The best wireless earbuds come in all shapes, sizes, and prices. You don’t necessarily have to get the most expensive pair out there for them to do exactly what you want. For instance, plenty of companies making the best Android phones also make earbuds with unique features that make the buds an ideal pairing.

On the other hand, some companies that have prioritized audio products since before wireless earbuds were a thing (think Bose, Sennheiser, and Sony) are just so good when it comes to sound quality and feature set that they can’t be passed up. Even if you have limited funds, there are excellent options that will meet your needs.

The best wireless earbuds in 2023

Don’t expect Sony to sit on their laurels. As good as the Sony WF-1000XM4 were, the company has made sure to build on that with the WF-1000XM5. Considering the high price point, it's a good thing that these earbuds are so excellent.

As is expected with this line of earbuds, the sound quality is great with its detailed and slightly bright sound signature that still manages to produce a warm, full, low-end. The ANC is equally impressive, offering some of the best in the business, possibly only beaten out by Bose. It’s good enough that you’ll feel comfortable skipping over-ear headphones for that next flight you have planned.

The battery life is another area in these earbuds' favor, as it can last eight hours with the ANC on and twelve with it off. Really, there’s very little to fault with the XM5 to the point where it’s an obvious choice as the overall best earbuds available right now.

Bose's QuietComfort Earbuds II are incredible. The company says it designed the earbuds to have the best ANC on the market — not just in earbuds, but in any consumer-grade headphones. It's hard to say whether that's entirely true, but we've compared them head-to-head with some of the best over-ear ANC headphones you can buy, and the QC Earbuds II do outperform the full-size competition much of the time. They also have the great sound you'd expect out of Bose.

But as great as the buds are for ANC, the QuietComfort Earbuds II stumble in other areas. At $299, they're expensive in the extreme, and they're lacking a lot of the nice-to-have features you'd expect in this segment. There's no support for Fast Pair or multipoint connectivity, and the earbuds' case can't be charged wirelessly. They also only support the AAC and SBC codecs, so if you don't buy buds without aptX, they'll be a non-starter for you. Still, if you need the best ANC you can get in earbuds, and you've got the money to spend, you'll find it in the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II.

For an eminently reasonable price of $100 (and often on sale for around $70), the Jabra Elite 4 have a lot going for them — including solid ANC that punches above its weight. They're lightweight, comfortable, and offer decent audio quality with ample bass. They do miss out on some increasingly common features like in-ear detection and EQ customization, but if you just want a reliable pair of noise-cancelling earbuds and you don't want to spend a lot on it, the Elite 4 will likely be up your alley.

Samsung's Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are the strangely named follow-up to 2021's Galaxy Buds Pro. They take what was great about the first generation — robust audio with a generous helping of bass, strong noise cancellation, and a comfortable shape — and jam it into smaller earbuds with a more modern, refined design.

Coming from the last generation, there aren't many new features here. There's support for 24-bit audio in compatible apps when the buds are paired with a Samsung phone, plus a gimmicky new head-tracking feature that tries to mimic directional audio, even in apps that don't offer surround sound content. The new buds also inherit the older model's middling battery life of five hours per charge with ANC. Everything else is so good that these should be on your radar if you're in the market for new, premium earbuds, but think twice before upgrading from last year's pair.

If you're looking for the top sound quality in a pair of wireless earbuds, the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 should feature in your decision-making. Like the two generations before, the True Wireless 3 offer terrific sound, which can be further customized to your liking, thanks to the detailed equalizer settings. The active noise cancellation is good but isn't as strong as Sony's technology.

These earbuds are light and comfortable, but previous generations haven't always been suitable for those with smaller ears, so that may be something to bear in mind when you're deciding. One of the best parts is that the price is $50 lower than previous generations. If you're looking for sound quality, look toward these Sennheiser true wireless headphones as a top pick.

With full and satisfying audio, ANC, and a great transparency mode, the Google Pixel Buds Pro deliver a premium earbud experience in ways Google's past attempts couldn't. Packed with useful features like the always-on "Hey Google" detection, Bluetooth multipoint, and marathon battery life, the Pixel Buds Pro don't have any glaring weaknesses. While the Pixel Buds Pro did launch without a customizable equalizer, five-band EQ eventually made its way to the Pixel Buds app, addressing a considerable flaw the buds suffered at launch. Google even ironed out the connectivity issues that plagued the past couple of pairs released.

They don't have the very best audio quality or ANC money can buy, but strong fundamentals, batteries that can go for up to seven hours (with ANC) on a single charge, and a hassle-free experience might be worth the premium to you. So if you're an Android user with $200 to spend on earbuds, the Pixel Buds Pro are a great pick. The buds fit might feel odd for some, but you get used to it rather quickly.

The OnePlus Buds Pro 2 are a tame upgrade over the first-generation OnePlus Buds Pro, but the newer set features better sound and slightly improved battery life. The audio here is full and bouncy with lots of bass, but not too much. The call quality is also great. Battery life is just okay at six hours on a charge, and ANC isn't quite top of the line, but with a fun sound and a good feature set, these are easy earbuds to like at $179. If you're into stem-style earbuds, the Buds Pro 2 have plenty to offer.

For a middle-of-the-road MSRP of $150, the Jabra Elite 5 earbuds provide good audio quality and noise cancellation, plus a strong battery life of seven hours of music playback with ANC. They also support numerous convenient features like Google Fast Pair, multipoint connectivity, and wireless charging. They're not the absolute best earbuds on the market today in any particular way, but for the price, there's very little to complain about here.

The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC is amazing for the price. It might not quite reach the heights of our #1 pick, but they sound as good and implement their features as capably as earbuds twice the price. While the audio is not perfect — there’s a bit too much bass — it is as good as earbuds in the $200 range, even though these only cost $100. Considering its low price, the ANC on hand is surprisingly robust, even offering manual adjustments as well as the ability to automatically respond to outside stimuli.

On top of that, there’s plenty of fine-tuning in the app, including HearID, which runs you through a short test to create a completely personalized EQ preset. You can even remap the touch controls in the app, though they require careful presses to respond correctly. And that’s all the tip of the iceberg. The Soundcore Liberty 4 NC proves that you don’t have to compromise just because you’re on a budget.

Jabra's tackling the true wireless earbud market with a strategy of small iteration: the Elite 7 Pro try to toe the line between price and performance, between compact and capable, and they nail almost everything. What they get right — sound quality, battery life, comfort, and call quality — they get really right. Even though they lack active noise cancellation and some comfort issues, they're actually still not bad.

In our Elite 7 Pro review, we found that the earbuds are good for most circumstances, but if you make a lot of phone calls, there is no peer in the industry. In addition to high-quality noise-cancelling microphones, Jabra uses a bone conduction sensor that can sense minute vibrations in the bones of your jaw to fill in the blanks in noisy environments, and the results are spectacular.

At $180, the Elite 7 Pro are at the upper end of mainstream but worth looking at if you want a pair of earbuds that does everything pretty well. But Jabra has been discounting them pretty heavily the last few months, so chances are you'll be able to catch them $60–$80 off.

The Jaybird Vista 2 are the follow-ups to the originals, released primarily as comfortable, workout-friendly, and true wireless earbuds that still sound good. This successor, released in 2021, improves on the design, fit, sound quality, battery life, and water protection while also adding active noise cancellation. Jaybird takes comfort and "earth-proof" durability very seriously: the earbuds have three tip sizes that fit better than most of the competition, allowing for intense workouts that don't dislodge either earbud.

An IP68 water and dust ingress protection rating and a MIL-STD 810G rating make these appropriate for extreme weather, too (though if you're working out in the ice or snow, that's on you). The Vista 2's secret weapon is actually Jaybird's app, which allows you to select custom equalization settings, modify ANC intensity, and more. At $150, the Jaybird Vista 2 are not cheap, but if you want the best workout buds available, these are for you.

If you typically use Android devices, this one's not for you. However, Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro are a fantastic option for anybody who spends a lot of time in Apple's ecosystem. Their audio quality is up there with the best Samsung and Sony have to offer, and Apple's ANC is very good. For Apple users, the biggest drawback is a mediocre battery life of about five hours per charge.

On Android, not so much. Apple's proprietary ecosystem perks, like fast pairing and automatic device switching, only work with iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Even more basic features, like in-ear detection to automatically pause media when you take your earbuds out, are absent on non-Apple devices. But if you carry an iPhone more often than not, the second-gen AirPods Pro should be your default pick.

What are the best wireless earbuds you can buy?

It's hard to go wrong with any pair of true wireless earbuds for over $100 anymore. Models from reputable brands are consistently good, but a few companies are making standout products, and they're usually the ones you know. Sony, for instance, earns its place at the top of the list with the WF-1000XM5, improving on just about every aspect of the WF-1000XM4, especially the sound quality and ANC.

If you want the absolute best ANC in earbuds today, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II should be at the top of your list. Just be aware they lack convenient features like multipoint and wireless charging. On the matter of more budget-friendly wireless earbuds, there are plenty of great options, like Jabra's Elite 4, whose ANC will blow you away considering their modest $100 price tag - check out our pick of the best headphone deals for more affordable options.