Best Noise-Canceling Headphones for Music and More in 2025

Over the last several years, Sony has made some of the best noise-canceling headphones on the market, so it's a big deal when the company comes out with a new flagship model, like the WH-1000XM6, which arrives three years after the release of the WH-1000XM5. Though the XM5 was -- and still is -- one of the top over-ear Bluetooth headphones, there's always room for improvement. With the XM6, Sony has fixed the small design flaws of its predecessor while bumping up the overall performance. The result is a headphone that's arguably edged just ahead of the competition and is now at the top of its class. Read our full review of the WH-1000XM5.

While Bose's new flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones may not be a huge upgrade over the company's Noise Cancelling 700 headphones, they feature a more premium design along with Bose's new Immersive Audio feature, which delivers some sound-quality enhancements. Along with excellent sound and great noise canceling, the QC Ultra Headphones are also superb for making calls, with top-notch background noise reduction. All that adds up to the best new noise-canceling headphones of 2024 and a worthy adversary to Sony's highly rated WH-1000XM5 and Apple's AirPods Max.

Several years in development, Sonos' new Ace headphones are finally available. They're mostly very impressive, though they aren't without a few downsides, including a rather high price tag and some potential glitches with a key feature. But overall they're very well designed and also deliver top-notch sound quality, noise canceling and voice-calling performance.

QCY is another Chinese brand like Tribit, Earfun and plenty of others that make budget-priced headphones that sound better than you'd think they would for their relatively low price (the company says the Q stands for quality, C stands for creative and Y stands for youth). Its new-for-2024 H3 Pro headphones are similar to models in this price range from 1More, Tribit and Edifier, but they arguably sound a touch better and I found them relatively comfortable to wear, as they feature a lightweight design and memory foam ear pads.

The sound quality on these budget models tends to vary a bit from track to track. While I encountered some occasional distortion on badly recorded material and the treble just can't produce the clarity and detail that you get with more premium headphones, all in all the sound quality was quite respectable. The noise canceling also is fairly decent -- there are a few different modes to choose from in QCY's companion app for iOS and Android, which has a low-frills-looking interface but is robust enough under the hood -- and callers said the voice-calling performance was also good, especially given the price of these headphones.

You do get multipoint Bluetooth pairing that allows you to connect two devices simultaneously (you have to activate it in the app), but features like wear sensors that pause your music when you take the headphones off are missing. Also, you can set the headphones to automatically turn off after not being in use for a certain amount of time (I set it for 15 minutes), but the headphones turned off in the middle of a long call I was making, not seeming to realize that I was using the headphones. That said, the H3 Pro are all in all a very good value, particularly when their price dips closer to $50.

When you have a product that a lot of people love, change can be risky. Such is the case for Sony's WH-1000XM5, the fifth generation of the 1000X series headphones, which were first released in 2016 as the MDR-1000X Wireless and have become increasingly popular as they've improved with each generation.

Over the years, Sony has made some tweaks to the design, but nothing as dramatic as what it's done with the WH-1000XM5. Other than the higher price tag, most of those changes are good, and Sony's made some dramatic improvements with voice-calling performance, as well as even better noise-canceling and more refined sound.

Apple has updated the AirPods Max with USB-C charging -- instead of Lightning -- and added new color options but didn't upgrade the headphones in any other ways that we're aware of. Note that the Lightning model is being discounted as its phased out of the market, but we should soon see discounts on the USB-C model.

Yes, they're expensive, but the AirPods Max deliver impressive sound quality, excellent noise canceling, as well as premium build quality and Apple's virtual surround spatial audio feature with head tracing. While they're heavy, they manage to be surprisingly comfortable, though I did have to adjust the mesh canopy headband to sit a little more forward on my head to get a comfortable secure fit when I was out walking with them. They should fit most heads well, but there will be exceptions.

JBL's new flagship noise-canceling headphones, the Tour One M3 Smart Tx, are a nice step up from the company's earlier Tour One M3. Not only are the more comfortable (they weigh 278 grams and have an upgraded ear cup design), but they feature better noise-canceling, slightly improved sound quality and good voice-calling performance. The headphones also come with an accessory that isn't included with competing premium noise-canceling models: the JBL Smart Tx audio transmitter, which enables you to wirelessly deliver audio to the Tour One M3 from any USB-C or analog audio source such as an inflight entertainment system, PC, tablet or television. It has a touchscreen LCD that allows you to control the Tour One M3's features, including music playback, call management and EQ Settings JBL says the Smart Tx -- it's rated for up to 18 hours of battery life -- also has the ability to broadcast any audio source to an unlimited amount of Auracast-enabled devices.

JBL's previous two Tour One models fell a little short of Sony's and Bose's premium noise canceling offerings. But its upgraded and more refined third-generation Tour One M3 headphones are more viable alternative to those models, though they would be more enticing if they were priced closer to $300. Equipped with newly designed 40mm Mica Dome drivers, the sound is well-balanced and dynamic, with well-defined bass and some sparkle in the treble. The mids, where vocals live, could sound a tad more natural and clear, you can make some tweaks to those aforementioned EQ settings to dial in a sound profile that's optimized for your hearing and specific musical tastes. In the end, the Tour One M3 are very good noise-canceling headphones, with a robust feature set, including JBL Spatial Sound with head tracking, 8 mics (4 on and in each ear cup) and support for the LDAC audio codec for Android devices. Their only issue is that their sound and noise canceling doesn't rise above the competition in this price range. So, as I said, they probably need to cost a $50-$100 less for someone to choose them over Sony, Apple or Bose.

While the QC Ultra Earbuds aren't a major upgrade over Bose's excellent QC Earbuds 2 that were released in 2022, they're definitely a little better. They should fit most ears very well, and they feature superb noise canceling, arguably the best out there. And a natural-sounding transparency mode with a new ActiveSense feature kicks in some ANC should the sound get too loud around you (it's sort of similar to the AirPods Pro's Adaptive Audio feature). They also sound slightly better overall, with a touch more clarity, and their new Immersive Audio feature opens up the sound a bit.

When Sony's WF-1000XM4 earbuds came out in 2021, we awarded them a CNET Editors' Choice. And while they're excellent, we had some quibbles -- they're on the large side and aren't a good match for certain ears. Clearly, Sony took those gripes to heart when it set out to design its next-generation WF-1000XM5 flagship noise-canceling earbuds. Not only are the XM5s smaller, but they also offer improved performance pretty much across the board, with better noise canceling, sound and voice calling. Are the XM5s perfect? Not quite. And at $300 -- $20 more than their predecessor -- they're costly too. But overall they're really impressive -- easily among the very top earbuds on the market.

Apple not only swapped in USB-C for Lightning connectivity in its iPhone 15 models, but it made the switch with the AirPods Pro (2nd gen). The new AirPods Pro 2 with MagSafe (USB-C) are nearly identical to their Lightning predecessor, delivering the same excellent sound, noise canceling and voice-calling performance. That said, they offer some other small upgrades, including additional dust resistance and a new acoustic architecture that allows for Lossless Audio with the Vision Pro.

Nevertheless, the AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) are easy to recommend to Apple users despite their high price. Pro tip: Don't pay more than $190 for these, which is the online sale price at which they're now frequently available.

Sony's improved entry-level noise canceling headphones, the CH-720Ns, have a bit of a plasticky budget vibe, but they're lightweight and very comfortable. Part of me was expecting them to sound pretty mediocre, but I was pleasantly surprised. No, they don't sound as good as the WH-1000XM5s. But they sound more premium than they look (and feel), and their overall performance is a step up from their predecessor, the CH-710Ns. Are they worth $150? Maybe -- or maybe not. But the good news is that, like the CH-710N and WH-XB910 before them, these should see significant discounts in the not-so-distant future, which is what you may want to wait for.

The W830NB is the successor to Edifier's popular W820NB Plus, one of the better value noise-canceling headphones of the last few years. The W830NB looks slightly more premium than its predecessor, and the like that earlier model, is fairly lightweight (265 grams) and comfortable, with cushy memory-foam ear pads. They also sound very good for their price, offering decent clarity and fairly well-defined bass with an amply wide sound stage (they lack the refinement and depth of higher-end headphones, but you can't expect the world from sub-$80 headphones). You can tweak the sound profile in Edifier's companion app for iOS and Android.

The W830NB do have a few additional improvements over the W820NB Plus. First, you get Bluetooth 5.4 (instead of 5.2). Also, along with the LDAC and SBC audio codecs, the W830NB support the AAC audio codec. The noise canceling is a tad better (it's decent but not up to the level of what you get with Bose and Sony headphones) and battery life is rated for up to an impressive 54 hours with noise canceling on, up from 49 hours. A couple of things are still missing, however. There's no official carrying case or headphone jack, although you can connect them to your computer with a USB-C cable (a USB-C to USB-A cable is included but most computers and smartphones have USB-C now).
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Earfun has made some very solid budget earbuds, and now it's entered the full-size ANC headphone space with its new-for-2024 Wave Pro headphones. They list for $80, but click the $20-off instant coupon on their product page and add the code EWPROCNET at checkout for some sweet discount. While they may not sound as good as premium noise-canceling headphones from Bose or Sony, they're comfortable to wear, feature decent sound with punchy bass (they're a bit lacking in clarity and bass definition compared to more expensive models), and they offer respectable noise canceling (you can toggle between two levels of ANC) and voice-calling performance. I found them to be a step up from the Soundpeats Space headphones, which sometimes cost a little less.

They're rated for up to 80 hours of battery life with noise-canceling off and 55 hours with it on and support multipoint Bluetooth pairing as well as Sony's LDAC audio codec for Android smartphone and other compatible devices. I also like that they come with a hard case and a cable connection for wired listening (though noise-canceling is disabled when you go wired, which is a bit of a bummer).

The well-designed and comfortable JBL Live 770NC offers some modest improvements over its predecessor, including better battery life (up to 65 hours with ANC off and 50 hours with ANC on) and Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio (via a future firmware upgrade). Equipped with 40mm drivers, you get bold, nicely defined sound with powerful bass that's relatively tight. JBL's Ambient Aware and TalkThru features are on board along with multipoint Bluetooth pairing (the one feature that's missing is ear-detection sensors that pause your music when you take the headphones off). I thought the headphones' noise muffling capabilities were good and callers said they could hear me well even in noisier environments except when the wind picked up around me. The headphones fold up and a simple carrying pouch (no hard case) is included along with a cable for wired listening.

Love 'em or hate 'em, Beats Studio headphones are among the most popular headphones of all time, launching as a wired headphone back in 2008. This is the fourth generation of them, and they carry the same list price as their predecessor and look very similar on the outside but have some big changes on the inside that make them significantly better headphones. I'm tempted to describe them as more affordable plastic versions of the AirPods Max. However, that's not quite accurate due to a choice in chipsets and one notable missing feature. But read our full review to find out what makes this a very good headphone with some caveats.

Sennheiser's previous-generation Momentum Wireless headphones have always had a pretty distinct look that was part retro, part modern, and stood out for the exposed metal on their headband. For better or worse, that's all gone now, and the new Momentum 4 Wireless, Sennheiser's flagship noise-canceling headphones, look a bit more subdued and also a bit more like some of their competitors.

The Momentum 4 Wireless offers superior performance over the Momentum 3 Wireless in every regard, though the biggest gains are with noise canceling and voice-calling performance as well as battery life, which is outstanding -- up to 60 hours at moderate volume levels. There's also a transparency mode that allows ambient sound in, and they have the ability to create a custom sound profile in the Smart Control app for iOS and Android using the built-in EQ, sound modes and a new Sound Personalization feature that "assesses the user's listening preferences and adjusts the listening experience according to their taste." 

Equipped with 42mm drivers, Sennheiser says the Momentum 4 Wireless offer "best-in-class" sound, which is debatable. I'd say the Momentum 4's sound quality is right there with other models in this price range -- they sound excellent, with the requisite well-defined, punchy bass, relatively wide soundstage (they sound pretty open) and smooth treble that brings out some of the finer details in well-recorded tracks. They're a pleasure to listen to.

In 2023, Sennheiser released a new midrange noise-canceling headphone called the Accentum that was sort of a slightly stripped-down version of its flagship Momentum Wireless 4 headphones with smaller 37mm drivers (the MW4 has 42mm drivers). The Accentum Plus, new for 2024, adds some extra features for $50 more, or $230. They include touch controls, adaptive noise canceling, support for the AptX Adaptive Audio codec, an analog port for wired listening and a hard carrying case. Even though it costs more, I do recommend this model over the Accentum because of those extras.

When I first tried them, they clamped down on my head a little too snugly. But after I worked them in and stretched out the headband a bit, they fit comfortably. They're an all-around strong performer, with good noise-canceling and voice-calling performance along with excellent sound quality that offers good clarity and well-defined bass (I also appreciated that they have USB-C audio so you can connect them to a computer or USB-C enabled smartphone with a USB-C cable and listen to audio). Like the flagship MW4s, which do offer slightly better sound quality, they're a bit generic looking. Still, they're a very solid midrange headphone that are an even more appealing option when they get discounted to less than $200.

When Bose released its new flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, it also replaced the QuietComfort 45s with a new, slightly updated model simply called the QuietComfort Headphones. Like the QC 45s, this model carries on the very comfortable tried-and-true legacy QuietComfort design that's been around for a few generations that a lot of people continue to love. The QC Ultra Headphones add Bose's new Immersive Audio feature and have a more refined design with some metal parts (they also have Bluetooth 5.3 instead of Bluetooth 5.1). But the QuietComfort Headphones still feature very good sound (the Ultras offer a small step up in sound quality), excellent noise canceling and strong voice-calling performance.

As for differences between these and the QC45s, Bose says it adjusted some of the electronics to improve battery life (now 24 hours vs. 22 hours) and adjusted the logos to make the products "visually distinguishable and more in line with its latest design language." It also added an inline microphone to the auxiliary cable to "help with some users who may prefer a plug-and-play solution rather than Bluetooth pairing." There's also a Wind Block feature and some additional small performance improvements due to software upgrades. Finally, the headphones come in new color options, including green and a light blue version that's only available at bose.com.

While the QuietComfort Headphones carry a $350 list price that's $50 higher than that of the QC 45s, we expect them to be regularly discounted to $250 and possibly less than that in 2024 -- so look to buy them when they're on sale. You can read our review of the QuietComfort 45 to get a good take on the QuietComfort Headphones.

The ULT Wear (WH-ULT900N) is the successor to Sony's popular extra bass model, the WH-XB910N, and features upgraded drivers (better sound) along with improved noise canceling and voice-calling performance. Both Sony's flagship WH-1000XM5 and entry-level CH-720N offer more balanced sound, but the ULT Wear deliver on their promise of delivering dynamic, powerful sound with deep bass. The only downside is that bass can get sometimes get a little too boomy, especially when you engage the bass boost mode with the ULT button.

The JBL Tune 670NC is one of a relatively small number of on-ear headphones to offer active noise canceling. It's something of a value model -- no carrying case is included -- but it does have memory foam ear pads that get you a comfortable fit for an on-ear headphone. Deliver clear sound with punch bass, it has 32mm drivers and improves on its predecessor's battery life, offering up to a whopping 70 hours (or 44 hours with ANC on), and an extra three hours of battery with just five minutes of charge. This model includes the latest Bluetooth 5.3 (with LE Audio) and multipoint Bluetooth pairing. It also has JBL's Ambient Aware (transparency mode) and TalkThru features. It's available in black, white and blue and comes with a cord for wired listening.