1 week Ago By Parker Hall, Ryan Waniata
Best Overall What Bose doesn’t know about active noise-canceling headphones isn’t worth knowing, frankly. With the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones ( 9/10, WIRED Recommends ), the company has managed to improve on its own giddily high standards. These headphones do a simply remarkable job on external annoyances, leaving you in splendid isolation to enjoy the balanced, poised, and articulate sound they serve up.
They’re on the pricey side when compared to their most obvious competitors, but with these Bose you get exactly what you’re paying for. Frequent fliers and the like should form an orderly queue. — Simon Lucas A Close Second Sony redesigned the exterior of its popular flagship headphones for the fifth generation ( 9/10, WIRED Recommends ), making them a bit sleeker and more competitive with Apple and Bose in looks.
What didn't go away is the company's excellent noise cancellation, super customizable sound, and fantastic battery life. They're pricier than previous generations, but the sound is more absorbing, with a more energetic feel than the less dynamic models that came before. Best for Working Out The Powerbeats Pro 2 ( 9/10, WIRED Recommends ) are a full-scale update, which includes modern touches like a heart rate monitor based off the Apple Watch and standards that were lacking in the original, like transparency mode and—of course—noise canceling.
Their solid cancellation skills can't match the very best like Bose's QuietComfort Ultra, but the buds hold their own against plenty of rivals at this price and above, including Sony's WF-1000XM5. Thanks to the H2 chip, they work brilliantly with Apple gear with features like iCloud device switching, Find My functionality, and hands-free Siri, while Android extras include a dedicated app and one-touch pairing. You'll also get convenient (if touchy) controls, excellent battery life, and a flashy new acoustic architecture for brash sound with a side of hi-fi.
Maybe most importantly, their ironclad fit is graciously comfy, making them excellent for working out, checking out, and everything in between. —Ryan Waniata Best for iOS If you use an iPhone and you are willing to pay $550, Apple's noise-canceling over-ears ( 8/10, WIRED Recommends ) are a fantastic choice. They are probably among the best wireless headphones you'll have ever heard, but astonishing fidelity isn't the only reason to buy the company's flagship cans.
Excellent pairing and connection with Apple devices, top-notch noise reduction, and some of the finest build quality you'll find this side of $1,000 make these a great pair for most people. The only thing not to like about the AirPods Max? The included soft case does very little to protect the headphones when they're not on your head. Best Noise-Canceling Earbuds It bears repeating: Bose is the absolute master of active noise-canceling technology.
The QuietComfort Ultra earbuds are just the latest demonstration of the company’s expertise. Get these earbuds positioned just so, set them up to your satisfaction using the excellent control app, and the outside world need never bother you again. It almost goes without saying that the sound you’ll enjoy is big, bold, and vivid—which is something else Bose knows all about.
— Simon Lucas Also Great for Apple Devices AirPods are middling , but the AirPods Pro ( 8/10, WIRED Recommends ) are a different story. This is the second generation of the buds, and they have the same great fit and noise-canceling tech as the first generation, with better audio quality. One of their best features is constant improvement, including OTA additions like Adaptive Audio, which transitions between noise canceling and transparency mode based on your environment, and a new hearing aid feature .
This version also has an improved codec, in case you end up using it with your new Vision Pro headset , as well as USB-C charging . Best for Home Theater Adventures The Sonos Ace ( 8/10, WIRED Recommends ) launched with lofty expectations, yet their mix of luxe comfort, smooth sound, and top-tier noise canceling still caught us off guard. Their significant skills put them in regal company with the likes of Bose and Sony.
Those points aside, their most intriguing feature, the ability to instantly swap TV audio from a Sonos soundbar, was buggy at launch (along with the rest of the Sonos app). Since then, Sonos has put in the work, and I've been able to seamlessly “swap” sound between the Ace and the Sonos Arc and Arc Ultra soundbars with minimal latency. The natural transparency mode and head tracking effectively mimic a home theater experience, and Sonos has added support for the Beam and Ray soundbars.
It's still not the Wi-Fi experience we were hoping for, but even on their own, the Ace's serious skills make them well worth considering. —Ryan Waniata Best for Audiophiles If money is no object, this pair from French hi-fi brand Focal ( 9/10, WIRED Recommends ) is the best. The magnesium and aluminum headphones—with custom French-made drivers and super soft ear cups and headband—offer listeners some of the best wireless audio I have ever heard.
From deep lows to crisp highs, these resemble their more expensive, corded, brethren but allow you to listen in planes, trains, and automobiles without toting along an external digital-to-analog converter or special audio player. Still Great This isn't the newest model, but Sony's WH-1000X lineup has produced some of the best noise-canceling headphones for nearly a decade, and the previous-generation WH-1000XM4 ( 9/10, WIRED Recommends ) are no exception. Sleek, businesslike looks and a 30-hour battery life match its successor, and this version sports better noise cancellation and audio upscaling than its predecessors, both of which contribute to a cleaner overall sound signature.
The high-quality microphones don't make you sound like you're underwater in Zoom meetings, which is an essential upgrade in the post-Covid world. It periodically goes on sale for under $300, so avoid buying it at full price. Best Backup Buds Sony's fifth-generation flagship earbuds ( 7/10, WIRED Recommends ) slim down while stepping up.
These buds are smaller and slicker (maybe too slick when it comes to grabbing them) than the previous XM4 buds. As before, they provide great sound and noise canceling that outduels most buds not made by Bose. In true Sony style, they serve up a truckload of adaptive features and EQ controls while retaining their battery bragging rights of up to eight hours of playback time with ANC and 12 hours without it.
— Ryan Waniata Best Battery Life Earbuds You'll get 15 hours of noise canceling before needing to return this pair of Audio-Technica buds to their wireless charging case. They have a surprisingly comfortable design despite bulky battery compartments on the outside of each bud, with a cool pair of magnets that allows you to stick the buds together to enter standby mode if you don't want to lug along the case. The sound and noise canceling quality are decent but not as good as the best from Sony and Bose, though passive noise isolation is some of the best I've tested, thanks to long trunks that seal off your ear canals to the world.
Best Cheap Buds These unassuming buds from Soundpeats offer surprisingly good noise canceling and features for the money. That's a great start, but their real superpower is stellar sound quality, which helped earn them a perfect 10/10 review score . Using a combination dynamic driver for bass and a next-gen xMEMS driver for the midrange and treble, you'll find gloriously rich, clear, and balanced fidelity across your catalog.
They fill things out with solid battery life and a helpful app for a great experience at a surprisingly low price. —Ryan Waniata Business Class Higher-end earbuds from Bowers & Wilkins ( 8/10, WIRED Recommends ) are perfect for folks who want premium audio quality, but who don't want to lug around over-ear headphones everywhere. These are an excellent compromise, with a sleek, comfortable design, solid (albeit not Bose-beating) noise canceling, and great sound.
They're fantastic for travel, thanks to the ability to plug a 3.5-mm or USB-C cable to the case and have the case transmit Bluetooth to the headphones—perfect for when you are on a plane without modern technology. Call quality is also excellent, which makes these perhaps the perfect business-class earbuds.
Most Comfortable There didn’t seem to be much wrong with the Px7 S2 ( 9/10, WIRED Recommends ), but Bowers & Wilkins has gone ahead and fixed them anyway. The Px7 S2e feature upgraded digital sound processing for greater sonic insight and engagement, and the result is a pair of headphones that sound as upmarket and sophisticated as they look. What the company hasn’t done, though, is alter the way they fit, or the materials from which they’re built—which means the Px7 S2e are supremely, almost indecently, comfortable to wear over the long haul.
That's just as well given that battery life is a big 30 hours (including seven hours of action from just a 15-minute charge). — Simon Lucas Customizable Looks You might be skeptical about buying a pair of headphones from a brand best known for plastic vacuum cleaners, but the Dyson OnTrac are actually pretty excellent ( 8/10, WIRED Recommends ). Apart from their 55 hours of battery life and solid noise canceling, the reason to buy these headphones is that you can customize the ear cups and ear pads to be hundreds of different color combinations.
If you have a specific personal style and want to still get the same great sound that you'll get from Bose, Sony, Apple, and others at a premium price, these are a good option. I also like that the app will tell you when the headphones have exceeded 85 decibels, which is the OSHA-recommended standard for eight hours of exposure (read: you won't get tinnitus). Great Value Sony may rule the “premium wireless noise-cancelers” roost, but that doesn’t mean it’s ignored the less well-off among us.
The WH-CH720 are sensational value for the money: properly built and finished, with accomplished active noise-canceling skills and big, burly sound quality. Yes, it would be nice if they folded up and/or came with a protective case, but you can’t expect everything when you’re paying such a competitive price. If you want more than a taste of the high end of the market without actually having to pay for it, you really can’t go wrong here.
— Simon Lucas.
