You Might Also Like Wireless headphones are awesome. Of all the gadgets I use on a daily basis, they are the ones that make me most feel like I’m living in the near future. That may sound like hyperbole, but putting on headphones and having music pump directly into my ears without any cables getting in the way is just a great experience. I don’t have to worry about my bag yanking them from my head every time I take them off. I don’t have to worry about threading the cable through my coat before leaving the house on a cold day. And I don’t have to worry about causing a major catastrophe if I get up from my desk and forget to take them off my head. It’s the freedom and convenience of wireless headphones that draws me and many others to them. There are a lot of wireless headphones on the market, at all kinds of prices. For this guide, we focused on the on-ear and over-ear style, which offer the best performance in terms of sound quality, comfort, and battery life.

If you’re looking for something to wear at the gym, you’ll want wireless in-ear headphones — we’ll get to those later. The best wireless headphones get four important things right: they reliably connect to your phone, they are comfortable to wear for long stretches, they are compact enough to slip into most any bag, and most importantly, they sound nearly as good as wired headphones. Audiophiles aren’t likely to approve of the sound quality from even the best wireless headphones because a Bluetooth connection will (probably) never be as good as a wired one, but for the rest of us listening to music on our phones, they can be fantastic. Some even offer noise cancellation that blocks virtually all outside noise, making that cross country flight with a screaming baby much more pleasant. Good wireless headphones should also be able to last for a long time between charges — nobody wants to charge their headphones as often as they charge their smartphone. Shot on location at WeWork.

Also available on YouTube. Out of all the headphones we tested, only one model stood out: Sennheiser's MM 550-X. The MM 550-X are an over-ear style (meaning they fully enclose your ears) and connect to smartphones or laptops via Bluetooth. They have a reliable wireless connection, they're comfortable to wear for hours at a time, they have an effective noise cancellation system, and can fold up into a remarkably small size for packing in my bag. The Sennheisers have great sound, too. It's balanced, without favoring too much bass or treble, but still clear, loud, and suitable for all kinds of music or vocal recordings. There are media controls on the right earcup, as well as controls for the noise cancellation and Bluetooth systems. The MM 550-X are rated for up to 20 hours of use between charges, and I was able to use them on a long commute for multiple days in a row without having to charge them up. They also let you swap the battery, something very few other wireless headphones offer.

The MM 550-X aren't the best looking headphones you can buy. In fact, they look pretty goofy on most people. They have a retro '90s style that has been copied countless times, so it's hard to tell that they are premium headphones just by looking at them. But they certainly are premium, sitting at the top of the price range of the headphones we considered for this review. They don't feel cheap either — it's mostly just a looks issue here. If sound quality, comfort, and performance are what you're looking for in a wireless headphone, then the MM 550-X are tough to beat. zephyr backpack coteBut if you don't want to fork over the funds for their premium price or just aren't a fan of their aesthetic, you should take a look at our runner-up pick.nexstar 8se backpack Bose's new SoundLink headphones are an on-ear style, meaning they're smaller than the Sennheisers and sit on top of your ears. laptop bags fabrix

Many people find on-ear headphones to be uncomfortable because they put too much pressure on their ears, but the SoundLinks are unlike other on-ear headphones. They have super soft, pillowy earcups and a generously-sized headband. In fact, they are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn, on-ear or over-ear. The SoundLinks aren't just good for their comfort: they also have a great sound that's perhaps just a bit more bassy than the Sennheisers. They are very light, they fold up into a very small size, and they last 15 hours between charges. portabrace backpack c100They also have voice-guided directions for pairing your phone, plus an on-off toggle switch that's a lot easier to use than the "push for an unspecified amount of time" power buttons on most other headphones.high sierra xbt laptop backpack on wheels black

My only real complaints with the SoundLinks are the lack of active noise cancellation, which isn't a huge surprise given their lower price, and a weaker Bluetooth radio than the Sennheisers. I noticed more Bluetooth interference and audio drops while wearing the SoundLinks than with other headphones, but it didn't happen enough to make it a huge problem. The SoundLinks aren't the best wireless headphones, but they are a very strong runner-up. Beats’ Studio Wireless are an attractive over-ear style headphone that are definitely the best-looking of the field. clima backpack von adidasContrary to what you might think, they actually sound good, too. Their profile obviously favors more bass, but doesn’t overpower your ears with it. They are also comfortable and have noise cancellation, though you can’t turn it off if you don’t want it, which is annoying. The Studio Wireless are also pretty large and don’t fold up quite as compact as our top pick.

The new Beats Solo 2 Wireless are a good-sounding on-ear headphone with long battery life and a compact design. But they aren’t nearly as comfortable as the Bose Soundlinks and cost more. If you’re looking for headphones that come in a ton of colors other than white or black, the Solo 2’s are great, but they aren’t the best headphones in the field. The MM 450-X are the smaller, on-ear kid brother to our top pick, and they offer many of the same features, including noise cancellation. They are really small and fold up into something you could even put in a jacket pocket. But they are just as ugly as their larger counterparts and aren’t as comfortable to wear as the Bose Soundlinks. Samsung’s Level Over are a good-sounding over-ear headphone (as their name suggests) that competes directly with Beats Studio Wireless. The biggest problem with the Level Overs is that, well, they are big. Not just big, huge — easily the biggest headphones we tested. They have an equally large case that didn’t easily fit in my shoulder bag, unlike every other set of headphones I tried.

They also have clumsy touch-based controls that just don’t work as well as actual buttons. I like the Revo Wireless. They are a good-looking, durable on-ear headphone that sound great. They are bassier than I’d prefer, and unfortunately they aren’t as comfortable to wear as the SoundLinks. But if the Bose SoundLinks aren’t available, the Revo Wireless make a good on-ear alternative that will hurt your wallet a little less. No pricing info available Parrot’s Zik 2 are the most futuristic of all the headphones I tested: they have motion controls, adaptive noise cancellation, touch-based controls, swappable batteries, and more. But they aren’t quite ready for prime time: the motion controls annoyingly launched iTunes on my computer every time I put them on my head, the touch controls on the earcup proved to be finicky, and the adaptive noise cancellation can only be controlled with Parrot’s mobile app, which is annoying and shouldn’t be necessary. Also, they look like padded toilet seats, which isn’t exactly my idea of a good-looking headphone.

Sony’s MDR-10RBT are the wireless versions of the company’s popular over-ear headphones. They are priced average and sound average, and they aren’t very compact for travel. There’s nothing particularly bad about them (and they are pretty comfortable to wear), but there’s also nothing stand out about them. You can do better with your money if you're willing to put it towards pricier models, but if you have a limited budget and want the over-ear style, the 10RBTs are not a bad option. The Sony MDR-XB950BT are big over-ear headphones that emphasize a lot of bass (the “XB” in their name stands for “extra bass”). They have a button to enable the bass boost, but I wasn’t a fan of their sound with (or without) the enhancement. Sony’s MDR-ZX550BN are the least expensive of the headphones we tested and they show it. They look cheap, feel cheap, and sound cheap. If all you care about is price, go for it, but you can do a lot better by just spending a little more.