Have you gone on a summer holiday and forgotten to bring along earphones? That’s a shame. If you’re the type of person who lies on the beach under the parasol while everyone else is swimming, you need some good sound for your audiobook or podcast. The taxi ride home from the summer party will also be better if you can tune out the driver’s endless chatter and enjoy your favourite music instead.
A pair of completely wireless earphones – so-called true wireless – take up no space in your bag or purse and can easily fit in a trouser pocket. The best ones sound at least as good as a good pair of traditional headphones, so there’s no need to accept mediocre sound just because you’ve ditched the cord.
The best earbuds sound really good and have a long continuous battery life of 8-10 hours. With two or three extra charges from the portable case, the earbuds can last for a short holiday without the need to charge them between battles. And when you do need to charge, you can often get an hour of playback out of just ten minutes of charging.
Noise reduction and ambient sound
In the premium class, there are almost no earbuds without active noise cancellation. And it’s now effective enough to enjoy the entire flight to Lanzarote. Sometimes it can be too effective, in which case it’s a good thing that the hearing aids also have ambient sound. This means that microphones pick up sound from outside and send it into your ear, making it sound almost as if you’re not wearing earplugs at all.
All earbuds in this test have both noise cancellation and ambient sound.
Other features
Some earbuds have features that set them apart from others. For example, you can find them again if you can’t remember where you put them. Some have so-called sidetone, which allows you to better hear your own voice during mobile calls and video conferences.
Many earbuds have their own app with an equaliser, with different presets or where you can adjust the sound yourself. This can be handy if you’re not entirely happy with the sound as set by the manufacturer.
All the best wireless earbuds
Here we test a wide range of premium earbuds. The cheapest ones cost just under €200 and then gradually increase all the way up to €400. And if you think price determines quality, we can reveal that we had a few surprises here.