The 11 Best Earbuds And In-Ear Headphones - Winter 2020
Reviews

The best earbuds we’ve reviewed so far are the Jaybird Tarah Pro. Having sports-oriented earbuds doesn't mean you have to sacrifice on sound quality - at least that's what Jaybird is trying to prove. Not only are they one of the best earbuds for working out, with their IPX7 rating and secure fit, they're also one the best-sounding pairs. They have a deep bass with clear mids, but the treble can be a bit sibilant and the bass slightly boomy. If this sound doesn't suit you, Jaybird provides an incredible EQ within their excellent companion app.

Although they're not truly wireless earbuds, the in-line controls are easy to use if you're not a fan of touch controls. On the back of the in-line remote is where you'll find the connection pins for the proprietary charger. The latter is a bit of a letdown. Fortunately, you can leave your charger at home, because the battery life on these earbuds are great, coming in at around 13.3 hours of continuous playback.

If you're on the market for a great pair of earbuds for sports or everyday use, these are a fantastic choice.

The best truly wireless earbuds we’ve reviewed so far are the Samsung Galaxy Buds. They’re super portable yet surprisingly comfortable earbuds that have a solid price-to-performance ratio. They have great audio reproduction and their battery provides over 7 hours of continuous playback, which is quite good for truly wireless earbuds. They’re the best wireless earbuds for Android we’ve tested thanks to their compatibility with the Samsung Wearable app.

While they sound balanced enough to be suitable for most people, some will find they lack a bit of bass. If you have an Android phone, you can boost their bass a bit with an EQ preset in their companion app, but iOS users won’t have that option. You can also only access button mapping from the app, so if you have an iPhone you won’t be able to access volume controls either. That said, they still perform very well overall even if you don’t have an Android device, and are easy to recommend in general.

If you don't care for wireless technologies or prefer a stable connection with no latency, the best wired earphones we’ve tested so far are the 1More Triple Driver. The build quality is decent with metal casings and thick cables, where the in-line remote resides along with a decent microphone for calls. The microphone may struggle to separate speech from ambient noise, but will generally be easy to understand. One area of concern is the cables leading up to the earphones, which are thin and not removable.

Although these earbuds are fairly well-balanced and suitable for a variety of genres, the bass can sound a bit muddy and the treble lacks detail. Unfortunately, being wired earphones, there isn't a companion app for further customization or other features such as active noise cancellation. That being said, the passive isolation is passable and quite effective at blocking out speech and higher frequencies. If all you need is a simple wired pair without the hassles of wireless earphones, these are the best wired earbuds we’ve reviewed so far.

The best noise cancelling in-ear headphones we've reviewed so far are the Apple AirPods Pro. They provide great isolation thanks to their very good ANC feature and they are quite comfortable to wear during long listening sessions. They have silicone tips that make them different from the previous AirPods models and helps with their fit. They also come with different tip sizes to help you find the best and most comfortable fit possible.

They feel very well-made and feature a new squeeze touch-sensitive control scheme, which is easy to use. They have a pretty neutral and well-balanced sound profile and don't lack as much bass as previous models. Their ANC feature is great for reducing an engine rumble or even to greatly reduce the ambient chatter in an office environment.

Unfortunately, these headphones don't really have any customization options as their iOS-specific interface doesn't allow you to do much with them. They connect seamlessly, but you can only map controls and switch between ANC On, Off, and their transparency mode. Nevertheless, these are premium in-ear headphones that have a very good ANC feature that'll satisfy most users.

The best wireless earbuds under $100 that we’ve tested so far are the Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2. They're a nice upgrade over the previous Anker SoundCore Liberty Air Truly Wireless headphones. They have a similar shape to the older model, but the Liberty Air 2 have a much better control scheme and a more premium design. These headphones have a great 6.5-hour battery life on a single charge and their case holds five additional charges, which means you'll barely ever need to charge them.

These truly wireless headphones have a well-balanced sound profile, but might be better suitable for more bass-heavy genres. They have a bit of extra thump and rumble, which lends itself well to EDM and hip-hop tracks. Their fit also offers good passive isolation and they're great to use during your daily commute.

Unfortunately, while these Anker headphones are compatible with their new app, it's still fairly barebones. It doesn't offer any graphic or parametric EQ and you can only select through some presets and map some controls. Nevertheless, if you're looking for budget truly wireless headphones, these are very versatile and one of the best we've reviewed so far.

The best cheap earbuds we've tested so far are the Anker SoundBuds Curve. They perform better than a lot of the more premium wireless earbuds we've tested for a fraction of the price. They're surprisingly well-built, with a very comfortable fit for in-ear headphones, and even come with a nice hard carrying case, which is a welcome addition at this price point. They have an excited, bass-heavy sound that will help bring out the thump and rumble of a hip-hop track without drowning out the vocals and lead instruments of a folk-rock song.

While they have a very good 13-hour battery life, they don't have an auto-off timer, so if you forget to turn them off when you're not using them, you might find their battery drained when you pick them back up again. Like most cheap headphones, they also don't have customization options. That said, they still provide excellent value for the price and are very easy to recommend overall.