ability to control gestures. Just nod your head and you’ve already received an incoming call.

Yes, they don’t come cheap, especially for Russia, but you have to pay for the quality they offer.

Nothing Ear (3) 2024

A good mid-range headphone that lends itself to an unusual design. If you wanted to find a better alternative, like the Huawei FreeBuds Pro 3, the Nothing are made for you. They have a comfortable fit, which is important, good sound and quite impressive noise modulation. The latter, by the way, is important, because many headphones, even at this price, have lame noise reduction. And the microphone doesn’t let you down, transmitting your voice well to the person you’re talking to, even in noisy places.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3

The good and stylish Samsung headphones are great primarily for those who use tech from the same brand. These headphones will also go well with any other Android smartphone. For Apple devices, it’s better to go with AirPods.

So what’s so great about these headphones? Well, for starters, it’s the sound. The 11mm dynamic driver with three microphones and a VPU sensor for bone conduction delivers great sound, and the noise cancellation works quite well. The autonomy is also a good thing. The headphones can work 24-30 hours from one case charge (with regular recharging, of course) and 6 hours without recharging. It’s also nice that the headphones have touch-sensitive volume control.

JBL Live Beam 3

A headphone with a little screen on the case? It looks cool, fresh and not straight-up useless. To be fair, these aren’t the first headphones the company has tried to incorporate that screen into, the first being the Tour Pro 2, which came out in 2022. And now, in 2024, there’s a new model that addresses some of its predecessor’s shortcomings.

There are no questions at all about the sound. JBL has made quality headphones, and continues to do so. It’s all about the case. It’s got an unlocking slider, so you can’t just open the headphones. Unfortunately, it is not ideal, and tracks the movement of the finger on the screen displays not always the first time. But this is more of a nuance, which can be written off to the small size. But the function is still interesting. It does make the headphones a little more expensive than their counterparts without the screen on the case.

Marshall Major V

For 62 years, British company Marshall has been delighting people around the world with sound quality not just on huge stage speakers, but in headphones. Rightly on the market, they’re regarded as one of the very best. Of course, this is somewhat subjective, but the fact remains that for the price they are sold for, their sound quality is excellent.

So what makes the Major V so fundamentally different from its predecessor? Firstly, they’re in the proprietary app, which lets you play around with the EQ settings. Although you don’t have to do that, you can choose a preset if you’re not happy with the sound out of the box for some reason. They also added a small button that allows you to perform one of the functions – call the assistant, switch music to Spotify, or choose another preset. But, as practice shows, rarely anyone actually needed it in life. And of course, we can’t forget about the design. The comfort of the headphones is individual, but their sleek, aged design is still great.

Sony ULT Wear

Another great overhead headphone that pleases us not only with its great sound, but also with its design. If you’re suddenly uncomfortable with Marshall’s models (they put pressure on your ears), the Sony is a great alternative. In addition to cool sound, the headphones have quality noise cancellation and adaptive sound control. What’s that? Let’s find out.

Through apps, the headphones can detect where you are. And depending on your surroundings, it’ll turn on the appropriate setting to play music. Cool, convenient, but if you want to turn it off, you’ll have to figure out the headphone app. Of the minuses there is only one significant, in certain compositions (depending on the music genre) is not balanced sound. But this can be corrected with the help of equalizer, which is also in the application.