Simon Cohen / Digital Trends / Digital Trends
Beats Studio Buds+
Impressive ANC and call quality for under $200
You’d be forgiven if you thought that the Beats Studio Buds+ were the second generation of Beats’ excellent Studio Buds. But they aren’t. As the story goes, they somehow briefly showed up on Amazon before being pulled down, but the cat was already out of the bag. At just $20 more then the Studio Buds, the Buds+ turned a few heads with their nifty transparent look. But under the hood is another story as the Buds+ are better in nearly every way, including battery life, active noise cancelation, and transparency mode. For just $170, you should just get them.
Also available in ivory and a black/gold option, the Buds+ are fantastic ANC earbuds that Beats says offer 160% better ANC than the regular Studio Buds (which you can still buy, by the way). Our reviewer Simon Cohen not only agreed with this assessment, he thought it was higher putting them on par with top-tier ANC buds like the AirPods Pro 2. With new mics and noise processing, the Buds+ superbly block outside noises like construction, subway and plane sounds, and other unwanted audio annoyances so you can enjoy music to the fullest. Transparency mode is also improved and the call quality is clear.
But how do they sound? Well, if you’re familiar with the Studio Buds, the Buds+ sound very similar, as even though Beats says that 95% of the Buds+’s internal components in the earbuds and the case are new, the drivers are not. But that’s not a bad thing — they still sound clear, full, and energetic. The only thing on our wish list is that they had some kind of EQ control and that they supported more than just SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs.
Battery life on the Buds+ has taken a big step in the right direction. Despite the measly one-hour bump in their playtime per charge, going from eight to nine hours, the total playtime goes from 24 to a whopping 36 hours — both ratings are without ANC on. With ANC on, you get about six hours per charge. A five-minute quick charge, however, will buy you an hour of playtime, which is pretty good.
IPX4 water and sweat resistance makes them OK for gym folk (feel free to give them a clean with some water afterwards), and they’re comfy as heck.
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
JBL Tour Pro 2
Everything but the kitchen sink earbuds
The $250 JBL Tour Pro 2 offer an excellent-sounding pair of wireless earbuds with great ANC, and respectable battery life, which, under normal circumstances, might be all you’d need to know about these impressive buds if it weren’t for the cool and surprisingly functional smart charging case that offers a small touchscreen that opens up a ton of features you didn’t know you needed.
One of the first sets of earbuds to bring the smart charging case to life at this level (there was a rumor that Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 were to have it), the JBL Tour Pro 2 lets you keep your phone in your pocket, allowing you do everything from the basics (play/pause, volume control, track skip, accept/reject calls) to the more advanced (turning on/off ANC and transparency mode,
EQ settings) to the borderline unnecessary (get notifications and even previews of messages and emails, and add lock screen art). All of this is controlled and configured in the JBL headphones app, and whether you totally buy into it all, there are some pretty useful features, a more detailed account of which you can read about in our full review.
Outside of all that, the JBL Tour Pro 2 are an excellent-sounding, comfortable pair of buds that, our reviewer says, stand up to the top-notch sound quality of the AirPods Pro 2s. While they only support SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs, they offer adjustable EQ in the app as well as new tricks like Person-Fi, which uses the app to assess your hearing to personalize the sound to suit.
The Tour Pro 2s will even perform a fit test so you can pick the best eartips, and they have a spatial sound setting that tries its best to imitate Apple’s immersive spatial audio with a few filters for movies, music, and gaming. They don’t do head tracking like Apple’s, but they will let you listen to Dolby Atmos audio and Atmos Music tracks.
ANC on the Tour Pro 2 is also top-shelf, effectively blocking out intrusive conversations and loud noises letting music and podcasts to be heard perfectly, and there’s a Silent Now mode that disconnects the buds from Bluetooth and turns off notifications for a do-not-disturb experience. There’s also an adaptive ANC mode, which adjusts itself as outside noises change. Ambient (transparency) mode has four settings depending on what you want to hear (conversations and surroundings, for example).
See, we mentioned that these are “everything but the kitchen sink” earbuds, but we can’t cover it all here. The last thing we’ll mention is the battery life. The JBL Tour Pro 2s deliver up to six hours with adaptive ANC on, eight with non-adaptive ANC, and up to 10 with ANC completely off. JBL boasts up to 40 total hours of playback from the case, and a 15-minute charge will deliver four hours of battery life.
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
Apple AirPods (3rd gen)
The best semi-open fit earbuds
If you love the comfortable fit and easy simplicity of Apple’s original AirPods, you owe it to yourself to consider getting the 3rd-gen AirPods, which you’ll sometimes see listed as AirPods 3. The new design takes some of the best features of the AirPods Pro, like a more secure fit, better sound quality, and physical pinch controls on the stems, while keeping the semi-open shape that AirPods fans have enjoyed for years.
The AirPods 3 come with wireless charging as a standard feature (it used to be a $50 upgrade on the second-gen units) and the case is compatible with both Qi-standard chargers as well as Apple’s MagSafe chargers. Battery life has also been improved, with six hours per charge and 30 hours of total play time with the case — giving these AirPods the best stamina of any of Apple’s iconic white buds.
Like the other AirPods models, the 3rd gen have wear sensors that can auto-pause your tunes when you remove a bud, plus Apple has added head-tracking spatial audio, a feature that was previously reserved for the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. The feature only works with Dolby Atmos Music and multichannel movies from select streaming apps like Apple Music and Apple TV+, but it’s a fun and very immersive way to enjoy movies and music.
But the big upgrade for AirPods fans is the third-gen’s sound quality. It’s a big leap from the first and second-gen products, and when you’re in a quiet room, they can sound every bit as good as the more expensive AirPods Pro. The new buds also get an IPX4 rating for water resistance, something that previous AirPods lacked. When combined with the AirPods 3’s more secure fit, they’re now a gym-ready companion.
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
Technics EAH-AZ80
Most comfortable high-end earbuds
If comfort in your wireless earbuds is your primary concern, and you don’t mind paying a premium for it (and excellent ANC and sound), then the Technics EAH-AZ80 earbuds’ seven sizes and shapes of silicone eartips help make sure you can dial in a perfect, secure fit, that will stay comfy after several hours of use. How comfy? In our review, Simon Cohen figures that they can go toe-to-toe with the top-rated, super comfortable Sony WF-1000XM4s, and you just have to fork over an extra $20 for it.
As they should from the audio experts at Technics, the EAH-AZ80s sound warm, distortion-free, and balanced across the frequency spectrum no matter the kind of music you’re playing. Plus, the Audio Connect app allows you to adjust the EQ as you see fit. And what would a high-end pair of earbuds be without great ANC?
Cohen put the AZ80’s ANC to the test and found that they do a great job at effectively blocking out all the noises of life — street sounds, commute noise, crowds, and more — just as well as some brands much better known for their ANC, such as Sony, Bose, and Apple. Customizable transparency mode also allows for fine-tuning the amount of outside noise you want to hear, too.
Android users can take advantage of hi-res audio playback with support for Sony’s LDAC Bluetooth codec, and if multipoint Bluetooth connectivity is a feature you’re after, the AZ80s are unique in that they offer three connections at a time instead of the standard two, which means you can connect to, say, a laptop and two different smartphones, if you like, and can seamlessly switch between them.
An IPX4 water resistance rating on the AZ80s means you can sweat in them at the gym and rinse them off afterwards. With ANC off, the battery power tops out at up to 7.5 hours per charge (25 total with the case), but drops a bit to 4.5/16 with ANC on. The carrying case also supports wireless charging.
Simon Cohen / Digital Trends
Shokz OpenFit
The best for staying aware of your surroundings
Wireless earbuds are great for sound quality and for blocking out the outside world, especially when they’re equipped with ANC — like the Bose QuietComfort II Earbuds or AirPods Pro 2. Sure, transparency mode is great for letting in outside sound, but for prolonged use, the sealed, in-ear fit can cause ear fatigue, so you might want to explore open-ear earbuds like the Shokz OpenFit earbuds.
With a comfortable silicone loop that fits around your ear, it’s easy to forget you’re even wearing them — they’re that comfortable. A bit different than Shokz’s other popular technology – bone conduction, which sends sound to your inner ear via your skull – the OpenFit use air conduction. A small speaker (but bigger than most earbuds) sits just outside your ear canal, and the sound is pushed through the air to your eardrums instead.
But how to they sound? For music, they deliver natural and airy sound that’s great for pop music and other genres that aren’t big on bass, an area where the OpenFit lack a bit. And the open-ear style, as to be expected, means that when it’s noisy outside, you’re going to hear it. Indoors, however, and especially for those using them in the office for work, they’re excellent and can be comfortably worn all day. Bluetooth Multipoint would have been nice though.
Of course, there’s a companion app that allows you to customize the tap control features on each earbud, and has a basic EQ console. Battery life on the Shokz OpenFit is a respectable seven hours per charge and 28 with the charging case. However, if you like this open-air style of earbud ,but are more of a stickler for sound quality and battery life, we also suggest checking out the slightly more expensive Oladance OWS Pro.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends
HyperX Cloud Mix
The best for gamers
With the comfort and convenience of wireless earbuds, you’d think they’d be a natural choice for gamers, but most gamers stay as far away from wireless headphones and earbuds as they can.
Why? It turns out that Bluetooth connections introduce an unacceptable amount of lag — the delay between when an in-game sound is generated (like a foot-fall or a rifle shot) and when you actually hear it. It’s a big enough problem that many serious gamers consider it a liability that can harm their results.
That’s where the HyperX Cloud Mix Buds find their niche. They’re Bluetooth wireless earbuds that work like any other set of wireless buds on this list. They connect to your phone or laptop and let you listen to music and take calls. But they also have a feature you won’t find on the other models listed here: They come with a special USB adapter that provides a nearly lag-free wireless connection for those times when the game is afoot, and you’re playing for keeps.
A small switch on the adapter lets you seamlessly move between that dedicated wireless link and a normal Bluetooth connection, so convenience is still maintained. The Mix Buds may not have advanced features like ANC or wireless charging, and bass response can’t quite compare to the best full-size gaming headphones, but you do get a strong set of EQ adjustments and DTS:X surround sound processing.
When you take that into consideration, with their 30-hour total battery life and dedicated wireless connection for gaming, the HyperX Cloud Mix Buds start to look like a great option for gamers who also want to take their tunes on the road.
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