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Headphone brands and Eco Buys: which pairs are built to last?
Unique Which? reliability data helps you choose a headphones brand that lasts.
We survey headphones owners of brands including AKG, Apple, Beats, Bose, JVC,
Samsung, Sennheiser, Sony and more.
If you want to know exactly how a set of headphones performs, look no further than our in-depth, lab-tested reviews.
But there are also trends across brands that are useful to be aware of, allowing you to see which stand the test of time. To identify these, we conduct a unique customer experience survey with a wide range of headphones owners. This means you can find out how a brand’s headphones perform 6 or even 8 years after purchase.
Our survey takes into account how often faults were reported, how serious they were, when they occurred, the reasons people replaced their headphones and how loyal buyers were to a particular brand when buying their next pair.
In our latest analysis, we've looked at a whole range of headphones manufacturers – AKG, Apple, Beats, Bose, JVC, Philips, Samsung, Sennheiser, Skullcandy, Sony and many others – so you know which brand won’t let you down, and which has pairs that are less reliable.
Best wireless earbuds for 2024: see the models that aced our tough lab tests
What our survey shows
We’ve produced tables for wireless and wired headphones. In each, you’ll discover the following:
- Faulty new pairs: the percentage of devices that developed a fault within the first two years
- Time to first fault: the average time until a pair developed a fault
- Brand loyalty: the percentage of owners who bought the same brand of headphones when buying their next pair
- Customer satisfaction score: How satisfied owners are with the brand and how likely they would be to recommend it to a friend (we've ordered the tables by this score)
Wireless headphones
Brand | Faulty new pairs | Time to first fault (years) | Brand loyalty | Customer satisfaction |
4% | 4.7 | 22% | 86% | |
8% | 4.6 | 0% | 85% | |
4% | 4.8 | 61% | 85% | |
4% | 4.7 | 85% | 82% | |
3% | 4.8 | 48% | 82% | |
3% | 4.8 | 59% | 82% | |
2% | 4.9 | 70% | 81% |
It’s close at the top, with all the big brands getting at least 80% for customer satisfaction. However, it’s a different story for brand loyalty.
78% of Apple users stayed loyal, while the average of the other brands above is just 55%.
Our test scores go some way to explaining the difference. Sony has one of the highest rated wireless headphones at 85%, but it also has one of the worst. Sennheiser has one set that scores 84%, but averages 68% across all its headphones from the past two years. Both these brands have released more than three times as many pairs as Apple across 2021-2022, but they have a similar number of Best Buys.
Few wireless headphones develop faults (just 5% on average across five years) - much fewer than wired pairs with their vulnerable cable joints - but when they do, deteriorating battery life and faulty wireless connections cause the most issues. Nevertheless, battery life is concerning, as few brands offer battery replacement schemes, and for the few that do it’s often pretty expensive. This could be a reason why wired pairs on average tend to last longer before consumers report their first fault.
Wired headphones
Brand | Faulty new pairs | Time to first fault (years) | Brand loyalty | Customer satisfaction |
3% | 6.8 | 83% | 82% | |
Bose | 5% | 6.5 | 65% | 81% |
B&O (Bang & Olufsen) | 0% | 7.0 | 33% | 79% |
2% | 6.7 | 29% | 79% | |
3% | 6.4 | 0% | 78% | |
13% | 6.2 | 38% | 78% | |
8% | 6.4 | 29% | 77% |
Wired headphones are more prone to faults than wireless pairs (particularly if you choose a cheap pair), but our survey indicates you’d still be unlucky to suffer a fault in general. When they do happen, it’s issues with the wired cable, especially at the joints, that cause the most headaches.
There’s very little to pick between the brands as far as customer satisfaction goes. According to our survey, people are generally happy with their wired headphones.
Bose sits at the top of the table with 81% customer satisfaction, while the worst brand, JVC, is only 12 percentage points behind.
The popularity of wireless headphones means the demand for wired ones has shrunk dramatically in recent years (and so has the market), but the legacy and quality of Bose QuietComfort models sees them take the top spot for satisfied customers.
Turtle Beach is actually the top scorer for customer satisfaction by one percentage point, but it’s a specialist gaming headset brand. This means headphones designed for gaming, with microphone stalks like headsets used in a call centre. So they're not the best design for a general-use pair.
Our research shows that most people choose a different brand when they buy a new pair of wired headphones. The one exception is Apple’s high-loyalty buyers, with 83% of Apple headphone owners sticking with their familiar white earbuds - although this could be partly due to them being included in the box when you buy a new iPhone.
Eco Buy headphones: what pairs should I buy for the best chance they’ll last?
Our new Eco Buy badge reveals the headphones that are not only great to use, but also likely to last longer, saving you money and making your listening more sustainable.
Headphones are unlikely to top the list of products you'd consider to be green. Cheap wired headphones that come bundled with phones are often treated like throwaway products, while the batteries in wireless headphones present their own environmental challenges.
Just like our Best Buy headphones, those that earn our Eco Buy recommendation must be great to use - so they'll be a pair you want to use again and again. This means you can be confident that all our Eco Buy headphones have excellent sound quality and are comfortable to wear.
To be more sustainable, Eco Buy headphones need to last many years - and that means you should be able to repair them if something goes wrong. Not every repair will be possible, but some headphones give you more options than others.
Most headphones have a long way to go to be genuinely considered sustainable products. By highlighting the headphones that currently have the best sustainability offering in our assessments, our Eco Buys offer a first step in holding manufacturers to account.
Many manufacturers are working to improve the environmental footprint of their products, so we will be periodically raising the requirements needed for headphones to be an Eco Buy as they become more sustainable.
To see our all Eco Buy models, head to our headphones reviews page and select ‘Eco Buys’ using the Best Buy filter menu.
Survey data based on current/previous products purchased by 3,577 consumers between 2015-21 for wired headphones, and by 5,975 consumers between 2017-2022 for wireless headphones, since wireless headphones became popular from 2017.
