A new pair of Bose over-ear headphones could be arriving very shortly.

That's according to French outlet Dealabs, which reports that Bose has leaked a second-generation iteration of its QuietComfort Headphones, slated for release in just a few weeks.

Bose's QuietComfort Headphones line isn't to be confused with the more premium QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. The QC Headphones are to the QC Ultra Headphones what the more affordable QuietComfort Earbuds (2024) are to the range-topping QuietComfort Earbuds Ultra (2nd Gen) – a lower price tag in return for slightly fewer features and not quite top-of-the-line performance.

That said, the new over-ears promise a full-blooded refresh over their three-year-old predecessors, with Dealabs' leak suggesting a new design, revamped controls and better sound quality could all be coming to the second-generation model in a bid to see Bose make a play for the competitive mid-range market.

Quite a few premium features could be about to trickle down from the premium QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), including Bose 'TrueSpatial' spatial audio, lossless playback via USB-C, and a host of new listening flavours, including 'Cinema Mode' for making video content more, well, cinematic.

Many existing features and functionalities are set for significant improvements. Bose's 'ActiveSense' technology works to take the edge off unwanted noise peaks when listening in 'Aware' mode, while improved call quality comes courtesy of more effective ambient noise reduction.

The headphones' on-cup controls have been revamped, with Dealabs teasing more intuitive button placement on the earcups themselves.

Wholesale improvements haven't been made to every aspect of the incoming QuietComfort Headphones, however. Battery life will likely remain the same as the soon-to-be outgoing model, with the second-gen over-ears again set to max out at a reported 24 hours of listening with ANC switched on.

That revamped design is set to feature more on-ear padding alongside a more oval earpad shape and a wider headband, all designed to improve wearer comfort over time.

A veritable Delux colour wheel of new finishes could also be set to arrive, including Black, White Smoke, Rosewood Mauve, Eucalyptus Green, Dewdrop Mint, and Hazelnut Taupe.

What about prospective price? Figures are slated as £300 / $359 / €350, which represents a £50 / €50 drop for UK and European buyers respectively.

We never tested the original QuietComfort Headphones when they launched around three years ago, but we have reviewed both the QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) and QC Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) in recent times.

Bose isn't quite dominating the premium wireless headphones space when facing competition from Sony, Apple and Sennheiser, but the upcoming QC Headphones' slightly more affordable asking price and bolstered feature set might help Bose claw back ground lost to its estimable competitors.

Dealabs claims that Bose's latest cans will arrive on August 13th. We've contacted Bose for comment, and will keep you updated with developments as they arise.

MORE:

Bose QuietComfort Headphones vs QuietComfort Ultra Headphones: what are the differences?

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These are the best noise-cancelling headphones on the market

Skullcandy has released new premium wireless headphones, the Crusher 1080 ANC.

But rather than go it alone, the firm has enlisted the help of a powerful ally in a bid to get its latest cans competing with the best in the business.

That ally, in case you hadn't guessed already, is Bose.

The Crusher 1080 ANCs' extensive feature set is powered by 'Sound by Bose' technology, meaning the new headphones boast 'QuietControl' noise cancelling and 'TrueSpatial' sound design.

These let them deliver Bose's Immersive Audio, and 'SpeechClarity' features for, as you might have guessed, clearer voice calls.

You even get Bose-tuned EQ modes to more accurately tailor the sound to your specific preferences.

That's a lot of Bose-made tech, but what about how the Crusher 1080 ANC actually sound?

As you might have gathered from the name, the new over-ears promise "bass you can feel", complemented by "a rich, balanced sound" with plenty of "immersive detail", all aided by Bose's 'WaveForm' audio engine for improved signal processing.

The Crusher 1080 ANC boast a very impressive 60 hours of battery life with noise cancelling switched off, dropping to around 50 hours when ANC is in play, while a 'Rapid Charge' facility will grant four hours of battery life from a 10-minute boost.

Elsewhere, a decidedly premium feature set includes Google Fast Pairing, Multipoint Connectivity and Auracast audio sharing technology, as well as a low-latency audio mode for gaming and movies.

Outside of the Bose tech, the headphones also feature Skullcandy's patented 'Crusher Bass' technology, which allows you to use the Skullcandy app or a dedicated 'Crusher wheel' to dial up your lower-end reproduction and "create a physical bass sensation that adds impact and immersion to music, movies, and games".

The Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC are available now, priced at £220 / $280 / AU$400, in a choice of Brown, Pink, Grey or Black finishes.

MORE:

Read our SoundCore Liberty 5 Pro review

I auditioned a bunch of AirPods Max replacements, but none could match Apple's secret AV weapon

Best wireless earbuds: 7 sensational pairs reviewed and rated by our experts

After more than five years of daily use, my AirPods Max recently stopped working.

I can't really complain. Between commuting, international travel and a house move, they'd spent years being stuffed into backpacks and suitcases before emerging to soundtrack thousands of hours of music and movies. They'd had a pretty hard life.

Rather than rushing to repair them, though, I saw an opportunity.

In the five years since I'd bought the AirPods Max, loads of exciting new headphones had launched. This felt like the perfect excuse to break away from Apple's ecosystem and find out whether anything could finally replace them.

Over the next couple of months, I spent time with headphones from Sony, Bose, Sennheiser and Bowers & Wilkins. Their relative strengths varied, but all of them sounded very accomplished with music. In the case of Sony's superb WH-1000XM6, I'd even argue the overall musical performance is better than that of the AirPods Max.

But this period of headphone flirtation had a surprising effect: my movie-watching almost ground to a halt.

For years now, I've used my AirPods Max at least as much for movies as for music. In fact, they've quietly become an essential part of my home cinema setup.

Once the rest of my family had gone to bed and it was no longer neighbourly to keep my Dolby Atmos system rumbling away, I had a simple routine. Rather than switching on Night mode and flattening every explosion, gunshot and orchestral swell, I'd put on my AirPods Max, tap the pop-up on my Apple TV 4K and carry on watching exactly where I'd left off.

The combination of the AirPods Max and Apple TV 4K remains astonishingly good. Their Dolby Atmos implementation, delivered through Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, creates an experience that's surprisingly easy to forget is coming from a pair of headphones. It doesn't simply sound spacious; it sounds uncannily natural.

And that's the bit I hadn't appreciated until the AirPods Max disappeared from my life. Every alternative I tried excelled with music, but none recreated that movie experience.

The closest I came was pairing Sony's WH-1000XM6 with the Bravia 8 II TV. It produced an impressively open and fairly cinematic presentation, but because the connection relied on standard Bluetooth, what I was hearing was ultimately a cleverly processed stereo signal rather than the sort of binaural Dolby Atmos experience that Apple's solution provides.

The difference wasn't night and day, but it was enough that I found myself missing the AirPods Max every time I settled down to watch a film, and that had a surprisingly big impact on my viewing habits.

If the family was asleep, I simply wasn't getting the experience I wanted. I wasn't about to hobble my main home cinema system with Night mode, but neither were the alternative headphones convincing enough to tempt me away from it.

Whether it's children, a partner or simply considerate neighbours, I suspect lots of people end up watching films after the house has gone quiet, and losing that window meant the number of films I watched absolutely tanked over the following weeks. I missed loads.

The good news is that I'm now making up for lost time, because I've managed to get hold of another pair of AirPods Max.

The whole experience taught me something I wasn't expecting, though: I'd quietly built my entire late-night movie-watching routine around one Apple feature.

That's not to say Apple has the only solution. Sony, for example, offers the little-known WLA-NS7 wireless transmitter, which promises a similar binaural Dolby Atmos experience with compatible headphones. I'll be testing that very soon.

But until something else can recreate what the AirPods Max and Apple TV 4K achieve together, they'll remain my favourite headphones for movies – even if some rivals have at least matched them when it comes to music.

MORE:

Here are the best wireless headphones you can buy right now

Check out our Apple AirPods Max review

What do you think of when you hear the word “liberty”? Perhaps the triumphant motto of the French Revolution which pledged liberty, equality and fraternity for all, or perhaps the Statue of Liberty with her torch aloft welcoming newcomers to New York via Ellis Island? The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, perhaps, or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance if you’re into your black and white Westerns?

You may not think of a pair of mid-price wireless earbuds, but could that be about to change? The Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro are already imbued with a certain grandeur by virtue of their very name, but a name alone does not make a pair of earbuds.

Anker’s sub-brand Soundcore must face off against the likes of JBL and Sony to make a dent in this mid-range field, and while this isn’t the most densely populated segment of the wireless earbuds landscape, there are still a handful of hurdles for the Liberty 5 Pro to overcome.

Price

At £150 / $170 / AU$280, the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro are committedly mid-range wireless earbuds. For this kind of money, the JBL Live Beam 3 can be yours for around £120 / $150 / AU$150, while the more affordable and Award-winning Sony WF-C710N can be picked up for £75 / $80 / AU$128 at the time of writing.

The likeable Apple AirPods 4 with ANC, conversely, sit around the £179 / $179 / AU$299 mark.

Build & comfort

Hooray, a pair of wireless earbuds that fit snugly and securely in our ears! This isn’t faux surprise or mock celebration: it’s remarkable the number of in-ear headphones – wired or wireless – that fall at what should be the most basic of hurdles.

We rarely have such an issue with the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro. The mid-range contenders use a similar configuration to the more premium Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen), with an outer stem attached to a main body accompanied by top-mounted fins designed to sit under the ear’s inner ridge and facilitate a more stable fit. Those fins are fixed to the buds directly, however, so it’s something of a one-size-fits all arrangement.

They may be small, but the difference they make is profound. Those fins are firmer than the ones found on the second-gen Bose QC Ultra Earbuds 2, but in acting as an anchor to keep your buds in place, they really do the trick. We took the Liberty 5 Pro to the gym and even on a short 5 kilometre run, and not once did they come loose or make a bid for freedom.

During everyday use, the Liberty 5 Pro are easy to get along with. Their silicone ear tips fit snugly and securely, yet it isn’t often that we feel fatigued by the buds as we clock up the minutes of wear. Better still, Soundcore has been kind enough to offer five tip sizes ranging from XXS to large, so you’re likely to find a set to suit your needs, and there is an ear-tip test on the app to further help you on your journey to achieving a decent seal.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the Liberty 5 Pros’ charging case, which uses a narrow front-mounted screen to display your buds’ vital statistics. The idea of a smart screen that essentially does the job of a companion app on your phone can be a bit of a divisive one, but we do appreciate being able to see our buds’ battery life at a mere glance.

Features

If you want something that will last and last, the Liberty 5 Pro’s battery life is decent, but they aren’t quite the Duracell Bunny of the mid-range earbud world. You’ll get around 6.5 hours from the buds and up to 28 hours total from the case with noise cancelling switched on, falling short of the 9-10 hours (buds) and 48-hour total of the rival JBL Live Beam 3.

Even the cheaper Sony WF-C710N squeeze around 8.5 hours from the buds and 30 hours with the case in play, leaving the Soundcore earbuds lagging rather behind their main rivals.

The Soundcore buds support Dolby Audio with head tracking, something they implement with reasonable competence. Do be aware that switching on Dolby Audio will switch off Soundcore’s ‘AI Sound Enhancement’ algorithm, resulting in a modest but perceptible drop-off in audio quality as a result.

The Sony-developed LDAC Bluetooth codec is also on the menu, something we wouldn’t necessarily expect to find with a pair of earbuds at this price – the cheaper Sony WF-C710N, for example, don’t support it at all. Considering LDAC allows you to stream high-resolution audio streams up to 32-bit/96kHz at up to 990kbps data rates from a compatible source, that’s quite a feather in the Liberty 5 Pros’ cap.

Touch controls work well, with Soundcore’s system operating primarily via either a series of taps or swipes depending on what you want your buds to do. Our test pair are responsive to our various commands, and we’re particularly impressed by the levels of customisation on offer from the accompanying Soundcore app.

On the subject of the app, Soundcore’s is generally a good one. There are plenty of useful features, such as an eight-band equaliser, ANC mode toggling, touch control customisation, and a handy fit test, but some users might feel that some additions just get in the way, such as a ‘Discovery’ comments forum and a ‘Soundspace’ section filled with free meditations and various flavours of white noise. For us, such additions aren’t particularly necessary, although they may have their fans among users keen for an app with all of the bells and whistles.

Noise cancelling & voice calls

Soundcore has put a lot of effort into the Liberty 5 Pros’ voice calls, packing the buds with 10 sensors and powering it all with a new ‘Anker Thus’ AI chip, which draws on large audio datasets and uses a configuration whereby the chip’s CPU and memory are fused together for a more efficient and powerful performance when handling audio and calls.

Human speech is nicely spotlighted and impressively clear, although voices do sound a little artificial and robotic. The Soundcore earbuds do isolate speech admirably from environmental noise, so much so that traffic, wind and birdsong are barely audible as we natter away without distraction. The Sony WF-C710N sound more natural, but the Liberty 5 Pro have a cleaner presentation.

Noise cancelling is similarly capable. The Liberty 5 Pro keep up with their rivals as they suppress the general ambience of a busy cafe, making a decent fist of softening exterior noises if not completely eliminating them.

Higher frequencies, including some human speech or the clank of weights in a busy gym, will still penetrate through, as will the deepest of deep rumbles, but this isn’t a poor performance at this mid-price level. If you want a proper step up in terms of pure noise isolation, you’re going to have to spend more cash and seek out the premium Bose QC Ultra (2nd Gen) or the Sony WF-1000XM6 instead.

Sound

It’s been a reasonable showing thus far, but sound is ultimately where the race is won or lost, and it is here where the Liberty 5 Pro trip and stumble. From the outset, we’re impressed with the muscle and weight they bring to their respective renditions of Slipknot’s Left Behind and Nine Inch Nails’ As Alive As You Need Me To Be, but a lack of clarity and overall sonic precision limit the extent to which we’re truly involved in our music.

To their credit, we do get a sense of a pair of earbuds that are trying to entertain us. These aren’t bland or lifeless performers, with the Soundcore bringing enough robustness and power, especially at the lower end, to grant our tunes some proper wallop. Corey Taylor’s relentless performance on Left Behind is suitably ferocious, yet subtler quirks and vocal textures are lost amidst the earbuds’ somewhat clouded presentation.

Ultimately, there’s a lack of real refinement to go with all of that undeniable eagerness. The bass may be powerful, but it is both ill-defined and overdone, while a peakiness and lack of treble refinement haunts the upper frequencies. While doing a bit of tinkering with the provided in-app equaliser can help to rectify some of that excessive eagerness, it can’t do much to infuse any real quality into the resulting reproduction.

It’s an issue that really stands out whenever a track has plunging bass tones, which ultimately end up sounding amorphous, rumbly and lacking in sufficient definition. Boot up the opening of Noisettes’ Never Forget You or the first few bars of Agnes Obel’s The Curse, and you’ll hear what we mean.

A loose low-frequency reproduction is not the only issue. While the Soundcore buds do have decent weight and impact, they’re not as crisp or as well-disciplined as their rivals. The cheaper Sony WF-C710N are equally full-blooded, yet they have the punch, precision and propulsion to go with that muscularity. The C710N are a pro boxer’s powerful, clean leading jab; the Liberty 5 are a sloppy haymaker thrown on a booze-fuelled Saturday night.

The mid-range buds’ lack of rhythmic momentum is highlighted on tracks such as Ghost’s Satanized, during which a poor sense of timing and squashed dynamics conspire to make the whole thing sound both flat and sluggish. The JBL Live Beam 3 are better in both regards, while the supremely entertaining C710N are, frankly, streets ahead.

Verdict

Despite their secure fit and ample feature set, the Soundcore Liberty Pro don’t have the sonic talents to trouble the best mid-range buds. If sound quality is a priority, seek out the well-rounded JBL Live Beam 3 or the sonically superior (and cheaper) Sony WF-C710N instead.

Review published: 7th July 2026

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Features 4
• Comfort 4

MORE:

Read our JBL Live Beam 3 review

Also consider the Sony WF-C710N

Best wireless earbuds: 7 sensational pairs reviewed and rated by our experts

We’re only on day one of Amazon Prime Day in Australia, yet it’s already delivering in a major way where discounts on hi-fi, home cinema and all manner of AV tech are concerned.

Nowhere is that more evident than with headphones. And while there are literally hundreds of pairs to sift through, I’ve found 8 What Hi-Fi? Award-winning pairs — including our current Product of the Year — on sale with discounts of up to 39%.

So, if you want to make sure the pair you buy is going to give you the best possible performance, look no further.

• Check out all the latest Award winners

As I mentioned earlier, there are plenty more pairs of headphones available during the Prime Day Australia sales, alongside a solid selection of hi-fi components and Bluetooth speakers.

Remember, the majority of these deals are likely to come to an end when Prime Day finishes at 11.59pm on Monday, July 13. You’ll also need to be a Prime member to nab most of them. If you’ve not been a member before, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial.

Fancy something for the weekend? Well Sony has just the thing. Its Award-winning WH-1000XM6 headphones have just gained a new firmware update that enables an ultra-low-latency mode.

The update is also available for Sony’s 1000X The Collexion.

The update adds support for the Bluetooth LE Audio Gaming Audio Profile (GMAP). This reduces latency (the time that a sound takes to reach your ears) to less than 40 milliseconds.

As the name suggests, this will predominantly be of interest to gamers.

GMAP has four signal profiles (A-D) depending on whether speed or stability is the priority. Profile A is the quickest, while D is better suited for areas with lots of interference. GMAP is part of the Bluetooth specification laid down by the Bluetooth SIG, and so can work on other wireless headphones too.

In order to hear the benefit, your audio source also needs to support GMAP.

The new feature is available now via the 3.1.5 firmware update for the XM6 and 1.3.0 for the 1000X The Collexion. You can install the updates for both pairs of headphones using the Sony Sound Connect app.

MORE:

Read our Sony WH-1000XM6 review

And our Sony 1000X The Collexion review

I spent 10 hours on trains listening the Sony WH-1000XM6 – here’s what I learned

Growing up in rural Wales, I spent my adolescence desperate for noise.

As a teenager, roaming the serene forests that surrounded my home in search of something – anything – to do, I was invariably accompanied by a headphone-rattling playlist of punk, rock and industrial music. My natural gravitation at the time was towards anything that shook things up, that challenged the serenity of my environment, and would, I suppose, give my folks a headache.

As I became an adult and my taste diversified, I nevertheless sought out places to live that fell in line with that desire for chaos. Naturally, London was my first choice: loud, relentless, sometimes frightening.

By that time, I was enjoying everything from Fela Kuti to Chopin, but amid the blaring interruptions of tube trains, traffic and street-preachers, I simply could not hear quieter tracks in my music library.

Inexplicably, I never considered seeking out noise-cancelling headphones. Having embraced the city’s clamor as an inalterable feature of my circumstances, I took up the habit of listening, almost exclusively, to music that was loud enough to drown London out. Back to punk, we go.

That all changed once I started writing about audio equipment for a living.

Within my first few weeks as a new staff writer at What Hi-Fi?, I took home a pair of Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless headphones.

A heatwave was in full force when I swapped my cheap earbuds for these more premium over-ear ANC headphones, and on the crammed train home from work, the air con was going hell for leather. Above the bustle and groans of commuters sweating through their work clothes, the AC was all but shrieking with the effort it took to cool the carriage down.

Usually, the cacophony would have droned through my music, even at full volume; but placing the Momentum 5 Wireless over my ears and then enabling their full active noise-cancelling mode, I was astonished to discover how completely the world fell away.

In our five-star review of the Momentum 5 Wireless, we mention that Sennheiser has taken pains to improve on the ANC of the Momentum 4 Wireless, using twice as many microphones (a grand total of eight) to achieve what it describes as “three times” better noise cancellation, particularly in the midrange. In our view, the improvements were a success, keeping “traffic, wind” and, crucially, “the hum of air conditioners” at bay.

As I’ve fallen into the habit of listening to music through the Sennheisers during my daily commute, an unexpected side effect of their excellent noise-cancelling has been that my appetite for sonic carnage has subsided.

In its place, I’ve started listening to classical music on a regular basis. I wasn’t formerly much of a classical listener, but with environmental sound cancelled so effectively, I have found myself enjoying the newfound ability to pick out the finer points in classical arrangements – and while commuting, at that. Needless to say, if not for trying these headphones, I would have remained oblivious to these details.

These days, among my daily listens are Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major, M.83: II. Adagio assai and Debussy’s La damoiselle élue, L.62: Prélude.

To my ear, each of these musical discoveries has been complemented by the Sennheisers’ sonic signature, which we describe in our review as “rich, smooth yet strikingly precise and detailed”. In La damoiselle élue, the reverberant piano conveys a striking sense of scale, giving you a sense of the space in which the piece is played, which only grows as the notes are struck harder.

But even at the gentlest touch, the Sennheisers remain expressive, thanks to the “naturalness and insight” of their midrange performance. Listening to these recordings, I even find that their bass reproduction, which we describe as “on the richer side”, lends a pleasant and proportionate weight to every note.

So, where once you might have found me blasting Black Flag, Einstürzende Neubauten and Swans, I will instead be exploring – and what’s more, thoroughly enjoying – the back-catalogues of Debussy, Wagner, Ravel, and even some ambient albums such as Thomas Köner’s Permafrost.

That’s not to say I’m ditching the punk, I get the feeling that our love affair isn’t quite at its end. But who knows, perhaps, thanks to excellent noise-cancelling and performance from headphones such as the Momentum 5 Wireless, I’ll get to keep my hearing intact for a few more moshpits yet.

MORE:

Read our Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless review

Best noise-cancelling headphones 2026 – tested by our in-house review experts

FiiO's noise-cancelling wireless headphones want to challenge Sony for entry-level supremacy

FiiO has unveiled its latest pair of wireless headphones, the EH13.

The new over-ears are conceived as a pair of budget-friendly cans that go big on features while keeping costs to a minimum, aiming to give would-be buyers "high-quality audio at an accessible price".

The EH13 feature a set of 40mm dynamic drivers fitted with sapphire-coated composite diaphragms, while support for the Sony-made LDAC codec allows for hi-res Bluetooth streaming up to 32-bit/96kHz.

Despite their modest price, the EH13 offer hybrid active noise-cancellation, while five built-in microphones and advanced 'Environmental Noise Cancellation' algorithms aim for clear voice pickup and reduced surrounding noise during calls.

The EH13 grant up to 45 hours of playback with ANC on, rising to a whopping 75 hours when noise cancelling is switched off. Further, Multipoint Bluetooth allows for connecting the FiiO over-ears to twin devices simultaneously.

The new headphones house a 3.5mm input and come with a provided cable if you want to hook up directly to your chosen music source, while a fully foldable design makes the budget cans easier to transport.

If you want to tinker with your listening experience, including altering your EQ settings, you can do so via the provided FiiO Control App.

The FiiO EH13 are available now in a choice of black or beige finishes, priced at £49 / $49 / €49. That sort of money puts them in direct competition with the budget Sony WH-CH520 (tested at £49 / $59 / AU$79) that we've so often praised since their release in 2023.

MORE:

Want cheap wireless headphones? Read our Sony WH-CH520 review

These are the best wireless headphones you can buy

Best wireless earbuds: top pairs tested by our reviewers

A pair of Sony headphones for £100 off? Normally we'd be recommending that you throw caution to the wind, boot up that laptop, stretch your clicking finger and get those cans into your digital basket, because that sounds, on paper, like a Prime Day deal worth taking.

This is one of the rare instances, however, when we'd advise you to look elsewhere. The Sony ULT Wear are a rare misfire from Sony, and while they're down from £180 to just £88 on Amazon, we just don't feel that they're worth your time. Save your cash and pick up a pair of five-star alternatives (listed below, obviously) instead.

Sony ULT Wear deal

Hooray, a pair of heavily discounted Sony headphones! They’ve got noise cancelling, a comfortable design, loads of high-performance Sony features and a majorly knocked down right, so what exactly isn’t there to love?

The problem is that the ULT Wear don’t sound as good as we had hoped. In fact, they are a rare sonic misfire for Sony, with a sound that sounds either too enthusiastic and bass-heavy, or simply too lacking in the basics of dynamics and detail to have us singing their praises. Great Sony headphones abound at the moment, but sadly, the ULT Wear are quite a long way from greatness.

Consider these alternatives instead

MORE:

I've handpicked the 12 best-value Prime Day home cinema and audio deals – all under £200

Amazon Prime Day 2026 Live Q&A: personalised hi-fi and home cinema buying advice, direct from our experts

Discounts galore! These are the best Amazon Prime Day Bluetooth speaker deals

I have been happily rocking a pair of the four-star Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 as my go-to pair of wireless headphones for a while now.

For me, they’re great, and I am more than happy with them. But, after a few readers got in touch asking if they should take advantage of Amazon’s current Aventho 300 deal, which lets you grab a pair for £239 (saving £120), my answer is, probably not.

Instead, I would point most people to Amazon’s current deal on the five-star Sony WH-1000XM6, which lets you pick up a pair for £236 (save £164).

That’s not because the Aventho 300 and I have fallen out of love and are on a break. They are fantastic, wonderfully unassuming headphones with a sonic profile that will truly delight any listener who values composure and balance, even if it means they might be a little clinical. That’s why I love them.

For most people, however, there’s a reason we scored the Sony WH-1000XM6 higher and gave them a What Hi-Fi? Award. Their sonic profile is more entertaining and packed with detail, and will please a wider audience of listeners than the Aventho 300.

They also offer better ANC, which again is a big factor that gives them more mass appeal. We said as much in our reviews of the two headphones.

For example, here is our WH-1000XM6 verdict:

“Sony’s wireless headphones deliver a performance more than befitting a flagship pair of wireless headphones. Comfort levels are great, they’re nice to use, ANC is excellent, call quality is class-leading, and sound quality can match anything at this level. Simply sensational.”

Whereas in our Aventho 300 review we reported:

“The Beyerdynamic Aventho 300 won’t be for everyone [...] That said, these are really solid performers for the money, that resist the urge to impose their will on your music and instead step back and allow your tunes room to shine.”

We stand by those statements. Which is why, generally, I recommend that most buyers should opt for the Sony WH-1000XM6, even though I am personally very fond of my Aventho 300.

MORE:

Check out our Prime Day 2026 hi-fi deals live hub

These are the best wireless headphones we have reviewed

Our picks of the best wireless earbuds

This Prime Day is the perfect time to find your latest pair of wireless headphones or wireless earbuds. Prices are dropping faster than Scotland's World Cup chances, and good deals are becoming great ones thanks to ever-plummeting RRPs. There's no time like the present to snap up a bargain.

This Prime Day has seen major discounts on a massive variety of headphones, but we're limiting this rundown to those which fall under £150. Times are tough right not, so the products we've listed below, be they in-ear or over-ear, are all designed to elicit maximum satisfaction from the lowest cost possible. Nice.

Wireless earbuds

Best mid-price: Bowers & Wilkins Pi6

Best noise-cancelling: Sony WF-C710N

Best entry-level: Sony WF-C510

Over-ear headphones

Best entry-level: Sony WH-CH520

Best budget noise-cancelling: Sony WH-CH720N

Best budget wired: Røde NTH-100

MORE:

Prime Day 2026 Live: all the top TV, soundbar and projector deals handpicked by our home cinema experts

Discounts galore! These are the best early Amazon Prime Day Bluetooth speaker deals

Amazon Prime Day 2026 Live Q&A: personalised hi-fi and home cinema buying advice, direct from our experts

I've heard a lot of premium wireless headphones in the past few months. No, seriously, when I say a lot, I mean a lot.

The Sony WH-1000XM6, the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless, the Apple AirPods Max 2, the Sony 1000X The Collexion, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2; the list just goes on and on.

And yet, this Amazon Prime Day, I would pick one pair above all others. Those aforementioned headphones are all excellent, sometimes spectacular, in their own respective ways, but one pair stands head and shoulders above the rest: the Sennheiser HDB 630.

At £400 / $500 / AU$1000, they're not cheap, and discounts aren't exactly common, but if you see a drop this Prime Day, across any of the major retailers, I would urge you wholeheartedly to snap it up while you can.

In fact, even if they don't budge an inch, I'd still be urging you to get hold of the best wireless headphones Sennheiser has ever made.

It's going to be a crazy twist of fate if some of the best wireless headphones you can currently buy this Prime Day aren't currently available on Amazon. Well, it's their loss.

In truth, forget Prime Day and Amazon altogether. Forget discounts and price cuts, and even brand loyalty. Just remember one key fact: if you want the best premium noise-cancelling wireless headphones, you want the Sennheiser HDB 630. It's that simple.

Why? Well, mainly because these are sound-first headphones that have pushed the needle for how good Bluetooth over-ears can sound at this sort of price. The HDB 630 are exceptionally smooth and natural-sounding headphones, with a beautifully realised bass reproduction, a sweet, immersive mid-range and a crisp, sharply defined treble.

They're fun, dynamically adept and musically expressive, walking that tricky tightrope between analysis and entertainment with sure-footed precision.

Part of that quality comes from the Sennheiser's super-clever BTD 700 USB-C dongle that you simply plug into your device’s USB-C port to give it aptX Adaptive superpowers.

That means that any source device, including your iPhone, gains aptX Adaptive hi-res streaming up to 24bit/96kHz, even if it wouldn't natively support it. That is, quite simply, an absolute game-changer, and it works terrifically.

Plus, you get wired listening via 3.5mm and USB-C-ended cables, around 60 hours of battery life with ANC switched on, very solid noise cancelling, a luxuriously comfortable fit and very solid voice calls, all of which combine to make an exceptional all-around package.

We get that Prime Day should be all about Amazon and, of course, all about deals, but the HDB 630 are so exceptional that all sort of goes out of the window.

Discounts don't really matter (although they're great to see). Retailers don't matter. What matters is that, if you can, you pick up a pair of some of the best-sounding premium wireless headphones we've ever heard.

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Footballers love their headphones, or at least they seem to. Barely a weekend goes by when we aren't greeted by a pre-match image of our favourite players getting off the team bus, inspecting the turf or psyching themselves up pitch-side, all with a pair of their favourite headphones jammed into their ears or hanging around their neck.

It makes sense. You need those tunes to get you pumped up before a big game, and blasting out a bit of heavy metal in the changing room via a Bluetooth speaker might not make you popular with a roster of teammates who prefer a nice bit of drill or EDM. We're not professional athletes, but it seems obvious that locker rooms are like public buses; it's best to keep your music listening private.

With the FIFA World Cup set to kick off this month, the necessity to get hyped has never been so potent for some of our favourite 'soccer' stars as they head to America. From Beats to Bowers & Wilkins, these are the headphones some of the most famous faces in football are taking to the biggest stage of all.

Kylian Mbappe – Loewe

The greatest players need the finest headphones to match. There's no question that Kylian Mbappé is one of the premier players on the planet, so it was unlikely that he would be heading to the World Cup with a tatty pair of wireless earbuds he found for £20 on Amazon.

Instead, we imagine that Kylian might have a pair of £1500 Loewe Leo wireless over-ears stashed in his hold-all instead. France's talisman is Loewe's big-name brand ambassador, modelling not only the aforementioned Leo but the chunky We. Hear Pro portable Bluetooth speaker.

Maybe the latter will emerge in the changing rooms as and when France start winning their group games.

Lionel Messi – Beats

Beats has a remarkable history of celebrity endorsements, especially from athletes.

The brand's marketing strategy throughout the 2000s and 2010s was centred on inserting itself into the public consciousness by having Beats products appear constantly in music videos, at major sporting events, in TV shows and more.

In fact, you couldn't consider yourself a big-name celebrity or top-level athlete if Beats wasn't courting your attention, with the likes of LeBron James, Shohei Ohtani, Tom Brady, Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka all enjoying sponsorship deals at some time or another.

Beats has repeated the trick by nabbing Lionel Messi as a brand ambassador, so expect to see the GOAT with a pair of cans with a big bold 'B' emblazoned on the side when you tune in to watch Argentina.

Virgil Van Dijk and Declan Rice – JBL

It makes sense for JBL to collaborate with the biggest names in the world of football.

The US company has always been pretty good at knowing its target audience and then catering to it in both the way it makes products and how it sells them to its core demographics.

JBL has snagged the services of quite a few high-profile leather-kickers in recent times, with Liverpool centre back Virgil Van Dijk and Arsenal stalwart Declan Rice being two of its major supporters.

Both will feature heavily for their respective nations, the Netherlands and England, during the World Cup, though we'd be surprised if either actually wears a pair of JBL headphones while on the pitch. They'd fall off when you went in for a header...

David Beckham – Bowers & Wilkins

In case you hadn't noticed, David Beckham is no shrinking violet. The England icon lends his visage to Stella Artois beer, Hugo Boss clothing, Pepsi soda and the Shark Ninja air fryer, to name but a few. Slip him £100 and he'll probably turn up at your child's birthday party.

He appears so frequently in the public eye that we wouldn't be surprised if he's cloned himself in a bid to get to as many high-profile events as he possibly can in a single calendar year.

Air fryers and draft beer aside, he is also the handsome face of Bowers & Wilkins' range of premium headphones, including the five-star Px7 S3 wireless over-ears and the Award-winning Pi8 true wireless earbuds, so he's certainly got taste when it comes to audio.

Whether it's by the pitch, at the stadiums or in the mid-match adverts, you're going to be seeing quite a lot of Golden Balls at the 2026 World Cup. Not bad for a man who retired over ten years ago.

Mika Bireth and Falorin Balogun – Bang & Olufsen

Ok, this might be the coolest partnership in all of sport. AS Monaco have always been one of the most glamorous sides in the French Ligue 1. B&Os' reputation for blending high-end audio with luxury design is legendary. Talk about a match made in heaven.

The team houses four big-name B&O ambassadors. Denmark's Mika Bireth and the USA's Folarin Balogun are two of AS Monaco's representatives playing at the biggest international tournament football has to offer. Meanwhile, their Monaco teammates, Paul Pogba and Eric Dier, won't be representing their respective nations this time around, but they are major names who will also be wearing B&O cans, albeit on the sidelines.

Harry Kane – Our Pure Planet

Bless Harry Kane, he really does seem like one of the good guys. He's also pretty handy at football, in case you hadn't noticed.

The English icon has been banging in goals for Bayern Munich at a near-unprecedented rate over the last couple of seasons. Between matches, he's managed to find some time out of his busy net-ripping schedule to partner with eco-audio brand Our Pure Planet, becoming both a company co-owner and big-name global ambassador.

We don't know how Harry's headphones sound or how comfortable they are, but that's not exactly the point. Our Pure Plant's aim is to, according to its website, "reduce plastic, offset carbon, and minimise paper waste "by using up to 80% recycled plastics and metals in its products."

Eschewing massive audio brands in favour of endorsing an environmentally sustainable newbie? He's a good lad, our Harry.

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Noble Audio has announced its latest wireless over-ear headphones, the FoKus Artemis. Expanding on the design of its debut over-ear headphones, the FoKus Apollo – which boasted a world-first design by combining two different types of driver – the Artemis take things one step further, adding yet another driver to the mix.

Priced at £799 / $899 / €949, the new high-end wireless headphones enter the ring against serious competitors such as the Focal Bathys and Dali IO8, both of which we reviewed at five stars.

In this latest design, Noble has used a combination of dynamic, planar and balanced armature drivers to achieve what it promises to be “powerful, spacious and refined” sound.

With support for Bluetooth 5.4 and multipoint connectivity, the Artemis have been designed for easy switching between connected devices. But those of you who prefer wired headphones, worry not, they also support wired listening thanks to a supplied USB-C to 3.5mm adaptor cable.

A six-microphone array within the headphones enables Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Transparency Mode for blocking out or letting in environmental sound. Proximity sensors have also been included, which pause audio when the headphones are removed and restart it when they are put back on.

Developed for use alongside Audiodo Personal Sound, the Artemis allow users to create personalised sound profiles to suit their hearing preferences. This is done via guided hearing assessments, all of which, Noble promises, will be integrated into the refreshed Noble FoKus app in time for release.

With a fully self-replaceable battery which Noble claims lasts up to 50 hours – lowering to 35 hours with ANC enabled – the headphones sport decent battery life for this premium price.

The wireless headphones weigh less than 350g and feature a fully rotating design, replaceable ear cushions and magnetic detachable ear pads. They come with an IP52 dust- and water-resistance rating.

The Noble FoKus Artemis will be on show at High End Vienna from 4th June, with pre-orders opening the same day. Shipping is expected in July.

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We’re tempted to call Sennheiser the ‘dark horse’ of wireless headphones.

After all, our best buys have, in more recent times, been stacked to the brim with offerings from the likes of Apple, Bose and, more than any other, Sony, so it has been easy to forget the many qualities that Sennheiser brings to this particular slice of the audio terrain.

Let’s not forget, however, that this is a brand that has been around since 1945, a brand that, when not making the occasional microphone or soundbar, has built its reputation at the sharp end of both wired and wireless headphone production.

Perhaps ‘sleeping giant’ would have been a more apt moniker.

Admittedly, Sennheiser hasn’t quite been as prolific as its esteemed rivals when it comes to the actual volume of products sent to market. And the company’s ongoing search for a buyer since Swiss owner Sonova put its headphone division up for sale has naturally made waters all the choppier. From what we have seen of Sennheiser recently, though, it is still more than capable of taking the fight to the very best in the business.

The sound of success

We wonder if the release of the five-star HDB 630 will end up becoming something of a defining moment for Sennheiser.

Released just a few months before the announcement that the company’s headphone division was going up for sale – with some doom-mongers rather rashly predicting the death of entire brand – the audiophile-tuned HDB 630 now look like a major signal of intent.

We’ve always known that this is a brand capable of excellence in the wired space, though it had been a while since Sennheiser had properly flexed its wireless muscles. The soon to be phased out mid-priced Accentum line, including the Accentum Wireless and Accentum Wireless Plus over-ears, had failed to set the world alight, and it had been almost four years since we’d heard a hint of any addition to the premium Momentum Wireless range.

Rival standards were high, too. The Sony WH-1000XM6 looked unassailable at their £400 / $450 / AU$699 price, while the likes of Bowers & Wilkins, Bose, Apple and Dali were all also vying for the crown. Competition was, is, and probably always will be, incredibly fierce.

Yet the HDB 630 really pulled it out of the bag. Sennheiser’s outstanding cans set a new standard of wireless sound at this level, thanks in part to their clever bundled Bluetooth dongle, with a sonic performance that blew most of their competitors out of the water. Including Sony.

As we say in our review: “Here, precision and analysis go hand in hand with drive and vigour, making for the most informative and entertaining sound we’ve heard from wireless headphones at this price, with or without the use of the dongle.”

The Momentum 5 Wireless have repeated a similar trick, and while they’re not as boundary-pushing as the HDB 630, their aggressive price tag (£330 / $400 / AU$749) and rich, smooth sound make them a very fine alternative to the Sonys and B&Ws of this world.

Two five-star pairs with a strong focus on stellar sound and plenty of features in tow. If that isn't a warning to rivals to sit up and take notice, we don't know what is.

Take a chance on me

God loves a trier, but He also favours those who take a few risks.

It feels as though Sennheiser has recognised a need to innovate in order to get ahead of a crowded pack, and while the temptation to go in for zippy gimmicks and check-box features must have pulled hard, resisting such inclinations has paid dividends.

As has putting efforts into genuinely constructive innovation. We gave significant attention to the bundled Bluetooth dongle when reviewing the Sennheiser HDB 630 last year, and not without reason: it turned out to be the premium over-ears’ small-but-mighty secret weapon.

Essentially, it’s a clever little USB accessory that gives your phone or other audio source the same high-quality Bluetooth codec the headphones themselves support, meaning you have improved codec-support from devices which might not normally (we’re looking at you, iPhone) have supported them.

That’s a big deal, and as we wrote at the time, the “dongle proves a valuable accessory. When connected to an iPhone 16 and old Samsung Galaxy S21, upgrading their respective AAC and aptX connectivity with the headphones to aptX Adaptive, the presentation gains in clarity and solidity.”

The Momentum 5 Wireless have kept up with the times, too. There’s no dongle to be found, but with extensive codec support, wired listening via USB-C and 3.5mm, Dolby Atmos all on board, Sennheiser’s flagships have kept up admirably with the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3. 57 hours of battery life with ANC on doesn’t exactly hurt, either.

The new Momentum 5 Wireless don’t necessarily have the most features of any premium pair, but in terms of quality, they’re up there with the best.

A case of re-taken identity

Perhaps ironically, and certainly impressively, Sennheiser seems to have re-found and re-established its identity at a time of not-inconsiderable uncertainty.

While the likes of the Accentum line and the disappointing Sennheiser Momentum Sport earbuds seemed to play it safe with a flat, tonally grey sound, the premium Momentum 5 Wireless and HDB 630 feel like Sennheiser returning to a place where it is the most confident and comfortable.

In fact, when we spoke recently to the German manufacturer about where it saw its future, there was a clear statement that the Momentum Wireless line would be a prospective listeners’ “entry point” into the world of Sennheiser sound.

From there, they could progress to the HDB 630 and beyond into even more premium and high-end wired options. But the message was clear: Sennheiser would be providing audiophile-type performance to proper enthusiasts.

It appears to be a sensible move. Sennheiser does great work when it targets this more audiophile-centric side of the landscape – just see the wired Sennheiser HD 820 for proof – and with so many brands already targeting mass production of cheaper, spec-heavy wireless earbuds and headphones, it make sense to stick to more rarefied territory.

And, from what we’ve heard, it’s what the company seems to rather good at.

Sennheiser’s resurgence feels like a good thing for the wireless headphones industry.

It’s good for customers to have a healthy number of options when picking out a potential product; it’s good for the market not to be strangled for a monopoly; and it’s good for rival companies to compete with one another for supremacy in order to push the needle of quality ever forward.

When working as it’s supposed to, that’s sort of the point of a free market, isn’t it?

Producing two or three excellent pairs of headphones doesn’t suddenly make you the king, especially with the likes of Sony putting out five-star headphones across the cost spectrum, over many successive years. What they do indicate, though, is that Sennheiser feels like a company finding its groove again, and, in the midst of a potentially turbulent time, re-establishing its identity amid a sea of change and challengers.

If a worthy successor to the Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds also ends up landing later this year, we might end up looking back at 2026 as being the year of Sennheiser.

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Sennheiser or Sony?

It's a tough question to answer, especially when both brands have put out two pairs of premium headphones – the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless and the Sony WH-1000XM6 – adorned with glowing five-star reviews. How do you choose between two sets of over-ears from two brands working at the top of their game?

That question is only made harder by the fact that the Sennheisers are a chunk cheaper than the Sonys, meaning that price is becomes a new dimension to this already tricky conundrum. The Momentum 5 Wireless are newer, too, so now age becomes a factor to add to the mélange, and that's before we consider the usual aspects of sound quality, features, build, comfort etc.

It's a lot to consider, but don't worry, we're here to help. We've broken down the virtues and vices of these outstandingly capable noise cancelling cans to put you in the best position possible to find exactly what you're looking for.

Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless vs Sony WH-1000XM6: price

Competition at this level is fierce, but the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless do have price on their side. At £330 / $400 / AU4749, they're cheaper than many of their premium rivals, and a good deal less than the £400 / $450 / AU$699 asking price of the Sony WH-1000XM6.

We'd caveat that slightly by mentioning the fact that the XM6's price can drop a little during sales events, though never so drastically as to come close to the price of the Sennheisers. Not yet, anyway.

In short, a clear win for the Momentum 5 Wireless for value.

** Winner: Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless **

Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless vs Sony WH-1000XM6: build and comfort

We're keen on the build and design of these rival pairs, though not necessarily for exactly the same reasons.

The Momentum 5 Wireless may be the cheaper of the two, but if anything they exude a higher perceived value than their slightly functional-looking Sony WH-1000XM6. Little touches, such as the headband’s attractive fabric exterior, go a long way to making the Momentum 5 Wireless feel more premium, and while the XM6 are well made, they keep things functional and decidedly un-flashy on the aesthetics front.

The fabric exterior of the Sennheisers' headband and carry case grant them a suave appeal, and our only real reservation is that the earcups feel just a little cheap and plasticky to the touch.

The Sonys are made pretty much entirely of plastic too, but their overall construction feels more durable and robust. They have the added bonus of folding away completely, something which the Momentum 5 can't do.

The WH-1000XM6 weigh in at 254g, a good deal lighter than the 290g of the Sennheisers, while their nicely judged clamping force and firm-yet-forgiving earpads rarely put our our ears under any undue strain or causing excess overheating over time.

To be fair to them, the Momentum 5 Wireless are also comfortable. We spend a long time listening to the Sennheiser over-ears, and though we find some mild on-ear heating past the hour mark, we generally don’t suffer with that aching feeling that can make extended listening a miserable experience.

Both over-ear designs feature a combination of touch-capacitative controls on the earcups and physical buttons. In both cases, haptics are expertly implemented, responding quickly and effectively to our commands when controlling playback or activating noise modes. You will, though, enjoy deeper levels of control customisation via the Sony Sound Connect app than via Sennheiser's Smart Control Plus platform.

This is a close one. The Sennheisers are a little more luxurious to behold, but the Sonys win back serious points for their portability, durability and greater control customisation.

** Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6 **

Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless vs Sony WH-1000XM6: features

Two pairs of premium headphones, two premium feature sets to match.

Bluetooth codec support is impressive across the board, with the Momentum 5 Wireless offering SBC and AAC codecs alongside higher-quality aptX HD, aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive flavours. The Sennheisers currently use Bluetooth 5.4, but an upcoming firmware update later this year will push this to 6.0 and include LE Audio for reduced latency, better battery life and potentially boosted audio quality.

Conversely, the XM6 grant standard SBC and AAC and, of course, Sony's LDAC codec for streaming hi-res music at higher data rates over Bluetooth from a compatible device.

On Bluetooth, Multipoint connectivity is available on both pairs, meaning you can connect to two devices simultaneously.

Both grant app support, with respective platform a pleasure to use. The Sony app isn't the fanciest in the world, but it's certainly one of the most in-depth and customisable around, offering the likes of a 10-band equaliser and access to touch control personalisation. The Sennheiser SmartPlus app isn't quite as in-depth, but outmatches Sony for its usability and ease of navigation, and you're still able to perform useful actions such as tweaking your EQ settings or adjusting the amount of ANC you're getting via a handy slider.

Battery life is reasonably strong for the WH-1000XM6, reaching around 30 hours with noise cancelling switched on. That number is roundly beaten by the Momentum 5 Wireless: a very healthy 57 hours when noise cancelling is on and you’re playing at a reasonable volume is a very nice feather in Sennheiser’s cap,.

If you're into spatial audio, neither set will leave you feeling glum. The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless have Dolby Atmos on the menu when listening to supported content, with dynamic head tracking to be added via an upcoming firmware update.

The WH-1000XM6 support Sony’s ‘360 Reality Audio Upmix’ tech, although you will have to go through a short set-up and ear scan if you want to make proper use of it.

Happily, you can listen to either pair via a wired connection. The Sony WH-1000XM6 grant wired listening via an included 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable, whereas the Sennheisers offer a wired option via either 3.5mm to 3.5mm or USB-C to USB-C, with the latter method capable of handling lossless files up to 24-bit/96kHz.

A good showing from Sennheiser, but Sony's flagship cans do have a few extra tricks up their sleeve. 'Speak-To-Chat', which drops the volume level when you start talking, is available on the WH-1000XM6, as is 'Quick Attention Mode' for letting you hear ambient sounds straight away by placing a hand on the exterior of the right earcup.

The WH-1000XM6 also make use of Sony's DSEE Extreme sound enhancement engine to bring poor-quality digital audio files nearer to high-res quality.

These two are roughly neck-and-neck when it comes to features: Sony might have a few more tricks up its sleeve that make daily portable use seamless, while Sennheiser's substantially longer battery life and inclusion of USB audio are major strengths.

** Draw **

Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless vs Sony WH-1000XM6: ANC and call quality

Sennheiser made a big effort to improve the noise cancelling for its new Momentum over-ears, with the fifth-gen cans using twice as many microphones (a total of eight) as their predecessors.

Those additions pay off. The Momentum 5's ANC doesn't clear the bar set by the Sony WH-1000XM6, but it will keep most noises – traffic, wind, air conditioners – at bay.

The overall effect does feel more like a softening of sounds rather than a complete exclusion, something which the Sonys do more effectively and more naturally. Take both pairs somewhere properly challenging, such as a public gym, and the XM6 will handle the full range of frequencies more effectively than their Sennheiser rivals.

Harsh sounds, such as clanking weights, are more convincingly filtered out by the XM6, and we feel more isolated from noises than when wearing the Sennheisers. Stand by a roadside with both pairs to hand, and the Sonys will all but eliminate those low traffic rumbles – the Momentum 5 Wireless, meanwhile, will soften rather than fully exclude them.

Call quality, meanwhile, is at a high standard no matter the cans you choose. Both pairs are excellent at reducing exterior sounds, especially the swirling bluster of wind noise, all while spotlighting human speech. The Momentum 5 make voices sound warmer and more natural, whereas the XM6 are impressively clear but can sound a tiny bit robotic by comparison.

Excellent call quality on each, but the XM6 have the noise cancelling talents to take this particular round.

** Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6 **

Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless vs Sony WH-1000XM6: sound quality

The Momentum 5 Wireless are excellent premium noise cancelling headphones, and some of the finest wireless over-ears that Sennheiser has produced in recent times.

We hear much of the same sonic DNA from the superb five-star Sennheiser HDB 630 in these more affordable headphones, with the Momentum 5 Wireless sharing the same feeling of clarity, dexterity and richness as their bigger brothers.

Their midrange is arguably their greatest strength. While the Sennheisers can be a touch rich in the lower frequencies, their midrange reproduction is superb, offering a naturalness and insight that gives the Sony WH-1000XM6 a serious run for their money. If anything, they're even better with voices than their Sony rivals, and that's really saying something.

The Sennheisers are rich, smooth and brilliantly precise headphones, with a personality that makes listening a refreshingly undemanding experience, offering levels of poise and maturity that very few comparable alternatives can match.

As we said in our review: "We could spend days on end listening to the Momentum 5 Wireless and feel neither frustration nor fatigue. While words such as 'undemanding' or 'relaxed' might otherwise be used synonymously with 'boring' or 'bland', we in fact find that these are headphones that strike a great balance between refinement and fun."

That said, if you've got the money to spend, it's definitely worth seeking out the WH-1000XM6 for a proper step up in audio quality. The XM6 don't have the midrange sweetness of the Sennheisers, but they're a punchier, more entertaining pair with ample talent across the board.

As we enthused in our review, the WH-1000XM6 "deliver the most detailed, dynamic, precise and open sound we’ve heard from a wireless Sony flagship. The headphones just seem capable of diving into any track you play and extracting an unbelievable amount of information".

Precision meets power to thrilling effect, and leading edges of notes are sharply drawn and hit with precision and force. The XM6 are great at breaking things down so that you hear each individual element of a song, but they also make sure to put everything back together again into one cohesive, thrilling whole.

While their midrange isn't quite as sweet as the Sennheisers, and they might be a touch more fatiguing to listen to over longer periods, the XM-1000XM6 are the more entertaining, musically talented of the two. Their dynamics land with more verve and contrast, while their rhythmic abilities can make the Momentum 5 Wireless sound just a touch sluggish by comparison.

The Sennheisers are superb, but the WH-1000XM6 justify their extra outlay. For us, they're the sonically superior pick if you have a bit more cash to spend.

** Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6 **

Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless vs Sony WH-1000XM6: verdict

The five-star Momentum 5 Wireless are a great reminder that Sennheiser is more than ready to take on all-comers in the premium wireless headphones space.

Their sound is easily worthy of its five-star accreditation, bolstered by a very healthy feature set, a huge battery life, and, perhaps most importantly, a lower price tag than that of the Sony WH-1000XM6. If you can't stretch to the more premium Sonys, the Momentum 5 are the logical step down.

If you do have the cash to spend and you want a great value return on your not-inconsiderable investment, we still recommending going for the Sony WH-1000XM6.

Not only are they more sonically exciting and engaging than the Sennheisers, but their massive bag of class-leading features, not to mention their effortlessly ergonomic design for daily portable use, make them the complete package. They're our current What Hi-Fi? Award-winners for a reason.

**Overall winner: Sony WH-1000XM6**

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Read our review of the Sony WH-1000XM6

Also consider the Sennheiser HDB 630

"Sound comes first" – we speak to Sennheiser about German engineering, changing ownership, and 80 years of making music

Sony and B&W are two of the biggest names in the wireless headphones market, and with Sony recently launching its ultra-premium 1000X The Collexion headphones, there is little doubt that it had the B&W Px8 S2 squarely in its sights.

We’ve already put each of these headphones through their respective paces, with both gaining very respectable four-star reviews, but if you’re thinking of spending upwards of £550 / $800 on your next pair of headphones, where is your money best spent between the two?

We’ve put them head to head in a battle of the flagship wireless cans to help you decide – read on to find out which pair comes out on top.

Sony 1000X The Collexion vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: price

We already know that these two pairs of headphones don’t come cheap – after all, they are the premium options in their brands’ respective wireless lineups.

However, the B&W Px8 S2 are still a chunk of change more expensive than their Sony competitors at £629 / $799, compared with the Sony’s asking price of £550 / $650.

You probably aren’t considering either of these headphones if budget is a prime concern, but an £80 saving between the two is still not to be sniffed at. The win goes to the Sony The Collexion if you’re keen to save a bit of cash, but there are listeners who will find value in the extra outlay for the B&W. More on that below.

** Winner: Sony 1000X The Collexion **

Sony 1000X The Collexion vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: design and comfort

There’s one big difference between the design of the 1000X The Collexion and the Px8 S2 which is likely to divide opinion, and that is their materials. Sony has chosen to play it safe with a faux leather across the earcups and headband, while B&W has decided to revert back to animal products for its premium line, and use Nappa leather.

There’s not a lot of difference in the feel of the two, and you probably wouldn’t know the Sonys weren’t leather, or vice versa, if we hadn’t mentioned it. Still, we’d say B&W’s over-ears edge it as the more premium-looking of the two, with their signature aluminium plates on the earcups and exposed cable design on the arms giving the classy cans a higher perceived value than the Sonys.

We also worry with the Sony 1000X The Collexion that their faux leather exterior can be prone to marking and scratches, something we found when trying out our test pair.

Sony uses aluminium on the arms and over the top of the headband for its rival over-ears. They still look smart and nicely finished, but are bulkier (even though they’ve been slimmed down compared with the WH-1000XM6) and are just a little plainer overall.

However, Sony gains back some points when it comes to actual wear. The Sonys are very comfortable, and put hardly any pressure onto the ears or the top of the head while listening. There is also a bigger space inside the earcups, so they are more accommodating to larger ears. They are actually a touch heavier than the Px8 S2, at 320g compared with B&W’s 310g, but you wouldn’t know that from wearing them.

The B&W Px8 S2 are by no means uncomfortable, but do offer a slightly snugger fit across the board, and that just makes you more aware of them during longer listens. This does make them feel a bit more secure than the Sonys, though, which can feel a touch unstable and prone to movement on smaller heads.

As for controls, the B&W Px8 S2 goes all in on physical buttons, while the Sony 1000X The Collexion offer a mixture of touch controls for playback and call control, alongside a couple of buttons for switching between sound modes and noise cancellation.

We did find the B&W controls slightly awkward to use at first, but it’s always a learning curve with any on-ear controls, so users might find themselves acclimatising over time. The touch controls on the Sony, conversely, are responsive and slightly easier to use on the go, and we would generally find their system preferable to the one found on their rivals.

It's a close run on this one, with plenty of positives – and indeed drawbacks – on both sides. Considering the use of leather could write the Bowers & Wilkins cans off for a whole section of listeners though, we’re going to label this one a draw.

** Winner: Draw **

Sony 1000X The Collexion vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: features

Sony’s headphones tend to have some of the richest feature sets of any wireless headphones we test, and 1000X The Collexion are no different. The premium over-ears use Sony’s Sound Connect app, which is packed with ways to make the headphones sound your own.

As usual, alongside the standard noise cancellation and customisable ambient sound settings, Sony offers Adaptive Noise Cancelling mode, which can alter your noise cancellation level automatically depending on what you are doing. This has long been a great feature of established Sony headphones, such as the WH-1000XM6, and one we do find ourselves using pretty regularly.

Another useful feature is Scene-based Listening, which can have the headphones play music when the app detects you’re doing certain things, such as walking, running or on your commute home.

There are other features that we don’t turn to as often. There are now three spatial audio settings for ‘Music’, ‘Cinema’, and ‘Game’, plus a ‘Background Music’ setting for making your music sound like it’s playing in the distance – supposedly to better aid your concentration while working.

These are fun to play around with, and we did enjoy testing the ‘Cinema’ setting while watching movies, but we envision these will be ‘nice to haves’ rather than anything you’ll find ourselves using daily.

Bowers & Wilkins’ app is much more straightforward, with options for noise cancellation or ambient sound, the ability to turn on wear detection and a 5-band EQ. By comparison, Sony offers a 10-band offering (and a number of presets) on The Collexion. There’s no spatial audio support on the Px8 S2 either, nor is there Bluetooth LE as there is on The Collexion, though there have been promises for these in the future via a firmware update.

Both headphones support the standard SBC and AAC codecs, as well as higher-quality codecs for compatible devices – that’s LDAC for the Sony 1000X and aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive for the B&W Px8 S2.

B&W’s Px8 S2 do grant the better battery life at 30 hours with ANC on, compared with the Sony 1000X’s 24 hours, the latter of which feels a little stingy.

Still, for the pure amount of features offered on the Sonys, they take the win here.

** Winner: Sony 1000X The Collexion **

Sony 1000X The Collexion vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: ANC and voice calls

Sony’s over-ear headphones have offered some of the very best noise cancelling you can buy for some time, and although Sony has said sound quality has taken precedence over the very best ANC here, it’s still really good.

The 1000X use the same QN3 chip and 12-mic array as found in the WH-1000XM6, and we find they do a great job of suppressing noise throughout the frequencies.

The noise cancelling on B&W’s Px8 S2 is a little disappointing by comparison. They still block out a good chunk of background whirrs and rumbles, but higher frequency noises are more prone to cutting through – much more than we notice on the Sonys. We imagine that’s at least in some part down to the fact the B&W have four mics fewer than the Sony, offering eight in total.

Call quality is good across both pairs, with a decent level of noise reduction and callers sounding clear and detailed. Our callers largely reported the same, though they did say there was more richness to our voice through the B&W Px8 S2, with the Sony cans sounding ever so slightly thinner.

Overall, the better noise cancelling on the Sony 1000X The Collexion is the biggest win here, so we’re giving this one to them.

** Winner: Sony 1000X The Collexion **

Sony 1000X The Collexion vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: sound quality

Behind both of these headphones’ respective performances are optimised drivers that were created especially for them. The 1000X The Collexion use a bespoke carbon composite 30mm drive unit, adapted from the one found in the WH-1000XM6, with a soft edge and hard centre.

The Px8 S2 uses a new 40mm carbon cone driver, also adapted to have a stiffer chassis, alongside a new motor system and voice coil.

The Sony 1000X exist to deliver a performance worthy of a 10^th birthday celebration, promising more refinement, detail and maturity compared with the standard XM6 – and they do live up to that promise. They have a wide open presentation, excellent detail levels and incredible clarity and insight, all complemented by a powerful yet controlled low end.

To be fair, all of that can also be said of the B&W Px8 S2, but we are particularly impressed with their handling of low frequencies, with plenty of power and authority in the bass. In our review, we also highlighted how engaging they are when listening to Keane's Everybody's Changing, writing: “The rise and fall in dynamics is handled superbly. The instruments deliver enthusiasm and life but the Bowers also communicate the tinge of sadness that comes from the lyrics".

While there’s a greater sense of scale on the 1000X over the B&W Px8 S2, it’s how these headphones make us feel that is perhaps the biggest difference between the two – and it’s here that the Sonys fall down.

The Sony 1000X simply aren’t as explicit or dynamic as we’d like, which makes them sound more removed and ultimately not as engaging as the B&W.

In our review, we described them as “standoffish”, and said that they “trade off some of that signature expressiveness we’ve heard in other Sony headphones for greater openness and detail, something that reduces the extent to which we feel truly involved with our music”.

In absolute terms, that means the Px8 S2 are just more interesting to listen to long-term, and we feel more emotionally connected to our music when we are listening to them. For that, they take the win.

** Winner: Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 **

Sony 1000X The Collexion vs Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: verdict

If you’re considering spending this much money on a pair of headphones, you want to make sure you’re spending wisely. Thankfully there are clear winners across our categories, and which pair you ultimately pick will depend on your given priorities.

The B&W are the more expensive, but they do at least justify this by being the more premium feeling of the two. The compromises here are that they come with minimal features for customisation and good-but-not-great noise cancelling, all of which is worth considering if you like your headphones to be the complete package.

For those who are looking for more in those aforementioned areas, the Sony 1000X The Collexion make a solid case for themselves, thanks to their decent build and handsome feature set.

This is backed up by a spacious, detail-rich sound – plus they’re a bit cheaper. Yet for the better sound quality of the two, we recommend the B&W Px8 S2 for their rich, detailed and more engaging personality.

** Overall winner: Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 **

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The best noise-cancelling headphones you can buy

Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

If you can believe it, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless made their debut in the second half of 2022, meaning we’ve been waiting nearly four years for a fifth-gen sequel. In wireless headphone terms, that’s a long wait, especially when you consider that most manufacturers tend to update their premium lines every two or so years.

Think of the premium wireless headphones that have been released since the Momentum 4. The Sony WH-1000XM5 and the WH-1000XM6. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones and their second-gen successors. The Apple AirPods Max 2. The Dali IO-8. The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2, Px7 S3, Px8 and Px8 S2. That’s a lot of very impressive premium alternatives.

It might have been a long wait from one generation of Momentum Wireless to the next, but we know that Sennheiser can still compete with the best – just look at the benchmark-setting Sennheiser HDB 630 over-ears for proof. The Momentum 5 Wireless are a notch cheaper than their more audiophile bigger brothers, but if they share similar sonic talents, they might well make the case for the old adage that slow and steady really does win the race.

Price

As you might have gathered, the Momentum 5 Wireless have a lot of competition, but most of it comes at higher prices. The Award-winning Sony WH-1000XM6 are £400 / $450 / AU$699, while the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) started life at £449 / $449 / AU$700 but often drop to £349 in the UK.

Let’s not forget about the five-star Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3, which will cost you £399 / $499 / AU$699 at full price, whereas the Apple AirPods Max 2 are a step up at £499 / $549.

Build & comfort

We’ve occasionally criticised Sennheiser headphones for looking a little bland or functional in the past, but that’s not an accusation we could level at our stylish ‘Denim’ blue test pair.

True, the overall design language typified by those large oval earcups will be familiar to anyone who has seen a pair of recent wireless Sennheiser over-ears, but little touches, such as the headband’s attractive fabric exterior, go a long way to making the Momentum 5 Wireless feel more premium. They’re certainly a lot more desirable-looking than their rather plain HDB 630 siblings.

To hold in the hand, the Momentum 5 Wireless don’t impress quite so much. That headband exterior looks and feels the part, but the earcups feel just a little cheap and plasticky to the touch. They’ll swivel horizontally without much trouble, but unlike the Sony WH-1000XM6 or the Bose QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), they don’t fold up entirely.

Having earcups with large exterior surfaces does have its advantages, particularly when it comes to touch controls. Sennheiser’s system – customisable via the Smart Control Plus app – is really well implemented, and we find them to be intuitive and easy to manage. Whether we’re swiping up on the right cup to increase volume or across to switch tracks, everything responds crisply and quickly to what we want.

Controls aside, how are the Momentum 5 Wireless to wear? At 290g, they’re not the lightest premium wireless headphones you can find – the Sony WH-1000XM6 weigh just 254g – but they are comfortable. We spend a long time listening to the Momentum 5, and though we find some mild on-ear heating past the hour mark, we generally don’t suffer with that aching, ‘squashed ear’ feeling that can make extended listening a real chore.

They’re secure and stable, too. The Sennheisers accompany us on quite a few dog walks and the occasional trip to the shops, and even when we’re striding purposefully with our eager Labrador in tow, they don’t often feel as though they’re rocking on our ears thanks to the headphones’ well-judged clamping force.

Inside, the Momentum 5 Wireless house a pair of 42mm dynamic drivers, inspired by those found in Sennheiser’s HD 600 series of wired headphones and tuned for what the German manufacturer describes as a “full-bodied sound with dynamic bass”.

Features

When we visited their research and development labs, the team at Sennheiser described themselves as a “sound-first company". That may be so, but we’re pleased to see that Sennheiser hasn’t forgotten that wireless cans need a few mod cons to keep up with the times. As a result, we’re not left cursing a barren features list.

Bluetooth codec support is impressive, with the Momentum 5 Wireless offering SBC and AAC codecs alongside higher-quality aptX HD, aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive flavours. The cans currently use Bluetooth 5.4, but an upcoming firmware update later this year will push this to 6.0 and include LE Audio for reduced latency, better battery life, and potentially improved sound quality.

Speaking of Bluetooth, Multipoint tech is available for connecting to two devices simultaneously, with our test headphones switching easily between an iPhone 15 and our work laptop without much fuss.

Battery life is a highlight, reaching a very healthy 57 hours when noise cancelling is switched on and you’re playing at a reasonable volume. For comparison, the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) generally top out at 30 hours with ANC in play. A nice feather for Sennheiser’s cap, then.

For spatial audio fans, Dolby Atmos is on the menu when listening to supported Atmos content, with head tracking to be added via an upcoming firmware update. We test the tech out using a few Dolby Atmos tracks on Tidal – The Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter and Jimi Hendrix’s Crosstown Traffic to name a few – and there’s no doubt that the Sennheisers are able to harness their Dolby powers to craft a more three-dimensional listening experience.

Dolby Atmos can be switched on and off via the Sennheiser SmartPlus app, a stable and easily navigable platform which we find a pleasure to use. We’re particularly keen on the amount of customisation on offer, be it dialling in the amount of ANC we want to experience or tinkering with the eight-band custom equaliser.

ANC & call quality

Sennheiser has stated that, in response to customer feedback from the Momentum 4 Wireless, it has made a big effort to improve the noise cancelling for its fifth-generation follow-ups, with the new cans using twice as many microphones (a total of eight) for what Sennheiser describes as “three times” better midrange noise cancellation.

Those improvements add up to a pleasing experience. The Momentum 5’s ANC isn’t on the same level as the excellent Sony WH-1000XM6 or Bose QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), but it’s a good performance which keeps most noises – traffic, wind, the hum of air conditioners – at bay. Sennheiser does keep its promise of better midrange cancellation, with the Momentum 5 doing well to exclude the chatter of external voices.

The overall effect does feel more like a softening of sounds rather than a complete exclusion – something which the Sony and Bose manage more effectively – but it’s still a capable showing. Taking the Sennheisers to the gym, the ANC results in a softening of the hubbub of a busy public space, even if harsher noises, such as clanking weights, can penetrate through.

Happily, call quality is right up there with the best. We take the fifth-gen Momentum out for a test chat on a blustery day in May (thanks, British weather), and our headphones effectively reduce intrusive wind and traffic noise while spotlighting human speech. Voices are clear and natural, even making the WH-1000XM6 sound a little mechanical and bright by comparison.

Sound

For something a little different, let’s start with what the Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless don’t necessarily do quite so well.

The headphones’ bass reproduction is on the richer side, something which makes itself apparent when listening to Hans Zimmer’s Like A Dog Chasing Cars, and while it’s still of a high quality, some listeners might prefer a tauter reproduction at the lower end.

Further, songs with a propulsive central rhythm don’t quite clip along with the same sense of ‘momentum’ when playing via the Sennheisers as they do when switching to the more expensive Sony WH-1000XM6. Load up Radiohead’s Burn The Witch or Kid Cudi’s Day 'n' Nite, and you’ll hear what we mean – the Sonys have a forward-focused urgency to them, while the Sennheisers favour a more relaxed presentation.

Costlier alternatives, such as the WH-1000XM6 or HDB 630 will undoubtedly take things up a notch sonically, but if you’re not willing to spend that extra £80 / $50-100, the Momentum 5 Wireless are an excellent pick thanks to their plentiful sonic virtues.

Their midrange, for instance, is a real highlight. While the Sennheisers can be a touch rich in the lower frequencies, they are right at home in the midrange, offering a naturalness and insight that gives even more premium alternatives a run for their money. Marvin Gaye’s crooning on Mercy Mercy Me comes across as rich, smooth and soulful, with the Momentum 5 crafting a wondrous feeling of emotive intimacy as Gaye bemoans that “things ain’t what they used to be”.

Let’s be clear, however, that these are more than just midrange specialists. These are rich, smooth yet strikingly precise and detailed headphones, with an audio signature that makes listening a refreshingly undemanding experience. Sugar’s If I Can’t Change Your Mind can sound overly urgent or shrill via lesser alternatives, but the Momentum 5 Wireless have the poise and maturity to bring order to what could, in the wrong hands, have quickly descended into chaos.

Those qualities are only amplified when we listen using a wired connection. Both 3.5mm and USB-C options for wired audio are provided, with the latter capable of handling files up to 24-bit/96kHz. A physical connection adds fullness and depth to instrumental textures, and that lovely midrange becomes perceptibly sweeter and even more defined when we return to Mercy Mercy Me via USB-C.

Wired or wireless, dynamics are teased out ably, and the Sennheisers are subtle and delicate in the way that they communicate those key tonal shifts, with the Momentum 5's precise temperament bringing out small scale dynamic shifts superbly.

All told, we could spend days on end listening to the Momentum 5 Wireless and feel neither frustration nor fatigue. While words such as “undemanding” or “relaxed” might otherwise be used synonymously with “boring” or “bland”, we in fact find that these are headphones that strike a great balance between refinement and fun.

Verdict

With the HDB 630 and now the excellent Momentum 5 Wireless, Sennheiser has reaffirmed that it is still a key player in the premium wireless headphones space, with the Momentum 5 Wireless serving as a timely reminder of the quality the brand can produce.

If you’re willing to spend a touch more, it’s well worth considering either the Sennheiser HDB 630 or the Sony WH-1000XM6. If your budget doesn't quite stretch that far but you’re still keen on stellar sound, the excellent Momentum 5 Wireless are an obvious choice.

Review published: 25th May 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 4
• Features 5

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Best noise-cancelling headphones tested by our in-house review experts

Sennheiser has announced the latest entry in its Momentum wireless over-ear headphones range.

The Momentum 5 Wireless follow the five-star Momentum 4 Wireless, and offer a host of sonic upgrades that should see them really challenge the ruling Sony WH-1000XM6.

Sennheiser says it has refined the experience "without straying from the formula" that made the M4 Wireless a favourite among the What Hi-Fi? team.

At their heart, you get the same 42mm transducer as in the previous model, which is tuned for "full-bodied sound with dynamic bass." But added to that are Hi-Res Audio certification and Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sound.

The former is an official seal of approval from the Japan Audio Society (JAS) that the cans have a frequency response of at least 40kHz and support 24-bit/96 kHz hi-res audio.

Snapdragon Sound is a blanket term for a few different technologies from Qualcomm that work together to optimise how smartphones and tablets transmit sound to audio devices like headphones.

The Momentum 5 supports the aptX Lossless Bluetooth codec for higher-quality listening, though sadly, there's no adapter like with the five-star Sennheiser HDB 630 that ensures your audio source is up to scratch on the quality front.

But you can tweak the sound using the Smart Control app, which has a new 8-band equaliser, bespoke presets and an intelligent Sound Personalisation engine.

The active noise cancellation (ANC) has also been improved. There are now twice as many microphones assigned to ANC duties – four per side.

We're promised "across-the-board improvements," though you'll have to read our Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless review to see if that's true.

Dolby Atmos with head-tracking will provide a more immersive experience when listening to spatial audio content, and updates are in the pipeline to further improve the cans' capabilities. A future firmware update that will add Bluetooth 6.0 and LE Audio (they ship running Bluetooth 5.4) has been confirmed, for example.

The Momentum 4 Wireless set a new standard in wireless cans with a 60-hour battery life. The Momentum 5 Wireless can't quite match that, but still last a very impressive 57 hours with ANC on. And the battery is removable, so you can swap it for a new one when it degrades in years to come.

The case, too, has had a refresh, and is now 20 per cent smaller and made with plastic-free packaging.

The Sennheiser Momentum 5 Wireless are out on 30th June in Black, White and Denim colourways. They cost £330 / $400 / AU$749, which is £30 / $50 / AU$200 more than their predecessors at launch. You can read our review (linked to below) to see if they're worth the extra cash.

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The ones to beat: Sony WH-1000XM6 review

If you’re after a pair of wireless headphones for around £150 / $150 / AU$200, your choices are roughly as follows.

You’ve got the excellent Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT if you don’t need noise cancelling, or you could go for the four-star Philips TAH8000E if you want ANC powers and don’t mind taking a bit of a hit on the sound side. Apart from that, it’s pretty slim pickings in what appears to be a strange market hinterland between budget-friendly cans and their premium, plus-£300/$300 counterparts. Or, you could spend a good deal less and buy a pair of our budget favourites, the Sony WH-CH720N for around £75 / $100 / $AU259.

At £130 / $130 / AU$220, the Soundcore Space 2 seem to fill this gap nicely, at least on paper. With the Hi-X25BT failing to provide ANC and the TAH8000E’s sound not quite reaching five-star heights, the path is open for the Space 2 to stick their flag in this potentially vacant soil. Let’s find out how they perform.

Build & comfort

Both to look at and wear, the Soundcore Space 2 are a well-made, sensibly designed pair of wireless headphones.

They play things reasonably safe on the design front, opting for simple circular earcups, an amply padded leather headband and some functional plastic on-cup buttons, but it would be hard to accuse the Space 2 of feeling cheap. They don’t have the boundary-pushing aesthetics of the more costly Nothing Headphone (1), for example, but this is still a neat, simple yet fairly classy pair of over-ears at a nice price.

They’re rather comfy, too. At a very reasonable 264g, the Space 2 don’t weigh a huge amount, meaning they’re rarely burdensome to wear over extended listening periods. The padding on the earcups and headband is a little on the soft side – some may prefer more firmness – but we don’t feel starved of comfort during our tests.

That headband is easily adjustable via a fairly smooth mechanism which grants roughly an extra inch of wiggle room, while the earcups will rotate from side to side and, even better, fold away fully to make carrying them in a bag easier.

In terms of general usability, it’s a standard, simple showing from the Space 2, and we don’t necessarily mean that as a criticism. The budget cans opt for the same general configuration as many wireless headphones of this type – including the Sony WH-CH720N – with noise cancelling and power buttons found at the bottom of the left earcup, and volume and Bluetooth controls on the right.

They’re not exactly luxurious, and actually finding the buttons when they’re hidden at the bottom edge of your headphones’ exterior requires some acclimatisation – but again, there’s little to really complain about here.

Features

The Soundcore Space 2 go big on battery life, offering around 50 hours with active noise cancelling switched on, and up to 70 hours if you turn ANC off and don’t listen at ear-splitting volumes. We used ours throughout a busy two-day press trip and barely made a dent in their battery. Better yet, a hurried five-minute charge will grant around four hours of standard playtime in a pinch.

For context, the Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT offer around 30 hours from a single charge, while even the Sony WH-CH720N’s 50 hours (ANC off) and 35 hours (ANC on) can’t keep up with the Soundcore.

Bluetooth codec support includes the standard SBC and AAC codecs, while those with compatible sources get the bonus of the higher-quality LDAC codec too. There’s also a 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable for wired listening, but no direct support for USB-C audio.

Spatial audio is provided, in a sense at least. Soundcore’s spin on the tech is dubbed ‘3D Sound’, and, as the name suggests, it’s designed to make stereo audio sound more three-dimensional by expanding the soundstage. There are hints of the tech working well here, and while it’s not going to challenge Dolby Atmos, we do get a sense of instruments being set further away from our ears a little more noticeably when using the mode.

If you do want to have a go with ‘3D Sound’, the best way to find it is via the Soundcore app. It’s a neat app bursting with features – even its own AI chatbot called “Anka” – and there is plenty to discover. You get an eight-band equaliser, ANC mode toggling and even some on-cup button customisation living alongside quite a few ambient sound options.

While you’re on the app, it’s worth taking advantage of Soundcore’s ‘HearID’ hearing test, which assesses your listening abilities and preferences and then purports to construct your own personalised sound curve. How much of this actually pays off is debatable, but it’s nice to have the option at this level, and we do find ourselves conducting much of our testing with our personalised hearing profile switched on.

ANC & call quality

It’s time to find out how the Soundcore Space 2 handle noise cancelling, and what better way to test out their ANC capabilities than with a quick flight over to Germany? No, we didn’t book the flight just to test out a pair of wireless headphones – we’re committed to our jobs, but we’re not that committed.

Both the flight and the busy airport give us the perfect opportunity to discover what the Space 2 can do, with noise cancelling available in its standard active form as well as a Transparent Mode for letting the world in.

Considering the price you’re paying, both settings are competently realised. The general hubbub of a busy airport terminal is softened nicely, even if peakier higher frequencies can tend to pierce through, while the rumbling and swooshing of an airplane in flight are diminished ably as we take to the skies with the Space 2 clamped over our ears. At this price, we’ve very little to take issue with.

It’s tricky to take voice calls on a plane, so that’s a test for when we’re back on terra firma. The Space 2 harness a 3-mic array and AI-powered algorithms in a bid to give calls sufficient intelligibility, and while speech comes through clearly enough, voices can sound a touch robotic and mechanical when compared with the more natural-sounding Sony WH-CH720N.

Still, the Space 2 are capable of blocking out exterior noises really rather well – perhaps even more so than the WH-CH720N – so that the swirls and whooshes of wind on a particularly tempestuous day barely register. All in all, a box ably ticked on the voice calls front.

Sound

Given the Space 2’s solid performance across other areas of our testing, we’re disappointed that the same levels of talent haven’t translated over to how the headphones actually handle music. In short, there’s very little about the Soundcore cans which we find engaging or exciting, and even less which has us wishing to return for repeat listening sessions.

They are, all told, rather bland performers. True, there’s something to be said for a pair of undemanding, composed headphones if you want to avoid that weary sense of fatigue that can often occur with more over-eager alternatives, but the Space 2 go too far the other way. Where is the excitement when we play Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal? Where is the drama of Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting?

We pick out Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine, and while we discern a decent amount of clarity and cohesion, as we listen we find there’s a real lack of emotional involvement, which mars our enjoyment. Withers’ voice is fairly robust yet lacking in any emotional heft, and the strings introduced at around the 30-second mark don’t have the free, swooning effect we might have hoped for.

Part of those strings’ uninvolving presentation owes to the headphones’ flattened dynamics. Muse’s Panic Station is next, and though the Space 2 are able to bring some cohesion and restraint to proceedings, we don’t discern much contrast between each deep bass pluck or the alternating percussive thumps of that key bass-snare drum pattern. Again, a compressed, flat sound prevents things from taking full flight.

Digging out the cheaper, Award-winning Sony WH-CH720N confirms our reservations. Okay, the Sonys sound a little flavoured at times, and their bass can be a little over-eager, but they’re far more entertaining and insightful across the various songs we play. Panic Station immediately pulses with more verve than the Soundcore cans manage, whereas those varying instrumental textures on Goose’s funky So Ready are more fleshed out and have the authenticity and personality we’ve been craving. The Sonys made music sound musical – the Soundcore, conversely, made it sound dispiritingly mechanical.

The similarly-priced Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT also provide an impressive benchmark which the Space 2 cannot match. They’re not as punchy or vicarious as the WH-CH720N, nor do they offer as much bass weight, but these are evidently far clearer, more delicate and more detailed headphones. Switching back to the Soundcore Space 2 simply makes the latter sound lacking in proper detail and bite.

It’s moving over to these five-star rivals that further makes us realise what has been missing from the Space 2s’ presentation. Balanced and reasonably clear they may be, but Soundcore’s over-ears don’t have that je ne sais quoi – be it the expressiveness of the WH-CH720N or the delicacy of the Hi-X25BT – to set our hearts aflutter.

There’s something to admire about how organised and unfussy the Soundcore cans sound, even as the music becomes more demanding and complex, but rarely do they make us feel in any way involved with or excited by the various songs we feed them.

Verdict

While we had hoped that the Soundcore Space 2 might have filled a gap in the mid-priced wireless market, we’re instead struggling to see how they fit into the current landscape.

Yes, a healthy arsenal of features does give them a potential competitive edge, especially with regard to their impressive battery span and comfortable fit. But when they’re sonically outmatched by finer – and cheaper – alternatives, they don’t quite seem like a viable option in comparison with the class leaders.

Review published: 22nd May 2026

SCORES

• Sound 2
• Build 4
• Features 5

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Best wireless headphones reviewed and rated by our in-house experts

The Sony WH-1000XM6 have been the brand's most premium wireless headphones for the last couple of years, with the flagship, What Hi-Fi? Award-winning pair our firm recommendation as the most entertaining wireless headphones around.

There is now a fresh pair of premium Sony over-ears in town, with Sony marking 10 years of its 1000X wireless line with a completely new addition: the Sony 1000X The Collexion over-ears, which offers a distinct sound, design philosophy and materials from the XM6, and all for a significantly higher asking price, too.

We can predict your next question already: is the WH-1000XM6 still the best pair to go for if you want stellar Sony performance in the upper echelons of the wireless headphones market? Or do the new 1000X The Collexion offer a better performance for their higher price?

To answer those queries, we've broken everything down so that you can see how the two overlap, where they differ and, crucially, which is the right pair for you.

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs 1000X The Collexion: price

The Sony WH-1000XM6 are priced at £400 / $450 / AU$699, although discounts will often knock up that official RRP down a little during sales events.

The 1000X The Collexion will set you back £550 / $650, making them the costliest wireless Sony headphones yet, and the closest that Sony has ever come to operating within the more rarefied area of the market currently occupied by the likes of the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 (£629 / $799) or the Focal Bathys (£699 / $799).

£150 / $200 is quite a considerable jump to The Collexion from the WH-1000XM6, so if you're keen to save quite a few pennies, it's the What Hi-Fi? XM6 Award-winners we'd pick for outright value.

**Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6 **

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs 1000X The Collexion: design and comfort

Considering that what we have here are two premium pairs of Sony headphones, you'd be within your rights to assume that they would be cut from a very similar aesthetic cloth.

You would, however, be misguided, because design-wise, there's plenty to distinguish one pair from the other.

Externally, the 1000X The Collexion are classier cans, with a clean, minimalist exterior and oval earcups adorned with a few metallic physical buttons on the left cup. Think of a slightly more prestige spin on the look of the Sonos Ace and you'll be in the right sort of ballpark.

Everything on the 1000X The Collexion is made either from metal or faux leather, contrasting with the predominantly plastic construction of the XM6. The latter don't have the same premium look or feel as a result, but their smoother edges are less susceptible to marks and scratches than the faux leather surfaces found on The Collexion cans.

We sense that the more expensive The Collexion over-ears are designed as much to be admired as listened to, whereas the WH-1000XM6 feel more durable and practical for day-to-day portable use. That said, neither set have an official IP waterproof rating, so we'd urge you to be cautious when taking either out in wet weather.

Still, the XM6 fold away completely, something their more premium stablemates can't do, and offer a lighter overall weight: 254g against the 312g of their counterparts.

That light weight makes the XM6 a pleasure to live with, with a nicely judged clamping force and firm-yet-forgiving earpads rarely putting our our ears under any undue strain or causing excess overheating over time.

In fairness to The Collexion, they're still comfortable and easy to wear, even with their slightly greater mass. The headphones' slimmer profile does help to mitigate their on-head weight somewhat, with the width of the earcups measuring around 40mm from inside to out, compared with the 45.4mm of the WH-1000XM6. However, some members of our review team found The Collexion didn't clamp over their head as snugly as the XM6 do.

Both over-ears use a predominantly touch-based control system accompanied by a few on-unit buttons. In both cases, haptics are expertly implemented, responding quickly and effectively to our commands and offering ample levels of control customisation via the Sony SoundConnect app.

The 1000X The Collection sport the more luxurious, premium aesthetic, but if you want a pair of headphones capable of surviving the rigours of everyday use, the WH-1000XM6 are the ones to pick.

**Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6**

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs 1000X The Collexion: features

There's not much to choose between our rivals here, with both sets of wireless cans offering generous, high-performing features to keep you satisfied beyond the bounds of mere sound. There are, however, some key distinctions to be aware of.

If you’re a fan of spatial audio, both offer support for Sony’s ‘360 Reality Audio Upmix’ tech. This comes in the form of a ‘Cinema’ mode for the XM6, expanding out to 'Music' and ‘Game’ iterations with The Collexion. Those settings add varying degrees of spatial processing depending on your content, and we find that they grant you a more open, immersive experience as a result.

Both the 1000X The Collexion and the XM6 support standard SBC and AAC codecs alongside higher-quality LDAC for streaming hi-res music at higher data rates over Bluetooth from a compatible source device.

You can listen to either set via a wired connection thanks to an included 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable, though note that your headphones will have to be switched on to do so. Be aware, however, that there's no wired listening via USB-C on either set; the USB-C port is for charging only.

Sony’s Speak-To-Chat feature, which drops the volume level when you start talking, is available on both, though we found that, with the 1000X The Collexion in particular, the headphones can often confuse human speech with other sounds. If you don’t want your cans to keep cutting out every few minutes, you can turn Speak-to-Chat off via the companion Sound Connect app.

That app, by the way, is the one you'll be using for both pairs. No, it doesn't exactly look particularly swanky, but what you do get with the Sound Connect platform is excellent customisation for your headphones. From a ten-band equaliser to touch control personalisation, Sony does a fine job of ensuring you can enjoy your cans your way.

Both headphones offer some form of Sony's DSEE digital upscaling tech, although the given flavour depends on how much you're spending.

The more affordable WH-1000XM6 support DSEE Extreme to help improve poor-quality digital audio files to near high-res quality, but The Collexion take things a step further with DSEE Ultimate. Essentially an even more powerful iteration of Sony's patented software, The Collexion are the first Sony wireless over-ears to make use of the tech.

Battery life is the one area where The Collexion headphones fall behind, with 24 hours on offer with ANC switched on (extending to 32 hours with ANC off). You'll get a fair bit more from the XM6, which offers 30 hours of playtime with ANC turned on.

**Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6**

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs 1000X The Collexion: ANC & call quality

These are two areas where we can't see either Sony pair letting you down. That's not to say both are identical, but we're dealing with very capable operators when it comes to voice calls and ANC.

The WH-1000XM6 feature 12 microphones in total, with six on each earcup bolstered by various noise cancelling algorithms and an adaptive noise cancelling optimiser which constantly adapts to changes in your environment as you’re moving around.

Across noise cancelling and voice calls, the XM6 are superb. ANC is natural and immensely effective, damping down bass and midrange rumblings with ease, and while some might prefer the cocoon of isolation provided by the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), the Sony cans' natural, subtle handling of external sounds really is up there with the best.

Voice calls are similarly outstanding. Three exterior mics with beamforming AI concentrate audio on your voice, resulting in precise, natural-sounding conversations which all-but entirely shut out background noise.

While Sony warned us that noise cancelling wasn’t such a focus for The Collexion as it was for the WH-1000XM6, the costlier cans are still very good in this particular arena. Much of the same tech from their established siblings is on-hand, including a QN3 processing chip and 12 mics to capture surrounding noise.

The Collexion do a fine job of suppressing noise throughout the frequencies, and while you might get the slightest hint of a shrill bird tweet just about breaking through that barrier, middle and lower range sounds are filtered out nicely. It isn't quite as effective as the XM6's noise-cancelling talents, but it still works at a reasonably high level.

Call quality is excellent, too. The Collexion house six beamforming mics complemented by a wind noise reduction structure for enhanced vocal clarity and reduced external sonic intrusions, with voices coming through as clear, articulate and emotive.

Background sounds, meanwhile, rarely intrude on our conversations, even in rough weather or near to rumbling traffic.

Great showings from both, but the WH-1000XM6 have the edge here thanks to their top-notch ANC.

**Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6**

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs 1000X The Collexion: sound quality

Dispel the notion that, because these are both premium Sony headphones, they're going to sound all but the same. Quite the contrary: the XM6 and The Collexion are from the same family, but they take different approaches to how they deliver music to your ears.

Okay, there are some core similarities. Both are hugely detail-rich, teasing out lavish helpings of textural detail and providing instruments with ample body and clearly defined leading edges. Both trade heavily in sonic precision thanks to how sharply they draw out each note, and both have sufficient punch and power to lend proper grunt to their excellent levels of insight.

Listen a little more, though, and the differences become clear. The Sony WH-1000XM6 boast excellent detail and clarity, yes, but they're also irrepressibly entertaining to listen to. They're not quite as fun-focused as some of their predecessors (see the super-punchy WH-1000XM4), but their authority, spark and fantastic sense of rhythmic drive still make listening a joy.

In fact, the XM6 strike a marvellous sonic balance. To quote from our review: "You get to enjoy every element individually, but it all gels together cohesively. The undercurrent of piano, the rumble of the drums, the strings and the texture of the subtly bellowing bass notes in the soundfield all combine to draw you in."

Sony's established Award-winners are great at bringing out the essence of the tracks you feed them, switching gears intuitively depending on the mood and feel of the music being played. Quiet ballads have genuine intimacy and refinement, yet when the time comes to switch gears and swing for the fences, the WH-1000XM6 are more than capable of bringing the metaphorical thunder.

The new 1000X Collexion, on the other hand, are more even handed in their approach, opting for a slightly removed, stepped-back presentation which, while not necessarily as thrilling, allows you to see the big picture as your music plays.

The more premium Collexion trade primarily in spaciousness, detail and clarity, with a cinematic sound that really delivers when you want to sit back and see tracks laid out before you with the utmost precision.

They're immensely well-organised, too – play Massive Attack’s Atlas Air and you'll feel the full force and punch of the tune’s full-blooded drum hits, and while the bass is separated from the overlaid synth sounds above, it's never to the extent that the composition lacks a sense of cohesion between the frequencies.

Such a gratifyingly composed approach does have its drawbacks, though. As we said in our review: "These Sonys really are impressive performers, but they appeal more to the head than to the heart, trading off some of that signature Sony expressiveness for greater openness and detail, something that reduces the extent to which we feel truly involved with our music.

"Talented as they are, there’s something slightly removed, almost standoffish, about their reproduction".

The Collexion's sound unquestionably has its place, especially if you're all about picking your music apart and analysing those nitty gritty details, but they don't have the verve and natural musicality of the XM6.

In straddling the line between analysis and entertainment, the WH-1000XM6 are incredibly hard to beat, and sound-wise, are the headphones we'd recommend to most of the people, most of the time.

**Winner: Sony WH-1000XM6**

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs 1000X The Collexion: verdict

There’s much to admire about Sony’s 1000X The Collexion over-ears.

We can see the poised, detailed and more open sound appealing to some listeners, along with their classy build quality, but they aren’t quite the across-the-board success we might have hoped for at this higher price.

As a more well-rounded set of headphones, the WH-1000XM6 do everything so well that they don't have any real blind spots, and while they don't sound as refined or analytical as the 1000X The Collexion, their spark, punch and overall musicality make them the more entertaining of the two.

If we had to pick a 'one-size-fits-all' pair, it would be the more practical, durable and entertaining-sounding WH-1000XM6.

**Overall winner: Sony WH-1000XM6**

MORE:

Read our full Sony WH-1000XM6 review

And our 1000X The Collexion review

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Sennheiser is at a fascinating, potentially pivotal moment, in its history. The established German brand's headphone division is currently up for sale, with its current owner – Swiss hearing care company Sonova – looking to offload its stake in order to focus on its core market.

Sennheiser isn't some novice or niche brand that has failed to carve out much of a reputation. The 80-year-old company deals in microphones, soundbars and, most famously, headphones, and while that latter market has never been so richly competitive, Sennheiser has scored numerous recent successes to indicate that it is, in fact, more than ready to tackle the competition head-on.

Its stunning Sennheiser HDB 630 wireless headphones, for instance, set a new benchmark for wireless sound at their price, and when you're competing with the likes of Sony, Bose, Apple and Bowers & Wilkins, that's some achievement.

This is a brand, then, which clearly has the talent and resources to compete with, and even overcome, its key rivals, but with aspects of its future still uncertain, how it continues to compete and the resources it has available to do so remain somewhat up in the air.

To get a clearer picture, we headed over to the company's Hanover headquarters to see how Sennheiser operates, delve its working philosophy and, perhaps most importantly, find out where it is headed.

'German engineering' – what is the Sennheiser way?

Since its founding way back in 1945, Sennheiser has been guided by a principle which continues to guide its working culture: the idea of what head of research and development Stephan Lietz dubs "German engineering".

This being a German company – the story begins in a farmhouse near Hanover in 1945 and the production of the brand's first-ever microphone – you'd be forgiven for simply labelling this as a slightly jingoistic term espousing the superiority of Teutonic technical prowess.

Quite the opposite. German engineering isn't tied to a nation, but rather, it's an idea which refers to a pursuit of certain standards which transcend any particular place or person. In short, it's a desire to make everything better, all of the time.

As Lietz explains: "For us, we have a modern interpretation. You're never satisfied. You always strive for the best, and you look at all the different details. We have three locations, and in the R&D department, we have fourteen different nations, that means we are not a German group of people. This is about our culture and the way we work".

It's hard not to get that impression as you walk around the Hanover facility and chat to the company's engineers, most of whom reiterate, quite unprovoked, their relentless desire to make a good product better.

Much of the company's research and testing takes place in Hanover, but there's also a Sennheiser factory in Tullamore, Ireland, the main facility for manufacturing transducers found in the brand’s audiophile headphones which we visited back in 2023.

Having a taste of the precision that goes into assembling the HD 820/800S and the HD 650/660S2 wired headphones in Ireland, and then seeing the precise laser measurements required to ascertain minute variations in a drivers' air displacement in Hanover, it's easy to see how the concept of German engineering can transcend the bounds of mere geography.

"Sound comes first" – the Sennheiser philosophy

No, we're not expecting an established audio manufacturer to say that sound doesn't matter, but when we hear multiple Sennheiser employees, from engineers to high-level executives, enthusing that this is a "sound-first" company, it's hard not to feel relief and quiet pride in equal measure.

Stephan Lietz is again the one to emphasise this shared philosophy, but it's something we hear time and again as we tour around the Hanover facility: "High quality sound comes first. (We are discovering) new materials, new ways of using transducers – there is still a lot to do".

If, as we did, you get the chance to try out the iconic Sennheiser HE 1 headphones system, it's easy to see how that sound-first philosophy translates to actual production, albeit taken to the extreme in terms of performance and price. Sennheiser's integrated electrostatic headphone-cum-amplifier system costs north of £60,000, but as an expression of just how much detail you can squeeze out of a pair of headphones, there's not much else that comes close.

We dig a little deeper, keener to discover if there's a signature sonic philosophy acting as a North Star for how the German brand tunes its headphones. Again, it's gratifying to hear that Sennheiser's criteria for production correlates rather nicely with what we look for on the listening side.

That desire to reveal emotion clearly underpins all headphone and audio production, but what's interesting is how much wiggle room there is from product to product. As Lietz explains:

"It's always different. Let's say you're designing something like the HD 800, you assume the environment where the user is using this device. You have your studio, your amplifiers, your chair, you lean back, close your eyes and listen. This means the experience needs to be different".

"Momentum's use case is people on the move or sitting on your computer or couch, and therefore you have to tune differently, but haptics and materials also play a role. It should be comfortable all the time. Use case very heavily influences how you design the product".

There's an understanding, then, that different headphones serve different requirements, and while Sennheiser continues to view the Momentum line as an "entry-point" into the company's wider range, certain aspects of their tuning have been adjusted to accommodate a slightly different audience.

"If you look at Momentum, there's a lot more bass when compared with other audiophile headphones? Why? Because the user expects this and the typical music played back is mixed for this type of headphone, so our tuning is different".

Sound comes first, then, but the type of sound? That can vary enormously from headphone to headphone, person to person, use case to use case.

What is Sennheiser and where is it headed?

This is the subject that seems to rear its head time and again when chatting to the kind folk at the Hanover office: how Sennheiser communicates its identity, philosophy and vision to the customers to whom it wants to appeal.

In a world of Apples, Boses, Sonys and B&Ws, how does Sennheiser stand out for the crowd and, more importantly, ensure that it is finding a way of meeting its desired customers in the middle? It's all well and good producing great headphones, but making sure you're directing your customers to the products designed for them is a major challenge.

Much of that challenge lies more in education rather than merely marketing. As Tim Bosmans, head of portfolio management and marketing explains, there are so many potential customers who don't necessarily understand the major sonic gains available to them beyond their iPhone's tinny speakers or their £30 pair of cheap wireless earbuds.

"It's not just a matter of can we make the sound better, it's can we make it more accessible. That's where we need to play a part, and ultimately, it's about educating our consumers".

It's not an easy trick, and Bosmans is open and honest about the challenge of communicating exactly what a good pair of headphones will grant any potential customer. Better branding? More transparency with customers? Social media? Live events? Even we have to admit that, from the other side of the fence, we're sometimes left frustrated by 'proper' audio's struggle to communicate its benefits to the average person on the street.

Lilika Beck(President, Consumer Hearing) agrees, but hopes that once customers experience Sennheiser sound, there is, and increasingly will be, a clear path forward for experiencing better and better audio:

"You want to start with Sennheiser? You start with Momentum. Then for some consumers, we want to create a pathway to move into the audiophile journey. We will have more and more options from Momentum upwards".

Those are the customers to whom Sennheiser is keen to appeal, and the brand's strategy going forward looks set to realign to reflect its heritage as an audio-first manufacturer.

As Beck says: "We made the strategic decision to refocus the business on our core competencies – we are a leader in audiophile (products). There's this huge opportunity to build this for the next generation...who aren't yet introduced to these audiophile products".

What about the more affordable side of the market? It's no secret that the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless over-ears started life at £300 / $350 / AU$550, with the more mid-range Accentum line – including the £160 / $180 / AU$300 Accentum Wireless cans – filling the gap as some of the cheapest headphones Sennheiser has made in the last few years.

For Beck, Sennheiser's future lies in the more premium sphere, with lower-end manufacturing representing too many unwanted challenges:

"It's red ocean. It's a lot of competition and you need a certain level of scale. There are very low margins (and) it's all about volume, so there's higher return rates, and I find that very difficult from an environmental point of view. For us, this (premium market) seems like a very natural focus.

"I think our brand has a reputation of being more premium. We want to return to that positioning".

We're fascinated to see what happens next for Sennheiser. As one of the most established names in all of headphones, be they wired or wireless, this is clearly a brand with immense knowledge, resources and, most importantly, talent at its disposal, something to which recent successes, such as the HDB 630 over-ears and Ambeo Soundbar Max, attest.

New ownership is potentially on the horizon, and with that change in owners can come a new direction.

Certainty and stability are not bad things – neither is a potential injection of capital – but with Sennheiser seemingly getting so much right on the development side, the team recognises a need to make sure that it communicates its virtues to a wider audience.

As Tim Bosmans reiterates: "If we look at our campaigns, the one thing Sennheiser hasn't done enough recently is that we need to get out there to help people understand how much is out there and how much quality you can get out of your devices".

"We're looking for someone who is very interested in the consume audio space and what we will bring to our target consumers", says Lilika Beck. That someone is yet to be decided, but whoever those new owners end up being, we hope that they stay true to Sennheiser's principle aim: to keep putting sound first.

MORE:

Read our review of the Sennheiser HDB 630

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Stop what you’re doing – there’s a new pair of Sony wireless headphones in town.

The 1000X range has been Sony’s flagship wireless series for a whole decade, and the brand has decided to mark this anniversary with a completely new addition to its established line-up: the Sony 1000X The Collexion over-ears.

These may be ‘celebratory’ headphones, but think of The Collexion as a fully fledged product in their own right, rather than a limited edition one-off designed for the sake of novelty or sentimentality. These are headphones which exist separately from Sony's WH-1000XM6 – with their own unique sound, design philosophy and materials – and sit comfortably above their stablemates in price.

In fact, Sony has focused on sound above all else for The Collexion cans, for what it has dubbed “the best sounding headphones we’ve ever made”. When you consider some of the absolute gems the Japanese brand has produced in the past few years, that’s a mouthwatering claim. We’d be letting you down if we didn’t give them a listen…

Price

While the 1000X series has always remained a decidedly premium line, Sony had always resisted the urge to move up into the sort of ‘high-end’ territory occupied by the likes of the the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 (£629 / $799) and the Focal Bathys (£699 / $799), but with the 1000X The Collexion clocking in at £550 / $650, these are the closest Sony has ever come to operating within that more rarefied area of the market.

With the B&W and Focal rivals above them, the new Sonys have the likes of the Apple AirPods Max 2 (£499 / $549) and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) (£449 / $449 / AU$700) sitting just below.

If you need reminding, the What Hi-Fi? Award-winning Sony WH-1000XM6 are priced at around £400 / $450 / AU$699, even if discounts are now knocking a few pounds or dollars off that RRP, while the five-star rival Sennheiser HDB 630 will set you back around £400 / $500 / AU$1000.

Build & comfort

Get hold of a pair of Sony’s latest and, if you squint your eyes a little, you might be fooled into thinking that you’d picked up a pair of Sonos Ace instead. The Sonys have the same clean, minimalist exterior as the Ace, as well as similarly designed oval earcups adorned with a few metallic physical buttons on the left earcup.

Sony’s engineers describe 1000X The Collexion as a pair of cans that should both look good and make you feel good when you wear them, and for the most part, that aim has been achieved. Everything on The Collexion is made either from metal or faux leather, with a nicely padded headband designed to spread pressure evenly for extended user comfort and slightly firmer ear padding than found on the WH-1000XM6.

We don’t have an issue with the look or feel of the faux leather, though our test pair are more susceptible to marks and stains than the smooth plastic of most of Sony’s other headphones. That faux material adorns pretty much the whole exterior of the earcup, so grubby fingers, not to mention the rigours of everyday use, do end up making their mark after a time.

A slimmer profile does help to add lightness, though, with the width of the earcups measuring around 40mm from inside to out, compared with the 45.4mm of the WH-1000XM6.

That does make for an appreciably lightweight and unobtrusive wearing experience, and though The Collexion actually weigh more than their XM6 counterparts – 312g against 254g – rarely do we feel that extra weight.

Some of our testers did experience some rocking and instability from the earcups when walking from place to place, but if you’re stationary, the new Sonys often simply melt away into obscurity as you forget you’ve got a pair plonked on your head at all.

While there are a few physical buttons to be found, touch controls are the main way of controlling your Sony over-ears. They work as well as you’d expect, responding quickly and effectively to our various commands, with ample levels of control customisation available via the useful Sony SoundConnect app.

Unlike the XM6 over-ears or the Bose QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), these aren’t headphones which fold up into a ball, but their flattened profile and accompanying carry case – with its hollowed-out handle putting us in mind of a small handbag – mean they’re still relatively portable.

Features

Sony has very much positioned its new premium cans as sound-first headphones, but the 1000X The Collexion’s feature set matches the same generous level as that found on the do-it-all WH-1000XM6.

Battery life clocks in at around 32 hours with ANC off and roughly 24 hours with noise cancelling switched on, and while that’s down from the 30-or-so hours of the WH-1000XM6, it’s still a reasonable lifespan. The AirPods Max 2 only manage around 20 hours, although the Sennheiser HDB 630 are streets ahead with a whopping 60 hours with noise cancelling in play.

If you’re a fan of spatial audio, you get three versions of Sony’s ‘360 Reality Audio Upmix’ tech – ‘Music’, ‘Cinema’ and ‘Game’ – each of which add varying degrees of spatial processing depending on the media content. They’re fun modes to play around with, and we particularly enjoy the more immersive ‘Cinema’ setting which just about lives up to its billing by providing a more open, cinematic experience when watching movies.

On the subject of signal processing, these are the first Sony headphones to make use of its DSEE Ultimate tech for improving lower-quality digital audio files. In the app, you also get access to a 10-band equaliser for tweaking the sound alongside several simple presets, or you can deploy ‘Background Music’ mode to make it seem as though your tunes were playing in the distance to better aid your concentration.

The 1000X The Collexion support standard SBC and AAC codecs alongside higher-quality LDAC – which lets you stream hi-res music at higher data rates over Bluetooth from a compatible source device, such as Sony’s latest smartphones. Bluetooth LE Audio is also on board for lower power consumption and better-quality sound. You can also listen to the Sony headphones wired, thanks to the included 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable, though note that the headphones will have to be powered on when listening through a physical connection.

Sony’s Speak-To-Chat feature, which drops the volume level when you start talking, also returns, though we’d caution that the headphones can often confuse human speech with other sounds, particularly wind. If you don’t want your cans to keep cutting out every few minutes, we’d suggest switching Speak-to-Chat off when you’re outdoors and it’s a bit blustery.

ANC & call quality

While Sony has warned that noise cancelling wasn’t as much of a focus for The Collexion as it was for the WH-1000XM6, it’s still operating at a decidedly high level. Much of the same tech from the XM6 is on-hand here, including the QN3 chip and a total of 12 mics to capture and monitor surrounding noise.

When working in full noise-cancelling mode, Sony’s latest over-ears do an excellent job of suppressing noise throughout the frequencies, and while you might get the slightest hint of a shrill bird tweet just about breaking through that barrier, middle and lower range frequencies are filtered out expertly. The ANC quality on the WH-1000XM6 is still Sony’s best, but it’s very unlikely that you’ll feel short-changed by the noise cancelling on offer with The Collexion.

Call quality is excellent, too. The Collexion house six beamforming mics complemented by a wind noise reduction structure for enhanced vocal clarity and reduced external sonic intrusions, and it really pays off. Voices are clear, articulate and emotive, while background sounds rarely, if ever, intrude on our conversation as we stand next to a busy motorway on a decidedly blustery day.

Sound

Let’s reiterate what we mentioned in our introduction – the 1000X The Collexion are distinct headphones in their own right, with a sound, says Sony, which prioritises refinement, detail and maturity over the punchier, more flavoured personality of the WH-1000XM6.

To achieve this, The Collexion headphones feature a bespoke carbon composite 30mm drive unit, constructed using soft edging and a hard centre in pursuit of an “exceptional frequency response”. Sound has been optimised using a low-phase noise crystal oscillator, while premium components and circuitry, including advanced gold-containing solder, aim for an improved signal to noise ratio to reveal finer musical details and offer a wider soundstage.

That’s a lot of tech under hood, but how does that translate to the real-life listening experience?

Well, in many ways, the Sony 1000X The Collexion do live up to their billing. Just as described by Sony, they’re headphones that deal primarily in spaciousness and clarity, qualities which suffuse nigh-on every track as we bounce from Max Richter’s Never Goodbye to Radiohead’s Everything In Its Right Place.

That latter track sounds particularly good – The Collexion’s wide, open presentation grants the track a broad canvas on which to play, like an epic drama unfolding on a lovely big widescreen TV.

Detail levels are excellent, and when you have a pair of over-ears that offer clarity, textural insight and spaciousness to this extent, it’s hard not to be impressed. The elegiac strings on Never Goodbye are rich and mournful, while the piano on Debussy’s austere Sarabande strikes a wonderful balance between rich intent and subtle delicacy.

For all of their openness and delicacy, the Sonys don’t lack musical muscle. Think of them as being like a pro ballerina – nimble and graceful, yes, but strong and immensely robust when the time calls for it. It’s a nice balance to have, all aided by a deep, powerful yet controlled lower-end reproduction.

Bass tones are expertly handled, something that really comes across when we load up Massive Attack’s Atlas Air and feel the full force and punch of the tune’s full-blooded drum hits. That bass is nicely separated from the overlaid synth sounds working away above, yet not to the extent that the composition starts to lack any sense of cohesion between frequencies.

These premium Sony headphones really are impressive performers in so many aspects, but they appeal more to the head than to the heart. They certainly trade off some of that signature expressiveness we’ve heard in other Sony headphones for greater openness and detail, something that reduces the extent to which we feel truly involved with our music. Talented as they are, there’s something slightly removed, almost standoffish, about their reproduction.

That’s not something of which we’d accuse the outstanding, and cheaper, Sennheiser HDB 630. The Sennheisers have a more natural fluidity, especially with how they handle dynamic shifts, which makes them a more engaging listen. For us, the Sennheisers seem to strike that balance between naturalness, entertainment and analysis a touch more acutely than the Sonys.

Their rather aloof personality also robs the Sony cans of some of their intimacy. Listen to the first 30 seconds of Black Veil Brides’ Saviour II, and there’s a greater feeling of closeness to the opening guitar and vocal lead when listening via the costlier Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2. When the track opens up as the chorus hits, however, The Collexion show their hand, allowing it to blossom and reveal its gothic grandeur with more scale than the rival B&W cans.

Verdict

There’s much to admire about Sony’s 1000X The Collexion over-ears. It’s impossible to ignore their poised, detail-rich performance, while that ample feature set and classy construction make them tough to resist.

There is a ‘but’, however. In pursuing a particular sonic signature – namely, one that goes after scale, detail and clarity – it’s hard not to feel as though Sony has slightly thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

Yes, these are seriously talented performers, but deep down, they feel like headphones which were built to impress rather than entertain. As a result, we find ourselves admiring them rather than completely falling in love.

Review published: 19th May 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony WH-1000XM6

Also consider the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2

Read our Sennheiser HDB 630 review

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs 1000X The Collexion: which premium wireless headphones should you pick?

Best wireless headphones reviewed and rated by our in-house experts

After weeks of teasing, Sony's new premium over-ears, the 1000X The Collexion, have officially launched, and they have one simple aim: to be the best-sounding wireless headphones the company has ever produced.

That's a tall order considering this is the brand which, in recent years, has given us the Sony WH-CH720N, WH-1000XM5 and WH-1000XM6 Award-winners, not to mention a raft of class-leading wireless earbuds.

The Collexion have been released to celebrate 10 years of the 1000X line, and sit above the WH-1000XM6 as the brand's new range-topping headphones. While these may be ‘celebratory’ headphones, they're a fully fledged product in their own right, not a limited edition one-off model.

The new over-ears feature a bespoke carbon fibre 30mm drive unit, constructed using soft edging and a hard centre in pursuit of an “exceptional frequency response”. Sound has been optimised using Sony’s Walkman technology and a low phase noise crystal oscillator, while premium components and circuitry shoot for an improved signal to noise ratio to reveal exceptional levels of detail and provide a wide, open soundstage.

The 1000X The Collexion support standard SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs alongside higher-quality LDAC if you have a compatible source device – most recent Sony smartphones should do the trick.

These are the first Sony headphones to make use of DSEE Ultimate for improving lower-quality digital audio files, while three flavours of Sony’s ‘360 Reality Audio Upmix’ tech – ‘Music’, ‘Cinema’ and ‘Game’ – are available for adding spatial audio processing to your content.

Battery life clocks in at around 32 hours with ANC off and 24 hours with noise cancelling switched on, which is a little less than the 30-or-so hours (ANC on) of the WH-1000XM6.

While Sony has warned that noise cancelling isn't such a focus for The Collexion as it is the WH-1000XM6, the pricier cans share much of the same tech as their Award-winning siblings, including Sony's QN3 processing chip and 12 built-in microphones to monitor surrounding noise.

Pretty much everything on the new headphones is made using either stainless steel or faux leather, with The Collexion boasting a slimmer, lighter profile than the WH-1000XM6.

Unlike the XM6, however, they don't fold away – though you do get a carry case, complete with a hollowed-out handle, for taking your cans out and about.

The Sony 1000X The Collexion are available now in a choice of black or platinum finishes, priced at £550 / €630 / $650. Are these really the best sounding wireless headphones Sony has ever produced? Read our full 1000X The Collexion review now to find out.

MORE:

Check out our review of the Sennheiser HDB 630

Also consider the Sony WH-1000XM6

Best wireless headphones 2026: reviewed and rated by our in-house experts

It may seem like JBL unleashes a never-ending stream of products every year, and this is partly true.

Just this year, the American brand – which is also celebrating its 80th anniversary this year – has launched the Xtreme 5 and the Go 5 Bluetooth speakers, along with a new Live 4 wireless earbuds range, and the over-ear 780NC and on-ear 680NC noise-cancelling headphones – all in a variety of snazzy new colours.

There's also a brand-new JBL Sound Curve tuning announced for the flagship Tour One M3 headphones, which refines the sound quality to be more balanced and forgiving – and less bass-focused – to adapt to listeners wearing the headphones for longer and prevent them from getting fatigued.

And that's before we even get to the hugely popular Party Box speakers – not a core What Hi-Fi? category, but a big deal for JBL, which dominates 90 per cent of that particular market.

World domination – for the portables and headphones market in particular – is clearly on the brand's mind. I spoke to Jurjen Amsterdam, Harman Lifestyle's director of product marketing (EMEA) at JBL's HQ in Amsterdam (no relation), about the recent launches, anticipating trends, their target demographic, and market domination plans.

Despite the sheer number of products, there is method behind the launch madness. Jurjen Amsterdam says: "We try to manage product lines on a two year cycle. So last year we did the Charge 6 and Flip 7; this year it's Xtreme 5 and Go 5 for portables."

"Next year, most likely, it's going to be two other models... it looks like a lot, but it's always a two-year cycle."

It's an aggressive strategy that points to the brand's ambitions, but even then, JBL seems cautious about simply making products for the sake of it. The product cycle isn't necessary like clockwork, and it relies on the latest technology available, too – and the team also has to decide what not to include. For example, the interval between the JBL Charge 5 and Charge 6 was a good four years (albeit both available in April of those years), and new technologies such as Auracast sharing made way for the whole line-up to be refreshed.

Conversely, the new JBL Sound Curve – an adaptation of parent company Harman's target frequency curve – is currently only reserved for the Tour One M3 to signify their premium status, and hasn't been trickled down to the mid-priced Live range headphones/earbuds to ensure a clean delineation between the ranges.

The regular product cycle also allows JBL to keep its pulse on the ground and adapt to their target audience, as well as keep up with the demands of customers, who "expect us [JBL] to drive the competition and come up with new things".

Fresh new colours of green and orange standout against a sea of greige, black and even blue of its rivals, with some noting that the particular shade of orange chosen by JBL for the Live 780NC/680NC headphones matches the latest iPhone 17's orange finish.

That's not by accident. The product team (which also includes marketing and commercial working in a "triangle") tries to "forsee trends long enough in advance", says Jurjen. "Design trends, technology trends – all the colours that you see in the Live series, they don't have this colour just because we like them. This is part of a longer trend that we're trying to watch in terms of colours."

Despite the proliferation of JBL products, the brand doesn't like making products just for the sake of it.

"No – we don't want to make products because we can. We want to make products because we want to address a certain need from end consumers."

For the Live range, what JBL really wanted to focus on is "lifestyle", and the target demographic is aimed towards "Gen Z and up" – he drills down further to say 15 to around 30s is the target age range.

"It's most likely the price that people want to spend on a [pair of] headphones that will decide whether they go for a Live series or a Tour series."

Not everyone can splash out for the €349 for the Tour flagships, he says, and the gap between the budget Tune range and the Tour is quite a big one. This is where the middle-ground Live comes in: "This is the ultimate compromise of great quality, great noise cancelling, super comfortable and looks really nice," declares Jurjen.

The styling is an important part of the Live headphones and earbuds.

"Of course, a lot of people will buy the black finish," he says, "but we also want to give people the opportunity to buy in white, in blue, in green, in orange, in purple..." As we speak, Jurjen points to the younger influencers around us at the launch who are relishing wearing the colourful headphones and taking photos, as evidence of the brand's target demographic crowd that is "young, energetic, social" and likes sharing music.

"It literally fits the JBL brand – it's the core of the JBL target audience."

Even JBL's Headphones app opens to a montage of faces that run the gamut of identities. It's welcoming, diverse and youthful, but without ever trying too hard. You'd never guess the brand was pushing 80.

Passing the new Live 780NC over-ear headphones – which I decided to nab in its bright orange finish – to my colleagues in the What Hi-Fi? office, the general consensus seems to be that the colourful shade and styling stands out from the sea of plain, rather functional designs we see from other brands, even premium models from Sony and Bose.

Whether JBL's new mid-range model can reach the heights of five-star sound quality their more illustrious rivals achieve remains to be seen, of course. But it's an area what JBL is absolutely gunning for.

"In headphones, we would love to dominate."

Jurjen puts the headphones market into context. "Headphones is way bigger than all of the other things that we do put together. This is a 4 billion market in Europe. If we add portable audio, party box, gaming, wireless speakers, soundbars – if we add that all together, it's still less than headphones."

"In headphones, we're at 10-11 per cent market share. Of course we would like to grow that."

The headphones market is exceptionally tricky as there are over 300 brands vying for a piece of the pie. It's a big market dominated by one key player (Apple, particularly in wireless earbuds, with Sony and Bose in over-ears) that a lot of people spend a lot of money on.

"So we know, even this target audience we're aiming for, we know they have money to spend – because we see that they spend money on some of the higher range models."

"But the aim is to create credibility," he says. "Sony is a great example of that – you get five star reviews a couple of years in a row, nobody thought that Bose would ever lose that position. Sony now has that position. We believe that we equally have a good quality product."

I ask Jurjen if there's any particular trend that surprised him for this current cycle of products, that consumers were clamouring for?

"No. Not really; it's all about audio quality. It's all about design. It's all about wearing comfort." Ultimately, he says, the Live headphones and earbuds are a "very good alternative to what's out there in the market".

We certainly hope that's the case, as we still find there is a general dearth of really great recommendations in this £100-£200 mid-price range. We're currently testing the Live 780NC wireless headphones (£170), so stay tuned for a full review in due course.

MORE:

Two years on, I'm still waiting for this gaping hole in the wireless headphone market to be plugged

Read our JBL Tour One M3 review

The JBL Live 4 earbuds have a better case, new high fidelity drivers and enhanced noise cancellation

Marshall has announced its latest pair of wireless on-ear headphones, the Milton ANC.

Blending handy portability with long-lasting battery life and Marshall's signature styling, the new headphones tease "dynamic audio with rich detail" thanks to their 32mm dynamic drivers.

As you might have twigged, the new on-ears offer active noise cancelling, with a standard flavour sitting alongside transparency mode and adaptive ANC, the latter of which analyses your surroundings and adjusts the level of noise cancelling in real time.

An adaptive loudness feature, meanwhile, can be used to raise your music's bass and lower mids whenever unwanted noises intrude upon your listening.

The Milton ANCs' major headline-grabber is their stated battery life, with Marshall promising up to 80 hours of wireless playtime with noise-cancelling off, dropping to a still-whopping 50 hours with it enabled.

The Milton ANC offer Bluetooth 6.0 with LE Audio for more efficient wireless transmission, bolstered by support for the standard SBC and AAC codecs alongside higher-quality LDAC.

The new on-ear headphones deploy memory foam ear cushions designed for comfort over extended listening sessions, and can be folded away completely for greater portability.

According to Evelina Lindström, Product Manager at Marshall: “With Milton ANC we have created a premium, yet durable headphone that is easy to bring with you wherever life takes you. The combination of adaptive ANC with 80 hours battery life is guaranteed to take on the go music listening sessions to the next level".

The Milton ANC are available now, priced at £180 / $230 / €199.

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Best wireless headphones: reviewed and rated by our in-house experts

Those Sony headphones have leaked again. But there are some clues that this leak was set up by none other than Sony itself.

The cans in question are the Sony WH-1000X The Collexion. This name was trademarked last summer, and has since leaked a couple of times. They look like a pricier take on the Sony WH-1000XM6 timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Sony MDR-1000X launch.

Though as we'll see, they could actually be worse than the XM6 in one key area.

If you recognise the person wearing the new headphones, that's because he's an actor – none other than Damson Idris from the Apple TV movie F1.

When you consider this with the fact that the photos are very natural looking (dare one even say, posed?), it's all starting to look a bit like a plant.

These photos were posted by Complex Style on X, only for the official Sony Electronics account to reply with a 'eyes wide open' emoji. Which also seems suspicious – usually, companies try to play down leaks and rumours.

The Sony WH-1000X The Collexion have also been referred to as the Sony WH-1000XX and by the product code YY2998.

They're said to have the tagline 'Master the art of listening' and to come in white and black options, with active noise cancellation, the Mediatek MT2855 system on a chip and Sony's DSEE Ultimate tech. They're said to have metal hinges but do not fold.

At €629 (around £550 / $740 / AU$1000), they look like a more premium proposition than the XM6, but according to The Walkman Blog, they will only have 24 hours of battery life with ANC activated. That's far short of the XM6's 30 hours. Could it be a case of style over substance?

They're thought to launch on 19th May, so we should find out soon enough.

MORE:

The best Sony headphones around

The best wireless headphones from all brands

I wore the Sony XM6 for 10 hours on trains – here are my thoughts

It’s fair to say the quality of JBL’s flagship wireless headphones has been increasing gradually over the years, even if they haven’t been quite able to match their biggest rivals in the space such as Sony, Bose and Bowers & Wilkins.

We’ve already tested JBL’s current Tour One M3 over-ear flagships and deemed them solid four-star performers. And JBL will be hoping its latest move will go one step further in catching up with the competition.

So what has happened, exactly?

There’s been an interesting development, which looks like it’s ushering in a new direction for sound quality from the brand’s top headphones, starting with the Tour One M3.

JBL has tweaked what it calls its sound curve, which is a given target response that its headphones have been designed to meet.

According to JBL, users can expect “a sound that is clearer, more balanced, and truer to the artist”. It also claims that the updates will be “setting a new benchmark for precision and clarity”.

So, how do you get the new, improved audio quality? The sound curve change is available as a firmware update for the over-ears from today, 23rd April.

"The way people listen has fundamentally shifted with better hardware, higher-quality content and smarter streaming, making today's ears more discerning than ever.

"We are always striving to push the boundaries of sound performance and saw this as the perfect moment to refine the JBL sound curve for our premium headphones,” says Carsten Olesen, President of Consumer Audio at Harman.

With the change coming as a result of a firmware update rather than a hardware update, it will be interesting to hear how the sonic character changes and if it is indeed for the better.

JBL is also updating the interface of the Smart Tx transmitter, which is an accessory for the Tour One M3 over-ears and the interface of the charging case for its flagship Tour Pro 3 earbuds. They share many similar features and functions.

It’s promising a new menu system with horizontal and vertical scrolling, better graphics, larger icons and more intuitive layouts designed to make for a smoother user experience.

Last, but by no means least, the headphones and earbuds are also getting a new green finish (see above), complete with copper accents. It has been “Inspired by heritage British motorsport and modern luxury trends” and looks particularly striking in the images we’ve seen so far.

The new finish will be available from mid-May in select retailers and from JBL’s website, with pricing for the JBL Tour Pro 3 at £279.99 / €299.99, the JBL Tour One M3 £329.99 / €349.99, and the JBL Tour One M3 with Smart TX £379.99 / €399.99.

MORE:

Read our JBL Tour One M3 Smart Tx review

And our JBL Tour Pro 3 review

Portable hi-fi has progressed so much, I'd choose it over a traditional system

Our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy

Sony makes some of the best wireless headphones you can buy. Its pairs have won a glut of Awards over the years, and across a range of budgets – its offerings span from high-end headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM6 to the wallet-friendly WF-C510.

But choosing the right pair is only half the fun. Then comes how to get the best sound out of them. Thankfully, Sony makes this pretty simple with its Sound Connect mobile app (previously known as Headphones Connect).

It's one of the most comprehensive headphone apps around, letting you optimise the sound alongside other settings like active noise cancellation (ANC), customising the controls and connecting the headphones to two devices at once.

Join us for a deep dive on Sony Sound Connect and what it can do.

• The best Sony headphones to consider

What is Sony Sound Connect?

Sony Sound Connect is the mobile app that partners Sony's wireless headphones. Once you connect your Sony headphones to your mobile device, you can use Sony Sound Connect to adjust all kinds of settings, optimise the sound quality, customise the controls and more.

What does Sony Sound Connect do?

It acts as the control hub for your Sony headphones. You can use it to adjust the sound quality and profile, headphone controls, ANC settings (if applicable) and more.

We'll go through its capabilities in detail below. But be aware that not all features will be available for all models of Sony headphones.

Is the Sony Sound Connect app necessary?

No, you don't need to use Sound Connect in order to use Sony headphones. Instead, you can just pair the headphones with your device over Bluetooth and start using them. But you'll only be scratching the surface of what they can do, and you'll miss out on how to optimise their sound quality.

Which headphones does it work with?

Sony Sound Connect works with most Sony headphones released in the last few years, including some of its best-rated pairs. These include:

• Sony WH-1000XM6
• Sony WH-1000XM5
• Sony WF-1000XM6
• Sony WF-1000XM5
• Sony WF-C710N
• Sony WF-C700N
• Sony WF-C510
• Sony WF-C500
• Sony LinkBuds Open (WF-L910)
• Sony WH-CH720N
• Sony WH-CH520

In fact, compatible models date back all the way to the original Sony WF-1000X, though features will vary by model. You can see a full list of compatible pairs on Sony's website.

How to use Sony Sound Connect

So now you know what Sony Sound Connect is and what it does, let's find out how to use it. Here we'll run you through all of its features, what they do and how to use them.

Note: not all features are available for all Sony headphones. The eartip fit test is exclusive to the certain models of Sony earbuds, for example, while models without active noise cancellation will lack the relevant ANC features (though the WF-C510 do have an ambient mode, despite lacking ANC).

The settings below are available by tapping All device settings from within the My Device tab. Some also let you add a shortcut to the app's My Device screen for quick access – handy if it's something you often toggle on and off.

Choose a listening mode

This option lives within the Noise Cancelling / Ambient Sound menu, and lets you activate active noise cancellation, the ambient sound mode, or neither.

By default, these modes will be activated depending on your situation as detected by Adaptive Sound Control (there's more on this feature further down the page). But you can choose to override this and have Ambient Sound activated while you're sitting still, for example.

Noise Cancelling silences outside sounds , while Ambient Sound allows in some background noise so you can hear station announcements, bicycle bells and car horns, for example.

Tap Ambient Sound and you can adjust how much background sound the headphones let through. And if you tap Voice passthrough, it will suppress other sounds but boost voices, so you can be alerted easily if someone is speaking to you.

Optimise the sound quality

The Sound Quality/Volume tab gives you plenty of options to get the best sound from your Sony headphones.

Equaliser lets you pick from one of Sony's predetermined EQs ('Bright', 'Excited', 'Mellow', 'Bass Boost' and so on). You can also edit these as you see fit – some models have a 10-band equaliser, but Sony's more affordable headphones are limited to a five-band EQ. And you can create your own equaliser preset – just choose one of the 'custom' presets, tap Edit and tweak the levels to your liking.

Not sure which you'll like the best? Find Your Equaliser will help you choose. This presents different profiles – pick which sounds best to you, and you'll be presented with further balances to pick from. Once you've made your choices, it will assign your preferences to one of the custom equaliser presets.

DSEE Extreme (DSEE stands for Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) upscales lower-quality music files to restore some detail lost during the compression process. It can make streams and MP3s sound much better than otherwise, which is why we would always toggle this to Auto. But you can turn it off if you wish.

360 Reality Audio Setup lets you create a hearing profile in order to best experience Sony's 360 Reality Audio (i.e. spatial audio). Your hearing profile is based on your ear shape, and involves a series of listening tests to optimise the sound output for you and you alone. For example, it will play two sounds and ask you to pick which one sounds like it's directly in front of you at eye level. The app will then use this information to optimise your 360 Reality Audio-compatible apps like Amazon Music Unlimited, Nugs and 360 Reality Audio Live.

Get the best fit for the best sound

This one's only available on Sony's premium earbuds, but it's worth exploring if you have a pair of those. We've found Sony's earbuds to not be as comfortable or snug as rival pairs like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen), so it's crucial you've got the best fit possible. This won't only make them more comfortable, but also ensure the best sound, as a tighter fit means less ambient noise intruding on what you're listening to.

Tap Wearing > Check wearing condition and earbud tips and you can try the test for yourself. It plays an audio signal to measure how airtight the seal is in each earbud tip. If one comes up short, try another size.

You can also check the earbuds' positioning by taking a photo of each in your ear and comparing to Sony's preferred positioning.

Connect to two devices at once

Thanks to Bluetooth Multipoint, you can wirelessly connect some Sony headphones to two devices at once. That means you can seamlessly switch between listening to music on your laptop to taking a call on your mobile without having to unpair and re-pair.

Under Connection, tap Connect to 2 devices simultaneously to toggle this option on, and then add new devices to your list of paired devices. But note that if you are paired to two devices at once, you can't playback Sony's higher-quality LDAC format, so you might want to disable it at times.

You can also choose to prioritise sound quality in your wireless connection. Under Bluetooth Connection Quality, tap Prioritise Sound Quality. If a stable connection is more important to you (you're on a work call, for example), tap Prioritise Stable Connection instead. But we would always optimise sound quality, work calls be damned.

Control which ANC modes kick in when

Adaptive Sound Control is a mighty clever feature. This detects what you're doing, and optimises the headphones for you, so they automatically adapt without you doing anything. But of course, you can customise it to your heart's content.

By default, when you're sitting down the headphones will activate full noise cancellation, on the assumption that you're working or listening to music and don't want to be disturbed. When they detect that you're walking, Ambient Sound kicks in, allowing in some outside sounds to keep you aware of your surroundings (it defaults to let in level 12 out of a total ambient sound level of 20, but you can adjust this).

Running? This ups the amount of ambient sound let in to 20 to help keep you safe. And if you're travelling in a vehicle, the headphones revert to noise cancellation, blocking the sounds of the engine and traffic.

The headphones can learn how you use your headphones while Adaptive Sound Control is enabled, to switch modes at the optimal time (you just have to toggle this to On). But even without this enabled, we've found the Sony WF-C710N pretty good at detecting our activity and responding quickly.

You can also have set modes kick in when you reach a certain destination, so noise cancelling in the office, say. Tap the cog wheel next to Register a location and you can choose to Register from learned locations or Register from map. That way, every time you arrive at the office, your headphones will activate noise cancellation automatically.

Customise the controls

You can customise the controls of your Sony headphones, too. Over-ears like the WH-1000XM6 have a touch-sensitive control panel on the right earcup, while Sony's wireless earbuds have one on each bud.

By default, the left earbud is for switching between ANC modes and turning the volume down, while the right is for controlling playback and increasing the volume. But you can switch these around.

You can also adjust how many presses activate a certain function, disable ANC or Ambient Sound entirely, and turn off the feature that pauses playback when the headphones are removed from your ears.

Set quick access to streaming services

You can choose to assign certain streaming services to a series of button presses (two presses, three presses, etc). Supported services include Spotify Tap and Amazon Music Play Now.

In Quick Access, tap the relevant service and assign it a series of button presses. Hey presto.

Enable quick chats

Sony's more premium headphones and earbuds support two features that make it easier to have a conversation without removing them from your ears. Both are found in the Sound section of the Sound Connect app.

Speak to Chat detects when you're talking and lowers the playback volume so you can hear what the other person is saying. (We've found it can also be triggered when you start singing or humming, though you can adjust how sensitive the detection is.)

With Quick Attention, you place your hand over the right earcup (or touch the right earbud with a compatible pair of Sony 'buds) to drop the volume and enable Ambient Sound mode.

Save battery

There's a handy way to preserve battery life, too. Automatic Power Off turns your headphones off automatically when you've taken them off and not used them for a certain amount of time. That way, their battery won't drain away if you forget to turn them off / put them in their charging case. But you can turn this feature off if you want.

Auto Power Save also comes on some Sony headphones. This cuts down on some features when the battery is low, reducing the chance of your headphones dying before you get to a charging point. When the battery drops to 20 per cent or lower, it adjusts the settings for Equaliser, DSEE Extreme, Speak-to-Chat and voice controls. Think of it as the iPhone's low power mode, but for Sony headphones.

If you then adjust any of the settings for these features, however, Auto Power Save is disabled. If your priority is to keep listening until you get home, we would advise leaving it on.

Clarify your calls

Calls through headphones are very useful, but conducting one can feel a bit like you're speaking underwater. Thankfully Sony headphones can make your own voice clearer to hear. Toggling on Capture Voice During a Phone Call will boost the sound of your own voice, though it may also enhance other sounds around you. If that's the case, you can turn it off.

Keep your software updated

The System setting also has some useful options.

Download software automatically will ensure your headphones always have the latest firmware updates for the best security and most recent features. Or you can choose to only download when you're connected via wi-fi to avoid eating into your monthly data allowance.

And Notification & Voice Guide lets you set the volume and language of the spoken feedback and guidance. You can toggle this feature off, but important notifications will remain.

MORE:

The best wireless earbuds around

The best wireless headphones of all styles

I wore the Sony WH-1000XM6 for 10 hours on a train – and now I'm a convert

Sony's next headphones have leaked. Last summer, Sony trademarked the name '1000X The Collexion', and now it seems its new pair of wireless over-ear headphones will be called just that.

That's according to Sony's websites in both Australia and New Zealand, The Walkman Blog reports. It would appear Sony accidentally posted a holding page for the new cans on both websites (which has since been removed).

While there were no photos, the name was revealed in a text description of what the missing image would be ("A man in a black coat stands against a brown gradient background, wearing white 1000X The Collexion headphones"). This is known as an alt-text, and is used to improve websites' ranking in internet search engine results.

The full product name is said to be WH-1000XX, which would be an over-ear model similar to the WH-1000XM6. The new model's name could be a reference to the Sony MDR-1000X, which launched 10 years ago this year (the extra 'X' could represent 10 in Roman numerals).

The tagline is "Master the art of listening".

Other details that have already leaked include the colour options (a black model will be available alongside the white), noise cancellation, the Mediatek MT2855 system on a chip, DSEE Ultimate and the fact they have metal hinges but do not fold.

They're also said to be made in Vietnam and to have a premium build quality. But it's the price that's raising eyebrows: €629 (around £550 / $740 / AU$1000) is much more expensive than the Sony WH-1000XM6 (which launched at £400 / $450 / AU$699). That suggests these will be much more than a mere special edition, and more likely a new flagship pair.

Could they be the first in a new range? They're said to launch on 19th May, so we should find out then.

MORE:

These are the best Sony headphones around

And the best wireless headphones of all stripes

Walking the Walk(man): a brief history of the portable music player

Roughly £25 off the four-star Philips TAH8000E wireless headphones does, on the face of it, look like rather a tempting proposition.

The Philips over-ears are clear-sounding, comfortable cans with solid ANC and outstanding battery life, and now that they've fallen from £150 to £114 at Amazon, they're more appealing than ever.

The thing is, we think you can do better. Unless that absolutely monster battery life of 70 hours already has you sold on the Philips, there are finer alternatives at better prices which we think are more deserving of your cash.

An appealing wireless headphones deal

More talented alternatives?

We wouldn't discourage you from buying the Philips TAH8000EBK. They're truly solid headphones, and while their sound isn't quite class-leading, it's a long way off being a disappointment.

That mega battery life is also a huge bonus, and we know that for frequent flyers or commuters, battery is a major consumer consideration.

We just feel that sonically, you can do better. The Sony WH-CH720N are a more convincing listen than their Philips rivals, with a greater feeling of musicality and verve, even at their lower price and advancing age.

Plus, their 50-hour battery is still excellent, and you're getting all of those well-performing features and solid build quality you'd expect from a Sony product.

For sonic purists, we'd also nudge you over towards the Austrian Audio Hi-X2BT. With no noise cancelling and no app support, they are the wildcard pick, but during our testing, it was hard not to slightly fall in love with their sparky, clear and natural sonic presentation.

Three strong candidates, then, but if you want the most well-rounded and value-first over-ear package, we'd direct you over to Amazon and the Sony WH-CH720N. For sonic purists, checking out Richer Sounds and the Hi-X25BT is also well worth it.

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“The chip by itself is not really the story. The H2 from a few years ago is not the H2 that we’re introducing into the AirPods Max 2 today, because it’s been enhanced with so much embedded firmware that has really enabled this growth of features across the years.”

Tim Millet, Vice President of Platform Architecture at Apple, is explaining how the brand's most powerful H2 silicon chip has been "purpose-built for audio application", and has evolved over the years, along with the challenges of implementing it into an over-ear design.

First introduced in 2022 with the AirPods Pro 2 wireless earbuds, the H2 chip is now available for the first time in the new AirPods Max 2 over-ears. It's been the main focus of the second-generation model, as with that new chip comes plenty of advanced features such as Conversation Awareness, Adaptive Audio, and updated Adaptive EQ, as well as improvements to ANC and, of course, sound quality.

I've been using the AirPods Pro 2 and Pro 3 since their respective launches, and am familiar with many of these features – it seems almost strange that Apple's premium over-ears haven't had half of them until now. That they're finally available on the Max 2 is welcome news, especially to iOS fans.

But is it a simple matter of adding the same chip to the new headphones and calling it a day, or is there more going on beneath the surface to tailor the experience to the over-ear AirPods?

H2 chip: a constant evolution

The H2 also powers so many of the AirPods Max 2's features and performance; but these new additions and sound/ANC improvements aren't done in isolation.

As I speak to Tim Millet and Eric Treski, Apple's director of Audio Product Marketing, they both confirm that the various teams involved – the acoustic team, the hardware engineering, product engineering, software engineering, firmware teams – all work together, continually communicating to create and develop what they want to achieve in every headphone product.

That's possible thanks to the silicon base, which Millet says has "evolved and grown" from the first time we encountered it four years ago in the Pro 2.

"When we were imagining H2 many years ago," says Millet, "we appreciated that the team was going to be focused on this range of products, not just one product." And so the aim was to offer the acoustic team a rich platform that was extensible – one where new capabilities and functions could be added over the years.

"We really go down to the fundamentals," says Millet. "We go and sit down with the acoustic engineers and with our firmware engineers – the folks who live and breathe audio – and we try to figure out what are the essential tools [they] need to be able to deliver not only the short term version of what maybe your initial feature set might be, but how do we build an extensible platform on which you can build over time?"

Apple doesn't use off-the-shelf components or chips. The H2 chip is unique to Apple and custom-built for its products, with energy efficiency and the lowest possible latency being a big part of its architecture to offer a seamless experience.

On top of that, Treski says that in the AirPods, "the amplifiers, the drivers, the whole architecture system – all of that is custom-made. They're not taken off the shelf and pieced together – everything is purpose-built".

That's a very privileged position to be in compared with most of its rivals, meaning that Apple has full control and visibility over every element of its audio products, without having to rely on third-party suppliers.

Adapting H2 features from in-ears to over-ears design

In the AirPods Max 2, the H2 chip has allowed the brand's engineers the opportunity to tweak its existing features, and bring new ones in too. The 40mm custom drivers return, but powering them is a new high dynamic amplifier – the very same amplifier, Treski tells me, as the one used in the AirPods Pro 3.

Alongside that, the additional bandwidth of the H2 chip allowed Apple to deliver "next-generation" Adaptive EQ.

Adaptive EQ might be the secret, silent ingredient of AirPods. This always-on feature uses the inward-facing microphone to constantly adjust the frequency in real time (48,000 times a second, in fact) to optimise the sound to the wearer's ear shape and fit of the headphones/earbuds at all times.

We've experienced Adaptive EQ in the in-ear designs of the Pro 2 and Pro 3 buds before, so surely it's a matter of simply sticking the same feature onto the over-ears? Not quite.

Treski explains that in an in-ear product, that inward mic crucial for Adaptive ANC is much more directed into your ear canal and towards your eardrum, whereas on the over-ear Max 2, that mic sits much further out of your ear. The mic is situated in the centre of the earcups (in the Max 2), so even though it is pointed right at your ear, it's much further away.

“So there are advantages to having bigger headphones and bigger drivers and such, but at the same time, it’s really tricky for the algorithms to get Adaptive EQ to work very, very well with a mic that’s sitting so much further away," he says. “So that took a lot of effort and work in a different way than it would with an in-ear product.”

It's one of the many examples of where the advanced features made possible thanks to the H2 chip – but so far only experienced on in-ear models – have been tailored to the over-ear performance.

“Getting these many familiar features to function in this new form factor requires a level of specialisation across all the algorithms and firmware," says Millet. "So yes, it is the same piece of silicon, but really, by itself, it's nothing without adding on all the layering of audio expertise that was put into the algorithms."

ANC improvements had a surprise inspiration

Active noise cancellation and Adaptive Audio were other areas that had their challenges.

The AirPods Max 2 claim to offer 1.5 times more ANC than their predecessor (a number measured "across an average of all frequencies," says Treski) and that was made possible by the additional computational algorithms made available inside the H2 chip.

What's more, Treski says a lot of the learnings for improving ANC in the Max 2 came from a surprising place: the AirPods 4 with ANC.

"That product was insanely challenging to do, to get ANC that good in a product that doesn't have ear tips. And that was a massive undertaking and challenge for our acoustic engineering team... So all those learnings essentially contributed to AirPods Pro 3, and then applying that into AirPods Max as well."

One of my favourite AirPods Pro features in recent years has been Adaptive Audio, which adjusts the level of ANC according to your surroundings without compromising the sound quality of what you're listening to.

I've found the effect to be so natural that it's almost invisible in use – the shifts in noise modes are so subtly done that you can't hear or feel the seams, and it works a treat in daily use. That experience is repeated with the Max 2, where you're able to stay aware of your surroundings – on your commute, for instance – while still being able to enjoy the music being played.

“Being able to do that from a technical capability is more or less pretty straightforward," says Treski. "What's challenging to do, is to do that in a way that's enjoyable. What’s interesting about that is, even though the tuning and how you do it between the in-ear product and over-ear product is the same, what's so difficult about that is making sure that it's actually a good experience. Because we need to ensure that we're doing it in a way that's not annoying, and in a way that you would like."

There are rivals from Sony, Bose, Technics, Sennheiser and more that feature various different noise modes, especially Transparency or adaptive modes, but in my experience, none of them sounds quite as natural in their implementation as AirPods do.

While rivals might outdo the 'Pods in some areas, such as outright sound and ANC, the way Apple balances its sonic signature and deploys its noise modes so naturally is quite remarkable.

To me, it never sounds artificial or like it's working too hard – which is an accomplishment in its own right. It's gratifying to hear that, alongside the technical aspects, 'enjoyment' is high on Apple's list of priorities for headphones.

"A very balanced sound signature"

And what about sound quality? Apple has a stellar record in recent years of maintaining a similar sonic balance across its products, from the AirPods 4 with ANC to the AirPods Pro 3 buds, and even the AirPods Max over-ears.

“Ultimately, the goal is to find a very balanced sound signature that has very clear separation of frequencies, that’s enjoyable to listen to for all different types of media and (by) all different types of people,” says Treski.

Millet reinforces this statement by saying that his team's job is to create a flexible, programmable and adaptable platform that allows the acoustic and product teams to maintain that familial audio quality across the AirPods product range, and meet the big challenges across different form factors.

"I think Apple's silicon story is a really great secret weapon for us," says Millet.

"But there's no cheating on sound quality. You can’t stick a DSP in and go short on some other thing. It really does require careful engineering across the entire platform.”

Do the long-awaited second-generation Apple over-ear headphones live up to the hype? Read our AirPods Max 2 review to find out.

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Well, the day finally came. After months of speculation, rumours and mutterings on the grapevine, the Apple AirPods Max 2 wireless over-ears have officially landed, and they've got quite the shoes to fill.

The AirPods Max 2 headphones are one of the most anticipated sequels of recent memory – with the original launching in 2020, six years is more than a lifetime in this fast-moving market.

They've promised a whole raft of improvements to sound and ANC performance, plus fresh features, thanks to the inclusion of Apple's latest H2 chip.

Excitement abounds, but for all that excitement, it's hard not to also be a little disappointed at the hoped for changes that haven't materialised.

Apple describes the AirPods Max 2 as delivering "the ultimate over-ear listening experience" – those teased improvements will likely move things forward, but has the tech giant left a few blind spots which could hinder the success of its flagship wireless cans?

Excited: potentially better sound

This is, of course, the most important question to ask of the AirPods Max 2: how will they sound?

Not only do the Max 2 have to sound superior to their five-star predecessors, they also need to head off competition from the premium over-ears which have raised the sonic bar in the years since the original AirPods Max launched in 2020.

At this premium level, that includes the slightly cheaper Sony WH-1000XM6 (currently £329 / $400 / AU$699), the Dali IO-8 (currently £499 / $500 / AU$1000), and the benchmark-setting Sennheiser HDB 630 (£400 / $500 / AU$1000).

This means that the AirPods Max 2 seriously have their work cut out for them, and while the advanced H2 chip, the custom 40mm drivers and new high dynamic amplifier are promising a step-up in sound quality, it may not be enough.

Much as we like the clear, pristine and natural sound of the original over-ears, Apple must raise its game significantly if it's going to keep up with the competition that has moved on a lot in the last six years.

Don't believe us? Just take the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) as a case in point. The second-gen over-ears are better than their predecessors in every sonic sense, yet they missed out on a fifth star for sound for failing to keep up with flagship rivals from the likes of Sony, Dali and Sennheiser.

Apple has the resources and know-how to keep up, but it can't let complacency win the day. The much-anticipated Max 2 now house a new high dynamic range amplifier in pursuit of clearer, cleaner audio, while updated DSP and Adaptive EQ aims to improve sound quality even further.

We're testing the Max 2 very soon, so let's hope we hear significant improvement here.

Disappointed: same battery life as before

This feels like a bit of a shame. Apple's second-gen over-ears promise up to 20 hours of listening time from a single charge with noise cancelling on, which is identical to the figures boasted by the older model.

That's not a terrible number, but the original AirPods Max's battery life was never truly outstanding, and it's certainly an area we'd love to have seen improved – especially when rivals such as the Sony WH-1000XM6 (30 hours) and Sennheiser HDB 630 (60 hours) offer more hours.

While the more advanced H2 chip is more power-hungry, it still feels like a wasted opportunity that Apple decided to forego any bump in battery life.

Excited: improved noise cancelling

This could be a real ace up the Max 2's sleeve.

Active noise-cancellation has reportedly been given a significant boost thanks to the implementation of the H2 chip and revised audio algorithms, with Apple teasing ANC performance that’s "up to 1.5x more effective than the previous generation".

Transparency mode, too, is claimed to sound more natural thanks to a newly optimised digital signal processing algorithm. Considering how good the transparency mode of the original Max was, it will be interesting to see how Apple plans to top that benchmark this time around.

There are also new Apple features on the menu to make noise cancelling the best it's ever been. Adaptive Audio, for instance, automatically adjusts levels of noise cancelling in response to environmental noise, something we've seen used to great effect on the Apple AirPods Pro 3 wireless earbuds.

The ANC of the outgoing AirPods Max was excellent, offering a natural yet highly effective experience in shutting out the outside world. Refining this performance and taking it to new heights could see the Max 2 take the fight to their noise-cancelling rivals from Sony and Bose.

Disappointed: that ridiculous case is back

Oh, that darned case. They just couldn't help themselves, could they?

We might be wrong, but we can't imagine that there was a huge clamour among even the most dedicated of Apple acolytes to see the return of the headphones' frankly ridiculous 'holster-style' carry case.

To quote from our original review: "Not only does it look daft, it doesn’t perform even the most basic function of a typical case, which is protecting the product contained within from knocks, scratches and dirt. The case doesn’t cover the headband or the tops or bottoms of the cups, so is only vaguely more protective than simply shoving them naked into your bag." That just about sums up our misgivings.

Apple has not heeded those warnings, and so the holster returns for the sequel, so we'd advise getting a third-party case if you want to keep your new headphones safe and sound. Just be aware that the official carry case does put your AirPods Max into a handy ultra-low-power mode that will preserve that battery life, something which you won't get from third-party providers.

It's also sad to note that the AirPods Max 2 don't fold away, either. Even Sony bowed to this customer demand and made its WH-1000XM6 foldable, which makes them more convenient for portable use, commutes and simply carrying them in your bag. Considering the AirPods Max 2 are fairly heavy premium designs, this would've been a nice update. But alas, no dice.

Excited: new and improved H2 features

The implementation of the H2 chip (an update from the original model's dated H1 chip) unlocks Apple's most up-to-date raft of features, many of which we've already experienced in the brand's recent AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with ANC and Pro 3 earbuds.

These include Adaptive Audio, which automatically adjusts levels of noise cancelling in response to surrounding noise, and Apple's 'Live Translation' feature, which will transcribe conversations in real time for iOS users. We've already seen these features in the five-star AirPods Pro 3 earbuds, and are big fans of how adaptive audio adjusts our ANC experience effectively on the fly.

Other useful features have also transferred across from the newer generations of AirPods, including 'Conversation Mode', which automatically pauses your music when you start speaking or take your headphones off.

Voice calls should be better, too, as the new voice isolation tech promises to emphasise human speech while more effectively blocking out ambient noise during phone or video calls.

Apple also promises that Spatial Audio content will sound better than ever, with "improved localisation of instruments, more accurate bass response, and more natural-sounding mids and highs".

We found the spatial audio capacities of the outgoing AirPods Max cans to be superb in creating a virtual surround experience from 5.1, 7.1 and even Dolby Atmos content, so the idea of this already-excellent feature getting a boost has us desperate to give it a go. Movie night, anyone?

While we have a few misgivings, it's hard not to be excited about the arrival of the AirPods Max 2.

In the last few years, Apple has done a fine job in meeting expectations as overall standards of performance continue to rise, especially across its wireless earbuds.

Can the brand repeat that success in the over-ear category? The performance of premium rivals has improved significantly since the original AirPods Max were released, so the AirPods Max 2 certainly have their work cut out.

Still, the integration of that H2 chip, the updated acoustics and a premium design all point to a potentially impressive upgrade for the AirPods Max 2. Stay tuned for our full review next week to find out how they fare.

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Sennheiser's headphone division could soon have a new owner.

Its current owner – Swiss hearing care company Sonova – wants to sell Sennheiser's headphone division and instead focus on its core business of hearing aids and cochlear implants, Heise online reports.

Sennheiser has a rich history in audio. For over 80 years, it has been making audio devices like headphones, microphones and soundbars. Highlights include the world's first open-backed headphones and the HD 25 which set the standard for pro headphones.

More recently, the HDB 630 scored five stars and elevated sound quality for premium wireless headphones, thanks in part to their handy USB dongle accessory.

Sonova took over Sennheiser's headphone division in 2021. The CEO at the time – Arnd Kaldowski – said it would be business as usual for Sennheiser. But now that Eric Bernard has succeeded Kaldowski as CEO, the plan looks to have changed.

Sonova insists it wants to find Sennheiser's consumer division "the best possible owner". But what it could mean for the business, its workforce, and its products is as yet unclear.

We've contacted Sennheiser for comment and will update this if we hear back.

There have been a lot of acquisitions and sales in the hi-fi and home cinema world recently.

TCL is buying Sony's TV business, VerVent Audio (owner of Focal and Naim) is being bought by Belgian firm Barco, while Chinese firm Skyworth is buying Panasonic.

At the end of last year, Harman bought Masimo's audio brands (including Bowers & Wilkins, Denon and Marantz).

Uncertain times. Let's hope it all works out for the best for Sennheiser.

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Bowers & Wilkins has introduced a range of new finishes for two of its most popular headphones: the Pi8 flagship wireless earbuds and the five-star Px7 S3 over-ear cans.

The range-topping Pi8 buds are now available in new 'Dark Burgundy' and 'Pale Mauve' finishes, expanding on the four established colourways already on the market.

Further, B&W is introducing a new 'Vintage Maroon' finish for its five-star Px7 S3 noise-cancelling cans, sitting alongside the established Canvas White, Anthracite Black, Indigo Blue and Frost Blue finishes already available.

We never felt that either the Px7 S3 were particularly lacking in style to begin with, calling the latter a "delight" and noting that we were "struggling to think of a nicer-looking pair at this price" during our review.

The Pi8, meanwhile, have always been a "stylish" pair of buds which we liked "to see and touch" during testing, but given that you'll likely pick up a pair for their chic sense of style as much as their five-star sound, a few extra colourways are very much on-brand for B&W.

The new Pi8 Pale Mauve and Dark Burgundy finishes will be available from 19^th March, priced at £369 / €419 / $499, an advance on their original £349 / $399 price from 2024.

The Vintage Maroon finish for the Px7 S3 will be available on the same date, and will set you back £399 / €429 / $479, an increase of $20 on the original price for US buyers.

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These Bluetooth headphones promise to be the first in the world to feature a valve-based preamp stage, a DAC and dual-mono amplification – tech you would usually find in a proper hi-fi setup.

Newcomer Écoute Audio claims that the TH1 design is closer to a high-end hi-fi system than a pair of premium Bluetooth headphones. They feature discrete electronic elements, "each engineered to maximise sonic performance and deliver a true dual-mono signal path."

This makes them different to most wireless headphones, which use System on a Chip (SoC) technology from manufacturers like Qualcomm. SoC is very efficient, but it's also used as the brains of a smartphone, and so it isn't engineered primarily for sound quality.

A new type of valve

Key to the TH1 is the Nutube 6P1 dual-triode valve, which acts as a stereo preamp. This shapes the sound with "harmonic richness and dimensionality" before passing it on to a pair of Class A/B analogue amplifiers.

It adds voltage gain while keeping the left and right channels separate. It also eliminates crosstalk and preserves imaging.

The Nutube 6P1 was developed in Japan by Korg and Noritake Itron. It was used due to its tiny size, cool running and low power consumption. You can actually see the valve through a small window in the left ear cup, glowing turquoise.

Valves make for a warmer, more natural sound than transistors. It has been possible to listen to headphones with valve technology before, but only by plugging them into a desktop or portable valve amp.

Weighing it up

There is a downside to this tech: the weight. The headphones weigh 424g – that might not sound too much, considering what they pack. But it is significantly heavier than the AirPods Max 2, which tip the scales at a hefty 386.2g.

As well as Bluetooth 5.3, you can listen wired via the USB-C or 3.5mm ports. The TH1 support Sony's LDAC codec for higher-quality wireless listening, alongside the standard AAC. Listening wired gives you a resolution of up to 32-bit/384kHz.

When using the 3.5mm jack, you can select 'active mode' to use the TH1's built-in valve preamp and dual-mono power amp, or 'passive mode' to power them with an external amp, like normal wired headphones.

They also pack active noise cancellation (ANC) with a Transparency Mode to allow in some outside sounds. The aluminium body has replaceable memory foam earpads, and they come in a choice of Gunmetal or Satin Aluminium. The battery lasts for a quoted 20-plus hours – for reference, the AirPods Max 2 only last a disappointing 20 hours, though they don't have a valve preamp built in.

The TH1 also have an app: the Écoute Tuning App for iOS and Android modifies parameters within the headphones' Digital Signal Processing (DSP) at the digital source level before it's converted to analogue. This should preserve the signal's integrity and resolution, and should make for a more authentic sound than that altered by an app-based equaliser that applies a digital filter before the signal leaves your device.

Écoute makes some bold claims, but if they hold up, these could be a landmark pair of headphones. They're available now in the UK via distributor Electromod for £900 (around $1200 / AU$1700).

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To mark its centenary last year, Philips announced that it will be reviving its classic Moving Sound range of products from the 1980s – think bold yellow colours, burly boomboxes, and slimline on-ear headphones to plug into your portable cassette player.

At Philips' headquarters in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, I was shown an early preview of the upcoming reimagined modern range, which features portable Bluetooth speakers (the modern boomboxes), updated on-ear headphones with wireless connectivity and a brand-new pair of true wireless earbuds.

Philips has now confirmed the final product names, specifications and prices of its modern Moving Sound range.

The two portable Bluetooth speakers are called The Tube (MS80) and The Roller (MS60), and they both feature Bluetooth 6.0, Auracast sharing technology, IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, and 24 hours of battery life.

The Tube is the bigger and more powerful of the two speakers, boasting 140W of power driving two 12.7cm woofers and two 19mm tweeters, while dual passive radiators promise deep, dynamic bass.

There are large physical control buttons and a colour display that shows off an animated cassette graphic – a clear nod to its '80s roots. The Tube measures 51 x 20 x 16.5cm and has a carry handle and shoulder strap to make it easy to transport, and is priced at €350.

The Roller (MS60), meanwhile, is an iconic '80s name and design that has been modernised for the today's listeners. It's a smaller portable speaker at 38 x 20 x 12cm, and features a built-in carry handle.

It features a "true stereo acoustic architecture" with 60W of power driving a dedicated woofer, tweeter and passive radiator, while Moving Sound Bass+ technology promises powerful bass response. The Roller is priced at €180, with other pricing yet to be announced.

Like The Tube, this portable Bluetooth speaker also features a colourful screen that displays the cassette animation and both models can be used as a power bank to charge your smartphone on the go. You can control both speakers using the Philips Entertainment App, too.

Next up is The Ringo Duo (MS1) headphones that sport a lightweight, on-ear design and are yours for just €35. This classic on-ear headphone design has been updated with wireless Bluetooth connectivity, while also allowing you to listen in wired USB-C mode.

They feature 40mm drivers, and have a built-in AI microphone for clearer calls that also aim to reduce background noise. Designed for ultimate portability and comfort, the Ringo Duo headphones have an adjustable headband and come with three sets of detachable ear cushions. 26 hours of battery life is promised, too.

Of course, we didn't have wireless earbuds in the '80s, but Philips' revived Moving Sound range wouldn't be complete without a set of true wireless earbuds. According to Philips, The Buds (MS3) "bring the collection fully into the modern age while maintaining the playful spirit of the original design language."

The Buds feature hybrid active noise cancellation, spatial audio, multi-point connectivity and Auracast support. Six microphones ensure "excellent" ANC ability, while three AI mics are used to ensure clear voice calls even in busy surroundings.

We are promised a total battery life of 42 hours (with ANC off) with the charging case, while a 10-minute charge will give you two hours of playback. The earbuds are IP54-rated, while various controls can be personalised using the Philips Headphones App.

The rather large, round charging case comes with a display screen, much like JBL's Tour Pro 2 smart display case, and it can also display the same cassette animation seen on the portable speakers. The Buds are competitively priced at €80. Other prices are TBC.

All products in Philips' new Moving Sound range are available in yellow or black finishes with neon pink accents to capture that retro '80s aesthetic.

All four models will be available in Q2 of 2026 and aim to deliver the "bold spirit of the original 1980s Philips designs with a fresh mix of colour, style and modern performance."

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Philips has expanded its extensive Fidelio audio range with two new additions: the FA7 micro hi-fi system and the L5 over-ear wireless headphones.

Aimed at "audio enthusiasts who value both sound quality and aesthetic appeal", the new additions aim to bring Philips' signature sound to two distinct corners of the audio market.

We'll start with the Fidelio FA7, a source-and-speakers micro hi-fi system that puts us in mind of the Award-winning Denon D-M41DAB (now around £269), a system we've so often lauded for its compact footprint, effortless versatility and excellent performance.

Like the Denon, the Philips Fidelio FA7 micro system consists of a pair of stereo speakers alongside a main source unit, although it's set to be a fair bit pricer at €600. The system features a digital display accompanied by on-unit controls for managing volume, playback and equaliser settings.

The FA7 promises "deep bass, clear mids and sparkling highs" thanks to 120 watts of power feeding a 12.7cm glass-fibre woofer and a 25mm titanium dome tweeter.

Modern connectivity comes courtesy of wi-fi streaming via the likes of Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, Spotify and Tidal Connect, while FM, DAB+ and internet radio tuners are available alongside standard Bluetooth.

A motorised CD tray takes care of your shiny compact discs, while a USB-A input lets you plug in other audio sources. There's also a front-mounted 3.5mm headphone port if you want to get up close and personal with your tunes.

For listening on the go, Philips has also unveiled the Fidelio L5 wireless headphones, which tease an "expansive and immersive sound". They feature a set of bespoke 36mm drivers and support the hi-res LDAC Bluetooth codec, which allows you to stream up to 32-bit/96kHz files at 990kbps data transmission rates.

While LDAC is on board for higher quality wireless streaming, the Fidelio L5 also offer a wired connection to your source thanks to 3.5mm and USB-C ports.

Spatial audio is supported if you want a more immersive experience, while a grand total of five microphones are designed to offer "state of the art" active noise cancelling, including an adaptive mode which automatically adjusts to your surroundings in real time.

A trio of AI-assisted microphones aim for crystal-clear voice calls, while smart wear detection pauses music whenever your cans are removed from your head.

Philips promises that its newest over-ears are a seamless blend of comfort and design, featuring a curved ergonomic headband and deep oval ear cushions for long-lasting wearability.

The Fidelio FA7 micro hi-fi system is due to arrive in the final quarter 2026, priced at €600. The Fidelio L5 wireless headphones will follow in October 2026, priced at €200. We'll update this article when we receive further prices.

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Out of nowhere, Apple has announced a new pair of AirPods Max headphones. The original pair launched at the end of 2020, followed by a minor refresh in 2024. And then in March 2026, with no warning whatsoever, Apple announced a new flagship.

While the 2024 refresh switched the connector port from Lightning to USB-C, very little else changed. The AirPods Max 2, however, promise new features, more effective ANC and enhanced sound quality.

Let's see what's actually new.

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs AirPods Max: price

The original AirPods Max launched at £549 / $549 / AU$899, which at the time was an unprecedented price for a pair of wireless consumer headphones (though similarly-priced rivals soon emerged). The 2024 refresh dropped the UK price to £499, while the US and Australian price tags remained unchanged.

The AirPods Max 2 cost the same in the UK and US, though the price has risen by AU$100 in Australia. You'll pay £499 / $549 / AU$999 for the sequel.

Coupled with the higher chance of a discount now that they're being replaced, this round just goes to the original AirPods Max.

** Winner: Apple AirPods Max **

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs AirPods Max: build & comfort

The original AirPods Max set new standards in terms of luxurious materials and comfort levels, but Apple is curiously quiet on the build of the second-gen model. Apart from bigging up the product's environmental credentials (they're made with "100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets," for example), it doesn't say anything about the comfort or fit. So it's safe to assume it's stuck with the same design as the original Max.

That's no bad thing, as the originals excel in this area, making rival pairs feel cheap in comparison. They boast single-piece anodised aluminium ear cups connected by a stainless-steel headband with a breathable mesh canopy. The memory foam ear cushions prove comfortable while also sealing you off from outside sounds.

The AirPods Max 2 weigh the same 386.2g as the first-gen pair. That's pretty heavy, but thanks to some very clever weight distribution, the headphones never weigh you down.

They offer the same winning digital crown control method as the original pair, but they also have the same much-derided Smart Case – on the plus side, it keeps them in an ultra-low-power mode to preserve battery, but on the other hand, it looks like a bra. And it won't protect vast areas of them if dropped.

In summary, very little has changed in terms of design, and that's both good and bad news. The AirPods Max 2 even come in the same five finishes as the 2024 refresh: Midnight, Starlight, Blue, Purple and Orange.

** Winner: Draw **

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs AirPods Max: features

So far, very little has changed. But it's in the features department that Apple has supposedly made some real strides. The AirPods Max 2 have an H2 chip, compared to the original pair's H1. This enables features previously seen in Apple's AirPods Pro 3 earbuds.

Adaptive Audio automatically adjusts levels of noise cancelling to account for environmental noise, while Live Translation translates conversations in real time.

Voice Isolation brings voices to the fore while minimising ambient noise, so you can hear the person you're calling more clearly. And you can press the Digital Crown to activate your iPhone's camera shutter.

And you can respond to Siri announcements by nodding or shaking your head.

These join the original AirPods Max's feature set, which includes Bluetooth (version 5.0 on the original, 5.3 on the AirPods Max 2), active noise cancellation (ANC) and Transparency mode, as well as wired listening over USB-C.

Sadly, the battery life remains at 20 hours. That's borderline pitiful, considering the Sennheiser HDB 630 manage three times that.

** Winner: AirPods Max 2 **

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs AirPods Max: noise cancellation

Until we've reviewed the AirPods Max 2, we can't comment on the noise cancellation. But it has supposedly improved since the original pair.

Apple says that thanks to the H2 chip and revised audio algorithms, the AirPods Max 2 offer active noise cancellation that's up to 1.5x more effective than their predecessors. Transparency mode – which allows in outside sounds to keep you more aware of your surroundings – should also sound more natural thanks to the optimised algorithm for processing digital signals.

The AirPods Max 2 have the same total of nine microphones, eight of which are employed for ANC duties.

In our Apple AirPods Max review, we described the original's noise cancellation as "excellent". They let very little noise through, and are very good at combatting chit-chat. It's a subtle, natural effect which many people will prefer over the vacuum-like feeling of some more effective pairs.

** Winner: TBC **

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs AirPods Max: sound

The original AirPods Max earned five stars and a What Hi-Fi? Award, so they obviously sound pretty amazing. And the AirPods Max 2 should sound even better, according to Apple.

While they maintain the same sonic signature as the originals, there's a new high dynamic range amplifier that should make the audio cleaner. Spatial Audio should sound better with improved instrument placement, "more accurate and consistent bass response, and more natural-sounding mids and highs."

You get the same 24-bit/48kHz lossless audio over the USB-C cable as their predecessors, while we're also promised reduced audio latency over wireless.

In our review we praised the original AirPods Max's "super-crisp and spacious" delivery. "Light on their feet, rhythmically nimble and exciting, they feel like a significant step up in terms of sonic sophistication, as well as build quality, from most headphones that came before them," we noted.

It's worth noting that this was in 2020, before the premium class of wireless headphones really existed. But they still stand up six years down the line – in fact, Apple didn't see fit to adjust the audio for the 2024 refresh.

"Trials Of The Past positively crackles with energy and the Apples add an extra layer of sizzle and attack that’s impossible to ignore," we wrote.

They bring a sense of texture and solidity to any track they convey. But be warned: they will show up flaws in lower-quality recordings.

We're very much looking forward to testing the AirPods Max 2 and will update this section once we have.

** Winner: TBC**

Apple AirPods Max 2 vs AirPods Max: early verdict

The AirPods Max 2 look better than the originals in several ways. They have a handful of new features and promise advances in both the crucial areas of sound quality and active noise cancellation. Add the same premium design, and we could have quite a proposition on our hands.

It's just a shame about the battery life. And the case.

We'll have a full review of the AirPods Max 2 as soon as possible, and will update this article once we do.

MORE:

Read our original Apple AirPods Max review

Apple AirPods Max vs AirPods Max 2024: what are the differences?

The best noise-cancelling headphones you can buy

Stop what you're doing, Apple fans, because the day has finally come: the AirPods Max 2 are here!

After months, even years, of speculation, the fully-fledged sequel to the original five-star AirPods Max over-ear headphones have officially landed, teasing more effective ANC, better sound and new features powered by Apple's forward-looking H2 chip.

The much-anticipated headphones house a new high dynamic range amplifier in pursuit of clearer, cleaner audio.

Apple also promises that Spatial Audio content will sound better than ever, with "improved localisation of instruments, more accurate bass response, and more natural-sounding mids and highs".

If you want to go for the highest fidelity possible, the AirPods Max 2 support 24-bit/48 kHz lossless audio when connected to the included USB-C cable.

Noise-cancelling has been given a boost, too. Thanks to the H2 chip and revised audio algorithms, the second-gen AirPods Max promise ANC that’s "up to 1.5x more effective than the previous generation", while Transparency mode claims to sound more natural thanks to a newly optimised digital signal processing algorithm.

There are also new Apple features on the menu. Adaptive Audio automatically adjusts levels of noise cancelling in response to environmental noise, while active 'Live Translation' translates conversations in real time – two features we've already seen implemented in the five-star AirPods Pro 3 earbuds.

For voice calls, the Max 2 make use of Apple's voice isolation tech powered by the H2 chip, with the aim of emphasising human speech while effectively blocking out ambient noise from intruding on your conversations.

The second-gen cans promise up to 20 hours of listening time from one charge with noise cancelling on, matching the figures of the outgoing model.

Hands-free features also aim to make the new wireless headphones more accessible on the go. A camera remote lets users take pictures or record videos by pressing the 'Digital Crown' while using the Camera app or compatible third-party camera apps on iPhone or iPad.

'Siri Interactions', conversely, allow users to respond to Siri announcements by nodding or shaking their head.

According to Apple's director of Audio Product Marketing, Eric Teski: "With the incredible performance of H2, AirPods Max are upgraded with up to 1.5x more effective ANC for the ultimate all-day listening experience. The sound quality is remarkably clean, rich, and acoustically detailed, and when combined with capabilities like Personalised Spatial Audio, AirPods Max 2 deliver a profoundly immersive experience". But then he would say that...

The Apple AirPods Max 2 will be available to order on 25th March, priced at £499 / $549, in a choice of Starlight (the gold/silver finish seen on other Apple devices), Orange, Purple or Blue colourways.

We've been anticipating the second-gen headphones for quite some time now, so to see the Max 2 arrive – at the same price as their predecessors, no less – is something of a big deal.

Will they live up to our expectations? We'll let you know once we get hold of a pair for testing.

MORE:

Read our original Apple AirPods Max review

Apple AirPods Max vs AirPods Max 2024: what are the differences?

AirPods Pro 3 vs AirPods 4 with ANC: which of Apple's noise-cancelling earbuds will suit you best?

How do active noise-cancelling headphones work? Are they worth it?

Despite plenty of competition in the wireless headphones space, JBL is one brand that shows no sign of slowing down on the product front.

It has just launched two additions to its Live series of headphones, both of which boast battery life that rivals such as Sony and Bose still struggle to deliver.

The JBL Live 780NC and Live 680NC are over- and on-ear designs, respectively, and each uses a 40mm dynamic driver to deliver sound.

Compared with previous Live models, JBL has refreshed the design, opting for sleeker looks, smoother surfaces, and metallic accents this time around.

Both pairs are fully foldable with soft-touch ear cushions and both customisable button and touch controls which can be tweaked through the JBL Headphone app.

The headphones also feature JBL’s True Adaptive Noise Cancelling 2.0 with real-time noise filtering; the processing power has been given a boost, so background distractions are reduced even more than with previous iterations.

Both pairs also use two beam-forming mics combined with an “an enhanced AI-trained noise-cancellation algorithm”, in an attempt to enhance call quality and more efficiently remove traffic, wind and background hum.

Battery life is claimed to be 50 hours with ANC on and around 80 hours with ANC off. That’s even more than what both the flagship Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) can muster.

JBL Spatial Sound is included for those seeking extra immersion from their music and movies, and both pairs of headphones offer LE Audio and LDAC support for higher-quality Bluetooth streaming. There is also Multipoint Bluetooth, which allows two devices to be connected to the headphones simultaneously.

Available in five different finishes (which sees new green and blue colours added to the standard Champagne, White and Black options), the JBL Live 780NC and JBL Live 680NC are available to order now for $249.95 and $159.95, respectively. UK availability is TBC.

MORE:

See our pick of the best noise-cancelling headphones

Read our Sony WH-1000XM6 review

Is the crown starting to slip on Bose, the king of noise-cancelling headphones?

In case you missed it, established audio brands Focal and Naim are set to be taken over by Belgian firm Barco. Better known for its healthcare tech, as well as assets in enterprise and entertainment, it seems on the face of it to be a slightly odd arrangement, considering Barco's lack of experience in the audio sector.

It's a realm into which the Belgian firm is keen to expand, however, with Barco aiming for an "evolution towards integrated audio-visual solutions, offering high‑end visualisation and audio solutions to both consumer and professional customers.”

We don't know exactly what the plan is at the moment, but we know that Barco wants to expand into home cinema, public spaces and professional cinema arenas, and with the acquisition of Focal and Naim, it's clearly keen on sound, too.

That's all well and good, and there's no question that the new ownership has the potential to put some significant financial backing into its latest acquisitions. The company's official revenue last year clocked in at around €963.8 million, a pretty decent amount for, potentially, pumping into audio and home entertainment.

Lots of money should be sloshing around, then, although we'll wait and see how Focal plans on using it, or the extent to which new ownership will have an effect on how the company is run.

Often, when smaller brands are amalgamated into larger ones, such as Arcam's integration within the wider world of Harman (in turn owned by the colossus that is Samsung), it tends to mean more resources and access to established consumer networks. The extent to which interference trickles down from above, of course, varies significantly.

What we're hoping for Focal, and indeed for Naim, is that it's generally business as usual. Focal's recent run of headphones, be they wired or wireless, has been outstanding, with the Bathys, Clear Mg and Bathys Mg over-ears impressing us mightily with five-star sound and looks that could kill. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

New owners don't tend to change sonic signatures, and we hope that's the case with Barco and its new assets. Focal's current crop of headphones really are some of the best in their respective classes, so we're not keen for a wholesale change sonically. If it ain't broke, and all that...

While a deviation from that tasty Focal blend of detail, spaciousness and sheer musicality might not be the route to take, we would tentatively welcome expansion into different ends of the market.

The brand's cans have tended to be focused on the upper echelons of the headphones landscape – the Focal Azurys tend to knock around at the bottom end of the scale, and they'll still set you back around £499 – so opening up to newer, more affordable avenues wouldn't be a bad thing. New ownership and more resources might free up the opportunity to do just that.

Focal has carved an impressive niche within the world of wired and wireless headphones, with very few brands capable of emulating the unique look and sound of its best and brightest.

What we want is a best of both worlds scenario. New avenues of expansion would be exciting, but sonically, with a brand like Focal, sometimes things are best left the way they are.

MORE:

What's in a Naim? Why are so many big hi-fi and home cinema brands being bought right now?

Onkyo, Ruark and Philips are all vying for desktop speaker supremacy – so which pair should you pick?

Best wireless headphones reviewed and rated by our in-house expert

Nothing has unveiled its second pair of mainline wireless over-ear headphones, and you can hardly miss them.

The colourful new Nothing Headphone (a) follow from the rather middling debut of the Headphone (1) from last year, this time aiming at a younger, trendier audience via their bass-oriented sound signature, lower price tag and colourful embellishments.

The new cans house a set of 40mm titanium-coated drivers, boasting a "strong and durable structure" for delivering a "powerful, distortion-free sound", with support for the hi-res LDAC Bluetooth codec for wireless streaming up to 24-bit/96 kHz.

Noise cancelling is on board, with the sophomore over-ears providing a variety of distinct flavours: standard noise cancelling sits alongside a transparency mode for letting more of the outside world pass into your lugs, while a hybrid ANC setting adapts noise cancellation in real time based on the surroundings and the fit of your headphones.

The big headline grabber on the features front is battery life. The Headphone (a) will furnish you with a rather staggering 135 hours of playback with ANC switched off, while a five-minute quick charge will provide around five hours of further listening in a pinch. At any price, we're struggling to think of a pair of wireless headphones that can match those numbers.

The Headphone (a) sport a similar aesthetic as the the established Headphone (1), albeit with rounded earcups which now boast a splash of extra colour.

The new over-ears opt for a combination of three main control types: a roller, a paddle and a customisable button, while a memory foam headband and earcups are designed for greater user comfort.

The Nothing Headphone (a) are available now, priced at £149 / €159, a good deal cheaper than the £299 / $299 / AU$549 of the standard Headphone (1). White, black and pink earcup finishes are on the menu, as well as a natty limited edition yellow colourway arriving on April 6th.

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Best headphones 2026: tested by our experts

Anker has launched its latest pair of noise-cancelling wireless headphones, the Soundcore Space 2, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

A £130 / $130 price tag means they sit in the mid-price range of wireless headphones, where the Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT are our current Award winners.

The Hi-X25BT, however, do not have active noise cancellation (ANC), while the Soundcore Space 2 very much do. ANC on the new Soundcore headphones is provided by an "advanced, four-stage, low-frequency noise cancelling system", which Anker says automatically adjusts for “optimal performance on the go”.

Driving their sonic performance are 40mm double-layer drivers, consisting of a silk diaphragm with metal ceramic material. These promise to produce “full, rich bass, clear vocals and crystal clear highs”, according to the Chinese electronics manufacturer.

The LDAC codec is supported, so users can stream hi-res audio up to 24-bit/96kHz over Bluetooth from compatible devices. Audio can also be personalised via the Soundcore app, which features HearID 3.0, a clever function that tests the user’s hearing and customises audio to add lower, mid or higher frequencies, depending on what it deems to be lacking.

A claimed 70-hour battery life (50 with ANC turned on) means they would last as long as the four-star, recently reviewed Philips TAH8000E. This is more than twice as long as the Award-winning Austrian Audio (30 hours).

To make voice calls clearer, Anker includes three microphones and AI noise reduction. Meanwhile, soft memory foam padding and an "ergonomic" design aim to keep the headphones comfortable throughout all-day use.

Additionally, these wireless headphones feature Smart Wearing Detection, meaning audio playback stops automatically once they are removed from the head and restarts again once put back on.

Scheduled for global release on 21st April, the new headphones will be available in three finishes: linen white, jet black or seafoam green.

The Soundcore Space 2 wireless headphones will cost £130 / $130, while Australian price is TBC.

MORE:

Is the crown starting to slip on Bose, the king of noise-cancelling headphones?

Check out our picks for the best wireless headphones

Check your cans! Big-name headphones may have "hazardous" materials in them

Picture this, you’re walking in the park on a beautiful summer’s day, fully focused on your favourite song as it plays through your wireless headphones. But just as you're about to reach the best part, the battery dies and you’re left feeling disappointed and unfulfilled.

If you’re not keen on such an experience, it’s worth checking out the Philips TAH8000E over-ear wireless headphones. Provided the Dutch manufacturer’s claims of a 70-hour battery life (50 with ANC turned on) ring true, scenarios like the one described above shouldn’t happen too often.

But then who wants long-lasting headphones if they’re not fun to listen to? Let's find out if they are…

Price

If you’re in the UK, you can buy the Philips TAH8000E at Amazon for around £140 at the time of writing, although we have seen the price dip as low as £122, depending on the finish.

US customers can pick them up for $149 once they launch there later this month. Australians will have to wait until the second half of the year to get their hands on these Philips, when they will cost an estimated AU$246 based on current exchange rates.

This means the TAH-8000E currently sit in the mid-priced range of wireless headphones, a slightly underserved category that includes the Award-winning Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT (currently £129 / $199 / $289) – we fish this benchmark pair out of our stockroom for sound quality comparisons, although note that they don’t feature noise cancelling.

Sony’s WH-CH720N (£75 / $100 / $AU259) technically fall into the price category below the Philips, but are the nearest-priced Award-winning headphones with active noise cancellation, so we dig them out for our comparison tests, too.

Features

Philips’ claims of long battery life appear to ring true during our testing period. After giving the TAH8000E a full charge, seven hours of use with ANC turned off leaves us with 90 per cent juice, according to the Philips Headphones app. This suggests that they should comfortably beat the Sony (50 hours with ANC turned off) and Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT (30 hours) rivals.

Once the TAH8000E’s battery does eventually die, you can use the supplied 3.5mm cable (1m long) to continue pumping out your favourite tunes using a wired connection to your source device. Philips claims a 10-minute charge with the supplied USB-C cable will provide an extra eight hours of playtime, too.

While it’s handy to know how much listening time you have left (probably a while), Philips’ app lets you do much more. Not only does it allow you to fine-tune the active noise cancellation, but there are also custom EQ settings for music and voice calls, which make a noticeable difference to what you’re hearing. We would advise against using the ‘Dynamic Bass’ setting as more low-end isn’t needed here, but we find that enhancing the higher frequencies during calls makes voices clearer.

The spatial audio setting also widens the soundfield and, as a side effect, softens the impact of some of the bassier tones coming through when watching movies. Plus, there’s an ‘Explore’ section that provides access to a selection of tones and soundscapes – such as water droplets reverberating off the floor of a cave – for background listening, some of which are quite immersive and calming.

The TAH8000E are equipped with Bluetooth 5.4, and support Auracast sharing technology and multipoint connection. Additionally, they support the higher-quality LDAC codec alongside the standard SBC and AAC alternatives.

Sound

The first thing we notice about the Philips’s presentation is just how overblown the bass sounds. While bassline junkies may appreciate that, certainly if listening to tracks such as Trouble by Scorpio, the mid and higher frequencies feel overpowered in comparison. So, we dial down the low end using the app’s EQ settings. This helps to a fair degree, and restores a sense of balance.

Once that is done, we’re able to pick out the individual tom and hi-hat hits on The Trammps’ Disco Inferno with ease, while the drums collectively sound reasonably tight and crisp. These Philips headphones also do a good job conveying the song’s funky rhythm and we find ourselves nodding along to the beat.

The nodding continues as we explore some poppier tracks. These may not be the liveliest headphones, but the Philips' relatively calm presentation is mostly enjoyable nonetheless.

They wouldn’t be our first choice for more aggressive music, though. We play some hard-rocking Thin Lizzy, and while the Philips propel us through the songs adequately, things are not quite as gritty as we’d like them to be.

Dynamic handling is competitive. Beethoven’s Symphony No 7 builds slowly until you’re met by a nice wallop from the horns. This classic Beethoven piece also provides an opportunity to examine the level of detail on offer, and we find the strings have a decent amount of texture to them. There are so many elements that go into making a piece of music like this, and everything from the horns to the flutes comes through clearly.

Despite the complexity of the music, the Philips over-ears stay pleasingly composed, conveying a grand sense of scale, while neatly organising the different instruments so we can appreciate them individually and how they interact with the wider orchestra. The higher notes also sound crisp, but the Philips’ smooth tonal balance means they enter our eardrums without a hint of harshness.

While the class-leading Austrian Audio headphones have a more dynamic, detailed and energetic presentation overall, the TAH8000E still satisfy on their own terms. Comparisons with the cheaper Sony headphones prove interesting, with the Sonys sounding a little more cohesive and expressive overall, though not as detailed or refined through the midrange and treble.

As is the case with many wireless headphones, the Philips sound their best when hard-wired to an audio source. Clarity, detail levels and dynamic handling all receive a noticeable boost when connected to our laptop. This lets the vocals and higher frequencies shine brighter, so even though the low end still needs some taming, things sound more balanced overall.

Build & comfort

Whichever way you choose to make use of the Philips’ silk-coated 40mm drivers and their resulting performance, though, you can do so comfortably. Their soft, plush earcups are well-padded and cut you off from your surroundings well without letting your ears get overly hot. Philips also offers replacement ear cushions if they get worn out. A good layer of padding in the headband keeps the top of your head free from discomfort, too.

The clamping force isn’t overly tight and we’re able to move our glasses back and forth without too much resistance. They isolate you nicely from your surroundings even with ANC turned off. At 260g aren’t overly heavy, either.

Build quality is generally good, but ideally, some of the physical controls, all of which feature on the right earcup, could feel more precise. Pressing the button/lever to stop or start playback feels a little vague, for example.

While these controls feel pretty intuitive to use for the most part, you also have to rapidly flick the button/lever to make dramatic volume adjustments unless you resort to using the app.

The TAH8000E’s earcups can be rotated 90 degrees and tilted inwards, allowing them to fit neatly into a rucksack or the smooth but sturdy oval-shaped carrying case they are supplied with.

Another key element to these Philips headphones is the replaceable lithium-ion battery, which can be swapped out when it reaches end of life – in a bid to be more sustainable overall.

ANC & call quality

Of course, there’s not much point in having portable wireless over-ears if it means you're startled every time a car whizzes by or your music won’t drown out the conversation from the world’s most annoying train passengers. If you’re wearing the Philips, however, neither should give you too much grief thanks to capable active noise cancellation.

The headphones use five microphones and a ‘noise-reduction algorithm’ that the Dutch manufacturer says is optimised to block out a wide range of sounds. When we take these features for a test drive, we find the closed-back design is naturally isolating, meaning noise from passing cars is somewhat muffled even with ANC turned off, more so than when wearing the Sony CH720N.

Turning noise cancellation on, however, allows most car and wind noise to be ignored via the Philips cans.

Call quality is generally good. While voices lack some richness and warmth, conversations come through clearly and we can’t detect any background noise from passing cars during our test run. In comparison, the rival Sonys block out less noise from the road and are unable to match the Philips for clarity.

Verdict

Philips’ latest wireless headphones certainly have a strong battery life. Considering they’re also comfortable and efficient at isolating outside noise, the TAH8000E will likely have their suitors.

But to bring you back to our earlier question, are they worth listening to for as long as they last? Given their refinement and midrange clarity at this price level, we think so.

Review published: 27th February 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT

Also consider the Sony WH-CH720N

Best wireless headphones: reviewed and rated by our in-house experts

In all my years of testing wireless headphones, one thing I have never thought to myself is, “is Bose falling behind the competition?”

After all, this is a brand that has consistently mixed it with the best in the market and has been a benchmark for noise-cancelling headphones of all shapes and sizes.

And it’s not just because of its brilliant noise-cancelling that Bose consistently found itself among the class-leaders. Historically, its wireless headphones have produced some of the best sound quality too.

But in the past year or so, I’ve been testing Bose’s premium wireless earbuds and wireless headphones, comparing them with their main rivals; and the more time I’ve spent listening, the more I have found myself thinking that the cracks are starting to show.

Most recently, I’ve heard the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) against the Sony WF-1000XM6, and the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) against the Sennheiser HDB 630.

Both Bose pairs are still very comfortable, with good build quality, great noise-cancelling and decent features for the money. But there is a clear gap between them and the competition when it comes to overall sound quality.

The Bose offerings aren’t poor performers by any stretch, and when compared with their predecessors, you can certainly hear that the tech brand has managed to make small improvements in sound quality.

But when you compare the levels of detail, dynamics and clarity, they just can’t match what the class-leaders now offer.

And that lies at the heart of Bose’s current position. Rival brands have made significant advancements in sound quality in recent years.

Apple is now a serious contender in the headphones space – its AirPods Pro 3 earbuds being arguably its best wireless earbuds to date. And the AirPods Max show there is room for luxury wireless headphones at higher price points, offering exceptional build quality and sound quality for the money.

Technics has arrived on the premium scene and is now a contender, while Bowers & Wilkins has continued to push its headphones to new levels of performance. We have also seen Sennheiser do its own disrupting in the space with its new flagship, the HDB 630.

The market has evolved and improved when it comes to sound quality, and rivals now offer much more bang for your buck – they, it seems, have been making significant strides compared with Bose’s baby steps.

Have we reached a point where perhaps it's time for Bose to consider a serious overhaul of its tech and engineering? Possibly.

If its current trajectory continues, the noise from the competition could become too loud for even Bose’s talented noise-cancelling to handle.

MORE:

Our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): which flagship wireless over-ears are best?

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 vs Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones: which noise-cancelling pair is better?

Sony WH-1000XM6 vs Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): which flagship wireless over-ears are best?

If you want a great pair of premium wireless headphones, you are currently spoiled for choice. Many of the major audio brands are desperately vying for wire-free supremacy, with each sending its flagship champion out to bat armed with alluring designs, bulging feature sets and boundary-pushing sound in a bid to tempt would-be buyers into making a lasting commitment.

Sony’s What Hi-Fi? Award-winning WH-1000XM6 spent much of 2025 as the champions of the arena, but don’t think for a moment that this is a one-horse race. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) are still staking their claim as the active noise-cancelling kings, while Bowers & Wilkins’ Px7 S3 blend style and substance into one very appealing package.

Then there’s Sennheiser’s five-star HDB 630 flagship headphones which made a late play at the end of last year with one thing on their mind: knock Sony off its perch and take the premium wireless crown back to Sennheiser Towers.

We’re struggling to think of a time when this particular space has been so competitive. That’s great news for the consumer – higher standards and greater choice are never a bad thing – but all of that fierce competition can be a double-edged sword. After all, how are you supposed to know which cans deserve a place atop your noggin when they all promise potent performance and so many tantalising tricks?

That’s where we come in. Thanks to our exhaustive Group Test of the most talented premium headphones around, we're in the best position possible to let you know which wireless wonders are right for you.

We have tested the top four models across a range of criteria, including design, comfort, features and sound quality, putting you in the best position when it comes to picking your perfect pair of premium partners.

Each year, it seems, the needle is pushed further and further north, so that some brands which could once have expected a full five-star haul might find themselves outmatched by the sheer quality showcased by their talented rivals.

In isolation, Bose's flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen are better than ever, and their punchy, entertaining sound is certainly a noticeable step up over their first-generation antecedents.

For their lightweight comfort, foldable design and class-leading noise cancelling, they have so much to recommend them, especially for frequent flyers and commuters who value noise-cancelling above all.

Bose’s problem is that it hasn’t quite kept up with the rest of the pack on the audio front. We can still see the appeal of the overall package they provide, but if you’re looking for the best sound available at this premium level, their price-comparable adversaries have widened the margin to such an extent that Bose is in danger of being somewhat left behind.

Partly responsible for such a growing divide are the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3. While the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Sennheiser HDB 630 advance things further in the sound quality department, we can’t deny that the B&Ws’ premium quality materials and design make them worthy of their high price tag.

Their noise-cancelling abilities may not be class leading, but they deliver a rich, full-bodied sound that drops you into the centre of your music to thrilling effect.

Bluetooth codec support is impressive. The higher-quality aptX Adaptive codec is on board, and of the four pairs of headphones tested here, the Px7 S3 are the only ones to offer support for aptX Lossless, offering CD quality (16-bit/44.1kHz) audio transmission from compatible sources.

The B&Ws’ sonic talents, combined with the sleek, prestige design, will make them an eye-catching proposition to anyone who values style as much as substance.

The Sonys push those sonic boundaries even further in nearly every area, all while boasting some of the most impressive all-around credentials you’ll find. Whether it’s their excellent noise cancelling, the superbly detailed and excellent dynamic presentation, effortless usability or superb comfort, the WH-1000XM6 are headphones built to please most of the people most of the time.

Topping the might of their predecessors was never going to be easy, but clever design and performance tweaks have elevated Sony’s flagship cans to the next level.

That next level is, on the sound front at least, not quite enough to overcome the fresh challenge of the Sennheiser HDB 630 – the HDB 630 have proved themselves to be a true force of nature.

Their standard sound quality is nuanced, spacious and a detail-rich delight, outstripping the Sony XM6 for textural insight, emotional engagement and the breadth of their soundstage.

The clever USB-C Bluetooth dongle that comes bundled with the headphones takes the sonic ability to new heights, as it lets you stream in hi-res aptX Adaptive Bluetooth quality from practically any source you plug it into, be it Android or iOS.

Plus, they don’t leave us feeling starved in other areas. While they might look a little bland for some (especially at this premium level), and they don’t quite reach the heights set by Sony or Bose’s noise-cancelling powers, they are still capable enough for everyday use. The HDB 630s’ plush headband and well-cushioned earpads make long listening sessions a breeze.

Additionally, a claimed 60-hour battery life and solid call quality only sweeten the deal. If only they folded away…

It’s gratifying to see the myriad ways the biggest headphone brands in the game have approached the premium wireless space, with each of these strong contenders bringing their own unique skillset to the table to appeal to specific needs.

For us, sound quality is king, so we’re giving the win here to the headphones that impressed us the most on the audio front. If you want the best-sounding wireless headphones you can get at this level it’s impossible to look past the benchmark-setting Sennheiser HDB 630 – for our money, they’re the cream of the current crop.

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Tribit, a budget brand that we know best for its Stormbox Micro 2, a small, fun-sounding Bluetooth speaker, is taking on Sony’s Award-winning WH-CH720N, with the launch of a pair of new wireless over-ear headphones with active noise cancellation (ANC).

The Tribit QuietPlus 81 are priced at a very affordable £50 / $50, which puts them into direct competition with the budget Sonys, which are our favourite wireless headphones with noise cancelling for less than £100.

Tribit’s ANC uses AI-driven noise-reduction algorithms and features five built-in microphones. A ‘Transparency Mode’ in the Tribit is designed to make users more aware of their surroundings.

If Tribit’s claims prove true, these foldable over-ears also offer far superior battery life to the Sonys: the audio manufacturer says the QuietPlus 81 boast a whopping 110 hours of playback with ANC off, more than double that of the CH720N, and 70 hours with it turned on.

The headphones also support fast charging, with Tribit claiming that a 10-minute charge will deliver up to five hours of audio playback.

The wireless over-ears feature 40mm drivers, which “deliver rich audio with deep bass and clear highs”, while the Tribit mobile app has six EQ modes for audio personalisation. The app includes a ‘Hearing Protection’ mode that limits volume to less than 85dB, although volume can also be controlled using buttons on the right earcup.

Wireless connectivity is provided via the latest iteration of Bluetooth 6.0 and multipoint is supported, so users can connect to two devices simultaneously.

We have no previous experience of Tribit’s headphones, but we’re big fans of its Stormbox Micro 2, so we’re interested to see how the QuietPlus 81 perform.

The headphones come in a black finish and are currently available to purchase online.

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2025 was a massive year for premium wireless headphones, with many of the big-name manufacturers pulling out all the stops in a bid to eke out a slender advantage in this hugely competitive market.

Such a standard was typified by the arrival of both the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 early in the year, before Sennheiser threw its oar in at the last moment with its unveiling of the HDB 630 flagship over-ears.

Fierce competition is clearly pushing brands to new heights of performance and innovation, evidenced by the ever-climbing quality of the premium arena. Both B&W and Sennheiser have staked serious claims to this contested territory, but which should you pick if you want the best premium performance possible?

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: price

The Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 cost £399 / €429 / $449 / AU$699 at launch, placing them firmly into what we would term the 'premium' tranche of the wireless headphone market. Discounts have occasionally knocked that UK figure down to £329, but at the time of writing, we've never seen the Px7 S3 fall below the £300 mark.

The Sennheiser HDB 630 will set you back a good deal more cash, especially if you're buying them outside the UK. At £400 / $500 / AU$1000, they're also decidedly premium over-ears, and unlike their sometimes-discounted rivals, we don't expect to see major price cuts just yet – the HDB 630 were only reviewed in December 2025, lest we forget.

**Winner: Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: design and build

What our two head-to-head rivals prove, at least from the outside, is that there's more than one way to design a pair of premium wireless headphones. Both cost the same sort of money, yet from an aesthetics perspective, they walk decidedly different paths.

The Sennheisers are about as straight down the line as a pair of headphones can be, adopting the design language of recent Sennheiser Momentum cans via their chunky ovular earcups and complete lack of adornments or thrills. Functional is the word we'd be tempted to use.

The B&W Px7 S3 are a blingier, more eye-catching affair, and if you're into perceived value, this is where you'll find it. Every part of the cans' more complex construction has been lovingly realised, from the premium hinges adjoining the earcups to the textured woven fabric of the headband.

In terms of comfort, it's a closer affair. The Sennheisers aren't flashy, but they're also easy to wear, with a nicely judged clamping grip which, when combined with their nicely cushioned earcups and headband, means they're rarely an oppressive experience.

They offer a less plush, padded fit than the more all-encompassing Sennheisers, but we imagine many wearers will prefer their slimmer earcups and lighter overall profile.

It's the same when switching over to the Px7 S3. The clamping force is again well-judged, while the earpads’ blend of firmness and suppleness means our ears rarely feel as though they're being squashed into oblivion. We did experience some on-ear heat during testing, but nothing too disastrous.

Rather interestingly, the B&W opt for the more traditional physical buttons rather than flashy touch controls for their on-unit operations, but we've no gripes when the systems works as well as it does here.

The backside of the right earcup offers a play/pause button flanked by longer volume controls, whereas the left cup features a sliding Bluetooth/power toggle alongside a configurable ‘Quick Action’ button we currently have reserved for cycling through our test pair’s noise-cancelling modes.

For Sennheiser, it's mainly a touch-control affair, with the only proper button reserved for launching your phone's voice assistant. Happily, the HDB 630 offer solid touch integration, with controls which we find are responsive and work across a generous surface area.

Not a huge amount to choose from here, so this might depend on whether you have a preference for button or touch controls.

**Winner: Draw**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: features

These are premium headphones we're dealing with, so naturally, both are equipped with premium-level feature sets as befits their status.

Let's start with the simple stuff. The HDB 630 are ahead of the game when it comes to battery life, clocking in at a maximum of 60 hours of playtime with ANC switched on when compared with the Px7 S3's 30 hours. A 10-minute fast charge will provide a further seven hours of life for the Sennheisers, while you'll get the same amount of playtime from a 15-minute boost to the Px7 S3.

Whichever over-ears you pick, you'll get access to Bluetooth Multipoint, so listening and switching between multiple connected source devices should be a doddle.

App support for the Px7 S3 is handled by the Bowers & Wilkins Music app, an admirably exhaustive platform from which you can adjust your user experience, tinker with the equaliser or checking your headphones’ key vitals, all while granting direct access to music streaming service libraries such as Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz.

With the HDB 630, you'll be handling similar functionalities from the SmartControl+ app, and while there's less all-in-one streaming integration here, excellent ANC, EQ and touch control customisation than make up for it.

Both pairs of headphones offer Auracast support, meaning that they can receive audio transmissions from compatible broadcast sources, although that's only true of the Sennheisers when they have their clever Bluetooth dongle plugged in. Speaking of which...

Right, let's talk about that dinky USB-C dongle bundled in with the Sennheiser headphones, shall we? Our full Sennheiser HDB 630 will give you a full rundown, but basically, the clever little accessory (BTD 700) grants superior quality codec powers to devices which might not have otherwise had them, providing hi-res streaming up to 24-bit/9kHz via aptX Adaptive. That means you can stream in higher quality when the dongle plugged into an iPhone, for example, which doesn't natively support the aptX codecs.

For the more straightforward Px7 S3, Bluetooth codec support comes courtesy of the standard AAC and SBC codecs living alongside higher-quality flavours such as aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless. Those codecs are higher than Sennheiser's, but they will only work with certain compatible smartphones, so if you have an iPhone, they won't be supported.

If you want to go all out on audio fidelity with the Px7 S3, USB-C and 3.5mm cable connections are provided straight out of the box for listening at rates up to 24-bit/96kHz.

Impressive on both counts, but for that clever dongle and a much more durable battery span, we're giving the win to Sennheiser here.

**Winner: Sennheiser HDB 630**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: active noise cancelling and call quality

We'll be blunt: at this level, you can find better noise cancelling, with the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) both leading the charge in this regard.

Sennheiser's effort is far from bad, but it's what we'd term 'good' rather than 'great', and certainly not class leading. Still, as we said in our review, the cans' ANC "takes the sting out of disruptive surrounding noise, reducing the rumble of traffic and bus engine noise", so it'll do the job if your music is playing at a decent volume anyway.

With the B&W Px7 S3, we're a little disappointed. While the chic over-ears are capable of reducing the low-frequency rumbles of, say, road traffic, they're less able to match their rivals when it comes to muting traffic noise or the chatter of voices, while high-frequency noises will intrude on your listening with surprising insistence.

Voice calls are ably handled by both rivals. Calls via the Sennheisers are crisp and clear, albeit with a hint of that slightly processed sound some headphones are capable of producing, while the Px7 S3, thanks to their repositioned microphones and B&W’s ‘ADI Pure Voice’ voice processing technology, make speech sound a touch fuller and more natural without seeming muffled or mechanical. They're not quite as clear as the Sennheisers, but perhaps a little more personable.

Each set, be it the Px7 or the HDB 630, does a fine job of reducing background noise, and as we stand next to a busy road in the pouring rain, the splash of puddles and the pitter patter of the falling raindrops subside nicely into the background.

For their finer ANC talents, the HDB 630 take the win.

**Winner: Sennheiser HDB 630**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: sound

When they landed last year (and before the Px8 S3 had been released), Bowers & Wilkins claimed that the Px7 S3 were its most “advanced and capable” wireless headphones ever.

Big words, yet thanks to their redesigned 40mm paper drivers furnished with a new chassis, voice coil, magnet and suspension, it's hard to disagree with what might initially have seemed like marketing hyperbole.

As we stated at the time, the Px7 S3 "are exceptionally refined and detailed headphones", a pair of cans that are capable of dropping you right into the heart of your music to rather thrilling effect.

Play Nick Cave & Warren Ellis’s Song For Bob, and you'll marvel at the bite and grip of those mournful strings, while the varying components of John Williams’ Duel Of The Fates blend authenticity with a thrilling sense of drama when pumped through the B&W over-ears.

These are muscular, forceful headphones, with grip and power in spades. There's more than enough lower-end clout to keep bassheads happy, and while headphones that go big on bass can often sound blobby or out of control, we remain impressed by how well the Px7 S3 are able to meld power and punch with control and bottom-end refinement.

The Px7 S3 are tremendously talented performers, and unequivocally entertaining, but even they aren't quite capable of outgunning the remarkable abilities of their Sennheiser rivals. As our review verdict summarises, the HDB 630 "move the goalposts for wireless sound quality at this level, while going the extra mile to upgrade iPhones and other audio sources to make it easier for people to benefit from it".

Plug in that clever USB-C dongle, get them playing from an appropriately quality source and the HDB 630 will reward you with arguably the most detailed and nuanced performance we've heard at this level. We perform much of our testing using an iPhone 16 and a Samsung Galaxy S21, with the dongle upgrading their connectivity to aptX Adaptive and helping us eke out news levels of clarity and solidity.

The dongle certainly helps, but however you listen, you'll find the HDB 63O to be strikingly smooth and natural sounding headphones that go big on dynamism and articulation across the frequency range.

Instrumental textures are replete with detail and body, while the rhythmic patterns are outlined with outstanding precision, all of which gives tracks a lush, emotional appeal that we find utterly gripping.

The Sennheisers are also capable of painting on a pleasingly expansive canvas, one that sounds much wider and more cinematic than the outgoing Momentum 4 Wireless over-ears can manage. Musical elements are cleverly and precisely placed, making even dense productions seem more easily digestible.

All of that lovely precision and analysis are wedded to a tangible feeling of drive and liveliness, making for, we think, "the most informative and entertaining sound we’ve heard from wireless headphones at this price". What a result!

**Winner: Sennheiser HDB 630**

Sennheiser HDB 630 vs Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3: verdict

There's no question that the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 are very, very good wireless headphones. These are five-star operators, and we completely understand their appeal given just how nice they look, how easy they are to use and, of course, how great they sound. That robust, punchy personality is never less than thrilling, all underpinned by outstanding levels of textural insight.

The Sennheiser HDB 630, however, are in a class of one. Put up against any price comparable rival we can think of, the Sennheisers are at the top of the leader board, and it's going to take something remarkable in 2026 to knock them from their perch.

If class-leading sound is your priority and you're happy to spend a decent sum to get it, there's simply no looking past what might be the best wireless headphones Sennheiser has ever made.

**Overall winner: Sennheiser HDB 630**

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These are the best wireless headphones you can buy

It’s strange to think that Nothing has only been around for about five years. In that short time, the company has carved out a modest but undeniably productive niche, courtesy of its aggressively priced smartphones and audio products, many of which employ distinctive designs and quirky marketing campaigns (look, tentacles on a smartphone!) to grab a slice of our attention.

Nothing has focused mainly on wireless earbuds on the audio side, producing a large roster of futuristic-looking buds which often promise extensive feature sets at lowball prices. The sonic results haven’t necessarily bowled us over, but it’s been refreshing to see a company trying to bring something different to the table.

These new over-ear headphones, though, are a whole different ball game. In putting out a pair of over-ears that straddle the line between mid-range and premium, Nothing is inviting competition from some of the biggest players in the wireless game, including the likes of Sony, Bose and Sennheiser.

Nothing is clearly attempting to disrupt the established order, but has it bitten off more than it can chew with the Headphone (1)?

Price

Whereas the majority of the big over-ear players in the ‘premium’ tranche tend to hover around the £300-400 mark, the Headphone (1) undercut the likes of the Sony WH-1000XM6 (£399 / $450 / AU$699) and Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S3 (£399 / $449 / AU$699) with their more aggressive £299 / $299 / AU$549 price tag.

In the UK, we’ve seen Nothing’s debut over-ears fall to £249 in recent months and roughly $279 at some US retailers, making that aggressive price tag even more attractive.

This doesn’t give them a free ride, however. Competition still abounds at this price thanks to older, more established cans, including the still-outstanding Sony WH-1000XM5 (£279 / $329 / AU$399) and the five-star Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless (£199 / $300 / AU$579).

If you’re after something even cheaper, the Award-winning Sony WH-CH720N, which we originally tested at £99 / $129, can usually be picked up for around £70 in the UK and $179 in the US.

Build & comfort

We predict that, from a stylistic perspective, the Headphone (1) will be nothing if not divisive. Nothing likes to go its own way on the aesthetics front, and now that there's a new product territory to be explored, there was little chance of the young brand playing things by the book.

Instead, the Headphone (1) look like little else occupying the current wireless headphone roster. It’s likely that your eye will be drawn first to the cassette tape-like design of the earcups, which combine a rectangular body with rounded outer cups. Nothing once again employs its signature transparent design whereby some of the cans’ internal workings are showing, like a thin-skinned cadaver hinting at the skeleton beneath.

Earcups aside, the over-ears are equipped with an adjustable headband which slides smoothly and easily in our hands, while those earcups themselves will rotate from side to side but sadly won’t fold away fully in the manner of the collapsible Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) or Sony WH-1000XM6, making them less suitable for portability and travel.

While the headphones exhibit high perceived value, in terms of actual comfort and wearability, it’s a mixed experience. For us, the clamping force of the Headphone (1) is okay, but the weight distribution of the overall design feels a bit off.

The combination of a bottom-heavy design and the earcups’ slightly soft material means that walking around can often lead to the headphones feeling as though they’re coming loose and trying to escape from embracing our ears with sufficient tightness. Note, also, that some members of our team also experienced on-ear over-heating during reasonably short periods of wear.

What about general usability? Nothing has made a big deal of its touch control integration, opting for a combination of three main control types – a roller, a paddle and a customisable button – for what it claims makes for a more intuitive user experience. It’s certainly different, but we predict that, as we found, it will take a bit of time to get used to the layout.

That said, the toggles themselves aren’t without their charms. The volume roller offers a pleasingly tactile way of getting your music as loud as you like it, while that vertical ‘paddle’ for switching songs by moving back and forth has enough resistance to feel satisfying each time.

Features

Put it in an ornate frame and hang it in the Louvre, because this is a battery life worth showing off. The Headphone (1) will give you a whopping 80 hours of playtime with ANC switched off and around 35 hours with noise cancelling turned on.

Additionally, as our tests demonstrate, a quick five-minute charge will grant around five hours of non-ANC playtime if you're in a hurry.

Those are excellent figures. For comparison, the Sony WH-1000XM6, B&W Px7 S3 and Bose QC Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) all eke out around 30 hours when ANC is on. Conversely, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless lead the field here, with a claimed 60 hours with ANC switched on.

There are plenty of ways to listen, too. The Headphones (1) feature the hi-res LDAC Bluetooth codec, while you can enjoy hi-res audio up to 24-bit/96kHz when using the wired USB-C connection. If you fancy something more traditional, a 3.5mm connection is also provided, but bear in mind that the headphones will still need to be switched on for wired listening.

Spatial audio with head-tracking is also on board, designed to transform stereo audio into a more immersive experience by expanding the overall soundstage. While this isn’t the finest rendition of spatial audio we’ve heard, we can hear what our test pair are attempting to do, as switching on spatial mode does pull instruments further apart from one another while lifting the overall soundscape a little further away from our head.

When put up against Nothing’s effort, though, we feel that Bose’s own ‘Immersive Audio’ spatial mode is something of a step up.

ANC & call quality

Nothing’s debut over-ears offer a standard ANC option alongside a pass-through transparency mode, with the former managing to soften unwanted sonic intrusions as opposed to fully blocking them out.

Be it the swoosh of cars, the chatter of office conversation or the clacking of computer keyboards, we find that the Headphone (1)’s noise cancelling offers a reasonable reduction of unwanted sounds as opposed to a full-fat elimination.

As you might expect, Bose and Sony’s efforts with the more premium QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) and WH-1000XM6 respectively offer more complete experiences by cancelling out more noise across the frequencies, be they deep rumbles of traffic or the whirring of an office fan.

How about phone calls? The Headphone (1) make use of Nothing’s 'Clear Voice Technology', though what we generally perceive during our tests is a slightly muffled, robotic handling of human speech.

That said, background noises are well suppressed during calls, so you’ll still be able to conduct a reasonably coherent conversation if you’re standing next to, say, a moderately busy roadside or sitting in a busy office.

Sound

Have a closer look at the Headphone (1) and you’ll notice the words “Sound by KEF” emblazoned on the left earcup. Nothing’s first-ever over-ears boast a custom 40mm dynamic driver tuned in partnership with audio brand KEF, with the headphones’ drivers, chambers and software all audited in KEF’s labs in pursuit of “immersive audio that feels natural, detailed and true to life”.

We kick off with Ludwig Goransson’s ever-building epic Posterity from the soundtrack of the brain-melting movie Tenet, with the headphones capably organising the track’s complex assemblage of layers and textures as an ever-growing army of instruments builds and blossoms.

We are rewarded with ample detail, so that intermittent piano passages and those strange synth sounds are communicated in a way that feels rich and weighty. The Nothings paint across a satisfyingly clear canvas, giving Posterity a reasonably cinematic feel which manages to avoid the trap of sounding cluttered or ill-defined.

These are positive foundations on which to build any sonic church, but what we find frustrating about the Headphone (1) is that they rarely seem to be capable of thrilling us. Yes, we discern those key elements of instrumental detail, cohesion and clarity, yet the over-ears fail to convey the ever-building drama of Goransson’s composition.

These are headphones which seem sonically limited, and we’re desperate for them to exhibit a wider spectrum of talents. Sadly, the Headphone (1)’s lack of drama comes partly from their restrained dynamic profile combined with their lack of any real rhythmic flair.

Björk’s fulsome Army Of Me should be bursting at the seams with forceful intent, yet the track’s aggressive propulsiveness is all but lost by the cans’ hesitant, almost sluggish approach. Even at their significantly lower price tag, the much cheaper Sony WH-CH720N seem to latch onto the track’s core feeling with more insight than the Headphone (1), and though they’re less detailed and not as crisp sounding as the Nothings, the Sony’s greater sense of musical understanding makes for a more entertaining listen.

While they might be rhythmically limited, the Headphone (1) can actually get ahead of themselves in other areas. We do occasionally hear a hint of peakiness and edge in the treble, something you’ll hear if you seek out Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees. We don’t hear it on all tracks or at all frequencies, but it’s enough to draw the ear on more than one occasion.

It’s not all bad news, though, and while Army Of Me might not propel itself forward with the vigour that we’d hope for, these are headphones which have the muscle and punch to make those huge industrial snare whacks land with a satisfying smack. That punchy feel is aided by a decent helping of hearty bass which, for the most part, rides a satisfying line between power and tautness.

Does all of this hold true when listening via USB-C? In general, yes, as the headphones retain their general character no matter whether you’re listening wirelessly using Tidal or Qobuz or with a wired connection. That said, plugging them in via USB-C will proffer greater levels of detail and clarity, plus a touch more control in the bass – so if you want to squeeze out a little extra performance, wired is the way to go.

Verdict

The Nothing Headphone (1) leave us feeling frustrated. We can sense that there are the makings of an interesting product in here, as shown by the headphones’ distinctive design, attractive price point and solid sonic foundation.

That sonic foundation, however, needs to be built upon with more adept dynamic handling and better rhythmic drive if the Headphone (1) are to be worthy of a hearty recommendation.

The essentials are there, but we want a pair of headphones that make us feel truly involved in the music we’re playing. Do that, and the established class leaders might have to sit up and take notice.

Review published: 23rd January 2026

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Build 4
• Features 4

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