This overview of current headphones will help you pick the right one from the overwhelming flood of styles and models of corded and wireless headphones.

Headphones come in many styles and designs. The smallest type are in-ear headphones. These headphones are plugged inside the ear. Some models have a bracket that wraps around the ear. These in-ear headphones are often bundled with iPods and other MP3 players and can easily be placed in a pocket. The next size up are lightweight headphones that sit on the ear and are connected by an elastic frame. This headpiece either sits on top of the head or wraps around the neck. If you are on a tight budget then you should consider one of these headphones, some models are designed to absorb external noise.

If you are able to spend more, you could look at medium-end headphones which are larger than these very small type headphones. Each earpiece has an ear cushion that depending on the model either sits on top of your ears or wraps around your ears. Many people prefer the second type since there is no pressure on the ears. The next decision you’ll have to make is between an open and closed headphone design. An open design essentially means that the sound from the transducer can penetrate to the outside of the headphones. It can also cross-couple into the other earpiece. While some people feel that an open design sounds light, a closed design will tend to absorb exterior noise more and provide better insulation between the two earpieces.

The majority of today’s headphones are dynamic which refers to the type of transducer that is used. Static headphones are the second type. This type is fairly expensive but offers high sound quality. Static headphones need a special headphone amplifier.

Another option to consider when choosing headphones are wireless headphones. Wireless headphones cut the headphone cord and afford total freedom of movement. One type of wireless headphones are Bluetooth headphones. These headphones can be used with cell phones and other Bluetooth-enabled devices. The range of Bluetooth headphones is typically less than 30 ft and the sound quality does not rival the quality of corded headphones.

Other wireless headphones include inexpensive 900 MHz models which use FM transmission and more advanced digital wireless headphones which work at 2.4 GHz or 5.8 GHz. The main drawback of FM headphones is a noticeable hissing, audio distortion and fairly high susceptibility to interference which I caused by the transmission.

Digital wireless headphones, such as Amphony headphones, encode audio data prior to the transmission. This makes this type of headphones superior in terms of sound quality. Digital wireless headphones are also fairly robust against interference. Models which use the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band offer the lowest amount of problems with radio-frequency interference from competing devices.