Are you overwhelmed by the flood of regular and wireless headphones? You never heard of the terms open and closed headphones or dynamic and static transducers? This overview will help you select the perfect model.

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. A larger type of headphones have earpieces that sit on the ears but are still quite small. These headphones have an elastic frame that connects the two earpieces. This frame either sits on the head or wraps around the neck. If your budget is tight then you should probably focus on these types of headphones. They are the least expensive of all models. Some models provide insulation from external noise to some degree.

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. The second design eliminates the pressure on the ears and is preferred by many people. If you feel you would like to go with this type of headphones, you will then need to decide whether to go with an open, semi-open or closed design. An open design means that the audio can penetrate from the transducer to the outside and also cross-couple into the other earpiece. Some people think that an open design will sound light and more natural. A closed design on the other hand will not allow the audio to escape and also block exterior noise.

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.

If you prefer freedom of movement then you should take a look at wireless headphones. Wireless headphones cut the cord. This means that you have full freedom of movement which is essential if your audio source is not mobile. Bluetooth headphones are one type of wireless headphones and work with Bluetooth-enabled devices and cell phones. These headphones are typically fairly small but do not offer the same sort of audio quality as medium to high-end 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. In addition to noticeable hissing and distortion, FM type wireless headphones are also very susceptible to wireless interference.

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.