The Best Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds

There’s no shortage of good wireless earbuds on the market, but the best pair should offer a level of performance, reliability, and comfort that elevates it above the pack. In our most recent round of tests, no pair exceeded our expectations like the Soundcore Space A40 . With excellent noise cancellation, customizable sound, a compact size, good microphone quality, wireless charging, and a comfortable fit, the Soundcore Space A40 performs so well that it’s hard to believe this true wireless pair is priced around $100.

The battery must last at least five hours for true wireless earbuds (ideally more), and we test to confirm that they meet manufacturers’ claims.

Your callers should understand you no matter where you are, so we test mics in a quiet room, with background noise, and in wind.

Our pick

Soundcore Space A40

The best true wireless earbuds

These tiny earbuds have great sound, excellent noise cancellation, and a long battery life. But they don’t support a voice-activated assistant like Alexa or Siri, and the touch controls are slightly limited.

Buying Options

$89

from

Amazon

The Soundcore Space A40 outperforms some big competition with a great combination of performance, features, and price. The sound quality is enjoyable right out of the box, but if it’s not your ideal, there are multiple ways to fine-tune the sound using the Soundcore app. The tiny, lightweight earbuds should fit most ears comfortably, and 10 hours of battery life per charge is impressive, especially for earbuds this small. The pocket-sized charging case holds an additional 40 hours worth of power and supports wireless charging. You can use either earbud on its own, and there are six microphones that deliver clear phone calls and a natural-sounding hear-through mode. Dual-device connectivity allows you to effortlessly switch between listening to music on your laptop and taking a call on your phone. The IPX4 water-resistance rating means your earbuds are protected from a little rain or sweat, and the 18-month warranty protects you from unexpected mishaps. Though the active noise cancellation isn’t the absolute best we’ve tested, it’s still excellent.

The touch-based controls work reliably and are customizable in the app, but they don’t offer everything: You’ll have to choose one function, such as track reverse, to omit. If you want to use your phone’s voice-activated digital assistant, you’ll have to tap the controls to initiate it; this pair isn’t always listening for a wake word. If that’s a feature you really want, consider one of our also-great picks instead.

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If you are an Apple fan who wants all the pairing and voice-control conveniences of AirPods, but are looking for better all-around performance, the Beats Fit Pro is for you. This pair can transition seamlessly between your commute, workplace, and gym. The Fit Pro sounds great, with a somewhat boosted bass and excellent vocal clarity, and the built-in microphones do a good job of reducing wind and background noise. The active noise cancellation succeeds in bringing down the loudness of airplane/train engines, vacuum cleaners, and air conditioners. You can use either earbud individually if you prefer to keep one ear open, and the six hours of listening time is decent (though not as good as our other picks). The charging case holds an additional 18 hours but lacks the option for wireless charging and isn’t as small as we’d like.

These earbuds have a high enough water-resistance rating (IPX4) to provide protection for most activities, and the flexible, stabilizing wings keep them securely in place. Our test panel found the winged design to be comfortable and liked the extra security it provided, but people who are sensitive to pressure in the ear might dislike the way the wings feel.

Just like the AirPods Pro earbuds, these offer easy pairing and connection swapping to iCloud-connected Apple devices, as well as touch-free “Hey Siri” voice control. The physical buttons control track skip, phone calls, and volume on Apple devices; some button customization and one-touch pairing is available for use with Android devices (if you download the Beats app). The main downside with these earbuds is the inability to pair them with two devices simultaneously (such as a phone and laptop), but the easy connection swapping makes that less of an issue for Apple users. Apple’s warranty covers Beats headphones against manufacturing issues for one year from the date of purchase.

If you want a pair of true wireless earbuds that supports Alexa or Google Assistant voice control, you’ll love the JBL Reflect Aero TWS. This is the top pick in our guide to workout headphones because the winged earbuds stay securely in place, have simple controls, and are waterproof and sweatproof, with an IP68 rating. But the Reflect Aero TWS goes beyond workouts. The sound is good out of the box, and you can fine-tune it to your preferences using the equalizer controls in JBL’s mobile app. This pair’s eight hours of battery life is solid for true wireless earbuds, and the pocket-sized case offers up an additional 16 hours of power (though we wish it supported wireless charging). The active noise cancellation is very effective, and should you need to hear your surroundings, a hear-through mode is a tap away. Or, if you prefer, you can choose to use only one earbud at a time. Six microphones ensure clear phone calls, and you can connect the Reflect Aero TWS pair to two devices simultaneously.

Like the Beats Fit Pro, this pair uses stabilizing wings to help keep the earbuds in place. JBL includes three sizes of wings, so you can choose the fit that grips your ear most comfortably. Our testers found the fit to be comfortable, but people who have very small or sensitive ears may find the wings’ pressure fatiguing over time. Although the Reflect Aero TWS’s touch-based controls are easy to learn and use, we wish that they could adjust volume, playback, noise cancellation, and the hear-through feature inclusively, but unfortunately you’ll have to choose one of those functions to omit. If anything goes wrong, JBL covers this pair with a one-year warranty.

If you want completely wireless earbuds that cost around $50, the EarFun Free 2S is the best pair we’ve found. EarFun gives you a lot of premium features for the money, including a better-than-average waterproof rating of IPX7, a Qi-compatible charging case, a solid battery life of seven hours per charge, and an 18-month warranty. The Free 2S is the successor to our previous budget pick, the Free 2. The majority of specs are the same, but the new earbuds are noticeably smaller and use a newer version of Bluetooth. The Free 2S earbuds have the full complement of touch-based controls, and the quality of the background-noise-reducing microphones rivals that of earbuds priced $100 or more.

This pair isn’t perfect, though. It lacks advanced features like active noise cancellation and a hear-through mode. And although the Free 2S is less bulky than its predecessor, the chassis is smooth and has less grip than other designs, so people with very small ears may have fit issues. Plus the touch-based controls are fussier than physical buttons.