How Long is the Battery Life on Wireless Bluetooth Headphones?

Shirley Green
4 min readDec 21, 2020

We see them everywhere these days and everybody wants a pair: wireless Bluetooth headphones. You can’t commute to work, go to the gym, or do almost anything without seeing somewhere with a pair. They’ve made many elements of modern life much easier, however there is one problem that lots of people still complain about when it comes to wireless Bluetooth headphones: battery life.

Short battery life means you probably spend more time charging your headphones than you do using them or have to continually limit your listening experiences due to them dying after just a short usage. Users of wireless Bluetooth headphones struggle to get the most out of them because of this, and when trying to concentrate on something, be part of a work call, or just zone out on an evening commute, the last thing you want is a dead battery. Often people have to charge their wireless Bluetooth headphones at least once, if not several times a day to use them continually.

It’s also increasingly rare these days to see someone wearing wired headphones. Nowadays, most headphones made and sold are wireless, in this instance this refers to not needing to be physically connected to a device. This is because being wireless means easier movement, easier transportation and much greater listening freedom, but the downside to this is this reduced battery life for wireless headphones.

So, this duality leads to customers having a device which they want to use more often, only with an inability to do so due to the design and technology in place. So how long do wireless Bluetooth headphones typically last, and which are the long battery life Bluetooth headphones out there to buy?

How Long Do Most Last?

There’s a great disparity between the battery lives of true wireless earbuds, and wireless Bluetooth headphones. Most earbuds typically last for around 4–6 hours before needing charging, wireless Bluetooth headphones meanwhile will usually have a battery of 6–12 hours on a single charge. The long battery life Bluetooth headphones however can last an average of around 20–22 hours, some even passing 30 hours on one charge when features such as active noise cancellation have been switched off.

Charging times of different Bluetooth headphones will also be dependent on the make and model. This will be due to many different factors, the likes of overall battery capacity whether they support quick or rapid charging, all which affect the time it takes to reach full charge. Modern wireless headphones can normally reach full charge in around 1–2 hours, but some devices can run for between 2–3 hours on a partial charge, usually something like 15–20 minutes.

When looking to buy any pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones, there are several qualities you should require before making a purchase. However perhaps the most important is battery. After all, what’s the point of buying headphones if you’re always going to be waiting to be able to use them?

The Best Out There

For long battery life Bluetooth headphones, the Enduro 100 from Cleer Audio puts all others to shame. This set of wireless Bluetooth headphones looks to make the fear of running out of battery a thing of the past. There’s a reason these come with a 100 in their name because the Enduro offers an incredible 100-hours of battery life, on just a single charge. In real world terms that’s over four days of continuous playback without ever having to look for a charging cable.

However, if you ever find yourself in that increasingly familiar situation, the Enduro 100 has one more trick up its sleeve. It comes with what is effectively a charging power boost where you can receive 13 hours of playback time, from just a ten-minute charge with the USB-C. While in only 3 hours of charging, it will be back up to a full battery and it’s a problem you don’t have to worry about again for another few days!

This durability and long-lasting nature is a result of the Enduro’s 800mAh battery as well as the incorporation of Bluetooth 5.0 features. The Qualcomm chipset reduces power usage, so the Enduro 100 can act as an every-day pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones that will last as long as you need while the 40mm Ironless Drivers™and aptX HD low-latency offers high resolution audio qualities.

Listen Close

Wireless listening should be a sign of audio freedom, but bad battery life makes this impossible if you’re always looking for charging cables. If you love listening to things on the go, then long battery life Bluetooth headphones are a necessary purchase. Regarding the Enduro 100, it’s now possible to have this freedom at an affordable price ensuring that true listening freedom is now available to all.

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Shirley Green

Shirley is a contributing writer and specializes in reviewing smart audio products, and is fond of headphones, speakers, and recording gears.