The best wireless earbuds promise comfort, a secure fit, great sound quality and reliable Bluetooth connectivity all packaged in a compact design. Our reviewers have tested hundreds of earbuds – from wired earbuds to the best true wireless earbuds models – so we know exactly what you can get for your money, and which are the best value.
When looking at the best wireless earbuds, we consider audio quality, battery life, comfort, and extra smart features, including active noise cancellation. Every pick in our list below is worth your time – many feature in our ultimate best headphones guide – and we think there's a pair to suit everyone here, no matter whether you're looking for the best earbuds for Android or iPhone.
The most popular style of headphones today by a long way is true wireless earbuds, and our list consists entirely of these products. AirPods are the best-selling model of them, but they're not so great if you don't have an iPhone, so you'll find the best AirPods alternatives based on our testing in this list.
There may be wireless earbuds you have in mind that aren't on this list – it doesn't mean we haven't tested them, or we hate them, it just means we think these are a better way to spend your money.
The quick list
Want to cut to the chase and find out which wireless earbuds are the best? Below, you’ll find a roundup of our choices. You can also jump to a more detailed review of every pick, along with our price comparison tool to help you find the best deals.
The best wireless earbuds overall
There's something incredibly special about the sound that these buds can achieve, and with premium features like triple-point connectivity and next-gen Bluetooth, they're very smart, too.
The best mid-priced wireless earbuds
Nothing delivers fun and expansive audio, high-quality active noise cancellation, good app-based features, and the company's signature cool design, all for a great price.
The best budget wireless earbuds
Among our favorite low-cost earbuds of all time. The audio these Sony buds deliver is punchy, their fit is comfortable and snug, and the price is excellent. There's no noise cancellation, though.
The best wireless earbuds for noise blocking
Arguably, the ANC of the new Bose Ultra buds is better than the noise cancellation here… but nothing else is, and those cost lots more. Great sound, supreme silence and a solid fit.
The best low-price noise cancellation
These modestly priced buds are packed full of features that will surprise you, including solid ANC and next-gen Bluetooth. The Nothing Ear (a) are better, but these are cheaper.
The best wireless earbuds for Apple fans
These work seamlessly with Apple products for auto-switching between devices, using Find My if they're lost, Dolby Atmos spatial audio, and more. The sound and ANC are superb, too.
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The best wireless earbuds for Samsung users
These buds have special sauce with Samsung phones, including very hi-res audio and spatial audio, that makes them a perfect fit, along with great sound and noise cancellation.
The best wireless earbuds for supreme sonic clarity
Absolutely exquisite audio quality that's a clear level above other premium earbuds – but battery life isn't great, they're large, and they lack some smart features.
The best wireless earbuds for battery life
With 10 hours from the buds with ANC on, and 48 hours from the case, these earbuds go on and on and on. The cool screen on the case is a highlight too, as is the sound.
I've reviewed over 150 audio products since becoming a tech journalist, ranging from super-budget earbuds to high-end Hi-Res Audio music players. Before joining TechRadar, I spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing everything the world of audio had to offer; before that, I was a professional dancer. My love of music ties it all together.
Recent updates
November 1, 2024
We rewrote and redesigned this guide with more information about each product, to make it easier to see which buds will be the best fit for you.
The best wireless earbuds of 2024
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The best wireless earbuds overall
1-minute summary: I'll get straight to it: after more than a year of using them, they're still my go-to reference earbuds. Simply put, nothing has beaten them yet. The Technics EAH-AZ80's novel concha design looks a little big, but I promise it isn't – I have smaller ears and let me tell you, they fit like a dream. You also get seven different sizes of silicone tips in the packaging, versus three or four with most flagship earbuds (Sony, I'm looking at you), and there are four mics per earbud, rather than the three you get in most rival options. What good does this do? It means Technics' Just My Voice tech beats Bose's quality during calls, and the noise cancellation is good too. I said at the time that Technics could relax for a while after releasing the EAH-AZ80 and I stand by it – 18 months since their release and still no rival option supports triple-device multipoint connectivity. Bravo, Technics. I'll admit I didn't see it coming at the time (who did?) but life is full of surprises – and the fact that Bowers & Wilkins' Award-winning 2024 set of earbuds look suspiciously like the Technics trailblazer is just one more reason to consider them. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Read our full Technics EAH-AZ80 review
Reasons to buy
✅ You like a neutral, natural sound: These impressively coherent, organized and true-to-life earbuds will really suit those who want to hear extra detail, placement and texture in their tracks.
✅ You want to switch between devices easily: The triple-point connectivity is the first time we've seen it, and makes it seamless to move between phone, tablet and laptop without re-pairing.
✅ You often struggle to get earbuds that fit: Technics calls it 'Concha fit', we call it secure, easy to wear and comfortable even over long listening sessions.
Reasons to avoid
❌ You want a super-long battery life: The longevity here isn't as impressive as some options – it's fine, it's just not above average.
❌ You need the best noise cancellation: Again, they don't do this badly at all, but the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 at #4 on the list can do it just that bit better.
❌ You want the newest buds on the block: A May 2023 release hardly makes them old, but if you're someone who wants the newest earbuds around, these aren't them.
Show full expert analysis ▼
In-depth analysis
Technics has gone to considerable lengths to make it hard to identify gaps in the EAH-AZ80's specification. No head-tracked spatial audio or fit tests are two small areas, but what the Technics do, they do flawlessly. Bluetooth 5.3 plus the higher-resolution LDAC codec compatibility are here and, in what the company says is a world’s first (and I don't deny it), the AZ80 boast triple-point connectivity, which means your earbuds can be simultaneously connected to your laptop, smartphone and tablet. If you've never experienced it, you'll quickly come to love it – and you'll miss it when it's gone. Each bud is fitted with four mics too (yes, four: ‘talk’, ‘voice detection’ ‘feed back’ and ‘feed forward’) and because of this, Technics' ‘Just My Voice’ technology is able to serve up excellent call-quality, even if you're in a particularly noisy or blustery environment. The Technics are compatible with any Qi-certified charging pad for wireless charging, and battery life can be anything from a quite-acceptable seven hours from the buds buds and 25 in the charging case (with ANC switched off) to a rather less impressive four hours (earbuds) and 16 hours (charging case) if you switch the ANC on and stream juice-draining LDAC files. The capacitive touch surface on each earbud is large and responsive, and the fact that the number of taps or presses each on-ear function requires can be user-defined is very welcome. Technics' Audio Connect app is a clean, stable and logical companion, with plenty of functionality and no flashy graphics to upset it – altering the intensity of the ANC, or dialling the amount of ambient noise you hear up or down, are just two of the highlights.
The Technics' frequency range is beautifully balanced and coherent from top to bottom. Midrange is also eloquent and informative, thanks to impressively high detail levels, and the journey into the lower registers is smooth and seamless. The bass features nice straight edges to the attack, which helps the AZ80 remain positive when it comes to rhythmic expression and means that the midrange is never swamped or muddied by overconfident bass. So they’re brimming with detail, you get it. Any 'but's? OK yes, since it's our job to nitpick: they are perhaps not the most exuberant sounding earbuds you've ever heard. For all their precision and insight, the AZ80 fall just a tiny bit short of the sort of energy and zeal that can make heavier tracks exciting.
Technics has managed to create a small and discreet product, but also give it a hint of ‘premium’ while making sure it's both more comfortable and more stable than the norm. The fairly large milled aluminium touch surface on each earbud looks and feels high-end. And the EAH-AZ80 feels like a product that will last for the long haul – I've been using mine for over a year and there are no signs of wear. The company has included a moulded extrusion in the drop-shaped body of each earbud, which it calls ‘concha-fit’, which also distributes the weight of the earbuds as evenly as possible. It's hard to describe how well they fit, without any pressure or feeling like you're twisting them further in during the day. When earbuds fit this well, they are a joy to wear.
The Technics EAH-AZ80 look and feel every bit of their asking price of $299 / £259 / AU$499. Every clever function is implemented flawlessly, and there's a pride of ownership here that so many rival brands strive in vain for. If you value accuracy and neutrality of sound above all else, they also sound great. Telephony is also second-to-none, as is the triple device connectivity – but they are still admittedly a little hot and heavy in a market that now sees sub-$150 earbuds land every day.
Technics EAH-AZ80 test results
| Sound quality (ANC on) | 4.5 / 5 |
| Sound quality (ANC off) | 4.5 / 5 |
| Mic quality | 4 / 5 |
| Battery life (ANC on) | 7 hours |
| Battery life (ANC off) | 10.5 hours |
The best mid-range wireless earbuds
1-minute summary: I cannot believe the price of these earbuds for what you get. Not only do they look the absolute business, they sound it too. Nothing's 2024-issue earbuds are the cheaper siblings to the flagship Nothing Ear (which launched on the self-same day), but unless you want the hearing test and subsequent personalized sound profile reserved for the flagship set, I'd save your money and opt for these. You do get in-ear detection, excellent ANC, a low-lag toggle for gaming, detailed sound quality, issue-free multipoint to two devices, an ear tip fit test plus a Find My Earbuds feature, which issues a rattlesnake-style sound from whichever bud you're trying to locate. They're a joy to listen to, especially given their lowly sub-$100 / £100 asking fee – and let's not forget that those pinch-able stems now offer you a direct line to ChatGPT whenever you need it, as long as you have a Nothing phone with the latest Nothing OS installed. Hardly nothing worth shouting about, I think you'll agree…
Read our full Nothing Ear (a) review
Reasons to buy
✅ You want great ANC for less: These offer the best noise-nixing power we've heard for the price.
✅ You go for serious sound quality: The Ear (a) are a seriously fun and zealous listen, aided by their support for LDAC higher-res wireless tech.
✅ You like your tech bold-looking: I've never had so many people stop me and ask what my earbuds are (I had the yellow set).
Reasons to avoid
❌ You want spatial audio support: The similarly priced Sony WF-C700N offer this from certain services, but you won't find it here.
❌ You need top-tier stamina: 5.5 hours with noise cancellation on is distinctly average – again, the Sony buds mentioned above offer 7.5 hours.
❌ You'd like Nothing's hearing test and personalized sound profile: for that, you'll need to shell out a little more, for the flagship Nothing Ear.
Show full expert analysis ▼
In-depth analysis
If you need buds that do what's casually referred to as 'the basics' today – fuss-free fit, good sound, great ANC, clear calls, bit of EQ adjustment, decent on-ear controls – these are that product. And they do better than the basics too: if you've got a Nothing Phone (2), Phone (1) or Phone (2a), Nothing has integrated both its Nothing earbuds and Nothing OS with ChatGPT, to offer users instant access to the chatbot directly from those pinch stems. However comfortably you sit with AI's introduction, it certainly adds value at the level. Nothing's Clear Voice Technology has been upgraded here, and it makes call-handling a breeze. Also here: Bluetooth 5.3 and LDAC support for higher-res audio, which is a rarely-seen inclusion at this level. There's no onboard spatial audio wizardry, and you don't get the Nothing Ear's curated sound profile tech (which is similar to the Ear (2)'s splendid personalized hearing tests, if you're familiar). However, you do get in-ear detection, a low-lag toggle for gaming, issue-free multi-point pairing to two devices, an ear tip fit test and a Find My Earbuds feature, which issues a rattlesnake-style sound from whichever bud you're trying to locate. You can opt for High, Mid, Low, and Adaptive noise cancellation profiles. High is very good: you can see why it drops the battery life from 9.5 hours without ANC to 5.5 with it…
How good's the sound quality in the Nothing Ear (a)? Stream the intro of The Who's Substitute – ideally on an Android phone with LDAC support. Tell me those guitar strings and shaker aren't every bit as spine-tingling as you could ever hope to get for $99… But you don't need to use hifalutin' codecs to get the goods – even when I stream lossy Spotify tracks (or better Apple Music ones, from my iPhone) the Nothing Ear (a) buds deal with them admirably. For dynamic build and nuance, the Nothing Ear (a) are meaty and arresting, prioritizing fun and energy over that integrated hi-fi listen some might prefer – but for me, I can't pick fault with that; not when there's so much here to celebrate sonically. As long as you don't expect them to be better than something that sells at nearly three times the price (which would hardly be fair), the Nothing Ear (a) will delight you.
Can I just say that I really dig the design here and leave it at that? So many people said they loved the look of them. You've got pictures after all… oh, we need more? OK, well the case is transparent which means you'll know if you've put 'em both back in to charge, but here are plenty of flourishes here which will make you go 'ah, nice'. One is the pinch stems, which work even if you have gloves on (unlike touch capacitive options), another is the right-red, left-white dots also help you match the colors for charging. Also, it is emphatically not a case of 'same buds, different box' from Nothing with this iteration. The drivers are different to all Nothing Ears that have been before them and although they're smaller, they're better – it's all to do with tweaks to the dual-chamber design under the hood, which now includes two extra vents for improved airflow and means Nothing's been able to get 10%-15% flow more from the Ear (a)'s driver. After switching out to the smaller ear tips (you only get three, but it's plenty with this design), I also find the Ear (a) to be a cinch to wear – although if you've particularly small ears you may need to try before you buy, and my guide to the best earbuds for small ears is worth consulting. You don't get wireless charging support at this price, but the IPX2 rating of the case (for mild water resistance) is more than you get with plenty of pricier options, and the earbuds themselves boast an IP55 rating, which means they're dust- and water-resistant.
They're five-star buds for a reason. Despite being as good-looking as any earbuds can be for this money, it's not a case of style over substance; the ANC is excellent for the level and you even get LDAC and ChatGPT support for extra sound-per-pound value. As always, I want to note that if you're prepared to spend $299 / £279 / AU$429 (aka triple the money) there's better noise-cancellation available in the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2, but that's hardly a fair fight. Before testing the Nothing Ear (a), I would've nudged you towards the Sony WF-C700N at this price-point, but in my honest opinion, the Nothing look more stylish and perform easily as well.
Nothing Ear (a) test results
| Sound quality (ANC on) | 4.5 / 5 |
| Sound quality (ANC off) | 4.5 / 5 |
| Mic quality | 3.5 / 5 |
| Battery life (ANC on) | 5.5 hours |
| Battery life (ANC off) | 9.5 hours |
The best wireless earbuds on a budget
1-minute summary: I'm a big fan of Sony's more affordable headphones and earbuds, because even if they end up missing a few features, you always know that the company will offer an excellent balance to the sound, so you'll get the most from your music despite the low price. The Sony WF-C510 continue that tradition, dropping a few mod-cons in exchange for sound that's really engaging and well-defined, and Sony's DSEE upscaling tech really improves tracks from places like Spotify. The very comfortable design is a big win in my book., too. It's a shame not to have active noise cancellation in particular, but if you can live without it, this is basically the best sound quality you'll find for the price.
Read our full Sony WF-C510 review
Reasons to buy
✅ You need cheap buds: They're our budget pick for a reason. If you want affordable buds, this is the best choice around right now balancing price and sound.
✅ You value longevity: It's not the best battery life you'll find. But we measured essentially 11 hours of playback, which is great for the price.
✅ You want sound over features: We love the audio quality for the price, but it's clear Sony has focused on this over offering ANC or wear detection.
Reasons to avoid
❌ You want noise cancellation: There are budget buds with active noise cancellation (see the Earfun in this list), but these miss out.
❌ You want to take them travelling: So the battery in the buds is great, but the case battery? Not so much. If you want to use them without charging for days, look elsewhere.
❌ You want hefty bass: The sound is great, but is lighter on low-end – and custom EQ doesn't make it super-easy to adjust it.
Show full expert analysis ▼
In-depth analysis
These Sony earbuds are lighter on features than some budget buds, and the big missing one is active noise cancellation. It's not here at all, although there is a Sound Control mode that operates like a 'Transparency' mode, adding sounds from the outside world into your music, so you can be more aware of what's around when, say, running near traffic. It works well. However, there is spatial audio support for Sony's own 360 Reality Audio tech, which is used by some music streaming services. There's Spotify Tap support for instantly firing up that service – and Spotify's mediocre sound quality is boosted by Sony's DSEE audio upscaling tech (as is anything else that's lower quality). There's multi-point pairing for switching easily between two devices. There's no wear detection, however, so they won't pause when you take them out. The 11-hour battery life (8 with Sound Control on) is very impressive, but you only get one charge from the case, so the total listening time is 22 hours. Other buds usually give at least one more charge (though don't necessarily last as long in the first place). You can use the Sony app to adjust the EQ settings, though it's not the easiest to use for this (but is great overall).
Sony delivers its usual very fine balance of audio here, ensuring that lows, mids and highs all feel well-represented and with room to impress. We found that its presentation is quite forward, with strongly presented treble – though not overly so. This helps a lot with the likes of vocals, piano and guitars, giving them all a lovely sense of clarity. We should say that bass isn't quite as deep as some people will want, and couple with the prominent treble, it means that the buds may not have quite the bass-leaning profile that some people would prefer. We have no issue with the balance, but it's something to be aware of. We want to highlight Sony's DSEE tech here, which aims to add the lost frequencies of compressed music back into the tracks, and reall