Headphones

True wireless earbuds and wired studio headphones sit at opposite ends:

earbuds such as AirPods, Galaxy Buds or a pair of JBL Tunes carry a tiny battery in each bud and another in the charging case, and those cells wear out first. A wired pair like the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x or the Sony MDR-7506 has no battery at all, and with new earpads and a fresh cable it can outlast several phones. Over-ears from Sony’s WH-1000X line, Bose or Apple sit in between: big batteries that age slowly, and pads you can replace. With gaming headsets the connection is what matters: PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles do not take ordinary Bluetooth headphones, so a headset needs a wire to the controller or a USB dongle made for that console, and a wireless headset sold for one rarely pairs with the other. The consoles are under video games and consoles, and anything that plays out loud rather than in your ears is in speakers.

Noise cancelling on the bus in from Desamparados:

on a long ride with the engine rumbling under the seat, active noise cancelling is what lets you follow a podcast without turning the volume up to drown out the bus. Over-ears block more and stay comfortable for an hour or two; earbuds win in a pocket and at the gym. A seal that leaks undoes most of the cancelling, so check the fit first. Then match the headphones to the phone. With an iPhone, AirPods switch between Apple devices on their own and show their battery on screen; on Android they work as plain Bluetooth buds and lose most of those extras. Galaxy Buds play the same trick in reverse with Samsung’s Android phones.

From ₡10,000 buds to ₡150,000 flagships:

that spread decides what is worth buying used. Entry-level wireless buds, branded or not, cost roughly ₡10,000 to ₡25,000 new, so a second-hand pair only makes sense at next to nothing. Flagship noise-cancelling over-ears from Sony, Bose or Apple start around ₡150,000, and AirPods Max run well past double that, which is where a used pair saves real money. Their resale value drops hardest when a new generation comes out and when the battery has visibly faded.

Testing a used pair of headphones on your own phone:

connect them yourself, play something with a voice in the centre and pull the balance to each side. The batteries in two earbuds rarely age evenly, so check that both charge in the case and that the case holds a charge of its own. Look for earwax clogging the mesh of each bud. On AirPods, the serial number in the iPhone’s Bluetooth settings should match the one printed inside the lid; copies get the pop-up animation right but rarely the serial. Ask the seller to remove them from Find My in front of you, or you will not be able to add them to your own Apple account. On over-ears, look at the earpads, whose faux leather flakes away with sweat, and at the hinges and headband, which crack on folding models. Switch noise cancelling on and off in a quiet room: a hiss or crackle in one cup is a fault, not character. On a wired pair, wiggle the cable near both plugs while music plays.

A headphone ad that answers the battery question:

say how long a full charge lasts now and whether both buds and the case are the originals. Give the exact model and generation: AirPods Pro have come with both Lightning and USB-C cases, and Sony’s over-ears are told apart by the number at the end of the name. Photograph the pads close up, the inside of the case and the serial label. For a single bud or a case on its own, give the model number: a replacement has to match the generation of the rest. Someone coming in from Ciudad Quesada or Liberia to collect a pair will want to watch it pop up on their own phone and hear both sides cleanly, and five minutes of that somewhere quiet does more for the sale than any line in the ad.