Eleven Reports on Fine Ear

I’ve been listening, calling, clicking, and pinching myself absolutely crazy in recent weeks. The result is that we can now make a number of reasonable recommendations. Each of the following ear sets had me smiling from ear to ear.

Best: Sony WF-1000XM5

It will come as no surprise that I’m quite a fan of the Sony WF-1000XM5 headphones. With great sound quality, excellent click control, good wearing comfort and excellent noise cancellation, these earbuds can call themselves the winner of this test. You might pay a lot of money for this, but in return you’ll get a set of earbuds that aren’t really disappointing in any way.

Best ANC: Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones

If you’re looking for earbuds with the best noise cancellation, look no further than the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. They do the best job of silencing your environment, although these headphones are not immune to wind noise. The touch controls work well enough and wearing comfort is excellent. Sound quality is also great, with slightly lower resolution in the high range, but a warmer sound than that of the Sony WF-1000XM5. The fact that the Bose doesn’t emerge as an outright winner in this roundup is due to its high price, slightly poor call quality, and the app’s disappointing adjustability.

Powerful in every way: JBL Tour Pro 2

Not everyone will be willing to spend around €300 to get the pleasure of listening and wireless connectivity. The JBL Tour Pro 2 is much less expensive at around €225 and offers excellent all-round performance. Well, the charging box is large and the earbuds themselves are not small, which makes the wearing comfort a little less. However, the audio and call quality are excellent, as are the noise cancellation and transparency mode. Moreover, it continues to play for a long time before it needs to be charged. Which is that we don’t award originality, otherwise the Tour Pro 2 with its beautiful touchscreen on the charging box would be a serious contender.

Maximum comfort: Jabra Elite 10

The Elite 10 looks very stylish, has an excellent app and has its own feature for phone and voice conversations. The sound quality, noise cancellation, and transparency mode aren’t the best, but they’re good. However, these in-ears in particular feature silky soft silicone tips that feel super light in your ear.

Value for money: none ear (2)

The Ear (2) from Nothing doesn’t really excel at anything, but as the cheapest set in this comparison, you can’t really spot any major faults. These headphones also have a very nice app, an excellent transparency mode, and support for all the codecs you could want. The only real downside is poor endurance: with ANC on, the covers stop working after 3.5 hours.

Value for money: Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3

Sennheiser headphones are not very good for making calls, because you hear your voice very muffled. It may look nice, but it’s also quite large, especially the cargo box. However, if you’re mainly concerned with sound quality and find the Sony price too expensive, the Momentum True Wireless 3 at €170 is an interesting option. The earbuds deliver full, powerful sound, with dynamics and stereo presentation very close to the WF-1000XM5.

For Apple users: AirPods Pro 2nd generation (2023)

The updated AirPods Pro have USB-C connectivity instead of Lightning and are now also dust-resistant. Moreover, it still looks very stylish, is very comfortable and the sound quality is excellent. Moreover, it is a very great set for making phone calls. However, we don’t recommend these extremes if you only have an Android device, because launching via a third-party app doesn’t work well. If you’re walking around with an iPhone or iPad, the AirPods Pro are ideal without thinking. You can also instantly take advantage of other new features Apple introduced in iOS 17 for these headphones, like automatically switching between transparency and noise-cancelling mode. We have to say: The sound quality is good, but not as strong as the Boses, Sonys, JBLs and Sennheisers.

Compare item	Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with USB-c Charging Case (White)	Bose QuietComfort Ultra In-Ear Headphones (Black)	Google Pixel Buds Pro (Black)	Jabra Elite 10 (Brown)	JBL Tour Pro 2 (Black)	None Ear (2) (Black)	OnePlus Buds Pro 2 (Black)	Philips Fidelio T2 (Black)	Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro (Graphite, Black)	Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 (White)	Sony WF-1000XM5 (Black)

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