Every top brand provides its take on ANC earbuds, each featuring unique designs and a variety of functionalities. Since testing all the recent earbuds isn’t practical, the Mashable team has evaluated the finest ANC earbuds for your convenience.

We’ve just refreshed this guide with our recommended selections, including the Apple AirPods Pro 3 and the second-gen Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds. The latter are already discounted ahead of Black Friday, but don’t fret if others aren’t on sale yet — our team will monitor the best headphone and earbud bargains leading up to and during the shopping holiday.

Which noise-cancelling earbuds are the best?

Not every earbud is made the same — some provide much better comfort than others.

While several audio brands deliver solid sound quality and noise cancellation, audio giants Bose and Sony shine the most. They offer outstanding ANC and enhance the audio of music and podcasts. On a quality pair of headphones, “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter sounds even more addictive.

Typically, earbuds aren’t as comfortable as over-ear headphones. Many models don’t fit securely or can be uncomfortable. Once again, Bose presents the most comfortable headphones and earbuds. Nevertheless, Bose and Sony aren’t the only options available. That’s why we assessed the top contenders on the market to figure out what constitutes an excellent pair of wireless earbuds.

How do noise-cancelling earbuds function?

Noise-cancelling earbuds are compact enough to fit in your pocket.

All noise-cancelling headphones, including earbuds, incorporate some level of passive noise cancellation. While over-ear headphones naturally block external sounds by enclosing the ears, earbuds do not suppress noise as effectively. Rather than enveloping your ears, wireless earbuds project sound straight into the ear canal to mask surrounding sounds. They depend more on active noise cancellation (ANC) to minimize ambient noise.

ANC is an electronic mechanism within the headphones. Internal microphones detect the environment and then reverse the sound waves, effectively nullifying them. Occasionally, with noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds, you may notice a faint buzzing or humming in the background, indicative of the ANC functioning. However, the best ANC earbuds should not produce this buzzing.