Earbuds, headphones and Bluetooth speakers — honest picks for every budget.
Make wireless headphone batteries last longer by turning off ANC when you don’t need it, lowering volume, using auto-off, avoiding heat and not storing them at 0% or 100% for long. Here are 9 tips for daily battery life and long-term health.
Noise cancelling isn’t bad for your ears; it can even protect your hearing by letting you listen more quietly. The real risks are high volume, long sessions and losing awareness of traffic. Here is what to know and how to listen safely.
The “ear pressure” some people feel with noise cancelling is a sensation, not real pressure: your brain notices missing low-frequency sound. Here is why it happens, whether it’s harmful, and six ways to make ANC more comfortable.
Passive noise cancelling physically blocks sound with cushions and seals; active noise cancelling uses microphones and anti-noise to erase low hums. Here is how they compare and which matters more for flights, offices and the gym.
Active noise cancelling uses microphones to measure outside noise and plays an opposite “anti-noise” sound wave that cancels it out. Here is how it works, why it beats engines but struggles with voices, and what feed-forward, feedback and hybrid ANC mean.
The best noise cancelling headphones under $100 are the Soundcore Space One: adaptive ANC, LDAC and 40 hours with ANC on. Here are 5 budget ANC headphones compared for comfort, battery and value.
To dry a waterproof speaker, switch it off, shake out water with the grille facing down, wipe it, and let it air-dry for a few hours before charging. Here is the full routine, plus how to fix muffled sound and protect the charging port.
Most Bluetooth speakers and earbuds reach about 30 feet (10 meters) in practice, though some advertise much more. Walls, water and bodies cut range sharply. Here is what affects Bluetooth range and how to fix dropouts.
A battery-powered speaker rated IPX7 or IP67 is generally safe in the shower because it runs on low-voltage battery power. The real risks are charging while wet, mains-powered devices and water damage. Here are the rules to follow.
IPX4 protects against splashes from any direction; IPX7 survives temporary submersion. Here is what that means in real life for earbuds, speakers and wearables, and which rating you need for showers, workouts and the pool.
IPX7 means a device is protected against temporary immersion in water up to 1 meter for 30 minutes, but it hasn’t been rated for dust. Here is how IP codes work, what IPX7 covers, and what it doesn’t.
The best Bluetooth speaker for the shower is the JBL Clip 5: IP67 waterproof, big sound and a carabiner that clips to any caddy. Here are 5 waterproof shower speakers compared, from suction-cup budget picks to floaters.