Headphones for Audiobooks

Best Headphones for Audiobooks

Having a good set of headphones is an absolute necessity for the immersion experience Audiobooks can provide.  I use ‘can’ because as i’m sure you are aware, you can easily lose the story through the distractions life provides.

There’s nothing worse than your audiobook being drowned out by coworkers and the like. But don’t worry, this review will have yo up and running with the best headphones for audio, and you’ll be blissfully unaware of any such nonsense shortly. Two birds, one stone.

An old pair of headphones are not going to be good enough. Decent headphones have four attributes which denote it’s quality.

1. Comfort.
2. Frequency response.
3. Noise reduction.
4. Brand.

Comfort. I listen to audiobooks for very long periods. In car rides, air planes, etc. I’m sure you are familiar with the sore ear feeling you can get from poor quality headphones. As well as being painful, these headphones can also cause a lot of damage.

Frequency response. While this is not perhaps as important for speech as for music, it does still have an impact. Our brains use the lower ‘bass’ frequency ranges to interpret speech, so we can deal with losing the high-frequency overtones quite well but not vice versa.

Noise reduction. We all lead active lives in the age of multitasking. For people who are far too busy to read, audiobooks are a great option. Whether you are busing, walking, biking or running you can be listening to an audiobook. There’s one problem. Ambient noises. They attack in many forms,  low rumbling frequencies seep in car trips from  engines and road noise. They attack in the mid to high ranges from music and talking. Do not turn up the volume to fix this, this will only leave damage, some of which can be permanent.  As someone who’s father suffers from tinnitus, trust me, you do not want it!

Before we go on, there is an important distinction in noise reduction.  This is the  ‘noise cancelling vs noise isolating headphones’ distinction. The answer to the difference between noise cancelling sound isolating headphones is quite simple, see below.

What is Noise Cancelling?

Active or acoustic noise cancelling headphones use microphones to listen to the incoming sound,  inverse waves get fed back into the headphones essentially cancelling out the waves. These inverse waves cancel out the ambient sound.

What is Noise Isolating?

Many in-ear and on-ear headphones isolate you from ambient noise. The idea here is a physical barrier between your ear and the offending sounds.

Which is best?

Noise cancelling is definitely the thing to look for when buying headphones because it’s better at cancelling out background noises, therefore protecting your sensitive eardrums because you don’t have to turn the volume up so high.

Brand. Brand does not always equate quality, but in terms of headphones, there are definitely some front runners.  There are definitely some great brands with great items, but we’ll get into that below.

Earbuds

Think of the ones you got with your first iPod. These sit in the  opening of the ear canal. They can be made and bought very cheaply and are generally very uncomfortable.

Their frequency response is good at high frequencies as they are small, but when it comes to the base they fall. This  gives them a ‘tinny’ sound. Furthermore, being small they provide almost no isolation from ambient noise, requiring the listener to turn up the volume, which as we know, is a bad idea!

I’m not going to even bother linking these as they are just not worth it, and you probably have a million sets already from all those iPhone upgrades!

In-ear Headphones

In-Ear head phones provide good isolation, they are similar to earbuds but slightly extended, and are designed to enter your ear canal. They essentially get wedged in there like ear plugs and are great at naturally reducing ambient noise. As they wedge in, and provide good noise cancellation through isolation, I recommend these for anyone who is asking the question – ‘what are the best headphones for running?’

The comfort can vary depending on the brand, and your ear. Find a set that are comfortable and are snug, but not too tight.

Some good options are below in top noise cancelling headphones below.

Clip-on Headphones

These  headphones attach to the outer ear by a clip, as opposed to a band
going over or behind the head. They are pretty decent, and don’t move a lot, so are great if you find your headphones tend to fall out of your ears. Clip on’s are also useful for those who cannot use in ear headphones, but still want low profile, portable headphones. Clip on’s can be uncomfortable after long periods of time , as the ear pad pushes down on your lobes.

They do allow for larger drive units  than in-ear styles, and this gives more power to the bass frequencies.

These are relatively cheap, but definitely not my favourite, check out the Philips SHS4700/28 Supra-Aural Ear Clip Headphones here.

Full Sized Headphones

Full sized headphones, provide high quality audio, generally with great noise reduction. I generally use my full size headphones at home, and prefer the light weight inner ear headphones while on the go.  Noise cancellation will vary and in general is better than outer ear headphones or earbuds, but won’t be as good as in-ear headphones.

Comfort is usually pretty good with a decent brand, however comfort primarily depends more on your head than your ears themselves. They must rest over the top of your head, and all around your ears. Another great thing, is that your ears will get quite warm as they are fully enclosed, great for cool climates!

You’re going to want to get something like this if you like to listen to Audiobooks while on the lawn mower like Gabby’s mum! See top options below.

Also, if you have any children, full size headphones are generally the best headphones kids can use as unlike inner ear headphones they are less likely to cause damage. One step better though, to keep them distracted is to get headphones with active noise cancellation. Check out the best noise cancelling headphones kids can get here.

Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Using a process called ‘active noise control’ these headphones can negate external noise rather than just soundproofing the ears. This is done using microphones on the outside of the cans, allowing sounds reaching the ears to be ‘subtracted’ from the audio content.
The extra circuitry – including a power supply – will require these to be full size headphones, and in these cases isolation is still second to in-ear styles. More recently, however, in-ear noise-cancelling headphones have become available, giving the benefits of Active Noise Control and the earplug design.

Brands

Brand is important, but not everything. Today people shop by brand, but it does not always denote quality. Below is a list of key brands which have been rated against their peers based on the best headphones reviews and testing (75% based on reviews, and 25% based on specs (frequency, sensitivity, noise cancelling, etc)). Feel free to browse the ranges and compare headphones by clicking the brand name below.

Conclusion

In-ear headphones are the best for isolation, they are great for those looking for the best portable headphones. Active noise cancellation can also be gained with some options. Full sized headphones will give you a fuller spectrum, but even the noise-cancellation cannot provide the same isolation as in ear headphones. Earbuds are cheapest, and not really worth mentioning. In terms of comfort it is impossible to objectively judge, but most headphones provide for the general population, and are slightly adjustable.

I use a combination of the full sized Bose headphones at home, and have a pair of noise cancelling ones for out and about. Below are my top picks.

Top Full Size Noise Cancelling/ Active Noise

Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 Wireless with Active Noise Cancellation- Black

Top Noise Isolating/ Cancelling headphones (Inner Ear)

Bose QuietComfort 20 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones