Best Wireless Earbuds of 2026

Quick picks

This guide ranks only the three wireless earbuds we surveyed: the Apple AirPods Pro 2, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) and the Sony WF-1000XM5. Every award below means best among those three and says nothing about earbuds we did not look at. Each pick names the buyer it suits and the trade-off, and where nothing compares two models directly, the text says the question is unsettled.

• Best for noise cancelling of the 3 we surveyed: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen). RTINGS calls its ANC exceptional 1, and What Hi-Fi? says Bose’s earbuds still have the edge over the Sony’s noise cancelling 2, though TechGearLab’s separate scorecards slightly favor the Sony, 8.6 against 8.4 34. The trade-off is a 6-hour rated battery and a split verdict on comfort 54.
• Best for battery life and LDAC of the 3 we surveyed: Sony WF-1000XM5. Sony rates it at 8 hours with ANC on and lists LDAC 67. The trade-off is mixed verdicts on call quality and fit, and a newer Sony model that has replaced it 38.
• Best for iPhone owners on a budget of the 3 surveyed: Apple AirPods Pro 2. Apple’s $249 list price is the lowest of the three 9. The trade-off is weak Android support, no multipoint, and a successor that RTINGS rates higher 101112.

Two buyer profiles get no award: workouts and calls. The reasoning sits in the section after the three picks.

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen): best for noise cancelling

Why it wins. Noise cancelling is the best-supported strength. RTINGS says the ANC handles everything from airplane rumble to busy traffic and whirring PC fans, and that the earbuds leak little audio 1. SoundGuys measured the ANC cutting the loudness of outside noise by 85%, which it ranks among the best of any wireless earbuds it has tested 13. Digital Trends scored noise cancelling 10 out of 10 14. Tom’s Guide cites better blocking of bus engines, train brakes and mechanical-keyboard clatter 15. TechRadar lists the noise cancellation as still top of the class 16.

Praise on its own does not rank the Bose against the other two, so the comparisons matter. What Hi-Fi?, in its Sony review, says Bose’s earbuds, including both generations of the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, still have the edge, and describes the Sony’s effect as “much more subtle and a little less intrusive” 2. TechGearLab’s Sony review points buyers whose goals are great sound and noise cancellation to the Bose, though its own scorecards in separate reviews give the Sony 8.6 out of 10 for noise cancellation and the Bose 8.4 34. Against the AirPods Pro 2, Tom’s Guide says the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds outperform them for ANC, though that review calls the Bose newly launched and names no generation, so it most likely concerns the first-generation model 17. No source ranks the three together, and none says by how much the Bose leads.

Who it fits. The commute and travel profiles are where this matters most. RTINGS calls the earbuds great for travel, pointing to three sets of tips and stabilizers for long-haul flights and noise attenuation strong enough for a train ride 1. Multipoint pairing, which Bose lists, lets the earbuds stay connected to two source devices at once 18. The consensus score on our survey page is 82, built from What Hi-Fi?’s 5 out of 5 and TechGearLab’s 78 out of 100, with low confidence (two ratings) 194.

The trade-off. Battery life is the most repeated complaint. Bose rates the earbuds at 6 hours with Immersive Audio off and 4 hours with it on 5. TechRadar and Tom’s Guide matched the 6 hours 1615, while SoundGuys measured 5 hours 34 minutes and TechGearLab 5.8 hours 134. RTINGS notes the battery will not last a transcontinental flight, though the case adds three charges 1. Comfort splits reviewers: Digital Trends and What Hi-Fi? praise it 1419, while TechGearLab scored comfort and fit 6.2 out of 10 and managed only about five hours of wear 4.

Who should look elsewhere. SoundGuys says the nozzle and tip combinations suit larger ears and that small-eared listeners should avoid it 13. TechRadar calls the missing LDAC support a missed opportunity 16. Owners of the first-generation model have little reason to upgrade, according to Tom’s Guide 15. Bose announced a $299 US price in June 2025 18.

Sony WF-1000XM5: best for battery life and LDAC

Why it wins. Sony rates the earbuds at 8 hours with ANC on and 12 hours with it off, and quotes a 24-hour total with the case when ANC is on 6. Set beside Bose’s 6 hours and Apple’s 6 hours, both manufacturer figures, that is a two-hour gap on paper 520. What Hi-Fi? says the Sony’s battery compares favorably with the Bose’s six hours 2, Digital Trends notes the Sony offers roughly two more hours of earbud battery 14, and TechGearLab measured 14.0 hours with ANC off, the longest of the five earbuds in its group, a group that includes the Bose 3. SoundGuys measured 9 hours 32 minutes without stating the ANC setting 21.

LDAC is the second reason. It is a codec difference, not a verdict that the Sony is the best Android choice: Digital Trends calls the Bose an exceptionally strong choice for Android users who put ANC first 14. Sony’s spec page lists SBC, AAC, LDAC and LC3 7, and Digital Trends lists Bluetooth multipoint with LDAC as a pro 22. Tom’s Guide describes the sound over an iPhone’s AAC connection as noticeably less detailed than over LDAC on a compatible Android phone, so the codec matters to this model’s sound 23. The sound itself earns strong praise: What Hi-Fi? cites class-leading detail and clarity, Tom’s Guide calls it outstanding, and Digital Trends calls it top-notch 22322. TechGearLab disagrees, scoring sound 7.4 out of 10 and finding the out-of-the-box tuning a little flat with weak bass on EDM and hip-hop 3.

Who it fits. The travel profile suits the Sony when hours away from the case matter more than the last bit of noise reduction. RTINGS calls the earbuds great for travel, with ANC that blocks bus-engine rumble well and more than eight hours of continuous playback 8. SoundGuys measured more than 30 dB of attenuation below 1 kHz 21. Its consensus score is 78, built from TechGearLab’s 77 out of 100 and The Verge’s 8 out of 10, with low confidence 324. Treat it as a standalone figure, not a head-to-head result against the other two.

The trade-off. Call quality is contested. Digital Trends and The Verge praise it 2224, but TechGearLab ranked it lowest of five earbuds and called its subway-noise test result terrible 3, and RTINGS rates the microphone as poor 8. Fit is the other soft spot. Tom’s Guide had to size up to the largest tip for a seal 23, RTINGS warns the foam tips may be uncomfortable for some 8, and TechRadar logged Bluetooth drop-outs that did not occur with its Bose and Technics control sets 25.

Who should look elsewhere. Anyone who puts noise cancelling first should read the Bose section, since What Hi-Fi? gives Bose the edge there 2. Buyers should also know the model is aging: RTINGS says the WF-1000XM6 has replaced it 8. The launch price was $299.99 in July 2023 6, and What Hi-Fi? reports UK sale prices as low as £149, which is a different currency and market 2.

Apple AirPods Pro 2: best for iPhone owners on a budget

Why it wins. Apple priced the AirPods Pro 2 at $249 in September 2022 and kept that price for the USB-C-case version in 2023 926. Bose’s launch price was $299 and Sony’s $299.99, so on list prices from three different launch dates the Apple model is the cheapest of the three 186. TechRadar reported in January 2024 that sales commonly brought it to around $189 27. We have no current street price for any of the three, so budget here means lowest list price, not cheap.

The value case holds up because the praise is broad. RTINGS calls the ANC stellar 12, TechRadar scored noise cancelling 5 out of 5 27, and What Hi-Fi? calls it excellent while scoring sound, features and comfort 5, 4 and 5 out of 5 28. Engadget calls the transparency mode the best on the market 29, and The Verge places the Sony’s transparency a notch behind the Apple model 24. Comfort is a strength as well: TechGearLab calls the earbuds among the most comfortable it has tested 30, and Tom’s Guide’s reviewer needed a larger tip on the Sony than on the AirPods Pro 2 23.

Who it fits. Digital Trends puts the case for Apple loyalists bluntly: “There’s simply no better option for anyone with Apple devices.” 11 Automatic switching between Apple devices signed into one iCloud account works almost as well as multipoint, according to the same review 11. Apple rates the battery at 6 hours with ANC on and 30 hours in total with the case, the highest rated total of the three with ANC on, though Sony quotes up to 36 hours with ANC off 206. Measured results differ: SoundGuys got 5 hours 43 minutes, and Tom’s Guide came in closer to 5 hours 1017. Its consensus score is 82, but it rests on a single rated review, What Hi-Fi?’s 5 out of 5, so confidence is low 28.

The trade-off. Android support is the clearest limit. SoundGuys recommends the earbuds only for iPhone owners 10, TechRadar lists poor Android suitability as a con 27, and Digital Trends adds the lack of multipoint and EQ adjustments 11. The codec list is SBC and AAC only 10. Noise cancelling is strong, but SoundGuys says the Sony reduces noise better 21, and Tom’s Guide says the Bose and Sony both outperform the AirPods Pro 2 for ANC, in a review whose Bose is most likely the first-generation model 17.

Who should look elsewhere. The model has been superseded. RTINGS says the AirPods Pro 3 is better overall 12, and TechGearLab would pick it over the AirPods Pro 2 unless the older model is on sale 30. That is the reason for the budget framing: buy the AirPods Pro 2 for the price, not as the newest Apple option.

Why is there no pick for workouts or calls?

Workouts first. RTINGS rates the Sony and the Bose as great for sports and fitness and the AirPods Pro 2 as very good, but those are three separate verdicts from one outlet, and it does not rank them against each other 8112. The rest of the evidence cuts across the picture. Tom’s Guide found the Sony unsuitable for running because footsteps thud through the earbuds, though the fit stayed firm 23. Its AirPods Pro 2 review says it would not wear them for sports 17. TechGearLab says the Sony and the Apple earbuds passed its stability tests, yet found the Bose uncomfortable for long wear 3304. All three carry at least an IPX4 rating, so a splash-proof requirement does not separate them either 6520.

Calls are no clearer. For the Bose, What Hi-Fi? lists excellent voice-call clarity and Digital Trends credits AI noise suppression, but TechGearLab found live calls clear and its prerecorded lab recordings distorted, and RTINGS calls the microphone okay 191441. For the Apple model, Digital Trends and TechGearLab praise the calls, while Tom’s Guide and RTINGS criticize them 11301712. The Sony splits the same way, with Digital Trends and The Verge on one side and TechGearLab and RTINGS on the other 222438. The few comparisons that exist point in opposite directions. TechGearLab’s scorecards give call quality 5.1 out of 10 for the Sony and 8.0 for the Bose 34, while What Hi-Fi?, in its AirPods Pro 2 review, says the Sony is the one to want for the best voice-call quality 28. Because those verdicts conflict and no source covers all three, we leave both profiles open.

How we chose

This guide was compiled on October 4, 2026 from the survey pages for three products: the Apple AirPods Pro 2, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) and the Sony WF-1000XM5. We considered 30 source records in total: 23 independent write-ups and 7 manufacturer pages for specs and prices. We don’t test earbuds ourselves. Everything here comes from those records, and the process is described on the methodology page.

Each pick needed two things: a consensus score from the product record and a buyer profile that the cited evidence supports. Code computes the scores, and no one edits them by hand. We do not treat the three scores as a head-to-head result, since each has its own review count. Confidence is low on all three. The Apple model’s score rests on one rated review, What Hi-Fi?’s 5 out of 5, and the Sony’s rests on two, TechGearLab’s 77 out of 100 and The Verge’s 8 out of 10 28324.

A typical write-up covers a single product. We therefore compared two models on a point only when a write-up did so itself, such as What Hi-Fi?’s statement that Bose still leads the Sony on noise cancelling 2, or when two manufacturer figures sit side by side, as with rated battery hours. Where verdicts concerned different products, we reported each separately and said the question is unsettled. With only three products in scope, every model received a pick, but a pick means best fit for that profile among these three, not a verdict on the market.

Also considered

All three surveyed products received a pick, so none sits out. The one-line reasons to look elsewhere are: the Bose for small ears or long wear 134, the Sony for buyers who rely on calls 3, and the AirPods Pro 2 for Android owners 10.

Models we did not survey also come up. RTINGS and TechGearLab both point to the AirPods Pro 3 as the better Apple option 1230, and RTINGS and TechGearLab both say the Sony WF-1000XM6 has succeeded the XM5 83. Digital Trends suggests the Technics EAH-AZ100 as an alternative to the Bose at the same price 14, and TechGearLab names the Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro for Android users who want similar sound and ANC for less money 4. We did not survey these, so this guide neither ranks them nor makes a claim about them beyond what the cited pages say.