Expect two to four years from a wireless pair you use daily, and the battery is usually what goes first. Lithium-ion cells lose capacity with every charge cycle, so a pair rated for 40 hours will run noticeably shorter after a few years of daily charging.
Ear pads wear out sooner, often within a year or two, but on most over-ear models you can swap them cheaply. Hinges and headbands are the other parts that tend to fail on cheap pairs. Wired headphones often last many years longer, since there’s no battery to fade, and on some models you can replace a frayed cable.
To stretch a wireless pair’s life, don’t leave it at 0% for weeks, keep it out of hot cars, and store it in a case.
