Headphone core: over-ear or over-rated?

Headphones. The ubiquitous trend of 2023 has taken over my life. Not only am I unable to leave the house without them (despite their taking up vital bag space), but once I have succeeded in leaving my hobbit hole, they are an inescapable sight. From the TikTok girlies bobbing down the street with their AirPod Max’s to the blissfully unaware finance bro on the tube, cocooned by a set of noise-cancelling Bose, it seems over-ear headphones have taken top spot as this year’s most worn trend.

I couldn’t help but notice the massive resurgence of headphones this year. To back this up, mobile searches for ‘best wireless headphones’ via Google have increased by 80% in the last two years while Apple’s AirPod Max’s are predicted to have hit shipments of 1 million in a year. In comparison to other products, this makes the Max’s one of their least successful ventures. But to meet such profit margins despite the insanely hefty price tag (and weight, may I add) is testament to the power of Apple’s consumer loyalty - and our generation’s infatuation with internet trends. Unsurprisingly, social media is the hotspot where I have seen the aestheticization of headphones in abundance.

Of course, like all fashion, the over-ears have come back to us after lying pretty dormant for the last few years in favour of smaller wireless earbuds. When Apple first released their AirPods, they were undeniably all the rage: their small, discreet size rendering them almost invisible - a perk when wanting to listen to music under the totalitarian reign of a teacher or boss. They had other immediate perks too, like no longer having to un-tangle those wires for the majority of your bus ride, or being able to walk up to 800 feet away from your phone, listening to that podcast as you finally get round to hanging up your day-old, crumpled, damp laundry.

So what happened? Why are we seeing a return to annoying wires and bulky, less versatile headphones? Many fashion and trend analysts have boiled it down to nostalgia. Particularly, ‘headphone-core’ is wrapped-up in the ongoing preference of 90’s and Y2K fashion. Interestingly though, the over-ear headphones have a much richer history than the DJ’s and pop icons of the noughties. The first set of headphones were created in 1910 at a kitchen table by Nathaniel Baldwin with his bare hands. During these early stages, the headphones used ‘moving iron drivers’ which are now only sometimes found in small speakers that prioritise cost over sound quality. Most headphones at this time however were mono-headphones, with one ear-piece, and were only really used by those operating telephone switchboards. This changed in 1958 when jazz musician, John C. Koss, developed stereo headphones, mainly used for listening to the radio anywhere. Such headphones were propelled by the invention of the Walkman in 1979, allowing music fanatics to listen to their favourite tapes on the go. Flash forward and we see the creation of the trustee MP3 player (1997), onto the iPod Nano (2005) and then the iPod Touch (2007) - Apple’s gateway into releasing the first successful touchscreen smartphone in the same year.

Today, over-ear headphones have surpassed their status solely as a listening device. Now they are a prevalent fashion status symbol, proven by their regular appearances around the necks of celebs like Bella Hadid and mega influencer’s, Matilda Djerf to Luiza Cordery, to viral videos that show wearers decorating their headphones with stickers, gems and ribbons. We’ve also seen an influx of independent businesses and Etsy shops that create crotchet designs specifically to accessorise your pair of headphones. Some personal favourites of mine are created by artist, Alexandria Masse. On her website, she provides instructions, patterns and links to videos for anyone keen to try their hand at replicating her designs, or creating their own.

There is clearly a lean towards individualisation amidst current trends. I don’t doubt this has always been the case; a desire to be different is in some ways innate to the human condition, or Gen Z at least, I think, while the beauty and fashion editor Melony Forcier recently said that we’re ‘in an era of more is more’, which may serve as an explanation for the popularity of over-sized, over-styled headphones: the bigger the better, I suppose?

In my opinion, the headphones that are over-priced (I’m looking at you, Apple) are certainly over-rated, and I worry that some people are wasting money to satisfy a fashion fad that I don’t see lasting forever. Ultimately though, providing the headphones are comfortable, affordable and a cool addition to an outfit, I’ll continue to conform to this trend - even if it is a little over-done.