I tested the latest noise cancelling wireless earbuds – these are the best you can buy

True wireless earbuds have come a long way since the original AirPods popularised the technology in 2016. Almost a decade on, those long-stemmed buds now look a little archaic, with poor fit and no active noise cancellation (ANC), the sound blocking technology that aims to cocoon you in quietness so you can enjoy your audio.

Whether you’re trying to silence office colleagues, sirens, plane engines or anything else, having earbuds to hand that can deal with the din is a real boon. I test many new earbuds with ANC every year in my job as a technology reviewer, so I have lots of experience picking out the best in noise cancellation.

In 2025 the choice on offer for noise cancelling earbuds can be quite overwhelming.

Choosing wireless earbuds in general can be a bit of a minefield as comfort, fit and sound quality are all quite subjective. What works for my ears and music tastes may not work for yours, and it’s impossible to try before you buy with most tech like this.

I’ve been testing about a dozen pairs of wireless earbuds with ANC for the past few months. If you are thinking about buying noise cancelling wireless earbuds, here are the latest products I think you should consider in five different categories: best overall, best budget, best for Android, best for iPhone, and best for exercise.

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• Price: £299.95
• Battery life with ANC: 6 hours (24 hours with case)
• No. sizes of eartips in box: 3 (and 3x stability bands)

If you want the best noise cancellation on the market, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen have it, but at an eye-watering cost. The pricey £299.95 buds have a chunky design, and hurt my smaller ears after a few hours’ use, so bear that in mind when deciding. Larger ears should be fine.

External sounds are blocked out most effectively compared to other models I tested for this article. In transparency mode, obnoxiously loud sounds such as sirens or even a boiling kettle are quietened down, with volume gently rising so you can still hear what you’re listening to.

The soundstage when listening to music is phenomenal. Instruments are panned well rather than being a flatter sound that you’ll find on cheaper buds. Of all the buds I’ve tested this year, the Bose has the best bass response and doesn’t distort at high volumes.

You also have the option of using Bose’s Immersion mode that turns any audio into spatial audio where the sound is virtually flung 360 degrees around you. It works quite well on rock music and hip hop, but it’s not to be used for all genres, nor on voices or audiobooks. I turned it off. Much better is the support for the aptX Adaptive hi-res lossless playback, which works with compatible Android phones and streaming services such as Tidal and Qobuz.

And it’s worth mentioning these buds have what Bose calls an “embedded wax guard” to stop ear wax build up. It works really well. This slightly gross issue plagues most other earbuds with regular ear tip designs. These buds also have three sizes of ‘stability bands’ that are designed to wedge into your ear to secure them in place.

If you prefer a subtler looking bud that’s just as good at noise cancelling, the £219 Sony WF-1000XM5 are excellent, but I could not get them to stay in my ears for love nor money, so I find it hard to recommend them wholeheartedly. My colleague Dave Snelling thinks they’re great.

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• Price: £49
• Battery life with ANC: 7.5 hours (33 hours with case)
• No. sizes of eartips in box: 3 (and 3x stability bands)
• Wireless charging: No

If you want to get the most quality features possible for the least amount of money, the CMF Buds 2 Plus fit the bill. At £49 they won’t break the bank but have full active noise cancellation with an optional adaptive mode based on your surroundings. It’s not as effective as on more expensive buds, but the whole package is far better than the price suggests. The transparency mode is acceptable enough to hear your surroundings and talk to people.

You even get touch controls that work well and support for hi-res wireless audio using the LDAC codec, something you don’t usually get at this price, though you need a compatible phone and streaming service (or digital audio files).

The best praise I can give the Buds 2 Plus is that when I tested them alongside buds that cost several times more, I didn’t think they felt cheap or lacklustre. In fact, my ears find them much more comfortable than the Bose, and the fit was more secure for me than the AirPods Pro 3. They even have in-ear detection, so pause automatically when you take one bud out of your ear, something often skipped at this price.

Sound is not as good as more expensive buds, as you might expect. Everything is flatter and some instruments get lost in the reproduction. But for the price, these are more than acceptable and punch well above their station. Using the Nothing X app for iPhone or Android lets you boost bass and change EQ with granularity. It means these are a great pick no matter what phone you have, which I can’t say for buds made by Apple, Google or Samsung, which restrict features to their own phones.

Pound for pound, these are the best value noise cancelling wireless earbuds you can currently buy in the UK that I have tested.

An honourable mention goes to the Soundcore P40i, which at the time of writing cost £59.99. They are very comfortable stem buds with touch controls that lack in-ear detection but have wireless charging in the case. Audio is very good for the price, as is the ANC. The CMF beat them marginally on value and hi-res support.

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• Price: £129
• Battery life with ANC: 7 hours (20 hours with case)
• No. sizes of eartips in box: 4
• Wireless charging: No

Saying a pair of wireless earbuds is ‘the best’ could mean crowning the most feature-rich and best-sounding set as the ones to go for. But that would likely also mean recommending some of the most expensive.

That’s why I recommend the Google Pixel Buds 2a as the best wireless earbuds for Android. Their combination of sound quality, fit, battery life and noise cancellation at a reasonable price point (less than half that of the Bose pair) makes them a great pick for most people.

The £129 Buds 2 are modelled on Google’s £219 Pixel Buds Pro 2. The Pros have more features, but I don’t think most people need them. These include conversation detection, head tracking, hearing wellness and a low latency gaming mode.

The Buds 2a fit much more comfortably than the Pros in my relatively small ears. There are four ear tip sixes in the box, and the wing tip keeps them lodged in place after a gentle twist.

Noise cancellation is solid, though not the best on the market. But I liked the simplicity of having either noise cancellation or transparency mode on, the latter to hear your surroundings despite having the buds in (you can also turn both modes off).

Having tested scores of buds, the simplicity of the Buds 2a was refreshing, alongside their balanced sound for most genres of music and great battery life of up to seven hours with noise cancellation on. They are also very unobtrusive, among the smallest buds I tested, and one of the few without the AirPods-like stem design. Call quality is OK, though it’s not great on most wireless buds.

You can talk to Google Gemini when connected to an Android phone, and the case is pebble-like and pocketable. Tapping or tapping to hold either bud gives controls, but you have to change volume using your phone.

You don’t get wireless charging in the case or the aforementioned smarts, but I did not miss them overall. If you use Android, the Pixel Buds 2a are a slick, comfortable, good sounding option.

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• Price: £219
• Battery life with ANC: 8 hours (24 hours with case)
• No. sizes of eartips in box: 5
• Wireless charging: Yes

Apple’s latest AirPods Pro 3 are very good, but be warned they are best used with an iPhone. For Android owners, you lose too many smart features to make them worth the spend.

The design has been updated over previous models with new foam-infused tips. I found fit a little hard to settle on but there are five tip sizes in the box. Noise cancellation is excellent, though a shade below the quality of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen but a tad better than that on the older AirPods Pro 2. As with those older buds, the Pro 3’s transparency mode is the best in the business, with hardly any static that you find on rival sets.

The Pro 3 adds heart rate sensors to each bud that collects heart rate data when on a workout (just like on the Powerbeats Pro 2). This means you can log a workout using the Activity app on an iPhone and track your run route and collect HR data without an Apple Watch or other wearable. But you can’t get heart rate readings all the time, only when using the workout function.

The Pro 3s sound very good indeed, nearly on par with the Bose. They are very balanced and a great pick if you listen to a lot of different music genres but aren’t obsessed with big bass response. Calls are also clear, and the smart features such as conversation awareness, hearing aid and hearing test, live language translation and personalised spatial audio are well implemented.

But you can get all those listed features on the AirPods Pro 2, which I find more comfortable in their shape and ear tip material. If you don’t care about heart rate data from your buds, you could save money and get the Pro 2 on sale.

Another option if you want to spend less is the AirPods 4 with ANC. Those buds do not have ear tips and instead are fixed plastic buds that sit in your outer ear. The noise cancellation therefore is not as effective in loud environments, but you can wear them all day with no discomfort and they are a good option for running if you want to hear your surroundings. They lack heart rate and some other software features and cost £169.

I personally opt to wear wireless earbuds or headsets without ANC when I am exercising, as I mostly run outdoors and so want to be aware of my surroundings. I also find having silicone tips in my ears while pounding the pavements bounces noisy thumps into my ears that detract from the tunes.

I might opt to wear some of the aforementioned earbuds in this list with their transparency modes on, though. I am also at the mercy of the earbuds companies are willing to send me, so I have not tested that many buds with ANC designed specifically for exercise. Here is my opinion on the two latest candidates from Beats, which I have tested.

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• Price: £249.99
• Battery life with ANC: 10 hours (45 hours with case)
• No. sizes of eartips in box: 5
• Wireless charging: Yes

The other route to go down for Apple-made buds is with Beats. If you find buds tend to come out of your ears easily, the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 could be for you with hooks that go over each ear to keep them in place.

This means the charging case is much larger, but that in turn provides up to 45 hours of battery life (10 hours on one charge). Stick these large but comfortable buds on and you could run a marathon and then some without having to worry about them falling out or the battery running out. ANC is good, but not as good as the cheaper AirPods Pro 3. Ditto to the transparency mode.

Sound quality is good, but again, compared to the AirPods Pro 3 (and older Pro 2), the Beats lose out. There can be a little distortion and noise in the high end, and the signature Beats bass is matched or surpassed by the AirPods too. As an overall package they impress, it’s just a shame they’re so expensive.

If you want most of these features in a smaller form, the Beats Powerbeats Fit could be a better choice. They are essentially billed as the Powerbeats with a fixed wingtip instead of an over-ear hook.

The wingtip on each bud should fit most ears, though they did hurt my ears after an hour or so, but less than the previous generation Beats Fit Pro. At £199.95, the case really should have wireless charging, too. Unless you love the Beats brand or must have the wingtip design, the £219 AirPods Pro 3 gives you better audio and noise cancellation for just £20 more.