How to test your headphones
- Turn the volume down. Set your system volume low and leave Test volume at 50%. Put your headphones on the right way round — L on your left ear.
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Check left and right. Press Left, Both and Right. The matching ear cup lights up in the diagram. Each sound should be only in that ear, and Both should sit in the middle of your head.
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Check the balance. Play the Centered sound and move the Balance slider until it sits exactly in the middle, or use Alternate L / R to compare how loud each side is. The value shows how far you moved it, in decibels.
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Test bass and range. Run the bass sweep, then press Find lowest tone or Find highest tone and tap I can’t hear it now the moment the tone disappears. Both results stay on screen, and the green band shows the range you heard.
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Try phase and soundstage. Compare In phase with Out of phase, then play the 3D orbit and follow the sound around your head as the dot circles it.
- L Left
- B Both
- R Right
- S Stereo sweep
- Esc Stop all
Reading your results
- Balance: an offset of 1 dB or less is normal and hard to hear. A bigger offset means one side is quieter — from a blocked mesh, a poor fit, a failing driver or a balance setting.
- Lowest tone: a good seal matters more than anything. Well-sealed headphones and earbuds can play very deep bass, while a loose fit loses the low end first.
- Highest tone: this mostly measures your hearing. The upper limit falls naturally with age, so not hearing the top of the sweep is normal for most adults.
- Phase: In phase should sound focused in the center of your head and Out of phase wide and vague. If it’s the other way round, one driver is wired backwards.
- Soundstage: the orbit should move clearly from ear to ear. Front and back are subtle with any headphones, so don’t worry if the sound seems to pass behind you.
Testing earbuds and AirPods
Wireless earbuds such as AirPods, Galaxy Buds and Pixel Buds work just like wired headphones here. Connect them first, make sure they’re the selected output, then run the tests.
- AirPods spatial audio: on iPhone, press and hold the volume slider in Control Center and set Spatial Audio to Off while you check left and right, so the sound isn’t processed.
- Fit: earbuds need a good seal for bass. If the bass sweep fades out early, try a different ear tip size.
Headphones not working? Fix it step by step
- Make your headphones the output. Connect them, turn the volume up and select them: Windows 11 Settings › System › Sound › Output; Windows 10 Settings › System › Sound › Choose your output device; macOS System Settings › Sound › Output; iPhone and iPad Control Center › AirPlay icon; Android Quick Settings › media output. Then reload this page.
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Check the status on the test. If it turns orange and says Sound is paused, your browser hasn’t started the sound yet. Press the button again. On iPhone and iPad, also turn off silent mode.
- Clean the quiet side. Earwax or dust on the speaker mesh is the most common cause of a quiet earbud. Brush it gently with a dry, soft brush or cotton swab — no liquids in the openings.
- Check balance and mono audio. Windows 11: Settings › System › Sound, select your headphones and check the Left channel and Right channel sliders; turn off mono audio in Settings › Accessibility › Audio. macOS: System Settings › Sound › Output › Balance, and mono audio in System Settings › Accessibility › Audio. iPhone: Settings › Accessibility › Audio & Visual. Android: Settings › Accessibility, then the audio balance and mono options (names vary by phone).
- Check the cable. Push the plug fully in and gently move the cable near the plug. Crackling or a side cutting out points to a broken wire.
- Reset wireless earbuds. Put both back in the case for a few seconds, or forget the device in your Bluetooth settings and pair it again.
- Fix muffled or mono Bluetooth sound. When an app uses the headset microphone, Bluetooth switches to a low-quality, mono hands-free mode. Close Zoom, Teams, Discord and similar apps, or on Windows choose the Headphones output instead of Headset or Hands-Free, then reload this page.
Testing the headset microphone
This page tests what you hear. To check the microphone on a headset, gaming headset or earbuds, use the Microphone Test: it shows live input levels and lets you record and play back your voice.
Headphone latency
Output delay shows the latency your browser reports for the current output. Wired headphones are close to instant, while Bluetooth adds more delay. Browsers can’t measure Bluetooth latency exactly, so treat it as a guide.
About this headphone test
Every sound is generated live in your browser with the Web Audio API — there are no audio files, and nothing is recorded or uploaded. The test works with over-ear and on-ear headphones, earbuds, AirPods and gaming headsets, wired or Bluetooth, on Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, Android and iOS in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
The frequency range test is not a medical hearing test. Results depend on your headphones, the volume, background noise and your reaction time. If you notice hearing changes, see a doctor or audiologist.
Frequently asked questions
How do I test my headphones?
Put them on, turn the volume down and press Left, Both and Right. Then check the balance, run the bass and frequency sweeps and play the 3D orbit. Each sound should be clear and come from the right place.
How do I know if my left and right earbuds are the right way round?
Press Left. If you hear it in your right ear, you’re wearing them swapped or the channels are reversed. If you hear it in both ears, mono audio is probably turned on.
Why is one earbud quieter than the other?
Most often earwax or dust on the mesh, a poor fit, or a balance setting pushed to one side. Clean the mesh gently, try other ear tips and check the balance in your system settings.
How do I test headphone sound quality?
Use the bass sweep to hear how deep they go, the frequency range test to check the highs, and the balance and phase tests to check both sides match. Listen for rattling, buzzing or distortion as you raise the volume.
How do I test the microphone on my headphones?
Use the Microphone Test on this site. Choose your headset from the list to see live levels, then record and play back your voice.
Can I test headphone latency here?
The Output delay figure shows the latency your browser reports. Bluetooth headphones usually add noticeably more delay than wired ones, but browsers can’t measure it perfectly.