Best Noise-Cancelling Earbuds 2025: Top picks to block out noise tested

Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds II were replaced by the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, which offered features in Immersive Audio tech and aptX Lossless support.

We regarded the QC Earbuds II as the best in the business for noise-cancellation, and the QC Ultra Earbuds take on that crown as the current ANC champions.

They’re still the best in a range of situations, doing an excellent job of quelling sounds, reducing ambient noise and blocking out people’s voices. However, there is from time to time, wind noise in blustery conditions.

The Aware mode is just as good as the ANC in letting the surrounding noises with clarity. Bose’s ActiveSense technology works like the AirPods Pro 2 in automatically reducing background noises when in transparency mode. It also works well at suppressing sudden spikes in sounds around you.

The sound quality remains the same with the top end of the frequency range brighter and bass is bigger and punchier than older QuietComfort earphones. Vocals carry more weight too, and there’s a better sense of depth and width than there is on the original.

It’s not as balanced as the WF-1000XM5, but if you enjoy plenty of bass wallop to your trucks, the Bose is better than the Sony.

Features-wise, the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds have been upgraded to aptX Lossless/Snapdragon Sound to transmit higher quality audio over Bluetooth. The wireless performance is excellent, consistently reliable with no dropouts.

After several years of trying, the Technics EAH-AZ100 are the best earbuds the Japanese audio brand has created. In our view, they’re currently the best wireless earbuds overall.

They are stronger than the Sony WF-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds when it comes to call quality.

The microphones in the AZ100 latches onto your voice clearly and blocks out most of the sounds around you. We haven’t yet tested call quality that’s better than the Technics.

The noise-cancellation is top tier, stripping away sounds whether we were travelling on a plane, a bus or on the London Underground. However, they could yet be surpassed for ANC once we’ve finished reviewing the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Gen 2.

The transparency mode is strong, though we don’t find it to be as clear as the one on the first gen QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds.

The sound is rich, detailed, more dynamic and musical in its presentation. The soundstage is wide, highs are clear, the midrange detailed and the bass clearer and more detailed than older Technics earbuds.

As far as battery life goes, in their AAC mode they can last for 10 hours+, but in its LDAC mode we got less than six hours from the battery.

The Bluetooth performance is mostly strong, though we found that in busy areas the signal can get choppy.

In our view, the Technics supplant the Sony WF-1000XM5 to be the best ANC true wireless for most people. That could change if the rumoured WF-1000XM6 arrives in 2025.

The Sony WF-1000XM5 replaced the WF-1000XM4 as Sony’s premium wireless earbuds.

The biggest difference is in the sound, the rich midrange performance of before has been switched out for a more balanced performance.

There’s not as much bass and they don’t sound quite as ‘fun’, but there’s more clarity throughout the frequency range, with finer detail in the midrange and higher levels of clarity and sharpness at the top end that we found to be a worthy trade.

The noise-cancellation is better at suppressing environmental sounds and better at reducing the impact of people’s voices too. The performance of the Ambient mode is similar to the XM4, though we would the older buds sound a touch clearer.

Compared to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, the Sony isn’t as impressive at muting everyday sounds.

Elsewhere battery life is the same as before with eight hours (24 hours in the case) with noise-cancelling on. They are packed with features with many carrying over from the WF-1000XM4 and some new ones added into the mix.

There’s gesture controls with calls, simultaneous use of LDAC and Bluetooth multipoint, and a new ‘Find My Equalizer’ feature that allows the user to shape the sound by picking from a selection of presets.

For fans of Sony headphones, these are without the best Sony ANC earbuds.

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 are an excellent pair of wireless earbuds we found to be a great choice for those who want rich, engaging audio.

The Sennheiser’s ANC performance is very good, not far off the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds when used in environments such as airplanes and public transport. The earbuds slot in the ear easily, the smaller, lighter design makes the very comfortable to wear during use.

The seal they create aids the noise cancelling performance, which is very good at blocking out persistent noises and voices.

With their anti-wind ANC mode, they’re also excellent at taming the wind on blustery days. The Transparency Mode here is fantastic with great clarity and detail.

The aptX Adaptive Bluetooth connection is reliably solid, with no noticeable dropouts or latency when we walked through busy signal areas.

Sennheiser’s Smart Control app comes with a bundle of features such as being able to automatically alter the noise-cancelling performance when you enter certain places (though the magic of geolocation) as well as the ability customise the headphones EQ, touch controls, and more.

If you’re a Sennheiser fan, you’ll enjoy what they’ve done with its flagship noise cancelling earphones, which we think are its best yet.

The Pi8 are Bowers & Wilkins best true wireless yet, delivering high quality sound, a better fit than previous models and a solid range of features.

We wouldn’t describe the noise-cancelling as being on equal footing as the Bose, Sony, Jabra and Sennheiser pair that are on this list, but it is better than previous B&W true wireless in clearing away noise.

We found that it’s more reliant on establishing a good fit to stop sounds, with the default volume level also helping to help keep external noise in the background. We find them a better premium option than the similarly priced Master & Dynamic MW09.

The sound is loud and energetic, warm but detailed, with the Pi8 bring a high level of fidelity to music. Vocals sound natural and true, the soundstage is big and wide, with highs described clearly and the low frequencies reaching down low.

The design offers much more comfort than the Pi7 and Pi7 S2 did, and the wireless performance is excellent with barely any blips in busy areas, while there’s also the retransmission case where you plug the case into an analogue source (a 3.5mm jack) and have the audio wirelessly relayed to the earphones without any latency. It works fantastically.

The one aspect we’re disappointed by is the call quality, which wasn’t the clearest whether indoors or out.

The AirPods Pro 2 are the best noise-cancelling earbuds for Apple users. They keep a rock-solid connection with iPhones and iPads, connect to all your Apple devices instantly and get frequent software updates. They also sound great – better than the first-gen pair – and have some excellent ANC that tones down the outside world.

We found that compared to the Sony WF-1000XM4 the AirPods Pro 2 were able to clear away slightly more noise when used on the Underground. The transparency is improved over the original too, piping through a realistic sense of the outside world.

Disappointingly, Apple hasn’t included any means to manually adjust the noise cancelling or transparency mode, with both features automatically adapting the strength of the noise-cancellation and transparent to what’s around the listener.

Elsewhere battery life is good but not class leading with six hours in each bud and 30 hours with the charging case. MagSafe wireless charging is supported, and the earphones can even be charged by an Apple Watch charger if you can’t find a Lightning cable. The wireless connection is fantastic with not even a hint of a dropout as our reviewer was passing through Waterloo station at rush hour times.

If, however, you don’t like the in-ear fit of the AirPods Pro 2, Apple has released the AirPods 4 with ANC, an open design that surprisingly works well in terms of clearing away some external sound.

The JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds offers very good ANC for its premium price, and out of the earphones that JBL currently sells, it’s right at the top..

The Tour Pro 3 benefits from a better fit, creating a tighter seal and letting less noise leak in.

On transport such as planes, buses, and trains; they’ve been very strong at removing surrounding noise. Using them on a walk through London and it was virtually quiet.

They’re of a similar performance level to the Technics AZ100 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, though we’ll say the ANC performance is slightly less powerful.

In terms of sound quality, they take a balanced approach to describing music. Bass response  is good but not never taking the limelight from elsewhere. They deliver strong, weighty bass that’s fun to listen to.

The midrange is clear midrange and highs have plenty of clarity and detailed, though they could be brighter in tone.

Though these buds are slightly bigger than the Tour Pro 2, we found the shape and size did fit out ears better. The IPX5 rating has been boosted to IP55 to protect against water, sweat and dust.

They’re not quite as fun to listen to as the Technics or Bose earbuds, but the JBL boast a wide range of features, including long battery life. They’re well worth a listen if you’re a JBL headphones fan.

If the premium area of the ANC market is not for you, then at the more affordable end of the market are the EarFun Air Pro 3 for less than £50 / $50.

They offer one of the best noise-cancelling performances we’ve heard for the money. The passive noise-isolating design keeps ambient sounds away, and on top of that the hybrid ANC performance thins out people’s voices, traffic and large crowds. It’s not to the level of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, though it is very effective at dealing with a wide range of sounds and suppressing them.

The transparency mode is fine in terms of creating a greater sense of awareness, but more expensive models can offer more clarity and detail.

It comes with a wealth of features that includes Bluetooth multipoint, aptX Adaptive Bluetooth that maintains a strong connection to an Android mobile device in busy areas, and a claimed seven hours of battery life, though we found in our tests that it was closer to five. There is a simple to use app that offers further customisation of the Air Pro 3’s performance. The EarFun boasts the type of features we’d expect from a more expensive true wireless pair.

The audio quality is warm, with a thick, rich bass profile and a smoothness to its sound across the frequency range. It’s not the sharpest, clearest, or most defined performance; but it does extract enough detail from music to make for an entertaining listen, and its smooth quality does avoid sibilance with vocalists.

We would say for audio quality that the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC provides more clarity and detail, even if its noise-cancelling isn’t quite as strong.