The best wireless headphones of 2020 come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny earbuds to chunky over-ear headphones.
All that choice is great, but it can make it difficult to find the best wireless headphones for your needs. That’s why we created this guide to help. We’ve spent the past 10 years testing the best headphones on the market and we know a thing or two about finding the perfect pair of wireless cans.
The best wireless headphones offer a heady combination fantastic connectivity, supreme audio quality, and slick designs – and some even come with nifty extras, including active noise cancellation and built-in AI assistants you can control with your voice.
The cordless cans in this list make for fantastic companions if you have a jack-less phone, like the iPhone 11 and Pixel 3 and you don’t want the hassle of buying a converter for your wired headphones.
Whatever your reason might be for upgrading, we’re here to help you find the best wireless headphones for you, regardless of your budget – and there are lots of models to choose from.
To help you get started we’ve divided our guide into wireless over-ear headphones, wireless earphones, and true wireless earbuds. These are the three main styles of wireless headphones – so feel free to jump to whichever style fits your needs and budget.
First up, here are the best over-ear wireless headphones you can buy in 2020.
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1. Sony WH-1000XM4
The best noise-cancelling headphones have a new winner
Acoustic design: Closed | Weight: 8.95 oz | Cable length: 3.94 ft | Frequency response: 4Hz to 40kHz | Drivers: 1.57-inch | Driver type: Dome-type | Sensitivity: 104.5 dB | Impedance: 47 ohm | Battery life: 30 hours | Wireless range: 30 meters (98ft) | NFC: Yes
L.The Sony WH-1000XM4 deliver excellent noise-cancellation and surprising sound quality all in a lightweight, wireless design.
While they don’t look significantly different from their predecessors, the Sony WH-1000XM3, a number of new features including multipoint pairing, DSEE Extreme upscaling, conversational awareness and auto-play/pause using a built-in sensor all help the WH-1000XM4 claim the title of best headphones in 2020.
By every possible metric, the Sony WH-1000XM4 are a wonderful pair of wireless noise-cancelling headphones. They deliver exactly what they promise and then some thanks to their exceptional noise cancellation and cutting-edge codec support.
On top of the adjustments listed above, the Sony WH-1000XM4 support Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format that enables spatial audio on stereo headphones plus the LDAC codec that can send a bitrate of up to 990 kbps. The unfortunate bit there, though, is that it no longer supports aptX or aptX HD, so your Hi-Res Audio support mileage may vary.
2. Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700
Bose’s new wireless noise-cancelling headphones are easily its best yet
Acoustic design: Closed | Weight: 0.64 lbs (289g) | Cable length: N/A | Frequency response: N/A | Drivers: 40mm | Driver type: Dynamic | Sensitivity: N/A | Impedance: N/A | Battery life: 20 hours | Wireless range: 100 meters (330 feet) | NFC: No
Bose has really outdone itself with the Headphones 700 – and a big part of these cans’ appeal, is the sophistication of the noise cancellation they offer, which is applied to your voice during phone calls, as well as your surroundings.
As an alternative to the Sony WH-1000XM4, these wireless headphones sound fantastic, with a vibrant, lively character and well-balanced soundstage and offer the same great noise-cancellation you’d expect from Bose.
They don’t have the same dexterity as the WH-1000XM4 and the battery life is also 10 hours less than Sony headphones despite costing more, but they’re perhaps the best wireless headphones for making calls with.
Read more: Bose Noise-Cancelling Headphones 700 review