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We’re here to steer you in the right direction. We’ve picked out excellent, truly wireless earbuds that run the gamut from affordable and basic models to hi-fi gear with powerful noise-cancelling. So, if you want quality earbuds, you’ll find them here.
TL;DR – These are the Best Wireless Earbuds:
1. Creative Outlier Air V2
Best Wireless Earbuds
Creative’s Outlier Air were already our top pick for wireless earbuds, blending a great set of features and battery life with an economical price point. Now, they’ve gotten even better with the Creative Outlier Air V2. The new earbuds continue to offer a compelling experience over a Bluetooth 5.0 connection and support for aptX and AAC codecs to let Android and iPhone users all enjoy clear audio that doesn’t suffer from the same level of compression a standard Bluetooth connection can. Creative has also added support for Super X-Fi audio to simulate a multi-speaker surround setup.
The new Outlier Air V2 earbuds step the battery life up from their predecessor, delivering 12 hours of runtime for the earbuds themselves and an additional 22 hours of battery in the charging case, letting you go a total of 34 hours away from a charger. Since the earbuds support TWS and can therefore be used one at a time, you could use them non-stop, letting one charge while you listen with the other, for a considerable length of time. All that for $70 is a great deal.
2. EarFun Air Pro
Best Budget Wireless Earbuds
If you’re trying to save a bit of money on a pair of totally wireless earbuds, the EarFun Air buds were a good option. But the EarFun Air Pro buds just made your value option even better. At $60, you can get a pair of wireless earbuds that actually support active noise cancellation. So, if you find yourself in noisy environments or take a lot of public transit, these could be the right earbuds for you.
Not only can they make your commute quieter, but they can make your whole workday quieter. With a nine-hour battery life in the buds alone, you won’t find yourself running out of charge often. The battery case can refill the buds three times, so you can pretty much go a whole work week without needing to recharge. After work, you can take these to the gym and break a sweat without worrying, since the IPX5 water resistance rating means these can hold up through your workout routine (not swimming though).
3. OnePlus Buds Z
Best Ultra Cheap Earbuds
OnePlus has been a go-to brand for affordable quality, and though its phones have gotten more expensive, it still has affordable accessories. The OnePlus Buds Z are just such an option, delivering true wireless earbuds in a package with an easy to digest price tag.
These $50 earbuds pack in 10mm drivers for punchy sound with Bass Boost. And, though they’re on the cheaper side, you’ll get five hours of runtime out of the buds and an additional 15 hours of power from the charging case. You won’t miss out on other handy features like water resistance or quick charging over USB-C. If you have a OnePlus 7 or newer flagship (sorry, OnePlus Nord owners) from OnePlus, you’ll also get support for Dolby Atmos on these earbuds.
4. Bose QuietComfort Noise Cancelling Earbuds
Best Noise-Cancelling Wireless Earbuds
Few names are as revered in noice cancellation technology as Bose, and the company has made its capable ANC tech available in the truly wireless earbud form factor. The Bose QuietComofrt Noise Cancelling Earbuds offer the refined ANC Bose is known for in a package you can now fit in your pocket to take with you anywhere.
These earbuds will connect to your devices using Bluetooth 5.1 to offer a long-range and stable connection. Bose’s silicone eartips will help keep the earbuds securely in your ears while offering a form-fitting seal to reduce external noise, and that will help the ANC do its job to cut out everything else. The mics on these earbuds can also enable a transparency mode to let you hear ambient sound or focus on your voice when you’re on a call and silence background noise. You’ll get up to six hours of playback time on a charge and another 12 hours from the charging case. If your earbuds are running low, 15 minutes of charging will add another two hours of playback, and when your case is running low, you can recharge it with USB-C or Qi wireless charging.
5. Jaybird Vista
Best Wireless Earbuds for Sports
The Jaybird Vista is the best pair of wireless earbuds for sports thanks to its higher than average IPX7 waterproof rating, which means they’ll survive a dive into three feet of water for an hour. One of the main reasons these wireless earbuds can do this is because they’re almost fully wrapped with a silicon jacket that extends from the ear tip and wings. Aside from being better able to survive the elements, users can pull the casing off and wash it to keep things hygienic.
Although the Jaybird Vista only use a tiny wing that clings onto one of the folds of your ear, it stays well in place during both running and swimming. Even when you have them in, you’ll hardly notice that you’re wearing anything since the Jaybird Vista earbuds are so light.
Sound quality isn’t super noteworthy, but you won’t hear any harsh tones or dulled notes either. Likewise, battery life is a bit average with six hours on each bud and another 10 hours in the case. But on the plus side, popping the earbuds into the case for just five minutes will buy you an hour of playtime and it has one of the most compact cases we’ve seen aside from Airpods.
6. Jabra Elite 75t
Best Pocketable Wireless Earbuds
The Jabra Elite 65t was our favorite pair of wireless earbuds for the longest time and just recently there were replaced by the Jabra Elite 75t. This set of wireless earbuds is a fantastic follow up that increases battery life by 50% to 7.5 hours while dramatically shrinking down its size by 20%. Like seriously these things might even be too small for their own good.
We wouldn’t exactly call the Jabra Elite 75t affordable at $179 but we think it’s worth the premium if you’re looking for something pocketable as a pair of AirPods. This set of wireless earbuds comes with one of the smallest cases around measuring 2.46 x 1.44 x 1.06 inches, but you still get a total of 28 hours of listening time with these small buds.
7. Apple AirPods Pro
Best Wireless Earbuds for iPhones
The AirPods Pro might be best known for the first pair of Apple earbuds that actually go into your ears rather than just dangle off of them, but there’s a lot more to these fancy wireless earbuds. For one thing, these higher-end AirPods have built in active noise cancellation that adapts to any external noise around you while an inward facing microphone helps silence any noise coming from your inner ear.
There plenty of other tech going on with these wireless earbuds including an Adaptive Equalizer that automatically tunes your music, an H1 chip designed to control listening levels and Siri. Plus there’s a force sensor on the sides of the Airpods Pro that you can tap up to three times for three programmable functions. The AirPods also offer good battery life with up to 5 hours on the buds themselves—4.5 hours with ANC on—and another 19.5 hours in the case, which is Qi charging compatible too.
8. Samsung Galaxy Buds+
Best Wireless Earbuds for Android Phones
Samsung’s original Galaxy Buds just got better with the Galaxy Buds+. The new earbuds bare a resemblance to the originals, but they’ve changed a few things. One of the biggest changes is to battery life. The new Galaxy Buds+ can run for 11 hours on a single charge, and the battery case can hold an extra 11 hours of charge. Throwing the earbuds in the case for just three minutes is enough time to add an hour of life to the buds, and you can charge the case with a UBS-C cable or even wirelessly charge it.
Another upgrade to the Galaxy Buds+ is the new 2-way drivers, which feature independent tweeters and woofers. Combined with AKG’s tuning, these buds can deliver solid sound. Samsung has also added a third microphone for better call audio. Beyond that, you’re still getting light water resistance with an IPX2 rating, an ambient sound mode, and some colorful designs.
9. 1More True Wireless ANC
Best Audiophile-Grade Wireless Earbuds
The fact that they’re small doesn’t mean earbuds are doomed to have poor sound quality, and the 1More True Wireless ANC earbuds are a testament to that. These earbuds update an already particularly good pair of earbuds by adding in some active noise-cancelling goodness, so you can really drown out your surrounding and enjoy your audio. If you do need to hear the outside world, though, they also feature a handy audio pass-through mode.
The 1More True Wireless ANC earbuds offer up their solid sound using a combination of 10mm titanium composite drivers and support for higher quality audio codecs. The result is a slightly heavier earbud than much of he combination, but there are always tradeoffs for greatness. The earbuds can run for up to five hours, and the charging case can extend that with an extra 13 hours. And, if you have a wireless charging stand, it’ll be easy to remember to keep the case topped up, as it supports Qi wireless charging.
10. Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2
Like Airpods But Better
Anker already had a solid competitor to the AirPods with the Soundcore Liberty Air, but that package has only gotten better with the Soundcre Liberyy Air 2. These headphones deliver a strong audio experience over Bluetooth 5.0 and using the aptX or AAC codecs on supported devices. Bass lovers will enjoy the punchy lows.
The sound is one thing, but the quality is enough. You’re getting a pair of stylish earbuds in a case that supports wireless charging. Between the seven hours of battery life in the arbuds and the 21 extra hours of charge in the case, these are ready for ample use at work or on the go. And, with all that, they still cost considerably less than Apple’s AirPods.
11. Master & Dynamic MW07 Plus
Best High-End Wireless Earbuds
If you don’t mind a bigger pair of earbuds for the sake of quality, then the Master & Dynamic MW07 Plus are for you. They’ve upgraded the original model with some serious improvements. For one thing, they now offer up a 10-hour battery life for the earbuds, which will get you through a long work day. And, with 30 hours of charge in the case, they’re ready for the whole week. If you need extra time, the case can fully recharge in 40 minutes, and the earbuds can get up to five hours of playtime in just 15 minutes.
Android users will get a little extra out of these earbuds, as they support the aptX codec for higher-quality audio transmission. That’ll help the 10mm Beryllium drivers really sing. For all the features and upgrades, the case for these earbuds actually managed to get a little bit smaller than its predecessor, making them better and more portable at the same time.
12. Apple AirPods
Best Basic Wireless Earbuds for iPhones
Like it or not, Apple’s AirPods are essentially what launched the truly wireless craze and though little has changed about them since they hit the scene in December 2016—aside from a new Siri Chip and the wireless charging case—they’re still on top.
They’re by far the easiest to use wireless earbud solution for iPhone users—they’ll work with Android too. There’s basically no other set that comes in a smaller, pocketable case either. That said, the sound quality you get out of the Airpods is serviceable at best and you get no isolation whatsoever due to their loose fit.
Although Apple’s Airpods hang loose, they manage to say in your ears surprisingly well enough to go running with them. You can get a decent five-hour run without having to redeposit them into the charging case, which holds another 24 hours of juice and it’s one of the few to be compatible with wireless charging pads. If you don’t need such a fancy wireless charging case, you can save yourself $40 and get the regular Airpods too.
What to Look for In Wireless Earbuds
When shopping for a pair of wireless earbuds, there are a few things you should consider.
The first is in regards to Bluetooth. It has improved dramatically with every iteration, however, Bluetooth still can’t carry a strong signal through objects such as walls, people, or your own pants, which in turn leads to interference and the signal being dropped. The Bluetooth signal can also be scrambled by intense areas wireless signals you might encounter in the city. If the music, podcast, or video you’re listening to starts cutting in and out, simply move your source (likely a smartphone or tablet) closer to your earbuds, and that should clear things up in most cases.
The second thing you should look for in wireless earbuds is decent battery life, which in this case means six hours and above. Currently, eight hours or more is the high benchmark for the best battery life on wireless earbuds and 10 hours is the absolute best we’ve seen thus far. It might seem short, but unless you’re flying on a cross-country or international flight, you probably won’t be wearing your wireless earbuds for extremely long stretches.
Working out with your wireless earbuds? Be sure to find something with at least some level of water-resistance. You’ll typically an IP rating attached to the specifications of any wireless earbuds you’re looking at. Breaking down IP ratings, like IPX5 or IP55, is simple. The first number denotes how dust-resistant an object is while the later digit refers to how water-resistant a product is.
Most wireless earbuds aren’t rated for dust-resistance, so they’ll have an IPX rating where you only have to focus on the last number. For exercising, you’ll want to find something with at least an IPX4 that certifies protection from water splashes for at least 5 minutes. IPX6 gives you even better protection from splashing and rain. Once you reach IPX7, it means your wireless earbuds are safe to submerge if you decide to go swimming with them, just know they’ll only survive in up to three feet of water for 30 minutes. Also, if you’re taking them under underwater, be sure that the charging port is fully sealed shut.
Feel like we missed anything? Throw down your own suggestions for the best wireless earbuds in the comments below. We’ll check them out and consider nominating them in our list.
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Kevin Lee is IGN’s Hardware and Roundups Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam
Mark Knapp is a regular contributor to IGN and an irregular Tweeter on Twitter @Techn0Mark
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