The best pair of wireless earbuds do more than sound great. They’re supposed to be comfortable, offer intuitive controls that are easy to navigate, sport an efficient mic, and have a battery that lasts sufficiently long. This is just the bare minimum. Features like water and dust resistance, noise cancelation, multi-point connectivity, wireless charging, and mono-listening are also expected on most midrange to high-end buds these days.
Don’t worry if that sounds like a lot to look out for. We’ve compiled a list of the best true wireless earbuds on the market, including something for every user. Whether you’re looking for something for gaming or running, we’ve got you covered.
Best Overall True Wireless Earbuds — Sony WF-1000XM5
Sony may sometimes struggle with giving its products memorable names, but at the same time, calling its new flagship wireless earbuds the WF-1000XM5 is kind of a major flex. They are astoundingly good, and their sound quality and ANC performance are more than enough to sell the earbuds without any clever branding. Don’t let that string of seemingly random letters deter you: the new WF-1000XM5s are absolutely now the best wireless earbuds you can buy.
If you search for lists of the best wireless earbuds from the past two years, most will inevitably include the Sony WF-1000XM4, the predecessor to the new WF-1000XM5. They also raised the bar when it came to the sound quality and ANC performance of wireless earbuds when they debuted back in 2021, but as I and many other reviewers pointed out, they featured a very bulky design that many users found almost impossible to fit in their ears.
I loved everything about the Sony WF-1000XM4s, but could never successfully wear them for longer than 10 minutes before they would fall out of my ears. It’s an issue that Sony was very much aware of, and an issue that, I’m happy to report, the new WF-1000XM5s completely solve.
Best Budget True Wireless Earbuds — Samsung Galaxy Buds FE
These are Samsung’s entry-level $100 buds that I’d recommend for their secure fit, simple controls, powerful ANC, and long battery life. They come docked in a small, inconspicuous 40-gram charging case. With a glossy exterior, the case is thankfully not a magnet for fingerprints.
The Galaxy Buds FE fit pretty snugly. I wore these buds outside for quite a while, and despite all the movement that I put them through while doing my laundry and groceries, they stayed glued to my ears throughout. Closely related to their snug fit, and probably a consequence, is the fact that they feature great passive noise isolation with the tight seal they form with your ears.
I used these buds in the noisiest settings I could think of and was pleasantly surprised. They did a fantastic job of muting the Laundromat’s dryers and washers, and I was able to enjoy my music without having to tolerate a constant, annoying buzz. The buds did a scarily good job canceling the extremely loud traffic when I walked to the Laundromat, too.
Another Great Budget True Wireless Earbuds — OnePlus Buds 3
The OnePlus Buds 3, at $100, check almost all boxes. They’re intuitively designed in terms of controls, offer a battery that lasts longer than a week of typical usage, feature excellent detailed, rich, airy audio, and have the kind of noise cancellation that silences everyone on the Subway.
You also get both multi-point connectivity and mono-listening. OnePlus’ newest buds are also IP55 rated against water and dust. This means they are almost completely dustproof and can be exposed to a light shower of water or rain from any angle.
Don’t expect any bells and whistles in terms of design, though. The case is as modest as possible, featuring a plain (boring) fully matte body. The buds are thankfully slightly flashier with a gleaming metallic exterior and long Airpods-style stems.
Best Midrange True Wireless Earbuds — Beats Studio Buds +
The new Beats Studio Buds + are an answer to the AirPods Pro 2. These $170 buds are a decent mid-range offering that delivers sound and ANC performance on par with Apple’s flagship buds while skipping some of its more premium features to hit a lower price point.
On the Beats Studio Buds +, the shortcut button has been slightly redesigned, so it’s harder to press when handling the buds accidentally. It now sits inside a shallow recess on the end of the bud, so when you’re holding them to stick in your ear, or adjusting the fit while wearing them, you’re not accidentally touching and activating the button.
The Beats Studio Buds + stands out as a better alternative to spending $170 on Apple’s 3rd generation AirPods. They offer a more secure fit, an easier way to access shortcuts through a simple button on the buds, better battery life, and ANC that performs as well as it does on Apple’s $249 wireless earbuds.
Best Premium True Wireless Earbuds — Master & Dynamic MW09
MW09 are Master & Dynamic’s flagship premium buds that cost $349 for the aluminum case and $399 if you opt for the Kevlar fiber case. These buds are so beautiful it hurts. The sapphire glass and aluminum earbud body is well-crafted and robust, offering excellent attention to detail.
Navigating the MW09 is also fairly simple, with a big volume rocker on the left bud and a multi-function button on the right that handles everything from playback to calls. The ANC on these buds works well for my daily Subway commute. The loud sound of the engine and the hum of people chit-chatting were all successfully muted. My colleagues chatting right next to me at my workplace were utterly silenced, too.
M&D considerably bumped up the battery life on these buds. We saw 42 hours on the last two models and an impressive 48 hours on these. These are the kind of buds that you get if you have a long commute, travel a lot, or hate being tethered to a socket. For around three to four hours of usage daily, which is pretty standard for most of us, you can easily charge these once every two weeks. You also get wireless charging (yay), which wasn’t offered in its predecessors.
Best True Wireless Earbuds for Apple Users — AirPods Pro 2
The over-arching theme of Apple’s recent “Far Out” event, where it debuted its second generation AirPods Pro, was “don’t rock the boat.” The company opted to think a little less different this year, with several upgraded Apple Watches and iPhones that were nearly indistinguishable from last year’s offerings. The same can be said for the new AirPods Pro, which don’t seem all that different from the originals until you pop them in your ears. Do you need to run out and upgrade right away? No. Will you be happy if you did? Yes.
The original AirPods Pro had a relatively quiet debut back in 2019, announced through a press release on Apple’s website, rather than a main stage debut at an Apple event. They were Apple’s first wireless earbuds with silicon ear tips and active noise cancellation, and they came in a package not much larger than the standard AirPods.
However, it wasn’t the best implementation of earbuds ANC (active noise cancelling) available at the time, and three years later, the original AirPods Pro now rank quite low in terms of their ability to block noise. The new AirPods Pro 2nd Gen fix that, and unless you’re on a very tight budget, those ANC upgrades now make these the wireless earbuds to beat for anyone with an iPhone.
Best True Wireless Earbuds for Android Users — Google Pixel Buds Pro
Arriving a year after the first Apple AirPods, the original Google Pixel Buds were some of the worst wireless earbuds we’ve ever tested: and they weren’t even truly wireless. Five years later, the new Pixel Buds Pro, which finally introduce active noise cancelling to Google’s wireless headphones, are the completely opposite experience. At $200, they’re Google’s most expensive to date, but sound fantastic, feel incredibly comfortable, and do a great job at tuning out the world around you.
Three years after the first ill-fated Pixel Buds, Google completely redesigned the product and delivered a new set of truly wireless Pixel Buds that were an excellent option in the ever-growing and highly competitive wireless earbuds market—despite a faint hiss that marred our review experience, and a $180 price tag that was hard to swallow without ANC. A year later, the Pixel Buds A-series brought with them a similarly solid experience, with a few small sacrifices to hit a very competitive $99 price point, but again, no ANC.
Our noise cancelling dreams were finally answered when Google announced the Pixel Buds Pro at I/O 2022 a few months ago, and now that we have them in hand, we’ve noticed not much else has changed—but not much needed to.