Two to five years is the honest range for most on-ear headphones, assuming normal use. The first things to go are rarely the drivers—those little speakers inside usually outlast your patience. Instead, you'll see pleather earpads flaking after 12–18 months, headband padding compressing flat, and plastic hinges cracking near the folding points. Wired models with a fixed, non-detachable cable die the fastest because the internal wiring near the plug gets yanked loose. Bluetooth sets add their own clock: lithium batteries typically hold a decent charge for about 500 cycles, which works out to roughly three years of daily commuting.

Build quality and maintenance decide whether you get three years or six. Cheap $30 on-ears from no-name brands often break at the yoke within a year. Mid-tier stuff from Audio-Technica, Sennheiser, or Koss can easily hit five years if you treat them right. Swap out the pads when they crack—third-party replacements cost $10–20. Avoid folding/unfolding the hinges a hundred times a day. For wired pairs, learn to do a simple solder repair on the cable or buy models with detachable cords. With Bluetooth, once the battery dies and you can't replace it (many are glued in), the headphones are effectively toast. So if longevity is your priority, skip the disposable wireless stuff and go wired.