The 10 Best Wireless Earbuds Available Right Now

When it comes to wireless earbuds, there’s an endless — almost overwhelming — amount of options out there. In the past few years, just about every audio brand you can think of has tried to swipe a piece of this lucrative market, with some doing much better than others.

If you’re looking to upgrade your current pair of earbuds to something better, we have a few suggestions to help you spend your money wisely. Whether you favour a higher audio quality, noise-cancellation, or just an overall affordable package, these are your best options for wireless earbuds.

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BH Approved: Our Favourite True Wireless Earbuds

When the award-winning Sony WF-1000XM3 true wireless earbuds were released in July 2019, they immediately shot to the top of the market. Best sound, best active noise cancelling, best overall experience. It was hard to see how Sony’s superior processing could be topped, especially after a successful follow-up with the WF-1000XM4.

As such, the Sony WF-1000XM5s are some of the best wireless earbuds you can buy right now, at least when it comes to sound and noise cancelling. With a stable connection using the modern Bluetooth 5.3, and fast processing thanks to Sony’s LDAC codec, it’s safe to expect a sound signature that brings out the best in both the low, mid, and high frequencies, maintaining an exquisite sense of balance and composure even at full volume.

Sony’s battery is a reasonable performer as well, with eight hours of battery life on a single charge, plus another 16 from the charging case — and that’s with active noise cancelling turned on. In addition to USB-C, you can also use Qi wireless charging to keep the case topped up.

The XM5s are IPX4 rated, which places it in the same league as the Apple AirPods Pro when it comes to shrugging off water and sweat. This means Sony’s new standard isn’t quite as nifty when it comes to your everyday gym workouts.

Read our full review of the Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds.

The Best True Wireless Earbuds In Australia

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 — Best Earbuds For Sound

Noise Cancelling: Adaptive
Aware/Transparency Mode: Yes
Battery Life (ANC On): 7 hrs
Addition Charge In Case: 23 hrs
Bluetooth: 5.4
IP Rating: IP54

Sennheiser is one of those audio brands that rarely disappoint with its flagship headphones, and the Momentum True Wireless 4 are some of the best wireless earbuds.

A warm, mature sound signature that’s perfectly balanced with the lows, mids, and highs raises the bar for how earbuds should sound in the modern day. There’s also a great slim design with responsive rounded touch-sensitive pads on each earpiece.

The active noise cancelling is exceptional; on par with Sony’s gold standard earbuds, but with a more comfortable fit. Pair that with generous battery life — seven-hour battery life with a single charge, and 30 hours in total with the charging case — and we’re confident in recommending these as one of the absolute best wireless earbuds you can buy.

That is if you can justify the price.

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Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds — Best Earbuds For Noise Cancellation

Noise Cancelling: Active
Aware/Transparency Mode: Yes
Battery Life (ANC On): 6 hrs
Addition Charge In Case: 18 hrs
Bluetooth: 5.3
IP Rating: IPX4

Bose has taken pretty much everything that has made their QuietComfort headphones range a staple in the world of personal audio and channelled it into these well-designed lightweight buds.

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds place a lot of value on allowing you full control over the performance, with the companion app offering plenty of options when it comes to customising various features and controls.

As you can probably tell from the name, Bose put a great deal of emphasis on noise cancellation and comfort. Bose’s altest earbuds do an incredible job at actively cancelling out external noise beyond more than just the typical low-frequency nuisances.

The sound is very bass-forward and full-bodied, able to milk out a lot of detail in the lower ends of the spectrum, but still maintaining a good amount of vibrancy in the mids and highs. As such, consider these more suited for styles like hip-hop, modern pop, and electronica.

Battery life isn’t as strong as that offered by Samsung, but you’ll get a decent six hours from a single charge, and an additional 18 hours from the charging case. Not the best, not the worst.

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Jabra Elite 10 (Gen 2) — Best Earbuds For Comfort

Noise Cancelling: Active
Aware/Transparency Mode: Yes
Battery Life (ANC On): 6 hrs
Addition Charge In Case: 21 hrs
Bluetooth: 5.3
IP Rating: IP57

Jabra’s latest earbuds are some of the brand’s best yet. An impressive, considering how good the first generation was. With the Elite 10 (Gen 2), most of the value is in its exceptionally comfortable and intuitive design.

These buds use physical buttons as opposed to the more on-trend touch surfaces. The small tactile feedback you get from pressing the button on either earbud leaves no room for mistakes, so we have no such issue with adjusting the buds and then accidentally pausing the music.

While the noise cancellation is quite average for the price, it gets the job done. The same can be said for its audio quality; these earbuds sound good, but there are better-sounding options out there. Again, the design is the biggest reason to pick these up… they also sound great despite the lack of any high-end codecs.

Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) — Best Earbuds For iPhone Users

Noise Cancelling: Active
Aware/Transparency Mode: Yes
Battery Life (ANC On): 6 hrs
Addition Charge In Case: 24 hrs
Bluetooth: 5.3
IP Rating: IPX4

 

Since Apple was responsible for creating this insanely competitive market, it makes sense that the company would be making some of the best wireless earbuds money can buy.

Although the Airpods haven’t been iterated on as much as some other established brands, the Apple AirPods Pro introduce some incredibly efficient active noise cancelling to what is already one of the best-sounding pair of earbuds on the market.

Compared to their predecessors, the second generation Apple AirPods Pro ship with a range of ear-tips so you can find the perfect seal, reiterating the renewed focus on noise cancelling along with better sound quality thanks to a spatial audio mode, and better integration with Siri thanks to the more efficient H1 Chip.

That said, we do find the stem design to be unappealing and it makes implementing touch controls a bit more difficult. It adds an extra step to playback control that can get annoying after a while.

You’ll get six hours of playtime off a single charge, with another 24 hours available through the case. If your battery is running low, you can get an hour of charge from five minutes in the case. The IPX4 water resistance also isn’t too impressive when compared to other, more activity-friendly rivals — so you might want to avoid using these Apple earbuds when it’s raining.

Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro — Best Earbuds For Samsung Users

Noise Cancelling: Adaptive
Aware/Transparency Mode: Yes
Battery Life (ANC On): 6 hrs
Addition Charge In Case: 20 hrs
Bluetooth: 5.4
IP Rating: IP57

Unlike Sony’s best buds, Samsung had the smarts to throw in IP57 waterproofing, meaning these can withstand your sweaty gym workouts.

You won’t need to worry about rain and sweat shouldn’t be much of an issue. Pair this up with a solid sound signature that’s balanced at all levels and volumes, and features like Voice Detect which will immediately turn on ambient sound mode (that is, turn active noise cancellation off) as soon as the mics detect that you’re speaking.

However, to get the full functionality for all its many features, you’ll need to have the Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro connected to a Samsung Galaxy smartphone running OneUI 6.1.1 or later. This is mostly to make use of 360 Audio, which widens the soundstage and is noticeably more immersive.

Battery-wise, these buds can’t be beaten. You’ll get up to 26 hours with ANC turned on, and 30 hours with it turned off. The harmony between software and hardware couldn’t be any tighter for Samsung’s best buds yet.

Like the Sennheiser Momentum’s the first generation Samsung Galaxy Buds did lack AptX Low Latency, chipping away at value for gamers and anyone planning on using them with a smart TV or PC to watch content. Thankfully, Samsung addressed this for later iterations of its flagship wireless earbuds with a seamless ‘Game Mode,’ which helps lower the latency when connected to a device that also supports AptX Low Latency.

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Soundcore Liberty 4 NC — Best Budget Earbuds

Noise Cancelling: Adapative
Aware/Transparency Mode: Yes
Battery Life (ANC On): 8 hrs
Addition Charge In Case: 32 hrs
Bluetooth: 5.3
IP Rating: IPX4

While there are objectively better earbuds out there, in terms of dollar value, you’d struggle to find a better budget option than the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC. For a pair of sub-$200 earbuds, these things manage to cram a heap of solid features into a package that doesn’t feel cheap.

The standout feature of these earbuds is their massive battery capacity — you’ll get eight hours of playback with ANC on, and then another 32 hours from the charging case. That total playtime can be stretched out to a huge 50 hours if you flip ANC off as well. That’s the best battery life on this list, easily beating out the runtime of earbuds that cost twice as much as these.

Outside of that chunky battery capacity, you’ll get some reliable noise cancellation and a decent sound profile. Avoid the 3D Surround Sound mode, though — it doesn’t do anything to your listening experience.

Sony WF-C510 — Best Earbuds Under $100

Noise Cancelling: No
Aware/Transparency Mode: Yes
Battery Life: 11 hrs (Ambient Sound Mode off)
Addition Charge In Case: 11 hrs
Bluetooth: 5.3
IP Rating: IPX4

Sony may be dominating the high-end with the show-stopping Sony WF-1000XM5, but the company is holding up the other end of the price range quite nicely with the dirt-cheap Sony WF-C510.

You are, of course, accepting a lot of compromises when you’re going for a pair of earphones under $100 (like no noise cancellation), but that’s all expected.

The promised battery life is around 11 hours, with 11 additional hours boosted by the charging case. Plus, you’ve only got mild splash resistance with an IPX4 rating. On the other hand, these sound much better than you’d think from the price, with a vibrant, well-balanced sound signature that’s highly detailed and clear even at higher volumes.

And look, for the price you’re paying, that’s pretty much all you can hope for. Great sound but everything else is disappointing.

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Jabra Elite 8 Active (Gen 2) — Best Earbuds For The Gym

Noise Cancelling: Adaptive
Aware/Transparency Mode: Yes
Battery Life (ANC On): 8 hrs
Addition Charge In Case: 24 hrs
Bluetooth: 5..3
IP Rating: IP68

The second-generation Jabra Elite 8 Active is the best option for gym junkies who want something purpose-built for fitness.

The sturdy IP68 rating offers incredible water resistance but also adds solid dust resistance on top of that. Coated with Jabra’s “ShakeGrip,” the reliable build also fits well enough to not jolt the earbuds around, so runners need not worry about these falling out before they hit that 10km marker.

The downside here is that they can feel rather bulky in the ear so longer listening sessions could be a bit irritating.

As for the audio, it’s rich and detailed even at max volume. Rounding that out is one of the most reliable batteries in the game with 32 hours in total when combined with the extra boosts from the charging case. This places them over the likes of the otherwise solid Beats Powerbeats Pro when it comes to the best wireless earbuds for exercise.

LG TONE Free T90S — Best Earbuds For Hygiene

Noise Cancelling: Active
Aware/Transparency Mode: Yes
Battery Life (ANC On): 5 hrs
Addition Charge In Case: 20 hrs
Bluetooth: 5.4
IP Rating: IPX4

The LG TONE 90S are the kind of earbuds that’ll appeal to a very specific buyer.

Its unique selling point is that the charging case features a UV nano light that promises to kill 99.9% of bacteria while charging for at least 10 minutes. That’s cool, and LG made sure to go through the appropriate medical testing to be able to make such a claim (note that UV light does nothing for COVID).

LG has also nabbed a handy Dolby Atmos rating to stand out in the crowd, presenting genuinely impressive spatial sound.

The real punch here is Dolby Head Tracking. Essentially, the earbuds track which direction your head is facing and adjust the sound accordingly. This could have easily been ruined by constant stuttering as the sound raced to catch up with constant movement. Yet we found that even when exaggerating our head movements the sound would switch seamlessly.

That being said, you’d need to be dialled into a service that also supports Dolby Atmos to take advantage of this. Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+ fortunately do so if you’re watching something on your iPhone with the earbuds in, then you can notice the object-based audio really coming through.

The availability of Dolby Atmos when it comes to music is a bit more limited. Apple Music supports the technology but the more widely used platform, Spotify, does not. When this changes, hopefully, the market will be loaded with more Dolby Atmos earbuds.