Why I like them

While I didn't get a new H3 chip and I was hoping that the charging case would be able to convert into a Bluetooth transceiver to use the buds on a plane with an inflight entertainment system, I did get most of what I was looking for in the AirPods Pro 3. The changes may seem incremental to some folks, but all the key elements such as fit, sound quality and noise cancellation have been noticeably leveled up along with single-charge battery. They're about as close as earbuds get to being complete: excellent noise cancellation, strong voice-calling performance and sound quality that rivals the very best. Few buds excel in all three areas -- and the Pro 3s manage it while packing in plenty of extra features, including their new heart-rate monitoring feature. Read my full review.

Reasons to buy

As I said, these buds are significantly improved in the four most important areas: fit, sound quality, noise cancellation and battery life. The result is that you don't feel like you're making any compromises when buying the AirPods Pro 3 if you're an Apple user.

Reasons to skip/keep looking

While they work with Android devices, you lose many of the AriPods 3's extra features if you're not using them with Apple devices and its iPhones and iPad in particular. They also may just be a little too expensive for many folks.

Why I like them

As far as the hardware goes, the QC Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) look exactly the same as the original QC Ultra Earbuds, although Bose has added a new plum color to the line. There are two small changes. The 2nd Gen Ultra Earbuds now support wireless charging, a feature that should have been available with the originals. The included ear tips now have wax guards, a fancy way of saying there's a silicone mesh that now covers the holes in the tips.

The reality is, they don't seem like a true 2.0 product. But they do feature improved adaptive noise canceling that's truly impressive (it's neck-and-neck with the Apple AirPods Pro 3's noise canceling for the best ANC in a set of earbuds), along with some sound quality enhancements, including a new spatialized immersive audio Cinema mode that widens the soundstage and makes "video content more lifelike" with clearer dialog. The mode also helps with spoken-word audio content like podcasts and audiobooks.

New features available in both the original QC Ultra Earbuds and Gen 2 model include:

• Bose SpeechClarity
• Spotify Tap
• Turn capacitive controls on/off
• General connectivity and stability improvements

Feature upgrades available exclusively to the Gen 2 model include:

• Enhanced adaptive noise cancellation
• Reduced noise floor (the faint hiss in noise-canceling mode)
• Case battery reporting
• Cinema Mode 

Reasons to buy

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra offer a comfortable, secure fit and feature superb noise canceling and excellent sound quality. While the improvements to this model are incremental, it's good that Bose has made some upgrades to an already great set of noise-canceling earbuds. They also work well with both iOS and Android smartphones.

Reasons to skip/keep looking

They're pretty pricey and a little bigger than some earbuds like the AirPods Pro 3 and Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.

Why I like them

Last year, I awarded a CNET Editors' Choice to Earfun's Air Pro 4 earbuds, saying they were "hard to beat for the money." The same can be said for Earfun's new-for-2025 Air Pro 4 Plus, which also earned a CNET Editors' Choice award. Though these earbuds aren't without a few small shortcomings, those could easily be fixed with future firmware updates. At around $80 on Amazon, the Plus model costs $20 more than the standard Air Pro 4, but features a pretty significant upgrade to sound quality. (Note: Apply the code AP4PCNET at checkout on Amazon to get an additional 10% off.)

Reasons to buy them

The buds are equipped with a new dual-driver system that pairs a 10mm dynamic driver with an "ultra-light FeatherBA" balanced-armature driver that helps improve bass and treble performance. Typically, earbuds with dual drivers cost significantly more (these are the first earbuds that cost less than $100 that I've seen with dual drivers). The Earfun Air Pro 4 Plus also offer a comfortable fit and a pretty robust feature set, along with improved noise canceling that's quite decent. (Read my full review.)

Reason to skip/keep looking

If Earfun could figure out a way to raise the level of the voice-calling performance of its flagship earbuds from a B- to an A- or so, they'd be the almost perfect sub $100 true-wireless earbuds. We'll see if we get some tweaks and small improvements with future firmware upgrades, but as it stands, the Air Pro 4 Plus are still excellent for the price.

Why I like them

A trickle of earbuds from value oriented brands have come out in the last year in collaboration with Bose, which has been gradually expanding its "Sound by Bose" initiative that brings its brand to more affordable headphones and earbuds. Like the Bose-infused Skullcandy Method 360 ANC earbuds, the Baseus Inspire XP1 feature very good sound in a set of comfortable earbuds that share some similarities with Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds, particularly how they fit (they have similar ear tips to the Ultras and the buds fit my ears quite well). Out of the box, they have a fairly balanced, though marginally V-shaped sound profile with slightly accentuated bass and treble and slightly recessed mids (the mids do sound warm and natural). But like Bose headphones and earbuds they're designed to sound good (smooth) with a variety of music genres and they feature strong, punchy bass and relatively detailed sound along with a fairly wide sound stage. Read full review.

While their noise canceling isn't up to the level of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen)'s superb ANC, it's quite respectable, especially for a set earbuds that don't cost much more than $100 (and may dip to $100 during the holiday buying season). The Inspire XP1 are rated for up to 6 hours of battery life with noise canceling on and they have an IP54 water-resistance rating, which means they're splash-proof and dust-resistant. It's also worth noting that they're equipped with Bluetooth 6.1 and Dolby spatial audio, though I didn't notice much of a difference in sound quality when I turned the spatial audio on (there's a mode for music and movies).

Reasons to buy them

The buds are well-designed and sound very good for the price, with solid all-around performance, including good noise canceling and decent voice-calling performance with 3 microphones per bud.

Reason to skip/keep looking

The Earfun Air Pro 4 Plus feature slightly better sound for less. But I like the fit of these buds slightly better.

Why I like them

The AirPods 4 are, unsurprisingly, the fourth generation of Apple's original true-wireless earbuds that feature an open design, which means they don't have silicone ear tips like the AirPods Pro 3. Not only do they feature a slightly smaller design and better sound than their predecessor, but they're equipped with Apple's H2 chip that improves overall performance and powers Apple's ever expanding AirPods features, though they don't have the AirPods Pro 2's Hearing Aid mode. Read my Apple AirPods 4 review.

The AirPods 4 comes in two versions: a $129 entry-level model and a $179 step-up model with active noise canceling. ANC is a rare feature for open earbuds because it typically doesn't work with an open design, but these are the first open buds I've tried to have active noise canceling that actually works (it's about half as strong as the AirPods Pro 2's noise canceling and 25% as strong as the AirPods Pro's 3). That's pretty cool and worth the extra $50 if you can afford it.

Reasons to buy

A lot of people don't like having ear tips jammed in their ears and find open earbuds more comfortable (plus, you can hear the the outside world for safety reasons), and the AirPods 4 are made for those Apple users. They also sound very good for open earbuds and feature excellent voice-calling performance along with Apple's spatial audio and likable pinch controls. The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Canceling are more special simply because they feature noise canceling. No, the AirPods 4 with ANC's noise-muffling capabilities aren't that great compared with what you get with the AirPods Pro 3 and top noise-canceling earbuds like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) or the Sony WF-1000XM5. But that it works at all and is reasonably effective is kind of wild because, as I said, noise canceling and open earbuds usually aren't a good mix.

Reasons to skip/keep looking

While their slightly smaller, updated design fits a wider range of ears more securely, some folks may not get a secure fit. The AirPods Pro 3 offer a more flexible fit because they include five different sizes of ear tips. They also deliver better sound with more bass in a noise-isolating design (the AirPods Pro 3's excellent noise canceling is significantly better than that of the AirPods 4 with ANC).

Why I like them

Shokz wanted to equip its new flagship OpenFit Pro open earbuds with active noise cancellation, but that's not easy with open earbuds. Instead, it ended up dialing back expectations and calling the tech inside these new ear-hook style buds, "OpenEar Noise Reduction." It's a good thing it did because, during time testing the OpenFit Pro, they didn't reduce ambient sound nearly as well as the Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. But they sound impressive for open earbuds, are comfortable to wear and have the premium build quality you'd expect from a set of earbuds that cost $250. Read review.

Reasons to buy

The OpenFit Pro are well-designed and among the best-sounding open earbuds.

Reasons to skip/keep looking

There are more affordable open buds with ear-hook designs that may not sound quite as good but do cost $50-$100 less.

Why I like them

Like Baseus' noise-isolating Inspire XP1 earbuds that I rated highly, the Inspire XC1 feature "Sound by Bose" and a more premium design than earlier Baseus earbuds. The XC1 don't sound as good as the XP1, but they sound very good for open earbuds and are equipped with dual drivers, one of which is a Knowles balanced-armature driver that helps improve treble performance. While they don't produce as much bass as noise-isolating earbuds like the Inspire XP1, their bass performance is better than I expected. The buds' sound is pretty full, especially in quieter environments, though they do better with less bass-heavy material (I did notice a bit of distortion at higher volumes with certain tracks with harder driving bass).

While I slightly prefer the design and fit of Bose's Ultra Open Earbuds (as well as the design of their case) and think the Bose buds sound more natural and a tad better overall, the much more affordable Inspire XC1 fit comfortably and offer top-tier sound for clip-on open earbuds (and they play louder than the Bose), as well as decent voice-calling performance with good background noise reduction. They also have an IP66 water-resistance rating, which means they're fully waterproof and dust-resistant. I also appreciated that they have a programmable physical button on each earbud to control playback, multipoint Bluetooth (so you can connect two devices to the buds simultaneously) and a low-latency mode for video gaming and video watching.

The buds have been tuned by Bose engineers and their default EQ setting in the app is "Sound by Bose," but you can also tweak the sound a bit with six additional presets, including a bass boost mode and a custom EQ setting. The buds support the SBC and AAC codecs along with LDAC for Android users (it has to be turned on in the app). Battery life is solid at around 8 hours on a single charge with volume set at 50%.

Reasons to buy

The Inspire XC1 stack up well against the more expensive Shokz' Open Dots clip-on earbuds and while they're not quite as good overall as Bose's Ultra Open Earbuds, they cost less than half the price and sound nearly as good.

Reasons to skip/keep looking

If you can't afford this model, Baseus also makes the MC1 Pro, which sometimes gets discounted to around $50. The Inspire XC1 look very similar but have a more premium design and upgraded sound.

Why I like them

Samsung's Galaxy Buds 3 FE ($150) look nearly identical to the flagship Galaxy Buds 3 Pro ($250) but are missing those buds' LED lighting element, have a single-driver design instead of a dual-driver design and leave off a few other extras. Now that I've fully tested the Buds 3 FE, I'm impressed with their performance. If you don't mind missing those features, they're a better value than the Buds 3 Pro. Read my full Galaxy Buds 3 FE review.

Reasons to buy them

If the Buds 3 FE fit differently and had worse sound quality, noise-canceling and voice-calling performance than Buds 3 Pro, they'd be hard to recommend. But there's no fall-off in those key departments -- the noise canceling on the Buds 3 FE seems improved and some people may actually like the sound of the Buds 3 FE slightly better than the Buds 3 Pro. If you looking for a pair of more Android-centric earbuds that nail fit, sound and voice-calling and also feature decent noise canceling, they're an excellent option. 

Reasons to keep looking/skip

When I dug a little deeper into the feature comparisons between the two Galaxy buds, I realized that the Buds 3 FE were missing more features than I thought they did. The majority I could live without (LED lighting elements, wireless charging and head-tracking for spatial audio, for example), but I really like Buds 3 Pro's built-in voice commands and voice-detection features.

Why I like them

The original Powerbeats Pro were released in May 2019, so Beats has had a lot of time to plot how to improve the second generation of its popular ear-hook style true-wireless sport earbuds. And improve they have -- by quite a bit. Not only do they feature a new, more refined design with better ergonomics, but new drivers, a more powerful Apple H2 chip, a new built-in heart-rate sensor and, yes, active noise canceling for the first time in a pair of Powerbeats. And that noise canceling is quite good, as is the sound quality and voice-calling performance -- so long as you get a tight seal from one of the five different included eartips. Read my Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 review.

These new Powerbeats Pro 2 fit my ears better thanks to Beats improving the overall ergonomic shape of the earbud and completely redesigning the ear hook -- it's 50% smaller and incorporates nickel-titanium alloy, so it's both flexible and durable. The buds themselves are 20% lighter.

Reasons to buy

Fitness enthusiasts prefer earbuds with ear hooks to prevent their buds from falling out of their ears during intense workouts. Typically, such earbuds don't offer the greatest performance, but the Powerbeats Pro 2 share many of the same qualities and features as the AirPods Pro 2, featuring very good sound quality, along with strong noise cancellation and voice-calling performance. In short, they're versatile, also performing well as everyday earbuds. It's also worth noting that while the Powerbeats Pro 2 have some Apple-exclusive features, Beats does have an app for Android users that makes these more Android-friendly than AirPods.

Reasons to skip/keep looking

While Beats has improved the Powerbeats Pro 2's design and ergonomics, they still may not be a comfortable fit for everybody's ears, and some people may not get a truly tight seal from any of Beats' eartips. (I had an issue and had to use another set of eartips from my collection.) If you don't get a tight seal, you'll likely be unimpressed with the sound quality and noise canceling and may want to return them to the store where you bought them. (Try to find some alternative eartips before you do that.)

Why I like them

While the boxy design of Status' wireless earbuds isn't for everybody, its new Status Pro X buds have slimmed down -- they're 22% smaller than the company's Between 3ANC buds, with a 11% smaller case -- and should fit more ears better. They also have a new triple driver set up: an "enlarged" 12mm dynamic driver supported by two Knowles balanced armature drivers. The result is earbuds that deliver top Bluetooth sound quality highlighted by excellent clarity and bass definition along with good stereo separation, with instruments well-placed in the soundstage allowing you to hear each one distinctly.

The earlier Between 3ANC buds also had good sound quality, but the new model's sound just seems richer and fuller; it's clearly a level up. Just as importantly, Status has improved the noise canceling and made the transparency mode to sound more natural. Both aren't quite as good as the Apple AirPods Pro 3's ANC and transparency, but they're now quite respectable. And the voice-calling performance is also very good based on my tests in the noisy streets of New York City. The buds have three mics in each buds and Status says it's introduced Voiceloom AI Speech Enhancement, which "leverages deep neural net training to filter out background noise during voice communications."

IP55 splashproof and dust-resistant, the buds have "high-resolution" LDAC codec support to go along with Bluetooth LE Audio, enabling the LC3 codec and Auracast broadcast audio with a future firmware update. Status' companion app for iOS and Android has also been upgraded and now has robust EQ options, customization of the controls (the buds have touch controls as well as a physical button) and FindMy support. Finally, battery life is decent with up to 8 hours on a single charge with noise canceling off and another 24 hours in the charging case, which supports wireless charging. With noise canceling turned on the battery life is more like 6.5 hours at 50% volume.

Reasons to buy them

You're looking for earbuds that offer excellent sound quality, strong noise canceling and top-tier voice-calling performance -- and you like the idea that they look a little different from from your typical AirPods-like stick earbuds.

Reason to skip/keep looking

The Status Pro X are pricey at $300. I like their sound slightly better than the AirPods Pro 3, but their price makes them harder to recommend over the AirPods Pro 3 for Apple users (they're a little better suited to Android users). I didn't love the ear tips that ship with the buds and used my own to get a tight seal.

Why I like them

Panasonic's latest flagship earbuds, the Technics EAH-AZ100, feature a more compact design than the earlier EAH-AZ80 buds (the AZ100s are 10% smaller and 16% lighter) along with improved sound quality, noise-canceling and voice-calling performance. One of the key upgrade here is Panasonic's newly developed proprietary Magnetic Fluid Driver that Panasonic says creates "clean, high-resolution, low-vibration and low-distortion sounds for the most authentic, balanced audio that's true to the original source." This type of driver is found in Technics high-end EAH-TZ700 wired in-ear monitors ($1,200), and it's been miniaturized for use in the AZ100s.

I thought the AZ80s sounded really good, and these new AZ100s sound even better, with clean, accurate sound that brings out details in your music you don't hear with lesser earbuds (Android users get support for Sony's high-quality LDAC audio codec). As for extra features, there's Dolby Atmos spatial audio with head tracking, plus you can pair with up to 3 devices simultaneously (most multipoint Bluetooth-enabled earbuds allow you to pair to two devices).

Reasons to buy

The Technics EAH-AZ100 are among the best-sounding earbuds, so if sound quality is a priority, they should be on your short list. Also, the fact that their noise-canceling and voice-calling performance has improved slightly is icing on the cake.

Reasons to skip/keep looking

While earbuds like the AirPods Pro 2 don't sound as good as these earbuds, they do offer superior noise-canceling and voice-calling performance for less money along with an even more robust feature set, particularly for iPhone users.

Why I like them

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro stand out with their excellent fit, impressive sound quality and top-notch voice-calling performance. Though Samsung has added stems (it calls them "blades" and they have integrated LEDs) to these flagship earbuds, this new design works better for more people -- I found the buds lightweight and comfortable to wear. The sound quality is noticeably improved from the previous Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, with superior treble clarity and bass definition, producing a cleaner, more accurate sound. The ambient mode, which lets external sound into the buds, works very well, sounding natural with no audible hiss. And I liked that the buds have their own built-in voice-commands (they do not require a wake word like Google Assistant or Siri), an underrated feature. Read my Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro review. 

Reasons to buy

Samsung had some kinks to work out with these buds at launch (they paused shipping them for a time), but they're excellent earbuds, with improved performance across the board. The stem design is a little controversial for fans of previous Galaxy buds, but I like their design and they're essentially Samsung's version of the AirPods Pro 2 but geared towards Android users and Galaxy device owners in particular who can take advantage of a few Samsung-only features like support for its "high-resolution" Samsung Seamless Codec (there's a Galaxy Wear app for Android users).

Reasons to skip/keep looking

While I've used them with my iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone users should probably look elsewhere, as there's no iOS app, meaning all updates and settings are only available via the Galaxy Wear app for Android. Those seeking the absolute best noise cancellation available might be disappointed, as the active noise cancellation, while good, is slightly behind what's offered by competitors. Finally, users with larger ear canals may not be able to get a tight seal with the included ear tips (only three sizes are provided). Since the ear tips are custom-designed for these buds, finding compatible third-party options can be challenging.

Why I like them

When Sony set out to design its WF-1000XM5 flagship noise-canceling earbuds, it was looking to address some gripes folks had with their predecessor, the WF-1000XM4 earbuds that came out in 2021. Not only are the XM5s smaller, but they also offer improved performance pretty much across the board, with better noise canceling, sound quality and voice calling performance. Overall they're impressive -- easily among the top earbuds on the market. Equipped with 8.2mm speaker driver units and two new proprietary Sony chipsets (V2 Integrated and QN2e Noise-Canceling processors), the earbuds deliver rich sound with nice detail, clear mids and punchy, well-defined bass. Read my full WF-1000XM5 review.

Reasons to buy

I try a lot of new earbuds but I keep coming back the the WF-1000XM5s because they're just all-around very good earbuds, with strong overall performance and a solid feature set, including LDAC audio codec support for Android users and Sony's Speak-To-Chat feature that automatically lowers the volume of your music and puts the earbuds into ambient sound mode so you can easily have a conversation without removing your buds. Also, now that the buds have been out for around two years, they're often on sale and you can also find well-priced refurbished units.

Reasons to skip/keep looking

While these earbuds are more compact and should be a good fit for more people's ears, they still might not fit some ears. Not everybody will get a tight seal from the included foam ear tips, even though they're available in four size options. Also, note that next-gen Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds should be coming in 2026.