Category · 4 articles

Audio

Headphones, earbuds, lav mics and the desk gear that decides whether a recording is usable. Everything we have tested or analysed, sorted by what you need next.

Buying guides1 Reviews1 Comparisons1 Tech guides1

Headphones, wireless lav mics and a podcast microphone on a dark surface

Tested in the fieldAudio desk

Articles: 4
Reviews: 1
Comparisons: 1
Guides: 2

Before you buy

In audio, the room and the mic placement beat the spec sheet

A flagship pair of headphones cannot fix a noisy commute, and a $300 microphone cannot fix a bare room. This category splits listening, recording and the gear in between so you can spend where the difference is audible.

Short answer

Start with the microphone, not the headphones. Clean speech is the hardest thing to fake in post, and a $150 lav setup will improve a video more than a $400 pair of earbuds.

01
Headphones & earbuds
Noise cancelling, codec support and comfort over a long flight. The tuning you prefer matters more than the driver size printed on the box.
Sony WH-1000XM · AirPods Pro · Sennheiser Momentum
02
Wireless mics
Clip-on transmitters, onboard recording and a receiver that fits your camera or phone. Range claims are optimistic; battery life and mounting are not.
Rode Wireless · DJI Mic · compact lav systems
03
Podcast & desk mics
USB or XLR, cardioid or dynamic. A forgiving dynamic mic in an untreated room usually beats a sensitive condenser in the same room.
Shure MV7 · USB dynamics · audio interfaces
04
Monitoring & accessories
Headphone amps, boom arms, windjammers and spare cables. Cheap insurance against a take you cannot use.
Closed-back monitors · shock mounts · foam windscreens

The three specs that actually change what you hear

Codec & latency

LDAC and aptX only help if both ends support them. For video, low-latency modes matter more than bitrate — check lip-sync before frequency response.

Mic pattern & placement

A cardioid mic rejects the room behind it; an omni lav picks up everything. Placement within 20 cm does more than any setting in the app.

Battery & charging case

Published runtime is usually measured at half volume with noise cancelling off. Look at case capacity and whether the case charges over USB-C while the buds sit inside.