Clip earbuds are an exercise in compromise. It’s an inherent aspect of their design – and physics. They can be more comfortable for people that don’t like something jammed in their ear, but sound response suffers. Ambient awareness is great because you can easily hear the sound around you, which means to hear your own […]
Nothing has had a strong visual identity since the Ear 1 were released in 2021 for $99 and challenged the notion that a highly featured headset requires a high price. The Ear 3A have the same transparent look as Nothing’s previous earbuds, with a clear case and stem design accented by a solid-colored body – […]
I have been an audio reviewer for 20 years. My time as a freelance headphones panelist at Wirecutter, and the multitude of reviews I’ve written for sites like Reviewed, Digital Trends, IGN, and now The Verge, have given me the chance to listen to hundreds of earbuds. Some were truly excellent, and some were pretty […]
Soundcore, Anker’s audio brand, has mostly lived in the budget-to-midrange world, but with its new Liberty 5 Pro earbuds, it’s aiming at the big guys. The two new earbuds – the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max – use Anker’s new Thus chip, which has more processing power than previous Soundcore earbuds to […]
Ten years ago Sony introduced the MDR-1000X headphones. They combined noise canceling, good sound, design, and comfort in a way that we hadn’t quite seen before in a set of wireless headphones. (At the time, the Bose QC35 were the closest competitor, but I wasn’t a huge fan of their sound tuning.) The 1000X set […]
Samsung promised “more than a design refresh” for its new top-end Galaxy Buds – it added upgraded woofers for improved, dual-amped hi-fi sound, a new blade design, clearer call performance, and better noise cancellation. Ultimately, while the $249.99 Galaxy Buds 4 aren’t a huge leap forward over the previous model, they keep what was good […]
After the release of the Headphone 1 last year – Nothing’s first over-ear headphones – the company is back with the Headphone A. They’re a slimmed-down over-ear option that keep the Nothing design aesthetic and excellent controls while decreasing the weight and bumping battery life up to a maximum of 135 hours. There are some […]
Apple, Bose, and Sony are in a running battle for the best noise-canceling earbuds, and the Sony WF-1000XM6 put Sony back in first place – if you can get a good fit with the included foam tips. With each iteration of the XM series, Sony has aimed for – and delivered – incredible noise-canceling performance […]
The Sony LinkBuds Clip are the company’s first clip earbuds. They follow the innovative donut-hole LinkBuds and LinkBuds Open and, like their predecessors, allow you to listen to music or podcasts, make phone calls, or be active outdoors while still maintaining awareness of your surroundings. The clip design has become more popular over the past […]
Editor’s note: Black Friday doesn’t officially take place until Friday, November 28th; however, if you want to shop ahead of time, we’ve rounded up the best early Black Friday deals you can already get. Whether you’re wearing them for the morning commute, while traveling, or if you’re simply trying to find some peace and quiet while working at […]