Headphones

In-ear headphones are easily the most common type of headphones to use with smartphones for listening to music or podcasts.

Check out the best podcast apps.

They are small and light, making them easy to carry or travel with. Audio quality is usually excellent, although that tends to scale with price (i.e. higher price = better quality) for the most part.

We are going to highlight the best wired earbuds for music and podcast listening in 2021. We won’t be specifically highlighting active or sport models as that deserves its own post, although most will work just fine for light activity.

They are organized by price, so you can easily find something that fits your budget.

Want to see the best closed-back over-ear headphones?

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When you’re recording a podcast, it’s important to use headphones to monitor the audio so you can listen for static, loudness and other issues. You’ll want to use either a USB microphone with a headphone output for zero delay monitoring or use an audio interface or mixer to achieve the same zero-latency monitoring.

When recording you should use closed-back headphones so that the microphone doesn’t pick up audio bleeding (sound coming from the headphones).

The other type of headphones that are commonly used in studios are open-back headphones, which purposely allow sound to bleed because they tend to be more full and accurate-sounding – great for mixing, not so great for recording.

We’re going to take a look at the best closed-back over ear headphones, updated as of October 2021. The prices can vary widely, but there are many great options under $200.

The price tends to stay relative with sound quality (ie. you get what you pay for). Some will be less, some more – we’ll highlight a variety so you can find the best choice for your budget. For the most part, the price will descend as you go down the page.

Here are my favorite closed-back headphone at the various price points:

• Under $500: Shure SRH1540
• Under $300: Shure SRH940
• Under $200: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x
• Under $100: Audio-Technica ATH-M30x

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