Best Wireless Earbuds of 2025

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Wireless earbuds come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but the category is now dominated by true-wireless earbuds, many of which have active noise canceling — or “noise cancelling” (with a double-L), as Bose and Google like to spell it. The best wireless earbuds offer not only impressive sound quality and a comfortable fit but also strong noise cancellation and voice-calling performance. While several picks carry premium price tags, I’ve also included several value picks that deliver a good bang for your buck. I’ve fully reviewed or done hands-on testing with all the earbuds on this list, which I update regularly as new top wireless earbuds are released.

In this post, we review and compare best wireless earbuds of 2025:

  • Sony WF-1000XM5
  • Skullcandy Method 360 ANC
  • Apple AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C)
  • Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds

Let’s break down what makes each model stand out.

Sony WF-1000XM5

When Sony set out to design its WF-1000XM5 flagship earbuds, it was looking to address some gripes folks had with their predecessor, the WF-1000XM4 earbuds that came out in 2021. Not only are the XM5s smaller, but they also offer improved performance pretty much across the board, with better noise canceling, sound quality and voice calling performance.
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  • Touch controls make for easy use
  • New smaller design with four ear tip sizes included
  • Improved sound, noise canceling and voice calling with upgraded processors and drivers
  • Spatial audio with head-tracking for Android users

I try a lot of new earbuds but I keep coming back the the WF-1000XM5s because they’re just all-around very good earbuds, with strong overall performance and a solid feature set, including LDAC audio codec support for Android users and Sony’s Speak-To-Chat feature that automatically lowers the volume of your music and puts the earbuds into ambient sound mode so you can easily have a conversation without removing your buds. Also, now that the buds have been out for around two years, they’re often on sale and you can also find well-priced refurbished units.

Skullcandy Method 360 ANC

In a surprise move, Skullcandy has joined forces with Bose to create a budget version of Bose’s $299 QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. With “Sound by Bose,” not only do the Method 360 ANC buds sound better than most earbuds in this price class, they also fit comfortably and securely.
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  • Impressive sound with “Sound by Bose” technology that beats out competitors in the price range
  • Comfortable, secure fit with three ear tip and “fit fin” sizes designed to keep buds in your ears
  • Good battery life (40 hours total)
  • Ear-detection sensors and touch controls are well-implemented and customizable app

While they share many traits of Bose’s flagship QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, they’re lighter and lack the more premium finish of those pricey buds. Also, their noise canceling isn’t up to the QC Ultra’s best-in-class ANC standard. But it’s still effective and better than the noise canceling I experienced with previous Skullcandy earbuds I’ve tested. Read the Skullcandy Method 360 ANC review.

While you can find earbuds that sound pretty decent for this price (or a little more), the Method 360 ANC’s sound quality is a notch up from what you typically find at this price. Another selling point is that these buds should fit most ears comfortably and securely, thanks to the Bose-like design.

Apple AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C)

I still find AirPods Pro 2 hard to beat, especially for Apple users who get seamlessly audio switching with all their Apple devices that are on their iCloud account. They’re lightweight and comfortable to wear, have strong performance across the board.
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  • Lightweight design, now with USB-C charging and dust-resistance
  • Excellent sound and noise canceling with improved acoustic architecture
  • Powered by Apple’s H2 chip
  • Strong voice-calling performance

Powered by Apple’s H2 chip, they also have a robust feature set (Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness and Hearing Aid features) and are powered by Apple’s H2 chip. The charging case, equipped with Apple’s U1 chip and a built-in speaker, has the most advanced version of Apple’s FindMy feature with precision finding.

In 2023, Apple made some updates to the the AirPods Pro 2, shifting from Lightning to USB-C charging and offering some other small upgrades, including additional dust resistance and a new acoustic architecture that allows for Lossless Audio with the company’s pricey Vision Pro headset. But the buds are otherwise identical to their Lightning predecessor.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra

They’ve always fit my ears comfortably and securely thanks to their “interlocking fit” system with Fit Kit eartips and stabilizers (the Ultras feature a new notch to keep the stabilizers in place). Not only do the Ultras feature very good sound, but they deliver exceptional noise canceling.
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  • Best-in-class noise canceling and natural-sounding transparency mode
  • Excellent sound with a wide, spacious soundstage
  • Fit Kit ear tips and stabilizer system gets you a secure, comfortable fit
  • Slightly improved voice-calling with dynamic microphone mixing and adaptive filters

I also liked Bose’s new Immersive Audio spatial audio technology with head-tracking, which helps open up the soundstage and improves the sound a bit (it does use extra battery life). These buds also have good voice-calling performance, though it’s not quite as good as what you get with the AirPods Pro 2. Multipoint Bluetooth pairing was added in July 2024.

If you’re looking for earbuds with best-in-class noise canceling and very good sound quality, the QC Ultra Earbuds fit the bill. They should also fit most ears well, and Bose tends to have good customer support should you have any issues. Just look for them at a discount because they’ve been on the market since September 2023.

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