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The best wireless headphones for 2025: Bluetooth options for every budget

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Whether you're listening to playlists on your daily commute or zoning out with a podcast at home, wireless headphones can make your audio experience much more comfortable. With no cords to untangle or get caught on your bag, they’re a great pick for anyone who wants convenience without compromising on sound quality. If comfort and immersive audio are high on your priority list, over-ear wireless headphones are often the way to go — they wrap around your ears to help block out the world and deliver rich detailed sound that earbuds can sometimes miss.

There’s a wide range of over-ear wireless headphones to choose from, whether you want active noise cancellation, long battery life or a comfy fit for marathon listening sessions. Of course, if you're after something a little more compact or tailored to a specific use case, we also have you covered with our buying guides for the best earbuds, the best gaming headsets and the best budget earbuds. But if wireless headphones with top-tier sound and a comfortable, over-ear design are what you're after, read on — we’ve tested the top options to help you find the right pair.

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Best wireless headphones for 2025

Billy Steele for Engadget 94 100 Expert Score Best wireless headphones overall Sony WH-1000XM6 Noise cancellation: Yes | Multipoint: Yes | Battery life: 30 hours | Weight: 0.55 pounds | Water resistance: None | Assistant support: Bixby, Siri, Google Assistant | Color options: Black, Platinum Silver, and Midnight Blue Read our full Sony WH-1000XM6 review Sony’s 1000X line has been our top pick for best wireless headphone for a long time now. Until another company can pack in as many premium features as Sony, and do so with a mix of excellent sound quality and effective ANC, the crown is safe. With the WH-1000XM6, Sony subtly redesigned its flagship headphones, making them way more comfortable to wear for long periods of time. This is an important factor to consider when purchasing over-ear headphones. We also noticed in our tests that the company made noticeable improvements to the active noise cancellation, thanks to a new QN3 chip. There are now 12 total ANC mics as well – the previous model only had eight. This all combines to better block background noise at medium and high frequencies, including human voices. The M6 also has improved sound quality, thanks to new drivers, some help from mastering engineers and spatial audio upmixing. Its battery life remains the same 30 hours as its predecessor, which is more than enough to get you through several days of work or long international flights. Speak-to-Chat still reduces volume and activates ambient sound when you talk and the M6 can automatically change noise settings based on your location or activity. The only real downside is that they’re $50 more than the WH-1000XM5 at full price ($450). Pros Improved sound

Better ANC performance

Tons of handy features

Supremely comfy Cons Price has increased again

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