If you're anything like me, you struggle to go anywhere or do anything without either music or an audiobook playing in your ears. Having a great pair of wireless headphones or earbuds is like having a trusty companion with you wherever you go. But sooner or later, like all bits of tech, your headphones will peter out and die, leaving you sub-par sound and decreased wearability leading to an uncomfortable experience all around.
You can't predict when your old headphones are going to go kaput, but you can predict when the best time to grab a new pair is. If you follow the calendar closely, you'll begin to see the pattern of when you can pick up new headphones for a steal every year. Though Black Friday headphone deals are your best bet in 2023.
Best Times to Buy Headphones
Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Not really a surprise that we're starting off here. The best time to pick up any piece of tech that you've had your eye on is Black Friday. Most people tend to associate Black Friday with massive savings on TVs and Consoles and other high-end bits of tech. And while that's certainly true, you can look a little deeper to find savings on any bit of tech that you need.
Trusted headphone brands (more on those later) will all have their flagship products at a slashed price during the year's biggest sales event. Black Friday used to only be a one-day and in-store event, but in recent years it has moved online and expanded rapidly. You can find savings throughout the entire week of Black Friday, but they tend to peak on the day itself.
If you're too busy for shopping on the Friday, then make sure you're alert to any deals on Cyber Monday. Cyber Monday is a day purely for online retailers to offer huge discounts as they look to shift the last of their Black Friday stock. Savings on Amazon for Cyber Monday are similar to their Prime Day events, but you'll also find discounts at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and any other online retailer you can think of. There's really not that much of a difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, so it's generally just a great time to find a discount.
The New Year
It might seem counter-intuitive to be spending money in the new ear after Black Friday and Christmas have passed, but it's when you'll find deals that will typically fly under the radar. Most headphones will have a life cycle of 1-2 years and manufacturers will begin to lay out plans for their latest models in the early stages of the year. From this point on, older models will start to see a reduction in price and it could be a great time to get a hold of a new pair. Changes from release to release tend to be minimal so if you don't mind missing out on a few new features, then you can pick up an older pair for a steal around this time.
Springtime
Of course if you would prefer to get your hands on a brand new pair of headphones, then springtime is going to be your best bet. This tends to be when most manufacturers will release their products to the market and you'll see healthy stock levels at most stores that sell headphones. Of course, the old models will still be available too, and perhaps with an even further discount as they make way for the newer models.
Prime Day
This year Amazon spoiled us. They treated us to not one but two excellent Prime Days. These big sales events and for Prime Memebers only, and they typically run for two days at a time, with one event in July, and Prime Day 2 taking place as a pre-Black Friday event in October.
Outside of Black Friday, this is when you're really going to start seeing some excellent savings on headphones. Sony models in particualr will almost always have discounts, and you can also consistently find deals on AirPods during Prime Day.
Holiday Weekends
If you're shopping away from the big sales events, then it pays to be up to date with the holiday calendar throughout the year. Retailers will often use these holiday weekends as a chance to throw a flash sale and start cutting prices right across the board. They won't be comparable to the savings in the events above, but they're a great chance to catch some discounts when demand isn't so crazy.
Holidays to look out for include:
- President's Day
- Memorial Day
- July Fourth
- Labor Day
Pay Attention to the Product Cycle
Product cycles matter if you want to get the best deal. Paying attention to when certain products are coming out will give you a huge indiction of when the older models are going to get their prices slashed. The headphone product cycle tends to fall in line with the wider tech industry. Products will be announces at the big consumer tech conferences early in the year and will start to be rolled out in the springtime. This is the time to pounce on the older models and save a bit of dough.
What Should You Be Looking For in a Pair of Headphones?
There is no one-size-fits-all model of headphones. What you need depends on what you plan to use it for, and what kind of things you like to listen to. Generally speaking though, there are some things that you should be looking out for and somethings that should be immediate red flags for models to avoid.
Balance
All headphone manufacturers are trying to attain the perfect blend of frequencies. Now, in a studio setting, this should mean that the ideal pair of headphones are aiming for a flat frequency response in which all frequencies and tones come through the headphones equally. This is to give you the best picture of the sound you're listening to.
Consumer heaphones and earbuds, however, tend to be made a little differently. The advent of certain styles of music over the last few decades have lead to an almost zealous pursuit of the purest bass tones going. Some brands of headphones, like Beats, will throw all their eggs in the bass basket, leading to a very bass heavy frequency response. This is great if that's what you're after. If you're looking for something less basy then you might struggle, but if you grab a model like the Sony WH-1000XM4, you can adjust the EQ using their handy app, but it's honestly difficult not to find any consumer headphones designed for bass response nowadays.
Style and Comfort
Do you want over ear, on ear, or earbuds? All of these things affect both the comfort and the performance of your headphones of choice. If you're looking for the best quality sound and immersion, then you're going to want some closed back over ear headphones. If you just want a casual pair that are extremely portable, then some bluetooth ear buds will do the trick perfectly well.
Best Headphone Brands to Watch
Sony
Sony's excellent range of consumer heaphones are some of the very best out there. They've got models at lots of different price points and in loads of different styles. The previously mentioned WH-1000XM4s are my current day-to-day over-ears, and the noise cancellation on them is next level. Like most consumer headphones, they tend to lean a bit heavy on the bass side, but their range of smart headphones come with an adaptive EQ that you can fine tune to meet your needs.
Apple
This one is likely to draw the wrath of many an audio nerd, but I'm going to just say it, Apple make pretty decent headphones. And I'm including some of the models before the AirPods were brought in. At a relatively low to mid price range, you get a decent frequency response, they're comfortable, they're clear, they're crisp, they charge fast, and they've got a decent battery life. If you can spare the extra, it's definitely worth going for the AirPods Pro. You can keep your eye out for Apple Black Friday deals to find discounts on these across various retailers.
JBL
JBL are a stable of the commercial audio world. They make an excellent array of bluetooth headphones that are comfortable, decent quality, and best of all, affordable. They've never managed to absolutely blow me away but when you're in a pinch looking for a nice consumer audio product, they're a safe pair of hands.
Sennheiser
We're straying more into the realm of studio headphones here, and we're definitely starting to stray into the more espensive end of the scale, but, on the whole, Sennheiser tend to deliver. They've got a decent blend of both studio and consumer models. Their wireless over-ear Momentum 4 model is worth a look for a solid pair of bluetooth headphones that will be with you for many years. They've got an impressive 60 hours of battery life and boast adaptive noise cancellation for when you're out and about.
Beyerdynamics
Finally, we'll end with a more specialized brand. These aren't going to be your everyday out and about style headphones. I'm thinking specifically about the DT770 and DT990 models. These are perfect for podcasting, working, streaming, or just listening to your favorite album in stunning clarity. The DT770s are my everyday work headphones for my work as an audio editor, and I don't have a single complaint about them. They would be particualrly excellent if you wanted to plug some headphones into your record player. Just bear in mind that they come with quite a high impedence so you'll be needing an amp if you want to push them.
Joe O'Neill-Parker is a freelance contributor for IGN, covering sports and tech. Before founding O'Neill Multimedia, he worked as an editor/producer for an international audiobook production company.
