Best Wireless Earbuds 2021

We’ve all been used to using wired earbuds to listen to our music on the go for years. Some made the switch to wireless alternatives quite early, but the situation has been pushed forward in recent years thanks to more and more phone manufacturers removing the 3.5mm headphone jack from their handsets.

As much as many of us hated the idea of losing the 3.5mm jack, most find that wireless earbuds are just as good, if not better. The convenience of not being literally tied to your phone, not having to deal with tangled cables, and having options such as active noise cancellation are all big positives. Yes, you have to be careful where you put them down, have to remember to charge them, and to some degree be aware of how you’re moving when you wear them, but that’s not as much of an issue as you might worry it is.

To help you pick a great set of wireless earbuds, we’ve pulled together a list of the best wireless earbuds 2021.

The Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds suffer from a bad name but offer great quality. The earbuds include active noise cancelling, so you don’t have to turn your music up so loud to hear it over the rest of the world. If you need to hear something quickly, the Quick Attention feature allows you to temporarily pass ambient audio through while you put your finger over the earbud.

With the noise-cancelling enabled, these earbuds have a battery life of 6 hours, which can be boosted to 8-hours by turning off ANC. The carry case holds three full charges which means you can get up to 32 hours of use. If you find yourself out of battery, the earbuds can get 90 minutes of charge from 10 minutes of charging and the case itself can fully charge in three hours via USB Type-C.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro are an in-ear style set of earbuds, that offer an IPX7 water-resistance rating, meaning they can handle up to 30 minutes in up to a metre of water. The five-hour battery life with active noise cancelling isn’t the best, but it can be boosted to 8 hours with the noise-cancelling disabled and up to 28 hours with the extra charge in the carry case.

The Buds Together feature, aside from having a great pun for a name, allows you to pair two pairs of Buds Pro to a single Samsung Galaxy device at the same time, so you and a buddy can listen to the same music at the same time. SmartThings Find helps you find your earbuds if you lose them, both by playing sound if they’re connected or by showing you where they last were if they’re offline.

The Beats Powerbeats Pro earbuds are a great option for those that want to use earbuds while working out, thanks to the ear-mount to hold it in place no matter what you do, although this can be uncomfortable for some glasses wearers.

The 9-hour battery life is pretty solid, the carry case can provide 2 extra full charges, and can provide up to 90 minutes charge with just five minutes of charging time. Each earbud has a play/pause button and volume controls so you don’t have to use your phone. The carry case is pretty bulky, making it awkward to fit in a pocket and more suited to be kept in a bag.

The Apple AirPods Pro are an update to the original AirPods that increase the sound quality, stability, and fit by switching to a in-ear silicone tip design. They are particularly light at just 5.4 grams each, however, this has come at the cost of a short battery life of just 4.5 hours.

Unlike the original AirPods, the carry Case for the Pro’s supports wireless charging by default. They hold an extra 24-hours of charge for the earphones, and can provide an hours battery with just five minutes of charging. The reduced size of the stem with the touch controls makes it a little more difficult to use as well as having reduced the potential battery life.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live are one of the few wireless earbuds that don’t use the in-ear design. This does mean that there’s more sound leakage, but it also gives an option to people that don’t like shoving the silicone tips into their ears. The earbuds are supposed to sit snugly in the shell of your ear, but this may not work well for everyone, leaving them loose and prone to falling out.

The six-hour battery life is decent for noise cancelling and can be extended to 8-hours by disabling ANC. The carry case can provide up to a total of 29-hours of charge and charge wirelessly. Five minutes of fast charging can give the earbuds an hour of battery life.

That was our list of the best wireless earbuds in 2021. If you’ve bought any of our suggestions, please let us know your thoughts down below.