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Tom's Guide tested dozens of wireless earbuds to find the best ones you can buy right now. In this video, Paul shows off the best wireless earbuds, whether you're looking for the best overall earbuds, the best noise cancelling earbuds, or the best value pair. We've included options from Sony, Apple, Bose, Beats, Sennheiser and more — with picks for every budget.
So, if you're trying to decide which earbuds to buy in 2026, this guide will help you find the right pair for sound quality, ANC, battery life, comfort, and price.
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We've tested the best earbuds to help you find your perfect pair
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So whether you're after the best overall, the best value, or the best for ANC
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this buying guide has a lot of great picks, and you'll find deals for everything that I'm sharing linked down below
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Our best overall pick are the Sony WF-1000XM6. These wireless earbuds deliver the best combination of sound quality
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noise cancellation, and battery life of all the options that we've tested
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Out of the box, these are very comfortable for all-day wear. These use spongy ear tips, which, unlike traditional silicone ones, expand in your ears to provide a better seal and further help filter out those unwanted noises
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You can expect about 12 hours of battery life with ANC off or 8 hours with ANC enabled
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With the case, this extends battery life playback to around 24 hours. And with fast charging, a 5-minute top-off will get you around an hour of listening time
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These support a ton of Kodaks, including SBC, AAC, LDAC, and LC3, along with DSEE Extreme Streaming
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These also offer one of the most customizable listening experiences. There's a full 10-band EQ, 20 levels of noise modes, and you can change what the touch controls do
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The redesigned case is kind of awkward, if I'm being honest, and the call quality isn't the best in its class
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But still, the XM6 offers the sound quality and feature upgrades that a lot of fans of the series have been waiting on
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and it deserves our overall best pick. That said, for Apple users, the AirPods Pro 3 are the best earbuds for iPhone
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They've got a great mix of sound quality, noise cancellation, and several Apple-exclusive features
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Compared to the AirPods Pro 2, which I'm still rocking, the 3 has pretty much improved on everything
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Sound quality gets a big upgrade, especially with its bass performance. ANC is twice as strong, and while still not being as effective as the XM6
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the Pro 3s are better than most other picks at this price point
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Battery life also gets a boost to eight hours up from six, with a total of 24 with the case
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The Pro 3s offer an adaptive EQ to adjust their sound to fit your unique hearing and ear shape
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alongside an automatic loudness setting. But if you really like to dial in your listening experience
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you might be disappointed to learn that there no manual equalizer here Just like the AirPods you can instantly pair these and switch between your other Apple devices on the same iCloud account which includes MacBooks and iPads You can listen to your music
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through your phone, start playing a game on your iPad, and then continue working on your Mac
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and the headphones will automatically switch over between those devices. The Pro 3 has used the
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newer U2 chip in their case to help you find them when lost, which is pretty awesome. Besides media
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though there's also live translation which can be handy when you're traveling. The AirPods Pro 3
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are also the first AirPods to include a dedicated heart rate monitor sensor inside for tracking your
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fitness without needing an Apple Watch. And so for iPhone users the AirPods Pro 3 aren't just
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the best AirPods they're the best all-around wireless earbuds that you can buy today
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Now if I caught your attention with the Sony WF-1000XM6 but you don't want to spend over
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$300 on your next pair. And let me introduce you to the Sony WF-C710N. Horrible name, but these are
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currently Sony's most affordable noise-canceling earbuds. And if you're willing to forego a few of
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the premium features that you find here, these are the best value earbuds that you can buy right now
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Unless you're an audiophile and also need some Kodak support like APTX and LDAC, then for most
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people, the sound quality is going to be very comparable to even the XM6. Even noise cancellation
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performance isn't that far off. Battery life is actually slightly better than the XM6 with eight
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and a half hours of playback with ANC or up to 12 hours with it off and with the case you get about
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30 hours. Sure you won't find any wireless charging here but between its really slick
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transparent crystal clear color that you can get and its much smaller case I personally don't mind
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as much. The C710Ns normally retail for around $120 but I'm frequently finding these go on sale
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for around 80 bucks, which is a really great deal for what you're getting here. You're getting about
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80 to 85% of the XM6 experience, but for almost a third of the price, which makes these a great
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value choice. Now, for the best noise-canceling earbuds, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Gen 2
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still holds the crown. Bose's original QuietComfort Ultra earbuds were already very impressive
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but the Gen 2 brings some big internal upgrades that makes these even better ANC is improved and they also added wireless charging which makes these feel more on par feature with the other best premium earbuds that we have It six hours of battery life and 24 hours with its case puts these a little bit behind our other picks but the real reason that
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you get these is for their ANC performance. Even with the recently released Sony XM6
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our team finds the quiet comfort to better filter out ambient sound like the hum of an AC
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or the rumble of a jet engine more effectively and, more importantly, especially for me
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background conversations. While the design remains largely unchanged from its predecessor, the new fitting wings and redesigned tips makes finding the perfect fit much easier now. Sure
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the bulkier design and the lower battery life had me very interested to see what Bose comes up with
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for a Gen 3 successor, but for right now, when it comes to ASC performance, there's no better pair
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of earbuds to block out noise. Now, for all you audiophiles, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless
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4 are the best sounding earbuds that you can get right now. These might be the oldest model on our
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list, but they're still going strong. Out of the box, the Sound Signature, especially with its mids
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and low frequencies, has excellent detail and bass energy. While plenty of other earbuds have very
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punchy bass, the Momentum still have the edge. Kodak support includes aptX adaptive so you can
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access low latency streaming for videos or high quality connectivity for listening to music. And
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with compatible devices, they can also use AuraCast and LE Audio. With ANC off, the earbuds are rated
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for about seven and a half hours of battery life and up to 30 hours with the charging case
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Their adaptive ANC and passive isolation performs really well, blocking out a lot of the sharp
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trebly sound and mid-range chit-chat. But it's not quite to the level of the Sony XM6 or the Bose
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QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Gen 2. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the chunkier case and the overall
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bulkier design which isn't the best if you have smaller ears but this still has the edge with sound
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signature and its wider audio codec support making these a fantastic pick for diehard music fans
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Those are our main top picks but we've also got a few more other quick options that you definitely
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need to check out. For your runs and your workouts we recommend the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. They're
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incredibly comfortable but they still stay secure Just like the AirPods Pro 3 these also have a heart rate monitor built in for tracking those stats They not going to win on sound or ANC quality but for fitness they hard to beat
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The JLab Mini is just $39 and delivers really strong performance in a super compact
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small ear-friendly design. Yes, they lack ANC, but their passive noise blocking works surprisingly
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well. And if you ask me, these are arguably the cutest little earbuds they can get today
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and they're perfect for looping on a keychain or bag. They also make really great gifts and stocking stuffers that don't suck
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Now, if you don't like the feel of in-ear earbuds or you want to be a little bit more in tune with your surroundings
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you got to check out the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, one of the most comfortable, best sounding and stylish open ear earbuds
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No, these aren't bone conduction, but the open ear design with limited sound leakage and premium spatialized audio features
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might actually make you a believer in this form factor. if you have a samsung galaxy phone the samsung galaxy buds 4 pro are the best earbuds for
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convenience they connect straight out of the box and on your compatible phone you'll find a quick
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panel shortcut for adjustments this year's model uses a bigger woofer and you'll get that deeper
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bass and more crisp treble performance and anc is also greatly improved so if you've got a samsung
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phone you should definitely go on your short list the jlab go pods anc are the best super cheap
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earbuds on the market for only $36 and often found for under $25. Their sound quality, ANC
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and other premium features are very impressive. And I especially like the built-in USB-C cable
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for convenient charging. These actually outperform all other budget earbuds at this price point and
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even give some $99 pairs a run for their money. And because of that, these are a no-brainer if
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you're on a tight budget and want earbuds that actually sound good. So those are the best earbuds
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that you can get today, but I'm curious which pair you're currently rocking or if you're
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planning to upgrade to any of our picks here today. And if there are any other pairs that you want me
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to test for next time, let me know in the comments too. Again, you can find the best deals for
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everything linked down below along with our full reviews. Be sure to stay subscribed for more Tom's
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Guide videos, follow me to see what else I'm reviewing, and until the next one, I'll catch you later
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