The best wireless earbuds for 2025

The market for true wireless earbuds has exploded, and while that means more choices, it also means more confusion when it comes to picking the best wireless earbuds for your needs. From premium options like the AirPods Pro 2, which combine sleek design with impressive active noise cancellation, to models that prioritize exceptional sound quality, there’s a pair of Bluetooth earbuds for everyone. These compact devices also now offer features that rival traditional, over-ear headphones, which can make them the go-to choice for music lovers, commuters, gym-goers and many in between.

I’ve tested and reviewed dozens of sets of earbuds a year for Engadget, constantly pitting new models against the previous best across all price ranges to keep this list of the best true wireless earbuds up to date. This guide explains why my current selections for the best wireless earbuds made the cut, and offers some shopping advice in terms of everything you need to know before choosing the best true wireless earbuds for your needs.

If earbuds aren’t your jam, however, you can check out our best headphones buying guide, covering our favorite wireless, over-ear headphones, noise-canceling headphones and more.

When it comes to shopping for earphones, the first thing to consider is design or wear style. Do you prefer a semi-open fit like AirPods or do you want something that completely closes off your ears? If you’re shopping for earbuds with active noise cancellation, you’ll want the latter, but a case can be made for the former if you want to wear them all day or frequent places where you need to be tuned in to the ambient sounds. The overall shape of earbuds can determine whether you get a comfortable fit, so can the size and weight, so you’ll want to consider all that before deciding. And remember: audio companies aren’t perfect, so despite lots of research, the earbud shape they decided on may not fit you well. Don’t be afraid to return ill-fitting earbuds for something that’s more comfortable.

As wireless earbuds have become the norm, they’re now more reliable for basic things like consistent Bluetooth connectivity. Companies are still in a race to pack as much as they can into increasingly smaller designs. This typically means a longer list of features on the more premium sets of earbuds with basic functionality on the cheapest models. Carefully consider what you can’t live without when selecting your next earbuds, and make sure key items like automatic pausing and multipoint connectivity are on the spec sheet. You’ll also want to investigate the volume and touch controls as you’ll often have to sacrifice access to something else to make that adjustment via on-board taps or swipes. Some earbuds even offer app settings to tweak the audio profiles or firmware updates to improve performance over time.

For those in the Apple ecosystem, features like auto-pairing with devices, especially with AirPods Pro 2, can be an added advantage, while Android users may want to look for models that offer similar cross-device functionality.

When it comes to battery life, the average set of earbuds lasts about five hours on a single charge. You can find sets that last longer, but this is likely enough to get you through a work day if you’re docking the buds during lunch or the occasional meeting. You’ll want to check on how many extra charges are available via the case and if it supports wireless charging.

Companies will also make lofty claims about call quality on wireless earbuds. Despite lots of promises, the reality is most earbuds still leave you sounding like you’re on speakerphone. There are some sets that deliver, but don’t get your hopes up unless reviews confirm the claims.

Sound can be subjective, so we recommend trying before you buy if at all possible. This is especially true if you’re an audiophile. We understand this isn’t easy when most of us do a lot of shopping online, but trying on a set of earbuds and listening to them for a few minutes can save you from an expensive case of buyer’s remorse. If a store doesn’t allow a quick demo, most retailers have return policies that will let you take earbuds back you don’t like. Of course, you have to be willing to temporarily part with funds in order to do this.

We also recommend paying attention to things like Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, 360 Reality Audio and other immersive formats. Not all earbuds support them, so you’ll want to make sure a perspective pair does if that sort of thing excites you, especially if you plan to use them for playback of high-quality audio.

The primary way we test earbuds is to wear them as much as possible. We prefer to do this over a one- to two-week period, but sometimes embargoes don’t allow it. During this time, we listen to a mix of music and podcasts, while also using the earbuds to take both voice and video calls. Since battery life for earbuds is typically less than a full day, we drain the battery with looping music and the volume set at a comfortable level (usually around 75 percent).

To judge audio quality, we listen to a range of genres, noting any differences in the sound profile across the styles. We also test at both low and high volumes to check for consistency in the tuning. To assess call quality, we’ll record audio samples with the earbuds’ microphones as well as have third parties call us.

When it comes to features, we do a thorough review of companion apps, testing each feature as we work through the software. Any holdovers from previous models are double checked for improvements or regression. If the earbuds we’re testing are an updated version of a previous model, we’ll spend time getting reacquainted with the older buds. Ditto for the closest competition for each new set of earbuds that we review.

The newest version of the Powerbeats Pro have an improved, comfortable design, balanced bass and new H2 chips and a heart rate sensor inside. But heart rate support is currently limited on iOS, and there’s a possibility those capabilities make it onto the next AirPods Pro models.

The Galaxy Buds 3 combine ANC with an open-type design, which renders the noise-blocking abilities of the earbuds mostly useless. Still, there’s great low-end tone with ample bass when a track demands it. There are also lots of handy features, most of which require a Samsung phone. But at this price, there are better options from Google, Beats and Sony

I really like the overall shape of the Momentum Sport earbuds. They’re more comfortable than the Momentum True Wireless 4 and fit in my ears better. What’s more, the body temperature and heart rate sensors work well, sending those stats to a variety of apps. However, that sport-tracking feature works best with Polar’s app and devices, so there’s that consideration. Also, the audio quality and ANC performance isn’t as good as the MTW4, and these earbuds are pricey.

There’s a lot to like about the Solo Buds for $80. For me, the primary perk is they’re very comfortable to wear for long periods of time thanks to some thoughtful design considerations. You only get the basics here in terms of features and, as expected, the overall sound quality isn’t as good as the pricier models in the Beats lineup. You will get 18 hours of battery life though, since the company nixed the battery in the case and beefed up the listening time in the buds themselves.

Bose created something very unique for this set of earbuds that allows you to stay in-tune with the world while listening to audio content. The clip-on design is very comfortable, but sound quality suffers due to the open-type fit, especially when it comes to bass and spatial audio.

These stick buds have a compact design that’s comfortable to wear and the warm sound profile is great at times. However, overall audio performance is inconsistent and there’s no automatic pausing.

Retooled audio, better ambient sound mode and reliable multipoint Bluetooth are the best things the MW09 has to offer. They’re expensive though, and you can find better ANC performance elsewhere.

Most wireless earbuds will last five hours on a single charge, at the least. You can find some pairs that have even better battery life, lasting between six and eight hours before they need more juice. All of the best wireless earbuds come with a charging case, which will provide additional hours of battery life — but you’ll have to return each bud to the case in order to charge them up.

Comparing sound quality on earbuds and headphones is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. There are a lot of variables to consider and the differences in components make a direct comparison difficult. Personally, I prefer the audio quality from over-ear headphones, but I can tell you the sound from earbuds like Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 3 is also outstanding.

With new models coming out all the time, tracking the hours of battery life for each this can be difficult to keep tabs on. The longest-lasting earbuds we’ve reviewed are Audio-Technica’s ATH-CKS5TW. The company states they last 15 hours, but the app was still showing 40 percent at that mark during our tests. The only downside is these earbuds debuted in 2019 and both technology and features have improved since. In terms of current models, Master & Dynamic’s MW08 offers 12 hours of use on a charge with ANC off (10 with ANC on) and JBL has multiple options with 10-hour batteries.

There are plenty of options these days when it comes to increased water resistance. To determine the level of protection, you’ll want to look for an IP (ingress protection) rating. The first number indicates intrusion protection from things like dust. The second number is the level of moisture protection and you’ll want to make sure that figure is 7 or higher. At this water-resistance rating, earbuds can withstand full immersion for up to 30 minutes in depths up to one meter (3.28 feet). If either of the IP numbers is an X, that means it doesn’t have any special protection. For example, a pair of wireless earbuds that are IPX7 wouldn’t be built to avoid dust intrusion, but they would be ok if you dropped them in shallow water.

A secure fit can vary wildly from person to person. All of our ears are different, so audio companies are designing their products to fit the most people they can with a single shape. This is why AirPods will easily fall out for some but stay put for others. Design touches like wing tips or fins typically come on fitness models and those elements can help keep things in place. You’ll likely just have to try earbuds on, and if they don’t fit well return them.

PlayStation 5 doesn’t support Bluetooth audio without an adapter or dongle. Even Sony’s own gaming headsets come with a transmitter that connects to the console. There are universal options that allow you to use any headphones, headset or earbuds with a PS5. Once you have one, plug it into a USB port on the console and pair your earbuds with it.

March 2025: Updated the top pick for the best sounding wireless earbuds – runner up.

January 2025: Updated the top pick for best sounding wireless earbuds.

July 2024: Updated our list to include the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-wireless-earbuds-120058222.html?src=rss

Seeed Studio launches Wi-Fi HaLow mini PCIe module for Raspberry Pi, add-on board for XIAO boards

Seeed Studio has launched two 900 MHz WiFi HaLow modules for long-range, low-power communication based on Quectel FGH100M-H: the Wio-WM6180 Wi-Fi HaLow mini-PCIe module designed to be installed in hardware such as OpenWrt routers or even Raspberry Pi SBCs, and the Wi-Fi HaLow module for Seeed Studio XIAO designed to take XIAO boards with Espressif, Raspberry Pi, or Nordic Semi microcontrollers.

Oscar-Winning Movie Criticized for Using AI To Correct Dialects

Nominated for 10 Oscars, The Brutalist (directed and produced by Brady Corbet) has an “intriguing and controversial technical feature,” according to the Baffler, that threatens to turn movie-viewing into “a drab appreciation of machine-managed flawlessness, and acting less interesting…”

In January, the film’s editor Dávid Jancsó revealed that he and Corbet used tools from AI speech software company Respeecher to make the Hungarian-language dialogue spoken by Adrien Brody (who plays the protagonist, Hungarian émigré architect László Tóth) and Felicity Jones (who plays Tóth’s wife Erzsébet) sound more Hungarian. In response to the ensuing backlash, Corbet clarified that the actors worked “for months” with a dialect coach to perfect their accents; AI was used “in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy….” Defenders of this slimy deception claim the use of AI in film is no different than CGI or automated dialogue replacement, tools commonly deployed in the editing suite for picture and audio enhancement. But CGI and ADR don’t tamper with the substance of a performance, which is what’s at issue here….
AI seems poised to decimate the voice acting industry; how long will it be before filmmakers give up on the whole time-wasting business of dialect coaching and language research and toss their performers’ untrained vocalizations directly into the linguistic Instant Pot…? “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own,” Corbet has argued. Only, they’re not. Brody and Jones’s performances may now be authentic to spoken Hungarian, but they’re no longer authentic to themselves: at least in the parts of the film with Hungarian dialogue, the acting stands more as a monument to the prowess of the voice-matching software than that of the actors…

AI is a different beast from color film, or the Louma crane, or the hand-held camera: it’s steroidal, aesthetically corrupting, and unlike these earlier advances it confronts the filmmaker with real ethical questions… Use implies complicity. To incorporate AI into the production of art today, no matter how sparingly or subtly, is to endorse Silicon Valley’s politics and worldview: its exploitation of both producers and “users,” its blithe indifference to the social impact of post-automation layoffs and the environmental assault of industrial data processing, its cramped and uninteresting idea of imagination, its petrification of creation. It’s a vote for the assholes…

In short, the essays calls this “recourse to corrective AI” a “filmmaking prosthesis that cheats the viewer and cheapens the performances.” And ironically this clashes with the film’s depiction of a “principled artist,” according to the article. (“Some of the ‘retro’ digital renderings in the memorial video included in this scene were also, Corbet has admitted, produced with the help of AI.”)

The essay notes that several of 2024’s other Oscar-nominated films also employed Respeecher, including Dune: Part Two and Emilia Pérez. “What matters here is not this particular infraction but the precedent it sets, the course it establishes for culture.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The New Rust-Written NVIDIA “NOVA” Driver Submitted Ahead Of Linux 6.15

For quite a while Red Hat engineers have been developing the open-source, Rust-written NOVA driver to in effect serve as the successor to the reverse-engineered Nouveau driver that isn’t too actively developed in more recent times. But unlike Nouveau’s extensive range of NVIDIA GPU support, the NOVA driver is intentionally limited to the RTX 20 “Turing” GPUs and newer where there is the NVIDIA GPU System Processor (GSP) with the firmware support to leverage for an easier driver-writing experience. The very initial NOVA driver code was sent out on Sunday for DRM-Next ahead of the Linux 6.15 merge window…

New Open Source Windows-Compatible Operating System Released

Red Hat product manager Pau Garcia Quiles (also long-time Slashdot reader paugq) spotted an interesting project on GitHub:

Free95, a new lean, Windows-compatible operating system is available from GitHub. In its current form, it can run very basic Win32 GUI and console applications, but its developer promises to keep working on it to reach DirectX and even game compatibility.

“Free95 is your friendly Windows Environment with an added trust of the open source community,” according to its README file. (It’s licensed under the GPL-3.0 license.) And in answer to the question “Why?” it responds “To remove Windows’s bloat, and security problems. Being controlled by a large corporation is unsettling.”

“It’s still in-development of course,” the developer post recently on Reddit, “and I’ll appreciate anyone who’d like to contribute.” In one comment they claim Free95 is “much more lightweight, simpler and faster than ReactOS.” And looking to the future, they add “I might do DirectX stuff and make some games run. Or, what about DOOM?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Adafruit Successfully Automates Arduino Development Using ‘Claude Code’ LLM

Adafruit Industries used large language model (LLM) tool Claude Code to streamline hardware development, writes managing director ptorrone.

In a demo video Limor ‘Ladyada’ Fried compares the LLM’s command-line interface to working with the build-automation tool CMake or “a weird cross between IRC and a BBS.” The first step was converting a PDF of the hardware’s datasheet into text, and Claude Code first displays the appropriate Bash command, while asking “Do you want to proceed?” (“What’s nice is that it doesn’t make changes, even though it has write access to files in the directory…”) Eventually from the data sheet it creates things like an accurate register map, C++ headers, and even license text — and more.

“We are using it to automate parts of the coding and debugging process for an Arduino-compatible Metro Mini board with an OPT 4048 color sensor,” writes ptorrone:
Using Claude Code’s shell access, we can compile, upload, and test code in a semi-automated workflow, allowing the LLM to suggest fixes for errors along the way… While the AI isn’t perfect for high-level driver development, it’s proving VERY useful for tedious debugging and super-fast iterative improvements, bringing hardware automation closer to …reality.
In the video Fried describes it like this. “I have a full debugging cycle, where I’m there — I’m like driving the car — but I have this copilot that’s telling me where to go…”

“I feel like I’m getting closer to having a semi-automated way of doing driver development.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

That Galaxy Next Door? It’s Home to a Monster Black Hole

NPR reports on “a monster black hole that’s been lurking unseen in the galaxy next door.”

This appears to be the closest supermassive black hole outside our Milky Way galaxy, according to a report that’s appearing in The Astrophysical Journal… “Now that there is strong evidence that it should be there, you can rest assured that we are very excitedly following up,” says Jesse Han of the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, who led the study…

Han and his colleagues realized that this black hole must exist when they were studying so-called hypervelocity stars… [T]hey started out as normal stars that were part of a binary system, or two stars orbiting each other. When that kind of pair ventures too close to a supermassive black hole, says Han, “what can happen is one of the stars can get captured by the black hole. It is basically ripped apart from its companion.” The bereft companion star, meanwhile, gets flung away, going at ridiculously high speeds. It’s as if the black hole basically hurled it out of the galaxy.

And that explains some of what’s happening in our own galaxy, writes Space.com:

Tracing the trajectory of these super-speed stars using the European Space Agency’s star-tracking Gaia satellite, the researchers discovered that around half of them were accelerated by the Milky Way’s own supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. The other half, the team believes, likely fled to the outskirts of the Milky Way after a gravitational encounter with a supermassive black hole at the heart of the LMC separated these stars from their stellar binary partners.

“It is astounding to realize that we have another supermassive black hole just down the block, cosmically speaking,” team leader Jesse Han of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) said in a statement. “Black holes are so stealthy that this one has been practically under our noses this whole time.”

“Their calculations suggest that the Large Magellanic Cloud must be harboring a black hole that’s about 600,000 times the mass of our Sun,” adds NPR. “That’s smaller than the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, which is about 4 million times more massive than the Sun.”
Astronomers had previously thought the Large Magellanic Cloud should have a big black hole, but until now there’s been no evidence of it, says Han… Now, though, astronomers have a better sense of where to hunt for any X-ray, radio, or visible-light signatures that are the telltale signs of an invisible black hole that’s devouring everything nearby. “It is within the realm of possibilities that it is already detectable in radio and X-ray and optical,” says Han. “We just haven’t looked at the right place.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Death Stranding 2 just got its release date and a 10-minute new trailer

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is coming to PlayStation 5 on June 26. At SXSW, Kojima Productions dropped a 10-minute trailer for the upcoming game, giving us our best look yet at the sequel to 2019’s Death Stranding. Pre-orders open on March 17 at 10AM local time, and those who buy the Digital Deluxe or Collector’s Edition will get early access two days before the game officially becomes available.

Hideo Kojima was joined by Norman Reedus and Troy Baker on stage at SXSW 2025 to discuss the much anticipated new game. The trailer reveals Death Stranding 2 takes place 11 months after the creation of the United Cities of America. As previous glimpses have shown, Reedus is back as Sam, along with Léa Seydoux, who voices Fragile, and Baker as Higgs. There’s otherwise a lot to take in over the course of the video’s 10-minute run, including a slew of new faces joining the cast. 

Death Stranding 2 was first announced back in 2022, and last year’s PlayStation State of Play brought a 9-minute look into the game. Come summertime, you’ll finally be able to play it. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/death-stranding-2-just-got-its-release-date-and-a-10-minute-new-trailer-231240932.html?src=rss

Linux Micro Development Board Now Features 8GB eMMC and PoE Support

The Luckfox Lyra Ultra is the latest addition to the Lyra series, featuring the RK3506B processor with a tri-core ARM Cortex-A7 and Cortex-M0 architecture. With its expanded storage, additional memory, built-in wireless connectivity in the Ultra W variant, and PoE support, the Lyra Ultra builds on previous models while maintaining compatibility within the Lyra series.

Study: Megalodon’s body shape was closer to a lemon shark

The giant extinct shark species known as the megalodon has captured the interest of scientists and the general public alike, even inspiring the 2018 blockbuster film The Meg. The species lived some 3.6 million years ago and no complete skeleton has yet been found. So there has been considerable debate among paleobiologists about megalodon’s size, body shape and swimming speed, among other characteristics.

While some researchers have compared megalodon to a gigantic version of the stocky great white shark,  others believe the species had a more slender body shape. A new paper published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica bolsters the latter viewpoint, also drawing conclusions about the megalodon’s body mass, swimming speed (based on hydrodynamic principles), and growth patterns.

As previously reported, the largest shark alive today, reaching up to 20 meters long, is the whale shark, a sedate filter feeder. As recently as 4 million years ago, however, sharks of that scale likely included the fast-moving predator megalodon (formally Otodus megalodon). Due to incomplete fossil data, we’re not entirely sure how large megalodons were and can only make inferences based on some of their living relatives.

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visionOS 3 Will Reportedly Be A “Feature-Packed Release”

visionOS 3 will be a “feature-packed release”, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports.

Gurman has a relatively strong track record of reliably reporting on Apple’s product plans years in advance, and successfully described many details of Apple Vision Pro’s hardware and software before it was officially revealed.

In the latest edition of his weekly newsletter, Gurman writes that visionOS 3, the third major version of the headset’s operating system, “will be a pretty feature-packed release, I’m told”.

Since launching Vision Pro and visionOS in February of last year, Apple has regularly updated the operating system to add new features and improvements.

Apple Vision Pro Now Has 3D ‘Spatial Personas’
Apple Vision Pro now has the long-anticipated 3D ‘Spatial Personas’ feature for virtual hangouts & meetings with shared spatial context.

The first feature update arrived in visionOS 1.1 in April, Spatial Personas. This extended the system’s realistic avatars from a 2D rectangle container into true 3D space, a step-change for telepresence technology.

In September, Apple released visionOS 2, the first major update.

visionOS 2 brought hand gestures for opening the main menu and control center, the ability to turn any photo into a spatial photo, improved hand tracking and scene understanding, WebXR by default in Safari, the ability to AirPlay your iPhone or iPad to a window, a Bora Bora virtual environment, the ability to see your physical keyboard, mouse support, guest user improvements, static 3D object tracking, train support for Travel Mode, Live Captions, new developer features, and raw camera access for enterprise.

visionOS 2 Is Out Now, Bringing Significant Improvements To Apple Vision Pro
The stable release of visionOS 2 is out now for all Apple Vision Pro owners.

Then, visionOS 2.2 in December brought Wide and Ultrawide modes for Mac Virtual Display, letting you view your Mac on a virtual Wide aspect ratio screen, or even an enveloping panoramic Ultrawide screen. The Ultrawide mode has 10K horizontal resolution, as if you have two 5K monitors side by side, made possible thanks to foveation.

Further, with visionOS 2.2 the audio from your Mac is now routed to Vision Pro, whereas previously it still played through the Mac.

visionOS 2.2 Brings Ultrawide Mac Virtual Display
The Wide and Ultrawide modes for Mac Virtual Display have now arrived for all Apple Vision Pro owners in visionOS 2.2.

The next significant update for Apple Vision Pro will be visionOS 2.4, set to release in April. It will bring a Spatial Gallery app, an iPhone app for remote installs, and a new iPhone/iPad-driven guest flow.

visionOS 2 was announced at WWDC 2024, Apple’s yearly software and developer event, with the first beta released later the same day. As such, we expect Apple to announce visionOS 3, and launch the beta, at WWDC 2025, expected to take place in June, three months from now.

visionOS 2.4 Will Bring Apple Intelligence, Spatial Gallery, iPhone App & Guest Flow
visionOS 2.4 will bring Apple Intelligence to Vision Pro, a Spatial Gallery app, an iPhone app for remote installs, and a new iPhone/iPad-driven guest flow.

Whistleblower complaint expands on claims that Facebook once built a censorship tool to win over China

A report from The Washington Post details allegations made by whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams about Facebook in a 78-page complaint filed last April with the SEC, including that the company built a censorship system in hopes to be allowed to operate in China and that it considered allowing the Chinese government to access users’ data in the country. Claims that Facebook developed a content suppression tool to appease China, where it has been blocked since 2009, were first reported as far back as 2016 by The New York Times. Wynn-Williams has a memoir about her time at Facebook, Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work, coming out this week.

Wynn-Williams — a former Facebook global policy director who was fired in 2017 — said in the complaint that the company formed a team in 2014 focused on creating a version of Facebook that would comply with China’s laws, under the code-name “Project Aldrin,” The Washington Post reports. In addition to building a censorship system, it was reportedly proposed during negotiations with Chinese officials that the company allow a Chinese private-equity firm to review content posted by users in China, and that Facebook hire hundreds of moderators dedicated to the effort of squashing restricted content.

In a statement to The Washington Post, spokesperson Andy Stone said the company’s past interest in the Chinese market is “no secret,” and that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced a move away from these efforts in 2019. But Wynn-Williams’ complaint paints a fuller picture of how far Facebook (pre-Meta) was allegedly willing to go to gain a Chinese userbase. Read The Washington Post’s full report here.

Zuckerberg has since become vocal about “free expression” and made changes to how Meta’s platforms approach moderation. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook and Instagram would end fact-checking and instead adopt X-style Community Notes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/whistleblower-complaint-expands-on-claims-that-facebook-once-built-a-censorship-tool-to-win-over-china-215047102.html?src=rss