The 7 Best Sounding Wireless Earbuds - Winter 2020
Reviews

The best sounding wireless earbuds we've tested so far are the Bose SoundSport Free. They have a remarkably neutral sound that's suitable for almost any genre of music, with a deep, well-balanced bass, clear mids, and a treble that's free of any sharpness or sibilance. The only downside is that Bose's mobile app doesn't have an EQ to tune the sound if it doesn't suit you.

These earbuds are decently comfortable to wear, but since they're a bit on the heavy side, they aren't the most stable, so it's important to choose the proper stability fins if you plan on using these for exercise. On the subject of exercise, if you're looking for a pair that can block out ambient noise at the gym, though, these aren't for you. They're semi-open earbuds, which means they let in sound to have a better awareness of your surroundings. Battery life on these earbuds is somewhat mediocre as well, averaging 4.8 hours of continuous playback with an additional two charges available in the charging case. It's enough to get through a workout, but if it worries you, they have an auto-off feature to conserve battery. If you need to take a call, unfortunately, the microphone is quite disappointing. Even in quiet environments, speech tends to sound thin and muffled, but they're decent at separating voice from background noise.

Overall, if you only care about sound quality, these headphones are good.

If you prefer being able to customize the sound of your wireless earbuds, get the Jaybird Tarah Pro. They have a great sports-oriented design for athletes and are fairly comfortable for longer listening sessions. They feature magnetic earbuds that clip together for improved cable management and to help prolong their 13-hour battery life.

They have great audio reproduction straight out of the box, but what sets them apart is the level of customization provided in their companion app, Jaybird MySound. It provides a full parametric EQ along with a detailed library of community presets so you can fine-tune their sound your way.

On the downside, these earbuds use a proprietary charging cradle that can be a bit restrictive. If you forget the charger at home, you won’t be able to just borrow a friend’s micro-USB cable, which is a bit inconvenient. If you prefer being able to charge your headphones via micro-USB, consider the Sony WI-1000X Wireless. They’re also very customizable and they have active noise cancelling, which is great for commuters, but their battery doesn’t perform as well as that of the Jaybird.

If being on a budget doesn’t stop you from having high sound quality standards, then get the JBL Endurance Sprint. Since they have a closed-back design, they don’t sound as open, but their audio reproduction is nearly as good. They have a sporty design with a rubberized matte finish and are rated IPX7 for waterproofing.

They have very accurate audio reproduction and a balanced, neutral sound that lends itself well to all music genres. They also have great isolation and block a very good amount of noise for headphones without active noise cancelling.

On the downside, they aren’t the most comfortable in-ears we’ve tested. Their earbuds protrude quite deeply into the ear canal and their twist-to-lock mechanism can be hard to get right. Those with smaller ears may also find their large ear-hooks uncomfortably bulky. If you prefer in-ears with a more low-profile design, consider the AKG N200 Wireless; they sound just as good and are a bit more comfortable, but they don’t isolate as well as the JBL.