Wireless Earbuds to Buy in 2017
Offline Mobile Appreneur
Wireless earbuds are an easy solution to these minor but common annoyances. With wireless earbuds, you can move about freely without the risk of having them catch on something. They resolve the tangled cord problem and come in different colors to match your phone or MP3 player as well as your personality. Cordless earbuds pair to your phone wirelessly through Bluetooth and are quite portable. They're wonderful for workouts since they are lightweight and are oftentimes sweat resistant. However, even if you plan to wear them around the office or at home, you still have easy access to music without dangling cables.
The struggle is real trying to untangle your knotted headphone cables causes unimaginable frustration. So skip the mess and instead opt for wireless earbuds that redefine easy listening. Over the years, options in the wireless category have significantly improved, offering more comfortable fits, longer battery life and better sound quality, among other things. So what are the best wireless earphones out there? Depends on what you want. We’ve rounded up some of our favorites below, including a little something for everyone.
The heart rate tracker is more reliable than most wrist-worn models, as long as you fit the Elite Sport buds properly. And the fit is going to split the audience a bit. The Jabra Elite Sport don't perch in your ears, they fill them rather like a custom moulded earphone. As a result sound isolation is excellent and the fit very secure. Some will find it too invasive, though. Road runners need to be double-careful about nearby traffic, although they’re excellent at getting rid of terrible gym techno. Jabra offers another solution too. Double-tap one of the buttons and you enter HearThrough mode, which pipes through some ambient sound without ruining your music. This kind of mode often sounds horrible, but it doesn’t here. Jabra recently updated the Elite Sport to boost stamina to a better-than-average 4.5 hours peer charge. And while the carry case only offers enough juice for two bonus charges rather than the 10-15 of some others, it’s a very handy little thing: the size of a cufflinks box.
Sound quality is among the best you’ll hear from this kind of earphone. It’s wide and rich, seeming expansive and dynamic enough to do justice to your music. You don’t have too think of these as “just for exercise” earphones.
When buying budget headphones, you’ll undoubtedly have to make some sacrifices, but when it comes to the best value headphones, everything you want should be packaged up for the best price possible. That’s exactly what you get with SENSO’s ActivBuds S-250. The headphones are solidly built and simply designed, but still comfortable to wear. And they certainly don’t skimp on sound quality. With a frequency response of 20-22 kHz, the ActivBuds deliver true Hi-Fi sound complete with clear treble and booming bass. You’ll get a solid eight hours of battery life to last you a full day of listening, whether you’re commuting, exercising or rocking out.
We previously had the Beats Powerbeats3 as the most comfortable, but the new BeatsX showed up and took its crown. These Bluetooth headphones were designed with all-day use in mind, so everything about it keeps them nice and comfortable. They feature a flexible neckband made of a rubbery plastic that sits comfortably around your neck. Unlike other brands that use a stiff neckband, this flexible one means you can tuck it neatly under your shirt collar for a discrete pair of ‘buds you can forget about until you want to listen to music. They only have an 8 hour battery life, but on the bright side they do come with quick charging capabilities. So a quick five minute charge will get you around two hours of playback. On top of that they have a solid range thanks to Class 1 Bluetooth and Apple’s new W1 chip, and a surprisingly decent sound. Sure, they’re bass-heavy as you’d expect with any Beats product, but they’re more smooth sounding than some of the other products in their line-up. If you want a pair of ‘buds you can wear comfortably throughout the day, the BeatsX are a solid choice.
The AirPods are driven by a custom-designed Apple W1 chip and have brilliant software integration. Right when you take them out of the box for the first time, a pop-up appears on your phone asking if you want to sync them. On top of that, Siri plays a main role in managing your controls. They produce solid sound and have a superb dual mic set-up with powerful noise cancellation technology. The battery lasts for about 5 hours and they charge up quickly when in their case; just 15 minutes of charging gives you 3 hours of listening time. In fact, the case can charge the AirPods for a total of 24 hours (that's in addition to the 5 hours the AirPods hold themselves). For solid Apple integration, AirPods are the way to go.
Richer, wider and with much better stereo separation and ‘air’ than most, these are a truly satisfying listen. The cohesiveness and detail of the mid-range also hugely outclasses most other earphones of this kind. What else did you expect from Onkyo? The snag is that their wireless performance is not perfect, especially when you compare them to newer cheaper pairs. Walking around with them in, you have to put up with occasional blips and some weird drop outs between the master and slave earpieces. Other parts of the tech aren’t quite up to some newer pairs either. Battery life of three hours per charge is only worth a shrug, and the charger case isn’t as neat as some.
We’re not massive fans of the bulbous look either. You can tell the family resemblance with Onkyo’s bigger headphones, but they’re a little large and ungainly. Still, if sound quality matters most they are winners regardless.
If you have a samsung phone pick Samsung Level U Pro. The sound can be a bit piercing on high notes and consonants, which is what kept this pair from being our top pick, but this is an otherwise nice-sounding set of headphones with well-defined mids and bass. It has a light and comfy collar with dual microphones that ensure clear calls, in addition to a few unexpected features that are quite nice to use. The earbuds have magnets that can attach when you hang them around your neck. When you separate the magnets, the Level U Pro will auto-answer an incoming call; they also pause your music when stuck together.
The Sol Republic Amps Air look a little similar to the Jam Ultra. This is no great surprise as both companies are owned by HoMedics, master of massage products. Tech works in mysterious ways. They are among the better-looking true wireless earphones at this price, mainly because they don’t stick out too far and don’t expand sideways too much either. Not everyone will love the ‘urban’ edge that most Sol Republic earphones have, though. These headphones are far from identical, though. The Sol Republic Amps Air have a scalloped rubberised finish, and the entire back of each earpiece is a big concave button.
The Amps Air are “water and rain” resistant according to Sol Republic, which seems to suggest they’ll be fine as long as you don’t wash the apertures under a tap. They use three little power connectors that interface with the charging carry case. As with a lot of current true wireless earphones, battery life is a pretty dismal three hours. However, the case has enough charge for up to a mammoth 15 refreshes. You can feel the satisfying density of it too: it’s more external battery than carry case. Bluetooth signal reliability is very solid, with only very occasional interference. The Sol Republic Amps Air sound is decent, but perhaps best suited to exercise or very casual listening. Bass is very powerful, and it’s matched with pronounced but not ear-slashing treble and upper mids.
8. CB3 Fit Sport
If you just aren’t looking to spend that much but still want to take part in Bluetooth goodness, check out the CB3 Fit Sport. These only cost $39 but have almost all the same features. Sweatproof? Check. These have an IPX4 certification so getting caught in the rain shouldn’t be an issue. Good battery life? Check. These will give you about 7 hours of constant playback, one hour less than the X3s but they’re also a third of the price. they do tend to have a more narrow sound than the X3s but the quality itself is fine. The Fit Sport don’t have a control module on the cable, but they do have some plastic playback controls built into the earbud. Easily control your volume or skip between tracks without reaching for your source device.
9. Kitsound Comet
The Best of The Best
Offline Mobile Appreneur
Wireless earbuds are an easy solution to these minor but common annoyances. With wireless earbuds, you can move about freely without the risk of having them catch on something. They resolve the tangled cord problem and come in different colors to match your phone or MP3 player as well as your personality. Cordless earbuds pair to your phone wirelessly through Bluetooth and are quite portable. They're wonderful for workouts since they are lightweight and are oftentimes sweat resistant. However, even if you plan to wear them around the office or at home, you still have easy access to music without dangling cables.
The struggle is real trying to untangle your knotted headphone cables causes unimaginable frustration. So skip the mess and instead opt for wireless earbuds that redefine easy listening. Over the years, options in the wireless category have significantly improved, offering more comfortable fits, longer battery life and better sound quality, among other things. So what are the best wireless earphones out there? Depends on what you want. We’ve rounded up some of our favorites below, including a little something for everyone.
1. Jabra Elite Sport Earbuds
The Jabra Elite Sport are currently the ultimate true wireless earphones for runners and other kinds of athletes. There’s a heart rate sensor on the right earpiece, letting it monitor your exertion level as you exercise. A Jabra companion app lets you track your exercise, and you can kick off a workout by pressing a button on one earpiece. Unlike most rivals there are also volume/playback controls on the left earpiece too.
The heart rate tracker is more reliable than most wrist-worn models, as long as you fit the Elite Sport buds properly. And the fit is going to split the audience a bit. The Jabra Elite Sport don't perch in your ears, they fill them rather like a custom moulded earphone. As a result sound isolation is excellent and the fit very secure. Some will find it too invasive, though. Road runners need to be double-careful about nearby traffic, although they’re excellent at getting rid of terrible gym techno. Jabra offers another solution too. Double-tap one of the buttons and you enter HearThrough mode, which pipes through some ambient sound without ruining your music. This kind of mode often sounds horrible, but it doesn’t here. Jabra recently updated the Elite Sport to boost stamina to a better-than-average 4.5 hours peer charge. And while the carry case only offers enough juice for two bonus charges rather than the 10-15 of some others, it’s a very handy little thing: the size of a cufflinks box.
Sound quality is among the best you’ll hear from this kind of earphone. It’s wide and rich, seeming expansive and dynamic enough to do justice to your music. You don’t have too think of these as “just for exercise” earphones.
2. SENSO ActivBuds S-250
3. BeatsX
4. Apple AirPods
When Apple introduced its iPhone 7, the world fawned over how thin it was. That’s in part because Apple removed the headphone jack altogether. In place of the once iconic white Apple earbuds, the company rolled out wireless AirPods.
The AirPods are driven by a custom-designed Apple W1 chip and have brilliant software integration. Right when you take them out of the box for the first time, a pop-up appears on your phone asking if you want to sync them. On top of that, Siri plays a main role in managing your controls. They produce solid sound and have a superb dual mic set-up with powerful noise cancellation technology. The battery lasts for about 5 hours and they charge up quickly when in their case; just 15 minutes of charging gives you 3 hours of listening time. In fact, the case can charge the AirPods for a total of 24 hours (that's in addition to the 5 hours the AirPods hold themselves). For solid Apple integration, AirPods are the way to go.
5. Onkyo W800BT Earbuds
One of the earliest true wireless sets of earphones is still among the best. The Onkyo W800BT arrived to demonstrate these kind of earphones could sound much better than AirPods, and they continue to flatten most of the competition for sound quality.
Richer, wider and with much better stereo separation and ‘air’ than most, these are a truly satisfying listen. The cohesiveness and detail of the mid-range also hugely outclasses most other earphones of this kind. What else did you expect from Onkyo? The snag is that their wireless performance is not perfect, especially when you compare them to newer cheaper pairs. Walking around with them in, you have to put up with occasional blips and some weird drop outs between the master and slave earpieces. Other parts of the tech aren’t quite up to some newer pairs either. Battery life of three hours per charge is only worth a shrug, and the charger case isn’t as neat as some.
We’re not massive fans of the bulbous look either. You can tell the family resemblance with Onkyo’s bigger headphones, but they’re a little large and ungainly. Still, if sound quality matters most they are winners regardless.
6. Samsung Level U Pro
The roughly nine-hour battery life should get you through most days, and should these earbuds run out midday, they will work via Bluetooth while charging. Finally, if you’re a Samsung phone or tablet owner, you can get an accompanying app that lets you adjust the sound to your liking by turning down the treble. However, without the Samsung-only app, you can’t do much to fix the piercing highs.
7. Sol Republic Amps Air
The Amps Air are “water and rain” resistant according to Sol Republic, which seems to suggest they’ll be fine as long as you don’t wash the apertures under a tap. They use three little power connectors that interface with the charging carry case. As with a lot of current true wireless earphones, battery life is a pretty dismal three hours. However, the case has enough charge for up to a mammoth 15 refreshes. You can feel the satisfying density of it too: it’s more external battery than carry case. Bluetooth signal reliability is very solid, with only very occasional interference. The Sol Republic Amps Air sound is decent, but perhaps best suited to exercise or very casual listening. Bass is very powerful, and it’s matched with pronounced but not ear-slashing treble and upper mids.
It’s a sort of balance, if not audiophile one. The meat of the mids is limited. You get impact and energy, but not an entirely natural or refined take on your tunes. For use at the gym or during runs, the Amps will work well, though.
9. Kitsound Comet
The Kitsound Comet True Wireless are about the cheapest AirPod-a-like earphones you’ll find in actual shops. Your other options are ultra-low price Chinese manufacturers we struggle to trust most of the time. Most of these won’t get you the solid wireless performance of this Kitsound pair either. While even the most expensive first-wave AirPod imposters tended to suffer from flaky Bluetooth signal, the Kitsound Comet True Wireless are remarkably good. It’s a sign the new chipsets behind this kind of wireless transmission are getting much, much better. There are now few cut-outs, and no ugly garbled digital distortion. They work well. There is a noise bed you’ll notice if listening to podcasts rather than music, though, and sound quality isn’t up to much. Hard-edged, sibilant and thin, we’ve heard earphones bundled with phones sound better. There’s also a sound level mis-match between the earpieces, the right sounding slightly louder than the left. We wouldn’t use these as our main earphones. And they don’t have the oomph to make great gym or running headphones either. If you care a lot about sound quality, the Kitsound Comet True Wireless aren’t for you.
They are also less convenient than more expensive pairs, using little microUSB sockets on each bud rather than a case. Battery life is decent in this class, though, at four hours. Poor sound quality would put us off these earphones, but making a true wireless pair this cheap that works very well on a pure technical level ears Kitsound a few plaudits.
They are also less convenient than more expensive pairs, using little microUSB sockets on each bud rather than a case. Battery life is decent in this class, though, at four hours. Poor sound quality would put us off these earphones, but making a true wireless pair this cheap that works very well on a pure technical level ears Kitsound a few plaudits.
10. ADV.Sound Model 3
ADV.Sound is a fairly new company that specializes in bang for your buck. We’ve always enjoyed their products, but they’ve really outdone themselves with the Model 3 in-ears. Not just because of how good they sound (and they do sound good), but because they only cost $79. Now this pick is kind of cheating, but in a good way. These aren’t entirely wireless. The housing can be popped off thanks to MMCX connectors and reattached to an included cable if you prefer to use them that way every now and then. When using them wirelessly, the ‘buds connect to a cable that snaps in place around your neck. On that cable is a control module that has the Bluetooth components, battery, and playback controls. It’s fairly small and unobtrusive, but because of that you’ll only get about 5 hours of playback time. Still, that doesn’t seem to stop people from loving these, probably because of the sound quality. They’re actually one of those few products that users on our site thought deserved a batter overall score than the one we gave them in the full review. These are one of the best sounding Bluetooth earbuds we’ve tested and everyone should definitely give them a try.
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