Our Experts Written by David Carnoy Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement How we test Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Kobo e-books and audiobooks. Expertise Headphones, Bluetooth speakers, mobile accessories, Apple, Sony, Bose, e-readers, Amazon, glasses, ski gear, iPhone cases, gaming accessories, sports tech, portable audio, interviews, audiophile gear, PC speakers Credentials Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer See full bio What to Consider Budget Determine how much you're willing to spend on wireless earbuds and how that lines up with quality and functionality. Fit Your headphones should offer a comfortable, secure fit. Ensuring the headphones you choose fit your head help minimize any discomfort from extended wear. Return Policy In case the headphones aren't a great fit for your ears, it's important that the retailer offers a good return policy. Features Premium earbuds should offer best-in-class noise cancelling as well as have great microphones for phone calls. Durability If you're going to spend a lot of money, you should have a good idea how long the headphones are expected to last. Table of Contents vs Compare Back to selection While there are plenty of decent-sounding wireless earbuds on the market, the list gets a lot shorter when you're looking for truly great-sounding earbuds. Alas, based on my 20 years of testing audio gear, most of the best-sounding wireless earbuds tend to have rather premium price tags. And that's the case for many of the buds on this list. However, I've tried to include some more affordable picks that sound very good for their modest price points. Note that I've personally used all the earbuds on this list and fully reviewed several of them. I'll update these picks as new, great-sounding earbuds hit the market. Our Picks Best-sounding wireless earbuds overall Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 View details $399 at Crutchfield View details Best for noise-canceling Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds View details $299 at Bose View details Best Sony earbuds Sony WF-1000XM5 View details $298 at Amazon View details Excellent-sounding wireless earbuds from Beyerdynamic Beyerdynamic Amiron 300 View details $280 at Amazon View details Best wireless earbuds for Samsung users Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro View details $250 at Samsung View details Best earbuds for Pixel smartphone and Android users Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 View details $229 at Amazon View details Best-sounding Sennheiser wireless earbuds Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 View details $220 at Amazon View details