Best noise-cancelling headphones
Cancellation is not one thing, and the pair that wins on a plane is often not the pair that wins in an office. How to choose for the noise you actually sit in.
4 products ranked Updated
Product images: Apple, Sennheiser and Edifier
Our rankings are built from published testing by named outlets, not from our own lab. We earn a commission when you buy through our links, and it never changes the order.
The short answer
- 1 Sony WH-1000XM6 Best overall $459.99 at Sony; SoundGuys quote $398
- 2 Apple AirPods Max (2nd gen) Best cancellation $449 (list $549), per SoundGuys
- 3 Sennheiser HDB 630 Best sound quality $499.95
- 4 Edifier W820NB Plus Best budget $89.99 for the v25 on Edifier's US store; SoundGuys quote $69.99 for the model they tested
Prices checked 9 September 2026. They move constantly — the retailer's own page is the authority.
Sony WH-1000XM6
4.5 / 5
Our reading of SoundGuys — their Best for Most pick , 2026
The only pair both our sources put first, and the one to buy if you are not going to think about it further.
Pros
- The lead pick of both a lab-measuring outlet and a real-world one
- Microphone quality rated excellent, which most reviews ignore
Cons
- $459.99 at Sony is near the top of the market
- Discounts come and go: SoundGuys found it at $398
- Price
- Sony's own store, checked 14 September 2026
Apple AirPods Max (2nd gen)
4.5 / 5
Our reading of SoundGuys — their Best ANC pick , 2026
If cancellation is the only thing you care about, this is the pair the lab puts first. It is also heavy, expensive, and most rewarding inside Apple's ecosystem. Apple publishes no price in a form we can read, so the figure here is SoundGuys' and is dated accordingly.
Pros
- Rated best for cancellation by the lab-measuring source
- USB-C audio, which the older model lacked
Cons
- $449 even discounted, and $549 at list
- Heavy, and least rewarding outside Apple's ecosystem
- Price not verifiable on Apple's own page
Where these findings come from
- SoundGuys: named Best ANC; excellent noise cancellation, great sound, good microphone, USB-C audio
Sennheiser HDB 630
4 / 5
Our reading of SoundGuys — their Best Sound Quality pick , 2026
The pick for someone who wants cancellation but is not willing to lose sound quality to get it. It is the most expensive pair here and the only one whose price we read off the manufacturer's own page today. The parametric EQ is unusual at any price and is the reason to choose it over the Sony.
Pros
- Rated best-sounding by the source that measures
- Parametric EQ rather than a three-band toy
- Price verified on Sennheiser's own store
Cons
- $499.95 — the most expensive pick here
- Neither source rates its cancellation above the Sony's
Where these findings come from
- SoundGuys: named Best Sound Quality; connection options, included dongle, durable case, parametric EQ
Around $89.99 for the v25 on Edifier's US store; SoundGuys quote $69.99 for the model they tested
Edifier W820NB Plus
3.5 / 5
Our reading of SoundGuys — their Best Budget ANC pick , 2026
A fifth of the price of the Sony, from the source that measures cancellation properly. One caveat worth stating: Edifier's own store currently lists a W820NB Plus **v25** at $89.99, while SoundGuys quote $69.99 for the W820NB Plus they tested. Those may not be the same revision, so treat the review as evidence about the line rather than about the exact unit you will receive.
Pros
- Named best budget ANC by a lab-measuring outlet
- Roughly a fifth of the price of the top pick
- Good isolation and audio over USB at this money
Cons
- The version on sale may not be the version reviewed
- "Decent sound" is the source's word, not "excellent"
- Single source
Where these findings come from
- SoundGuys: named Best Budget ANC; decent sound, comfortable fit, good isolation, audio over USB
What actually matters
Which noise you are cancelling. Active cancellation works best on constant low-frequency sound — engine rumble, air conditioning, train noise. It works far less well on speech, which is irregular and higher up. If your problem is a colleague on a call, the plane-focused pair everyone recommends is the wrong buy.
Comfort at hour four. Clamping force that feels reassuringly snug in the first ten minutes is a headache by the afternoon. Weight matters less than where the weight sits and how the pads distribute it.
Battery, honestly measured. Quoted figures are usually with cancellation off or at low volume. The number worth knowing is hours with ANC on at the volume you actually use.
The microphone, if you take calls. It is the specification nobody compares and the one your colleagues judge you on. Wind handling is the usual weak point.
Where these numbers come from
We do not test headphones and we do not have an anechoic chamber. What we do is read the people who do, and say who they are.
Cancellation figures on this page come from a lab using a Bruel & Kjaer 5128 head simulator — the industry-standard rig — which plays shaped noise through loudspeakers and measures what reaches the ear with the headphones on and off. That is a real measurement, and republishing it with the lab named is different from printing a number and letting you assume we took it. We will do the first and never the second.
Our second source runs no lab and compares nearly twenty pairs in real use, which catches what a rig cannot: comfort at hour four, and whether the touch controls work in the rain.
What we are leaving out
In-ear models, which are a different product with different trade-offs, and anything without active cancellation.
Where this comes from
We did not test these. These people did.
Every score on this page rests on the testing below. The ranking is ours; the measurements are not. How we research.
Questions people ask
Do I need LDAC or other high-resolution codecs?
Is cancellation bad for your hearing?
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