Wireless headphones are one of those rare innovations which are ostensibly so simple that it becomes difficult to imagine what life was like before you made the switch.
For most people, once you cut that cord that tethers you to your pocket, snags on everything going, and irrecoverably tangles within about four seconds, you’re simply never going back. And for good reason: it’s a thoroughly freeing experience that’s hard to explain to someone who has yet to try it. It’s never been a better time to buy wireless headphones. There’s solid competition in the market at all price points, and the amount you have to spend to get a quality experience just keeps going down. So whatever you’re looking for, you can be pretty sure you’ll be able to find it. And absolutely certain it won’t have wires.
10 Best Wireless Bluetooth Headphones:
- One of the best wireless models on the market.
- Great frame that is both comfortable and light.
- A selection of hardware which won't leave you disappointed.
- Good set of features that enhance the whole experience.
- Their looks are an acquired taste for sure.
With such a saturated market, it is really not too hard to find something that can meet all your requirements and expectations. When it comes to higher end wireless headphones, Audeara A-01 feels like the winner. These are not as popular as some of their direct competitors, but they offer a great performance, good looks and overall ease of use.
The hardware inside is impressive. After all, these are in a price range where finer things are to be expected. The battery life is probably the best thing about the A-01, as it allows you to use these for up to 35 hours. Combined with a great sound and good active noise cancellation tech, these are too good to ignore.
- A good looking design which is easy on the eyes.
- Hardware that brings good sound and more.
- A long lasting battery despite all the advanced features.
- Overall performance that makes these quite competitive.
- Adaptive noise canceling takes some figuring out.
Another name that is a must have on a list of this type is Bowers & Wilkins. They have a number of awesome models in their lineup, but there’s one that really caught our eyes. We’re talking about the Bowers & Wilkins PX and it has a lot to offer. For starters, it is one of the better looking headphone out there.
Once you scratch the surface, PX really starts to show how serious it is. These come packed with high end drivers, sophisticated noise canceling technology which adapts to the environment, a battery that lasts for 22 hours despite all of the advanced features and more. Overall, these are about as high tech as you can get in this price range.
- A simple yet attractive design that just works.
- Padding which is subtle yet comfortable enough.
- Impressive range coming from its two 40mm drivers.
- Overall good build quality which shows.
- 20 work hours is not that great for this segment.
Sony is no stranger to the world of higher end headphones. They are the type of brand that has a solution for all of your needs. All you have to do is run through their current lineup. The model that caught our attention are the Sony MDR1000X Premium Noise Canceling Headphones. These offer everything you would want at this price.
On the inside, Sony went with a whole bunch of simple yet awesome hardware. Their drivers offer an abundance of range, more than what some monitoring headphones do. On the other hand, you also get about 20 hours of battery life, awesome noise canceling tech and so much more. These are pretty much on point with both performance and features.
- Easily among the most attractive headphones in this segment.
- High performance combined with advanced tech.
- Effective active noise canceling technology that works.
- 25 hours of battery life per charge is great.
- Its aesthetic might be too monotone for some.
If there is one model of wireless headphones on the market right now which really pushes the limits of value for the money, it is the Sennheiser HD 4.50 SE. These are pretty much the perfect balance between price and performance at the moment. With that said, nothing about the 4.50 SE is a compromise. On the contrary.
These are built from the ground up to deliver stunning audio without cables. To do this, Sennheiser installed a set of impressive drivers. Paired with high quality Bluetooth hardware, you are getting near audiophile levels of sound quality. Best of all, you can enjoy that sound for 25 hours per battery charge. That’s a pretty decent deal all things considered.
- Simple black design that gives it a stealthy look.
- Good padding which ensures comfort and low fatigue.
- Robust hardware that gets the job done and then some.
- Impressive battery life which offers 25 hours of use.
- Not the most compact headphones out there.
If there is one thing that defines Audio Techica, it is their ability to produce awesome gear that won’t kill your wallet. They’ve proven this with anything from record players to condenser microphones. This policy also applies to their wireless headphones. Audio Technica ATH-ANC700BTBK is an awesome model which brings a great balance of price and performance to the table.
The whole idea behind this model is based on delivering the core performance without too many bells and whistles. Because of this, you’re looking at a set of awesome 40mm drivers packed in a great frame and supported by a 25 hour battery pack. This Audio Technica offers a few more things, but those elements are what makes it great.
- Very stylish design that looks and feels great.
- Decent amount of padding in all the right places.
- A rather capable set of 40mm drivers.
- A solid 12 hours of battery life per charge.
- There aren't many color options available.
Pioneer may not have been as present in the headphones industry as some other giants of the audio world, but they still do offer plenty of value to the market. Models such as the Pioneer SE-MS7BT-T are a testament to that. These headphones are among the best you can get at the moment and for a number of good reasons.
Pioneer anchored their design on a very robust but aesthetically impressive frame. The padding is present in all the right places which ensures comfort. The hardware itself offers a great sound while the battery allows for 12 hours of uninterrupted use. It isn’t as sophisticated as some models on this list, but it sure does bring that high end performance.
- Impressive sound quality thanks to good hardware and software
- Simple design that is very comfortable and reliable.
- 25 hours of battery life makes them quite impressive.
- Feature a cable for battery free use.
- A fairly bland looking set of headphones.
Following the success of HD 4.50, Sennheiser did what every other brand would and designed a more affordable version. The result of this effort comes in form of Sennheiser HD 4.40 and it’s quite impressive. These are capable of delivering a very respectable performance at a price which makes them a bargain. Because of that, they’re quite popular.
At the core of the HD 4.40 are two 40mm drivers. Sennheiser didn’t hold back in this regard, offering quite a capable set of transducers. These will give you plenty of range and finesse. When you combine them with aptX wireless hardware and a 25 hour battery, it is very easy to understand why these are so popular today.
- Among the most comfortable affordable models out there.
- Frame which looks and feels pretty good.
- Decent drivers that deliver great tone.
- Impressive battery life coming in at 40 hours per charge.
- Not the most compact model out there.
Affordable headphones are often a hit or miss. However, there are certain models you can trust to get you your money’s worth of performance. One of the best budget models to get at the moment are the Tribit XFree Tune Bluetooth Headphones. These not only sound good but are quite comfortable as well. Generally speaking, they’re too good to ignore.
One of the best things about them is the frame. The padding makes it extremely comfortable, which isn’t something that can be said for most of its competition. The sound is good, with plenty of range and volume. Best of all, you get 40 hours of use out of a single charge. If nothing else, this fact alone is impressive.
- A good bang for the buck value.
- Comes with a great selection of features and hardware.
- A good battery life of 12 hours makes them competitive.
- Comes with noise canceling microphone.
- Fairly heavy set of headphones which may induce fatigue.
The key top finding a good budget set of wireless headphones is to open your mind to lesser known brands. Zhicity is definitely not a name that many will recognize. Even so, they are currently offering one of the best cheap wireless models out there. Meet Zhicity Active Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones. These won’t disappoint your ears that’s for sure.
What we like about this model is the fact that they didn’t compromise too much. Naturally, some corners had to be cut to meed the price range requirements, however the hardware inside these is surprisingly solid. In return, this means that you are getting good sound quality and 12 hours of battery life. All of this is more than decent.
- Lightweight, comfortable and stealthy set of headphones.
- Great performance considering the price and hardware.
- Good amount of battery life per charge.
- Great sound with good range.
- On ear design reduces any passive noise canceling.
Last but not least we want to talk about a set of Skullcandy Uproar. These are on ear headphones which are awesome for a number of different reasons For starters, you’re getting a pretty tried and tested set from a fairly reputable brand. These won’t kill your wallet, but will definitely deliver a good money’s worth of performance and sound.
It doesn’t take much to realize that these are among Skullcandy’s simpler designs. Even so, despite the minimalist frame, Uproars are among the more capable headphones in their price range.You are looking at a good sound and 10 hours of battery life at a price which is just too good to ignore. That’s about all we can ask for.
Category Breakdown
The fact that for less than $100 you can end up with a pair of headphones that not only outperforms your stock earbuds in every conceivable way but which is also accompanied by all of the added benefits of, you know, being wireless is pretty mind-blowing. And pretty recent. The lower-end of the market has seen a lot of love over the last few years, and it’s no longer the case that wireless means spending hundreds of dollars on a gimmick that may or may not work. You can now be assured of quality no matter the price point.
In our longer breakdown of this category, we describe this price point as something of a sweet spot. You’re going to notice a significant increase in the amount of features which come bundled with your headphones, as well as in the quality and variety of the visual and practical designs on offer. If battery life can be variable between models, sound quality remains fairly consistent (and consistently good) across the board. You’d have to try pretty hard to pick a bad pair of headphones at this bracket.
As with any ‘as good as money can buy’ product, in a ~$500 pair of wireless headphones you will pretty much be getting as good as it’s currently possible to get. And a big part of that is choice: if you lean towards a more audio purist outlook, you’re more than able to prioritize clarity and accuracy of audio performance; if you’re big into removing background sound so you can focus on your tunes, the active noise cancellation at this price point is beyond compare and broadly exceptional.
What Makes a Good Pair of Wireless Bluetooth Headphones?
It used to be the case that choosing a pair of wireless headphones for your budget was a fairly simple proposition. There just weren’t very many options in the market, and even fewer of those were remotely viable as a long term, serious investment. But all that has changed. Substantially. And the modern landscape when it comes to wireless options is now far more similar to the overwhelming quantity of options you find in the wired headphone market.
This means two things: firstly, you need to do more research; secondly, it has never been more important that you take the time to properly consider and decide upon your personal requirements and priorities before committing to a purchase of any price. Choice is, as usual, a blessing, but with that blessing comes the responsibility to ensure that you are making as optimal a choice as you possibly can. Anything less would just be wasting your money on a product that won’t suit you as well as it could, and which you may end up replacing (and thereby spending even more on) when something ostensibly better comes along. Don’t be that person!
There are a lot of factors which go into making a decision as to which pair of wireless headphones are going to be the best for you. But the main three are as follows: audio performance, battery life, and design. There’s no point having the best audio quality money can buy if your headphones routinely run out of charge before you make it home from work every day. It’s frustrating and unnecessary, and we hate to think of you suffering. As with so many things in life, defining what ‘good’ means for you simply comes down to working out how best you would like to balance these three (and other, minor) attributes in order to arrive at the fabled Perfect Headphones. They exist. We’ve seen them. And they have your name on them.
How to Choose Wireless Bluetooth Headphones?
As mentioned above, choice comes down to assessing your priorities and then working out their relative importance in order to arrive at the perfect balance of attributes for you. This can seem like something of a daunting task, of course, and so the best place to start is probably the most objective measure which is battery life. It’s pretty easy to look at how long a particular model lasts between charges, consider how often you will be able (or, importantly, willing) to charge them up, and see if these two figures lead you to a viable or nonviable conclusion as to the usefulness of each particular model.
After starting out with the comparatively easy to measure issue of battery life, it’s time to move on to features and see which compromises you are and are not willing to make. For example, if you want active noise cancellation this will drastically narrow down your options to the point that you could reasonably get your hands on the majority of major offerings and road test them until you’re entirely happy with a particular pair. The baseline for wireless headphones these days is inline controls and an integrated mic, but if you’re someone who makes a lot of calls, then something like the quality of the mic may be another useful way to cut through a vast swathe of the products on offer to arrive at a more manageable pool of potential purchases.
Lastly, and most subjectively, comes the all important matter of audio performance. It may seem strange for us to suggest that this is bottom of your list of considerations—these are wireless headphones after all, audio performance is the whole point they exist!—but it’s for good reason, we promise. Whilst it’s easy to read up on things like battery life, included extras, and features, and whilst you can generally tell from a couple of photos whether the size and style of a given device matches your needs, the listening experience is difficult to convey via text and varies dramatically from person to person. Once you’ve cut down your list to a manageable quantity of maybes, then it’s time to get your ears involved. Work out the kind of sound signature you enjoy, look into the extent to which various models allow you to customize the listening experience, and work from there.
Final Thoughts + Conclusion
Wireless headphones are something of a revolution, and their momentum isn’t going to stop anytime soon. No matter your budget or preferences, there is almost certainly something that will satisfy your needs—even if your only need is based on a no longer manageable frustration at quite how tedious it is to untangle your stock earbuds every time you need to use them. The wireless hype train is ready to leave the station, and it’s high time you jumped firmly aboard with both feet and rode it to a brighter, cable free future.
