Cleer Arc 5: Two-minute review

Almost every one of the best open earbuds I’ve tested, has been designed for sports users. They let you hear your surroundings at the gym, remain aware when running in a busy area, and keep alert when cycling on a road. I don’t think Cleer missed this memo – the brand’s intentionally going for something completely different.

The Cleer Arc 5 are open earbuds designed not for sports, but for the rest of us. I was skeptical when I first saw them, but they’ve surprised me — in both good and bad ways.

The presence of Dolby Atmos and THX Spatial Audio means these are suited for watching a TV show or movie on your commute, and their support for a range of better Bluetooth codecs, including LDAC and aptX Adaptive, shows Cleer is aiming for audiophile-quality earbuds here. Those are some exceptional features for a form factor that naturally competes with loads of extraneous background sounds.

Cleer’s app hides loads of other features too, including a posture test which uses the buds’ positional tools, and the ability to set sedentary reminders if you’re too often stuck in one spot.

The design department makes it clear that these aren’t sports buds. Though surprisingly sturdy during a run, the buds are much bulkier than your average svelte runners’ wear. And the presence of an on-case display, full of controls and settings, clearly signposts this as not for active users. When I go to the gym or for a run, the case is always left at home.

Unfortunately, despite the impressive specs and clear focus on listening quality, the Achilles’ Heel of these earbuds is the sound quality. There’s a real lack of expansie through the soundstage, and both treble and bass feel poorly defined. The open-ear form factor doesn’t help here, especially with a max volume that’s simple not loud enough, but many similar earbuds I’ve tested sound a lot better.

It’s a shame that these don’t sound fantastic, and is surprising too when you see the price tag. For some users, I see the feature set trumping the sound quality. The fantastic battery life, health features and spatial audio might trump below-average sound. But it begs the question who these are designed for, if not audiophiles or fitness fans.

Cleer Arc 5 review: Price and release date

• Released in March 2026
• Made their debut at $219 (about £170 / AU$340)
• Some of the priciest within their category

The Cleer Arc 5 were announced on March 16, 2026, only four months after their predecessors. That was a quick turnaround!

You can buy the Arc 5 for $219.99 (about £170, AU$340 — no word on a release outside the US, as with the Arc 4). So these are some of the most expensive open earbuds out there.

To my mind only the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and Shokz OpenFit Pro cost more, but they’re both explicitly designed for sports, while the Cleer is aimed at an audiophile market.

Cleer Arc 5 review: Specs

Cleer Arc 5 review: Features

• 12-hour battery life, 60 with case
• 8-band EQ, plus presets
• Loads of features including posture test

If there’s an area where the Cleer Arc 5 stand out, it’s in the feature set — it seems that this is what the buds were designed to do.

It starts with the basics: the battery life here is great for open earbuds. You’re getting 12 hours of listening per charge, with 60 hours once you factor in the charging case itself. Beyond a few endurance-focused earbuds, those figures are at the top of their class.

Boot up the Cleer+ app on your phone, and you’re getting a smorgasbord of tools — admittedly in a pretty confusing lay-out. You can use the app to toggle spatial audio, change between EQ modes and create custom ones, change what the touch and gesture controls do, change the case wallpaper, edit what tools are available via the case, and more.

The equalizer is an 8-band one, giving you some control over your sound, though in this day and age I’d say that 10-bands were more common. I preferred using this over the presets, which didn’t have a noticeable impact on a song’s sound.

The “and more” features I alluded to earlier are pretty out-there, hence needing a whole extra paragraph. They’re health ones: you can set up sedentary reminders to get you to move about, add volume limits to protect your hearing, and do a posture test which uses the gesture controls of the buds to evaluate whether you’re sitting straight.

For office workers, this latter is a genuinely useful feature, and I used it to ensure my seat and chair were level when working at my desk. However, for it to work properly, your phone needs to be at eye level too — I messed it up by leaving my mobile o,n my desk, and when I bent over to look at it, the test was ruined.

One feature you’re not getting in the Arc 5 is any kind of noise cancellation. It’s admittedly very rare in the open-ear space, but not unheard of (if you’ll pardon the pun).

• Features score: 4.5/5

Cleer Arc 5 review: Design

• Giant case has a touch screen
• Earbuds are on the large side, but fit solidly
• Only IPX7 protected

Let’s start with the Cleer Arc 5’s big new feature: its charging case. Big literally: it weighs 97g all on its own, and measures 8.3 x 6 x 2cm, making it one of the biggest earbud cases I’ve seen in years.

This size isn’t just to house some pretty big earbuds, but it does that with a few extra twists. It has built-in UV charging for the buds, and a mirror inside the case for some reason. For some reason, the left earbud is housed on the right, and vice versa, which was confusing for a while until I learnt to switch.

But no, the big selling point here is a screen build into the charging case. You can use it to flick between a few menus: battery, music controls, spatial audio settings, general settings, equalizer and remote camera shutter. The interface feels akin to a smartwatches’: very basic.

For changing quick settings like EQ or skipping songs, the case was quite handy: I didn’t need to dig my phone out of my pocket and get distracted by the 120 notifications from that group chat I forgot to mute. But you can’t use the case to change playlists, create an EQ or dig deep into settings, so it won’t replace your phone completely.

The earbuds also have touch controls too, which were quite easy to trigger with a tap anywhere on their body, yet never accidentally picked up an unintentional touch.

I suppose that brings us onto the earbuds. These are pretty huge, and heavy too, weighing roughly 24g each. I haven’t seen an open earbud quite this big, and was expecting them to fit pretty awfully; thankfully, I was totally wrong. I went on many runs with the Arc 5, and not once did they threaten to dislodge, or wobble more than the average open-ear does.

I’d put this down to some smart balancing of the bud and counterweight. They were always comfortable to wear, even if the weight didn’t exactly make them easy to forget.

The Cleer Arc 5 comes in black or white, and I tested the latter. They have an IPX7 rating, which makes them sweatproof but not suited to swimming. I would avoid taking them out in heavier rainfall too, just to be safe.

• Design score: 4/5

Cleer Arc 5 review: Sound quality

• Large 16.2mm driver
• Blunt and indistinct sound
• Max volume is too low for open format

I was expecting the Cleer Arc 5’s sound to be its outstanding feature. Between its 16.2mm drivers, support for LDAC, aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless, and high price, it seems like these could be some of the best open earbuds yet.

I’m quite surprised to report that I was wrong, and I didn’t really love listening to tunes on the Arc. The quality isn't terrible, but it's not on par with the expectations you'd have from those aforementioned specs.

Music sounds compressed, with neither the high-end nor low-end differentiated in a way that gives any sense of sound stage or distinction. Snare drums lack bite, distorted-guitar walls turn into crunchy puddles, bass wobbles over plenty of other low- or mid- instruments. The buds would perhaps sound better if they were in-ears, but hovering a few mm over your ears, it doesn't fly.

Low-end is poorly defined yet too prominent in the mix: The Human Race by BYRNE starts with a harmony that sounded more like a glitching speaker than a bass singer. This line’s meant to repeat in the chorus with a bass guitar, and it completely overrides the harmony. In 311’s Good Feeling, the bass trips over all the other instruments, replacing the usually-energetic, fun chorus with the sonic equivalent of a stubbed toe.

Also affected is the treble, as vocals and higher lines lose prominence and energy. Take, for example, Morningsider’s Thinking it Over: a string motif is dropped in the mix in the introduction, and completely lost in the pre-chorus.

I’ll concede that if you listen to acoustic or folky music, you may not notice this issue as much. In songs like Caamp’s 26, the reduced instrumentation meant I could still basically hear everything.

Well, I could hear it until I stepped outside. The Arc 5 falls into a common trap with open earbuds: their maximum volume isn’t high enough to compete with noisy surroundings. When I was running near a main road, I could barely hear my songs.

• Sound quality: 3/5

Cleer Arc 5 review: Value

• Features may go some way to justify price...
• ... but audio quality doesn't

The Cleer has quite a few neat features. I really like what the case display achieves, and the fit is solid. Plus, the movie listening features offer tools that many other earbuds don’t.

However that’s a really high price for any earbuds, let alone open-style ones — and especially not for ones that, frankly, don’t sound amazing.

There’s no way that these buds offer you value for money; you can get better audio quality for a lot less, especially if you’re happy to buy non-open-style buds.

• Value: 3/5

Should I buy the Cleer Arc 5?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Cleer Arc 5review: Also consider

How I tested the Cleer Arc 5

• Tested for one month
• Tested in a range of indoor and outdoor settings
• Used for music, gaming, calls movies and TV

I used the Cleer Arc 5 for roughly a month before writing this review of them. In that time, they were paired to a succession of Android smartphones, mostly the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Moto Edge 70 Fusion.

I listened to the Arc 5 on runs, walks around my neighborhood, office sessions, long trips on public transport and at home. I mostly streamed music via Spotify Lossless, and Apple Music, but also watched movies on a variety of streaming services, played games, and tested a few other music streamers.

I’ve been reviewing gadgets for TechRadar for over seven years now, including testing audio kit for nearly as long. In that time I’ve handled other Cleer gadgets as well as many, many other open-ear buds.

• First reviewed in May 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

Even though I think these cans deserve more online column inches, I'm going to be fairly brief since Amazon Prime Day ends at midnight — and I get it, you don't have much time to learn about them. That said, I do need you to know about it, so give me maybe four minutes of your time? You won't regret it.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

I think if you have heard of them, the Cambridge Melomania P100 SE perhaps got a slightly bad rep on their release. Why? Oh, purely because they were a fairly minor update on the original — and excellent — P100, to add some DynamEQ software (a slightly more V-shaped, optional sound profile in addition to the beautifully integrated hi-fi listen the originals already came with), a cushier headband, and a new colourway.

But all of that is water under the bridge. All you need to know is: they're excellent, they have all of the key features you're going to want, they're comfortable — and I know this because my other half has had them for nearly a year now, and wears them every single day — and they're only £169 (was £249) at Amazon.

I cannot tell you the full value this represents. But as TechRadar's Audio Editor, I'm going to try, so let me start out by saying that these headphones have stood the test of time. My other half plays tennis and football, plus he cycles and surfs regularly, albeit not always in headphones (to be clear, there's no IP rating here, so don't head into the sea with these headphones) and so they're been in a few sweaty bags without issue.

And the sound? It's really, really good. But that's not actually why I gave them to him: we're both huge fans of What We Do in the Shadows and Toast of London, you see. And if you select 'Southwark' in the voice prompts menu, you get Matt Berry's outstanding voice prompts to update you on battery life, noise cancellation profiles and so on…

Today's best Cambridge Audio Melomania P100 SE deal

See, there they are, on his desk right now! We've got the fan on and the curtains closed (working from home in a heatwave, aren't we?) but soon, he'll put them back on and continue with his listening — which, if I know him, will be Public Service Broadcasting's Every Valley on a day such as this ("Retro? GO! Fido? GO!").

Not after cans this Prime Day? That's OK! My colleague Rowan has written about the corresponding, Matt Berry-enhanced earbuds from the brand, and I'll link a little Prime Day deal block below. Also, I've got a roundup of the best earbuds and headphones deals still live this Prime Day, which might help you out.

But for me, the over-ears are too good at this price to consider buds. If I could simply scream 'BAT!' and flap my wings over to an Amazon warehouse — although (whisper it) the deal's also live at Richer Sounds, if you prefer — and nab myself a pair so I didn't have to keep stealing his, I would.

Again, Prime Day ends tonight, at midnight (when Laszlo Cravensworth and the vampires of Staten Island all come out to eat, of course) so don't say I didn't warn you…

More Prime Day deals

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & Tefal
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from £5
• Fans: from £20
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Gaming: £90 off PlayStation 5
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Laptops: from £149
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

Given that I review audio gadgets for a living, I tend to hoard headphones the way most people collect loose change. But there's only one pair I rely on literally every day: the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3, which is why I was pleased to see they've gotten an awesome discount this Prime Day.

You can currently buy the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 for £255 (was £399) at Amazon UK. Not only does it make them much more affordable, but it actually brings them down to their lowest price ever. And don't feel left out if you're based in the US — you can still get a decent discount on them where you are, for $409.99 (was $479.99) at Amazon.

As reviews editor at TechRadar, I've used a ludicrous number of headphones over the years, from the absurdly premium Focal Clear MG to budget bangers like the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100. But there's only one pair that I come back to again and again, that have earned their place as my trusty workhorse when other headphones can't quite fit the bill: the Px7 S3.

So if you're looking to get superb audio without having to pay a premium for it, I definitely think you should check out this deal.

Honestly, this discount makes these headphones a valid contender for some of the best headphones out there. There's a reason we gave them 5 stars in our Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 review after all.

The main reason I love the Px7 S3 for everyday use is that I can count on them to punch way above their weight in terms of sonic quality. Thanks to their aptX Lossless connectivity, they're able to stream music at what is essentially CD quality, while the soundstage they offer up feels precise yet spacious. Without spending a significant chunk more, you won't get more deft sound than this.

I also love how faithful their sound is. While I'll admit they don't offer the same driving bass as headphones like the much spendier AirPods Max 2, they also don't neglect some frequencies just to emphasize others, a shortcut many mid-range and budget cans take advantage of. They're faithful enough that I happily trust them for everyday music production, which is not something I can say about a lot of Bluetooth headphones.

And with this massive discount, I'd honestly say you can't lose with the Px7 S3.

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & Tefal
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from £5
• Fans: from £20
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Gaming: £90 off PlayStation 5
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Laptops: from £149
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

I’ve been reviewing audio gear at TechRadar for years now, and there’s nothing I enjoy sinking my teeth into than a brand new pair of noise cancelling headphones. I’ve tested more than 15 pairs so far, some of which have been mind-blowingly good, and some…less so.

In a highly convoluted market, it can be tough to pick out just one pair of headphones to buy, but today, I’m here to narrow things down for you. I’ve picked 4 of the best noise cancelling headphones that I’ve tested so that you can get great bang for your buck and enjoy your tunes without compromise.

There are options for a range of budgets here, from a top-class budget-friendly set all the way up to a premium pair that’s sure to bless your ears. Curious to know what made the cut? Scroll on down and discover my top picks.

1. The budget big-hitter: 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51

I’ve raved about the 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 plenty of times, and for good reason. These headphones almost feel too good to be true — and on multiple counts.

Firstly, they’re incredibly cheap. They’re regularly available for less than $90 / £90, making them far more affordable than models from the likes of Apple and Bose. But that low price-point doesn’t come at the cost of quality. The Sonoflow Pro plate up surprisingly strong sound quality, with rich bass, clean mids, and controlled highs. They even have LDAC support for higher-res Bluetooth listening, which is a great feature for a product at such a budget-friendly price-point.

Another area these headphones excel in is ANC. Sure, you’re not getting Bose QuietComfort Ultra levels of noise-nixing, but they’re effective at dulling external sounds right across the frequency range, making them a nice pick for commutes or daytime walks. Pair that with an extraordinary 100 hours of battery life (65 hours with ANC on) and a sleek look, and the 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 are an easy recommendation.

2. The best all-rounders: Sony WH-1000XM6

If there’s one pair of noise cancelling headphones I’d recommend to everyone, it would be the Sony WH-1000XM6. These are the headphones that I use every single day, and in my eyes, they’re the perfect all-rounders, delivering class-leading ANC, stellar sound, and an ingenious design.

Let’s start with ANC which is so good here, that it even beats out Sony’s newer, more expensive headphones, the Sony 1000X The Collexion. The XM6 make use of Sony’s QN3 processor, which harnesses the power of 12 microphones to block out noise from your environment, and while they’re great across the board, they’re especially good at keeping low-end sounds away, even outdoing Bose in this area in my view.

Yes the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2 are arguably a bit better at banishing higher-pitched sounds, but we’re talking about fine margins here. And I’d pick the XM6 over their Bose rivals every time for one key reason: they sound a good deal better, in my view.

The XM6 were co-designed with leading mastering engineers for a studio-inspired sound, and take a more balanced approach than their predecessors, the still excellent Sony WH-1000XM5 and Sony WH-1000XM4. They still sound nice and punchy however, and their tight and dynamic sound is a joy to behold. Again, LDAC is here if you want a more detailed listen — as is 3.5mm wired connectivity.

On top of this, the XM6 offer top-tier touch controls, scene-based listening, a ten-band equalizer, and an effective transparency mode. In our best headphones guide, we ranked these as our best overall pick, and I’d strongly recommend you try them for yourself and find out why.

3. The noise-nixing on-ears: Marshall Milton ANC

Here’s something a little different. Yes, the recently released Marshall Milton ANC aren’t like any other entries in this list, as they’re actually on-ear headphones. The Milton ANC look to blend the iconic look and feel of the Marshall Major line with the noise cancelling prowess of the Marshall Monitor III ANC, and what do you know, they pull it off to perfection.

When I reviewed the Marshall Milton ANC, they honestly outstripped my expectations. See, I’m not generally a fan of on-ears, as I tend to find them uncomfortable, and their tendency to leak sound usually means I’ll just reach for my over-ears instead. But the Milton ANC are by far the comfiest on-ears I’ve ever tested, with a generous, flexible build — and they honestly sound great too, with less leakage than some rivals I’ve tested.

Out of the box, the Milton ANC are pretty bass-heavy, which will appeal to a lot of listeners I’m sure. However, the Marshall Bluetooth app provides an equalizer for toning things down a bit if you want a more even spread across the frequency range. Unlike previous Marshall products, these also feature LDAC for higher-res listening, but you’ll also get USB-C audio passthrough for lossless playback.

What’s more, the Milton ANC feature a colossal 80 hour battery life (with ANC off), a soundstage mode for more immersive listening, Auracast connectivity, and a gorgeous retro-style design. They’re also made of 42% recycled materials, and you can get replaceable parts in the situation that they break, which makes them feel like a worthwhile long-term investment.

OK, the ANC is a little limited as a result of the on-ear design, but they still restrict outside noise pretty effectively, and I’ve happily used them on trains and buses with very little distraction from whatever I’m listening to. So, if you want the flexibility that on-ears can offer with the benefits of noise cancelling, then the Marshall Milton ANC are without question my top choice.

4. The premium pick: Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3

Last and most definitely not least, we have the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3. If you want something that feels, looks, and sounds truly premium, this is it — this is what you’ve been looking for.

The first time that I put these headphones on, they took my breath away. They conjure up a sense of space that few rivals in this price bracket can muster, with incredibly immersive, almost three-dimensional sound. Bass is full-sounding, extends deep, and hits with striking agility. Mids are brilliantly defined, and vocal separation adds a layer of nuance that will keep you coming back for more and more. And the treble is vibrant without sounding uncontrolled or fatiguing.

And the Px7 S3 almost look as good as they sound, with an enticing faux-leather, metal, and fabric combination. They even come in an eye-catching range of colors, with Indigo Blue and Canvas White being my personal favorites. Mix in aptX codec support, much-improved ANC (compared to their predecessor), and a comfortable fit, and you’re getting a brilliant overall package.

While their sibling, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 is the superior pair of headphones, they are far more expensive than the Px7 S3, which I think are fantastic in their own right, and I’d recommend with confidence.

I've seen a lot of amazing deals in the Amazon Prime Day sales, but this one tops them all : you can score a huge saving on the class-leading Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones, now down to $378 (was $459.99) at Amazon. That's a record-low price!

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

For those of you in the UK, I've got good news: the Sony WH-1000XM6 are £284.99 (was £399) at John Lewis. That's another lowest-ever price for Sony's top-tier wireless headphones, and you don't even need to be a Prime member to snag this particular deal up.

I use these headphones every single day — I even wore them while writing this article — and they're easily my favorite wireless headphones I've ever used. They deliver a beautiful combination of well-rounded, dynamic sound, out-of-this-world ANC, a gorgeous yet practical design, and a gigantic featureset, resulting in a top-tier user experience. Want to hear more? Then scroll on down for more info on these exceptional offers.

Today's best Sony WH-1000XM6 deal in the US

Today's best Sony WH-1000XM6 deal in the UK

In my Sony WH-1000XM6 review, I described them as "a fantastic pair of over-ear headphones that combine the best design elements of their predecessors, while leveling up the sonic and ANC capabilities of what came before." And one year later, that still rings true.

To this day, I'm still astonished by how great the XM6 sound — their well-balanced, punchy, and dynamic audio is seriously addictive. They also married the convenience of the XM4's foldable design with the sleek look of the XM5, while improving the headband for an ultra-comfortable, flexible fit.

For me, the Sony WH-1000XM6 beat just about every rival in their price bracket, with more intricate, balanced sound than the Bose QuietComfort Gen 2 can plate up, and superior battery life and value compared to the AirPods Max 2. Sony's cans are just great all-round performers, and so it will come as no surprise that they sit atop our guide to the best headphones.

And at less than $380 / £285, there really is no better time to get your hands on Sony's best noise-cancelling headphones. As someone who uses these cans every day, and has done for over a year now, they're easily my top recommendation — especially at this price!

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & Tefal
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from £5
• Fans: from £20
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Gaming: £90 off PlayStation 5
• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
• Laptops: from £149
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £79.99
• Toys: up to 25% off Lego and Tonies
• TVs: from £129.99
• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

When you’re shopping for a new pair of headphones, you naturally want them to sound good, but how often do you actually think about how they look?

As someone who lives and breathes headphones, I think I’m experienced enough to claim that most pairs look the same. A simple, minimalist set of cans, usually available in black or white, and maybe with some chrome or coloured accents.

Pretty boring, right?

That’s certainly not the case with the Nothing Headphone (a) which, along with the flagship Nothing Headphone (1), completely reinvent headphone design for the better — and the former has now received a huge 36% discount at Amazon in the run up to Prime Day 2026 in Australia.

These are Nothing’s second over-ear headphone attempt, and they earned a glowing 4.5-star rating in our Nothing Headphone (a) review. We claimed them to be the “dream tech version 2.0” over the flagship Headphone (1), thanks to improved, more spacious sound, while retaining the same fantastic set of controls to adjust playback.

And then there’s how they look. The Headphone (a) are unmistakably a Nothing product, but the design has been softened a little compared to the flagship pair. The cassette tape look has been subbed out for a solid colour, available in white, pink or yellow. The pink colourway has received the biggest discount of 36%.

The Headphone (1) are still a fantastic pair of cans in their own right. They also come with the bold claim of being tuned by esteemed hi-fi brand KEF. As we said in our Nothing Headphone (1) review, the sound is “reasonably refined, well-balanced, and broadly enjoyable”.

The slight downside is that the Headphone (1) sound a little compressed — I’ve used these headphones and can vouch for that comment. I personally don’t think it’s a huge deal breaker, though, and the amount of personalisation on offer via the companion app more than makes up for it. Plus, as our tester noted, “if they get a price drop, these could be great headphones”, and here it is.

With both pairs now costing similar money, your buying decision could well just come down to aesthetics. Regardless, you’ll be catching looks wherever you go.

How many more times (and in how many more ways) can I say this? Nothing's most recent batch of colorful, joyful and hang it all refreshingly different listening gear is nothing short of excellent for the money.

And the thing is, those already-excellent asking fees have just been further reduced, in some cases by up to 49% off for Prime Day.

• View the full Amazon Prime Day sale

My pick of the over-ear headphones bunch would be the excellent noise-cancelling CMF Headphone Pro, which have absolutely no business looking this good, or indeed sounding so fabulously fun, for just $65 — a massive 34% off an original launch fee that's barely eight months old.

And if you're after earbuds, it'd be easy to just opt for the cheapest of the cheap, and let me be clear, 49% off the CMF Buds 2a, making them just $19.99 rather than $39 is incredibly low, however you try to slice it. But for me, the Nothing Ear (a) still win out, with a new lowest-seen price of just $53.20 (was $99 at launch, although $79 is their most-recent discounted price) .

And I'm not even done! I also love the firm's second stab at flagship headphones, the Nothing Headphone (a), not to be confused with the inaugural Heaphone (1) which do not feature in this list (yes, I know Nothing's naming strategy can be confusing. That's why you stick with me). No, this newer, far better set of over-ears retains the unusual aesthetic of the original effort but adds much better, fuller, more expansive audio and offers excellent on-ear controls to further enhance it all, plus a battery life that's, well, nothing short of excellent.

Not after headphones or earbuds? It's OK, you can see the best of the new deals, as they drop, in our Amazon Prime Day live blog.

Nothing's insane Prime Day savings – quick links

• CMF by Nothing Headphone Pro: was $99, now just $61.75
• Nothing Headphone (a): was $199, now just $151.05
• CMF by Nothing Buds 2(a): was $39, now just $19.99

Nothing's huge Prime Day sale — the cans and earbuds to snap up

If I had to pick, I'm still going for the delightfully fresh, luxuriously padded teal CMF Headphone Pro, which I regularly reach for (and I test headphones for a living, remember) owing to the easy-breezy on-ear controls and fun, zealous sound when I'm out and about.

That said, there's a little more clarity in the Headphone (a) and I do love the cassette-type look of the ear cups. But if you need a bit of wiggle room in your bag for other essentials, earbuds suddenly start looking very good indeed, no?

That said, the Nothing Ear (3) are the best if you regularly record your voice, thanks to their 'Super Mic'. It's the shiny button directly under the snappy case magnet labelled 'TALK' and it's a lot of fun. It's best to think of it as very much like those little clip-on wireless mics content creators hold very close to their mouths on social media — except now, they might hold an earbuds case to their lips to add voiceovers.

Nothing calls Super Mic a "breakthrough dual-microphone system driven by ambient-filtering technology." Essentially, the dual MEMS beamforming mics built into the case focus on your voice, cutting through surrounding noise (up to 95dB is the claim) for clearer calls and voice notes. And no other product in this little roundup has it. Food for thought, then…

More Amazon Prime Day deals

• Amazon Prime: sign up for a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire TV, Ring & Blink from £21.99
• Apple: AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low price
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja, Tefal & Sage
• Essentials: household goods from under £10
• Laptops: from £149.99
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £125
• TVs: from £129.99

Here at TechRadar, we test dozens of pairs of headphones every year. And while we've been won over by many an ultra-pricey set of cans, we also love a cheap pair of headphones that punches above its price tag. This article is dedicated to showcasing these wallet-friendly wonders. I asked TechRadar's audio specialists which headphones they'd recommend to buyers on a budget, and you'll find their suggestions below.

If it's true wireless in-ears you're after, you'd struggle to do better than the Nothing Ear (a) buds, which Audio Editor Becky Scarrott awarded a perfect five stars, calling them "a resounding home run" for the British startup and praising the noise cancellation, sound quality and battery life in particular. In the current Amazon Prime Day deals, they're unbeatable value at under $55 / £50.

In the over-ear arena, standouts are the CMF Pro and the 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51, both of which earned 4.5 stars in our tests. The former were put through their paces by Becky, who was impressed with the "superb" sound quality in general, and was pleasantly surprised to discover "the sort of... personal sound profile curation [we're] more used to seeing in headphones much higher up the food chain". The latter were reviewed by our review's team's resident headphone specialist Harry Padoan, who praised the "adept audio, noise-crushing ANC and eye-catching design". Both are even better value than usual right now, too, thanks to those Prime (and rival-Prime) deals.

Read on for more budget-maximizing buys — and hit the 'View details' button for a summary of what we thought of them in our tests, plus links to the full reviews.

Top cheap earbuds and headphones

Do you need headphones for the next semester or term? I get it. And is money, er, relatively tight? Again, I understand — and the good news is, a huge sales event known as Amazon Prime Day is here to help.

See all early Prime Day deals at Amazon

I'm also here to help, as TechRadar's audio editor and full-time headphones tester since 2019. So, even if I do flatter myself, I know what makes a good set of headphones — and which pairs will lend themselves to studying that aren't those flagship sets few people can afford on a student loan.

When I went to college, there was no Bluetooth audio (why thank you but no really, it's true). There were also no music streaming services and the MP3 format was very much in its infancy.

What I did have was a portable CD player and some Sony headphones. And let me tell you that I owe every exam I passed to these products (plus my local HMV store, which I scurried along to armed with money from a part-time job waiting tables at a Wimpy restaurant).

As a dancer since age two, it turns out I have always needed music and simultaneous movement (or the compulsion to move) to retain information from books. I've since found out I'm not alone — and maybe that's why you're here.

What follows are the four best pairs of headphones I've found for students. I'll explain why briefly, and link to the best deals live now. And don't worry, you've got this.

1. CMF Headphone Pro: artsy over-ears that won't break the bank

Did you know that CMF is simply Nothing's more affordable arm — so these headphones carry a lot of Nothing Headphone (a) magic, just in a more affordable build? And what a lovely original build it is too.

I tested these budget-friendly, very comfortable and surprisingly customizable over-ear headphones and if zealous, bass-hungry sound quality sounds like a bit of you, you'll love these. Add to this the outstanding battery life, the kinds of hearing tests (and personal sonic profile curation) I'm more used to seeing in headphones much higher up the food chain, an 'Energy-slider' that can ramp up the low end even further and a glorious volume wheel on the right ear cup that's something reminiscent of much pricier headgear (the kind made by a company named after a fruit, if you get me) and they're a winning combination.

All of this for a sub-$100 / £80 fee — before we start looking for discounts? OK, the ANC is acceptable rather than amazing and you don't get a hard case, but still, you’ll struggle to find a more original set of affordable headphones that offer this much for this little. Need more? Read my glowing 4.5-star CMF Headphone Pro review.

CMF Headphone Pro

TechRadar's official review scores

Features

4.5

Sound Quality

4.5

Design

4.5

Battery Life

5

Noise Cancellation

4

Value

4.5

Overall

4.5

Group 1 Data

Product	Features ()	Sound Quality ()	Design ()	Battery Life ()	Noise Cancellation ()	Value ()	Overall ()
CMF Headphone Pro	4.5	4.5	4.5	5	4	4.5	4.5

2. OneOdio Focus A6: one of the team's best budget headphones by a mile

For one of the TechRadar team, these are the best affordable cans they've ever tested — and it's not even close, as a quick scan of our 4.5-star review of the OneOdio Focus A6 shows.

You know the flagship Apple cans I vaguely mentioned before — the ones that very few of us can afford? This particular team member prefers the product you're looking at here to those elite over-ears, for sound. What else makes them so good? Well, USB-C audio support, a solid and classy build quality, plus a super-slick companion app you very rarely see at this level and Bluetooth 6.0 for starters.

Again, the ANC is very good rather than stellar, but this is budget-friendly territory and you will struggle to better it at anything like this price point. Highly recommended.

OneOdio Focus A6

TechRadar's official review scores

Features

4

Sound Quality

4.5

Design

4.5

Battery Life

5

Noise Cancellation

4

Value

5

Overall

4.5

Group 1 Data

Product	Features ()	Sound Quality ()	Design ()	Battery Life ()	Noise Cancellation ()	Value ()	Overall ()
1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51	4	4.5	4.5	5	4	5	4.5

3. 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51: ignore the name — focus on the value

Try to get past the name that sounds like some sort of water filtration system (sorry, maybe just me?) and there's a musically sensitive and expressive set of headphones here that'll reward you time and again for your nominal asking fee.

In fact, we called them the "ultimate in sound-per-pound value" in our 4.5-star in-depth 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 review. The aesthetic is much more 'your average set of basic cans' here, but at school, college or university (where the security of your valuables will never be far from your mind), that's no bad thing. And although they might look fairly anonymous, the budget has certainly been spent on the drivers under the hood, because they sound fantastic for the money.

Here, the app isn't especially slick, but it's functional. Also, the battery life is extensive, the ANC is up to scratch and you can even listen via 3.5mm with the bundled cable in the box. If you don't mind their relatively anonymous looks, it's a winner.

1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51

TechRadar's official review scores

Features

4

Sound Quality

4

Design

4

Battery Life

5

Noise Cancellation

4

Value

5

Overall

4.5

Group 1 Data

Product	Features ()	Sound Quality ()	Design ()	Battery Life ()	Noise Cancellation ()	Value ()	Overall ()
1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51	4	4	4	5	4	5	4.5

4. Sony over-ears, but not as you know them

Alongside the flagship Sony WH-1000XM6 and even newer, arguably even fancier Collexion set of cans, there exists a cheaper set of Sony over-ears. And while they're a little older now (having launched in Spring 2023) they still boast effective noise cancellation and many aspects of the Sony sound quality that made their upmarket siblings the industry standard.

The name — Sony WH-CH720 — is instantly forgettable, but the sound quality is not. OK, the build is a little bit plasticky and you're not getting hi-res codecs, but the ANC does a great job at nixing extraneous sounds for this money. And while the sound feels just a tad compressed when pitted against pricier rivals, Sony's Sound Connect companion app helps to tweak things and make them a fantastic option for the money.

Also, given their relative age, I'd look out for extra discounts on Prime Day…

Sony WH_CH720

TechRadar's official review scores

Features

4.5

Sound Quality

4

Design

4

Battery Life

4.5

Noise Cancellation

4

Value

4.5

Overall

4

Group 1 Data

Product	Features ()	Sound Quality ()	Design ()	Battery Life ()	Noise Cancellation ()	Value ()	Overall ()
Sony WH-CH720	4.5	4	4	4.5	4	4.5	4

You're here to see which flagship noise-cancelling headphones are best, and I get it. One way to deduce which is the better buy might traditionally be newness, right? Not so easy here. One set of headphones here has a September 2025 release, one boasts a newer March 2026 launch date — but that's far from the whole story.

You see, on looks alone, the AirPods Max 2 could be a 2020 release, despite actually being the newer set of cans. Why? Oh, because the build looks exactly the same as the first-generation set, despite hiding newer H2 chips under the hood and upgraded amplification. Meanwhile, the B&W Px8 S2 has all the physical trappings of a generational upgrade as well as the sonic upticks to back it up.

When whittling down the best noise cancelling headphones of 2026 (or just the best over-ear headphones you can buy today) it will come as no surprise to learn that both of the products — and indeed manufacturers — in the title of this versus are in the picture for the win. Both firms are, make no mistake, excellent at what they do. And although one gained a five-star review and one a half-star off that, there's very little in it.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 launched on September 24, 2026, whereas the Apple AirPods Max 2 landed on March 16, 2026. But weirdly, the newer set are seeing a huge $150 Prime Day discount if you live in the US. Hurrah!

I tested them both, so I'm well placed to put these sets of high-end, flagship wireless cans side-by-side (someone's got to, right?) to discover which pair will ultimately get you better sound-per-pound value.

It's actually not as easy as it sounds. Human beings all seem to prioritize different things — your other half wants to watch movies on their iPad; your colleague is an avid gamer; you just want glorious silence to be able to get some shut-eye on long-haul flights.

I've spent countless hours listening to some of my favorite albums, podcasts and movies on these headphones in order to compare features, noise cancellation, call-handling, extra perks, and elements of the design and build quality (both physical and in terms of software) that you ought to be aware of. Either set of headphones is a top buy, our reviews will state as much — that's not why you're here. You want make the best choice for you, between these two top dogs. So let's get to it!

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: price & availability

As mentioned above, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 are the older of the two in a 'tale of the tape' style side-by-side, but only by six months. The B&W cans arrived in September of last year (2025) while the AirPods Max 2 arrived in March 2026. That said, on looks alone you'd never be able to tell that the Max 2 are newer, because their actual design (read: looks, save for one or two new finishes) hasn't changed since the original 2020-issue set. And that is a fact which left some fans disappointed…

And they're like heavyweight boxers in terms of desirability as well as talent and fame: the B&W option will set you back a not-insignificant $799 / £629 (approx. AU$1,299) while the AirPods Max 2 cost $549 / £499 / AU$999.

You don't need me to tell you that the AirPods Max 2 are the cheaper of the two here (and isn't that an unusual position for Apple to find itself in?), but you also don't need me to tell you that we really do have to go much deeper into the features, comfort, sound quality, ANC efficacy and overall user experience to see where the real value is. So come on then!

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: specs

Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 vs Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen): features

Apple's cans are newer, so let's kick off with them. The inclusion of newer H2 chips — yes, there's actually one in each ear cup — add a swathe of new features, with one big caveat: you need an Apple iPhone that's either the iPhone 15 Pro or newer to get at most of them.

Provided your source device is one of those though, new features abound, including Adaptive Audio (the Transparency mode can adjust itself to block some unnecessary sounds, and there's an optional slider to tweak just how 'adaptive' you want it to get), Conversation Awareness (so the over-ears can automatically lower the volume of your music and filter external sounds should you start talking to someone, then put everything back again once you stop chatting), plus Loud Sound Reduction and Personalized Volume to help protect your hearing but keep the sonic profile how you like it.

There's also Live Translation, which is for me the star of that Apple-Intelligence-and-iPhone ecosystem. I thoroughly enjoyed using it here over Apple's AirPods Pro 3, because it's so much easier to access via a long press of AirPods Max's on-ear Listening Mode button.

Elsewhere, Head Gesture support means you can nod to accept a call or check a message, shake your head to dismiss a message or decline a call, or nod to Siri silently. You don't have to perform these actions violently either. Also, the new Camera Remote feature means you can now take snaps on your iPhone camera using AirPods Max 2's Digital Crown, and despite not being much of a photographer, I used that more than I thought I would.

Apple's new Voice Isolation software also improves your call quality when it's loud or windy around you — and thanks to some extra processing power afforded by that H2 chip, you get much better voice capture from the headphones' three mics for voice pickup (two are shared with the ANC system, and one is an additional dedicated microphone) in the nine-mic total. If it's a fight over which set of cans takes calls better, I'd hand it to Apple.

Of course I left the best for last: Apple says that the active noise cancellation is "up to 1.5x more effective than the previous generation" and when Tim Cook's behemoth boasts, it's best to listen. The noise-nixing here is honestly next-level — and I mean near-silent, cocooning, calming and enveloping. It's like stillness as a backdrop to your music. If that's what you need, these headphones win over the B&W buy, hands down.

Switching to the competing set in this particular bout, as we said in our Px8 S2 review, "When it comes to active noise-cancellation, Bowers & Wilkins must — just like every other brand — accept it’s competing for second place". And in this particular battle against AirPods Max 2, B&W hasn't won. The ANC is good, don't get me wrong, but it's not as good as Apple's.

Now, let's focus on the B&W option. Ever noticed how elite audiophile-adjacent headphones tend not to be, er… overburdened by features? B&W hasn't changed the game here. That said, ‘elite’ is still great way to describe the Px8 S2 and while the feature-set here is 100% business, there is one relatively recent addition, in the form of a dedicated "True Immersion" spatial audio mode. It was listed as "coming following a software update" when the Px8 S2 launched, and it's here now. It's designed to widen the soundstage, but instead of of relying on traditional 3D head-tracking, the feature is meant to create a concert or club-like soundstage akin to attending live gigs.

Bowers & Wilkins has designed and implemented built-in digital processing to expand the spatial footprint of standard stereo tracks but, as you'd expect when your fanbase largely consists of audiophiles, user feedback is highly mixed. Yes, these immersive side-sauces can sound unnatural or over-processed, but for me that's not an issue with the Px8 S2. I find the bass response decent and that 'concert atmosphere' idea has largely been achieved, but then again, this isn't B&W's forte. These are headphones one buys for a wire-free experience during critical listening, and so I think you'll keep it switched off most of the time.

The Px8 S2 are compatible with SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless codecs — and you won't find any aptX support in Apple's cans. That said, I prefer Apple's head-tracked Spatial Audio when it comes to immersive soundstages.

Wired listening can happen using the USB-C slot on one ear cup with either option — but while B&W supplies USB-C to USB-C, and USB-C to 3.5mm cables in the lovely semi-hard travel case, Apple only offers the former (and only gives you a minimal 'headphone bra' to carry the cans in, so be careful not to lose the cable!)

Battery life is one bone of contention: 30 hours in the B&W with ANC deployed, and a 15-minute jolt of juice will get you up to another seven hours' playback. That drops to just 20 hours max (with ANC enabled) with the AirPods Max 2, where 5 minutes of charging nets 1.5 hours of listening. In 2026, this can easily be beaten and is one area Apple really does need to improve. That said, for the aforementioned features — and that excellent ANC performance — Apple edges it here.

Oh, one other thing: the companion apps. Bowers & Wilkins' solution is far better here especially if you don't own an iPhone, offering to round up your music streaming services as well as catering to the cans and providing a thoroughly comprehensive, intuitive experience. In direct comparison, Apple's solution (that fits into your iPhone's pull-down general and settings menus; there is no official AirPods app for Android) feels a tad bare-bones, but then again, it is intuitive — once you've downloaded those language modules you'll need for translation…

• Features winner: Apple AirPods Max 2

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: sound quality

Ready for the indicator to swing back the other way, if only ever-so-slightly? You're probably way ahead of me, but Bowers & Wilkins makes some of the best-sounding wireless headphones within the mass production consumer space, and the Px8 S2 are no exception.

The company deployed the amplification and DSP engine from its (also very good) Px7 S3 headphones here, but the bespoke tuning — plus a stiffer and more pricey driver chassis and upgraded motor system and voice coil — has ensured that the Px8 S2 do sound significantly better than their well-regarded (and, ahem, more affordable) siblings. Our review explains this succinctly: "Where out-and-out sound quality is concerned, it’s hard to lay a glove on the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2… where they really excel, they leave their nominal competition gasping."

How do the Apple AirPods Max 2 compare for sound? It depends on how you like to listen — because while there's no higher-resolution codec support, for oomph and head-tracked audio within Apple Music suite, I still find them hard to beat. But for critical, neutral, integrated listening? They're still playing second fiddle to Bowers & Wilkins.

Apple hasn't divulged the drivers under the hood, but did specify a new 'custom high dynamic range amplifier' which I truly believe has made for a punchier and more dynamically nuanced listen than in the first-generation set — yes, probably owing to the new H2 chips.

The head-tracked Spatial Audio support is not a new feature with this iteration, but it is so beautifully implemented here thanks to the new software that, as I said in my review, "you'll find yourself whipping them off to check there's no mini speaker under your chin or squirreled away at the back of the room".

It's a closer-run thing than I'd expected — and again, it depends on your source material and whether you want a more three-dimensional presentation — but I can't hand the sound accolade to any product other than the B&W Px8 S2.

• Sound quality winner: Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: design

Honestly, the sense of pride in ownership I feel wearing the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 over my ears (or even around my neck, with the metallic accents catching the light) remains unmatched. Wearing them is like being a member of a very select group — the audiophile who knows where the best sound is and wasn't scared of spending the cash.

You've got to give B&W the nod where looks are concerned. Over-ear headphones can look pretty generic, but somehow the Px8 S2 feel like an Aston Martin: luxurious yet demure, elite yet understated. They're available in 'Onyx Black', 'Warm Stone', 'Pearl Blue', Midnight Blue' and a special 'McLaren Edition' finish; all are quite splendid.

The arms and headband feature a recess that allows a portion of the cable to be exposed (a nod to the company’s very first headphones, the P5, which launched back in 2010) and at 310g, the Px8 S2 are actually just a fraction lighter and slimmer than the headphones they replace. Honestly, I can't find anything to pick fault with — except that the real leather won't appeal to vegans.

Do I get that same true pride in ownership with Apple's newest cans? Not quite, in all honesty — but that doesn't mean it's a clear win for the B&W in this instance. How to score this category then? If you like dashing good looks, it's got to be the B&W, but if you want supreme comfort and a design that helps promote a truly cocooned feel — with lovely on-ear controls — it's Apple, for me.

They're heavier than the Px8 S2, at 386.2g, but they don't feel it. Because here's the thing with AirPods Max 2: nothing about the design has been changed, because it doesn't need to be. The huge ear cups, the meshy headband with its silent yokes, the mic placement? It was all so-designed because Apple threw out the rule book and just wanted to make the best ever headphones. So while we can argue the toss over how they look, I maintain that for comfort, they knock everything else out the park.

I also love the Digital Crown, which can handle playback and volume. OK, the case is odd and Apple hasn't offered a proper one, which many users are crying out for. But I still reach for the AirPods Max 2 most days for the way they feel and the quiet, seemingly protected sonic spaces they take me to after a long day. So I can't simply give the B&W the nod, you see…

• Design winner: it's a tie

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: value

Value is always a very difficult category to judge, partly because the competition at these levels is so stiff. For less than the MRSP of both of the options here, $449 / £399 / AU$699 buys you the Sony WH-1000XM6 or the Bose QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), and both sets of cans feature in our best headphones buying guide — indeed, one set even won TR's Best Wireless Headphones of the Year Award.

But that's not really what 'value' means, is it — especially when we're talking sound-per-pound value? And the price of each option does vary here, by over $200 / £120. It's a horses for courses thing. For me, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 sound so very good that they're worth the extra outlay over the other products mentioned above — but I prioritize sound quality when listening to music and always have done. Additionally, I have several music streaming services at my disposal (all the better to test things with, my dear) and the Bowers & Wilkins 'Music' app gets them all together so I can quickly stream whatever I need.

That said, those who own an iPhone and want the best ANC-plus-comfort they can possibly find at this level need to look to Apple — and the extra features (Live Translation, Gesture Control, Personalised Spatial Audio, Conversation Awareness) all add value, if you're iOS-ensconced. If I were jumping on a flight now, I'd pick the Apple over-ears. If I were in my comfy listening chair at home, it's the B&W. But it's hard to put a price on arriving from the 2am flight having actually slept because your cans are that good at noise-nixing, right?

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: verdict

It's tough, but I promised I'd give my verdict, so for me it's the Apple AirPods Max 2 by a very small margin. I love the excellent ANC; I love the head-tracked Spatial Audio; I love the comfort; I love the call-handling and I love the bubble of silence I seem to enter when wearing them. Also, I love a tasty discount, and we're seeing a very good one, not long after their launch…

But there's a very compelling argument to be made for spending more and getting more detailed audio in a stunning (newer) build quality — and let's not forget that the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 won our most recent Headphones of the Year Editor's Choice Award. So this isn't the end of the discussion — far from it in fact.

What are your thoughts, gentle reader? Which of the two is your winner? Let me know in the comments — let's make this a friendly group discussion.

My relationship with the best headphones has been quite a trial-and-error experience over the past few years, and I've gone through so many popular models — but investing in the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones solved all of my problems.

At the time of release, we deemed them as 'the best in the business' in our review, but that also came with a rather eye-watering price tag at launch. Thankfully, that's what Amazon Prime Day is for.

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

If you've been putting off purchasing these headphones because of their high price point, Prime Day is your chance to score them for $198 down from $399.99 in the US, or £179.54 down from £279 if you're in the UK — stellar price drops for Sony if you ask me.

Today's best Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones deals

Although there are deals on the newer Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones, they're still almost double the price of the WH-1000XM5 discount and outside of the foldable ear pads, there's really not a huge difference feature-wise.

If there's one thing I've taken away from my time with my WH-1000XM5 is that they were built for longevity. I've been using the headphones for almost four years, and they're still working like I've just taken them out of the box for the first time.

They're also totally reliable. One of the biggest problems I kept running into with wireless earbuds was that they'd completely crash on me for unknown reasons after short periods of time, leaving me with one dead and one functioning earbud before that one would eventually give up.

These aren't the only reasons why I've stood by them; they're packed with a ton of handy features that make your listening experience just that bit more convenient and enjoyable. For one, these headphones have incredibly smart ambient sound controls, which they can automatically adjust based on your location.

So if you're in a busier area, the headphones can enable ambient settings to let outside noise in to help you be more aware with your surroundings. I like to enable this feature when I'm listening to music and podcasts while on walks — nature noises are just so soothing.

The headphones can also connect to two devices simultaneously, which is an added bonus if you float between your phone and laptop.

That said, the active noise cancellation works wonders for shutting out unwanted conversations for when you want an interrupted listening session, a setting I use more often than ambient mode. especially when traveling — because who wants loud conversations and roaring train sounds blaring while you're trying to listen to the new Olivia Rodrigo album for the tenth time?

More Prime Day deals in the US

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
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• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
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More Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Prime: get a 30-day free trial
• Amazon Devices: Fire, Ring & Blink from £13.99
• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: up to 33% off AirPods & Apple Watch
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja & Tefal
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from £5
• Fans: from £20
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• Headphones: up to 50% off Beats & Sony
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• Vacuums: up to 40% off Shark & Roborock
• Wearables: up to 30% off Garmin & Oura

When the Sony WH-1000XM6 dropped last year, they had some big expectations to live up to.

They followed up a pair of headphones that had proven somewhat divisive, in the Sony WH-1000XM5. This model left some wearers conflicted owing to the lack of foldability, limited new features, and smaller 30mm drivers, in spite of stepping up in terms of looks and still offering great sound. For me, the XM5 just didn’t quite feel like the statement headphones that the legendary Sony WH-1000XM4 were — and in my view, the real task of the XM6 was to live up to the brilliance of that model.

And what do you know, Sony really did it — the company finally delivered a pair of XM4-beating headphones. The XM6 blended the beauty of the XM5 with the practical design of the XM4, all while delivering substantially better audio than their predecessors, alongside far greater noise cancelling capabilities and a more fleshed-out feature set.

And even though it’s been a year now, the XM6 remain my go-to headphones — even after hearing other flagship kids on the block, including the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2, Apple AirPods Max 2, and even Sony’s own 1000X The Collexion cans. But why do I keep reaching for the XM6? And what really sets them apart from the competition? Well, I’ll get to all of that and more as we take a look at my year of listening with the XM6.

What’s so special about the XM6?

For the uninitiated, allow me to give you the run down on the Sony WH-1000XM6. These are Sony’s best noise-cancelling cans to date, and even on flights, they can easily dispatch low-end rumble, high-pitched clamors, and sudden noises like doors closing. If you’re at the office, things like colleagues chatting, typing sounds, and vehicles passing outside the window will be drastically dulled too — if not totally inaudible.

That’s thanks to Sony’s QN3 noise-cancelling processor, which harnesses a system of 12 microphones to deliver some of the best ANC on the market right now.

The QN3 processor also features a noise-shaper, which pre-empts sudden sound changes, resulting in a more controlled listening experience. Pair that with LDAC for ‘hi-res’ Bluetooth listening as well as a more balanced sound signature than the XM5 and XM4 offered — in part thanks to Sony’s collaboration with leading mastering engineers — and you’re getting amazing audio from the XM6.

As you’d expect, these headphones aren’t producing true studio-grade neutrality or fidelity, but they sound more composed right across the frequency range. Still, bass is phenomenally dynamic and punchy, treble is vibrant and articulate, and there’s definitely an exciting listen to be had. Mids are also incredibly rich and well-weighted, and the XM6 offers a wider soundstage than its predecessor, all while supplying a tight and cohesive listen.

Other XM6 headlines include a new, more comfortable headband, the welcome return of foldability, and enhanced call quality. There are six beamforming mics in the XM6, and I’m yet to try any headphones that beat them for clarity and precision in the call quality department.

You also get the features that made the XM6’s predecessors great, including DSEE Extreme upscaling (which boosts the quality of lower-res audio files), scene-based listening, transparency mode, and the most responsive and accurate touch controls around.

How do they compare to the competition?

So, the XM6 sound pretty great so far, right? But you might be wondering how they compare against the competition. So, let’s see how they compare against some of their main rivals: the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2, the AirPods Max 2, and Sony’s own The Collexion headphones.

Let’s start with the QC Ultra, which are in my view the main competitor to the XM6 — they’re similarly priced, and each have a strong focus on ANC performance. But interestingly, I think this contest is a relatively straightforward one.

When it comes to ANC, these two are on very similar footing. I’d perhaps argue that the QC Ultra can deal with higher-pitched sounds ever-so-slightly better, but I’m talking very fine margins. Conversely, I’d consider the XM6 slightly ahead when it comes to those deeper, darker sounds like engines roaring.

But elsewhere, I think the Sony XM6 are just the better buy. For me, the Bose have a less revealing sound that lacks the refinement and attention to detail Sony can deliver. Sony also supplies better balance across the frequency range, and even more customizable sound, making them my clear favorite sound-wise.

The XM6 also have a more cohesive, sleek, and suave look in my opinion — I’m also more partial to the magnet-lock case that Sony bundles in. Both headphones are well-matched elsewhere, though, offering fully foldable designs, solid security and comfortability in-use, and 30 hours of battery life — essentially the standard for headphones in this price bracket.

Moving onto the AirPods Max 2 now, and this is where things get interesting. Of course, these headphones have some features that are suited to Apple devices only — such as Spatial Audio and instant pairing — meaning brand loyalists may prefer these. But as someone with an Android phone, this is hardly something I’m interested in.

I’d also argue that the XM6 are generally better all-rounders than the AirPods Max 2. For instance, Apple’s flagship headphones only muster up a measly 20 hours of playtime with ANC on — something that really should’ve been improved from the first generation AirPods Max.

I also find the XM6’s use of precise touch controls to be more intuitive and user-friendly, and their more accessible price is an undeniable plus. The AirPods Max 2 come in at $549 / £499 / AU$999 — quite the increase over the $449 / £349 / AU$699 you’ll pay for the XM6.

The AirPods Max 2 still impressed me though — they offer significantly improved ANC that blocks external noise on a similar level to the XM6, and they performed very well in the audio department. They have a more spacious and expansive soundstage than the XM6, and the bass is full-sounding and beautifully controlled. While the XM6 sound pretty balanced, they undoubtedly retain a slight preference towards bass and treble from previous generations, but I personally prefer their tighter, punchier approach to the low-end.

It’s an incredibly similar story for Sony’s own 1000X The Collexion headphones, which took aim at the AirPods Max with an incredibly broad, almost three-dimensional soundstage that results in a highly immersive listen.

The Collexion undoubtedly provide stellar detailing and incredible instrument separation, but again, I always reach for the XM6 — I find their dynamism and punch to add a bit more excitement, making funky tracks or hard-hitting anthems come through with more bite.

In addition, The Collexion add very little in the way of features that the XM6 won’t already provide. Sure, they have more 360 Upmix modes, but these sound pretty bad anyway. They also have weaker ANC and lower battery life, largely due to their slimmer build and larger ear cavities.

Don’t get me wrong, The Collexion look great, and their metallic details contrast the faux-leather casing nicely, but for me, the XM6 are stronger overall.

One year later: the verdict

So, even after testing some of the XM6’s biggest rivals, I still reach for them every time. Their combination of class-leading ANC, excellent features, and dynamic, punchy, yet well-balanced audio makes them my go-to time after time.

It’s also worth flagging that after a full year of use, the headphones have held up incredibly well. I can count a total of zero times where I experienced a fault or bug, they don’t have a single scratch (even after being folded and thrown in my bag countless times), and the earcups feel incredibly comfortable, with no signs of degradation whatsoever.

What’s more, I’ve accidentally kept the headphones on during rainy days from time to time, and despite lacking an IP rating, they seemed to have weathered the storm without issue. Would I recommend using them in harsher weather conditions? No. But the fact they’ve stuck it out a couple of times only hammers home their durability and high build quality.

I won’t pretend that the XM6 are cheap by any means. But they genuinely earn their price in every way imaginable. And they do go on sale quite a bit, so if you can find them going for less, I’d strongly suggest snapping them up, and treating yourself to superior sound.

Amazon Prime Day is upon us, and headphones will fly out of Amazon warehouses like the best brownies at the bake sale — and if the best models sell out, the deals-hungry public will flock to competing retailers.

• See all early Prime Day deals at Amazon

But I want you to be first in line when the deals land, and that means knowing how to sort the wheat from the chaff. Stick with me, and you'll never be led astray to an unknown (but very lavishly packaged) set of cans that turn out to be 2019-launched duds still toting Bluetooth 4.1 and with no app to speak of.

Look, I'm being harsh here because I want you to have the good products. The ones I'm listing here are, in fact, the best. And because Amazon Prime Day is one of the biggest sales events in the tech calendar, some discounts are likely (not certain, you understand… but likely).

What follows are my top three noise-canceling headphones for iPhone, Android, and audiophiles, along with my advice on pricing. Know this now and bookmark the product page for the day(s) ahead. You got this!

Not looking for noise-nixing cans? That's OK — see TechRadar's early Prime Day roundup for the best deals across tech.

1. The bubble-of-silence cans for iPhone users

You may not want to hear this, because believe me, I know that the second-generation Apple over-ears launched in March 2026, devoid of any huge redesign we might have hoped for.

Here's the thing: you won't care once they're on. That is because the ANC is so much better this time around. I know because I reviewed them for TechRadar, and their noise-nixing performance is jaw-droppingly, head-shakingly, 'No you must have lowered your voice, come on' good. Really.

Also excellent is the new Conversation Awareness feature, which picks up your voice to lower all other sounds and enable an important chat much faster than in competing options I've tested.

Why are they so good? It's their new H2 chip and its computational wizardry. They're also punchier sonically, and the extra perks (Live Translation, Adaptive Audio, Head Gesture control, and the Camera Remote feature, in short) work seamlessly and with minimal button-pushing to get you there.

Provided you've got an iPhone 15 Pro or newer (ie. something that supports Apple Intelligence) these features are unbeatable. These are the headphones I reach for daily. And it's not even close.

Launch price: $549 / £499 (March 2026)

Prices to look for on Prime Day:
US: $399 is already live!
UK: as above, look for 10% savings (or £449) over Prime Day

2. The cocoon-of-quiet set for Android owners (that's also device agnostic)

And now for something slightly cheaper, and slightly older — although a September 2025 launch date still makes them thoroughly relevant and modern, even in the fast-moving worlds of Bluetooth audio and wireless headphones.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are my second-most-reached-for cans when I need to block out the world. I pick them up whenever I want to listen in ‘cinema’ mode (within the ‘Immersive’ audio offering), but my source material is from Tidal, say, because unlike Apple's AirPods, these headphones will give you top-tier head-tracked dynamic content irrespective of the source device or streaming platform.

And while you'll also get Lossless from the AirPods Max 2 above, being able to hard-wire the QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) headphones to a source of music in order to enjoy truly hi-res audio quality isn't to be sniffed at either — oh, and you get aptX Adaptive for better quality over Bluetooth, too, which we loved in our full review of the Bose QCU Headphones (2nd Gen).

OK, the option below this product (and the one above it, though that's a far closer call) will give you slightly more detail and a more faithful neutrality in your music. But for noise cancellation at this price, these Bose headphones still cannot be beaten nine months after their release. Bose basically wrote the book on ANC back in the 1970s, and the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are more than worthy of their history.

Launch price: $449 / £449 / AU$699 (September 2025)

Prices to look for on Prime Day:
US: their lowest ever price of $379 has just been seen
UK: £399 is the lowest-seen deal in the UK (but keep your eyes peeled!)

3. The isolation chamber for picky audiophiles

Want class-leading sound as well as near-class-leading ANC? You've really got to give the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 your complete and undivided attention, as we said in our five-star Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 review.

When I want a wireless listen that's as close to a wired listen as I've ever heard, with very good noise-cancellation performance to boot, I go for these. Also, these are by far the best-looking headphones I've ever worn. They're a classy, timeless set of over-ears and no mistake — but on this, they also launched in September 2025, like the Bose option above.

The B&W are the priciest set of headphones within what is hardly a bargain bucket roundup, I grant you — but again, I have ruthlessly selected my favorite headphones for this missive. They are the only sets of cans I'd advise splurging on this Prime Day, because I can personally vouch for their talents.

Honestly, you do tend to get what you pay for in audio — and here you're getting aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless compatibility, with the option for wired USB-C listening as well. However you choose to listen, I could wax lyrical on the sound quality for days. Just be careful when wearing them on public transport, because I've missed my stop more times than I'd care to admit while wearing these headphones.

Launch price: $799 / £629 (September 2025)

Price to look for on Prime Day:
US: Anything less that $749 (or 6% off) would make for a new lowest-seen price
UK: Anything under £629 would be a new lowest-seen fee (so stay tuned!)

Audio-lovers, Prime Day — and in fact any massive sales event — is always a savvy time to buy. But right now I think we need good quality portable music in our lives more than ever. And thankfully, I can help you make it affordable too, as Prime Day is still on. Make haste though, because at midnight it vanishes like Cinders' coach and horsemen!

How to read this list: the headphones and earbuds I'm recommending here are all really good quality, and all come with a TR review in which we've rated the product highly. Also, the discounts are either a new lowest-seen price, or a return to the lowest asking fee we've ever seen.

Essentially, I've been doing this full-time since 2019 and if I don't love the product and the saving, I won't list it here. OK? I won't make an assumption based on previous form and list the deal anyway — that's not good advice. I test headphones all day every day, so I know great sound, I know the market, and I know a fantastic deal when I see it. I know it's easy to fall for a deal just because of the huge discount. You won't find such deals here, unless I've tested the product myself.

• Shop more Prime Day deals at Amazon US
• Shop more Prime Day deals at Amazon UK

One quick thing: please don't read this roundup, click through to Amazon or another one of the big retailers, take a left (or a right, in fact) and buy a set of buds or cans that do not feature here — and that neither myself nor the wider TechRadar team has mentioned or reviewed. Or, if you do, just don't comment here and compel me to recommend what you just bought retrospectively, because unfortunately I probably won't do that.

These deals (and only these deals) are the ones I've reviewed and tested. And that's why I'm recommending them to you this Prime Day. Think this roundup's a little short? That's because my standards are high, friends…

The best Amazon Prime Day headphones / earbuds deals still live, US

The best Amazon Prime Day headphones / earbuds deals still live, UK

When is Prime Day 2026?

Amazon has officially confirmed that Prime Day 2026 will run from June 23 to Jun 26, extending the event to four full days for only the second time (last year, the event took place in July but for the same amount of days). It gives shoppers a full 96 hours to take advantage of exclusive discounts, which is twice as long as the traditional 48-hour format we typically see for most sales events

For those hunting headphone deals, it's worth noting that new offers will go live at midnight PDT in the US and midnight GMT in the UK. Each day will likely bring a fresh wave of limited-time lightning deals, and we’re expecting to see solid discounts on everything from premium noise-canceling models to budget-friendly earbuds.

Do you need Amazon Prime to buy Prime Day headphone deals?

Simply put, yes. An Amazon Prime membership is required to take full advantage of Prime Day headphone deals, although some later deals will be available to all. While there are often listings open to everybody on Prime Day, the best deals are usually reserved for prime members only. If you're not a member, don't worry – you can sign up for a free 30-day trial. That will give you access to all the offers – and you can cancel the trial at any time within 30 days.

We also typically see plenty of other retailers offering competing Prime Day headphone deals. In the US, Best Buy and Walmart often price match some of the record-low prices on big-ticket items, and in the UK, Currys often honors price matches from Amazon as well.

Do not adjust your screens; it's not actually Amazon Prime Day proper yet — that'll happen at the stroke of midnight tonight. But that doesn't mean Amazon hasn't gone full-on in early doors, does it?

• Browse the full Amazon Prime Day sale

The deal I need you to know about somehow (I don't make the rules, OK?) concerns the Apple AirPods Max 2. Yes, the newest, just-released-in-March-2026 set. The set with the new colorways and, most importantly, the H2 chip, which means access to Apple Intelligence, better ANC, Conversation Awareness, Live Translation and the Camera Remote (but that's just for starters).

Right now, they've dropped to an all-new low of $399 (was $549) at Amazon, and quite frankly, they're so much better than that money. I reviewed them myself (and I review — and train people on how to review — headphones for a living, as TR's audio editor), and they're the real deal.

Today's best AirPods Max 2 deal

Let me tell you one thing about these headphones: I test headphones as part of my day-to-day, five days a week, and have done so since 2019. These particular headphones are now the ones I reach for over all others, including those from Bose and Sony.

And I wasn't always an Apple fangirl. In fact, when the Cupertino giant unveiled Apple Music Lossless and Hi-Res Lossless for free back in 2021, as part of your Apple Music subscription, I may have largely dismissed Apple's musical headgear — and for some time after. Why? Because it took four more years for the Cupertino giant to work out how to get its Lossless music standard into its own flagship headphones.

But that has all changed now, because you can listen wirelessly or hook them up via USB-C for Lossless playback. OK, the Max 2's looks may not be so different to the 2020 originals, but that extra computational wizardry and H2 chipset power has made the noise-cancellation a lot better than before — and the noise-nixing in the originals was no slouch.

I find the Live Translation feature much more useful than I'd thought it would be (I tried it on a recent trip to Spain), and the new Camera Remote function, where you use the digital crown to snap an iPhone picture, is excellent. I also love Conversation Awareness, which locks in quicker than I've experienced in other cans that offer a similar feature.

In conclusion, the best Prime Day deal for me already landed, and I won't be changing my mind(!) but if you'd like to look at a few other early deals already live now, I'll link a couple below. Stick with me, I won't let you down this Prime Day!

Other early Prime Day headphones and earbuds deals live now

More Prime Day deals

• Amazon Devices: Fire Sticks & Echo from $18
• Amazon Haul: viral gadgets, tech & appliances from $1.99
• Apple: MacBooks, AirPods & AirTags from $29
• Beauty: 50% off toothbrushes & hair tools
• Cheap TVs: smart TVs from $69.99
• Garden: tools, mowers, planters from $24.99
• Headphones: 50% off Beats, Bose & Samsung
• Laptops: Apple, HP & Dell from $199
• Mattresses: Sealy, Serta & more from $186
• Patio: outdoor furniture, rugs & decor from $19.99
• Sports: 50% off fitness gear, treadmills & clothing
• Vacuums: Dyson, Shark & Bissell from $34

• Tribit's sister company, iClever, has released child-specific active noise cancelling headphones
• They won the 2026 Red Dot Design Award for their child-centered design
• They're also the first kids' cans to gain a notable hearing care certification

As a conscientious parent, you want the best for your children: you want to nurture in them a love of music, entertainment and eduction. But you also know that little ears are delicate ears. And when they've got headphones on, you can't always be there to monitor loudness levels.

According to iClever, sister company of audio specialist Tribit (which has earned many positive reviews from us for its bargain audio gear), we're right to be concerned. iClever states that nearly a billion people worldwide are at risk of hearing loss — much of it preventable.

Furthermore, more than 430 million people, including 34 million children, already live with disabling hearing loss. That's all attributed to a study carried out by the World Health Organization entitled 'Hearing Loss & Deafness Report'.

So what can you do? The company hopes that its new iClever QuietShield Q950 ANC Kids Headphone will be a start. Yes, the name's a bit of a mouthful to say — try getting your youngest to memorize that one on the next long car journey — but these child-specific headphones are all-new. And they're already scooping up accolades.

iClever QuietShield Q950 ANC Headphones: what you need to know

The headphones have already won the coveted Red Dot Design Award 2026 for their child-centric design, which features a multi-position headband adjustment and 90-degree rotating ear cups specifically designed for growing youngsters, breathable protein-leather ear cushions, large-button controls, a Transparency mode for safer everyday listening, plus extra-durable construction for travel, school, and probably to withstand squabbling over them with siblings and friends in the car.

And there's another big claim: iClever tells us that Q950 reduces up to 94.75% of "cabin noise energy" on flights, with noise cancellation improved by 14.7% versus the company's previous headphones for children, the BTH20.

The Q950 are the first TÜV Hearing Care Certified children's headphones, a certification that recognizes the headphones' safer listening experience "designed around developing ears".

The key stat here is their 80dBA safe-volume limit (based on the WHO's recommendation), but there's also Hybrid ANC (up to 35dB noise reduction), a Transparency mode, wear detection, Bluetooth audio sharing, plus up to 60 hours of battery life (or 35 hours with ANC deployed).

How much is all of this going to cost? iClever lists an official release date of July 2, alongside an MSRP of $69.99 with early-bird offer of $54.99 (so around £42 or AU$79) which seems little money to offer your little ones a safer listen overall.

Sennheiser Momentum 5: two-minute review

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 are noise-cancelling headphones with lossless connectivity, spatial audio, and a promised battery life of 57 hours of battery life per charge with ANC engaged. They also offer heaps of sound personalization features, a smooth sliding scale between 100% noise cancelling and 100% transparent and customizable Sound Zones that allow you to automatically apply sound profiles and ANC settings when you enter predefined locations.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5’s look is clean overall, even if it’s not that adventurous a design, with a build mostly fashioned from plastic with metal highlights. The cushioned headband and faux leather ear cups do feel super comfortable, although I did find the slight ridge inside the cup made my ear to ache during long listening sessions. Otherwise though, they fit well and feel solidly built.

I’ve got to be honest though: when it comes to performance, I found the Sennheiser Momentum 5’s sound out of the box to be on the disappointing side, compared to the best headphones out there. Bass feels decent enough — I dropped Listen by Pola & Bryson & goddard. and not only did that distorted, snarling bass sound substantial, but the synths felt well rounded and there’s some good sub there, especially if you slip the headphones Bass Boost on.

However, when it comes to higher frequencies, the Momentum 5 too often felt like they were pulling punches. Rosewood by Bonobo sounded unusually muffled in the higher mids, with the usually punchy percussion and hats sounding really inert to me. Meanwhile, treble is similarly milquetoast, with the rhythmic static loops of The Gloaming by Radiohead lacking the crispness I’d expect and feeling unnecessarily rolled off.

Fortunately, this is something you can fix, thanks to the Momentum 5’s powerful EQ tools. There are eight EQ presets to choose from, including everything from Rock to Hip-Hop, but I found I was able to get far better results out of whipping up my own tunings.

Both Sound Check presets and Sound Personalization started the same way, allowing me to pick my favorite tweak by listening to three alternative tunings five times. Where they diverge is how you tweak the resultant profile, with the former letting you adjust it based on an eight-band EQ and the latter a matrix that lets you independently boost or duck bass and treble. With the latter I was able to get pretty great sound out of the Momentum 5, feeling warm in the low end while feeling crisp and dynamic in the high end — I just wish it didn’t require so much tweaking to get the Momentum 5 to sound their best.

On the plus side, the Momentum 5 offer an excellent soundstage. They give real breadth even to stereo mixes, with each instrument meticulously well positioned in the stereo field. And the headphones deftly handle Dolby Atmos — don’t get me wrong, some masters still feel a little hollow in this kind of spatial format, but Sennheiser’s cans do a fine job of situation each element in the space around you.

Speaking of being surrounded by sound, another area the Momentum 5 didn’t quite live up to my expectations was their noise cancelling. Now, not every set of headphones can quite live up to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones’ commotion-quashing capabilities but I found Sennheiser’s often struggled to fully hush everyday conversation or completely stifle traffic noise. Sadly, they can’t compete with much of the market on this front.

Elsewhere, though, the Momentum 5’s features are more impressive. Connectivity is strong — they’re Bluetooth 6 ready, with the standard due to to come to the headphones in a future update, and they offer aptX Lossless, which means those with compatible phones can effectively stream CD quality sound on the go. And Sennheiser's Sound Zones is also a fun feature, allowing you to set the Momentum 5 to switch to certain EQ and ANC profiles automatically based on your location.

One last thing that warrants a special mention is the Momentum 5's battery life. While the Sony WH-1000XM6 offer a decent 30 hours and the AirPods Max 2 offer a pretty disappointing 20 hours with ANC on, Sennheiser's headphones blow right past them, offering up to 57 hours. This was consistent with my testing, meaning you can absolutely rely on these cans to last you days and days without needing a top up.

All told, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 are a solid set of noise-cancelling headphones, with some impressive features, long-lasting battery and spacious high-quality sound. But they’re also frustrating, as without certain missteps like their unbalanced default tuning and weaker ANC, they could be something truly remarkable. As they stand, they’re a good pair of headphones for their price, particularly once you’ve tailored their sound to your taste, but they won’t topple the best noise-cancelling headphones out there.

Sennheiser Momentum 5 review: price and availability

• Launched June 16, 2026
• List price of $399.95 / £329 / AU$749
• Available in Black, White, and Denim

Launched on June 16, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 are available now. They’re available for a list price of $399.99 / £329 / AU$749 — that definitely puts them in the higher-end bracket, although they’re obviously nowhere near as premium as the $549 / £499 / AU$999 AirPods Max 2 or the $649 / £550 / AU$999.95 Sony 1000X The Collexion.

They come in three colorways: Black, White, and Denim. Before you get too worried about having to match that last one to your outfit, don’t: it’s really just a dark indigo hue. All three colorways look decent enough to me, although I definitely think Sennheiser could have given us a little more choice here — at least one stand-out option like mauve or mint might have just helped provide an option for those that like to stand out from the crowd.

Sennheiser Momentum 5 review: specs

Sennheiser Momentum 5 review: features

• aptX Lossless compatible — but no LDAC or ALAC
• Versatile EQ & sound personalization
• Sound zones

First off, let’s take a look at what they’ve got going on under the hood. The Momentum 5 are rocking the same 42mm transducers as their predecessor — that’s a considerable step up compared to something like the Sony WH-1000XM6’s 30mm dynamic drivers and even an improvement over the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2’s 40mm. Hopefully that should mean the Momentum 5 can muster up more substantial bass and a broader soundstage.

Connectivity is very strong on the Momentum 5 too, especially if you’re listening from an aptX compatible device. Not only do they currently run Bluetooth 5.4, they’re Bluetooth 6.0 ready, with it due to arrive by a future firmware update. It’s compatible with AptX Lossless, which gives you access to near CD-level quality playback — although sadly not ALAC or LDAC, which means you won’t be enjoying lossless audio on your Apple or Samsung device.

The Momentum 5’s touch controls are easy enough to use and feel pretty intuitive. A single tap to play / pause, swiping forward and back to skip forward and back, up and down to increase / decrease the volume, each control is intuitive and easy to activate… in fact, possibly too easy to activate. As can often be the case with headphones that rely on touch control, it’s really easy to trigger functions on the Momentum 5 when you’re adjusting them or removing them from your head and I’d often pick them up from my desk and realize I’d already set them playing.

The touch controls aren’t the only way to control the Momentum 5 though. Once you’ve paired them with your phone, Sennheiser’s SmartControlPlus app gives you more granular control over many of the headphones settings. As well as switching Dolby Atmos content on and off, you can also use it to tailor noise cancelling to your preferred level — it offers a smooth slider that allows you to gradually shift from 100% ANC to 100% transparency, as well as offering a toggle to turn on Anti-Wind mode in ANC.

You can use one of eight EQ presets from Dance to Jazz or you can create your own using its eight-band EQ. More unique though is Sennheiser’s Sound Check EQ presets: basically it allows you to pick which you prefer out of multiple different profiles like an eyetest for your ears. After you’ve selected your preferred option five times, it shows you the resultant preset. This feels like a really neat idea, allowing people who aren’t au fait with tweaking audio frequencies to still create their own custom sound.

But even more flexible in my eyes is Sennheiser’s Sound Personalization feature, which has been carried over from the Sennheiser Momentum 4. It runs you through the same setup as the Sound Check EQ but rather than presenting you with a range of EQ bands to adjust after, it instead presents you with a matrix that allows you to independently boost or reduce the bass and treble frequencies to polish your own preferred sound profile. That feels nicely intuitive and seems far easier to tweak on the fly than a standard graphic equalizer.

Lastly, the inclusion of customizable Sound Zones isn’t unique to Sennheiser’s cans — for example, being offered by the last few generations of Sony’s WH-1000 line — but it still feels like a pretty neat feature. Being able to automatically set noise-cancelling to maximum when I hit the office, switch up to a bassier sound profile when I hit the gym or increase the transparency when I’m out of the house saves a lot of effort. While it’s not necessarily trailblazing, it’s useful and really helps to make the Momentum 5 feel very fully featured.

Finally, the Momentum 5’s battery life is seriously impressive, with Sennheiser claiming they’ll last you up to 57 hours with ANC enabled. To test out its claims, I set the Momentum 5 to play music continuously with ANC on at 50% volume for six hours, during which time their battery dropped just 10%. As a back of the envelope calculation, that would put their total life at 60 hours — even though battery discharge curves are rarely linear, 57 hours seems very credible to me.

All in all, the Momentum 5 has a very strong feature set. Perhaps none of them are truly groundbreaking but when taken together, they make these cans feel very well appointed and ensure that you’re getting a great user experience.

• Features score: 4.5 / 5

Sennheiser Momentum 5 review: sound quality

• Disappointing default tuning, with weak treble
• Impressive soundstage and Dolby Atmos
• Ineffectual ANC

As an audiophile, I’ve been a loyal user of Sennheiser’s headphones for years. A good part of the reason for this is that the brand’s cans are known for having a reliably balanced frequency balance, meaning that whether I’m listening to music or producing it, I’ve come to trust that Sennheiser headphones will give me a largely accurate picture of how recordings should sound.

In light of this, I’m a little surprised at how uneven I find the neutral tuning of the Sennheiser Momentum 5. I know preferences vary and some like more bass or more treble, say, but for me this goes beyond simple differences in taste. The default sound here feels like it has some actual deficits, which I find odd from a brand of Sennheiser’s pedigree.

Let’s focus on the most positive stuff first. Bass is pretty creditable here: for example, when listening to No Skin by Frameworks & Mild Minds, I found that the Momentum 5 gave its sustained bassline some wonderful warmth and while there wasn’t quite as much sub as you’ll get from the most premium headphones, it still felt dynamic and punchy enough, especially with the Momentum 5’s bass booster on.

Higher up in the spectrum though, things feel more unbalanced. Playing You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon, all of the elements are present and correct but feel slightly muffled — particularly the toms and the exuberant brass section feel slightly rolled off, with their upper-mid frequencies feeling like they’ve been sanded off. And this is even more noticeable in the treble range: in 236e jour by Marc Leclair: the bouncing, scrape-edged synths end up feeling far duller than they should, while the shuffling hats just lose a little of their cut through.

Now you can obviously go someway toward ameliorating this using EQ. While I found Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac to be pretty dull in places on the neutral tuning, with the vocals in particular feeling totally enfeebled, I was able to cast around in the EQ settings to improve it. The Rock preset, if anything, made the problem worse, making the sound even more baggy and focused around the middle. But creating a Sound Check EQ profile, I was able to crisp up the high-end a little and reintroduce some of the presence it had lost.

By far the best results I achieved though was when using Sennheiser’s Sound Personalization algorithm. After running through the five steps, sound already felt a little more balanced — but it was during fine tuning that I was able to add a bit more warmth to the bass and a soupçon more brightness to the treble. The difference was like having my ears syringed: Outside (Parra for Cuva Remix) by Henry Green suddenly sounded like the sustained bassline was more resonant and satisfying, while the snare and hats punctured through the mix far better.

So the Sennheiser Momentum 5 can absolutely sound strong for their price, if you’re prepared to put the work in. But I do find it a little frustrating that they require you to spend so much time redressing sonic missteps in their engineered sound when other headphones in this price bracket like the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 put their best foot forward with their default sound.

Once I’d found a sound profile I was happy with though, my experiences of the rest of the Sennheiser’s audio quality was far more positive.

For example, the audio feels very clear and expressive, even over lower quality connections. Even using the lossy AAC codec via Apple Music on my MacBook Pro and iPhone 16 Pro, the vocal, strings and piano of Wasting My Young Years by London Grammar shared the spotlight graciously, avoiding sounding over-compressed. But when listening to it using aptX Lossless via Tidal, it feels like there’s even more dynamic range, allowing far more space for that gorgeous vocal to rise up above the rest of the mix without smothering the rest of the instrumentation.

The Momentum 5 also have a really impressive soundstage, even compared to headphones like the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 that are known for their agile handling of mixes. When I listened to Recomposed by Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons: Spring 1 (2012) by Max Richter, Daniel Hope, Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin & André de Ridder, the way the stirring, dancing strings are spread out across the stereo field is stunning. It genuinely does feel a lot like being sat right in front with the orchestra pit spread out in front of you.

And this extends to their handling of Dolby Atmos mixes. For example, Blue Monday (2023 Digital Master) by New Order sounds appropriately immersive, with its drum rolls scattering around you and its riser-style FX before the final drop swirling a full 180 degrees. All in all, its spatial audio effect is probably even more pronounced than that of the AirPods Max, although the latter doesn’t succumb to the one shortcoming of the Momentum 5’s Atmos: a slight void that opens up in front of you, a not uncommon effect on some headphones when elements from a stereo mix are spatialized.

So the Momentum 5 do still have some serious talents when it comes to making noise. However, it’s a shame that they’re not as talented at its antithesis: nixing background sound. Their ANC can just about cope with typing noise or reducing my boiling kettle while I’m streaming content while cooking. But riding the bus home from work a few days ago, I was subjected to every detail of a conversation about the sex lives of some of my fellow passengers’ colleagues. C’mon, Momentum 5: you’re supposed to protect me from things like this.

This isn’t an isolated event either: I can often overhear fellow TechRadarian’s conversations in the office, even with noise cancelling dialed up to 100%. Even the AirPods Max, not known for their unimpeachable noise cancelling, recently totally saved me at a festival by silencing the enormous Funktion-One rig I was camped 100 feet from, whereas the Momentum 5 struggle with conversations some 50dB quieter.

• Sound quality score: 3.5 / 5

Sennheiser Momentum 5 review: design

• Refined if unadventurous looks
• Super-flat profile
• Wearing for long sessions made my ears ache

Unlike the huge redesign from the Sennheiser Momentum 3 to the Momentum 4, there’s not been a massive revolution when it comes to the Momentum 5’s looks. The oval-shaped groove that ran around the exterior side of the earcups has been banished, giving them a cleaner look. Meanwhile, Sennheiser’s logo has been updated with a circular badge, while the grilles covering the ANC mics have been picked out in metal. But if you’ve spent any time with the Momentum 4, you largely know what to expect here.

Broadly speaking, I really like the look of the Momentum 5. Don’t get me wrong: they’re not going to win any prizes for originality, having a slight whiff of Sony’s WH-1000XM6 about them. But this is a common trope in the headphones space — if you disagree with me, see how you get on with our spot the difference between the Sonos Ace and the Sony 1000X The Collexion. And the Momentum 5 still have the most refined look Sennheiser has given its wireless headphones to date, so I’m definitely here for it.

Both the padded faux leather ear cups and cushioned headband feel pleasantly soft, while they have sufficient clamping force that they felt stable on my head without applying excessive pressure. Adjusting their fit is also super easy, even while they’re on your head — their arms extend smoothly and can cater for a wide range of head sizes, whether you’re more new potato or pumpkin-headed.

However, an ongoing issue I have with Sennheiser’s headphones is that they tend to make my ear cartilage ache during extended wear, thanks to odd lumps on the inside of the earcup, and the Momentum 5 are no different. None of the mid-range headphones from other brands I’ve used over the last five years have suffered from this issue, so it does make me wonder why Sennheiser continues to stick weird ridges and hard lumps on the inside of its cans.

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with headphone cases. They seem to veer wildly between the neat — the Sony WH1000XM6’s handy magnetic holder — and the ridiculous — the AirPods Max’s ludicrous handbag. So when I say I’m a big fan of the Momentum 5’s case, know that’s high praise indeed.

Like the AirPods Max, the Momentum 5 don’t so much fold up as fold flat, but, thanks to the earcups’ low profile, that is really rather flat indeed. As a result, even though they don’t concertina up into a compact package, their case has a very slim profile, making it much easier to slip alongside your laptop and tablet in your bag. It doesn’t have loads of padding, so you might not want to be slinging your bag around like it contains a bunch of bricks, but the case should protect your headphones from most damage.

• Design score: 4 / 5

Should I buy the Sennheiser Momentum 5?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Sennheiser Momentum 5 review: also consider

How I tested the Sennheiser Momentum 5

• Tested over two weeks
• Tried them out with a wide range of genres
• Tested different bit-rates and listened to multiple Dolby Atmos mixes

I tested the Sennheiser Momentum 5 over the course of several weeks. When it comes to sound quality, I made sure to test them out with a range of different quality streams, from aptX Lossless from Tidal to AAC from Apple Music. To get a sense of how they performed with a wide variety of frequencies, I made sure to try them out with a wide variety of genres across the TechRadar testing playlist and my own go-to testing tracks, whether that’s rock, EDM or classical.

To try out the Momentum 5’s features, I spent a lot of time trying out different EQ and sound personalization profiles with different artists. I assessed Dolby Atmos performance by listening to a variety of Spatial Audio tunes from Apple Music, and I tested their noise cancelling in a range of settings, from TechRadar’s chatty offices to walks along busy roads. Finally, I tested their battery by playing music constantly with ANC on for 6 hours and using how much battery they lost to extrapolate how long they could last.

In terms of personal experience, I’ve spent years assessing the performance of audio gadgets, with a particular focus on headphones and speakers. On top of this, I produce music in my free time, which has given me a keen understanding of balancing frequencies and how to assess the dynamic performance of audio.

• Read more about how we test
• First reviewed: June 2026

When I finish testing a gadget (especially headphones, sadly), usually the kit gets returned to the company or put on a 'reference shelf' deep within TechRadar headquarters to gather dust. But occasionally I get to keep using a review sample until someone checks the shelf, and that's the case with these cans. They were released earlier in the year and for this money, they're an outright steal.

After writing our Soundcore Space 2 review and giving the set a highly-commended four-star review overall, I've found myself returning to these noise-cancelling over-ears ever since. That's been especially true of late, after I finished testing the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro in-ears and was fully in Anker mode (Soundcore is an Anker sub-brand).

I was gearing up to write an article recommending the Space 2 over Prime Day, until I discovered that they're already enjoying £20 off in the UK.

• See all early Prime Day deals at Amazon UK

I started seriously using the Soundcore Space 2 again when some earbuds I was testing proved incredibly unreliable at sticking in my ears; I wanted something that would stay on my head when I was on walks without me having to hold them there.

More so than most over-ears, these things are really comfortable. They're soft, so ear ache is out of the question. And they're light, too. This also helps when I want to fold them into my bag, or wear them around my neck.

I really like the look too. They're a bit more interesting than your generic over-ears.

In my review, I was a little critical of the sound quality, but now that I'm not using the Space 2 for an analysis, I have to say that I really don't mind it as much. And the noise cancellation for the money is outstanding.

I also criticized the price hike over their predecessors, and that's where a Prime Day discount is a great thing. This lower price is closer to the Soundcore Space One release price, thereby eradicating one of the 'Cons' from my review.

There will undoubtedly be plenty of headphone discounts over Prime Day, and I can't say that this Space 2 one will be the absolute best. But it's here early, on a pair of headphones I really like. My advice? You could do a lot worse.

More Early Amazon Prime Day deals — quick links

• Amazon Prime: sign up for a 30-day free trial
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• Amazon Haul: up to 30% off
• Apple: AirPods Pro 3 for a record-low price
• Appliances: up to 45% off Ninja, Tefal & Sage
• Beauty: up to 60% off Philips & Oral-B
• Essentials: household goods from under £10
• Fashion: up to 50% off
• Father's Day: up to 50% off gifts & drinks
• Headphones: up to 50% off
• Laptops: from £149.99
• Tablets: Samsung & Lenovo from £125
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• Vacuums: up to 40% off Eufy & Roborock
• Wearables: Garmin & Huawei from £36.99

OneOdio Studio Max 2: Two-minute review

Despite the number in the name, I’ve taken to considering the OneOdio Studio Max 2 to be more like a ‘pro’ version of the originals rather than a completely new pair of headphones. I’ve been testing them for several weeks, and the experience doesn’t feel hugely changed (even though the price is).

The originals upon which they are based were released in early 2025, and after I finished my review, I found myself using them daily. They’re always plugged into my guitar amp or keyboard for when I want to do some music practice; a few select features made them uniquely handy for making music.

The OneOdio Studio Max 2 are, mostly, a very similar proposition. They’re not designed for audiophiles so much as DJs, studio musicians and other music-makers — but they have enough of a consumer-friendly bent that they’re not just for the studio. If you’re an amateur musician or music producer, and want cans for the task in hand but also for general use, you’re the target audience.

Like their predecessors, I wouldn’t strongly recommend these for general use, though. They’re big and chunky, so I felt self-conscious wearing them in public, and the fit was unreliable, so they shook when I was walking. On top of that, the audio quality is pretty poor, and you won’t get noise cancellation. There’s a reason the old pair stayed tethered to my instruments.

That sounds like a deluge of criticism, and an odd one given the score above, but the Studio Max justify themselves with their tools for professionals or music creators.

These puppies connect to other devices in four ways: there’s both a 3.5mm jack and a 6.35mm one, so you’ve got more cable versatility than most other cans. Of course, you’ve got Bluetooth, but there’s also an audio transmitter included in the box that can connect to any analog source.

With the transmitter, you can get 9ms latency between the headphones and audio source. This is OneOdio’s pitch for why they’re great DJ headphones — with no transmission delay, you won't miss your bass-dropping cue. OneOdio isn't the only brand to offer this feature, but crucially, its headphones are the cheapest to do so.

Upgrades to this transmitter also form the main upgrades over the original Studio Max. The latency has been halved from 20ms and the bitrate has been increased, but the transmission distance has been halved to 10m. Given that the price has increased, though, it might not be a tempting upgrade for many buyers of the original.

For music producers or performers, the foldable form factor is appreciated, as is the massive 120-hour battery life over Bluetooth (and the battery life when using the transmitter has been doubled to 50 hours in this model). I can see it being particularly useful for touring musicians for this reason, who can’t charge regularly — although IEMs will still rule supreme for that.

More so than most headphones I test, the OneOdio Studio Max 2 are situational, and niche. I wouldn’t recommend them to people on the market for the best headphones for general use, nor would I suggest professionals buy them over specially-designed studio kit.

But there’s a small overlap in the Venn Diagram between those groups, in which the cans may find appreciative buyers. That's included me, as a dedicated user of the original model — but check the price of the original OneOdio Studio Max 1 before you buy, though, because if it gets price drops, it might be the better-value buy.

OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: Price and release date

• Released in May 2026
• They sell for $189 / £179 (about AU$360)
• Come with carry case as well as cables and transmitter

The OneOdio Studio Max 2 were unveiled on May 11, 2026 — that’s a year and three months on from the release of their predecessors.

The official price of the Studio Max 2 is $189 / £179 (about AU$360, but they don’t seem to have enjoyed an Australian release at the time of writing).

In the box you get the headphones, transmitter, various cables (loads of cables) and a handy carry case. It’s the complete package, and I’ve never felt the need to root around in my drawers for other wires.

For context, the original Studio Max released for $169 / £135 / AU$275, so there’s been a price hike here, which varies quite a bit by region.

OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: Specs

OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: Features

• No noise cancellation, and basic phone app
• Massive 120-hour battery over Bluetooth
• Many connection options including low-latency transmitter

Let’s address the elephant in the room, or lack thereof: there are some features missing here, which some music listeners might miss. There’s no active noise cancellation, for example, and the app is quite barebones. It has three EQ presets (normal, monitoring and bass), and a 10-band custom mode, as well as a few extras such as wear reminders, volume limiters, and a way to pan the sound to the left or right ear cup only.

What you do get is pretty rocking though. Take the battery life: 120 hours equates to five straight days of music playback. No, not five hours. Five days. That figure matches the original pair, and I can’t name another option which lasts that long.

Another key feature is the range of connection options. Naturally, you can connect them via their 3.5mm port, or the 6.35mm jack so they can connect to professional audio kit easily. The Studio Max 2 support Bluetooth 6.0, allowing for more reliable wireless connection than the old pair.

But perhaps the key selling point here is the transmitter, which comes included in the box. Using OneOdio’s RapidWill+ 3.0 technology, this transmitter lets you cut the response time between your source and the Studio Max 2 to just 9ms. It uses 2.4GHz connectivity, and all you need to do is plug it into your output device, and your headphones can pick it up.

All the cables you need are included in the box, so it's a plug-and-play style situation. The transmitter needs to be charged via USB-C, and lasts for 50 hours per charge.

• Features score: 4 / 5

OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: Sound quality

• Uses 45mm drivers
• Music is muffled and tinny
• EQ doesn't help fix things

OneOdio has used a 45mm driver in each Studio Max 2 cup, and the headphones are certified for Hi-Res Audio and Hi-Res Audio Wireless, with LDAC compatibility too. Unfortunately it's not quite the recipe for success it would appear to be on first glance.

The Max 2 sound muddy and muffled, with rumbly and ill-defined bass stomping over over lines of a song. Any semblance of a soundstage is forgotten, instead presenting your music as one amorphous sonic boulder.

Glorious by The Hoosiers is presented like a confused mush of synths, and the bass in Charlie Mars' She Ain't Coming Back veers between drowning out everything else, and being inaudible.

They also offer a sound that's tinnier than anything else at this price point, with noticeably compressed hi-hats and distorted guitars that really shouldn't be distorted. I'd usually cite a song here as an example, but you can basically insert any song that has instruments here.

Usually I'd turn to an equalizer to try to fix problems like this, but you've got three options: the default, a Bass Mode (that's not going to fix the problem), a custom EQ and Monitoring Mode. Those latter two both gave music a crunchier feel, so I stayed far away.

It's worth noting that criticism I levelled here, I also put against the Studio Max 1. As far as I can tell, the sound hasn't changed much.

• Sound quality: 2.5 / 5

OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: Design

• Industrial look
• Rotatable cups and foldable arms
• Plenty of ports and dials

Don’t buy the Studio Max 2 if you’re looking for svelte, lightweight or fashionable over-ear headphones. They’re bulky and large, with a design that’s quite industrial. You’ve seen the pictures, you know what they look like, and I felt self-conscious wearing them outside the house.

The cups and headband are pretty soft, yet they weren't too comfy to wear, perhaps because of their 353g weight. At least they're good at at catering for different shapes of head, thanks to how versatile they are: the cups rotate around different angles. This also makes them easily-foldable for bags, and handy to form for review pictures.

However, and likely as a natural side-effect of the size, they didn't stick in place reliably. If I was walking, they'd sway a tiny bit, and I imagine they'll wobble if you're an active DJ enjoying your own set.

Adorning each Studio Max 2 cup is a range of buttons and ports. The left cup has a 6.35mm port, while on the right you're getting volume up, volume down and power buttons, a 3.5mm jack, a slider to toggle between Bluetooth and ultra-low latency, and a USB-C port for charging too.

Two things to point out that images don't convey. Firstly, these things creak quite a bit; I'm used to this being a symptom of cheap plastic used in the design, but it doesn't feel like the case here. I think the many moving parts are to blame. Secondly, the back of the cups are grooved to resemble vinyl records; a neat touch, but if my previous pair are any indication, they can be huge dust magnets.

• Design score: 3 / 5

OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: Value

• Too expensive to be consumer cans
• Value for money if you need transmitter

If you’re looking at the OneOdio Studio Max 2 as consumer-friendly headphones, it’s hard to argue that they offer you good value for money. There are great cans for music fans at a third of the price — from OneOdio itself, as well as other brands.

That’s also true if you’re looking for general studio headphones, for that matter.

What you’re paying for is the transmitter, to allow for low-latency wireless music from any source, including instruments. If you need a gadget like it, the Studio Max 2 undercuts its rivals — if not, then these aren’t the cans for you.

• Value: 3.5 / 5

Should I buy the OneOdio Studio Max 2?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

OneOdio Studio Max 2 review: Also consider

How I tested the OneOdio Studio Max 2

• Tested for one month
• Tested alongside PC, guitar amp, synth, smartphone
• Used all connection options

I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 for roughly a month before writing this review.

During the testing process, they were connected to a wide variety of devices including my guitar amp, my keyboard, my PC and my smartphone. Across this board, I used every connection option possible.

Mostly, the testing was done for music playback, but I also used it for a variety of other tasks including audio mixing, video editing, playing my own music and, for one weekend, audio recording alongside a field recorder and boom mic.

I've been reviewing gadgets for TechRadar since early 2019, and in that time have tested plenty of audio products including the original Studio Max 1 (the number is in the name, I've not added it!).

• First reviewed in May 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

• Upcoming Beats headphones show up, again
• They have appeared around neck of World Cup player, again
• Fans are trying to come to terms with that color

When currently-unannounced Beats headphones were spotted in social media posts from Spain player Lamine Yamal ahead of the 2026 World Cup, I said "there's a good chance we'll see more of them". Well, I called it, because it happened again.

A series of Instagram posts from South Korea midfielder Lee Kang-in, posted to celebrate the team's 2-1 victory over Czechia in its first match of the tournament, gives pride of place to the same Beats headphones as we saw before.

This time though, instead of a rose hue, they come in white and... a neon yellow I'll politely not refer to as 'Sourz vomit', although it looks like the result of one too many alcopops. How to describe it other than 'slime' or 'puke' though?

I know what you're thinking: maybe they gave it to Lee to match his team's colors? Nope, South Korea plays in red and black, with an occasional violet-slash-lavender away kit for the 2026 World Cup.

Some commentators are using this peculiar color combination as evidence that the cans will have replaceable cups, clearly hoping that Beats will let them ditch the pads for something else, but that feels like grasping at straws.

There's no actual evidence of this, and the faint hint of a yellow headband behind Lee's neck suggests that these are just two-tone cans, instead of it being a choice on his part.

The vantage gives us a better look at the rounded build of these new cans, which swaps out the noughties-chic of Beats' previous cans with a CMF Headphone-looking tiered build. Beyond the choice color options, they actually look pretty suave.

The most appealing part of the redesign to me is the band, which looks much thinner than before, and circular, so it'll potentially be much more comfortable to wear. We'll have to see, but a launch will likely come hot on the heels of this World Cup catwalk.

Has anyone outside of a World Cup squad used them yet?

Just like when we saw them alongside Lamine Yamal, Lee Kang-in doesn't get snapped actually using the new Beats headphones, although he does keep them closer to his person.

While Yamal kept them at arms' length, hooking them to his bag and only being photographed with them around his neck once, Lee has them around his neck several times.

Neither of these soccer players has been seen actually using the new Beats headphones. Maybe owning, but not actually using, headphones is the fashionable thing to do. Or maybe they saw our critical Beats Solo 4 review and want to keep the new pair at arms' length.

It's unlikely that Apple has chosen two specific players out of hundreds to give its headphones to, so as the group stages of the World Cup progress, we'll probably see more sightings of the Beats.

We've glimpsed pink, and white-yellow, and hopefully we'll see a few more color options show up.

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro: Two-minute review

Anker's Soundcore sub-brand may not have a reputation for releasing the best earbuds that everyone raves about, but they tend to be solid pieces of kit. We gave the Soundcore Liberty 5 (yes, take care, because that's not these — and there's also a Pro Max to swerve in favor of these) a 3.5-star score, and that tends to be par for the course. Until now, that is.

With the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro, there's been a change: it really feels like the brand is coming into its own, and it knows what buyers really want.

These are incredibly feature-stuffed headphones, with an app that'll boggle your mind given how many tools it offers. And they're all useful too: the ANC is very good, the listening test is handy and the array of array of little extras is impressive.

Particularly special is the quiet calling feature, so people you're speaking to on the phone can't hear what's going on around you. I hear many brands boast about their buds’ quiet call quality, with algorithms and microphones designed to wipe background sound from your voice in calls. Most of the time it’s bluff and bluster, but the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro are the real deal.

I know this because, part-way through the review process, my mother called me while I was in a busy coffee shop. I apologized for the pop music being blasted over the speakers – I could barely hear myself think for Outkast’s Hey Ya! – and she asked me what music I was talking about. She’d have had no idea I was in a noisy space, had it not been for my telling her. If two thumbs up from my mom isn’t a glowing endorsement of tech, I don’t know what is.

I'd be remiss not to mention the Soundcore's fit too. The buds are nice and lightweight, with a ridge to help them lock in your ear. I never had any fit problems with them, and they stayed in place during runs and workouts.

What about the sound? The buds offer warm, bass-heavy music that'll please people who like thumping heavy rhythms. The audio quality won't endear the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro to audiophiles (do wireless earbuds at this level ever excite audiophiles?) but nevertheless it isn't at all bad. Sound quality may not be the highlight of these buds, but I still enjoyed listening to them during my testing.

My main gripes with the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro bypass the earpieces and their talents and really only concern the case. It has a small touchscreen strip, but it doesn't do enough to justify its existence (nor is it responsive enough for that). And the case is bigger than it should be as a result; I would've loved to see it lose the strip and shrink a little.

At least it's not the Liberty 5 Pro Max, with a giant case and big touchscreen. I tested that too, and you can read more about it later, but it's decidedly more of a professional-targeted device. Most buyers looking for some great earbuds would do better with these Pro-only earbuds: they're cheaper and you're only missing a few features — ones I think you may not use anyway.

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro review: Price and release date

• Released on May 21, 2026
• They sell for $169.99 / £149.99 (about AU$300)
• Sitting between Liberty 5, and Liberty 5 Pro Max

The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro were announced alongside a slew of other Anker products at the brand’s annual Anker Day, on May 21, 2026.

You can pick them up for $169.99 / £149.99 (about AU$300), so unlike many of the brand’s other pairs of earbuds, they’ve crept over the line: these aren’t budget buds, rather solidly mid-range ones. For a little context, the non-Pro model launched for $129 / £99 / AU$169, but went on sale a year prior, so have seen some discounts.

They launched alongside the Liberty 5 Pro Max, which sell for a fair bit more: $229.99 / £199.99 (roughly AU$400). We’ll get into these a little later; it’s best to treat them as a ‘Pro’ model to the Liberty 5 Pro (despite that being a little confusing), with a few extra tools for professionals, but no major advantage.

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro review: Specs

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro review: Features

• Impressive noise cancellation and clear calling
• Middling battery life, at 6.5 hours
• Absolutely loads of features via app

In the introduction to this review, I already waxed lyrical about the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro's quiet call tools. Suffice to say, it's just as impressive as it was when you read about it a few minutes ago: a real stand-out feature of the buds.

Quiet calls is one of the many benefits brought from the use of Anker’s Thus chip, with the brand’s decision to home-brew its own internals, and thus get to design its software and hardware in tandem, paying dividends.

Another example is noise cancellation, as the Liberty 5 Pro has some of the best I’ve used in a set of earbuds at its price point. It is able to eradicate the low, rumbling background hum of life, and drastically reduce louder sounds too — it even took a big chunk out of my coffee shop’s streaming of Hey Ya!.

In theory, battery life is another department that should benefit from Thus, and Anker puts the listening time per bud, with ANC on, at 6.5 hours. From my own testing, that’s an optimistic figure — my own listening time was a little south of that mark. The same is true with the overall case battery life, which Anker states as 28 hours. Don’t get me wrong: the battery life here is fine, but it’s nothing to write home about either.

If that sounds like a nice little haul of features already, just wait until you download the Soundcore app. If my editor didn’t think this section was too long already, just wait until we list what else you get with the buds.

This has all the basics: the ability to change between noise cancelling modes, customizable touch controls, Dolby Atmos, EQ presets, multi-point connection, fit tests, find-my earbuds, and an eight-band custom equalizer.

But you get a whole lot more: there's a listening test for custom EQ, a load of ambient soundscapes and listening modes, and even a built-in chat-bot called Anka which can give you suggestions for settings to change. There's a lot going on.

If anything, the app's a little confusingly laid out. If you select your earbuds, where most apps would put all the settings, you can only see a few. To find more, you need to press a little Settings cog which is easy to miss. And for many more options, you have to back out all the way to the main menu.

• Features score: 4.5/5

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro review: Design

• Kidney bean-shaped bud with tip and fin
• Reliable in-ear fit
• Touchscreen-toting case is a little bulky

Anker has opted for a kidney bean-shaped look for the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro earbuds; they bring to mind Samsung’s bean buds, but with a tip that you can use to put them in your ear. You can pick them up in blue, pink, white or black, and the buds and case come in the same hue.

Each earbud weighs 7g, is made of a solid-feeling plastic, and the other design feature of note is a little wing at the top to keep them locked in your ear. To be clear, the fit is much better than those older Samsung buds. That little wing works magically, and I took them to the gym and on countless runs without any inkling of them falling out.

The buds are IP55 protected, which means they’re protected from dust and low-pressure water jets (like rain or sweat) but aren’t suitable for swimming. You get touch controls on each bud, but you need to tap multiple times to achieve anything, and I found them unreliable for multi-tap commands.

Now onto the case; the 0.96-inch display on the front isn’t as much as selling point here as the Pro Max’s larger one is, but it’s not as much of a gimmick as to put off people who aren’t interested.

It sort of makes the case look like a very small '90s alarm clock. You can use its screen to quickly check the charge of the buds and enabled certain features; I found it pretty unresponsive and gave up using it for music control quite quickly, but perhaps a more patient user could persevere. I can see the quick access to EQ presets being pretty handy for certain people.

Due to its touchscreen, the Liberty 5 Pro's case is a little larger than most rivals', even if at 70g it's not unduly heavy. I found it a little on the large side to slip into my pocket; not perfect for people who like a tiny case. The sliding mechanism to reveal the buds felt quick and easy, but I'm curious about how long it'd lasting in the long term. Even over several weeks of using the buds, the sliding plane started to feel a little wobbly.

• Design score: 4/5

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro review: Sound quality

• Using 45mm drivers
• Music is muffled, and tinny
• EQ doesn't help

Anker has put 9.2mm drivers in the Liberty 5 Pro Max, which I'm inclined to believe are the same pieces of kit that it used in the non-Pro buds. As with those other models, these aren't audiophile earbuds — the sound is way too warm for that — and instead they give the people what they want.

That's to say, they're bass-heavy and energetic buds, focused more on snappy lower frequencies and tender higher ones than an objectively natural, integrated hi-fi sound. Given how commonly this kind of sound profile is used in affordable and mid-range buds, I'm inclined to say it's popular, and Soundcore's done a great job hitting that target.

If you like lower-end clout in your sound, you'll be happy here. Any genre I tried, from rock to pop to dance, fared well. It was even solid for listening to genres that don't revel in excess bass, like classical, acoustic and jazz.

Bass injection is clearly the name of the game here, but for the most part, trebles and mids are just as forceful, offering an enjoyable amount of detail. Shane Smith & the Saints' Coast has a lovely delicate timbre in the acoustic guitar which you often miss, and some lovely harmonies in Last Sunrise In The Wasteland by At The End Of Times, Nothing came to the fore.

I'm not going to claim that these buds are perfect. At lower volumes, the Liberty 5 Pro lose trebles and mids at a disproportionate rate.

But the real 'problem' will likely come from the sound being divisive. The Liberty 5 Pro's bassy sound might not please everyone. It's right on the border of 'too much', sometimes offering a lovely thumping sound, but occasionally stepping over the line.

In songs like Gabriel Kelley's You Kill Me, bass guitar can overstep its role as an accompanying instrument, and step to the fore in a way that throws the song out of whack. At other times, it can just override some of the more sensitive instruments. More so than in most earbuds I test, you're going to have to get familiar with the EQ presets, and use them depending on which genre you prefer to listen to.

If that wasn't a problem for audiophiles, perhaps the relative lack of Bluetooth codec support is. You're getting Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification, but seemingly no bone thrown for LDAC, aptX or anything similar.

• Sound quality: 4/5

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro review: how about the Pro Max?

• Pro Max cost a little more
• Sound quality and battery life are identical
• Pro Max has larger case, one or two extra tools

Beyond being an absolute mouthful to say (or, in this case, write), the Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max are very similar earbuds to the Pro. So much so, that instead of writing an entire separate review on them, I decided to give them a section of the Pro review. And why not the other way around? That's because the Pros are, in my opinion, the best buds for most people.

The Pro Max earbuds are exactly the same as the Pro's, in terms of design, sound quality, battery life and feature set (mainly). The Max comes in thanks to two additional features: you can use the case to record audio and provide quick transcripts, and for instant voice translation.

They're solid features, all right, but with more limited appeal. I can see them being handy for business users, but not so much for the average buyer.

Your other upgrade here is in the carry case: its display now takes up the entire top of the buds, and it offers loads more features. You can add a custom wallpaper, and use it for various tools, settings and modes, including (but not limited to) the aforementioned extra features.

Again, useful additions, but at the cost of an even larger carry case. It wasn't comfortable to keep in my pocket, that's for sure.

I'm not disputing that the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro Max are better earbuds. But for most people, I don't think they're enough to justify the extra cost. Only consider these if you'll really use

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro review: Value

• Too expensive to be consumer cans
• Value for money if you need transmitter

The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro are reasonably priced, but you get what you pay for. There’s nothing wrong with that, but a good discount would tip these into the ‘amazing’ value for money camp.

The noise cancellation, sound quality and feature set are all really good for the price… but there are loads of other rivals at around the same price point that all offer suites that are good for the price. I've tested a few earbuds for even less, that impress me just as much.

At least the Anker Liberty Pro are better value money than the Pro Max. You’re paying more money, and getting a very similar product. For business users maybe, but I can’t see myself recommending them to most people, when the Pro is right there.

• Value: 3.5/5

Should I buy the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro review: Also consider

Want to see what other earbuds your money can get you? Here are some alternatives for roughly the same price.

How I tested the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro

• Tested for three weeks
• Paired with Android phone for variety of tasks
• Also used alongside Pro Max

I used the Anker Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro for three weeks before writing this review. I tested them alongside the Pro Max model.

During the testing process, the earbuds were connected to my Android smartphone. I used them for streaming Spotify Lossless music as well as Tidal and Apple Music, playing various games, streaming videos, conducting voice calls and going on video chats.

That listening went on at home, while at the gym, during runs, and on walks around my neighborhood. For certain areas, like ANC and sound quality, I have reference tests I conduct which lets me compare various earbuds.

I've reviewed earbuds and headphones for TechRadar for many years, including previous Anker products like the Space 2 over-ears earlier this year.

• First reviewed in June 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

The 2026 High End audio show is in full swing in Vienna. The show is a key fixture of the hi-fi enthusiast's calendar, and was previously held in Munich — this year, it made the big move over to the Austria Center on the banks of the Danube, and TechRadar followed it.

We've had our audio team on the ground, rapidly learning how not to get lost in the new layout and exploring the mix of returning companies and new players who've jumped on board as part of the change.

We explored as many listening rooms and headphones booths as we could, to identify our favorite products in the audio areas we cover here on TechRadar, so naturally we've got a mix of speakers, streamers, a soundbar-that's-not-a-soundbar, and headphones, rather than hi-fi cables and pre-amps.

So here, in alphabetical order, are the products our team picked as the products that really stood out to us at the end of the show days, all chosen based on listening to their performance.

Astell & Kern SP4000T and Clarus

Let's start with a double winner — we got to test these together, and while each seems phenomenal, the combination was the most impressive part. The SP4000T DAP is an upgraded version of the already fantastic A&K SP4000 player, now packing four vacuum tubes for a taste of the analog.

The Clarus are wired earbuds with nine drivers per bud, using a bunch of different technologies, each targeting different frequencies.

The combination of the two really leans into the 'clarity' suggestion in the Clarus' name — we were instantly taken by the pin-sharp attack in their dynamic range, and the fine detail that they were able to bring out of the music, all while giving every listener a huge sense of scale that feels well beyond something handheld or that fits right in your ear conch.

Bowers & Wilkins 801 D5

Bowers & Wilkins is celebrating its 60th anniversary, so what better time to release its new flagship 801 D5 loudspeaker? This model features B&W's famous Diamond Dome tweeter and an upgrade to its internal Matrix bracing, including a new Space Frame Bracing extension.

The aim is to deliver even more incredibly natural, generous, and immersive sound. During our demo with the 801 D5, we were blown away by life-like vocals, brilliantly regimented deep bass, and super-defined treble, as well as its sophisticated soundstage and spacious presentation.

Cabasse Pearl Pelegrina Édition Atelier

The High End show is always full of bonkers speaker designs, and Cabasse's spherical Pearl design is old news to hi-fi fans — but we can't help but be taken by the Pelegrina version's 'alien eyeball squid has come to Earth to negotiate a new intergalactic peace' design — and what's new this year is the Atelier system, meaning that you can have any finish you want on them, to make them fit your spaceship listening room perfectly.

But what's most important is the astoundingly powerful sound from a speaker cabinet that's actually amazingly compact. The front driver is a tri-coaxial system, meaning it's actually three drivers nested inside each other, and there's a hefty custom-design woofer on the rear capable of especially high excursion.

The end result is a set of speakers that look like an art installation, but can party like a warehouse rave. They can thump the low-end with the best of them, while delivering super-rich and detailed sound that wraps across the room despite their compact 'pupils'. And they're active speakers, so you can put them wherever you want in your home and just start playing.

Cambridge Evo 300

This is the artist formerly known as Cambridge Audio's new, more powerful compact streaming amp — if you've got a really beefy speaker. Still, if you don't want to dedicate too much space to components, then the 300W per channel you can get from the Evo 300 might be exactly what you want.

That's paired with Cambridge's excellent, super-comprehensive streaming platform and digital skills, so you've got easy access to Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz, Roon, and Deezer, with various casting options from your phone and aptX Bluetooth if you prefer. There are two sets of speaker outputs, plus a sub out; for input, you've got XLR, HDMI eARC, and analog options including an MM phono input.

It's just the ultimate all-in-one modern amp if you've got big speaker ambitions — and here in 2026, why shouldn't you?

Canvas Hi-Fi Canvas L

This is basically a pair of floor-standing speakers disguised as a soundbar for Halloween. You've got a stereo setup where each side has a tweeter, a midrange driver, and an 8-inch bass woofer with a matching 8-inch passive radiator. There's 1500W of amplification behind that, as well a necessarily well-braced cabinet — all of which are designed to attached to the rear of your TV using a mounting bracket, with the speakers sitting underneath the screen.

And it's in this list because it sounds like two excellent floorstanding speakers. It delivers unbelievably deep and resonant bass for a floating speaker bar, with the low end dispersed well throughout the room. There's phenomenal texture and realism to vocals, and it's all brilliantly musical and full of excellent rhythmic energy. It's delicate when it needs to be, but our overarching takeaway from listening to music is just how firm and 3D every instrument feels.

We didn't get to try it with music, but this is the first time we've heard something claim to be an audiophile soundbar and responded, "Yep, that's fair". It was electric, musical, and kind of addictive.

iFi iDSD GR 2

The iFi iDSD GR2 portable DAC is a considerable upgrade on its beloved predecessor, the venerable xDSD Gryphon, in a number of ways. It delivers far more amplification power, longer battery life, and even a touchscreen for a more user-friendly experience.

After trying it out at the show, we loved how it more seamlessly helps you to bring the very best out of a pair of premium headphones, and with K2HD tech for enhanced harmonics alongside a whole load of connectivity options, the GR2 has just about everything an audiophile needs, whether listening at home or on the go.

Meze Audio Arta

These new planar magnetic headphones come from a brand known for bringing high-end sound to a very reasonable price — but this time, Meze Audio just went all out, price be damned.

The result is one of the biggest and most cohesive soundstages we've ever heard from a pair of headphones. From the tinkliest treble with heavy sub-bass, these headphones deliver it all with total control and clarity, all at the same time if they have to. It's that cohesion that stands out, partly because it means individual parts don't stand out — everything sounds simply 'correct' in a way that deeply satisfies the brain. They deliver total audio order — a perfect, seamless whole.

Noble FoKus Artemis

These are wireless active noise-canceling headphones, from a company that most people will probably know best for putting improbably powerful driver arrays into earbuds. Well, it's now put an improbably powerful driver array into over-ears, including a dynamic driver, a planar driver, and a balanced armature — and somehow, the end result is pretty lightweight and comfortable, with a 50-hour battery life.

The end result is probably the most revealing noise-canceling headphones we've ever tried. They're utterly impeccable at picking out every nuance of instruments, even in the most dense mix, and even with the ANC mode activated (which is pretty good too).

There's a huge dynamic range, and really steep level of attack to them: every drum is hard, and every plosive is picked up with precision in a voice. The sound is maybe a little cooler than most people will be used to from ANC headphones, but that will be exactly their strength — they create the silence, and then fill it with tiny details you'd never heard before.

Ruark R710

The Ruark R710 streaming amplifier blends a beautiful retro-style look with an expansive suite of modern features — as well as some not-so-modern ones that we very much welcome. It builds on Ruark's previous R610 in a number of ways, packing in more power for the speakers, along with an integrated CD player, which has apparently been included by popular demand (and is hidden in the handsome wooden front grille, making it a fun secret touch).

When listening to the streamer alongside Ruark's new Talisman R speakers, we were impressed by the warmth and tonality of vocals, the high caliber of instrument separation in the mix, and the striking power of the overall presentation from a compact box.

Yamaha NX-70A

Yamaha's new active speakers have a very sleek and stylish look, but generally seem quite unflashy and demure — though in our demo at the show, they seemed like something of a wireless wonder.

They offer a lively, precise sound with really well-honed handling of transients, which helps them to build an excellent stereo spatial presentation. The diffusion of ambient sounds into the room while holding the tension on the sharper central sounds makes them a really exciting listen. There's so much detail, creating a really physical sense of texture to something like the hum of a saxophone reed. Add the pleasingly weighted bass response, and you get a set of active speakers that really grab your attention, in the best way.

Shopping for a pair of headphones usually comes down to what you want to prioritise, whether it’s clarity and detail from audiophile-level cans, or the convenience that something like the Apple AirPods Pro provide. But for noise cancelling, you can’t go wrong with the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2.

We named it the best over-ear headphones for active noise cancelling (ANC) for its ability to ‘almost entirely’ banish external sound without altering the sonic character of the headphones, or introducing any sensation of noise-floor disruption, according to our Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 review.

The Gen 2 version improves on the very excellent first edition Ultras, upgrading its battery (rated 30 hours versus 24 for Gen 1 with ANC turned on), adding more listening modes and an option to hardwire into a music source directly.

If you’re keen, you’ll be glad to hear that the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 just hit its all-time low price for Amazon’s Mid-Year Sale at AU$508, or 27% off.

Aside from the ANC capabilities, the QuietComfort Ultra Gen 2 is no slouch with audio quality, too. Our reviewer found that the audio has an even and controlled frequency response and the soundstage it produces is large and defined. They conceded that the Ultra Gen 2s ultimately weren’t the most detailed headphones around, but acknowledged that being able to hear those imperfections in the first place was just another testament to how well the ANC worked.

The Ultra Gen 2s also feature a folding design, which makes it even better for travel as it’s more portable than comparable headphones that don’t fold up (cough — Sony and Sennheiser — cough).

If I hadn’t already bought a different pair of ANC headphones last year, I would have definitely snapped these up for myself.

If this already discounted price still feels steep, the Gen 1 Ultras are also discounted to AU$399 (or 39% off), which isn’t far off its all-time low. If you don’t mind the slightly shorter battery life and you’re happy to just stick with Bluetooth, then the Gen 1 is an excellent option too.

As someone about to travel, I know the importance of good headphones. They let you zone out from the world and enjoy some good music and podcasts from anywhere. And if you want some of the very best out there, you can now buy the Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones at Amazon for $398 (was $459.99) — that's the lowest ever price for the well-regarded headphones.

The Sony WH-1000XM6 are fantastic. They’re the best noise-cancelling headphones from Sony with great audio quality and a comfortable design, meaning these are the headphones that will last you a long time to come. They even include a neat carrying case — and there’s a return to the foldable design that older models offered for easier portability.

Today’s best headphones deal

Read our Sony WH-1000XM6 Headphones review and you’ll see why we love them so much. We gave them a 4.5-star score, calling them “excellent headphones that meld the best parts of Sony's previous cans.”

Continuing that point, the cans “combine the best design elements of their predecessors, while levelling up the sonic and ANC capabilities of what came before.” There’s “class-leading noise cancellation” along with “excellent audio performance.”

I have an older Sony XM model, and I love them, while regularly being tempted by the XM6. Topping our list of the best Sony headphones is the perfect example of why you need them. However, it goes further still. The Sony WH-1000XM6 are also the best wireless headphones around.

Even the Sony app is pretty good to use, and the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones use it well. There are also nice little extras like how a three-minute charge gives you back up to three hours of playback, which is great for anyone who’s a little disorganised (like me).

If you’re looking for other options among the best noise-cancelling headphones, take a look at the Bose headphone deals. Bose is generally a strong equal to Sony so it’s worth taking a look at what’s out there.

• Sennheiser launches Momentum 5 wireless headphones
• Improvements to ANC, feature set and repairability
• Price bumps up against Sennheiser's premium cans

Better late than never, eh Sennheiser? The legendary audio brand took four years to bring its much-anticipated Momentum 5 Wireless to market, but they're finally here — and perhaps just in time to show the recently-released Sony 1000X The Collexion how it's done.

These new cans succeed the five-star Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless, which we loved all the way back in 2022, and are still in use today by several members of the TechRadar team. Perhaps the brand was just waiting for its tenancy on our list of the best headphones to end, so it could reclaim the top spot.

Releasing in June 2026, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless are due to cost $399 / £329 / AU$749, which represents a little price hike from their predecessors. It's much less than Sony's fancy newest headphones — but it's basically right in line with the price of the Sony WH-1000XM6.

It puts them quite close to my favorite headphones from the company, the Sennheiser HDB 630, which sell for $499 / £399 / AU$999 — and I'd personally be tempted by the HDBs. But maybe I'll feel differently once we've actually tried the Momentum 5 Wireless and their new features.

Momentum? You barely know 'em

Sennheiser has given the Momentum 5 a 42mm driver again, like the Momentum 4, but has added certification for Hi-Res Audio, Snapdragon Sound and aptX Lossless codecs. The app also now has an EQ and presets, as well as a listening test.

Improvements come to active noise cancellation (which is now influenced by four microphones, over two in the last pair — but far fewer than the 12 employed by Sony), while Bluetooth is version 5.4 out of the box, but Sennheiser promises an upgrade to 6.0 in the future.

Other features include Dolby Atmos spatial audio with head tracking — we love this on the Sonos Ace, so hopefully it's just as good here.

The battery life is slightly lower than the previous model at 57 hours, but that's only three hours less than the Momentum 4's lasting power, and is still nearly double the 30 hours promised by the Sony XM6 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones 2nd Gen.

Sennheiser's making a point of repairability for the Momentum 5: apparently, it's easy to use a Phillips screwdriver to remove and replace an ailing battery. Since the battery is often the aspect of gadget which will stop working first, this will hopefully ensure your headphones keeping lasting for years.

There are three color options for the Sennheiser Momentum 5: black, white and blue (or 'Denim', according to the brand). Whichever you buy, you'll get a carry case, USB-C charging cable and 3.5mm headphone cable.

No matter how you shake it, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 don't look like huge reinventions of the fourth-gen model, but that's no bad thing. You can't argue with a perfect review.

Instead, it seems to update some of the Momentum 4 features which haven't aged well in four years, and if the sound's had a tune-up in the right places, we expect these to be pretty damn competitive.

With a funky design and earcups that look like CD players, you'll want to check out these unique and surprisingly good noise-cancelling headphones. Right now, you can get the new Nothing Headphone (a) at Amazon for $169 (was $199).

That's not a massive price drop, but still the lowest price we've seen so far for these newly-released headphones. They are Nothing's upgrade to the Nothing Headphone (1), a promising but imperfect debut for the company's catalog of over-ear headphones. Thankfully, these new headphones perform much better — something you can see for yourself if you invest now.

Today's best noise cancelling headphones deal

Our Nothing Headphone (a) review praised the significant sound upgrade over the original Headphone (1), on-ear controls, app customization, and big, beefy battery life, among other things.

These cans boast support for 24-bit high-res audio, up to 135 hours of playback with ANC turned off, and a protective IP52 dust and water resistance rating. The spatial audio, adaptive ANC, and customizable EQ further round out its audio capabilities.

Altogether, Nothing's latest headphones earned a 4.5 out of five stars for style and innovation.

We have specific lists for our best wireless headphones, best noise cancelling headphones, and best travel headphones. For more about Nothing headphones, you can also read about the company's commitment to "doubling down" on more over-ear headphones in the future.

When I first saw the Sony 1000X The Collexion headphones — the company's new higher-end cans designed to offer a more spacious and natural sound with better comfort compared to the Sony WH-1000XM6 — I had an immediate thought, and I wasn't alone among the audio journalists I was with: these look a lot like the Sonos Ace.

Both headphones go for a super-clean look, internal mechanisms for the headband arms, slim-profile earcups, chrome-finish detailing, and a mottled faux leather material.

So I had an idea: I took them to our photography studio and got some close-up photos taken of both headphones, and I made a quiz. I pixelated the photo of them at the top to avoid giving anything away, but if you to see the headphones before you play (Easy Mode, if you like), then I'll put the original image of them side-by-side after the quiz.

Are you enough of a headphone aficionado to tell two of the best noise-cancelling headphones apart? I'll admit, I built the damn quiz, then only scored 9/10 when testing it…

Scroll a little further if you're looking for that side-by-side image — I didn't want accidental spoilers.

Let us know in the comments how you did — the first two players on the TechRadar team (other than me) scored 3/10 and 8/10 respectively, so we've had a range of scores even among tech experts (though not necessarily headphones experts).

If you want to read more about Sony's new headphones, you can read our full 1000X The Collexion review, or you can read in-depth about the five key upgrades and three unexpected downgrades in The Collexion compared to the XM6 headphones, including Sony explanation of why there are compromises.

Still have questions? I’ll be answering everything you want to know about Sony’s most expensive wireless headphones ever in a live Q&A tomorrow (May 20) at 12pm ET / 5pm BST, alongside Harry Padoan, who tested them.

Now, here's that image of them together:

• TechRadar is running a live Q&A about Sony's new wireless headphones
• We've been testing the Sony 1000X The Collexion for close to two weeks
• Our reviewers will be available tomorrow, May 20, from 12pm ET / 17:00 BST

Sony announcing a new pair of headphones would've easily been enough to grab most people's attention, but the new Sony 1000X The Collexion aren't just any new headphones — they're the company's most expensive wireless headphones to date at $649 / £550).

We know you have burning questions about them. What exactly makes them worth the step up from the Sony WH-1000XM6? Are these effectively the Sony WH-1000XM7? Can they really match equally expensive audiophile rivals? These are some of the questions we've already heard, which is why we're running a live Q&A tomorrow, May 20, at 12pm ET / 5pm BST.

For one hour, our expert reviewers will be on-hand to answer everything you want to know about Sony’s new headphones. And you don’t need to wait until the livestream begins, you can submit your questions right now in the comments below, and we’ll answer them during the session.

Joining the live Q&A will be senior staff writer Harry Padoan, who awarded them four stars in his Sony 1000X The Collexion review, where he described the sound quality as being on par with Apple’s AirPods Max 2.

We’ll also have managing editor of home tech Matt Bolton on hand. Matt recently spoke with Sony’s team about the thinking behind the headphones, which the company described as "a collection of 10 years of our accumulated knowledge".

Matt and Harry spend all year testing the best audio gear on the market, so they’ll be able to answer your questions about the Sony 1000X The Collexion’s specs, price, features, sound quality, design, and how they compare with rival premium headphones.

Already read our review and our interview with Sony insiders about the new wireless headphones? Great! Now we want to hear from you. Drop your biggest questions in the comments box above, and let us know what you think of the headphones by voting in our poll.

• Sony unveils 1000X The Collexion headphones for $649 / £550 / AU$999.95, available in May 2026
• Custom 30mm driver, and new processor with DSEE Ultimate and '360 Upmix' spatial audio modes
• Design focuses on comfort, with gentler clamping force and larger earpads

Sony has just unveiled its most expensive (and possibly most-leaked) wireless headphones to date, which it's calling 1000X The Collexion. If you just want to read whether they're any good, then you can go straight to our Sony 1000X The Collexion review, because we've been using them for a few weeks.

But if you want to know more about what makes them different, and why Sony produced them in the first place, stick around here — I spoke to Sony insiders from the UK and Japan to hear more about what makes them worth their high price tag.

And what is the Sony 1000X The Collexion's price tag? That would be $649 / £550 / AU$699 when they're available sometime during May.

That price is a major leap over the $459 / £349 / AU$699 you now pay for the Sony WH-1000XM6. But Sony hopes that you'll think The Collexion (as I'll call them from here) are worthwhile — the company told me "we wanted to go further then ever before, to create something that isn’t just the next in our line-up, but that represents 70 years of audio mastery."

Building on that, Sony's Personal Entertainment Product Manager, Mike Somerset, said: "Is this just the 1000XM7? The answer very clearly is: no. It’s aimed in a totally different direction… We’re bringing some new things to these headphones that we have never done before."

The Collexion being a "different direction" makes them interesting to compare to the XM6, because they're an improvement over the XM6 in several ways — but are actually a step back in others, and that's not an accident. So here are the upgrades and arguable downgrades you need to know about.

1. A striking new look (and case)

The Collexion's look is very Sony if you've been following the evolution of the Sony WH-1000XM5 and then the XM6 — but it's clearly a little more premium and full of flourishes.

Sony says the name for the design "theme" used for The Collexion is: "Resonate".

It comes in Black or Platinum (ie, white) finishes, and a key element according to Sony is that "every visible part is made from two materials," with the intention of creating "contrasting textures".

There's a new case design too, with a handle — it's more 'handbag-like' in some ways.

That even runs through into the metal detail in places — for example, the hinge connecting the earcups to the headband is "hand-polished by skilled craftspeople", and mixes a sand-blasted finish with glossy chrome.

Sony says that the faux leather material alone was two years in development. The company also put in a lot of work, such as working with a split-design battery for the first time, to reduce the thickness of the earcups to just 40mm for a sleeker profile when wearing them — that's compared to 45.4mm in the XM6 cans.

The combination of the slimmer earcups and the metal detailing gives them a look that's more than a little reminiscent of the Sonos Ace, and that's no bad thing.

Sony also said that the goal here was to create a "timeless design", and I think there's something to this: the matte metal headband reminds me of the metal headphones you'd get with a Sony Walkman in the '80s, yet the rest of the design is undeniably modern Sony.

2. A focus on comfort

The redesign isn't just about the aesthetics, of course. Sony also said that it's particularly focused on comfort here, so that you can wear them for hours and hours, and barely notice they're there.

Specifically, the gap in the earpads is larger in these headphones than in the XM6, so they're less likely to touch the outside of your ears, and they give you a little more breathing room — and are likely to fit better with glasses.

The headband is also a little thicker, so the pressure is distributed a little more evenly — and the clamping force of the headband has been reduced, so you'll feel less pressure wearing them. This last point will come back later, though, because it's a double-edged sword…

3. A more powerful processor

Sony is introducing a new audio processor for the first time in The Collexion: the Integrated Processor V3. This is then combined with the same QN3 noise-cancellation processor used in the Sony XM6.

The V3 is Sony's most powerful headphone processor yet, and it means that these are the first headphones to include DSEE Ultimate. DSEE is Sony's audio upscaling tech, meant to take limited-quality Bluetooth streams and to upscale and add back in detail and dynamic range that's been cut out by compression.

"DSEE Ultimate is the best that Sony has ever done, and we’ve never put it in headphones before," the company said — DSEE Extreme was the previous best tech in its headphones, while Ultimate was limited to its music players, such as the Sony NW-A306.

The key difference is that it's powerful enough to upscale both the sample rate and the bit-depth of the sound at the same time — Sony says this is thanks to AI, as so many things today are. Sony says the sample rate will be upscaled to 96kHz, and the 16-bit depth will be upscaled it to 24-bit.

Sony says that it also brought a bunch of other audiophile engineering developments over from the Walkman line to the V3 processor design, including a low-phase-noise crystal oscillator for “perfect timing”, advanced solder containing gold at “key audio points on the circuit board”, and various component optimizations to improve “the signal to noise ratio across all frequencies”.

The V3 processor also enables new spatial modes, so let's get into those, because they're important enough for Sony to have devoted a whole new button to them.

4. Spatial Audio 'Upmix' modes

Sony is going big on spatial audio in The Collexion, and is using the power of the new V3 processor to offer four "360 Reality Audio Upmix" modes, which can take any audio source and turn it into spatial audio, but with a different kind of signature to the space depending on the mode.

There will be a Cinema mode (which the Sony XM6 also have) to feel like you're in a home theater, but now also a Music mode (designed to sound like you're in a live venue), and Game mode. There will also be the great Background Music mode from the XM6, which sounds like you're listening in a café or somewhere with soft ambient music.

There's a new button on the headset to switch between these modes, though by default it'll cycle between Music, Cinema and the mode being off. You can customize it to add Game or Background music in the Sony Sound Connect app.

Unfortunately, we don't think these are very good — you can read all about that in the full Sony 1000X The Collexion review.

I asked Sony why it doesn't support Dolby Atmos for this, since the experience there tends to be great. It said that there were several factors, ranging from how Android itself and different phones deal with Atmos encoding, to what’s possible in chipsets it's using — but Sony also said it wanted to give the same experience to all users, regardless of your device of streaming service of choice.

5. New speaker driver and sound tuning

Sony said that its goal with The Collexion was to "faithfully reproduce sound as the creator intended" and to “allow listeners to relax and immerse yourself in the lingering resonance of the music".

To do that, it developed a new "bespoke" 30mm driver, which has a similar design principle to the one used in the Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds: it's a dual-material design, with a very hard central dome to improve detail, and a softer outer edge for better bass response.

The harder center is made using a "unidirectional carbon-layered core composite", which apparently means it's made from long carbon strands — "like hair", Sony said. The XM6 headphones' driver also uses carbon, but a lower percentage of it in the mix of materials (including paper). More carbon means more rigidity.

Sony said that the sound character it's aiming for includes "perfect balance, and really fantastic sound and detail" that is "toned to reproduce the sound as artists intended".

Sony also said that it was focusing on "a wider stage, and greater separation between instruments and vocals" with "a smoother, more pleasant bass" that it described as "appropriate fullness".

In comparison to the XM6, Sony said the older model is "in between the monitor and the consumer" in terms of its profile, and that the sound is "punchier" (which is exactly how my colleague Harry Padoan described the difference in his Sony The Collexion review) — but The Collexion has a wider soundstage and more focus on "natural-feeling" sound.

6. Shorter battery life

OK, it's time to move onto the areas where The Collexion are (arguably) a step down from the XM6 headphones. First up is the battery life, which is rated at 24 hours — Sony's other 1000X headphones have clocked in at 30 hours.

That's below average compared to basically all the best noise cancelling headphones — even Bose, which was happy offering 24 hours for years, raised its game to 30 hours for the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones 2nd Gen. Pretty much the only competitor it's not lower than is the AirPods Max 2, which offers a measly 20 hours.

Sony told me that this change was due to making the earcups slimmer, and acknowledged that it was a compromise compared to the usual amount — but it also noted that it was sufficient for the longest flights.

Sony also highlighted that the batteries can be replaced in the future without trouble, because they're just held in with screws, rather than glued in.

7. Not optimized for noise cancellation

The Collexion have the same general noise-cancellation tech as the Sony XM6 — including the QN3 processor and 12 microphones — plus an improved driver, so you might assume it would Sony's best noise-cancellation yet… but Sony was clear not to expect this.

Sony emphasized that it would still steer you to the XM6 if you want its top ANC power. The reason is that the focus on comfort — elements such as the lighter clamping force and change in earcup material and design — means that these headphones won't have quite as strong a physical seal against outside sounds as the XM6.

Again, in our The Collexion review you'll read they're actually very good for noise cancellation, and are on par with AirPods Max 2 — but yes, the XM6 are noticeably better when it gets loud. It's a fair trade-off for the comfort, though.

8. They're not foldable

This won't be a dealbreaker for everyone, but some people really prefer headphones that fold for travel, and we were really pleased that Sony added this feature back into the XM6 headphones, having dropped it in the Sony XM5.

The Collexion don't fold, but Sony said that portability was something it had in mind when creating the slimmer earcups, and between that and the case being a little smaller, it's still a nice small thing to put in a bag — and also of note for travellers, the wider headband means they're more comfortable to wear around your neck.

Sony 1000X The Collexion: Two-minute review

The Sony 1000X The Collexion headphones arrive 10 years since Sony released the first set of headphones in its 1000X series, and to mark the occasion the Japanese tech giant has delivered its most expensive pair of wireless headphones ever. These are an ultra-premium pair of over-ears that are aimed squarely to be a rival to Apple’s AirPods Max 2.

And the Sony 1000X the Collexion really do feel like Sony’s attempt at going for the AirPods Max's popularity without the restrictive nature of that model’s iOS-centric feature-set. Everything from the sound signature through to the flatter design feels like a challenge to Apple, and, on a number of fronts, I’d argue that Sony has risen to said challenge.

Let’s start where it matters most and discuss sound quality. The Collexion (as I will call them) have an incredibly expansive, spacious soundstage, which provides plenty of room for individual instruments to express themselves.

Vocals and instruments are expertly separated, and there’s a fantastic degree of balance across the frequency range, resulting in nuanced, articulate sound. Combine that with using LDAC or lossless wired audio, and you’re in for a very detail-oriented listen.

The broad, roomy sound will certainly appeal to fans of the AirPods Max and their successor, although on a personal level, I did prefer the tighter and punchier sound signature of the Sony WH-1000XM6.

In terms of features, The Collexion riff heavily on what the XM6 had to offer, with impeccable touch controls, a 10-band custom equalizer, and third-party integrations like Spotify Tap and YouTube Music Quick Access. But there are some notable differences.

Here, users can access DSEE Ultimate for upscaling lower-quality files to 96kHz and 32-bit. This is enabled by a new V3 chip, which also powers some 360 Upmix audio modes for Music, Cinema, and Gaming, although these are unfortunately pretty poor, meaning I barely ever touched them. This is a shame, especially as the headphones have a dedicated button for such modes.

Noise cancelling is very good on The Collexion, and a 12-microphone system provides a solid barrier against traffic noise, surrounding chatter, and the like. Sony has been clear that the XM6 are more ANC-focused, and this came across in my testing, with a few more sounds seeping in with The Collexion — but what’s here still competes well against models like the AirPods Max 2 and bests the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2.

Something that has taken a substantial step down, however, is battery life. You’re only getting 24 hours now (with ANC on), which is a fair bit less than most of the competition. 30 hours is essentially a standard for premium wireless headphones now (in no small part thanks to it being Sony's usual benchmark), although The Collexion can still outlast the AirPods Max 2, which only manage about 20 hours of playtime.

I think these headphones largely nail their more luxurious design, though. They have a gorgeous faux-leather headband and earcups which both look and feel amazing, while titanium details also offer a nice contrast to that material, and make The Collexion stand out clearly over the more unified look of other models in the 1000X line, such as the Sony WH-1000XM5.

Generally, the headphones also feel very sturdy, and although they have a fair bit of weight to them, they’re less hefty than the AirPods Max 2. The Collexion are also exceedingly comfortable, and I felt happy using them for hours on end without ever feeling the need to adjust them.

All in all, then, the Sony 1000X The Collexion are a great pair of headphones that, on the whole, justify their asking price. Factors like their luxurious build, spacious sound, and solid feature-set mean they fare well against competitors in this price range.

There are some downsides, such as lower battery life and ANC power compared to the Sony WH-1000XM6, as well as the underwhelming 360 Upmix modes, but all in all, these headphones are worth considering for any who loves the feel of Sony headphones but wishes for a more revealing sound profile.

Sony 1000X The Collexion review: Price and availability

• List price of $649 / £550 / AU$999.95
• Released in May 2026

The Collexion were officially unveiled in May 2026, about 10 years after Sony released the first set of headphones in its 1000X series. They’re the most premium wireless headphones on Sony’s roster, and have a list price of $649 / £550 / AU$999.95, meaning they’re $200 / £200 / AU$300 more expensive than the Sony WH-1000XM6.

This puts them close to the AirPods Max 2 — though Apple has them undercut by a good $100 in the US, and £50 in the UK (they cost the same in Australia). Other notable competitors include the Dali IO-8 for £499 in the UK and AU$899 in Australia, though these cost a hefty $899 in the US. There's also the Bowers & Wilkins PX8 S2 for $799 / £629 / AU$1,299.

Sony 1000X The Collexion review: specs

Sony 1000X The Collexion review: Features

• ANC and battery life can’t match the XM6
• Best-in-class touch controls
• DSEE Ultimate for upscaling, plus LDAC and wired lossless available

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Sony 1000X The Collexion have a very similar featureset to the Sony WH-100XM6 — although there are some things that are exclusive to this pricier model, and some things they don’t do quite so well.

Let’s start with the new stuff. One brilliant addition is DSEE Ultimate. This technology is enabled by a new Integrated Processor V3 chip, and has never featured in a pair of Sony headphones until now (only in its music players).

DSEE Ultimate uses AI tech to upscale the sample rate of a lower-quality audio file (including stuff that's being compressed down for Bluetooth transmission) to 96kHz / 24-bit resolution. When using this on Spotify, a lot of the tracks I listen to regularly sounded a touch more detailed, and I highly recommend keeping this setting on.

On top of this, The Collexion bring high-resolution to the table via both wireless and wired means. First of all, these headphones feature LDAC for higher-res Bluetooth listening. This tech is still inherently lossy, but if you want to take a step up, you can connect the headphones to your listening device via a 3.5mm connection for wired lossless audio.

Something else enabled by the V3 chip is The Collexion’s 360 Upmix spatial audio modes. Although there’s no Dolby Atmos support, there are Music, Cinema, and Game modes, all of which take a standard audio signal and convert it into a more expansive format.

Unfortunately, I found that these upmixed modes produced poor audio quality, so even though the feature is enticing in theory, I barely made use of it — more on that later.

Still, there are plenty of great features on board, such as The Collexion’s top-tier touch controls. These are the same as on the XM6 — you can swipe to skip tracks and adjust volume, cover the right earcup to enable transparency mode on the fly, and double tap to play or pause your music.

The touch controls are incredibly responsive, and the decision to use a double tap to pause means I never accidentally triggered a command.

Call quality is also strong once again, with four feedback mics on the inside of the headphones. There’s also a 10-band equalizer and presets for personalized audio, multi-point connectivity, voice assistant compatibility, and third-party software integrations like Spotify Tap and YouTube Music Quick Access.

A lot of these settings are available in Sony’s Sound Connect app, which is relatively easy to use, but some settings are buried deep in numerous sub-menus, which can be a irritating at times.

Anyway, let’s talk about the most important feature of all: active noise cancellation. Again, you get the choice to use full ANC, a transparent ambient sound mode, or no noise cancelling at all. There’s also adaptive sound control, which switches settings depending on your environment and behaviour.

Just how good is the ANC here, though? Well, Sony was clear with us that The Collexion are less centered around ANC than the WH-1000XM6 — despite also containing the QN3 processor and 12-microphone system, just like those headphones.

And although noise cancelling is still very good on The Collexion headphones, with surrounding chatter and traffic noise kept quiet even at medium listening volumes, I could certainly tell the difference compared to the XM6. While listening to music, some higher-pitched sounds, like typing and taps running, as well as louder sounds like doors closing, could still be heard.

If you want best-in-class ANC, I’d stick with the XM6 — or the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2 — but otherwise, you’ll likely be satisfied with the noise cancelling available here.

One other feature that’s received a downgrade from the XM6 is battery life. You only get 24 hours here, which Sony says is a result of The Collexion’s flatter design in the earcups compared to the XM6, which offer 30 hours of playtime.

But let’s be honest: 24 hours just isn’t very good. It’s enough to last you through a long flight, and will likely get you through a few days at the office, but avid listeners will still have to charge their cans fairly regularly.

Ultimately, the standard in this bracket is 30 hours, although Sony still outdoes Apple here, with the AirPods Max 2 only able to manage 20 hours.

• Features score: 4 / 5

Sony 1000X The Collexion review: Sound quality

• Expansive, open sound is striking
• Sensational attention to detail using LDAC and wired lossless
• 360 Upmix modes are best avoided

If you’re looking for a pair of headphones that offer the sort of expansiveness that Apple’s AirPods Max 2 can, with all mod-cons available to you, but you don’t want the restrictions those impose on non-Apple devices, then I’d argue that The Collexion are the closest thing available.

These headphones conjure up an incredibly wide, spacious soundstage — using them, it feels as if you’re listening to music inside a large virtual room. They use a new 30mm driver, which has been redeveloped with soft edges and a harder center for enhanced detail and balance.

Listening to Voyager by Daft Punk, the airy synths sounded pleasantly forward, while the percussion occupied its own individual pocket, with plenty of room to express itself. Bass then entered the fray with tremendous impact, and came through with an almost three-dimensional quality. Spacey synths also carried a tremendous sense of space, while guitar licks danced away in the backdrop.

The headphones performed very well, no matter what genre I threw at them. With a deep house track like Planet 34 by Jesse Maas, the bass came through with admirable depth and agility, meaning the low-end sounded full and energetic rather than lethargic and ‘boomy’. Higher-pitched percussion in the treble range also maintained tight control, but never sounded blunt or underpowered.

Generally, there’s a pleasant balance right across the frequency range, and instrument separation is incredibly refined. Pair that with the headphones’ great attention to detail, and you’re in for a pleasantly nuanced listening experience.

I should be clear, however, that these headphones are at their best with some form of higher-res mode of listening. For instance, when I listened to Felini by Venerus and Marco Castello, I found that using LDAC over standard Bluetooth made a noticeable difference.

Vocals came through more naturally and articulately, while soft acoustic guitars sounded a little more expressive — the tune just had a more open, nuanced sound to it overall. This was also the case when using a wired connection, so if you want to experience The Collexion at their most intricate, make sure to use one of these options.

But how do The Collexion compare to the Sony WH-1000XM6? Well, The Collexion go for a more expansive and spacious sound, while the XM6 offer a tighter, punchier interpretation.

In Sadao Watanabe’s jazz-funk fusion record, Down East, I could detect a huge difference in the way that the headphones handled the smooth, funky bass. On the XM6, it was by no means overwhelming, but certainly impactful and slightly forward. There was still a solid amount of low-end weight on The Collexion, but the bass had a more spacious quality.

The Collexion’s more dispersed sound and almost distant low-end meant the track lost a bit of its bite, and I actually preferred the more direct approach of the XM6. There’s no doubt that The Collexion are capable of offering more space for individual instrumental elements to work their magic than the XM6, but some may actually prefer the tighter approach of the latter.

Ultimately, which you prefer is largely down to personal preference — I already preferred the sound signature of the WH-1000XM6 over the airy, broad approach of the AirPods Max 2, for instance, but I’m confident that both sound fantastic in unique ways.

One thing that did disappoint me, however, was the quality of the 360 Upmix modes. When using the Music mode, tracks sounded glaringly worse — vocals lost clarity, drums had a tinny edge, and keys in the mid-range lost their tonal accuracy. The Cinema mode was a bit better, but I still found speech to be less clear and defined, making for a weaker overall viewing experience.

This is a shame, given that the 360 Upmix modes are pitched as a major feature, and even have a dedicated button. But at the time of writing, they’re just not good enough.

• Sound quality score: 4.5 / 5

Sony 1000X The Collexion review: Design

• Stunning faux-leather casing with titanium details
• Super-comfortable fit with plush earcups
• Slightly odd-looking case

Sony’s The Collexion headphones look strikingly different from models like the Sony WH-1000XM6 and XM5, combining a beautiful faux-leather exterior with metal details.

The look of the outer casing is top-class, and is a clear indicator that these headphones are a premium product. Even when I used touch controls, the textured feel of the faux-leather was incredibly satisfying — and these small touches go a long way when you’re spending north of $500 / £500 on headphones.

Dual-textured metal links the earcups to the headband, and the metal is used for the various buttons and ports, and I can see people being divided on how enticing this looks.

Where the XM6 went for an ultra-fluid, homogenous design, The Collexion go for more of a contrasting look, and overall, I’m a fan. When we attended the product launch, Sony told us it was aiming to create a “timeless design,” and although I’d argue that headphones like the Marshall Monitor III ANC — which have a gorgeous retro look — do this slightly better, I still like The Collexion’s aesthetic.

Although the Sony WH-1000XM6 are my go-to headphones, there’s always been one thing I’ve disliked about their design: the bulky-looking earcups. The Collexion have done away with this, in favor of flatter and slimmer earcups — similar to those of the Sonos Ace. They look fantastic, and although Sony told us that the more compact form was a large reason for the reduced battery life, I’m a big fan of this choice style-wise.

Despite their flatter earcups, the Collexion are actually quite a bit heavier than the XM6. Sony’s new cans come in at 0.7lbs / 320g, compared to the 0.6lbs / 254g of their cheaper cousin. This is likely a result of the more premium materials being used, but I never felt that the headphones were too hefty in-use, and they’re still considerably lighter than the 0.9lbs / 386g AirPods Max 2.

In fact, I’d argue that these headphones are some of the most comfortable I’ve ever used. Their plush earcups, cushioned headband, and low-pressure feel is sensational, and makes for incredibly comfortable listening sessions, no matter how long.

There’s a wider headband on this model than on the XM6, which means these headphones won’t clamp too hard if you place them around your neck.

There are a few physical buttons on board, for altering noise cancelling levels and turning the power on or off, and for when (or rather if) you want to sift through the 360-degree audio modes. The rest is down to the touch controls, which are best-in-class.

Although I’ve been full of praise up to this point, The Collexion do have a few potential drawbacks worth pointing to, design-wise.

The first is that they're not foldable. This is a shame, as I love the XM6’s foldability, especially if I’ve forgotten the case and want to place them in a small bag or larger-sized pocket.

Another thing I'm not super-keen on is the case. Like the XM6, the Collexion have a magnet-lock case, which is incredibly practical and good to see. However, the look of the case is… not the best. It almost looks like a mini handbag, and not an especially attractive one. You can see it just below.

This is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things, but personally I preferred the more simple look of the XM6’s case.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Sony 1000X The Collexion review: Value

• Very high asking price
• Justified in most areas, but less so in others
• Overall they still compete well against the likes of the AirPods Max 2

So, do the Sony 1000X The Collexion earn their high asking price? Well overall, I’d say they do — but the picture isn’t entirely black and white (unlike their color options).

At $649 / £550 (about AU$900), these are Sony’s priciest wireless headphones, coming it at around $200 / £200 more than the WH-1000XM6. That value is realized in many respects, with more spacious and detailed sound, better upscaling, and a considerably more premium build.

However, these headphones lag behind the XM6 when it comes to ANC and battery life. They still compete well in terms of noise cancelling, sound quality, and design against similarly priced rivals like the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 and the Apple AirPods Max 2, but if you want a true pair of all-rounders with top bang-for-buck, then the XM6 would still be my top recommendation.

• Value score: 4 / 5

Sony 1000X The Collexion review: Should you buy them?

Buy them if...

Don't buy them if...

Sony 1000X The Collexion review: Also consider

Sony 1000X The Collexion review: How I tested

• I tested them for just under two weeks
• I predominantly tested them using Tidal
• Tested in real-world conditions

I spent more than a week testing the Sony 1000X The Collexion headphones, during which time I tested them in as many real-world situations as I could, to test the active noise cancellation.

Although I dipped into apps like Spotify, I predominantly used Tidal to test their performance, due to its support of higher-resolution files. I began my testing by sifting through the TechRadar testing playlist, which features tracks from a wide variety of genres, but I also listened to hours' worth of tunes from my personal library.

I’ve spent years testing all sorts of audio gear here at TechRadar, ranging from party speakers to audiophile-friendly wired and wireless headphones. I also reviewed the Sony WH-1000XM6 and compared them to rivals from Bose, Apple, Bowers & Wilkins and more — I've been using the XM6 headphones for more than a year now, so I had a deep understanding of how The Collexion differed from their counterpart.

• Read more about how we test
• First reviewed: May 2026

Marshall Milton ANC: two-minute review

The Marshall Milton ANC brilliantly fuse everything I loved about the company's Major and Monitor models. They combine the iconic on-ear look of Marshall’s most popular headphones with the noise-cancelling capabilities and rich feature-set of their pricier over-ears, but for an official price of $229 / £179 / AU$329.

This combination has resulted in something that ranks among the best on-ear headphones, and that perform well across (the vast majority of) the board.

Just at a glance, the Milton ANC clearly stand as a middle point between their two siblings. For example, they have the PU-leather and golden detailing, alongside the exposed wires — design elements I loved on the Marshall Monitor III ANC. However, their on-ear build and smaller sized earcups are likely to appeal to fans of the Major line.

Of course, the Milton also bring active noise cancellation to the on-ear form, and they pull this off pretty well overall. There are some limitations to how effective ANC is — the lack of a full seal around the ears means that some harsher sounds will still seep in with relative ease.

However, I used the Milton on a flight, and they dulled the sound of a jet engine and surrounding chatter very well, enabling me to enjoy my tunes without many distractions, which isn't always the case with on-ears.

Marshall also aimed to level up its on-ear sound quality with the Milton, and I’d argue that they sound very decent for the price you pay. Some may find them to be a little bass-heavy out of the box, and they aren’t the most expressive-sounding headphones I’ve ever used — but a custom EQ can remedy the first point, and it’s also important to remember that these are moderately priced on-ears, not $400 / £350 over-ears.

The Milton offer energetic, clean, and relatively spacious sound, and perform well across various genres, and they even bring LDAC and USB-C audio to the table. The LDAC codec enables higher-res Bluetooth listening, and the Milton is the first Marshall product it’s featured on. Meanwhile, USB-C or USB-C to 3.5mm wired connectivity provides the highest-fidelity audio possible, and it’s great to see here.

One thing I really admired about these on-ears was their sustainable design. They’re made of 42% recycled materials (by weight), and multiple parts of the headphones are replaceable. You can also easily screw off the ear cups and replace a battery if need be. And this doesn't come at the cost of good looks — the Milton ANC effortlessly pull of the retro-style Marshall look.

These on-ears are also very plentiful in the battery life domain. You can get up to 80 hours of listening time with ANC off, and an admirable 50 hours with noise cancelling on, which is even better than the high-performing Beyerdynamic Aventho 100. Battery health settings are also accessible in the Marshall Bluetooth app, which I found to be relatively user-friendly, despite a few loading issues.

Perhaps the very best thing about the Milton ANC, though, is their almost weightless feel in use. I’d say that the Milton are the most comfortable on-ear headphones I’ve used in my entire life — I’m usually more of an over-ear fan, but sometimes I even forgot I was wearing these headphones.

Ultimately, then, the Marshall Milton ANC are an accomplished pair of on-ear headphones that perform well where it matters most. They aren’t quite perfect — I would’ve liked to have seen wear detection on-board, and there are some limitations in terms of sound and ANC. But for the price you pay, I think these headphones are well worth the investment.

Marshall Milton ANC review: price and availability

• List price of $229 / £179.99 / AU$329
• Released on Marshall website on May 19, 2026
• Coming to select retailers on May 27, 2026

The Marshall Milton ANC are available for $229 / £179.99 / AU$329, placing them directly between Marshall’s budget-friendly on-ears, the Major V, and their premium over-ears, the Monitor III ANC. They are currently available in Black only.

The Milton ANC were released on Marshall’s website on 19 May 2026, but will be available from select retailers starting on May 27, 2026.

Marshall Milton ANC review: specs

Marshall Milton ANC review: features

• Colossal battery life of up to 80 hours with ANC off
• Lossless wired audio and LDAC for higher-res Bluetooth listening
• Commendable yet inherently limited noise cancellation

The Marshall Milton ANC are overflowing with features, including some that Marshall has never offered in its products before.

One exciting addition is LDAC, which enables you to stream higher-res audio over Bluetooth, from a compatible device. Of course, Bluetooth audio is still inherently lossy, but if you want the best quality possible, you can connect your device to the Milton via USB-C for wired audio — there’s even a USB-C to 3.5mm cable in the box.

The Milton ANC also bring support for Apple Find My and Google Find Hub, making it easy to locate your on-ears if you’ve forgotten their whereabouts.

A lot of the good stuff we saw on the Monitor III ANC features here too, including a five-band equalizer alongside a handful of presets, a customizable M button, and Auracast connectivity. You can access all of this in the Marshall Bluetooth app, which is well laid-out, but prone to a few loading issues in my experience.

I was pleased to see the Soundstage mode make a return, which is intended to “make your sound more spacious”. This works nicely, and I found myself using it pretty often. The effects aren’t as drastic as you get from some headphones’ spatial audio options, but you can adjust the metaphorical ‘room size’ and ‘amount’ that you want to employ spatial sound. For me, a medium room at 80% was the sweet spot.

Let’s also talk about battery life — something Marshall has been leading the way with on its Bluetooth speakers like the Kilburn III and Bromley 750. Things are no different on the Milton. You get a whopping 80 hours of playtime with ANC off, and a still-great 50 hours with noise cancelling active.

That’s considerably more than a lot of premium over-ear headphones, such as the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones Gen 2 or Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 can offer.

In-line with upcoming EU regulations, the battery will be readily removable and replaceable. Repairs and replacements are available through Marshall directly, as part of the company’s aim to deliver more sustainable tech.

I think it’s about time we go to the main event, though, and discuss ANC. When I attended the launch of these headphones, Marshall stated that “the Milton were designed to push ANC performance further than on-ear headphones have gone before”.

And I have to say, the Milton offer pretty solid noise cancelling capabilities all things considered. Even while on a flight, the rumble of a jet engine and of general chatter was dulled pretty effectively. These headphones don’t fully cover your ears, so there are limitations to what they can do, and on occasion, I’ve still been able to hear sounds like cars passing by or babies screaming when out and about.

Still, it’s neat to see ANC on some Marshall on-ears. The adaptive ANC is paired with a dynamic loudness feature, which adjusts audio playback depending on the noise level in your vicinity. If things are getting noisy, the headphones will raise the bass and lower the mids — the idea is to "to energize listening sessions – no matter what", though obviously this is great for running tracks to keep you pushing, and less so for podcasts.

There’s also a transparency mode if you want to be more aware of your surroundings when out and about, as well as battery preservation options to extend the long-term lifespan of the headphones.

Marshall has rammed these on-ears with just about every feature you could want… well, just about. I would’ve liked to have seen wear detection included, so that my music automatically pauses when I take the Milton off — it's pretty standard fare these days. Otherwise, though, their features suite is golden.

• Features score: 4.5 / 5

Marshall Milton ANC review: sound quality

• Clean, energetic sound
• Bass is a little heavy-handed out of the box
• Enjoyable, spacious sound with Soundstage mode active

Out of the box, the Marshall Milton ANC offers an energetic sound signature, and I was instantly struck by the hard-hitting bass. For some, the low-end may feel a little over-emphasized — and with more stripped back, acoustic tracks, I preferred using a custom EQ with a slight bump in the mids and some reduction down low.

However, I think that the signature sound will be a hit with a lot of listeners — the meaty bass was great for tracks like Authentic Computers 2.0 by Kolter. The pumping bass came through with seismic impact, but didn’t sound lethargic, and never obscured synths or vocals in the midrange. Meanwhile, drums higher in the frequency range sounded expressive yet controlled, helping to maintain the track’s high energy.

With more acoustic, laid-back tunes like Get It Up For Love by Ned Doheny, the Milton continued to perform well. Acoustic guitars in the build-up didn’t have top-tier expressiveness and detail of premium over-ears like the Sony WH-1000XM6, but they remained nice and clear in the mix, and intertwined with soulful vocals with elegance. Again, percussion was brilliantly balanced in the mix, and this even remained true at top volumes.

By default, the Milton ANC offer a solid soundstage, with a decent amount of width and immersion. However, if you make use of the Soundstage feature in the Marshall Bluetooth app, you can get more three-dimensional, spacious audio.

When listening to Down East by Sadao Watanabe, it really did seem as if sound had been released into a virtual room — the leading saxophone had more space to work its magic, while percussion felt as if it occupied a more distinct pocket.

I've flagged this in the Features section above, but I was also delighted to see LDAC make an appearance on a Marshall product, and it opened up more intricate detailing when listening to higher-res files on Tidal. Nothing is going to beat USB-C audio passthrough, however, which provides lossless quality via a wired connection.

Even using a more basic Bluetooth codec like AAC, though, the Marshall Milton ANC are a very solid-sounding pair of on-ears. They won’t astonish audiophiles with perfect instrument separation or top-tier attention to detail, but their engaging and energetic sound is sure to appeal to many.

On top of this, the Milton offer commendable mic quality, with four of the total six microphones being used for clear calls. I tried recording my voice and was very satisfied with the clarity of my speech throughout.

• Sound quality score: 4 / 5

Marshall Milton ANC review: design

• Repairable and made of 42% recycled material
• Plush earcups are super-comfortable
• Beautiful retro-style look

I’ve mentioned a couple of times how Marshall is aiming to produce more sustainable technology at the moment, and the Milton ANC are a glowing example of that.

First of all, they contain 42% recycled material (by weight), which is a pretty significant proportion. On top of that, multiple parts of the Milton are replaceable, and Marshall can service the headphones or sell replacement parts when needed. The earcups also use bayonet locking, making them simple to screw off and on, and under the left earcup, you can easily unscrew a panel to replace the headphones’ battery.

It’s not all about sustainability though — the Marshall Milton ANC are brilliantly designed right across the board.

The earcups are more plush than those featuring on the Major V, and it’s incredibly apparent. They feel amazingly soft in use, and fit on my ears perfectly. The headband also feels relaxed, and never clamped down too hard, while still remaining secure.

Combine these two factors, and the Marshall Milton ANC are, without question, the most comfortable on-ear headphones I’ve ever used. I’ve used them for all-day use at the office, and never felt agitated or uncomfortable, which is a huge plus.

These headphones also look great in my opinion. The faux-leather casing, the golden Marshall logo, the exposed wires… these headphones nail the retro-style and look pretty premium for the price. The multi-directional button for playback control is attractive too, and was easy to use whenever I wanted to pump up the volume or skip a track.

Marshall has made a real effort to stress the ruggedness of the Milton, and I have to say they do feel pretty hardy. The practical draw-string case also helps to keep them safe against any tumbles or liquid splashes.

Speaking of which, the Milton ANC do not have a waterproof rating, which is a bit of a shame given their focus on durability and longevity. Don’t get me wrong: this is pretty common for headphones, but it would be nice to see a player like Marshall start adding IP ratings to its on-ear and over-ear products. Despite this, Marshall told me that the Milton were tested for higher humidity conditions and should be able to survive the odd raindrop, for example.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

Marshall Milton ANC review: Value

• Well-priced against the competition
• Incredible comfort, solid sound, and loads of features
• A great middle point between the Major V and Monitor III ANC

The Marshall Milton ANC are well priced against a lot of the competition. For instance, the Beyerdynamic Aventho 100, which offer ANC, a similar amount of battery life, and similarly strong audio, are priced at $229 / £199 / AU$314.

On top of that, the Milton fit perfectly between Marshall’s more budget-friendly on-ears, the Major V, and its premium over-ears, the Monitor III ANC. The former will typically set you back $149 / £129 / AU$259, and the latter have a list price of $349 / £299 / AU$569.

The Milton offer the form-factor and compact style of the Major V, while cramming in a lot of the smart features and noise-cancelling capabilities of the Monitor III, neatly fusing what makes their sibling models so appealing.

And just overall, I think you’re getting good overall quality for the money you spend. With top-tier comfort, plenty of playtime, and a sustainable design, the Milton ANC feel like a worthy investment.

Are they the best sounding headphones ever? Perhaps not — they lack the detail and balance that some competitors can supply. But still, these are hardly the most expensive on-ears out there, and their energetic sound signature is sure to appeal to a large proportion of the market.

• Value score: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the Marshall Milton ANC?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Marshall Milton ANC review: Also consider

How I tested the Marshall Milton ANC

• Tested over the course of multiple weeks
• Used on a flight, public transport, and on walks
• Predominantly streamed music on Tidal

I spent weeks testing the Marshall Milton ANC, taking them with me just about everywhere I went. I used them on a flight, train journeys, my daily walks, and while working away at the office.

When listening to music, I used Tidal to experience the headphones’ higher-resolution capabilities, but I also dipped into Spotify from time to time. As always, I used the TechRadar testing playlist, which features songs from a wide variety of genres, but I also spent hours bumping tunes from my personal library.

More generally, I’ve spent years testing audio gear here at TechRadar, and have tackled everything from premium headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM6 through to small Bluetooth speakers like the Bose SoundLink Micro Gen 2. I’ve also tested a whole lot of Marshall products, including headphones such as the Marshall Monitor III ANC and soundbars like the Marshall Heston 60.

• Read more about how we test
• First reviewed: May 2026

JLab JBuds Open Wireless: Two-minute review

JLab is well-known for its affordable headphones and earbuds, but this time the brand is branching out into something more unusual.

The JBuds Open Wireless are over-ear headphones designed to allow you to hear the world around you. Yes, everyone is doing that right now, just take a look at our best open earbuds guide — but while most open-ear options are earbuds, JLab has made an over-ear version. It promises to deliver the same open benefits but from a bigger — and for some people, more comfortable — form factor.

Now, open-back headphones are nothing new. They're actually a firm favorite among audiophiles. That's because venting the back of the driver housing stops sound from bouncing back onto the driver itself, which gives you a cleaner and more accurate sound with a wider, more natural soundstage.

However, the JBuds Open Wireless aren't that. Sure, they look similar, but the “open” part here means something different. The earcups don't create a strong seal against your head, and the cups can have grilles over them or the option to be completely open, so ambient sound outside flows freely in alongside your music.

So it’s not open-back as an audio engineering choice, but more open-ear as a lifestyle one, where the goal isn't better sound quality but a mix of sound and awareness of what's happening around you.

Interestingly, this design might seem new but it’s been done before several times. One of my favorite examples is back in the late '90s when Sony released the MDR-F1 — not identical, but similar open or open-air headphones, and people referred to them as "earspeakers" at the time. This is a similar thing, and a few other brands have done it, such as the ONE Wireless Open-Ear Headphones from nwm.

But they're still unusual right now, and I can't work out if they're uncommon because they're about to appeal to everyone and we'll see more soon, or because the use case is so specific that plenty of people will love the idea but find it falls apart in practice. Unfortunately, I'm in the second camp.

Don’t get me wrong, there's a lot to like here. The design is genuinely cool, with removable grilles and a comfortable all-day fit thanks to some memory foam padding in the cups and band. The sound also delivers more bass than I'd expect from an open design. And the ambient awareness really works. In quiet environments, it's really nice to listen with them.

But add just a bit of background chatter or noise and the openness becomes the problem. There are just too many competing sounds and the experience collapses. I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t that the whole point of open-ear designs? Sure, but if the music you’ve bought them to listen to becomes unlistenable, then we’ve got a problem.

At under $100/£100, the risk still feels low. But I think the use case is narrow, and most people will know within a day whether these are for them.

JLab JBuds Open Wireless review: Price and release date

• Released in late 2025
• Priced at $99.99 / £99.99 / AU$199.99

After being unveiled at IFA 2025 in September of 2025, the JLab JBuds Open Wireless headphones were launched in some markets in late 2025, and then the rest in early 2026.

You can buy the JBuds Open for $99.99 / £99.99 / AU$199.99. That price means they sit somewhere between the higher end of budget and mid-range.

Now this is where I'd usually give you context of how they compare to similar products, but it's tricky to compare these headphones directly to anything else right now. They give you the benefits of open-ear styles, but those are mostly buds, and these still look and feel like over-ears.

In that case, let's look at the open-ear buds you can get right now. Like the Shokz OpenFit 2+, our current top pick, which are $179.95 / £169. Though you can get much more affordable open buds that still sound good, like the Earfun Clip 2 with a clip-on design that'll cost you $79.99 / £69.99 (about AU$120).

In terms of over-ears, one of our favorite budget picks is the OneOdio Focus A6 over-ears at $55 / £55 / AU$112, which we think sound fantastic for the price. Though at that higher end of the budget range you've got plenty of choice, like the very highly rated 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 at $89 / £99 / AU$130.

Although there's nothing to strictly compare them to, the price reflects what you're getting. Which is over-ear comfort and build with open-ear awareness in a form factor that doesn't really exist elsewhere. For under $100 / £100, that does seem like a fair ask. But whether it's worth it comes down entirely to your preferences, which we'll get into.

JLab JBuds Open Wireless review: Specs

JLab JBuds Open Wireless review: Features

• Simple app with essentials
• Multipoint connectivity
• 24 hours battery life (well, nearly)

The JLab JBuds Open aren't overflowing with features, but you have everything you need for the price here.

The app is basic, but that's not a criticism. I found it easy to use and it covers the essentials well. You can customize the manual buttons on the right earcup, check battery life, set an interval timer, toggle spatial audio on/off, and switch between music and movie modes.

There's also a 10-band custom EQ alongside three presets, which I enjoyed playing with to try and address some of the issues with the sound, more on that later.

The headphones have dual coaxial drivers onboard, a 35mm and a 12mm unit, and Bluetooth 6.0 connectivity with support for SBC and AAC codecs. There’s no wireless hi-res audio options, but a USB-C cable is included if you want a wired connection.

Multipoint connectivity to two devices worked seamlessly during my testing, switching cleanly between my laptop and phone while I was working.

Battery life is rated at 24 hours, though in some of JLab's specs it says to expect 18 hours. In my testing I got around 20 hours, with a full recharge taking roughly 2.5 to 3 hours.

That's not bad, but it does lag behind other over-ear headphones. The Sony WH-1000XM6 manages 30 hours, and the cheaper 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 headphones deliver an extraordinary 65 hours with ANC on. But, to be fair, it's much harder to fit batteries in when you've removed all the physical space from your headphones…

Measured against open-ear buds, this amount is impressive as the Shokz OpenFit 2+ only manages 11 hours, but that’s expected given the size difference.

• Features score: 3.5 / 5

JLab JBuds Open Wireless review: Sound quality

• Better bass than most open options but sub-bass is lacking
• Wide soundstage suits big, orchestral tracks
• Sound leakage is an issue

With the JLab JBuds Open headphones, you can obviously hear your surroundings — that’s the whole point. But you're going to want to bear that in mind, because these sound really open. Like, really open.

On a long quiet walk along the canal, it was lovely. I had music playing, I could hear bike bells and birds and I felt very happy. But walking through the city was a different experience entirely.

What I was hearing from the headphones was competing for my attention with a fire alarm, other music, and general chatter. There's open-ear, which I’ve tried many times now from different brands, and then there's this.

And some people might genuinely want this. If ambient awareness always trumps music for you, and competing sounds don't overwhelm you, these could be ideal. That's subjective and worth acknowledging, but it wasn't my experience.

The reason it's so pronounced is physical, because the drivers sit further from your ear than other open options. They’re outside the ear rather than in the concha, where other open buds sit. Sealed over-ears obviously don't have the problem at all.

Here it's essentially like holding a speaker close to your ear. I recommending testing adding the grilles in and out, because they do reduce the sound leakage in, and they're very easy to remove.

With dual coaxial 35mm and 12mm drivers, they’re working with bigger hardware than most open-ear buds, and you can really tell when you listen. There's genuine presence in the low end, with far more bass and substance than you'd typically expect from a pair of open-ear buds.

Vocals come through clearly, and the wide soundstage is a real strength here. I spent a lot of time listening to Jóhann Jóhannsson’s Arrival score and instrument separation was impressive. Big, cinematic or orchestral tracks have a sense of space that genuinely suits the open design.

Moving onto Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil and the track's swagger and drive translated well. It felt wide, punchy and instruments were given plenty of room.

But there are weaknesses. Sub-bass is mostly absent. Hi-hats and cymbals also had a tendency to tip into shrill territory, and kick drums have a sharp, thin quality rather than a satisfying thud.

The overall character skews mid-heavy, and you'll find yourself pushing the volume higher than expected to get a sense of immersion.

At times it felt a bit like hearing your phone playing in front of you; it’s present and clear enough, but thin and lacking warmth. The bass boost EQ setting helps on the right tracks and is worth trialling, but it can't resolve the main limitation here which is that there’s no seal to trap and focus the sound.

Calls were fine. With open ears, conversations feel more natural to me, and the noise-cancelling mic picked up my voice well. It lacked some clarity at times, but was fine for most purposes.

Sound leakage from the headphones is also worth flagging. I recorded audio on my phone while wearing them and could make out the track even at a moderate volume with the grilles on. If you remove them, it gets noticeably worse.

Push the volume up, which you will find yourself doing, and it gets worse still. So there's a sort of irony here, which is that the open design means you need more volume to feel the music, but more volume means more leakage.

Ambient noise outside will mask the leakage, so you'll get away with it way more in public than you might expect. But a quiet office or commute is going to be a different story.

• Sound quality: 3.5 / 5

JLab JBuds Open Wireless review: Design

• A bold design that may divide people
• Genuinely comfortable for long wear
• Removable grilles change the look and the sound

The JLab JBuds Open headphones have a very unusual design and I think they'll divide people. Some will find them incredibly cool and a bit sci-fi looking, whereas others just won't get on with them.

They're over-ear headphones with a build that feels substantial, though they do feel a little more cheap and plasticky than something like the Bose QuietComfort Headphones, my all-time favorite over-ears, but that’s to be expected at this lower price.

Both the earcups and headband are padded with memory foam and I found it genuinely comfortable for long sessions. The clamping force was occasionally a little much when I was working indoors, but on runs outside it actually helped and kept them feeling secure.

At 245g, they're light, and you can shave a couple of grams off by removing the metal grilles. The earcups have a sort of wheel-spoke pattern with a grille sitting over under it. And if you twist the cup, the grille pops out cleanly, opening things up even more both in how these headphones look and sound.

I noticed it really changes the look of them, and noticeably affects how much ambient sound comes through. It’s a small but genuinely fun customization option.

That said, they're bulky. They stick out from your head considerably more than most modern over-ears nowadays, and while the cups pivot flat, they don't fold inward either, which makes them less practical to carry and store than many rivals.

The included carry case is a nice touch. It’s a similar concept to the AirPods Max case but it’s more practical with more coverage of the headphones. The matte, brushed finish picks up marks easily though.

You control the JBuds Open with physical buttons on the side of the right earcup. I personally prefer physical buttons over touch controls, and found these easy to locate and use on the move, and they're also customizable via the app.

The headphones come in black, which is the pair I tested here, or Cloud, which is a light gray with gold accents that's a nice option if you’re sick of all black tech.

There’s no IP rating here, which on paper suggests avoiding sweaty workouts when you're wearing them. But given their open design means far more airflow than a sealed pair, I'd argue they're pretty workout-friendly as long as you’re mindful about sweat and splashes.

I tested them on several runs without any problems and actually really enjoyed the ambient awareness and added airflow as I got warmer and more tired. But I maybe wouldn't risk them in the rain.

• Design score: 4 / 5

JLab JBuds Open Wireless review: Value

• Good value compared to open-ear buds
• But whether it's worth it depends on your feelings about ambient sound

These are good value compared to other over-ear headphones and even some open-ear options. You can pick up open-ear buds for well under $100 / £100 these days, but top performers like the Shokz OpenFit 2+ cost nearly double at $179 / £169. So if you specifically want open-ear audio on a budget, they’re worth considering.

But really, whether these are worth it has less to do with price and more to do with your lifestyle. Under $100 / £100 feels fair for what's here. But if you're going to struggle to hear your music in most environments or find the bulk doesn't suit you, the price won't save them.

For the right person though, which I think will be someone who prioritizes awareness, loves the over-ear form factor, and isn't chasing audiophile sound, then these were essentially made for you.

• Value: 3.5 / 5

Should I buy the JLab JBuds Open Wireless?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

JLab JBuds Open Wireless review: Also consider

How I tested the JLab JBuds Open Wireless

• Tested over 10 days
• Used with my iPhone 16 Pro
• Listened to music, podcasts and some movies

I tested the JLab JBuds Open Ear Headphones for 10 days, which gave me plenty of time to trial them in different environments, wear them in a few different weather conditions and run a battery test.

I took them with me on daily long walks and two runs along the canalside, as well as one bigger hike in the countryside. They also came with me often when I was walking through a big city, in a busy market, to plenty of coffee shops while I was working remotely, on several bus rides and just out and about getting on with my day more generally.

I used my iPhone 16 Pro to test them and mostly listened to music and podcasts. I also used them when watching a couple of movies to test the movie preset and the spatial audio. I tested the different modes and EQ settings and used them with and without their grilles.

I actually became really fascinated by the subtle sound differences when it came to the grilles, so know my experience in this review comes from a lot of careful listening.

I’ve been writing about and testing tech for more than 15 years now. I’ve focused mainly on wearables, smart home devices and a lot of audio tech. Over the past few years I’ve been testing a lot of open ear buds, so I know what I’m looking (and listening out) for.

I’m always keen to think about the real world use cases and everyday practicality of tech so you get your money’s worth and pick the best device for you.

• First reviewed: May 2026
• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

Many people review tech so they can test fancy and expensive new gadgets, but I love the cheapies; the affordable yet competitive tech that most consumers actually buy, that offers you actually exciting value for money.

Because of that, I've always had an aversion to expensive audio products. Sure, the best headphones may sound amazing, but if they cost more than a month's groceries, then I'm not convinced.

No; give me a pair of the best cheap headphones and I'll be a happy chappy (whose wallet will be equally chipper). I don't mind sacrificing on some audio quality and noise cancellation, and I love how affordable tech often has a more hardy build and longer-lasting battery.

Recent headphones such as the OneOdio Focus A1 Pro, Soundpeats Cove Pro and Soundcore Space Two have all impressed me more than the next audiophile headset would.

Unfortunately, extra groceries are not the only thing I get to consume this week, because I'm now having to eat my words. A year ago I tested the AKG N9 and, without exaggeration, I've used them (almost) every day since.

AKGee whizz

As smart readers will have gathered from the headlines, the AKG N9 are two things: a) headphones and b) expensive, retailing for $399 / £299 / AU$499 at the time of release, rarely seeing discounts from that retail cost.

The picture above shows you what they look like; they have a premium finish, comfortable pads and fairly reasonable weight for what's within. I know many audiophiles lament AKG's free-wheeling pre-Harman/Samsung acquisition days, but I'm still pretty fond of what its created since then.

One of their best specs is the battery life, which goes to an astounding 100 hours if you've got ANC turned off (55 hours with it turned on, which is still two straight days of listening and then most of The Lord of the Rings). It's a fantastic figure which lets forgetful people (two thumbs pointed straight at me) avoid charging them for weeks on end.

Despite my distain for pricey tech (and despite the existence of fancy multi-thousand-dollar headphones, these still are expensive), I gave the AKG N9 four and a half stars out of five in my review, which took a lot for someone as cynical as I. And that's all because of the killer feature which has cemented these as my favorite headphones.

Dongle breakin' my heart

Nestled inside one of the AKG N9's cups is a little USB-C dongle. If you plug this into a device, it'll override that device's audio output so that sound will come out of the AKG N9 instead.

This has three benefits. Firstly, for the headphones, it lets you quickly connect them to whichever device you want to use, without the arduous Bluetooth pairing game, or for work devices where maybe that's not an option. Secondly, for a device, it lets you easily switch from your current speaker or earbud to the AKGs.

Lastly, the connection is also higher-quality and lower-latency than Bluetooth, which is always welcome.

It's a novel feature, which the N9 shares with its sibling earbuds the AKG N5 and only a handful of gaming buds, and I waxed lyrical in my review about how cool it was. I talked about how being able to switch between your various gadgets easily, or borrow other people's, could be incredibly convenient.

A year later, and I'm back with actual experience of all that. Not only have the AKG N9 shown themselves for even more handy use cases, but I've used them probably every day since.

Flatmate bane

I use the Creative Pebble Nova on my PC: I like the way they sound, I like the way they look, and may have conveniently 'forgotten' to give them back to TechRadar after my review was published. However they don't get as much use as they deserve, because of the AKG.

The N9's dongle now takes an almost-permanent place in the USB-C port atop my computer, so I can pull it out if I want to use the speakers or push it in when I want the headphones. And most of the time, I want to use the headphones.

I've got a flatmate and I don't want to annoy him by using the loud and bassy speakers; when I hear him come home, I can slip in the dongle and play games or watch a movie from the headphones instead. Likewise when he leaves, it's only seconds before I'm listening to my videos with the speakers.

It helps that the AKG sound amazing and have hardy noise cancellation, which help me forget that my house borders a train line and is under a flight path. I find it easier to hear videos and get immersed in games when I'm using them.

For various tasks, I've also got my iPad, laptop and phone, so if I need to I can also start using the N9 on these devices with no re-connection fiddling; likewise my partner can borrow them for her tablet without any fuss. I've taken them on holidays, on coffee-shop work trips, and to friends' houses.

As I use them, more handy use cases for the AKG N9 crop up; only the other day I used them (with a converter) alongside an audio field recorder to check a mic was working. I could have spent ages trying to find my wired headphones, or some seconds with the N9.

The only thing I can't use them for is exercise, but thankfully I test plenty of open earbuds for that.

If I calculated the price of individual headphones or earbuds for the various tasks I use the AKG N9 for, it'd certainly be more than the cans themselves cost. I may hate expensive headphones and still consider the vast majority unnecessary, but versatile headphones like these will save the right buyer loads of money.

• New Sony The Collexion headphone renders arrive
• They show product very similar to WH-1000XM6
• A few premium design changes, and two colors

We've been reporting tirelessly on new top-end headphones from Sony that are set to bear the name The Collexion. We've seen them spotted on the head of a Hollywood star and leaked on Sony website listing pages, with a May 19 release looking likely.

But I'd been so caught up in the flurry of leaks, that I'd missed something obvious — and newly-leaked renders courtesy of Android Headlines have highlighted: these headphones look incredibly familiar.

Coming in white and black hues, the Sony The Collexion headphones appear to be gentle evolutions of the Sony WH-1000XM6 and XM5, especially in the looks of the speaker cups.

In fact, squint and these basically are the WH-1000XM6. It's clear that Sony isn't straying far from past designs with its new cans, which might surprise people hoping for top-end blasters that match the rumored $600-ish price tag — but there are difference in the shiny metallic elements that are really reminiscent of the Sonos Ace.

What's new here?

Let's run through the differences I can see between these rendered headphones and the XM6 cans.

Most comfortably, the headband seems to be made from a different material, with leaks pointing to it being vegan leather rather than plastic as in the XM6. This material is also said to be used for the ear pads.

A new hinge mechanism is at play too, although to see still images, it's hard to tell how it works. At the very least, Sony's attempts to play around with this design element suggests The Collexion could have a sturdier build.

Renders show a USB-C port, but no 3.5mm headphone jack. That's not a surprise, though, because the space where this audio port would be, is obscured in the pictures.

Naturally, under the hood there are probably loads of hardware changes that make these an audible step up from the XM6 — these won't literally be the same headphones (at least, I hope).

But given the high price point mooted for the new headphones, you'd be forgiven for hoping for a more inventive design. The best headphones for audiophiles show their colors with unique designs, flashy patterns or mechanical flair, and if you've paid top dollar for expensive cans, you want to feel it.

Given all the leaks and teases, I'm expecting us to learn more officially pretty soon.

• Sony WH-1000XX The ColleXion all but confirmed
• Spotted on Hollywood star's head in NYC
• Seems to give a wink and nod to previous leaks

If there were any doubt that Sony was cooking up something special, it should now be dispelled. We've reported on 'Sony WH-1000XX The ColleXion' leaks before, and now it seems like the brand's 10th-anniversary super-premium headphones could be real.

They haven't been officially announced yet, but they seem to have shown up in public, all but guaranteeing a release is on the horizon.

Specifically, they were seen worn by F1 star Damson Idris, in several photographs which were shared by various fashion pages on X. Case in point:

Over on the r/headphones Subreddit, audiophiles were quick to note that these aren't a known pair of headphones, with a Sony logo making it clear that these are the product of the Japanese brand, but several design differences from the likes of the WH-1000XM6.

It seems, then, that we're looking at Sony's as-yet-unannounced premium option. The pictures give us a look at a few key design features, including an interesting metal headband/hinge, an audio jack, some grilles and a carry case too. Thankfully, the latter looks a lot more sensible than the AirPods Max 2 'bra' case.

Tin-foil hat time

Ostensibly, this could be a simple leak. We occasionally hear cases of tech testers snapped with upcoming gadgets in public: companies do need to let their devices get real-world testing, after all.

But you probably don't use Hollywood stars to do said testing. The fact that it was Damson Idris who was spotted with the cans, in very professional-looking photographs, makes me think it wasn't a massive coincidence — and then there's the fact that an official Sony account replied to the above X post with the 'eyes' emoji, drawing attention to the whole thing rather than avoiding it.

My conspiracy theory (and that of most of the Reddit commenters)? Sony has started sending out the WH-1000XX The ColleXion headphones to certain people, in the hopes that they'll get pap-snapped with the cans to raise intrigue.

We've seen it before, with brands such as Beats giving its audio products to influential people, to tease the imminent launch of an exciting new device. Even if not true, and this was just a happy coincidence for the brand, Sony's clearly leaning into it.

The rumor mill says that these headphones will be announced on May 19. Since we're getting these 'candid' teases of the cans, that launch date is looking increasingly likely.

So far we've heard that these will be top-end cans selling for around €629 (about $740, £550, AU$1,030), that could have advanced ANC and audiophile-quality specs, but perhaps a worse battery and heavier weight than Sony's other headphones.

If the rumors are correct, we won't have long to go until we discover the truth in these whispers.

When the JBL Tour One M3 released last year, we rated them as generally strong, albeit flawed flagship headphones. While we appreciated their solid ANC and handy Smart Tx transmitter, their audio output left us feeling conflicted. See, their soundstaging and dynamism impressed, although we felt that bass could be a tad overstated, and the highs could do with some refining.

But it seems that JBL has listened to critics and users alike, and in turn, has launched a major update to its flagship cans, including a reimagined sound curve.

So, how has JBL changed the sound of the Tour One M3? What were the motivations behind the change? And just how good do they sound now? I put these questions to Mikael Herje, the global director of JBL’s headphones business, and also gave the upgraded headphones a go myself — here’s everything I learned.

A new sound using old tricks

The Tour One M3’s new sound is strongly inspired by the Harman Curve — a target frequency response created by researchers at JBL’s parent company in 2012. However, it was also assessed by JBL’s in-house Golden-Ears-certified experts, who have to pass a challenging test to prove their audiophile credentials. On top of this, independent panels compared the Tour One M3’s new sound against its previous one, to ensure that the update was indeed an upgrade.

These three pillars formed the results we’re hearing now on the Tour One M3, which, according to Mikael Herje, is “a refinement to get it [the M3] to that next level”.

But what has specifically changed to enhance the sound? Well, according to JBL, bass is now “more controlled and natural”, there’s been a “⁓2dB refinement” in the low-mid range, and there’s also a 3-5dB boost in the 4-8kHz segment, higher in the frequency range.

“In the JBL tuning, we're always a bit heavy on the bass, and that’s worked really well from the entry to the higher end products for years,” said Herje. However, he stressed that listening expectations have changed, and the company had discovered that “the more experienced the listeners are, the less bass heavy they want the sound — they want it more balanced”.

At first, the focus was on refining the M3’s bass output, but in doing this, Herje noted that “we also saw that there're other elements we can increase and work on as well to to get to a more refined sound curve for the premium headphone”.

This change, he stressed, is limited to the range-topping products only — those being the Tour One M3 over-ear headphones and the JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds. “We're not doing it in the other ones because they are working really well for their audience — it's punchy, it's lively, you get immersed."

It’s a different story for the Tour line, though. Herje told me that the decision to refine the sound of JBL’s premium headphones fits within a broader effort to make strides in the higher-end part of the market. “We’re really stepping up our game with premium headphones,” he said. "This is the third iteration, and we still have a 10-year plan ahead of us to really take that space.”

Why now?

Something that interested me about this new sound direction was JBL’s decision to implement it on an existing pair of headphones. We’ve seen a few competitors go in a new direction, sonically speaking, as of late — but typically through a new product.

For instance, Sony decided to go for more of a ‘studio’ sound on its latest flagships, the Sony WH-1000XM6, and consulted leading mastering engineers to get a more balanced end product than the XM5 and XM4 models.

Rolling out on an existing model felt like a fitting approach for Herje, however. “What we wanted to do is show our consumers that buy these [the Tour One M3] that we’re not only putting it in new stuff — but also giving products a longer life cycle, and giving consumers more from them,” he said.

Although JBL’s updated sound is coming to the existing M3 via an over the air update, it’s also coming to a new product — well, of sorts.

That’s because JBL has released the Tour One M3 in a brand new colorway — a green and copper variant that I’ve been using. In my view, it’s a gorgeous-looking model, with deep, classy green casing, neat copper accents, and a luxurious vibe.

So… are they any good?

It’s clear that the sonic refinements on the M3 are part of JBL’s wider push to gain ground in the premium headphones market. But just how good do they sound after the update? And can the M3 compete with some of the best headphones around? Here’s what I think after listening for a fair few hours.

First of all, I think these changes make for a promising first step. As Herje mentioned, JBL’s more bass-heavy tuning makes a lot of sense for the more budget-friendly options, but I was instantly struck by the more balanced sound when using the M3 — which feels more fitting for more premium cans.

Bass is still fairly plentiful, and in Here to Catch You by Chris Stussy and S.A.M., I was treated to an agile low-end output that sounded brilliantly controlled throughout, and never impeded spacey synths or energetic percussion. The low-end doesn’t sound so prominent using the new sound signature, and fans of genres like House or Drum and Bass may want to ramp things up a little, but this is easy to do with JBL’s companion app equalizer.

Mids sound well-defined on the M3 after this update — helping more stripped back tracks sound especially enjoyable. In Jet Fuel by Mac Miller, the rapper’s lines sounded well separated from backing vocals, smooth bass, and relaxed percussion, making for a satisfyingly nuanced listening experience. In America’s A Horse With No Name, I also enjoyed the clarity of acoustic guitars and vocals, and the subtlety of drums in the backdrop.

The M3 also got a pretty significant boost in the 4-8kHz range, but treble didn’t come across as abrasive or harsh to my ears. In Timeless by Shinchiro Yotoka, I was met with expressive yet clean high-pitched drums, which sounded articulate and precise, even at higher volumes.

Are you going to get the brilliant instrument separation, expansiveness, and openness of the top-tier premium headphones on the M3? Not quite. Ultimately, these lack the top-class sonic talents of models like the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3. However, both of these models cost more than $100 / £100 than their JBL counterpart.

This update helps the M3 to offer more detail, and the slightly tempered bass is a great fit for acoustic tracks in particular. Sure, there are rivals that can offer a more intricate, layered listening experience, but for headphones that are regularly available for less than $300 / £250, I’d argue that JBL’s cans perform admirably.

I won't waste your time. If you're looking for the very best noise cancelation tech and outstanding sound quality, then let me recommend the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) at Amazon for $399 (was $449).

The $50 discount is a return to the record-low price for the cans we awarded a five-star rating in our Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) review. It's difficult for me to overstate how impressive these headphones really are.

We praised their brilliant noise cancelation, comfortable fit, and balanced, energetic sound. They're worth every cent at full price, but now that they've dropped below $400, they're an absolute steal.

Today's best Bose headphones deal

The original Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones narrowly missed out on a five-star rating, but Bose put everything right for the second-gen model. No wonder they're the overall winners in our best noise-cancelling headphones guide. You can find out why we rate them so highly by reading our in-depth Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) review.

If you're short on time, here are a few quotes that sum it up. We called them the "absolute best active noise canceling cans for the money," with “balanced, energetic sound,” and “as comfortable as these things ever get.” We summarised the entire review as: "the king of ANC is back, better than ever.”

The only thing we found lacking was the "humdrum control app," but we don't think that should stop you from buying them. They sound great, have a rich set of features, and are now at their lowest-ever price once more.

If you have a soft spot for Bose but aren't interested in this deal, then it's worth checking our Bose headphone deals page for all the latest options. Or, for something more stylish, consider the Beats headphone deals going on.

Anker Soundcore Space 2: Two-minute review

Everyone I’ve spoken to who’s used them has spoken glowingly about Soundcore’s over-ear headphones, and the latest cans from the Anker sub-brand hark very closely to their predecessors. So, are the Anker Soundcore Space 2 contenders for the best budget headphone market?

Well, not much has changed compared to the Soundcore Space One – pedants may be wringing their hands at the jump from integer to lexical name, and I concur – and these headphones will look and feel very familiar to owners of the Space One Pro too. Meet the new boss, very similar to the old boss.

That’s no shame, though, because it means the previous cans’ strongest point is back in force. The active noise cancellation (ANC) here is absolutely fantastic — I don’t think I’ve used a pair of headphones at this price point that comes close. It’s zealous in wiping out any noise, near or far, around you.

Though barely changed from previous generations, the distinct look and comfortable fit of the Space 2 help them stand out from other alike headphones. These might be the first pair of cans I’ve tested that my girlfriend actually recognized with any kind of familiarity.

What has changed, though, is the price: there’s been a significant step up in cost from the Space One. I know, I know, it’s 2026 and every review talks about price hikes. But it’s big enough to lift the Soundcore out of the aforementioned best-in-class competition, and higher expectations aren’t matched by a greatly improved package.

Take, for example, the sound. Treble is fantastic and sparkly, but there’s a distinct drop-off when you get towards the mids, and bass is indistinct and unbalanced. They’re far from the worst over-ears I’ve tested, even at this price, with the high quality going some way to retaining the excitement at listening to music. But audiophiles won’t be impressed.

Anker Soundcore Space 2 review: Price and release date

• Released in April 2026
• Debuted for $130 / £130 (about AU$250)
• Price hike over predecessors

After being unveiled at MWC 2026 in early March, the Anker Soundcore Space 2 were put on sale nearly two months later on April 21.

You can pick up these headphones for the retail price of $130 / £130 / about AU$250. That price pushes them into mid-range waters, meaning that, unlike their predecessors, they’re not quite budget cans any more.

For some context, the Soundcore Space One cost $99 / £99 / about AU$200, while the Space One Pro went for $199 / £149 (about AU$300). So the new headphones offer a fairly significant price increase.

Anker Soundcore Space 2 review: Specs

Anker Soundcore Space 2 review: Features

• Fantastic ANC
• 50-hour battery life with ANC off
• Decent range of features including listening test

I’m not sure if the ‘Space’ in the Anker Soundcore Space 2 name refers to the silent vacuum of the cosmos, but it certainly could do, because the noise cancellation on these things is incredible for the price. I was constantly surprised by how adept the Space 2 were at cutting away noisy background sounds: the overground train running behind my house was impossible to hear, even when I was on it, and busy roads became quiet country lanes.

The quoted battery life is 50 hours with ANC on, or 70 hours with it turned off. Neither of those are lengths to write home about — hundred-hour-plus headphones come out pretty frequently now, usually at this price point — but they’re still solid listening times.

The Space 2 offer a selection of extra tools via the Soundcore app. There’s toggle-able wear detection, multipoint pairing, the ability to change what the noise cancellation and play/pause buttons on the ear cups do, and volume limits to stop you harming your hearing. Of the bunch, that latter stands out as one you don’t often see, so props to Anker for including it.

A listening test called HearID combines a hearing check, to pick out which tones you can hear, with a preference barrage to cater for your chosen type of music. I’ve not seen this latter factor considered before, and it solves a big problem with these listening tests — even if repeating the same song six times to check out different sound mixes is a gruelling experience.

There’s enough to recommend downloading the Soundcore app, even if I didn’t use it too much outside of testing.

I’ve previously heard complaints about the wear detection on Soundcore’s headphones. Here it reliably paused a song if I removed the cans, but wasn’t too hot on resuming it when I put the Space 2 back on my head.

• Features score: 4/5

Anker Soundcore Space 2 review: Design

• Funky blue color and distinctive look
• Light, comfortable to wear
• No IP rating

I test plenty of cheap and mid-range headphones that are personality-less black semicircles, so have to give praise to Soundcore. The Space 2 look unique among peers with a funky color, curvy edges, abundance of soft padding and tapered connectors between the headband and cups. Sure, they look basically the same as their predecessors, but if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

They’re nice and light, at 264g, and felt supremely comfortable to wear. That’s partly the weight but also the aforementioned padding overload on your ears and head. They fit securely, not wobbling when I was walking or turning my head quickly.

On the right cup there’s a play/pause button and volume rocker, while the left one has a noise cancelling toggle, power button, USB-C port and 3.5mm audio jack. That latter’s a nice addition you don’t always see at this price point.

You can fold the Space 2 down to make them more portable, with a cloth bag coming in the box, but I couldn’t find any information about an IP rating. So you may want to be careful when wearing them in the rain.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Anker Soundcore Space 2 review: Sound quality

• Uses 40mm driver
• Bright treble, bass and mids suffer
• Supports hi-res standards, LDAC and SBC

The Soundcore Space 2 have a 40mm driver, the same size as in the vast majority of over-ear headphones, enhanced with a double diaphragm for clearer audio. I’ll admit, this end goal has been achieved; you can appreciate the lilt of a vocalist’s voice, the squeal of a guitar solo or the timbre and tremolo of a violin.

You’ll notice that these examples are all ones which sit right in the treble and high-mid space, and that’s because this is where the Space 2 shine. They're energetic, bright and fun; I was initially won over by the cans’ sharp, clear higher-pitched sounds, but the more I listened, the more I realized something was missing.

That something missing is… well, anything lower. Distorted guitar riffs, punchy bass licks and acoustic instruments all lack sparkle, prominence and clarity – it really feels like there’s a hole in some songs where a kick should be. The acoustic guitar of Niko Moon’s King of the Island felt far too far back in the medley, and the hook of My Number by Foals or Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy) by Big & Rich sounded akin to a moving company removing furniture from your upstairs neighbors.

The audio graph suddenly resurges towards the bass and sub-bass side of things, giving some oomph to songs, but it’s often ill-defined or muddy, and sometimes overblown. In Tame Impala’s The Less I Know the Better it sounds insecure, popping up now and then without distinction, while in Troye Sivan’s Rush it’s not well-defined enough to stop it overpowering everything else.

Many music fans forget that there’s more than treble and sub-bass, and the sparkling former might distract many listeners from the Space 2’s shortcomings. I was in that camp for a while, and I still have a good time when I listen to the cans. But if you want a nuanced or natural sound, you’ll find this V-shaped audio pretty severe.

Back to some technicals: the high-quality sound the Space 2 provide is helped by support for LDAC and SBC, as well as Hi-Res Audio and its Wireless counterpart.

• Sound quality: 3.5/5

Anker Soundcore Space 2 review: Value

• Decent value for money
• Matches price hike

The price hike of the Soundcore Space 2 is a shame, because at the Space One’s MSRP, they’d be fantastic value.

They’d be best-in-class budget cans if they came out below $100 / £100 / AU$200, but for a little more, there’s a lot more competition, and much higher expectations. They’re still good, but not instant-must-buy value for money like they would be.

• Value: 3.5/5

Should I buy the Anker Soundcore Space 2?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Anker Soundcore Space 2 review: Also consider

How I tested the Anker Soundcore Space 2

• Tested for 3 weeks
• Tested at home, on walks and on public transport

I used the Soundcore Space 2 for roughly three weeks ahead of their release date, in which time they were paired with my Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. I listened on a range of music and video streaming services, as well as in calls and playing games.

Testing was done in a pretty wide range of environments including on public transport, on walks around various neighborhoods, and at home.

I’ve been testing audio products for TechRadar for years, including some past Anker devices like the Aerofit Pro 2.

• First reviewed in April 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

The Apple AirPods Max 2, at £499.99, are worth every single penny. But what if that's way out of your budget? Well then, you should shoot for the discounted Apple AirPods Max (1st Gen) at Amazon for £399.99 (was £499.99).

The four-star-rated headphones are still some of the best noise-cancelling headphones around, despite being released over five years ago. We love their ANC, unbelievable audio performance, fantastic user experience, and brilliant extra features for iOS.

At this record-low price, this is one of the most notable headphone deals around right now. Snap them up while it lasts.

Today's best Apple AirPods deal

In our Apple AirPods Max review, we rated the headphones four out of five stars and called them the “perfect headphones for Apple devotees.” They've got a lot going for them. We could mention the detailed, expansive audio, the USB-C lossless audio, or the gorgeous design, but it's actually the noise cancellation that makes the AirPods Max excel most.

Our reviewer said that "during a commute, most of the rumble from the train was blocked out, and with our music playing, we couldn't hear it at all." That's high praise indeed and exactly what you'd expect from a £499.99 (RRP) pair of headphones.

Aside from a wide and well-balanced soundstage with immersive spatial audio to make you feel like you’re at a concert, the AirPods Max boast a wide range of features. These include comfy memory foam earcups and a lightweight mesh headband that moulds to your head. They also last up to 20 hours on a single charge.

If you've got your heart set on Apple but are open in terms of the product, then our best AirPods and AirPods deals pages should be your first step. Or more broadly, our best noise-cancelling headphones guide and noise cancelling headphone deals are worth a look.

As someone who has reviewed a number of the best headphones, I have absolutely no reservations recommending the Bose QuietComfort Headphones at Amazon for $199 (was $359).

The Bose QuietComfort Headphones excel at noise-cancelation, but they're far from a one-trick pony. With outstanding sound quality, a super-comfortable design, and an easy-to-use interface, they hit all the right notes across the board.

This limited-time deal sees the ANC masters drop back to the price we saw at Black Friday. Just note that this outstanding deal is only on the grey and pink colorways, although if you want the more traditional black alternative, then they're only $19 more.

Today’s best Bose headphones deal

In our Bose QuietComfort Headphones review, we gave the popular audio product a very respectable four out of five stars. Our reviewer loved their "supreme comfort, fuss-free set-up and solid ANC", so even though they're not perfect, they're still pretty impressive, especially at this reduced price.

If you're often working in public places, then you'll be pleased to hear that the ANC is second to none. There are also a couple of different audio modes, like 'Quiet' for improved noise cancelation and 'Aware' for more transparency. These can be toggled using the action button on the left earcup.

From a comfort point of view, Bose has opted for memory foam earcups wrapped in soft vegan leather and a well-padded headband. All of this equates to a seriously comfortable user experience.

At a sub-$200 price point, the Bose QuietComfort are some of the best noise-cancelling headphones and the best headphones. That's why we'd highly recommend taking a proper look at this deal. It won't be for everyone, though, and if that's the case, check out all the latest Bose headphone deals and general headphone deals.

H20 Audio Ript Ultra: Two-minute review

Our list of the best workout headphones is largely populated by earbuds, and there are scant over-ear options that are designed specifically for exercise. Enter the H20 Audio Ript Ultra, which are very very exercise-oriented.

These over-ear headphones come from a dedicated exercise audio brand, which also gave us the likes of the Tri Run bone conduction headphones and Sonar 2 Pro swim buds, and it generally focuses on simplicity and affordability.

Check one for the Ript Ultra, but cross the other. These are headphones that fix a few big pain points for gym-goers or runners, but at a high cost that non-exercise cans can easily undercut.

The selling point here is that the Ript Ultra are totally sweatproof: their silicone ear cushions are enclosed so no liquid can get to the drivers, and they can also be removed to be cleaned easily. Not to be sniffed at, that.

I also liked how tight and reliable a fit the H20 Audio cans provided: on runs and at the gym, they stuck reliably and resolutely in place, without slipping or falling as other headphones, even workout-specific cans, have. They rarely became uncomfortable, though my ears did get quite hot under the thick cups, so they might not be suitable for long summer runs (which is probably precisely what you'd want them for. Sorry).

As exercise cans go though, these do a great job at fixing the problems that make the best headphones poor tools for the task. But they also miss off several key perks that their 'standard' brethren too.

The audio quality is nothing to write home about sadly, and the noise cancellation is good but not great. The cans feel a little bit cheap in the hand, due to their using the same kind of hardy plastic regularly seen in budget tech, and there's no companion app for your phone to let you fine-tune the sound or enjoy extra features.

None of these is categorically a deal-breaker, especially in headphones designed for use when you're on the go in workout gear. But ultimately the rather high price of these headphones can, and should, have you asking for a little more.

H20 Audio Ript Ultra review: Price and release date

• Released in mid-2025
• Debuted for $249 / £244 / AU$410
• Cheaper now

The H20 Audio Ript Ultra are priced akin to some pretty premium non-workout headphones. Debuting for $249 / £244 / AU$410, they ain't cheap.

Since their mid-2025 release, they've dropped in price a little bit. In the US they've dipped towards the $200 mark at times, and in the UK they're reliably below the £200 bar. But even with price cuts, they're still pricey against direct rivals — see for instance the workout-specific Skullcandy Crusher 540 Active, with bass slider, which also launched in summer 2025, but at a cheaper $209.99 / £169.99 / AU$349.99. Oh, and they too are now also seeing discounts here and there.

The default models of Ript Ultra are black or gray, but two other models are available if you hunt around. There's a pink Betty x RIPT model, with a skull-and-butterfly logo on the cup (I couldn't work out who, or what, Betty was), and an orange Zwift x RIPT model themed around the cycling app. These versions seem to only differ in design colorways, not feature set.

H20 Audio Ript Ultra review: Specs

H20 Audio Ript Ultra review: Features

• 50 hours of battery life
• Slight ANC complements the PNC
• No extra features from app (because there is no app)

The quoted battery life of the H20 Audio Ript Ultra is 50 hours (presumably with ANC off, lower with it on). With cans often pushing the 100-hour mark these days, that's far from best-in-class, but I'd imagine it's still more than enough juice for most users. You'd have to forget to charge for quite a few marathons to run dry.

It's a little tricky to know how much battery you actually have, though, as the headphone voice simply says "battery: high" or similar. Luckily my Android phone can tell me the charge of paired accessories, so I could see the Ript's percentage, but others might need to rely on this vague reportage.

Because of the thick silicone cups, the Ript Ultra has pretty solid PNC, or passive noise cancellation, which can strip out loud background sounds without taking up any of your battery charge. There's ANC too; turning this on made a small impact on noise, and it's probably worth leaving off if battery is a concern.

There's no smartphone app to give you extra controls over the Ript Ultra: what you see is what you get. No equalizer, no 'find my' function, no listening tests. None of these are mandatory on headphones, but when you're paying a high price, you'd hope for a little more than 'zilch'.

• Features score: 3/5

H20 Audio Ript Ultra review: Design

• Solid clamping force — secure, not uncomfortable
• Sweatproof & cleanable, removable ear pads
• They do get hot during workouts

The entirety of H20 Audio's sales pitch rests on its design, and I must say: job well done. Immediately, I noticed a workout cans pet peeve of mine was fixed: these things clamp on your head tight, and in all my hours of running and gym-going with them, they never fell off.

The main draw is their sweatproof design. While there's no IP rating, they're meant to be totally immune to perspiration: the silicone ear cups won't disintegrate like leather ones will, and can be removed to be cleaned easily. I found all these sales points to be totally accurate.

Silicone isn't the most comfortable material to wear, though, as it gets very warm. Frequently on runs, my ears would heat up and the area would get quite sweaty. The pads are also a bit thicker, and heavier, than alternatives I've used, but looking at the grand picture, these are also some of the most reliable workout headphones I've used because of the ear pads.

In the box, you do also get some other ear pads: they seem like leather to me, and they're softer. I wanted to test the default, more sweatproof option, so I didn't use these much, but it's a nice move that H20 is giving you regular alternatives.

On the left cup, there's an ANC button and USB-C port, and the right one has a power button, volume up and down buttons plus, perhaps surprisingly, a 3.5mm jack. That's right, you can plug these puppies in if you want better audio quality.

The Ript Ultra fold down, and come in a carry case for extra protection. According to my kitchen scale, they weigh 304g, but I'd say they fall in the general category of 'slightly heavier than normal over-ears'. The plastic they're made from feels a little cheap, and creaks a little in the hand, which initially made me worry that they were real cheapies. I was wrong those; having tested them for days now, I'm quite sure this plastic was actually used deliberately as it's more durable than other solutions.

• Design score: 4.5/5

H20 Audio Ript Ultra review: Sound quality

• Custom 45mm driver
• Decidedly flat, occasionally muddy audio
• Lacking the crisp bass injection I'd have liked for workouts

Since H20 Audio packed the Ript Ultra with a custom 45mm driver, I was expecting a pretty unique sonic experience. But it was unique in the way a weekend at Glastonbury is: muddy.

The headphones have a pretty flat audio output, not offering scooping (or overdriven) bass as many many exercise fans would like, or treble to offer something a little different. Audio lines sound a little indistinct, smushed together, and music has... whatever the opposite of an expansive soundstage is. A congested presentation? Yes, a little.

The overall sound profile is generally warm, with lower-frequency sounds given prominence, but not clarity. Bass blends and bleeds into the rest of the mix: in Kasabian's Underdog, I couldn't tell what was bass and what was kick-drum.

If the planets align, you can get some lovely shaking bass with the headphones; Niko Moon's Paradise To Me offered a really lovely sub-bass. But the few exceptions made the rule even clearer. In the chorus of Sam Fender's Hypersonic Missiles, you'd think every instrument was recorded from the exact same microphone, for how even they sound.

Now, the great caveat: do people care about clarity and detailed audio in exercise headphones? I have no doubt that many will ignore this section. But some gym-goers or runners will want that extra bit of bass to help them knuckle down, or the sparkling treble to underpin that fantastic chorus that gets you to the finish line. I don't think muddy audio like this will inspire people to greatness or shave any time off your 10k PB.

The headphones connect via Bluetooth 5.2 — not 5.4, as H20's website lists — and there's no support for additional high-resolution codecs. What you hear is what you get. And if that's OK with you given the sweatproofing, fine. But it's not better than fine.

• Sound quality: 3/5

H20 Audio Ript Ultra review: Value

• Mid-range price for headphones
• Other options get you more for your money

I've referred to the H20 Audio Ript Ultra as being a pricey pair of headphones; they certainly are, but it's worth noting that workout cans tend to be a little pricier than their standard counterparts. That's what you're getting for longevity.

Despite that note, though, the Ript Ultra do feel a little expensive for what you're getting. The lack of tie-in app, middling audio and ANC are all a little hard to swallow when you're paying a premium.

So what price would you put on protected headphones? If price is no concern, then these are fine for you, but there are alternatives that offer you more for your money. I've seen some reports online that this model is prone to breaking — although do note, that was not my experience — but it's always worth thinking about how you'll use them before spending the cash.

• Value: 3.5/5

Should I buy the H20 Audio Ript Ultra?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

H20 Audio Ript Ultra review: Also consider

How I tested the H20 Audio Ript Ultra

• Tested for a month
• Tested at gym, on runs of various lengths, on walks and on public transport

I used the H20 Audio Ript Ultra for the best part of a month in order to write this review. They mostly saw use during my exercise (gym or runs around my borough), several times per week, but on occasion I used them in other settings like public transport and trips to the shops.

For the testing process, the headphones were paired to my smartphone, listening to music on Spotify Lossless, Tidal or installed media, as well as watching videos on YouTube and Prime Video, as well as making calls.

I've tested a plethora of exercise headphones for TechRadar in the past, as well as other audio products and fitness tech. These include some products cited in the competition section.

• First reviewed in April 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

Recently, I spent a week trying out the Tribit QuietPlus 81. These headphones — which come equipped with active noise cancelling — are some of the cheapest over-ears I’ve ever tested. They have a list price below $50 / £50 and, according to Tribit, deliver “excellent bass,” as well as a “comfortable fit” and “crystal clear calls”.

How accurate is this exactly? Well, I’ll get to that. But this all got me thinking: is it really possible to get good quality headphones at such a low price?

In a world where costs are high and flagship cans from the major players — Apple, Bose, Sony, Sennheiser — come in excess of $400 / £400, headphones that supposedly offer so much for so little are more tempting than ever. But can you really get good sound quality, ergonomics and features for less than $50 / £50? Here’s what I think after testing the Tribit QuietPlus 81.

You get what you give

The Tribit QuietPlus 81 get a fair few things right. For instance, they’re not using a ton of fancy tech or processing power, and in turn, come with a very healthy battery life indeed.

Remarkably, these headphones can supply up to 110 hours of playtime. Yes, you read that correctly. Sure, it’s just 70 hours with ANC on, which is a fair jump down, but that’s still 3.5x longer than you can expect from the new Apple Airpods Max 2, for instance. And that 110 hours maximum is better than a lot of budget rivals — or at least in-line with competitors like the Earfun Tune Pro.

The QuietPlus 81 are also foldable, making them convenient for on-the-go use — just throw them in your bag and you’re ready to go. In addition, they have a fairly extensive set of EQ options, and have a game mode for lower-latency audio. Pretty neat stuff, right?

But unfortunately, that’s where the good times stop rolling. Let me be clear: these headphones do not sound good. Not only was I disappointed by their muddy and lethargic bass, but they simply lacked the clarity and attention to detail that some budget rivals offer.

Even with a custom EQ set up, Electronic tracks sounded bloated and half-hearted, treble lacked vibrancy and control in House tunes, and vocals lacked detail and clarity with more acoustic genres.

Another thing worth noting is that although ANC features within the QuietPlus 81's feature set, it’s not that effective. If I was working in the office, it was still pretty easy to hear conversations around me, even with music volume set to 70%. On walks, the sound of passing traffic was still prominent as well. These cans will dampen surrounding sounds for sure, but I’ve experienced better ANC from budget competitors.

I wasn’t expecting anything miraculous from a pair of $50 / £50 headphones. However, these were underwhelming even within the budget space in some key areas — chiefly audio performance and ANC quality. Pair this with underwhelming call clarity, a fairly uncomfortable fit, plus a messy companion app, and the Tribit QuietPlus 81 don’t feel as if they’re worth the expenditure — no matter how humble.

Just a little more…

So, can you get great headphones for less than $50 / £50? Well, oftentimes the answer is no. But fear not…I have some good news.

Yes, if you’re willing to spend ever-so-slightly more, you can still get a fantastic set of cans without breaking the bank. Allow me to introduce you to the 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51.

These headphones initially released at $89 / £99, but you can grab them for even less in 2026. A quick search through Amazon, and I’m seeing these go for around $70 / £80. And even though they’re slightly pricier than the Tribit alternative, they actually offer way more bang for your buck.

First of all, we consider the Sonoflow Pro to be the best noise cancelling headphones in the budget category. For such a small price, their noise-crushing capabilities are hard to believe — we’d even place them in a similar bracket to the far pricier Sony WH-1000XM4 and Cambridge Audio P100 SE.

But there’s more. The 1More Sonoflow Pro also provide spectacular sound quality, with full-sounding, rich mids, impactful and hard-hitting bass, and expressive treble. You can use them wired or wirelessly, and can even activate higher-res Bluetooth listening with the LDAC codec, resulting in surprisingly detailed audio.

Pile on a pleasant over-ear feel, a sleek design, and similarly strong battery life (up to 100 hours with ANC off, and 65 hours with it on), and you’re looking at a spectacular pair of budget headphones.

Ultimately, this just goes to show that, in many cases, spending just a little bit more can make a genuinely huge difference. And even if a sub-$50 pair of cans may not give you everything you need, that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your life savings for serious quality.

Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 review: two minute review

The ATH-ADX7000 are Audio-Technica's flagship open-back headphones, with a lightweight design that's strong but just 270g. They deliver exceptional low-end power and a wide, precise sound stage, with a confidence and clarity no matter what kind of music you throw at them. They're astonishingly expensive, but if you can afford a pair you'll be very pleased with your purchase. Some of the best wired headphones around then? Oh, emphatically.

The key features here include Audio-Technica's new HXDT driver design, which is a large 58mm diaphragm with concentric alignment of the baffle plate, magnet and voice coil. The voice coil is located in the middle of the housing for what Audio-Technica says is "the purest motion and sound possible".

These are very high impedance headphones — 490 ohms — and that means you'll need an appropriately powerful amp to drive them. But get that right and they'll reward you no end.

Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 review: price and release date

• $3,499 / £3,000 / AU$4,999
• Launched October 2025

The Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 headphones were announced in October 2025 and went on sale that same month with a price tag of $3,499 / £3,000 / AU$4,999.

That pricing means these are very much in audiophile territory; this is a flagship set of serious headphones made for people who want the very best of everything and can afford to pay for it.

Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 review: specs

Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 review: features

• New 58mm HDXT driver with aligned circular components
• 490 ohm high impedance voice coil
• 1/4-inch stereo and 4-pin XLRM cables, both 3m

The Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 headphones feature HDXT drivers, which are precision-molded to deliver a perfectly round diaphragm. The main driver is 58mm with aligned circular driver components (the baffle plate, magnet, voice coil and diaphragm) for what Audio-Technica says is a more accurate, dynamic and detailed sonic performance. It's teamed with a 490-ohm high-impedance voice coil that promises fast transients and defined low end.

The ATX-ADX7000s come with two detachable nylon-wound 3m (9.8') cables, one balanced with a 4-pin XLRM connector (but not a 4.4mm balanced connector; the expectation is that you'll be using a desktop or hi-fi amp here) and one with an unbalanced 6.3mm (1/4") gold-plated stereo plug. Both cables connect to the headphones with gold-tipped A2DC connectors.

• Features score: 4.5/5

Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 review: sound quality

• Exceptional clarity and precision
• Superbly punchy bass without losing detail
• Excellent in all kinds of genres

With a frequency response of 5Hz to 50kHz, the ATH-ADX7000 have a very impressive low end and airy highs, delivering a neutral overall sound with a little bit of warmth. Irrespective of genre or format I didn't need to reach for an EQ on any of my vinyl, CDs or files; even fairly cluttered, complex sounds like Mojo from Mike Patton's Peeping Tom project, which drops massive squelching sub-bass in the chorus with distorted guitars on top and which has defeated many headphones, didn't stress the Audio-Technicas at all.

These are very high-impedance headphones and on the Mac my SSL2 interface struggled to drive them; while it happily drives most demanding headphones it wasn't strong enough for these, and it felt like I was getting six out of ten when I needed eight or nine. Swapping it for my iFi Zen 2 DAC improved things dramatically, not just because of the extra power but because the ATH-ADX7000s could really breathe. What was already entertaining became an absolute hoot.

I laughed out loud when the bass dropped in SOPHIE's Reasons Why, and Beastie Boys' Root Down moved so much air it felt like I'd strapped big speakers to my head. Little Simz' Point and Kill was beautifully detailed, its snaking bassline, intertwining vocals and bursts of brass perfectly positioned. Radiohead's Reckoner had incredible presence, the Audio-Technicas giving the layered vocals great separation as guitars chimed in the left channel and the ride cymbal splashed in the right. Led Zeppelin's When The Levee Breaks was the best I've ever heard it, every part of John Paul Jones' bass distinct from John Bonham's thunderous drums and Jimmy Page's slide guitar.

Bass was something of a recurring theme in my testing because the ATH-ADX7000 headphones deliver it so well, whether it's the thumb-slaps and slides in The Blue Nile's Tinseltown in the Rain; the arpeggiated synth in Robyn's Dopamine; the dubstep thump in BLACKPINK's Go; Adam Clayton's grinding bass in U2's Vertigo; or Tony Levin's percussive, metronomic bass pulse and melodic walks in the live version of Peter Gabriel's Digging in the Dirt. Listening to and feeling Horace Pace's glorious Precision bass in The Specials' Ghost Town was close to a religious experience.

• Sound quality score: 5/5

Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 review: design

• Exceptionally lightweight honeycomb grille
• Choice of velvet and alcantara ear cups
• Lightweight but strong magnesium frame
• Functional rather than flashy

The Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 headphones are very visibly open-back thanks to a handmade honeycomb-punched aluminum grille that looks as if it's barely there when you're looking straight at it — although it is very strong and does also block unwanted side ventilation.

The large ear pads come with a choice of velvet and Alcantara cushions that promise to subtly alter the sound — velvet for "well-balanced" audio and Alcantara for more warmth — and the headphones use a lightweight magnesium frame with a wide, open headband. I found the headphones to be exceptionally comfortable even during long listening sessions. And unlike on-ear designs they stayed put when I was at my desk working in front of a big display.

Each pair of ATH-ADX7000 is laser-etched with its serial number and comes in a hard aluminium carrying case.

• Design score: 5/5

Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 review: value

• Undeniably expensive
• Exceptionally good bass
• Wonderfully comfortable

These are the best over-ear headphones I've ever tested, delivering the incredible clarity and realism of open-back headphones with the kind of low-end punch you'd normally need closed-backs for. Their light weight, wide headband and comfortable ear cups make them a real pleasure to wear for long listening sessions, and the sound they produce means that every listening session will become a long one.

Unfortunately they're also very expensive: $3,499 / £3,000 / AU$4,999 is twice what you'd pay for a Grado Signature pair, about three times the price of the equivalent Sennheisers and about seven times more than I've ever been able to spend on a pair of headphones. That price tag means they're simply out of reach for many of us.

For many musical products the difference between budget and mid-range models is much more dramatic than the difference between high end and super high end – so for example a $1,000 guitar will be much better than a $250 one, but as you move up the price range the differences start to become much more subtle. I think that's the case here. If you can easily afford these headphones you'll love them, but many headphones costing half as much are hardly horrific.

• Value score: 4/5

Should I buy the ATH-ADX7000?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 review: also consider

The Sennheiser HD 800's revoiced, more bassy successor the HD 800 S is among the very best wired headphones, and retails for roughly one-third of the price of the Audio-Technicas. And while the fit wasn't right for me, when I reviewed the Grado Signature S750 open-backs I really loved their sound quality and clarity. Our current favorite among the best high-end headphones, the Meze Audio 105 Silva, are even cheaper while delivering a superb sonic experience.

How I tested the Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 headphones

• Tested for two weeks
• Used with stereo amp, audio interface and headphone DAC/amp
• Vinyl, CD, streaming, and hi-res audio files

I tested the Audio-Technica ATH-ADX7000 for two weeks across a range of sources and genres: vinyl records via an Audio-Technica turntable and an Onkyo A-910 stereo amplifier; CDs with the same amp and a Marantz CD6007 CD player; and streaming, lossless and hi-res audio on a Mac mini via an SSL2 audio interface and an iFi Zen 2 DAC.

I've detailed some of the music I used in the main review but I tested across a range of artists and genres including acoustic and hyperpop, electronica and EDM, classic rock, alternative rock and chart pop.

• First reviewed: April 2026
• Read more about how we test

JBL Live 780NC: Two-minute review

I was not expecting to be as impressed by the JBL Live 780NC as I ended up being. Even out of the box, it looked like another good but not great $200-range pair of headphones that excel in certain areas but end up making compromises elsewhere. But really the only compromises are the lack of a charging cable and the fact you can’t remove the ear pads.

But dig a little deeper and the JBL Live 780NC start to shine. The feature set rivals that of the best wireless headphones out there like the Sony WH-1000XM6. Sure, most wireless headphones now come with active noise cancellation and an ambient mode, but many don’t come with Auracast, as powerful of an EQ (and personalized EQ), or Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res support. At least, not at this price.

I’ll throw in the obligatory these-aren’t-perfect counterpoints — and there are a few. The bass can sometimes get a little out of control to the point where I usually had the bass cut through the EQ when listening. And the Dolby Atmos feature is a bit underwhelming for music, not to mention that only a handful of streaming services provide Dolby Atmos content. Still, the JBL Live 780NC get high marks from me. And if you give them a chance, you’ll probably feel the same.

JBL Live 780NC: Price and release date

• Priced $249.95 (about £190 / AU$360, but currently launched in US only)
• Launch date March 12, 2026

With a March 2026 launch date in the US, the JBL Live 780NC are the newest addition to JBL’s lineup of over-ear headphones, having landed alongside their 680NC on-ear counterparts. And despite being among the more expensive of JBL’s offerings (only out priced by the JBL Tour One M3 Smart Tx and the JBL Quantum One), they’re firmly in the mid-tier price range for over-ear wireless cans in general, coming in at $249.95 (about £190 / AU$360). They’re also available in five colors: black, green, blue, white, and champagne.

Unfortunately, at the time of writing, the JBL Live 780NC are only available in the US. However, considering their predecessor, the 2023-issue JBL Live 770NC, can be purchased in the UK and Australia, my guess is that it’s only a matter of time before these headphones will become available in those regions as well.

JBL Live 780NC: Specs

JBL Live 780NC: Features

• Multipoint and Auracast available
• Personalizable EQ according to what you can hear
• Deep EQ manipulation

The JBL Live 780NC may be as feature-filled as any other pair of headphones on the market. Not only do they come with multipoint connectivity, but allow for use with Auracast where you can connect multiple headphones to one source, as well as Bluetooth with LE Audio (something Apple doesn’t currently support). They even do that thing where they stop playing when you take them off your head.

The active noise cancellation and Ambient (sometimes referred to as transparency) mode are fairly deep. You can set levels of both using a slider, as well as turn on an adaptive mode for the ANC. TalkThru, basically an ambient mode hyperaware of human voices, is also an option here. And they work pretty well too.

The ANC was able to completely block out ambient noise with music playing at 50%, while the ambient mode was able to still allow me to fully understand a conversation on TV while listening to music at 60%.

Of course, while you can cycle through the types of “Ambient Sound Control” as JBL calls it with a press of a button on the headphones, the real fine tuning happens in the JBL headphone app. The app has a number of additional features and ways of customizing your experience.

For instance, Personi-fi 3.0 is a cool feature that tests how well you can hear a series of frequencies on both ears and then adjusts the EQ to offset any hearing loss you have. I also appreciated that I could toggle it on and off after going through the process.

Speaking of EQ, there are six presets available through the included Equalizer function with the ability to add more. More importantly, however, is the fact that I can create a completely custom EQ with a seemingly infinite amount of points (I stopped at 17) where you can boost or cut up to 6 dB.

Spatial sound gets its own set of three presets – Movie, Music, and Game – though there isn’t any more control other than selecting between them. There’s also a left / right balance, and a Low Volume Dynamic EQ setting so that audio still sounds present even when turned down.

I also appreciate the number of settings for better sounding calls, even allowing you to hear your own voice if you want.

Lastly, it also comes with a relax mode that allows you to play any combination of up to five relaxing sounds from one to sixty minutes (selectable along a slider). It’s a nice if slightly gimmicky feature.

• Features score: 5/5

JBL Live 780NC: Design

• No charging cable included
• Comfortable, (if slightly tight) fit
• Plenty of on-unit controls

When unboxing the JBL Live 780NC, a couple things popped out to me. I was a little disheartened to see that JBL didn’t include a charging cable, though not too much, since it uses USB-C and anyone with a modern smartphone can use the same cable to charge these headphones. More appreciated was the inclusion of a carrying pouch, albeit a fairly thin one, as well as the USB-C to aux cable for more analog listening.

Mostly though, I liked the fact that the JBL Live 780NC, while not reinventing the wheel, don’t look like every other pair of over-ear wireless headphones out there. Not only do they come in the five different colors mentioned above (my test unit is black), but the earcups have a rounded almost-retro-but-not-quite shape to them that with oversize earpads give it an accessible yet slightly elevated look.

The earpads might not be removable but they are plush as is the headband, while the rest of the Live 780NC are a combination of durable plastic and sturdy metal – most notably the hinge. JBL doesn’t give an exact measurements, but each earcup looks to have an adjustment range of about an inch and a half giving these headphones the flexibility to fit on just about any head. Plus, the earcups can swivel flat as well as fold, which make them easier to carry.

The headphones sit tight on the head without too much pressure for a secure and comfortable fit. And if you try these on and find them too tight, adjusting the ear cups will alleviate the pressure. At 260 grams, they’re not light. But I didn’t find them fatiguing to wear for long listening sessions. Though they’re not really meant for active wear, I even tried them on while going for a run and found them comfortable the entire time.

I also like the fact that cloth covering the 40mm drivers has a sizable “L” and “R” etched into them to indicate sides. I’ve experienced more than one pair of headphones that hide the left and right indicators in some forgotten crevice, making me spend a few extra seconds figuring out the proper headphone orientation (first world problems).

Typically, many wireless headphones have all the controls on one side. That’s not the case with the JBL Live 780NC. The right side does have more on it, containing the power / bluetooth slider and ANC / AmbientAware button along with the USB-C port. You can also tap the outside of the ear cup for various additional controls like play / pause, mic mute, call answer, and voice assistant cycling. The left side is a little more minimal but does have the all important volume controls.

• Design score: 4.5/5

JBL Live 780NC: Sound

• Really impressive sound, except for overly pronounced bass
• Spatial audio is a treat, if a bit underwhelming
• Ridiculously long battery life

Having spent quite some time testing the JBL Live 780NC, listening to all sorts of genres through Apple Music with Dolby Atmos and lossless on (and therefore able to listen to music in Hi-Res and with spatial audio on), I’ve come away quite impressed.

The sound quality here is better than I was expecting it to be considering the more mid-range price tag. Regardless of what I listened to, the mids and high end came through very clearly.

The mids have a good amount of body so rock and more mid-forward music retains its edge, while the high end has the kind of clarity to keep sounds like cymbals coming through with a crispness they deserve.

The one place that the audio quality lines up more closely with my experience of headphones in this price range is the bass. For instance, I’ve never listened to U2 and thought there was too much bass.

That is until I tested these headphones and put on Until The End of the World in an effort to find some kind of rock in Dolby Atmos. I also tested with some hip hop, like Duckwrth and J. Cole, where that big bass worked better, but as soon as I turned on the bass boost EQ preset, it completely overwhelmed the rest of the audio. If you’re a bass head and welcome hearing damage, you might like that.

I did appreciate the ability to play Dolby Atmos through these headphones, though the availability of this content is limited to only a handful of streaming services. Yet, the spatial audio effect is more limited than it is with a physical atmos system. On the bright side, it is more impactful when watching shows or movies (or gaming), giving content a more three dimensional experience.

Still, everything does have more clarity to it with more separation between aural elements like instruments and backing vocals. Part of that is listening in Hi-Res lossless audio but some of it is also the Dolby Atmos since it allows for a bigger sense of space in the soundstage. It is a virtual approximation since these headphones rock just one 40mm driver per side. That said, this is still incredible audio for $250.

Using the headphones for calls is almost as impressive. As the wearer, I was able to hear calls clearly. And due to the dual beamforming mics — there are four mics total — coupled with an AI-trained algorithm, the caller on the other end could hear me just as clearly, stating that they wouldn’t have even known I was speaking through the 780NC if I hadn’t told them.

What probably blows me away the most — at least in terms of how far headphones have come in a few years — is the ridiculously long battery life. A five minute fast charge garners four hours use. And though it takes two hours to fully charge from empty, once charged, the JBL Live 780NC can last up to 80 hours, 50 if you’re always using ANC. I’ve charged these headphones once since I got them and that’s only because they arrived with a 50% battery life out of the box.

• Performance: 4.5/5

JBL Live 780NC: Value

• JBL Live 780NC sound better than their price
• Similar features in other headphones cost more
• Only a few headphones come with better battery life

Aesthetically and design-wise, the JBL Live 780NC look like the mid-tier headphones that they are. But, the amount of features on hand as well as the superb sound quality (as long as you’re okay with a big low end) and impressive battery life feel like they belong in a more expensive pair.

If we look at other wireless headphones out there, the Sony WH-1000XM6 are one of the first ones to pop up on any best of list. While their ANC is probably the best out there (along with Bose’s top options), they also go for a much heftier $449 / £399 / AU$699. They also have a more limited battery life, lasting 30 hours with ANC on. And they’re a bit more limited when it comes to other features. They would get a little bit of a pass regarding the limited features since they’ve been out since 2024, but the prices haven’t really come down much since their release. You might find them at around $400, but not really any less than that outside of a sales event.

You can find some headphones with better battery life like the Cambridge Audio Melomania P100, which provide up to 100 hours of battery life. But those are more expensive, at $299 / £249 (AU$510 approx.), and don’t offer spatial audio support. On top of that, the ANC is not as good on the Cambridge as it is on the JBL.

• Value: 4.5/5

Should I buy the JBL Live 780NC?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

JBL Live 780NC: Also consider

How I tested the JBL Live 780NC

• Tested over a two-week period
• Tested with different music as well as video streaming and gaming
• Tested the various features

I spent two weeks using the JBL Live 780NC as my daily headphones. While using them, I listened to all sorts of genres from electronic and hip hop to rock and acoustic music to compare the frequency range and soundstage. I also tested them with streaming video, video games, and used the various settings such as ANC, transparency mode, EQ, and multipoint.

I’ve spent the last few years reviewing audio equipment and have spent even longer using my critical ear as a listener and musician to understand what does and doesn’t sound good.

• First reviewed in April 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

With the Amazon Big Spring Sale set to end later tonight, the retailer has launched one last burst of lightning deals, and there's one offer that's stood out above them all to me. It's these Sony WH-1000XM5 Wireless Headphones for $243 (was $399.99), which is a record-low price for the premium and five-star-rated noise-canceling cans.

• Browse the full Amazon Big Spring Sale

Yes, the newer Sony XM6s are now available, but at full price, they are a whopping $200 more than the previous generation XM5. And while the newer model does have some nice upgrades like a more balanced sound, stronger noise cancellation, and a convenient foldable design, the XM5s are still some incredible quality headphones — especially at this price.

With the older XM4s now discontinued as well, these are some of the best value noise-canceling headphones you can buy, rivaling similar options from the likes of Bose and Nothing. With the deal set to expire in a matter of hours, I'd jump on it while you can.

Today’s best headphones deal

When we originally reviewed the Sony WH-1000XM5s, we called them 'the best in the business.' They are still a top option today, and with this latest price drop at Amazon, they become some of the most affordable and best value noise-canceling headphones out there.

They had started to fall behind some models due to the high starting price, but they are a much more competitive choice now that they've dropped under $250. That puts them in a similar price bracket to the Bose QuietComfort Headphones and the Sennheiser Momentum 4. Both are solid choices as well, but the XM5s do best them in certain areas.

If it's ANC and sound quality that you want to prioritize over everything else, this offer on the XM5s is the clear choice, as long as you're happy to make small compromises on battery life (still up to 30 hours) and don't mind the foldable design.

It’s been a long five years of waiting, but Apple has finally unveiled the AirPods Max 2. In a similar surprise drop to the original AirPods Max, there was no event for the second version — just a press release announcing the AirPods Max 2, with shipping beginning in "early April".

Ahead of their launch, I’ve spent a few days putting AirPods Max 2 through their paces — while the images above and below might have you thinking I'm wearing the AirPods Max (or the USB-C refresh), these are, indeed, the new model.

The AirPods Max 2 retain the look that's become a modern icon (just look at how many knock-offs are around for evidence), but under the hood they use Apple's most up-to-date H2 chip to power their features, plus a new high dynamic range amplifier modeled on the one in AirPods Pro 3. That's paired with 40mm drivers in each earcup.

The biggest upgrades come in the form of the new features enabled by the H2 chip, with Adaptive Audio, Personalized Volume, and improved Voice Isolation making the move from Apple's earbuds over to its headphones.

Familiar looks with a new chip under the hood

Maybe most importantly, Apple is sticking with the $549 price in the US, the same as the original. In the UK, the price has actually been reduced to £499 from the original's £599. In Australia, the price has risen, though, to AU$999 instead of AU$899 for the original.

The premium design is the same — aluminum earcups, stainless steel frame, and that satisfying heft — and still feels thoughtfully engineered. The telescoping arms glide smoothly, making it easy to find a comfortable fit.

The headband — or “canopy” as Apple calls it — still uses a breathable mesh that distributes weight well without creating pressure points. The memory foam ear cushions remain plush, and I appreciate that they’re magnetically attached for easy swapping.

Plenty of folks wear their AirPods Max for walks or even workouts, but it’s worth noting there’s still no official sweat resistance here.

The controls are unchanged, and that’s mostly a good thing. You get a supersized Digital Crown for volume and playback control, alongside the 'Listening Mode button' to toggle between Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency, and Adaptive Audio.

One slight letdown is that there are no new colors. Apple is sticking with the same five introduced with the USB-C refresh — Blue, Orange, Purple, Midnight, and Starlight. My test sample is Blue, which feels a bit more muted than the equivalent color original AirPods Max came, in but still looks sharp.

The Smart Case is also unchanged. It still doesn’t look especially protective, but in my experience with the first-generation it does protect the premium headphones well. It also triggers the low-power sleep mode when the headphones are inside. A USB-C to USB-C cable comes in the box.

So visually, not much has changed — but the differences become clear once you start listening.

Bold sound with a wider soundstage, and Spatial Audio still impresses

Just like the previous generation, the AirPods Max 2 sound excellent across pretty much any genre, and Spatial Audio only raises the bar here. The soundstage feels wider, and each element comes through with impressive clarity and separation.

Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Down On the Corner is a great example — maracas sit distinctly to one side, cymbals and drums to the other, with John Fogerty’s vocals locked-in center stage. Even as the track fills out, it never feels crowded — it’s a personal favorite of mine for testing Spatial Audio.

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen absolutely springs to life. The AirPods Max 2 deliver that signature wave of sound with real energy, but crucially without losing detail. You can still pick out the drums, piano, and guitar as they build, and even the final crescendo — in which the elements can blur together on lesser headphones — stays defined and driving.

For a pop track, Miley Cyrus’ Younger You is a strong test for higher-frequency vocals. The AirPods Max 2 present a detailed, slightly brighter profile, with vocals sitting cleanly front and center before the instrumentation builds around them.

Pretty much any genre sounds great here — and more importantly, everything sounds consistent.

Noise cancellation is improved as well — Apple claims it's up to 1.5x better — and I could hear a difference over the (still impressive) original model. Loud sounds are reduced even further, whether it’s city noise, a crowded cafe, or the hum of an air conditioning system.

It’s not dramatically different at first, but over time you notice just how much quieter your environment becomes. I even tried simulating airplane noise on my speakers at home, and AirPods Max 2 brought it down to a low, manageable hum.

The AirPods Max 2's Transparency mode remains among the best, and now sounds slightly more natural. You don't get the artificial hiss you sometimes hear on other headphones, and it does a convincing job of letting the outside world in.

Adaptive Audio is the real game-changer here

That sets the stage for Adaptive Audio, which blends active noise cancellation and Transparency modes into one smarter option, and it's really the standout addition here. Instead of manually switching modes, Adaptive Audio dynamically balances noise cancellation and audio pass-through in real time.

I wore the AirPods Max 2 out to grab coffee, and they blocked out most background noise while letting in nearby voices just enough to let me stay aware. It feels less like you're toggling settings, and more like the headphones are actively adjusting to your environment. In my testing, Adaptive Audio performs just as well here as it does on the AirPods Pro.

After a quick setup — I just had to hold the AirPods Max 2 near my iPhone — they quickly paired with my Apple Account. From there, it was seamless hopping between devices: iPhone for music and calls, MacBook Pro for meetings, iPad for streaming, then over to Apple TV 4K for late-night watching.

That fast switching feels faster than the old model — nearly instant at times — likely thanks to the H2 chip. It’s a small but meaningful upgrade that makes the whole experience feel more fluid.

Call quality also gets a noticeable boost. Voice Isolation, powered by the H2 chip and working across your connected devices — like an iPhone or Mac — does a better job of keeping your voice clear while reducing background noise. In testing, it made a clear difference, especially in busier environments.

Battery life is unchanged on paper at up to 20 hour. I was able to get through a full workday of meetings, calls, and music or podcast playback, then keep the AirPods Max 2 on for a few TV episodes at night — or while walking the dog — before needing to recharge. Of course, we’ll need to put the Max 2 through more long-term testing.

The AirPods Max 2 might look nearly identical to their predecessor, but after spending a few days with them it’s clear this is the update they needed. The H2 chip unlocks meaningful improvements across sound, noise control, and everyday usability, while Adaptive Audio helps them feel noticeably smarter.

And given Apple’s track record of adding features to AirPods with newer chips, there’s a good chance the Max 2 will continue to evolve over time — just as we’ve seen with Adaptive Audio and other software-driven upgrades like Hearing Health on the AirPods Pro.

If you’ve held onto your original AirPods Max since the launch in 2020, I think the new model makes a strong case for upgrading — especially if you’ve been waiting for better noise control and smarter features. And if you’re jumping in fresh, these are some of the best over-ear headphones I've heard, now with a feature set that better matches the high price.