Best Headphones for Noise Cancellation (2024)

The Sony WH-1000XM5 has moved away from that, taking a step towards a more mature, balanced, and tasteful sound than before.

If you love having tons of bass and want to feel it pumping larger than life, becoming one with the deep bass, then the alt wear is for you.

The alt wear is not for you if you honestly can't tell or don't care about the difference in sound quality between an audio file played through high-quality headphones and a pair of headphones given to you on an airplane.

The ear cups on the Alware are as comfortable as those on the XM5 and have just a touch more depth.

The headphones do not fold, which can be inconvenient for travel.

The Quiet Comfort Ultra feels just a touch tighter compared to the XM5.

Both options also have multi-point connections, allowing you to connect to two devices at the same time.

The XM5 also has high-res audio with LDAC, similar to the Quiet Comfort Ultra. If you have a compatible phone, you can take advantage of that.

The battery life is 30 hours with ANC on and 50 hours with it off.

A 10-minute charge gives you 5 hours of playback, allowing you to quickly get enough power for most flights with a short charge.

Bose finally has a higher bitrate codec in Apex Adaptive. If you have Snapdragon Sound, you're going to enjoy much better fidelity than you did previously.

These are Snapdragon sound certified, which addresses one of my biggest complaints about the previous version: they only had SBC and AAC codecs. This new version now has Qualcomm aptX Adaptive, which means you're getting lower latency.

The sound quality, especially when you have aptX Adaptive on, was actually really nice. I was really impressed by the sound profile of these.

The immersive audio feature sounds good on paper. In reality, I didn't much care for it, and when I tried it out, it sounded a lot like I was listening to my speakers in front of me.

They are easily one of the most comfortable pairs of earbuds I've ever used.

I think it comes down again to the combination of the ear tip and the rubber band.

These are called The Quiet Comfort. We better hope they are comfortable, and let's unpack that a little bit.

They use touch controls, but they didn't annoy me, which is the litmus test for earbuds with touch controls.

Bluetooth 5.3 offers a range of 9 meters and supports multi-point connectivity.

These don't have true multi-point connectivity, meaning you can connect to multiple devices, but not simultaneously.

In the Bose app, you can go to the source and switch between many different devices by toggling them on and off.

A full charge should last you about 6 hours and 11 minutes, as it did in our testing rig.

When it comes to battery life, we get six hours, and the charging case holds an additional three charges.

These can hit that target with up to six hours in the earbuds and 24 hours when you include the case.

They actually have a shorter battery life if you turn on immersion. You get four hours in the earbuds and 16 hours when you include the case.

The Mark IV once again sounds incredible—super clean, bright, and full—with all the same noise cancellation controls available in the Sony app.

The overall quality, though not as crisp as some headphones, is very balanced.

It's not overly impressive, but it's still of high enough quality that you know you can justify the price.

They feel really great on the head, and there are no hot spots where the headphones start to feel uncomfortable.

I found that I can sit and wear them for a long, long time, and these ear cups are incredibly soft.

In terms of clamping force, I would say they're tight, but they're not uncomfortable.

My biggest request was for multiple device support. It took them two years, but they finally did it.

It's just a much better experience than going into Bluetooth settings, unpairing, and then repairing manually every time.

When I first got these headphones, they didn't work very well at all, but they've been receiving software updates.

The battery life is advertised as 30 hours with the noise cancelling on.

With a 10-minute charge, you can get five hours of playback.

If you leave them to sit for a while, I left them to sit for months, and they still had plenty of battery.

The AirPods Max sound really good. They have these big 40-millimeter drivers behind the earcups, and they sound excellent, super clear at all volumes.

The sound quality is fantastic for this.

These don't support lossless, which is a huge shame, even if you buy the $25 cable that is a Lightning to 3.5 mm.

These are probably among the best wireless headphones I've ever used.

These are heavy headphones.

The mesh ear cups with memory foam are nice, soft, and very comfortable.

For me, I can keep these on for about eight hours a day. It's really no problem; they are super comfortable.

The mesh headband is also an innovative feature that I don't think I've seen in any other headphones.

The awesomeness of AirPods pairing instantly with every Apple device you have is still pretty sweet.

If you leave these out for an extended period, such as longer than a day or even a couple of hours, without putting them in the smart case, they will sometimes disconnect from all of your devices.

You can use these with Android just like normal Bluetooth headphones. However, at this point, you're missing out on many of the smart features.

The battery life on these headphones is fine. They do reach the advertised 16 to 20 hours, even with noise cancellation on.

If you leave these out for an extended period of time, such as longer than a day or even a couple of hours, without putting them in the smart case, they will sometimes disconnect from all of your devices.

I wish we had USB-C on the AirPods Max; these still have a Lightning connector.

The ultra seems slightly cleaner-sounding and more revealing, with a deeper but well-defined bass.

Using the immersive audio feature does widen the sound stage a bit, creating the illusion that your audio is more outside your head.

I was slightly disappointed that the headphones don't feature USB-C audio.

The headphones feel durable and are surprisingly lightweight at 254 grams.

Bose representatives told me that the QC Ultras are designed to fit a wider range of head types.

They did clamp slightly more than the Sony's, but I was able to wear them for a couple of hours straight without a problem.

They do, however, have Bluetooth 5.3, which gives them a nice, stable connection at a longer range.

I had better luck with multi-point pairing.

You may have problems actually getting Apex to work with your device.

The headphones are rated for up to 24 hours of battery life at moderate volume levels with noise canceling on.

The number dips to 18 hours when immersive audio is engaged.

If you set your headphones down somewhere and forget to turn them off, they'll go into sleep mode to conserve battery life.

The new buds each weigh a little less than 0.25 ounces or seven grams, according to Bose. They are still not spelled out but are significantly smaller.

Bose has also developed a new custom-tuned sound calibration system to optimize not only noise canceling but also the sound quality for your particular ears.

The sound is noticeably improved, with more nuanced clarity, depth, and better accuracy.

The bass now has a bit more definition and punch, and there is a bit more detail and separation between instruments, allowing you to hear them more distinctly.

They fit my ears really well.

The earbuds are approximately 30% smaller than their predecessors.

Bose has replaced its one-piece tips with a two-piece fit kit system that includes separate ear tips and stability bands, available in three different size options.

I ended up choosing the large tips with the medium stability band, and that really locked the buds in my ears.

As for Bluetooth versions, these are equipped with Bluetooth 5.3, and they use the AAC and SPC audio codecs.

I was particularly disappointed by the lack of multi-point Bluetooth pairing.

The first and most annoying downside I've encountered with these buds is that sometimes they simply refuse to connect to my phone.

Another annoying issue I've run into with these buds is audio cutouts.

It is rated for six hours with noise cancelling on.

You get about three extra charges from the new, slimmed-down charging case.

It features USB-C charging but not wireless charging, which seems a bit unfortunate since most earbuds in this price range, including the AirPods Pro 2, offer wireless charging.

As for the sound quality, it is paired with stellar noise cancellation.

The sound quality of these is pure garbage.

The sound is mediocre at best.

The sound quality is just okay for now.

The ear cups are also very comfortable. They're really cushioned.

The weight of these is 451g, making them extremely heavy.

The ear cups are so big now. I have a big head and big ears, and my ear fits completely inside them.

These are Bluetooth devices with version 5.0.

There's no spatial audio, and there's no multi-point connection.

You have touch and physical controls.

The battery life is 55 hours with active noise cancellation turned on.

A 10-minute charge will give you two and a half hours of playtime.

The sound quality is actually quite good for Bose headphones.

Immersive audio or spatial audio isn't something I recommend for every type of music.

The ultra seems to have a slightly cleaner sound and is more revealing, with deeper but well-defined bass.

These are extremely comfortable headphones.

The Quiet Comfort Ultra feels just a touch tighter compared to the XM5.

They're lightweight and comfortable, and their new design is an upgrade over Bose's Headphone 700.

Both options also have multi-point connections, allowing you to connect to two devices at the same time.

Google Fast Pair is also on board, but you may have problems actually getting Apex to work with your device.

I was able to switch back and forth between the Asus Rogue Phone 6 and the iPhone 14 Pro, and switch the audio easily.

The Quiet Comfort Ultra is rated for 24 hours on a single charge.

Battery life is really decent; in our standardized test, it ran for 27 hours and 37 minutes.

Engaging in immersive audio significantly impacts battery life.

The bass response is very close to neutral.

Clarity, Christmas, and all-around sound quality are present within the XM5.

I feel like the low end could use a boost.

Unlike other earbuds, such as the AirPods Pro, these buds are very light.

The earbud shape is also slimmer compared to the XM4, so they stick out of your ears less.

I'm using AAC, but I assume they also have LDAC.

The controls of these earbuds are what you'd expect.

It did, and that is with 24 hours of battery life, including the charging case.

Another significant downside I haven't mentioned yet about these buds is that you can't replace their battery.

Once you get a nice seal in your ear, they aren't too shrill or tinny.

The noise cancellation feature does a great job of eliminating white noise.

The Pixel Buds app doesn't have an EQ.

These also have a slightly lower overall volume than any other buds I've tested recently.

The Pixel Buds Pro have a new shape.

These no longer have the wing tips.

The pros, on the other hand, are quite bulbous in comparison and rely almost entirely on the ear tip to stay in your ear.

I could feel the pros slowly slipping out, and it became a concern for me that they might just fall out.

There is essentially no perceivable Bluetooth lag when watching videos or gaming.

The range of these buds is very good, as is their connection stability.

Both of them have Android Quick Pair, which is nice to have.

The two earbuds will be slightly out of sync, giving a bit of that coarse effect, as if they're off by milliseconds.

You're going to get seven hours of actual listening time with active noise cancellation on.

11 hours of battery life with ANC off.

The Pixel Buds Pro offer an impressive 11 hours of use on a single charge and a total of 31 hours when recharged with the case.