Tested: The Best Noise-Cancelling Wireless Earbuds

Derived from turn-of-the-century telephone receivers, the invention of what we know today as headphones has come an enormous way since the first model was patented in the US in 1910. Since that time, drivers and components have shrunk in size and grown in quality and clarity, and the advent of Bluetooth connectivity has allowed for an increasingly untethered product space. Fast-forward to today, 110 years after the first model was released — which was consequently purchased by the US Navy — and this segment has culminated in the ultra-compact and high-tech, noise-canceling wireless earbuds.

There’s nothing quite like throwing on a pair of headphones, tuning out the world, and enjoying your own personal soundtrack, however, wireless earbuds bestowed with active noise cancelation take this experience to the next level, offering total autonomy and freedom of movement, and affording you an auditory respite, regardless as to what sounds are occurring in the background of wherever you happen to find yourself. And while there’s no shortage of admittedly solid offerings on the market, there are an elite few pairs that rise above the rest, so to help shine a light on these products, we’ve tested out our favorite noise-canceling wireless earbuds and bring you the best around.

How We Tested

While it might look like there isn’t all that much distinguishing the different available models beyond their outward appearance and battery life, we’re here to scratch a bit beneath the surface. To get the job done, we first created a shortlist of earbuds, looking at our favorite brands and aiming to find their best ANC models, looking at battery life, price, aesthetic, design, and audio quality.

After sourcing these units, we then went to the testing phase, seeking to find earbuds that served purposes across an array of price points. For starters, we got hands-on with each and every pair, focusing on how they looked, felt, and sounded, listening to an array of songs across all genres, as well as podcasts. If there was an accompanying app, we looked at how the apps affected the audio quality. Other things we looked at were ANC effectiveness, comfort, loudness, and how versatile the audio was. Our favorites made the cut, with our findings detailed below.

What to Look For

Earphone Type: When we hear “noise-canceling wireless earbuds,” true wireless items are typically what come to mind; however, the reality is there are several styles of Bluetooth-enabled ANC-equipped earbud models. There are short-loop pairs, where wireless earbuds are tethered together, as well as a similar necklace-style of wireless earbuds. These both afford the same freedom of movement as their true wireless counterparts but are often more durable, boast easier-to-use physical control buttons, and are usually slightly less expensive.

Sound Quality: While we tend to focus on the advancements made in bells and whistles like ANC and Bluetooth connectivity, equally tremendous strides have been made in the realm of audio quality. As quite possibly the biggest determining factor in a headphone’s overall quality, you should pay a lot of attention to this area — namely the driver and component types, transmission hardware, frequency range, and decibel output. Going with a brand with a proven history of great-sounding products is also a fairly surefire means of ensuring you wind up with a pair with fantastic sound.

Battery Life: One obvious downside to all wirelessly connected Bluetooth headphones compared to traditional cabled items is that they require a charge to operate. Luckily, advancements in Lithium-ion tech have allowed for increasingly potent power banks that can now provide up to several days of playback time on a single charge. True wireless headphones offer even greater battery endurance, with the ability to draw extra juice from the wireless charging case itself. When investigating a particular model’s battery, it’s also important to note the set of earbud’s music playback time, versus talk time or standby hours.

Durability & Waterproofing: It’s a lot easier to justify dropping a few bills on a high-end set of earbuds if you can be confident that they’ll provide years of use, and one way you can help to ensure this is to opt for a more rugged model. An earbud’s durability typically comes from its construction and materials, though water and sweat-resistance is also a major factor in an earbud’s overall longevity. IP (or “Ingress Protection”) ratings are denoted on the vast majority of earbud models and give a clear understanding of how well a given model stands up to the elements.

Raw Materials & Construction: Gone are the days of plastic’s ubiquitous use in the wireless earbuds sector. Today’s market encompasses a wide range of different materials used in the housings of earbuds, from machined aluminum alloy items to advanced composites to carbon fiber. These type of constructions not only look markedly cooler, but also make for substantially stronger earbuds, and can often afford additional qualities that can benefit an earbud’s acoustics.

Fitment: Most of today’s wireless earbuds are what we’d call “in-ear” headphones, and while these typically offer a fit that’s plenty sufficient for general daily use, it’s not always adequate for standing up to the physical rigors of working out or running. Knowing this, several companies have designed alternatives to the traditional in-ear design that are made specifically for exercise duties with items that hook around the back of the ear or provide additional support via a wing running along the crura of the ear’s antihelix (the top of the inside of the ear). And, because people come in all shapes and sizes, manufacturers almost always sell their earbuds with a variety of different-sized ear-tips and wings, to allow for a more precise fit.

A.N.C. Technology: Unlike passive noise canceling, which uses the earbuds themselves to create a physical barrier to block out sound, active noise cancelation, on the other hand, relies on microphones to constantly scan the environment for low-frequency ambient noise. When detected, the technology emits a sound that’s phase-inverted by 180 degrees (think of it as the “opposite” sound, if you will) that neutralizes and destroys this external noise to the listener. While all ANC tech works in the same basic way, different companies employ their different versions of this cutting-edge feature, all with varying degrees of efficiency. Spec sheets will usually cite to what dB a particular ANC is effective up to.

Additional Features: If you’re the type of person who’s constantly losing your keys, memory cards, jewelry, or other small day-to-day items, investing in a high-end set of small, seemingly easy-to-misplace wireless earbuds may seem like asking for trouble. Fortunately, today’s market includes more than a few models equipped with built-in GPS tracking devices, for easy recovery should you lose an earbud or two. And this is just one of the slew of supplementary amenities that can be found on modern wireless earbuds, other includes AI-driven personally custom-tuned audio, smartphone apps with adjustable equalizers, integrated noise-canceling microphones, and even wireless charging cases that can double as a portable Bluetooth speaker.

Industrial Design: Now that noise-canceling wireless headphones and true wireless headphones have been around for a few years, we’re starting to see more and more novel takes on the outward appearance of the wireless charging cases and the earbuds themselves. So long as it isn’t the primary guiding factor in your purchase, there’s nothing wrong with letting your aesthetic tastes play a role in your ultimate decision.

Soundcore by Anker Sport X20

Best Budget Earbuds: When surveying the budget earbuds sector, you’ll want to proceed with a little more caution. However, Soundcore has proven time and time again why they’re one of the best in the category when it comes to combining premium features and favorable sound quality. The Red Dot Design-winning Sport X20 earbuds are some of the most affordable monitors with noise-canceling tech (and one of the best budget-friendly earbuds altogether), now with larger 11mm drivers and improved waterproofing compared to the previous X10 model. Featuring over-ear hooks that are excellent for working out, the earbuds also boast an IP68 rating for water resistance and has the brand’s proprietary SweatGuard protection against corrosion from sweat buildup over time.

The Sound

Despite loving the volume range of the Sport X20, which really allows you to fine-tune your listening experience, the earbuds expectedly struggle with music quality in terms of balance and consistency, albeit still sound better than most buds at their price point. While they’ve been my go-to for podcasts with lifelike voice quality, the monitors can’t handle the bass levels of music, especially with genres like rap and techno. Meanwhile, the vocals of rock genres get buried a bit.

However, like most earbuds, the sound can be tweaked in the accompanying app, which, in the case of Soundcore, is one of the best around in terms of maximizing your enjoyment and EQing the audio. I’ve been very vocal about my appreciation for Soundcore’s EQ controls, which are still among the most effective I’ve seen, especially when you turn on 3D Surround Sound, which blends the music beautifully. You can also activate noise cancellation from the app, along with adjusting the ANC levels and wind noise reduction. I had a fun time with the HearID Sound feature, which created a personalized audio profile for me, putting me through a fastidious hearing test with a series of sound preferences to figure out how I liked my music EQed. Nevertheless, I still preferred the 3D Surround Sound over these results but was impressed that the option existed to begin with.

The Look and Comfort

Fitting a bit differently when wearing sunglasses, which might be an issue when wearing these outdoors or with reading glasses, the X20s are quite lightweight and flexible on the ear at least. But the standout feature on the earbuds is undoubtedly the ear hooks, which aren’t the only one in the space but do feature an innovative adjustability that I haven’t seen in other earbuds, let alone ones that sound this good. They prevent the buds from moving around when working out or even just moving a lot, say, when cleaning the house. However, the adjustability itself is difficult to do on-ear without accidentally pressing the buttons on the earbuds themselves, which I was able to get used to eventually.

Eschewing the popular touch controls, the X20 does feature button functions, which prevents incidental selection. However, the earbuds can be a bit too clever for their own good, designed to automatically revert to your last saved audio mode when removed from the case. This means that if you’re just using one earbud, the ANC might then turn on automatically when the 2nd one is taken out of the case later on. Also, there’s a bit of confusion between different audio modes, making it challenging to navigate to my preferred setting at times. It’s also important to note that the “L” and “R” indications aren’t easy to see, especially in low light.

The Case

The case for the Sport X20 features a stone-like aesthetic that’s very attractive and features a button for opening it up. The light on this button is a nice visual touch, although superfluous. Instead, I would’ve preferred a charging status light so I knew if the earbuds were plugged in properly or not; it was somewhat frustrating the situate the earbuds in the case for charging. One feature I loved, though, i show you can also open the case without the button, which serves as a failsafe if it ever gets jammed.

Verdict: Don’t let the low price tag fool you, Soundcore knows how to deliver budget-friendly audio tech, challenging the best earbuds on this list with its X20’s intuitive app and one of the best EQ functions we’ve ever seen in any personal audio device. Favorable for calls and podcasts, the earbuds won’t give you the best default audio for music but that can be adjusted. One of the only sub-$100 buds with noise cancellation, the X20 is also a great option for the gym with its nifty adjustable ear hooks.

Nothing Ear

Best Newcomer: Making waves in the tech industry over the past couple of years with its fresh take on classic items, featuring a sleek, design-forward aesthetic, Nothing is one of the most intriguing tech brands around. Featuring cutting-edge tech at an affordable price, the lightweight Nothing Ear are stick earbuds nothing short of impressive, offering hi-res audio with active noise cancellation and a new ceramic diaphragm that increases movement by 110% compared to the outgoing model. It’s also packed with 40.5 hours of total play time (around 8.5 hours of non-ANC without the case) and is IP54-rated for dust and water resistance, making this a deceptively rugged option.

The Sound

In terms of the audio quality, the Nothing Ear matches its price point appropriately. The default sound setting handled rock genres really well, although bass-heavy music were a little too much for the earbuds before going into the app for mixing. Likewise, podcast voices were a little distant-sounding and too bassy without mixing

Heading into the app, the EQ controls are quite intricate and I had a lot of fun playing around with the array of audio profiles. You can opt for either simple or advanced EQ controls. And after going with a more balanced setting, the music coming through the buds was excellent, rivaling even some of the higher-end wireless earbuds –– even with bass-heavy music. There’s a hearing test here as well, but it’s not as accurate as the one on the Soundcore, albeit perhaps more conclusive.

The Look and Comfort

The more I used the Nothing Ear, the more I appreciated how they fit. I was adjusting them quite often initially, realizing that the distant-sounding voices I was hearing was a result of the audio mix rather than the fit. Looks-wise, however, these are stunning out the gate and easily my favorite of the bunch. The visual aesthetic is a big part of the Nothing brand, blending form and function, and that definitely delivers here with the minimalist appearance and transparent shell that got me some compliments throughout my day.

In terms of using the earbuds, I didn’t love the pinch-based touch functions, finding them finicky and not reliable enough to do what I needed them to. The pinching method is designed to prevent you from accidentally performing the wrong function, but that just kept happening anyway. Fortunately, the sensors were at the bases of the earbuds, so I the buds themselves didn’t move a whole lot when I was selecting, but I ended up just taking them out of my ear to operate the pinching, or using the app instead.

The Case

Emblemetic of Nothing’s approach as a brand, the square-shaped flat case for the Nothing Ear eschews the traditional, ostensibly-agreed-upon case shape of other earbuds. However, I absolutely loved the look and feel of it, with a lightweight profile, lack of bulk, and cool transparent lid. There’s also a concave divot in one corner, which was very useful when it came to searching for the case inside my crowded pocket. Admittedly, the case didn’t open super easily but it was great for one-handed opening and removal.

Verdict: Delightfully design-forward compared to its competitors, the Nothing Ear has some unique features that set it apart, such as its in-depth EQ functions and personalized hearing tests. We loved how intuitive the case design was and how well it fit into our pockets. However, the touch-based controls were a bit too finicky to our liking. Nevertheless, when EQed properly, this yielded one of the best-sounding buds of the bunch.

Beats Fit Pro

Best Workout Earbuds: If Beats aren’t the most popular headphones brand of the past decade, they’re arguably the most important. Taking its over-ear monitor tech and putting it into a smaller package, the Dr. Dre-founded company has made a workout-friendly Fit Pro model, equipped with adaptive active noise cancellation, transparency mode, and spatial audio functionality, powered by Apple’s H1 chip. Battery life won’t be the most significant, with only 6 hours of ANC playback (18 hours with the charging case), but the balance of comfort and price make these a real winner, especially for the active individual.

The Sound

Really great no matter what kind of music I was listening to, the Beats Fit Pro had really pleasant bass levels that weren’t too beefy, while the highs and mids blended perfectly together, albeit not quite as bright as they could be. On the other hand, I wasn’t thrilled with how tinny the podcast voices sounded. Curiously, the Beats app doesn’t have any EQ controls, but luckily, the default settings are quite impressive for music.

There’s one feature I found surprisingly useful: the noise cancellation can only be activated if both buds are in your ear. ANC can often feel like too much pressure inside the ear so this feature prevents any imbalance of that pressure. Likewise, the transparency mode was more effective than other options, perhaps because of the directionality of the audio output. The earbuds also pause and play music when one bud is removed, which was useful when I needed to talk to someone in person. This can be activated whether or not you’re just using one or both earbuds and can be turned off entirely via the app.

The Look and Comfort

Unlike most other workout earbuds, the Fit Pro ditches the ear hooks that go around back in favor of a semi-helix hook that fits inside your ear. Once these were settled in, however, they didn’t go anywhere. The hook allows for enough counter-resistance if your ear happens to move, either manually or with glasses –– the latter of which wasn’t a problem at all.

In terms of operating the buds, they each utilize a button on the outside, which can play/pause, skip, and toggle between ANC, normal, and transparency modes. I will say, however, the long-press for ANC/transparency was slightly finicky and didn’t always work the first time. I loved how you could customize the long-press function and even add orremove ANC, normal, and transparency modes altogether. The push-button operation was a big difference-maker, especially when initially adjusting the buds inside my ear –– if these had had a simple touch function, they would have kept getting inadvertently pressed during adjustment. Overall, I loved how customizable these buds can be. You can even set the max volume and choose whether or not ANC is activated with only one bud in place.

The Case

Surprisingly, the charging case for the Beats Fit Pro felt a bit cheap. The plastic was the flimsiest on this list and the lid construction gave it too much room to wiggle around. Also, the way the mouth is designed makes it difficult to open at times, especially one-handed –– which is how I open it most often. Conversely, the case did open by themselves in my pocket a couple of times, which isn’t good. I do wish Beats, for as much as they cost, would level up the case design here. It’s also important to note that the case here has some of the worst charging we’ve seen, with just 18 extra hours of playback.

Verdict: Highly customizable and comfortable inside the ear, the Beats Fit Pro also happen to be one of the best-sounding earbuds we tested, even without EQing –– which isn’t an option anyway. For working out, they stay put surprisingly well and the unique shape allows you to use them with glasses on. We didn’t love how cheap the case felt and how poorly it charged, but that’s just a marginal complaint considering how pleased we were with these.

Apple AirPods Pro

Best Apple Earbuds: The latest iteration of Apple’s true wireless earbud model that’s widely credited for kicking off the now immensely popular segment, the AirPods Pro 2 maintains the Northern California technology powerhouse’s knack for groundbreaking innovation. The second-generation AirPods Pro boasts a total of 30 hours of battery life (~6 without the case), infrared earbud removal detection and automatic playback pausing, IP54 sweat and water-resistance rating, and as always, seamless integration into the rest of Apple’s leading range of products. And, in addition to active noise cancelation, the Airpods Pro’s ANC processor also uses external noise to actively tweak and optimize the earbuds’ EQ. The real star of the show here is Apple’s H2 chip, giving you high-quality sound and some of the best noise cancellation you can get in a pair of earbuds. This nifty chip works with the custom driver to deliver crisp audio and call quality, with Spatial Audio to keep you immersed. To get a custom fit, these buds come with four silicone tips that all create an acoustic seal.

The Sound

There’s a reason why the AirPods Pro 2 are so ubiquitous, besides their ability to integrate into the Apple ecosystem seamlessly: They have simple some of the best, most versatile audio quality when it comes to listening to music. Whether I was listening to highly-produced rap music or raw genres, the audio sounded excellent. Likewise, phone calls were crystal clear and podcast voices were well-balanced. On the other hand, I don’t love how there’s no ability to turn off both ANC and transparency modes (i.e., normal mode) without going into the phone app. I also appreciated the Adaptive Audio feature, although the default audio settings were so good I didn’t feel the need to mess with the audio much.

One of the follies of the AirPods are their proclivity to interference during connection. I certainly experienced that with these. When going on a walk, the signal would cut out from my phone every time I rounded the same corner on my route. On the plus side, there’s a hearing test feature here as well, which you can access from your phone, giving pretty useful readouts, whether you needed them or not.

The Look and Comfort

Most people by now have familiarity with Apple’s AirPods on some level, and the Pro 2 model is more of what you’d expect from the brand. Keeping a low profile, the buds fit easily into your ear and operate via a touch button on the stem for playing/pausing audio and switching between ANC and transparency/hearing aid modes. Unlike other touch functions, these were wisely sequestered to the stems of the buds rather than on the head, preventing inadvertent pressing when adjusting the monitors. As comfortable as the buds were, I did feel like I needed to adjust them too much, even with different-sized tips on the ends.

The Case

One of the best in terms of compactness, the case for the AirPods Pro 2 is flat, round, all-white, and hardly bigger than it needs to be. We loved the button on the back that tells you how much the buds are charged via a color light on the front. And if you want to use these for working out, you’ll love the lanyard attachment option on the side. However, I didn’t love how easily the case opened, which it did a couple of times without me trying.

Verdict: Featuring superb audio quality across all genres, the AirPods Pro 2 are the de facto stemmed wireless earbuds for a reason. They were also a joy to listen to when it came to phone calls and podcasts but gave us some issues with dead spots and being able to toggle the ANC off. However, if you’re looking for seamless connectivity to your Apple device and fantastic music listening, these were very accessible units at a mid-tier price.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds

Best Everyman’s Earbuds: A major name when it came to popularizing noise cancellation a couple of decades ago, Bose deserves to be here more than most. With its QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, the brand shows how versatile it is, bringing its cutting-edge ANC tech to a smaller package that fits comfortably in your ears. Not only do these come with a trio of interchangeable tips but you get stability bands that help make the fit secure and comfortable. You also get dual integrated microphones for making calls, top-tier audio-video synchronization with your smartphone, and some of the best noise cancellation out there. These do a little bit of everything, and do them well.

The Sound

Bose is one of the best when it comes to putting crystalline audio into a compact package. Despite the price tag, you do get some serious quality all around. Perhaps not technically the best audio quality on this list, the QuietComfort Ultras still happened to be one of the most accessible earbuds in terms of their inherent sound signature, and across all genres. If you aren’t happy with the default audio, the Bose app gives you some nice EQ controls, although I didn’t find them necessary and stuck with the default most of the time. I’ve noted before how these earbuds have a similar balance and fullness of wired headphones (albeit not quite at that level; none of these will be).

What makes the Bose buds great everyman earbuds is their user-friendliness. As such, the touch response is really great here, with a long-press to turn on the transparency mode or even turn both ANC and transparency off altogether, which is a rarity. Sometimes I don’t really want ANC when listening to music, nor do I want transparency mode. So, these worked for me.

The Look and Comfort

Not designed to be workout earbuds, the QC Ultra earbuds fit very well. They feel locked into place with the stability bands and don’t require much adjusting, if at all. Likewise, these bands alleviate some pressure from the inside of the ear for more endured comfort for longer wearing.

Admittedly, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the QuietComfort Ultra. In fact, I’m more partial to the non-Ultra model, which is a tier below in terms of price. Nevertheless, visual appeal is only a small part to the overall picture here. It’s just surprising that a brand like Bose couldn’t have made something a bit less utilitarian-looking, especially considering how great the non-Ultra model looks.

The Case

If we’re comparing this QC Ultra here to its non-Ultra counterpart, the case for the Ultra is much less bulky. Thinner, shorter, and fitting in your pocket much easier, the Ultra’s case is also equipped with a unique keyring hole. You can plausibly put these on your backpack or keys without feeling like you’ll lose them, which is nice. However, the battery life on the QuietComfort Ultra isn’t ideal but you can get a solid 24 hours with the charging case (though, you’ll likely have to recharge each night).

Verdict: Not winning any awards for its battery life, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra is notable enough for its audio quality alone. The Bose app gives you extra EQ controls but you honestly won’t really need them. We loved how locked-in these felt inside our ears and how well you can toggle on and off the ANC and transparency modes –– and opt out of both altogether.

Sony WF-1000XM5

Best Earbuds Overall: Sony has been on a roll over the last five years, and it quickly became abundantly clear that the label’s latest earbuds were well worth the wait. When using the wireless charging case, the WF-1000XM5 offers a collective 24 hours of music playback time (~8 without), though a 3-minute charge also yields another hour of battery life. Even better is the gadget’s AI-based noise reduction algorithm and bone conduction sensor, which offers industry-leading noise-canceling performance and audio quality. The outside of the earbuds sport tap-and-swipe controls that include this model’s “Quick Attention Mode,” which deactivates ANC so conversation or other vital sounds can be heard. Built-in microphones also allow for hands-free calling and compatibility with smart assistants — which can also be summoned via the press of an external button.

The Sound

As expected, the Sony WF-1000XM5 were superb out the box, with default settings that sounded full and balanced, even with EQ settings turned off, and no matter which genre you were listening to. These take the versatility of the Apple and Beats above and improve the complexity of the audio, with a sound signature that bends to the source music rather than the other way around. Likewise, podcasts and voice calls were crystal clear with these as well. In the app, the EQ controls are great too, with nearly a dozen presets to choose from, enabling me to opt out of using the custom EQ settings.

Strangely, the “normal” mode downgrades the audio to make it sound more tinny for some reason. On the other hand, the touch functions are some of the most responsive I’ve experienced on a pair of headphones, which made it easy to learn. Like my past experience with Sony buds, the Ambient Sound (i.e., transparency) mode wasn’t really effective here.

The Look and Comfort

Maybe it’s my ear shape but I had a real problem fitting the Sony WF-1000XM5 so they wouldn’t fall out. I tried all four ear tip sizes included with the buds and none of them fit firmly enough that I felt confident enough taking them many places; I even removed them before going to the bathroom because…you know. For testing the audio, I had to press these into my ear to get an accurate reading.

On the other hand, if you do happen to have ears conducive for these earbuds, the ear tips are some of the easiest to replace, with a snap-on function that I wish more earbuds had. I also really loved the look of these monitors, with unique bronze accents around the mics and a cool blend of glossy and matte finishing on the heads. I wish I was able to wear these more.

The Case

The case on these Sony buds are very compact, fitting well into a crowded pocket. Featuring a button on back with a charging status color light in front, the unit was highly attractive with a soft matte finish all around, and I didn’t mind the brief Sony branding atop the lid. While the lid features a very strong magnet that prevents it from opening on its own, I had a hard time opening the lid single-handedly, with the smooth exterior only adding to the slippery nature of the shell.

Verdict: Looking sleek as can be, the Sony WF-1000XM5 has superb audio quality, especially for the price, and very responsive touch controls that don’t frustrate like other earbuds. The array of EQ preset options further your enjoyment during listening but these sound great even without them . While the snap-on ear tips were very handy, the buds themselves were really hard to stay put in the ear openings.

Bowers & Wilkins PI8

Best Earbuds for the Audiophile: Bowers & Wilkins’ latest and most high-end wireless earbud model, the Pi7 S2, is ultimately the result of the British brand setting out to deliver the world-famous and world-class high-fidelity sound afforded by its ultra-premium tower speakers, in a super-compact, highly-mobile package. And considering the physical size limitations, the outfit is working with, we’d say they more than succeeded in their mission, with an aptX codec sending a signal to custom-engineered and highly-developed 9.2mm dual hybrid drivers. The Pi7 S2 offers 16 hours of music playback time, plus for every fifteen minutes these B&W earbuds are plugged in, they gain an additional two hours of battery life. While battery life isn’t quite where its competitors are, the sound quality makes up for it, and audiophiles will appreciate the crisp sound these buds provide.

The Sound

Whether you’re listening to music or podcasts, the audio quality doesn’t get much better than the ones on the Pi8. Balanced, bright, and full no matter what genre you’re listening to, the music definitely benefits from the EQ controls, even though the default settings are still better than most options you’ll ever try. However, I did wish that there were some presets for the EQ settings; all that was available was the five-grid sound board, from Lo to Hi. This was highly responsive but sometimes you just want something quick and easy. There was no way to save your custom EQ settings either, which would’ve been nice. There’s also an option called True Sound, which temporarily resets the grid to a neutral position, which I thought was a strange feature.

I will say that the ANC feature here isn’t the most quieting of outside noise but it was effective enough, and I loved how it didn’t create too much pressure in the ears. Likewise, the transparency mode was one of the most effective here.

The Look and Comfort

In terms of settling these into your ears, the Pi8 were the easiest on this list. Not restricted to a specific angle in order to stay put, the earbuds stayed put after you put them in. However, I found them to be slightly less comfortable than other models, agitating my ears after prolonged use. However, that might just be a personal gripe. On the other hand, I really loved the aesthetic of the earbuds, with Bowers & Wilkins’ signature design aesthetic on full display, with metallic accents and attractive shaping.

The touch controls were reasonably responsive and I didn’t have any issues there. You can also turn off the wear sensor and customize the touch functions of each bud according to usage, either to ANC/Voice Assistant or Volume Control.

The Case

Due to the unique shape of the earbuds, I found them very easy to put back into the case. Oftentimes, earbuds can be frustrating when it comes to placing them back for charging, but that wasn’t ever the case here. The case itself is your standard, pebble-shaped housing with matte finishing and B&W branding on a strip across the front that makes these stand out on, say, a crowded desk. The magnet closure was strong but not so much so that it was difficult to open single-handedly.

It’s also important to note that the case only gives the earbuds an extra 13.5 hours with ANC activated, which is the worst on this guide.

Verdict: Featuring an eclectic audio signature, the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 a superb premium earbud option, and for only around $100 or $150 more than the mid-tier options. We loved the way these easily fit into our ears, although we found that we needed occasional breaks after long-term use. The ANC was effective but not too strong, while the EQ controls enhanced the audio quality even further, although we did note that there should’ve been some sort of way to save our preferred settings.

ANC EArbuds Comparison Chart

Is it worth getting noise-cancelling earbuds?

Much like their over-ear counterparts, noise-cancelling earbuds come at a premium compared to those without the tech. And if you’re not sure if they’re worth buying, you should consider how often (and where) you wear headphones in the first place. For those who work out often (especially outside or in a noisy gym), noise-canceling earbuds are extremely useful (and you won’t be subjected to whatever the gym is playing). Conversely, if you’re not wearing headphones that often to begin with, you may want to consider how the noise-cancellation could help you (running, sleeping, etc.) before pulling the trigger.

Honorable Mentions

Sennheiser has solid audio quality and in-depth EQ controls, however, after getting hands-on with these, we had a difficult time justifying the higher price tag over better-sounding earbuds at lower prices. Although, the thing that sets the Momentum Sport True Wireless apart from the pack is its health-tracking ability, which works well in tandem with third-party app Polar. If you can find a way for these to stay put in your ears and can get the touch controls to work properly, you might actually love these monitors and their sleek profile.

Technics’ Premium Hi-Fi True Wireless Earbuds (EAH-AZ80) are excellent for the price but honestly don’t best any of the similarly-priced models above (Bose and Sony) in terms of audio quality, although they’re pretty comfortable in-ear.

If you’re looking for incredibly cheap earbuds with decent features, check out the EarFun Free S2, with passive noise cancelation. On the other hand, we didn’t love the look of these enough for them to make the cut.

If you’re a Samsung Galaxy user, consider the Buds 3 Pro, which are priced fairly but don’t have a good accompanying app, albeit sound good without EQing.

We’ve heard nothing but good things about the Jabra Elite 8 but we couldn’t justify it over the likes of Beats Fit Pro and Apple AirPods at a similar price point.

Master & Dynamic is a renowned audio brand but the MW08 weren’t as well-received as the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 above, and at a similar price point.

JBL’s Reflect Aero earbuds are another popular choice but we were wary of this model after hearing about its questionable waterproofing and inability to hold a charge after just a short amount of time.

Tested: The Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones

If over-ear monitors are what you’re after, check out the units from our recent guide to the best noise-cancelling headphones on the market.