Best noise-cancelling headphones: Bose, Sony, Apple, and more

Here at WIRED, my colleagues and I test all headphones, including noise-cancelling ones, and how you use them. We wear them over several weeks to test their comfort, battery life, and ease of access to the onboard controls. We listen to random tunes, podcasts, and videos, but we also listen to curated playlists full of music we’ve heard dozens of times.

For me, that means samples from The Beatles, Radiohead, Fleetwood Mac, Beck, Nickel Creek, Snarky Puppy, Frank Sinatra, Depeche Mode, Anderson .Paak, and many others. Each of us has our own list, but the common factor is a range of genres to emphasize how it works for all types of listeners. Whenever possible, we take the time to test high-resolution or lossless audio codecs with supported devices, and I use Spotify Lossless as my main streaming source.

To test the noise cancellation, my colleague Parker Hall and I took the earbuds out into the world, testing them for sounds from lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, construction sites, traffic, and other local sounds, including transparency and noise-canceling modes. Since we’re both audio producers, we also take them into our acoustically treated home studios, where we test their noise cancellation against AirPlane drone demos, voice chat, and white or pink noise played through studio monitors. When possible, I also take any earbuds I’m testing on long-haul flights and flights to see how they react to real-world environments. The point is to wear these earbuds to make sure you get your money’s worth.