Best Noise-Canceling Headphones of 2026

Noise-canceling headphones are the perfect audio companions for commutes and traveling. They’re designed to block background noise, so you can focus on your music without pesky distractions. But there are so many models to choose from, making it a headache to find the right fit for your needs. That’s why we tested multiple options to pick the best noise-canceling headphones for different kinds of listeners.

If you want the short answer, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) over-ear headphones deliver the most effective active noise cancellation (ANC) we’ve tested. However, they’re on the pricey side. If you’re on a tighter budget, the Soundcore Life Q30 headphones offer surprisingly strong noise cancellation for under $80.

We also recommend Sony and Apple models as great alternatives, especially for people who want specific features or easy pairing with an iPhone. Whichever option you go with, all of our picks below deliver excellent noise cancellation for the price.

Our top picks for the best noise-canceling headphones

Best overall: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Over-Ear (2nd Gen) – See at Amazon

Best on a budget: Anker Soundcore Life Q30 – See at Amazon

Best features: Sony WH-1000XM5 – See at Amazon

Best for iPhones: Apple AirPods Max 2 – See at Amazon

Best in-ear: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) – See at Amazon

Best overall

If your main goal is tuning out the world around you, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) are the best noise-canceling headphones we recommend. Though rivals from Sony and Apple get remarkably close, we still give Bose’s cans a slight edge in overall ANC performance.

These over-ear headphones are especially effective against deep, droning sounds like airplane engines, HVAC systems, traffic, and construction noise, but what impressed us most is how well they soften sharper everyday distractions, too. Nearby conversations, keyboard clatter, and office chatter all fade nicely into the background.

Bose also nails its Aware mode. Ambient sound comes through naturally rather than sounding overly processed, and the ActiveSense feature reacts effectively to sudden loud noises. It’s great for staying aware of your surroundings without constantly pulling the headphones off.

Sound quality is excellent out of the box, but some listeners may want to tweak the bass a bit using the Bose Music app’s EQ controls. Once dialed in, the headphones deliver crisp vocals, detailed instrument separation, and a clean overall presentation. Bose’s spatial audio with head tracking adds a cool, theater-like effect, and the Cinema mode genuinely improves movie watching by making dialogue easier to hear without flattening the rest of the soundtrack.

The design feels appropriately premium, with metal arms and silver accents on the ear cups that give the headphones a more upscale look than previous Bose models. They also fold neatly for travel. Battery life has improved over the previous-generation model, too, now reaching up to 30 hours with noise cancellation enabled (up from 24).

We also love that the QC Ultra can automatically power down and disconnect when you set them down flat, then reconnect almost instantly when you put them back on. It’s one of those quality-of-life features you don’t think about until you start missing it on other headphones.

Check out our Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) review.

Visit our guides to the best headphones and best Bose headphones.

Best on a budget

Anker’s Soundcore Life Q30 headphones are proof that you don’t have to spend a ton to get some decent peace and quiet. At well under $100, these budget-friendly over-ear cans deliver impressive performance for the money.

The headphones’ noise canceling ranks among the best for their price point, doing an especially good job in the lower registers. You can still get better ANC from the pricier models on our list, especially in the upper frequencies, but the Q30 are nearly unmatched in this class. Their ear cups also offer solid passive isolation, further reducing ambient noise.

The Q30 also hold their own when it comes to sound quality, especially after a few tweaks to their hefty bass in the Soundcore mobile app for Android or iOS. There, you can also customize other settings, switch between three noise-canceling modes, and enable sleep mode to play ambient sounds as you drift off on your commute.

The Q30 are comfortable thanks to their solid padding and conveniently collapse for travel. Extra features like Multipoint Bluetooth pairing recall fancier models that cost double or triple the price, while their massive 40-hour battery life is among the best you’ll find.

However, there are some drawbacks. The earcups use cheaper plastic and are more prone to scratches than pricier models. We also ran into misfires when using the tap command on the right ear cup to toggle between noise-canceling and transparency modes. But these small hiccups are far from deal breakers.

If you’re looking for a solid pair of noise-canceling headphones but simply can’t stomach the high prices of other top models, Anker’s Soundcore Q30 are the perfect compromise.

Best features

The Sony WH-1000XM5 (as in Mark 5) may not have the catchiest name, but they make up for it with brilliant performance and a truckload of great features.

Sony wrote the book on modern headphone design with its WH-1000X series, putting you in the driver’s seat for a dizzying array of options. It all starts with the brand’s powerful Headphones app, which lets you control your noise cancellation in multiple ways, including an option tailored to your environment. You can silence audio with your voice or let in the outside world with a simple hand gesture on the right earcup. Alexa is available for smart control, and Sony’s 360 Reality Audio customization lets you unlock spatial sound with supported content.

The headphones’ touch controls are also intuitive and responsive, and their noise canceling is incredibly effective across registers. Sound quality is sweet, smooth, and superbly detailed, to the point that you’ll likely hear things you’ve missed in multiple previous listens. Their streamlined build and memory foam padding make them comfortable for hours (though Bose’s Ultras are even comfier). The only noteworthy issue we take with their design is that, unlike the Bose QC Ultra, the XM5 headphones don’t collapse for travel, making them harder to pack.

Ultimately, we think the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones edge out the XM5 if you’re specifically looking for the most effective noise-canceling performance on the market. But when factoring in other features and general value, the XM5 are an excellent alternative. 

Sony also offers a step-up model in the XM series, called the WH-1000XM6, which deliver subtle yet welcome improvements in design and ANC. However, the cheaper XM5 remain the better buy for most people.

Read our Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones review.

Visit our guides to all the best Sony headphones and the best over-ear headphones.

Best for iPhones

If you want premium noise-canceling headphones that pair seamlessly with an iPhone, the AirPods Max 2 are Apple’s most impressive effort yet. These over-ear headphones combine top-tier ANC, excellent sound quality, and deep integration with Apple’s ecosystem.

The second-generation AirPods Max arrived in 2026, several years after the original model debuted, and while the design is largely unchanged, Apple made some upgrades under the hood. This model now uses the newer H2 chip, which improves active noise cancellation and adds features like Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, and Live Translation — which were all missing from the first-gen version. Existing AirPods Max owners don’t need to upgrade immediately, but for new buyers, this is clearly the better model.

Noise cancellation performance is seriously impressive. In our testing, the AirPods Max 2 were nearly neck-and-neck with the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 headphones, which remain our benchmark. Sound quality is another standout. Apple paired custom 40mm drivers with a new high-dynamic-range amplifier, resulting in audio that feels spacious, detailed, and balanced.

But while the headphones’ metal design gives them a high-end feel, they’re heavier than most competing models, which some people may notice during long listening sessions. The included case also remains a weak point — it covers the ear cups but doesn’t offer much real protection if you’re tossing the headphones into a bag.

The AirPods Max are also undeniably expensive, even by flagship headphone standards. But if you’re fully invested in Apple’s ecosystem and want the best noise-canceling performance the brand offers, the AirPods Max 2 are easy to recommend.

Read our full Apple AirPods Max 2 review.

Check out our guide to the best AirPods.

Best in-ear

If you want compact in-ear headphones, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) are the noise-canceling earbuds to beat. Plenty of premium rivals — including Sony’s latest XM6 buds and Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 — come incredibly close, but Bose continues to hold a narrow lead at shutting out the outside world.

Released in 2025, this second-generation model doesn’t reinvent the formula so much as refine it. Bose kept everything that made the original QC Ultra Earbuds great while ironing out a few lingering annoyances.

In our testing with various in-ear headphones, these earbuds did the best job of muting airplane cabin noise. They also performed exceptionally well against higher-frequency distractions, such as nearby conversations and transit noise. The margin between today’s top ANC earbuds is smaller than ever, but the QC Ultra Earbuds still came out slightly ahead.

As with Bose’s larger over-ear QC Ultra headphones, these earbuds also have an excellent Aware mode. Outside sound comes through naturally, and Bose’s updated ActiveSense system handles sudden loud noises more gracefully than before, avoiding the jarring effect some transparency modes can create. Bose also improved call performance with AI-assisted noise reduction, and in busy environments, voices remained clear and natural without sounding thin or overly processed.

The QC Ultra Earbuds deliver punchy bass, clear mids, and crisp highs right out of the box, even if audiophile-focused earbuds like the Technics EAH-AZ100 offer a bit more refinement. Comfort is good as well, thanks to multiple ear tip sizes and stability bands that help create a secure fit across a wide variety of ear shapes. Bose also added wax guards to the earbuds this time around for better long-term durability.

One of the biggest omissions from the original QC Ultra Earbuds was wireless charging, and thankfully, Bose fixed that here. The included charging case now supports wireless charging, finally bringing the earbuds in line with premium competitors from Sony, Apple, and Technics.

Read our Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) review.

Visit our guide to all the best earbuds.

How we test noise-canceling headphones

When testing noise-canceling headphones, our experts use each model as they would in their daily lives. This allows us to understand how they’ll perform for a typical listener. That includes evaluating features such as ease of setup across different source devices, comfort, battery life, and overall usability.

We assess sound quality by listening to music across multiple genres from the best music streaming services, including high-resolution audio when available. We also play videos and listen to them with each model to test features like spatial audio and head tracking with stereo and Dolby Atmos content.

To evaluate noise canceling and transparency modes, we conduct real-world testing in natural environments and, whenever possible, in situations like plane flights or train commutes. We also use professional stereo monitors to reproduce sounds such as airplane noise, voices, and other effects. Battery testing includes putting the headphones on a stopwatch at medium volume to ensure they meet their manufacturer’s claims or come close.

For more details on our review methodology, read our breakdown of how we test tech products.

Meet the experts behind this guide:

Ryan Waniata, contributing reporter: Ryan has extensive experience reviewing consumer tech, with a background that combines audio engineering expertise and years of hands-on reporting. He approaches noise-canceling headphones with both technical precision and real-world perspective. Rather than relying solely on specs, he evaluates how headphones actually sound and perform in everyday listening.

Steven Cohen, senior tech editor: Steven leads tech coverage for Business Insider’s Reviews team and has more than 10 years of experience reviewing home entertainment products, including a wide range of headphones and audio gear. He has a deep interest in sound quality, ANC performance, and how different models compare across listening styles and price points. Together with BI’s team of reviewers, he continuously tests the latest noise-canceling headphones and revisits top picks to keep this guide accurate, up to date, and useful for shoppers.

Learn more about the Reviews team at Business Insider.

Noise-canceling headphones FAQs

What is noise canceling?

Noise cancellation, also known as Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) or Adaptive Noise Cancellation, is a technology that suppresses sounds in your immediate environment. Noise-canceling headphones feature tiny microphones that capture ambient noise. They then use onboard circuitry to analyze those sounds in real time, flipping the polarity of the frequencies (essentially reversing their waveforms) to “cancel” them. 

Noise cancellation is an imperfect science, and it cannot yet block out all the sounds in a given environment. That said, with each iteration, the best noise-canceling headphones increase the amount of sound they can block, especially at higher frequencies, which are generally the hardest to cancel. The better the noise cancellation, the more frequencies are blocked, and the more noise your headphones can reduce.

Which brands offer the best noise-canceling performance?

In the consumer headphones market, Bose, Sony, and Apple are known for delivering top-notch noise-canceling performance. Though high-end models from all three brands are nearly neck-and-neck, we give a slight edge to Bose.

Other solid brands include Sonos, Soundcore, Sennheiser, JBL, Master and Dynamic, and Bowers and Wilkins.

Are over-ear headphones better than earbuds for noise canceling?

While the gap between over-ear headphones and earbuds was once more pronounced, today’s top noise-canceling earbuds are close to, or even on par with, over-ear headphones. Both types offer good passive noise isolation, and both use a mix of advanced hardware and software, including multiple microphones. While it varies case by case, you can now get very effective noise canceling in either over-ear headphones or earbuds.

What is transparency mode?

Transparency mode (also called ambient audio, aware mode, or hear-through) is essentially the opposite of noise canceling. Using the same exterior microphones, instead of canceling the sound around you, transparency mode pipes ambient sound into your headphones in an effort to keep you aware of your surroundings. Transparency modes on most headphones can be easily toggled on and off, so you can go from listening to music with ANC to letting outside sound in.

This is not only a great safety feature but can also be helpful in situations like flights or other forms of mass transit where you need to communicate quickly. Transparency modes are also particularly handy for active use outside, like during runs, where you’ll want to stay aware of things like traffic. Check out our guides to the best running headphones and best workout headphones for picks specifically geared toward those uses.

What is Bluetooth wireless connectivity?

Bluetooth is a wireless technology that allows for the exchange of data, for our purposes in the form of audio, across short distances. Most Bluetooth devices offer a range of about 33 feet, though some, such as Class 1 devices, can reach 100 feet or more. Improvements in Bluetooth over time have enabled higher bandwidth and, among other things, more reliable sound quality. In general, having the latest Bluetooth version can lead to improvements in speed, efficiency, and reliability.