The short version
HeadphonesMatch is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
When you click an Amazon link on this site and buy something within 24 hours, Amazon pays us a small commission (usually 1-4% of the purchase). You pay exactly the same price you would have paid anyway. Amazon's commission comes from their margin, not your wallet.
That's how we keep the site running, pay for hosting, and justify spending hundreds of hours researching headphones. We're upfront about it because the FTC requires affiliate disclosure — and because, frankly, you deserve to know how any review site you trust makes its money.
How affiliate links work
Most links on this site that point to Amazon (anywhere you see a "View on Amazon" button or a product link like the Sony WH-1000XM5) are affiliate links. They contain a tracking code that tells Amazon we sent you.
The process:
- You read a buying guide and click an Amazon link from our site
- Amazon notes that you arrived via our referral and places a 24-hour tracking cookie in your browser
- If you buy that product (or any other Amazon product) within 24 hours, Amazon credits us with a small commission on whatever you purchased
- The price you pay is identical to the price you'd pay without using our link
Amazon never tells us who bought what — just that a referral resulted in a sale. We never see your personal information, payment details, or address. We just get a small commission credit in our Associates account.
Programs we participate in
As of right now, our only active affiliate program is:
- Amazon Associates (US) — covers all Amazon links on the site
We may join additional affiliate programs in the future (for example, direct partnerships with audio retailers like Sweetwater, B&H Photo, or specific headphone manufacturers). When we do, we'll update this page and clearly label any new types of affiliate links.
Any link that is not an affiliate link — for example, references to manufacturer websites, links to other review publications, or links to our own pages — is a regular link that earns us nothing. We include those because they're useful, not because we make money from them.
What it costs you
Nothing. Zero. Not one cent.
This is genuinely the most important sentence on this page. Affiliate commissions come out of the retailer's margin, not the buyer's wallet. When you click our Amazon link and buy a $400 pair of headphones, you pay $400 — exactly what you would have paid if you'd typed "amazon.com" into your browser directly. Amazon just sends us a small percentage of the sale because we referred you.
You can verify this yourself: open any product on Amazon in one tab, then click our link to the same product in another tab. The price will be identical. If they ever weren't, something would be wrong.
Editorial independence
Here's where it gets interesting, and where we want to be especially clear.
The fact that we earn commissions creates a potential conflict of interest. Theoretically, we could be tempted to recommend whatever earns us the highest commission, or to favor expensive products over cheap ones. Plenty of affiliate sites do exactly that.
We don't. Here's how we keep our editorial process honest:
We recommend products based on what's actually best, not what pays best. Our top pick in the under $100 guide is a $130 Anker headphone. Our top pick in the wireless IEM guide is a $700 Sennheiser. The commission rates are similar across these. The recommendations are based on what reviewers and working professionals actually use — not what makes us the most money.
We aggregate from multiple expert sources. Our recommendations synthesize reviews from RTINGS, SoundGuys, What Hi-Fi, working audio engineers, and other established sources. We don't just pick whatever has the highest Amazon rating or the biggest commission.
We tell you what's wrong with our picks. Every product review in our guides includes a "Skip if..." section pointing out who shouldn't buy the product. We don't pretend products are perfect — we tell you the trade-offs honestly so you can make an informed decision.
We sometimes recommend products we don't earn from. If the right answer for a specific use case is "use what you already own," or "buy directly from the manufacturer," we say that. Our advice is shaped by what's right, not by what earns us a fee.
We don't accept paid reviews or sponsored content. No manufacturer has ever paid us to recommend their product. No company has ever sent us free products in exchange for coverage. If that ever changes, we'll disclose it clearly and obviously on any affected article.
What we don't do
Plenty of affiliate review sites engage in practices we think are dishonest. Here's what we don't do, and won't:
- We don't write fake "I tested this" reviews for products we haven't tested. Our articles are clearly framed as editorial recommendations aggregated from established review sources, not personal first-hand experience.
- We don't recommend obscure brands just because they pay higher commissions. We stick to brands with track records, parts availability, and trustworthy customer support.
- We don't fabricate specifications, scores, or performance claims. Every spec, price, and product detail in our guides reflects publicly available information.
- We don't artificially upsell. If a $100 headphone is genuinely the right answer for your use case, we'll recommend it even though our commission would be larger on a $400 model.
- We don't use deceptive "best of" rankings. Our rankings reflect actual reviewer consensus, not whoever paid us for placement (because nobody pays us for placement).
Why this matters for trust
Affiliate marketing has a bad reputation, partly because plenty of sites have earned that reputation. The internet is full of "best headphones" articles that exist purely to capture search traffic and shovel readers toward whatever pays the highest commission, with little regard for whether the recommendations are actually good.
We want to be different. The honest truth is that we'd rather have 1,000 readers who trust our recommendations enough to come back next time than 100,000 readers who feel burned by their first purchase.
That means being honest about our financial incentives (this page), being honest about our methodology (the About page), and being honest about the limitations of any individual recommendation (every product review).
The bargain we're trying to offer: spend a few minutes reading our research, click our links if our recommendations seem right for you, and we get a small commission for our work. You get genuinely useful guidance at zero cost. That's the whole model.
Questions or concerns
If anything on this page is unclear, or if you ever feel that our recommendations don't match what we describe here, please tell us. Reach out via our contact page and we'll respond.
We take our credibility seriously. Honest feedback — including criticism — helps us stay accountable.
As an Amazon Associate, HeadphonesMatch earns from qualifying purchases. This site is owned and operated by Horace, based in New City, New York.