You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.

I wear headphones all the time.

I use them for work, at the gym, playing video games, watching movies, and of course, recording

this very podcast.

But despite how much I use headphones, I actually don't know that much about them.

Sure, I have a few pairs that I really like because

they sound good, and they work well for the things that I use them for. But what actually makes a pair

of headphones good? When I get a new pair, what should I be listening for? Which features really matter,

and which ones are just marketing gimmicks? I decided that it was time to educate myself and bring you along with me.

You can think of this episode like a headphone handbook that you can refer back to any time.

Now, when I'm in the market for a new pair of headphones, there's one place that I always look,

and that's the wirecutter section of the New York Times. And in those articles, there's a

particular writer whose name I see all the time. Music the wirecutter section of the New York Times. And in those articles, there's a particular

writer whose name I see all the time. I'm Lauren Dragon. I am wirecutters, I guess you call

me headphone expert, senior staff writer technically, and I work with audio. But primarily I do

headphones and hearing aids. If you stick it on your head and listen to it, that's what I do.

I love the hesitation on expert because it's like there is no doubt that you are the foremost

expert or very up there because I don't know who else is.

Well, I mean, the New York Times technically claims that I've tested more headphones than

anyone else in the world.

At Wirecutter, Lauren has

personally tested almost 2,000 pairs of headphones. And in fact, at one point, somebody in the

...