One of my favorite features is the quick attention mode: Place your hand over the right ear cup, and the headphones lower the volume slightly so you can more easily pick up on the sounds around you. They’re sensitive enough to relay commands quickly, but not so sensitive that you accidentally skip a song every time you try to scratch your head. The touch controls were some of the most responsive of anything I tested, too. I wore them for three to four hours a day on and off, and they lasted well over a week between charges. In terms of sound, vocals were crystal clear on Paul Simon’s Graceland, and the bass really came alive while listening to Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon III: The Chosen. In fact, I wore them through multiple hour-long episodes of Spotify’s Dissect podcast, and was never once bothered by them. You could wear these for hours without even realizing they were on your head. When I first took them out of the box, I couldn’t believe how light they felt. That’s a game changer for someone like me, who switches between my phone and laptop all day as I go through phone calls, Zoom calls, Spotify playlists, and Twitter alerts.” I found the XM4s to be among the best-sounding noise-canceling headphones I’ve ever tried. Plus, he says, “The XM4s can maintain a connection to two devices at once, with the headphones automatically noticing when you switch between the two. He liked that they have the same 30-hour battery life, comfort, and simple NC controls as the XM3s. My colleague, Louis Cheslaw, is a longtime XM3 fan who tried out the XM4s and was not disappointed. The XM4 is even better than its predecessor, the XM3, which was already a Strat favorite. Below are seven of the best headphones you can buy right now. (We’ll explain.) Choosing the best pair for you comes down to finding which ones fit your head and budget, which features you need, and which design you like. There are noise-canceling options, budget-friendly options, and even a bone-conduction option. Their picks are also included below.īased on their experience and my own, I feel confident that you can’t go wrong with any of the options on this list. For a few of the more specialized headphones, I supplemented my own testing with the experience of two colleagues at the Strategist and the Verge. I wore them for podcasts, like 99% Invisible, and an array of music including British grime from Skepta and Paul Simon’s Graceland. I followed the same basic criteria as when I tested noise-canceling headphones, considering each pair for sound, comfort, size, battery life, and price. To find the best wireless headphones available, I started by testing more than a dozen of the newest options. Yes, they’re heavier, but the sound is consistently richer and clearer. Although I am a fan of earbuds, I’ll always prefer the experience of headphones.
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