Stiftung Warentest under the magnifying glass: true wireless headphones
Stiftung Warentest stands alone with the top score for the JBL Reflect Flow. If you look at how the true wireless headphones perform with other testers and expand the evaluation criteria, Sony and Apple come out on top.
Foundation Warentest is rightly an authority when it comes to product tests. We add further aspects to their results. The design, the manufacturer's reputation and the opinions of other testers are included in our overall result. A product test plus, so to speak.
And who comes out on top in this product test plus? Despite the unwieldy name, the Sony WF-1000XM3.
If you need more details for your decision, read on here.
The five best true wireless headphones in our range
We take a look at what Stiftung Warentest (issue 04/2020, fee required) considers to be the five best true wireless headphones that we have in our range.
The Stiftung Warentest awards the following (school) grades:
- JBL Reflect Flow: 1.7
- Sony WF-1000XM3: 1.8
- Beats Powerbeats Pro: 1.9
- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless: 1.9
- Apple AirPods Pro: 2.0
Reviews from other magazines
We found the five true wireless headphones in the best lists of four magazines. They landed in these places when Chip, Connect, Computerbild and Kopfhoerer.de would only have tested these five. The average ranking achieved by the individual headphones is interesting.
Only two of the four magazines tested the JBL Reflect Flow, which received the top score from Stiftung Warentest. Overall, the AirPods Pro took first place, followed by the Sony WF-1000XM3. Striking: The two models with active noise cancellation perform best.
YouTube score
In addition to the classic test portals, we also looked at the opinions on the various true wireless headphones on YouTube. The evaluation includes the opinions of Unbox Therapy, Marquees Brownlee, Linus Tech Tips, JimsReviewRoom, Gamesky, SwagTab, Digital Trends and Top 10 Zone.
So that you don't have to watch all the videos yourself, we have created a ranking based on the YouTubers' ratings. In summary, the result looks like this:
- Sony WF-1000XM3
- Apple AirPods Pro
- Beats Powerbeats Pro
- Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless
- JBL Reflect Flow
The magazine results are confirmed here. Sony and Apple end up in the swapped first two places and Stiftung Warentest's top rating receives little attention and ends up in last place.
Popularity of brands
Hand on heart. Can you say with a clear conscience that the brand doesn't matter to you? Of course, new or less well-known manufacturers can also produce excellent products. But in the end, there is a bonus and a leap of faith in favour of the big and well-known brands.
Our guide to the popularity and awareness of a brand is Google Trends. There, however, we do not look at general search queries, but at those in the shopping area.
Apple proves to be the top dog and leads by a wide margin. Sony and JBL follow closely on the podium. The traditional German brand Sennheiser and Beats, which belongs to Apple, finish in last place.
Design
The German consumer organisation Stiftung Warentest looked at the sound, wearing comfort and the tight fit in the ear - factors that are subject to a certain degree of subjectivity, but can be measured and evaluated quite well. We have added the very subjective factor of "design". Which true wireless headphones meet the taste of the masses just by looking at them? To find out, we conducted a - non-representative - survey in our Community.
Surprise! The Momentum True Wireless from Sennheiser are the most popular. The AirPods Pro came in second place. The Sony WF-1000XM3, which had previously been rated very highly, were less well received.
Conclusion: Active noise cancelling wins
Finally, we summarise all aspects: Stiftung Warentest's rating with the ratings of the other testers and the additional criteria of brand popularity and design. But not equally. The three test areas Stiftung Warentest, magazines and YouTube each account for 25 per cent of the overall rating, with brand and design each accounting for 12.5 per cent.
Overall, the Sony WF-1000XM3 are in the lead, closely followed by the AirPods Pro, which are clearly ahead of the Stiftung Warentest. Interesting: The true wireless headphones from Sony and Apple are the only ones in the test field with active noise cancellation. In third place comes the Stiftung Warentest test winner, the more affordable JBL Reflect Flow.
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When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.
