Best Headphones: Worn And Reviewed By Us

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Headphones are a deeply personal device. One person may love one pair but strongly dislike the next for a variety of reasons like sound quality, price or comfort. We’ve compiled this best headphones guide to help decide which ones are right for you. Whether you care more about noise cancelling, suitability for exercise or value for money, we’ve got you covered.

All of the recommendations in this article are headphones that we have reviewed individually on this site before. Therefore, each pair of headphones has been worn by us for at least two weeks to get a sense of what they are like to use for a longer period of time.

To be awarded the ‘best’ in a category, a pair of headphones must have:

• An impressive combination of features (like noise cancelling or passthrough mode)
• At least a good basic level of sound quality
• Value for money. If a $200 pair of headphones sounds almost as good as a $500 pair, then the cheaper cans win out!

All clear? Let’s get into it!

Best headphones overview

Best overall headphones

The Bose QuietComfort headphones don’t necessarily sound the most refined and dynamic when compared to other more expensive brands, but they are the ultimate everyday headphones. I’m actually wearing them right now while writing these words.

They’re the pair of headphones I most regularly put in my bag when I’m travelling: the case is excellent and compact, they’re comfortable over long periods, the noise cancelling is brilliant at this price, and they have great build quality.

The battery life is good for pretty much everyone; twenty-four hours should see you through most scenarios I can think of, and the audio, while not revolutionary, is dynamic and easy to listen to across most genres. These are ‘plonk on your head and go’ headphones distilled to perfection.

I love the Cypress Green colour too.

In short, you won’t find better value out there. The Sony WH-1000XM6 are very, very close, but at $449/£399, they just about lose out on value. If you had the extra cash, going for the XM6 would be ideal, but al things considered, the QuietComfort get it exactly right.

Best budget headphones

To be classified as ‘budget’ headphones, I wanted to give you an option that was truly cheap. I think anything less than $100/£100 is worthy of winning the best budget title. And I don’t think there is a better option than the OneOdio Focus A5.

First of all, they cost $69/£59. Yes, you read that right.

For that price, you get a rather ludicrous 75 hours of battery life, up to 45dB of adaptive noise cancelling, hi-res audio supported by LDAC, and a transparency mode that matches that of much more expensive competitors.

When it comes to sound, sure, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices at this price, but the Focus A5 still have a fun audio profile. They have their own distinctive character and there’s loads of adjustable bass to satisfy those among us who value punchy lower frequencies. 

You lose some dynamism in the mid-range and clarity in the highest frequencies, but it’s hardly noticeable, especially to anyone who isn’t a total audiophile. They deal brilliantly with most genres and the low-latency mode makes them a great option for gaming.

The Focus A5 are comfy and light so there aren’t any worries there.

There’s no case which is annoying but again, excusable due to the price. And as for that price, you would usually get a pretty dreadful experience for this money. Poorly designed drivers and cheap-feeling materials are the name of the game. 

This isn’t the case here. Thankfully, OneOdio knows how to squeeze some quality out at this end of the market. Again, you aren’t going to be getting a premium listening experience but these headphones represent such good value for money that they deserve this spot.

Best sound quality

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are my favourite B&W headphones I’ve ever tested. They strike this amazing balance between comfort, build quality and a truly exceptional level of audio quality. They aren’t studio headphones, but for a consumer market, I don’t think you could find a better-tuned set of cans.

No EQing is needed with the Px7 S3, straight out of the box, they sound incredible.

They are wonderfully bright and open-sounding with a level of depth you lose in some less focused headphones. Snares have a perfect level of top end, vocals sparkle, and, again, there’s just more weight to the entire sound.

Audio aficionados might argue that the Px7 S3 are a little more tuned for the masses, although I’m not convinced that’s a bad thing; they’re instantly pleasing and can be tweaked in the app via a five-band EQ.

These are the first B&W headphones to feature dedicated amps too, and it shows. The soundstage is very wide and everything just feels like it’s ramped up a notch in terms of energy when you compare it to older Px7 models.

The Px7 S3 are also louder than competitors whilst retaining clarity with a more muted mid-tone and more present bass than other B&W headphones which is a welcome change in my book. It adds to that earthy sound.

Besides all that audio stuff, they are very comfy and come with noise-cancelling that does a good job, if lagging slightly behind some of its direct competitors (I’ll get to that in a minute). So, it’s a no-brainer for me if you’re willing to spend the extra money.

Best noise-cancelling

Sony fumbled the bag a touch with the WH-1000XM5. The noise-cancelling was unbeatable (just like the XM4s before it), but the sound had taken an odd sidestep towards a more mediocre and restrained quality than the XM4s. As I mentioned though, they were still the noise-cancelling kings.

And now all of that has been fixed with the WH-1000XM6. These are a formidable pair of headphones that have somehow improved on what was already industry-leading noise-cancelling. If you know that you need the best noise-cancelling, then there is nowhere else to look. Your decision is simple: buy the Sony XM6.

But they now also sound great again, much improved over the XM5 and surpassing the much-loved XM4 to become Sony’s best-ever sounding pair of headphones. The bass in particular has been fiddled around with to sound a lot deeper and more integrated with other frequencies. Everything just sounds a lot brighter and more engaging, which is what you want from consumer headphones.

The XM6 are very close to being crowned the ‘Best Overall’ pick on this list, the only thing holding them back is the price. The $449 price tag is becoming much more common in the headphone market these days so it isn’t even that expensive anymore, but it is still a lot for someone to fork out when the Bose QuietComfort are there for less.

But, when the XM6 drop in price in a few months, they will likely supplant Bose at the head of the table. To combine noise-cancelling that is this effective with equally good sound is a so impressive.

Best headphones for exercise

The Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 are by no means a perfect pair of headphones. For anyone who doesn’t know, their gimmick is haptic bass. But boy, is it a cool gimmick. That means they physically vibrate or rumble along to the bass when you’re listening to music.

It’s a form of immersive listening that doesn’t really appeal to many people. But then I thought about it for a minute; who are these headphones actually for? And I have an answer; they are an excellent companion for exercise and workouts.

They sound fine, nothing crazy but solid overall. Obviously, the bass is very prominent but other frequencies are dealt with in an acceptable way. That rumbling vibration though can really help to get you in the zone.

I’ve worn them in the gym and on runs multiple times and loved how much they drive you on. If you get some proper bassy music going and crank it up a few notches, you can push out some hard reps or kilometres whilst having your head rattled. It’s a truly unique experience.

The noise cancelling is pretty poor but they are comfortable and nicely weighted. If you want a more sensible option then AirPods Max are good too purely for the industry-leading transparency mode which allows you to hear the outside world around you whilst listening to audio.

But for pure fun, the Skullcandy Crusher ANC 2 win out!

Best headphones for iPhone users

This one is a toss-up between AirPods Max and Beats Studio Pro but I’ve gone with the latter for two reasons; price and audio quality.

I really like AirPods Max but I find it harder and harder to recommend them to people as time goes on without a significant update. Yes, we got AirPods Max USB-C in 2024. But competitor headphones have moved on now in terms of audio hardware, so Apple needs to as well.

Don’t get me wrong, they are still great. They look unique, have the best build quality around, the most effective transparency mode and sound good too. But they cost a whopping $549/£500.

For $349/£349, you get the same convenience of connecting to all your Apple devices, and audio quality that is at least as good, with the Beats Studio Pro. 

If you didn’t know, Beats were acquired by Apple a few years ago meaning all Beats devices now work within the Apple ecosystem which is a huge bonus for convenience. It also means that the booming, fuzzy Beats sound of old has been replaced with a much more dynamic and refined audio quality.

A 40mm driver ensures they are bright and still bassy but everything is much more well-balanced. That means, if you don’t want to break the bank, but still want great audio and the convenience of using Apple-compatible tech, then you can’t go wrong with the Beats Studio Pro.

Best earbuds

When anyone asks me what my favourite earbuds are, there is always only one answer; the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8. Bowers & Wilkins equipment is always top quality and the Pi8 are the best sounding earbuds I have ever used. And they are worth every penny.

The noise cancelling isn’t the best out there in terms of earbuds but it’s ok in most scenarios. Bowers & Wilkins made it clear they were focusing on audio quality at all costs, even if that meant noise cancelling wasn’t as good.

And wow it is worth the sacrifice. Put simply, there is so much power and headroom available across the frequency range with the Pi8 that nothing challenges them to the point of distortion. They are exquisite to listen to and utterly unbeatable at the time of writing.

The combined battery life of 22 hours isn’t amazing but it easily gets you through the day and, funnily enough, you can say the same about microphone quality. And of course, they do cost a pretty penny at $349/£349.

If you don’t particularly care about having the best sound quality then there are of course loads of other great options that I have reviewed. If you still want Bowers & Wilkins but don’t want the price tag, then the Pi6 are an excellent choice.

Conclusion

You should now be fully briefed about which headphones to buy depending on your wants, needs and budget. It’s not an exhaustive list and there are other options that only just missed this list. You can read my review on some of the honourable mentions below.

Which pair of headphones would you choose? Let me know below!