Headphone test

Four checks made for headphones: both drivers, the channel order, the centre image and how far up the range your pair gets.

Silent
Left Right

Turn your volume to about a third before you start. Tones are louder than music.

  1. Left channel

    A 440 Hz tone plays in the left speaker only. Sound from the right means the channels are swapped.

  2. Right channel

    The same tone, right side only. Nothing here after a working left usually means a dead driver, a loose plug or a balance slider pushed to one side.

  3. Stereo check

    Left, then right, then both together. The middle pass should sit in the centre of your head on headphones.

  4. Frequency range

    A tone climbing from 8 kHz towards 22 kHz. Stop it when it disappears. Where it stops depends on your ears and your speakers together, so this is a rough reading, not a hearing test.

Before the first tone

Check the orientation. The left cup is marked, usually on the inside of the headband or the stem, and a surprising share of "my channels are swapped" reports are a pair worn backwards. On earbuds the marking is often a tiny moulded L and R inside the shell, which is easy to miss in poor light.

Then drop the volume. Headphones deliver sound directly into the ear canal with nothing to absorb it, and a sustained tone feels much louder than music at the same setting. A third of the way up is plenty for every step here, and the top-end sweep in particular should never be run loud: the frequencies you struggle to hear are still reaching your ears at full power.

What the four steps check

Left and right. One driver at a time, so a dead side or a swapped pair shows up immediately. Wireless earbuds regularly produce a silent side that has nothing to do with the driver: the pairing has dropped one bud, and a reset fixes it.

Stereo. The combined pass should sit centrally, as though the sound is coming from a point between your ears. A centre that leans left or right means the two sides differ in level, which is worth checking against your system balance slider before you assume a hardware fault.

Top end. A sweep from 8 kHz upwards, stopped when you can no longer hear it. On headphones this reads mostly as your own hearing, because almost every modern pair produces output well past where human hearing stops.

Wired against wireless

A wired pair is the better diagnostic tool because there is less in the chain. If a wired pair works on one device and not another, the device is at fault. If a Bluetooth pair misbehaves, add two suspects: the pairing state and the codec. Some systems fall back to a low-quality mono profile when a microphone is active, which collapses both channels into one and sounds exactly like a broken driver. Ending a call or leaving the conferencing app restores it.

Bluetooth also adds latency, typically 100 to 300 ms. That is harmless here but worth remembering: if a step seems to start late, the wireless link is the reason.

Cleaning and simple repairs

In-ear models lose volume on one side long before they fail. The nozzle mesh collects wax and dust, and a blocked mesh both quietens and dulls that side. Remove the tip, brush the mesh dry with something soft, and never push anything through it. On over-ear models, a worn pad leaks bass and can make one side sound thinner.

For intermittent cutting out, flex the cable near the plug while a tone plays. If the sound stutters in time with the movement, the conductor is broken there. A detachable cable makes that a cheap fix, which is one of the better reasons to prefer a pair that has one.

To go further: the hearing range test is a longer version of the top-end step, the bass test shows what your pair does at the other end, and the tone generator holds any single frequency for as long as you need it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I test my headphones?

Put them on the right way round, set the volume to about a third, and run the four steps above: left, right, stereo image and top end. It takes under a minute and tells you whether both drivers work, whether the channels are the right way round and how far up the range your pair still produces sound.

One earbud is quieter than the other. Why?

On in-ear models the usual cause is a blocked mesh: earwax and dust build up in the nozzle and act as a low-pass filter, so the quiet side also sounds dull. Clean it gently with a dry brush. If both sides are clean, check the balance setting, then try the same pair on another device before concluding a driver has failed.

How do I test Bluetooth headphones?

Exactly the same way, with one allowance: Bluetooth adds 100 to 300 ms of delay, so wait a moment on each step before deciding you heard nothing. If only one earbud plays, unpair the set, reset it according to the manufacturer instructions, and pair again. Wireless earbuds drop a channel far more often through pairing state than through hardware failure.

What is headphone burn-in? Does it work?

The claim is that playing audio for dozens of hours improves the sound of new headphones. Measurements show only very small changes, mostly in the bass, as the driver suspension loosens, and listening tests rarely support the larger claims. Nothing about burn-in fixes a defect, and a pair that sounds wrong out of the box will still sound wrong a hundred hours later.

How do I check the stereo image?

Run the stereo step: left, right, then both together. On a working pair the combined tone should appear in the centre of your head, not inside one ear. A centre image pulled to one side usually means a channel imbalance rather than a dead driver.

Are my headphones supposed to reach 20 kHz?

Most headphones are specified to 20 kHz or beyond, and most produce something up there. Whether you hear it is a separate matter: adult hearing usually stops between 14 and 17 kHz, so the limit you find on the top-end step is generally yours rather than the hardware.

Can a test tone damage headphones?

Only at high volume sustained for a while, and the same tone is far more likely to damage your hearing first. Headphones sit millimetres from the eardrum with no room in between, so keep test volume low, especially on the top-end sweep where the tone can be quieter than it feels.

Why does one side cut out when I move the cable?

A broken conductor, usually just below the plug or at the point where the cable enters the cup. Those are the two places the cable flexes most. If the headphones have a detachable cable, swapping it costs a few pounds and fixes it; if not, this is the most common reason a pair reaches the end of its life.

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