We’ve been testing earbuds for almost 20 years and have reviewed hundreds of wired and wireless buds with a variety of designs. Today the category is dominated by true-wireless earbuds, many of which have active noise canceling.

The earbuds on this list offer not only excellent sound quality and a comfortable fit but also strong noise cancellation and voice-calling performance. Those are the key factors we evaluate when determining which products end up with “best” status. Pricing is also a consideration for value picks, as well as design and sound quality, with strong battery life a plus. Here we have recommendations for three of CNET’s top picks.

Best Sony earbuds: Sony WF-1000XM5

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.

Best Apple noise-canceling wireless earbuds: Apple AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C)

Apple not only swapped in USB-C for Lightning connectivity in its new iPhone models, but it made the switch with the AirPods Pro (2nd generation). The new AirPods Pro 2 with MagSafe (USB-C) are nearly identical to their Lightning predecessor, delivering the same excellent sound, noise cancellation 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.

Top value noise-canceling earbuds: Earfun Air Pro 4

Earfun is one of our go-to brands for value earbuds. Its Air Pro 4 buds aren’t a major upgrade over the earlier Air Pro 3s, but they do have a few enhancements that make them slightly better earbuds. Earfun has moved from Qualcomm’s QCC3071 to the newer QCC3091 that supports AptX Lossless Audio for a select few Android devices. The buds also support Sony’s LDAC audio codec, which is available with more Android smartphones, and the AAC and SBC codecs.

Like their predecessor, the Air Pro 4s are lightweight and comfortable to wear — we got a good seal with the largest ear tip size — and they feature slightly improved noise canceling and sound quality along with better battery life (up to 11 hours with noise canceling off and 7.5 hours with it on, according to Earfun).

While the default sound leans slightly warm with a touch of bass push, you can tweak the sound in Earfun’s companion app for iOS and Android, and we did think the sound measures up well against earbuds that cost twice as much. The Air Pro 4 buds are about $95 on Amazon.

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