Best Wireless Earbuds of 2025

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.