Best over-ear headphones in 2024

While true wireless earbuds are great for their portability and flexibility, nothing beats a set of over-ear headphones for the best possible listening experience. After all, even the best miniaturized audio drivers can only do so much compared to what audio engineers can pack into a full-sized set of cans. On top of that, over-ear headphones wrap around your ears in a way that lets the sound flow in much more naturally than simply jamming it straight into your eardrums, and the larger foam earcups deliver much better passive noise isolation, helping active noise cancellation technology along in drawing out the world around you so you can enjoy your music.

Whether they’re wired or wireless headphones, the best over-ear headphones also provide a far more comfortable listening experience for longer periods of time, while also delivering battery life that’s measured in days without the need to pop them back into a case every few hours. They can also deliver better spatial and immersive audio experiences due to the more encompassing design, and you don’t always have to sacrifice portability, as many of them fold up into travel cases so you can easily toss them in your backpack or suitcase to take them on the road with you.

Which over-ear headphones do you need?

For the past few years, the crown of the absolutely best over-ear headphones has gone to Sony WH-1000XM series cans, and the latest XM5s are no exception. There may be more expensive or better-sounding headphones out there for specific needs, but they don’t combine all the best features to create a well-rounded package. The XM5s rule in that respect.

Available in black, blue, or silver finishes, the modern-looking headphones support LDAC out of the box, delivering near-lossless 990kbps audio for you to enjoy, provided you’re listening to a suitable source. You may not hear the difference with Spotify or YouTube Music, but these headphones aurally shine for services like Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal. Our testing showed there’s a slight impact on battery life when using LDAC versus the lower-res AAC or SBC codecs, but that’s not something we think most folks need to worry about, as the 30-hour runtime only drops to 27 hours — still more than enough for even the longest flights around the globe. In short, you’ll have a hard time running the XM5s dry.

The audio reproduction is hard-targeted for average consumers, and as such, it’s a rich, warm, and highly detailed sound signature that we found very appealing in our listening tests. While we weren’t particularly wowed by the low-end “oomph” out of the box, it’s possible to use Sony’s Headphones Connect app to tune the bass and sub-bass to acceptable levels for most listeners. However, hardcore bass-heads may want to look at some of the options on our list.

However, what really sets the XM5s apart is their best-in-class ANC. You won’t find better noise-suppressing headphones anywhere — at least not without resorting to industrial-grade earmuffs. The noise-cancellation is buttery smooth and intelligent, and we had no problems with it handling not only all the usual low hums and background noises, but also more challenging ambient sounds like background music and the din of nearby conversations. We even found that our music came through clearly and enjoyable while working in our yard with a gas-powered leaf blower.

While they don’t come cheap, Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra headphones could be worth the splurge if you’re looking for a set of headphones that deliver a premium listening experience with comfort to match. Bose is right up there with Sony’s top-of-the-line headphones when it comes to offering the best noise cancellation, but the QC Ultras have a few other neat tricks up their sleeve that help justify their higher price tag.

Bose’s marquee feature on its latest headphones is Immersive Audio, a new spatial audio system that Bose has developed that’s completely platform-agnostic. This means you don’t need to rely on your smartphone apps to deliver spatial audio; the QuietComfort Ultras can take whatever Bluetooth audio stream they’re receiving and render it in a three-dimensional soundstage, even if it wasn’t originally encoded for spatial audio. Of course, you’ll get better results with actual Dolby Atmos and similar 3D audio streams, but the QC Ultras do a surprisingly good job with any audio source. That’s because Bose isn’t trying to be overly ambitious here by trying to make the sounds come from “everywhere.” Instead, as we noted in our review, “the Ultra gives you solid stereo while everyone else tries and fails to produce 7.1 surround.”

In addition to packing in comfy foam earcups that you can wear for hours, the top-notch design feels both solid and great in the hand. While the headband’s extensive padding works great for most people, we found the weight distribution can be a bit off for those with smaller heads, but the good news is that it’s easily fixed by adding some extra cushioning. The QC Ultras also fold down into a more compact size so you can easily stow them for travel, which gives them an edge over Sony’s XM5s, which went the other way by removing the hinges from their predecessors.

Bose and Sony have been the two titans of active noise cancellation technology for years, and when one occasionally pulls ahead in the race, the other inevitably catches up. The ANC on the QuietComfort Ultra is on par with Sony’s, which is to say it’s second to none. However, Bose has a slight edge in improving the overall listening experience thanks to its CustomTune technology, which provides “personalized noise cancellation” that’s tailored to the shape of your ear. That doesn’t mean it blocks out more ambient noises — we certainly haven’t heard much difference in our comparative testing — but it does ensure that whatever you’re listening to comes through more clearly despite whatever is happening around you. As for sound quality, the QC Ultras deliver a delightfully balanced sound signature that had us never feeling the need to reach for the EQ settings to tweak it more to our liking.

Sennheiser is a trusted name when it comes to audio quality, and its Accentum Plus headphones do a great job of delivering that at a price that won’t break the bank. Sure, they’re still in upper-midrange territory, but they deliver substantial bang for your buck. You’re getting excellent audio quality, a generous assortment of codecs, and solid battery life, all for considerably less than similarly-specced premium options. They’re also comfortable enough to wear for an entire workday and then some.

The sound quality isn’t the best Sennheiser has to offer when compared to its more premium headphones, but it’s still what we’d consider quite good. We found the soundstage clear and spacious with good representation of everything from the high-end to the lowest sub-bass. As we noted in our review, you won’t get the “brain-shaking low-end response” of Sennheiser’s more expensive Momentum 4 Wireless; fans of extremely heavy bass might want to give the Accentum Plus a pass, but the sub-bass is still very present, and we think it’s more than suitable for most listeners.

If there’s one area where the Accentum Plus fall down, it’s in their active noise cancelation and low-end response. The controls are also a bit less intuitive than what we’ve experienced on other headphones. While the ANC is capable of filtering out ambient noises like air conditioners, it’s best described as “unremarkable,” and we found that we had to turn our music up much louder than we expected to drown out less predictable noises like conversations.

What’s particularly impressive about Sennheiser’s Accentum Plus is that they can just keep going with 50 hours of battery life on a single charge — and that’s with ANC on. That’s enough for an entire workweek and then some. While a full charge takes more than three hours, that’s not a deal-breaking considering how rarely you’ll need to top them up, and there’s a fast-charge mode that can get you five more hours of listening time after only plugging them in for only 10 minutes.

Sonic Lamb is the new kid on the block, and its eponymous debut headphones have been designed with one goal in mind: to deliver “an immersive bass experience you can actually feel.” The Sonic Lamb headphones accomplish this by adding bone conduction technology into the mix, sending the lower sub-bass frequencies into your head through your cheekbones and not just your ears.

As we noted in our review, wearing the Sonic Lamb headphones is like “walking around with an invisible eight-inch bass tube strapped to your head.” Even the most hardcore bass-heads will be impressed by what these cans can deliver. That’s not to say that the mids and highs aren’t there, and in the normal listening mode you can enjoy a more traditional V-shaped sound signature that plays nicely with most genres, although we found the treble struggled a bit at higher volume levels.

However, normal listening isn’t why you’d opt for the Sonic Lambs over most of the other options on that list. In that respect, they’re quite average, but turn on the impulse drivers by cranking the dial to the appropriately named “Feel mode,” and things get real. At that point, the woofer kicks in and is joined by the bone conductors to drive the bass right into the depths of your skull. “Feel” is the lowest of the bass modes, which continue next into “Immersive mode” and runs all the way up to “Beast mode.” We found Immersive mode great for movies, hip-hop, reggae, and metal, but beyond that things got a little crazy. Beast mode takes the brakes off entirely and kicks the woofer into full gear to the point where the earcups visibly shake; it’s not bad for gaming, but it’s far too overpowering for most other listening experiences.

The focus on producing the most bass-heavy headphones in existence means that Sonic Lamb has cut a few corners, leaving out features that you’d normally take for granted in headphones at this price point. That includes active noise cancellation and multipoint connectivity, both of which are non-existent here. The Sonic Lambs also aren’t just heavy on the bass; they’re heavy period, coming in at 320 grams. Fortunately, that weight isn’t all about the drivers, as Sonic Lamb has packed in a healthy battery that will give you up to 42 hours of listening time with the impulse drivers off or 12 hours in full-on Beast mode. In our testing, we got about 20 hours in mixed usage between Feel and Immersive, which is pretty impressive considering how much is going on inside these cans.

If you need high-quality music at a fairly low price, the Soundcore Life Q30 headphones by Anker will serve you well. For this price, you get a serviceable ANC that claims to filter out 95% of background noises. There are three modes of ANC that you can use to suit your position. The comfortable protein-leather memory foam earcups form a solid seal around your ears that helps to isolate external noise even better.

The headphones support only SBC and AAC codecs via Bluetooth 5.0, but they process the audio well and drive it through 40mm highly flexible silk diaphragm drivers, producing up to 40 kHz of clarity and thumping bass. This would be very favorable to anyone who is not an audiophile purist.

The lightweight and foldable build of the Q30 ensures they are both comfortable and portable. The big batteries last 40 hours with ANC on and 60+ hours with it off. And supporting quick charge, the headphones give you 4 hours of playtime with just 5 minutes of juice.

For those in the market for over-ear headphones that pair well with both Apple and Android devices, the Beats Studio Pro are the perfect option. The Studio Pro deliver great sound and can even provide lossless audio via a wired USB-C connection. With two listening modes, ANC and Transparency, Studio Pro offer an enjoyable, immersive sound quality that can let ambient sounds in when necessary.

However, the best part for those who have a foot in both the Apple and Android ecosystems is that these are the first and only headphones that support the best of both worlds. Since Beats is owned by Apple, the Studio Pro include features that were once the exclusive domain of the AirPods family, such as voice-activated Siri, dynamic head tracking, and Personalized Spatial Audio with the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. That’s a huge first for a set of non-Apple-branded headphones. However, since Apple also wants to ensure its Beats headphones appeal to as wide of an audience as possible, all the usual Android goodness is here too, including support for Google’s Fast Pair and Find My.

There’s also top-notch Active Noise Cancellation, with 40mm drivers “engineered for optimal clarity, with near-zero distortion even at high volume,” and three audio profiles that can be used when using wired USB-C audio: the balanced “Beats Signature” profile is joined by Entertainment and Conversation modes tuned for immersive movie-watching or listening to spoken audio. The Beats Studio Pros’ battery lasts up to 40 hours with ANC on, and a quick 10-minute charge provides up to four additional hours of listening time.

While Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 Wireless don’t offer the class-leading ANC of the Apple-Bose-Sony triumvirate, they excel at delivering outstanding sound quality and unsurpassed battery life. The audio is everything we’ve come to expect from the legendary audio brand, and with the ability to deliver 60 hours of listening time with ANC on, nothing else on the market even comes close.

The Momentum 4 Wireless are among the best-sounding over-ear headphones on the market, but that comes with a pretty big asterisk; since the noise cancellation is sorely lacking, you’ll need to be listening in a pretty quiet environment to enjoy it. After all, even perfect lossless sound is irrelevant if it’s being drowned out by everything that’s going on around you. The ANC on the Momentum 4’s is good enough to suppress purely ambient noises like fans, air conditioners, and engine noises, but not much else. It’s on par with what we’d expect from a pair of sub-$200 headphones or earbuds, but definitely a conspicuous omission at this price tag. The transparency mode doesn’t do much better, muffling most of what comes through to the point where we often found it easier to take the headphones off entirely.

Still, if the listening environment is right, the Momentum 4’s will deliver fantastic sound right out of the box. That includes not only crisp, sharp, and well-balanced mids and highs, but a bass response that pleasantly surprised us by how rich and thick it was. These aren’t tubthumping headphones for bass fanatics, but there’s enough here to satisfy EDM and hip-hop fans. For music fans with more eclectic and varied tastes, they deliver a near-perfect sound signature that plays well across a wide variety of genres.

In our testing, Sennhesier’s 60-hour battery claims also proved accurate, making these the longest-lasting cans you’ll find. That’s with ANC on, which is impressive, even if the ANC itself isn’t, and means you’ll have no problem going days or even weeks without touching a charger. Thankfully, they use a standard USB-C connection, otherwise you might misplace the charger from using it so infrequently. They’re also remarkably comfortable — we had no problem wearing them for an entire workday — and fold up for easy storage and travel.

If you’re a fan of EDM, hip-hop, and other bass-heavy genres, Sony’s Ult Wear Headphones were designed for you. The tuning doesn’t just lean into the bass, it’s all-in, to the point where you can actually kick it up to a nearly overwhelming level. At least that’s our take; serious bass aficionados may contend that there’s any such thing as too much low-end.

The Ult Wear feature a design reminiscent of their flagship cousin, the WH1000-XM5, but go for a sportier look that seems to suit their bass-forward focus. They don’t quite fold down, although the earcups do twist to lay flat so you can stow them away a bit more easily. We also found them reasonably comfortable to wear for longer periods of time, about on par with the XM5s, but not quite as cozy as some of the other options on our list.

However, the key selling point of the Ult Wear is their multiple bass modes and support for high-resolution codecs like LDAC and LC3. The Ult button toggles between modes, but it can be a bit tricky for fans of multiple genres; we found it was a “constant balancing act” of switching between the bass modes and tweaking the EQ for an optimal listening experience. That will be less of an issue if you stick with bassy genres, where the lowest Ult 1 mode provides a nice and strong bass presence that won’t overwhelm the mids and highs. Dial that up to Ult 2, however, and the bass takes center stage, to the point where we noted it was “like a punch in the face,” in our review, even to the point of adding distortion on some tracks. We suspect most people will want to stick with the lower setting, as that’s the sweet spot, but it’s nice that the Ult Wears will let you dial the bass up to 11 if you really want to.

The active noise cancellation on the Ult Wear is more than acceptable for a set of headphones in their price range. Don’t expect it to rival Sony’s premium XM5’s, but it will tone down all but the sharpest sounds. Unfortunately, call quality is another matter; you’ll hear the other person clearly, but the mic doesn’t cut it at all. The good news is that the Ult Wear deliver impressive battery life, with Sony promising 30 hours with ANC and 50 hours without. We did better in our testing, hitting 38.5 hours before the low battery warning appeared. As with other Sony headphones, a 10-minute charge will get you five more hours of ANC playtime, or you can get 1.5 hours with a three-minute charge.

Talk about the Audio-Technica M50x among audiophiles, and you’ll hear plenty of comments on how awesome they are. That legendary piece of engineering is the basis for the ATH-M50xBT2, the second iteration of Audio-Technica’s (very successful) trial of taking its classic studio monitors into a wireless world.

With LDAC support through their advanced AK4331 DAC (that respects lossless audio as-is) and newer and bigger 45mm drivers, the sound you hear from these headphones is as clear as rainwater. The frequency response curve closely follows the original studio output, meaning you get to hear the audio as the musician intended. However, note that these are not, repeat, not for bass-heads. Instead, they are best for those who listen to music that begs you to sit quietly and pay attention to details instead of bouncing along.

The lack of ANC and the dated design with the bold logo and garish branding could be issues for regular consumers. But for me, if I’m rocking an M50x, I’d want people to know. The battery lasts a whopping 60 hours and then some, while the multipoint connectivity works seamlessly. That being said, expect some issues with LDAC—it’s not completely perfect.

You’ll want these as soon as you look at them. The Shure Aonic 50 headphones are beautiful in aesthetics, build, and performance. The appealing color offerings meld with any dressing style, while the huge, comfortable, removable ear cups lengthen device life and are easy to clean. These headphones are best for commuting and work-from-home, and the occasional movie.

Build quality and beauty aside, they’re almost perfect on the audio performance front. Supporting aptX, aptX HD, aptX Low Latency, AAC, and LDAC, they can decode any device audio you throw at them. The huge 50mm dynamic drivers keep the frequency response close to flat, and everything comes out so clear you may want to hear all your favorite songs on this again just to find new stuff. With firmware update 0.4.9, they have perfected LDAC reproduction as well.

Like Audio-Technica’s M50x, these follow a studio sound, with a gentle U-curve signature that emphasizes the midrange frequencies more than most cans. We found the tuning was extremely well-balanced, with the bass precisely where it should be, the treble seldom getting out of hand, and the mids in near-perfect balance on modern tracks. Some gentle EQ may help to fill in some of the sparseness in vocal tracks, but there’s a helpful preset to take care of that, so you won’t have to fuss with it too much. The default sound is natural but perhaps a bit too much so for everyone’s tastes — we felt it was “crafted to be inoffensive,” but thankfully, the 50mm drivers let you push the limits of what the EQ can do, including going for a deeper low-end curve if that’s your jam.

The Aonic 50s have ANC, though it isn’t their strongest suit. The noise reduction — helped a lot by the HD memory foam ear cups — is substantial at low frequencies and works well with appliance noise and background chatter. The battery could have been better at sub-20 hours, but they support a quick charge of 15 minutes to go 4 hours. And even though these rock only Bluetooth 5.0, they have excellent multipoint connectivity.

How to choose the right headphones

There are several things to consider when shopping for a pair of over-ear headphones. While getting the best sound quality may seem like it’s at the top of the list, even the most acoustically perfect headphones won’t do you much good if they hurt your head or can’t overcome the noise of the world around you. That’s why active noise cancellation should be considered part of the sound quality.

Ideally, you’ll want to look for a set of headphones that are lightweight and offer a good, comfortable fit. If you have an atypically small or large head, you may want to try a few at a local retailer before making a final decision, as we’ve often found that what’s a comfortable fit for one person can be fatiguing for someone else. That’s especially true if you plan to wear them for extended periods of time.

If you’re opting for wireless listening, battery life is also something to think about. Most of the best over-ear headphones on this list can easily go 20 hours or more on a single charge, but if you travel a lot or simply prefer to avoid plugging your headphones in regularly, you’ll want to look for cans that provide longer listening times. Some of our top picks can hit 50 or 60 hours — more than enough to get you through a week or two of average listening sessions. Just keep in mind that wireless headphones still consume some power even when you’re not listening, so be sure to power them down before putting them away. Some will do this for you automatically after they’ve been idle, but read the fine print just to make sure.

Lastly, it’s also a good idea to think about the devices you plan to use your headphones with. Since Bluetooth, USB-C, and 3.5mm headphone jacks are all industry standards, you don’t need to worry about basic compatibility; any set of headphones should work with nearly any modern electronic device on the planet, but more advanced features like fast pairing, voice assistants, spatial audio, and on-device playback controls may only work with specific platforms.

Enjoy pure listening nirvana

The best over-ear headphones should offer a balance of sound quality, comfort, and battery life that lets them fade into the background when you’re wearing them, putting your listening experience first. That balance may be different depending on your needs — for example, ANC isn’t as crucial if you only listen in a quiet home environment — but you’ll still want something that checks all the right boxes for you.

While they aren’t the most affordable option on our list, we don’t think anybody will be disappointed with the Sony WH1000-XM5, which delivers best-in-class ANC, good mainstream sound quality, a reasonably comfortable fit, and battery life that’s more than enough for most folks. However, if you’re willing to spend a bit more to take things up a notch, Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra delivers everything the XM5s have to offer in a design that’s more comfortable and compact while also offering a well-thought-out immersive spatial audio experience.

If those are outside your price range, Sennheiser’s Accentum Plus delivers great value, making few compromises to reach its sub-$250 price tag. On the other hand, serious bass-heads may find none of these options deliver a substantive enough low-end to satisfy their cravings. That’s where the Sound Lamb headphones come in with bone-conducting bass that will literally rattle your skull.