Sony’s flagship noise-cancelling headphones have long been hard to beat, offering the ultimate over-ear noise cancelling performance against some incredibly stiff competition. And they’ve also occupied a rare position in the audio sphere — mainstream enough to dominate airport lounges and commuter trains, yet serious enough to tempt audiophiles who would normally avoid wireless cans altogether.

With the all-new, long-rumoured 1000X THE COLLEXION headphones, Sony wants to make sure those most discerning of listeners are fully catered for.

While it’d be easy to think of THE COLLEXION as a ‘WH-1000XM6 Pro’ upgrade to last year’s world beating over-ears, that’d be slightly missing the point. This is not simply another yearly upgrade focused on cancelling more engine rumble or squeezing in another AI feature (even if it’s also attempting to do both). Instead, THE COLLEXION feels like Sony asking what happens when its most-loved headphone line is given the spared-no-expense treatment — something designed to be worn and admired as much as getting down to the nitty-gritty of making your tunes sound great.

Want some luxury to accompany your playlists? Here’s five reasons why the Sony 1000X THE COLLEXION might be the headphones for you.

Sony 1000X THE COLLEXION: In short…

• Luxury stainless steel and matte faux leather design feels genuinely premium
• Comfort-focused fit reduces pressure during long listening sessions
• Refined audio tuning prioritises clarity and immersive sound quality
• AI upscaling and spatial modes personalise music, movies and gaming
• Advanced microphones improve calls, adaptive noise cancelling and daily usability
• Available from May 2026 in Platinum (white) and Black shades
• Priced at £550

1. The Design Feels As Premium As The Price Tag

Sony says the design philosophy behind its 1000X THE COLLEXION headphones (right, from here on in, to save our fingers, we’re just going to call ‘em the ‘COLLEXION’) is “Resonate” — the idea that you should hear, feel and experience premium sound and texture at the same time. Marketing language aside, there is a noticeable shift in approach here.

Every visible surface uses just two materials: hand-polished stainless steel and a newly developed faux leather finish. That faux leather alone reportedly took two years to develop, and it shows in the details. Rather than the glossy synthetic textures that can make premium headphones feel oddly plastic, Sony has opted for a matte finish that looks restrained and feels high-end to the touch — important, as you’ll be swiping and tapping the cups regularly to control playback.

The result is cleaner and more architectural than previous over-ear models. In black, the headphones look understated and expensive. In ‘Platinum’ white, they feel closer to luxury fashion tech than your usual over-ears. But they’re not flashy, either — these aren’t the diamond-encrusted nonsense that often tempts the higher-end of the tech market. It’s classic Sony minimalism.

That extends to the accompanying carry case too, which manages to do something even Apple’s equally-luxurious AirPods Pro Max couldn’t — being stylish and functional. Like the Apple competition, Sony’s case opts for a carry handle style. But, with the headphone cups rotating flat rather than folding inwards, the case wraps around the headband to create that carry handle. Fastening closed with a magnetic snap, the entirety of the headphone is enclosed and protected. Apple, take note.

Sony has also made the earcups slimmer than the WH-1000XM6, reducing the depth to 40.1mm from 45.4mm. That sounds minor on paper, but visually it creates a more refined silhouette on the head, giving the illusion of a softer, slightly curvier can.

2. Comfort Has Been Given Real Attention

Premium headphones live or die by comfort. Nobody cares how advanced the internals are if they’re clamping to your noggin’ like a vice.

The COLLEXION however is supremely comfortable. Designed with long listening sessions in mind, using a wider headband, and with softer earpads to reduce side pressure, you can wear them for hours without any fatigue. The internal earcup space is also notably generous, meaning the pads sit around the ear rather than pressing directly onto it. As a glasses wearer, that clamping force was just right in all the right places too — tight enough to keep them from slipping, but not so squeezed as to push my specs’ arms into my skull.

Even the internal battery layout has been reconsidered. Sony split the battery into two separate components to improve weight distribution and maximise acoustic space inside the cups. Again, it is the sort of engineering decision that users may never consciously notice, but they will feel the benefits over several hours of wear.

There is no official IP rating here, which may disappoint gym users or anyone regularly caught in the customary surprise UK downpour. But these are clearly intended as luxury listening headphones first, and all-day comfort seems to have been prioritised above ruggedness.

3. The Sound Is The Real Star

Sony’s flagship headphones have always balanced sound quality against noise cancelling. With COLLEXION, the balance appears to tilt slightly more toward the audio side. The aim here is to get closer to an artist’s intention in the studio, trimming back some of the bass-heavy moments of the WH-1000XM6, and promoting clarity over sheer noise-cancelling grunt.

The redeveloped driver unit uses a unidirectional carbon layered core composite material in the diaphragm dome section (intended to deliver natural tones from the most delicate high-frequency moments), alongside Sony’s HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN3 and an entirely new integrated V3 processor.

That V3 processor delivers some of the COLLEXION’s smartest audio tricks. Support for Hi-Res Wireless audio and LDAC is onboard, but the headline addition may actually be DSEE Ultimate. Available in Sony headphones for the first time in this form, the AI-powered upscaling system attempts to restore detail lost in compressed music files.

Sony claims it can effectively upscale 44kHz audio to 96kHz and increase 16-bit audio to 24-bit equivalents, very useful when using streaming services over a mobile connection. Whether listeners hear every technical improvement will vary, but the intention is clear: these are headphones built for people who genuinely care about music quality, not simply background listening.

Equally interesting is how much Sony has borrowed from its dedicated Walkman audio division. COLLEXION includes technologies such as a low-phase-noise crystal oscillator, advanced solder containing gold and optimised circuitry components — details normally associated with specialist hi-fi gear rather than wireless travel headphones.

The proof, as ever, is in the listening, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time with the COLLEXION headphones. Note: from our experience, you’re going to get the most from the headphones with a Hi-Res playback source, as you’d expect. But the COLLEXION is pretty agnostic when it comes to genre.

With the glacial ‘Computer Love’ of electro pioneers Kraftwerk, the COLLEXION shows off its precision and clarity — tight bass tones, snappy drum clicks and crystal clear high-end synths.

For something a little more earthy, Love’s ‘You Set The Scene’ from the masterful Forever Changes album is a great work out for the COLLEXION’s claimed wide soundstage and instrumental separation. The headphones do a great job, bringing a warmth and immediacy to the presentation, and ably pulling out the individual orchestral qualities of strings, horns and guitars as the three all battle in the song’s final third.

At the other end of the spectrum, Nine Inch Nail’s brutal ‘March Of The Pigs’ hits like a hammer blow. Guitars have bite and power, while the complex industrial underpinnings of the song feel thick and full, without Trent Reznor’s raspy vocal being lost.

There’s a feeling that the most demanding of audiophiles will be looking for a little more dynamism in the mid-range, but that’s nitpicking, and when paired with the rest of the feature set offered here, the COLLEXION is a great package.

4. The Features Feel More Personal And Flexible

Wireless headphones increasingly succeed or fail based on how adaptable they are to everyday life, but Sony’s had a handle on that right from the start with its 1000X series. Each successive model has brought new smarts to the table — and the COLLEXION might be the smartest of them all.

The V3 processor introduces several new upmix modes, including dedicated 360-degree settings for music, movies and gaming. These modes attempt to create a more immersive spatial presentation depending on what you are listening to.

I usually avoid additional processing modes on audio devices — they tend to move the music too far away from the original intention of a mix. But I had a lot of fun with Sony’s music upmix mode. It gives an almost ‘live’ quality to a recording, widening the soundstage and putting you closer to the centre of a performance. It’s lively and an interesting way to get a new perspective on tracks you’re well versed in, if not necessarily the most faithful reproduction. The gaming mode was enjoyable and explosive too, adding a level of immersive bombast to proceedings — but I was disappointed by relatively high latency when gaming over Bluetooth, meaning some audio cues felt just a beat behind the action.

There is also a surprisingly intriguing “background music” mode (returning from the WH-1000XM6) designed to make songs feel as though they are playing slightly away from you, like music drifting through a café rather than directly into your ears. It sounds gimmicky initially, but it could prove genuinely useful for people who dislike the intense isolation that noise-cancelling headphones can create.

A customisable physical button on the headset lets users quickly switch between modes without diving into menus or apps, which is exactly the kind of practical touch premium products should include.

Sony also includes a 10-band EQ for users who want more detailed control over tuning. Casual listeners can leave everything alone, while enthusiasts can fine-tune the presentation to suit different genres.

It all adds up to a product that feels less rigidly one-size-fits-all than many rivals, and makes the accompanying Sound Connect app less of an optional add-on and more an essential tweak station.

5. They Still Deliver Serious Everyday Practicality

Even with the more luxurious positioning, Sony has not abandoned the practical strengths that made its over-ear line successful in the first place.

COLLEXION uses 12 onboard microphones for adaptive noise-cancelling optimisation, allowing the headphones to constantly adjust to changing environments. Sony is not pushing noise cancelling as aggressively as before — the messaging here is more about sound refinement — but the capability is still substantial. Aggressive pre-release secrecy around the headphones mean I’ve not been able to test them against the rigours of public transport yet, but I was able to mimic the hum of a flight quite effectively, thanks to the whirring of my gaming PC’s fan in my hotbox of a flat. While not quite a match for the total isolation of the WH-1000XM6 cans, the noise cancelling here is still better than the majority of Sony’s competitors.

Sony also has the advantage of its smart adaptive noise cancelling features. Let the Sound Connect app access your location, and the headphones will adapt their noise-blocking features according to the situation. Walking down the road, you can set them to let in a little more exterior sound so as to better hear an oncoming Uber Eats bike, and then seamlessly switch to zen-like full noise cancellation once you reach the office.

Call quality has also received serious attention. Six beamforming microphones help isolate the speaker’s voice while reducing wind interference, and Bluetooth LE Audio support enables Super Wide Band speech transmission for clearer calls. The audio mode selecting button can also be configured to act as a physical mic mute switch, something that feels particularly relevant in the hybrid-working era where headphones double as office equipment as often as entertainment devices.

I’d say, however, that the decision to leave a USB-C cable out of the package feels a little bit stingy, though. Yes, e-waste needs to be taken into consideration. But grab these at an airport shop before boarding your flight, and you’re going to have a long, noisy journey ahead of you unless you come prepared with a charging cable. Battery life shouldn’t be much of a concern though — 24 hours with ANC switched on will see you around the world, even if it’s a few hours short of the battery life managed by the WH-1000XM6. And there is a 3.5mm jack cable in the box.

Final Verdict

Sony’s 1000X THE COLLEXION headphones admirably merge luxury looks, audiophile ambition and daily practicality into one sumptuous package. It’s a complex balancing act, but COLLEXION feels like Sony recognising that premium headphones are no longer just tech accessories, but fashion objects, productivity tools and personal audio systems all at once.

That versatility comes with a hefty price tag, but for listeners who want one pair of headphones capable of handling all three roles with a little more elegance than usual, they’ll be confidently covered.

The toss up between the older WH-1000XM6 and the COLLEXION model will be a difficult one to make — if cream-of-the-crop noise cancelling is your primary concern, the former will probably still win out. But for a taste of the high life, 1000X THE COLLEXION is among the best headphones Sony’s ever made.

• The BIG London gig list 2026: Your guide to this year's very best shows, festivals and concerts

Marshall has never struggled with aesthetic cool. Its iconic amplifiers have been stage staples for the biggest rock bands of all time, since the days when all Bluetooth meant was that someone had drunk one too many gnasher-dyeing Slush Puppies. Away from the mosh pit, its headphones have spent the last decade translating that rock-and-roll heritage into commuter-friendly tech. And with its latest release, the Marshall Milton A.N.C. headphones, it's ready to power your playlists for a non-stop weekend or longer.

Priced at £179.99, these new wireless on-ear headphones arrive with adaptive noise cancelling, spatial audio and a frankly outrageous battery life figure. More importantly, they appear designed for people who actually live in their headphones — commuters, travellers, office workers and anyone who can’t function without their own personal soundtrack on at all times.

For those about to rock, here’s five reasons the Marshall Milton A.N.C might be the headphones for you.

Marshall Milton A.N.C.: In short…

• Adaptive ANC reacts automatically to surroundings
• Up to 80 hours battery life, 50+ with noise cancelling
• Foldable design built for constant travel
• Spatial audio adds depth to everyday listening
• Repairable design with replaceable battery
• Available now, priced £179.99

1. Battery life that borders on barmy

Most wireless headphones promise enough battery to survive a few work sessions. Marshall laughs at that paltry goal. There’s battery life so good here you might forget you ever needed to charge them in the first place.

The Milton A.N.C. delivers up to 80 hours of wireless playtime without active noise cancelling switched on, or more than 50 hours with ANC enabled. That is several long-haul flights, countless Tube journeys and probably an entire festival weekend without desperately hunting for a USB-C cable.

For people tired of battery anxiety, this is arguably the headline feature. Marshall is essentially removing charging from the daily routine. Two hours gets the headphones fully recharged, and then you’re back into musical bliss for another solid couple of days.

2. Adaptive ANC that works with on-ear headphones

Over-ear headphones have dominated the premium ANC market for years largely because on-ear alternatives often leaked sound and struggled with isolation. And though the ANC of the Milton isn’t quite as all-encompassing as over-ear alternatives, those that prefer the on-ear form factor will thankfully still be able to block out the majority of surrounding annoyances with these new cans.

The Milton A.N.C. uses adaptive active noise cancelling that continuously analyses surroundings and adjusts in real time. Six microphones work together to reduce environmental noise while also improving call quality. Crucially, Marshall has enlarged the ear cushions and added softer memory foam to improve passive isolation before the electronics even get involved.

That ‘adaptive’ feature means that, instead of aggressively silencing the world, the headphones react to it. In a quiet library? It’ll dial back the intensity of noise-cancellation, but on a train, in an open-plan office or during a flight, they adapt automatically to the din and work harder to block out distractions. And when situational awareness matters, Transparency mode lets outside sound back in instantly with a single press of a button.

3. Portable — but still pretty

At just over 200 grams, the Milton A.N.C is light and portable, with a foldable design intended to survive constant packing, commuting and travel. But Marshall hasn’t stripped back any of those stage-ready good looks.

The textured leather finish, brass logo detailing and powder-coated metal arms all lean into the company’s vintage rock aesthetic. Importantly, they still feel grown-up. These are headphones designed to look as comfortable beside a MacBook in Soho as they would backstage at a venue.

The durability angle matters too. Marshall says the headphones are repairable and include a replaceable battery — you’ll have to get Marshall’s own engineers to do the job, though.

And they’re comfortable on your head, too. On-ear headphones can feel quite clampy, pushing on the squishy bits of your ears uncomfortably over longer stretches of time. But the Milton A.N.C is light and breezy, with well-padded cans and a forgiving clamping force that means they don’t cause fatigue over longer periods of time.

4. Sound improvements

Marshall headphones tend to lean warmer and more energetic rather than neutral in their tuning, and the Milton A.N.C follows suit.

A redesigned driver system promises improved bass and treble alongside Hi-Res audio support. Bluetooth 6.0 compatibility and support for SBC, AAC, LC3 and LDAC codecs show Marshall is taking wireless audio quality seriously, even at a mid-range price.

Though they’re not going to tempt audiophiles away from their studio-tuned favourites, the Marshall Milton A.N.C is an exciting listen. They’re bass and mid forward in a way that suits crunchier rock music and big beat pop best, and can go ear-splittingly loud when pushed to max volume.

An intriguing feature is Soundstage spatial audio, Marshall’s in-house spatialisation system that adds depth and width to stereo tracks. It’s not a true-to-source sound, but can be fun for giving a more live-performance-feel to your tracks.

There’s also Adaptive Loudness, which subtly adjusts tonal balance depending on listening volume and background noise. In practice, that means late-night listening should still sound rich rather than thin and anaemic — though it can flatten highs in some circumstances.

5. Convenient design

One of the smartest details is the customisable M-button. Instead of burying features inside endless app menus, Marshall lets users assign shortcuts for ANC, Transparency mode, EQ presets, Spotify access, spatial audio or voice assistant controls.

We’ll take a physical control over a touch-pad swipe any day.

It’s a winning combo of solid sound, smart features, convenience and style. If you like your headphones as rocking as your tunes, the Milton A.N.C are ready to hit the road with you.

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If you travel in London, you’ll be well acquainted with the sound of the tube’s deafening noise. Whether your commute features a roar, squeal or rumble, it can be a sudden annoyance that’s certain to stop your conversation in its tracks. I know from personal experience just how loud it gets when you’re on the Central Line between Stratford and Leyton!

But is this noise more than an irritant? And could it be doing damage to your hearing? That’s what researchers at AcSoft set out to discover by taking a high-end sound level meter deep into the London Underground to bring back the measurements that tell us where the risk is greatest.

Thankfully, many lines sit in a sweet spot of “non-hazardous noise”, with the newest, the Elizabeth Line, coming out as the quietest. Average sound levels on these smooth tracks are 74.3 decibels (dB). That’s comparable to cabin noise on a flight.

But it’s not all good news. On several lines, the average sound goes up far over 80 dB. If you’re travelling on any of the Northern, ​​Jubilee, Piccadilly, Central or Waterloo and City lines, your ears will feel the pain. All averaged above 84 dB, with the Northern Line reaching the highest sound levels over time: an excessive 98.4 dB.

Why does it matter? Well, you won’t realise you’ve damaged your hearing until it’s too late. And, once you have, there’s no getting it back. It’s worth remembering that if you were to be exposed to these levels for a long time in a professional environment, you’d need mandatory hearing protection.

“Repeated or long exposure to sounds at 85 decibels or above can cause hearing loss. The length of time you can ‘safely’ be exposed to sound over 85 decibels without needing to use hearing protection depends on how loud it is,” Franki Oliver, Audiology Manager at the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), told Shortlist.

“Remember that you’re exposed to lots of different sounds that are 85 decibels or over throughout the day, and this exposure time adds up. As sound intensity doubles with every increase of 3 decibels, the safe exposure time halves. So, for example, the safe exposure time for 88 decibels is four hours.”

There are a few things you can do to stay safe. Firstly, I’d recommend setting a volume limit on your phone. It’s all too easy to start cranking up the volume to hear it over the ambient roar of the train. While you may end up being able to hear your podcast in the short term, your eardrums won’t thank you in the years to come.

Next, take preventative measures. If you don’t like wearing headphones, earplugs can be effective; the Loop Quiet 2 can cut around 24 decibels of external noise. On the headphone side of things, the key spec to keep in mind is “Active Noise Cancelling” or ANC.

Headphones with this clever tech play “opposing” soundwaves to the ambient noise, to stop it reaching your ears. Great ANC will allow you to keep listening at around 50-60% volume, even in loud tunnels.

“Most smartphones will now monitor your headphone use and alert you if you’ve exceeded your safe listening limit. However tempting it might be to ignore these warnings, it’s really important you pay attention and follow the advice they give,” RNID’s Oliver said. “A good tip for travelling on the underground is to invest in some noise-cancelling headphones. Not only will these block out the noise around you, but they also mean you won’t have to turn up the volume to a dangerous level to hear your music properly over background noise.”

As a technology editor, I’ve tested loads of the best headphones with these features, and below are the ones I’d recommend as budget, mid-range and premium options. All the headphones below have been thoroughly tested in the tube itself, both with nothing playing and with music at around 60% volume:

Best headphones to protect your ears

Best under £65

You don’t always have to get the latest models to get top performance, something proved by Soundcore’s Liberty 4NC, launched in 2023. In this price tier, it makes sense to consider versatile budget earbuds, and these are some of the best around. They have such good active noise-cancelling that they rival over-ears and pairs that cost far more.

On test, they quietened the din of the London Underground, traffic, a coffee shop and nearby conversations. Occasionally, I felt the need to increase the volume to slightly over 60% to hear a podcast, but they never needed blasting at full. The sound is also customisable with the app, they’ve got loads of battery life, and come in a fun range of colours.

Best under £150

I’m really impressed by the value of the Sony ULT Wear. For £129, you’re getting noise-cancelling that’s on par with previous versions of Sony’s flagship range.

That’s because it features the same V1 Processor found in the XM4 and XM5, allowing it to deliver better ANC than any other headphone in this price bracket. They’re light, comfortable, portable, and excelled in my test on the tube, even with no audio playing or the volume on low.

The thing to note, though, is that they’re heavily focused on bass. Your experience with the audio on these is going to be punchy, to say the least. And there’s even a button to dial up the bass to absurd levels. You can tame this in the app, but they may be a slightly better fit for you if you love thumpy electronic music.

Best premium

Not fussed about keeping the cost down? After the best of the best? I’d pick the latest pair of flagship Bose over-ears, the 2nd Gen QC Ultras.

Bose was at the forefront of using ANC tech to protect the hearing of pilots back in the 60s, and continues to make the best cans to this day. These are comfortable to wear for hours, and put you in a serene bubble of silence.

I was able to keep listening at a low volume, or with no audio playing, and the ANC removed all the background distractions. They’re well-cushioned and soft, lightweight, easy to control, well-designed and last for 30 hours on one charge. The price is steep, but they’re worth it.

Honourable mentions

Lastly, I’d highlight flagship earbuds, too. The benefits of buds? They’re easier to have on you all the time, and more comfortable for glasses wearers. The top ANC comes from the latest AirPods Pro 3. They’re secure to wear, cancel almost all distractions and work seamlessly with Apple tech.

But, they’re not made with Android in mind. The best cross-platform picks I’d grab are either the first-gen or second-gen Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. They stand toe-to-toe with Apple’s buds for the most powerful noise-cancelling, especially for low-frequency rumbles, but the AirPods do a marginally better job with unpredictable chatter.

• Sony upgrades its legendary earbuds with the WF-1000XM6

FiiO is leaning hard into retro with its latest audio release, and the result might be one of the most stylish pairs of budget headphones we’ve seen in a while.

The newly revealed FiiO EH11 Retro Bluetooth Mini Headphones are a deliberate nod to classic 1980s on-ear designs, blending old-school hi-fi aesthetics with thoroughly modern audio tech. They boast transparent shells that show off the internals and satisfyingly tactile physical knobs instead of touch controls.

Those knobs aren’t just for show, either. Twist them to adjust volume or skip tracks, channelling the feel of vintage stereo gear in a form that’s light enough to wear all day. At just 92 grams, the EH11 are about as portable and wearable as headphones get.

Under the throwback exterior, FiiO hasn’t skimped on sound. The EH11 use a 40mm long-throw dynamic driver with a composite diaphragm, delivering bass that digs down to 17Hz while keeping things tight and controlled. A semi-open acoustic design helps avoid the boxed-in feel typical of on-ear headphones, giving vocals more space and a wider, airier soundstage.

They also support LDAC high-resolution Bluetooth, meaning near-lossless wireless audio when paired with compatible devices. Calls are handled via a built-in microphone, and battery life clocks in at a very respectable 30 hours, with a full charge taking around 90 minutes.

Modern extras come via the FiiO Control app, which unlocks EQ customisation, genre presets, low-latency gaming modes and firmware updates. You also get replaceable ear pads in two colour options, making it easy to tweak both comfort and style.

The retro vibes don’t stop at the headphones, either. Alongside the EH11, FiiO has also unveiled an upgraded JM21 portable music player, now with 64GB of storage, more RAM and a bigger battery, a neat pairing for anyone fully committing to the wired-meets-wireless audio lifestyle.

But the real headline here is the price. The FiiO EH11 are available now for £32.99, making it an easy win for anyone who wants standout looks, physical controls and surprisingly serious sound without spending silly money.

• Apple is reportedly working on an AI-powered wearable pin

Sony has announced the LinkBuds Clip, and if you haven’t upgraded your earphones in a few years, this may be a type of pair you’ve never used before.

The Sony LinkBuds Clip are open earphones, designed to let you hear your music and the outside world at the same time, without relying on an Ambient mode that pipes sound through the speaker drivers.

At first glance they may look a bit odd, like a pair of 8-bit video game cherries. But that’s just because of how they fit on your ear. They wrap around the side of your ear cartilage, with one of those cherry blobs sitting over your ear canal, the other around the back of your ear.

It’s actually a super-comfortable way to wear earphones, as there’s nothing invasive digging into your ear canal itself, and these earpieces typically only weigh a few grammes a piece.

Three mode solution

Earphones like the Sony LinkBuds Clip are a bit of a nightmare for the bods that have to tune the things, though, as they can never be sure how much ambient noice the pair will have to contend with.

Sony's solution? Three separate modes. The Standard mode is what you’ll likely use while just listening to music around town. Voice Boost gives the mid-range a bit more pep, in order to make voice-led content like podcasts, audio book and talk radio stations stand out more in noisier spaces.

Then finally there’s the one you might want to use at the office, the Sound Leakage Reduction mode. This tweaks the sound to minimise how much you might annoy anyone nearby. An open design naturally means more sound leakage than a classic pair of IEMs.

You don’t get active noise cancellation with a set of Sony LinkBuds Clip, but they do use some clever techniques to make voice calls made with them clearer on the other end. That includes a bone conduction sensor, which analyses vibrations to help the pair separate the sound of your voice from outside noise.

On the practical front, the Sony LinkBuds Clip are rated for IPx4 water resistance, enough to handle a bit of rain. And they last for a good long while by earbud standards.

You get nine hours per charge of the earbuds, while the charging case can supply an additional 28 hours — a smidge over three charges.

The Linkbuds Clip also have plenty of Sony’s usual techy gubbins, accessible through the Sony Connect phone app, including DSEE audio upscaling and support for Sony’s 360 Reality Audio.

But the more important stuff? The Sony LinkBuds Clip cost £180 and will be available this month in four colours: black, lavender, green and the Dulux-tastic portmanteau Greige.

A decade after its debut, Meze Audio’s 99 Classics are returning for a new generation.

First launched in 2015, the Romanian brand’s signature headphones became an instant hit, thanks to a dose of warmth, craftsmanship, and comfort — plus a similar vibe to an old Morris Minor. Now, the 2nd Generation model honours that decade-long legacy while embracing the modern listener’s needs.

At first glance, the 99 Classics remain unmistakably Meze: walnut wood ear cups, gold-accented hardware, and the elegant, self-adjusting headband. But beneath the familiar silhouette lie ten thoughtful refinements that elevate the experience.

First up, the tuning has been rebalanced for greater neutrality. According to Meze, the bass remains full and engaging, but now with tighter control that lets the mids and treble breathe.

Comfort and practicality have been carefully updated, too. The detachable ear pads, made from vegan leather and medium-density foam, now clip securely into place for improved fit and easy replacement. A larger 7 mm input socket accommodates a broader range of cables, and the upgraded 1.8 m Kevlar-sheathed stock cable delivers sturdier performance.

For modern convenience, Meze includes a compact USB-C DAC/AMP dongle and a gold-plated 6.3 mm adapter, ensuring effortless connection whether you’re plugged into a laptop or a dedicated hi-fi system.

The craftsmanship remains as meticulous as ever. Each ear cup is CNC-machined from solid walnut and hand-polished to reveal the natural beauty of the wood grain. Cast zinc hardware with a deep gold finish completes the look, a subtle statement of refinement rather than flash.

True to Meze Audio’s sustainable philosophy, every part of the 99 Classics is serviceable or replaceable, from the drivers and cables to the headband and ear pads. The packaging has also been rethought: fully recyclable cardboard replaces foam and plastic, cutting waste without compromising presentation.

Warm, balanced, and thoughtfully built, the Meze Audio 99 Classics 2nd Generation feels less like a reboot and more like a considered evolution, a modern classic remade with care, purpose, and a touch of quiet confidence with sustainability and the user in mind.

The second generation of the 99 Classics headphones is available now on the Meze Audio website and in selected retailers worldwide, costing $349 / €349.

• Lypertek Soundfree S30 review: Budget-friendly open-ear headphones will keep you running without breaking the bank

All the gear, no idea? If you’re looking to do battle with your bulge ahead of the Christmas waistline onslaught, but need to keep some pennies in the coffers for the seasonal wishlists of your loved ones, Lypertek has you sorted.

The Lypertek Soundfree S30 offers road-safe music playback in a lightweight and comfortable package, letting you hit the road with tunes in tow, and money in your pocket.

Here’s 5 reasons why cash-conscious fitness fanatics might want to give the Lypertek Soundfree S30 a listen.

Lypertek Soundfree S30: In short…

• Open-ear headphones perfect for runners that need situational awareness
• Built-in song storage means no need for a phone
• IP68 waterproofing lets you swim while wearing the headphones
• Rear safety LEDs for outdoors night runs
• Up to 8 hours battery for marathon workouts
• Solid sound quality, if not class leading
• Available now, priced £79.95 — almost half the price against comparable rivals

1. Designed for safe outdoors exercise

The Lypertek Soundfree S30 don’t go in your ears — instead, its two speaker units sit in front of your ears on either end of a semi-circle headband, using cartilage conduction to generate sound by making small vibrations on your outer ear and tragus (the inner bit that some people get pierced) to allow you to hear your music or calls.

This means, as the tech’s name suggests, your ears are open to hear what’s going on around you. This is important if you’re exercising out on the street or in a busy gym, as you can enjoy your audio without losing awareness of any obstacles or movement around you. In fact, many outdoor races no longer let you compete with earbuds in your ears so as to avoid any clumsy bumps with fellow competitors and to hear instructions from marshalls.

They’re pretty comfortable too — made of silicone and titanium, the band rests around the rear of your head, with the speaker units hooking over your ears. The Soundfree S30 is light enough (just 23g) to forget you’re wearing it most of the time — though those with smaller heads might feel the band bounce around a bit.

IP68 waterproofing — good for submersion up to a 10 metre depth — makes them good for swimmers, with control buttons in easy reach under the left arm and on the edge of the left arm, letting you jump tracks, adjust volume, take calls and move through EQ modes.

One final safety feature — a little array of LED lights sit on the rear of the arms, and pulse when in use. Like taillights for your head, they're useful for anyone running along country lanes at dusk. Neat!

2. All the audio, plus your surroundings

With open-ear headphones, you’ve got to keep your expectations in check when it comes to audio quality — these aren’t going to compare to the sound quality you’ll get from in-ears like the AirPods Pro 3, let alone premium over-ears like the Bowers and Wilkins PX8 S2. They serve a different purpose than what you’d expect from an audiophile-aimed listening experience.

And that’s fine! The Lypertek Soundfree S30 put on a good show with your tracks and podcasts, while letting you keep aware of your surroundings. The audio profile favours higher frequencies and mid-range sounds — it's here where the most detail and clarity lives. There’s a bass-oriented EQ setting, but things get a bit muddy, so you’re better off leaving it on Lypertek’s balanced preset. If you like to jog to a podcast or rock music, these will be great — it’ll do a fine job with a thumping beat, but don’t expect clubnight levels of bass for dance and electronic fans.

Even at loud volumes, there’s essentially no audio leakage for those around you too, thanks to the technique employed here. It may take a little while to get used to the tickle of the vibrations, though.

3. Your tunes, built in

As you’d expect from wireless headphones, the Lypertek Soundfree S30 has Bluetooth built in (6.0) for connecting to phones and music players and streaming your tunes. But in a useful move — especially for those that want as few devices as possible with them when they’re exercising — there’s also built in storage for onboard playback.

32GB will give you enough room for around 8,000 tracks, with support for MP3, WAV, FLAC, WMA, APE and M4A file types. Plug the headphones into your computer and it’s then a simple matter of dragging and dropping your tracks onto the device.

4. Marathon-ready battery life

Despite being lightweight, the Lypertek Soundfree S30 offers up to 8 hours of battery life per charge. If you’re looking to maximise your battery life, you’re better off streaming from a device rather than playing onboard tunes, which will drain the battery faster.

8 hours of battery is plenty of time for a slow-paced marathon, and should be enough for a week’s worth of daily hour-long workouts between charges. That’s important, as the Soundfree S30 doesn’t offer any fast charging option, with its adapter taking over two hours to fully recharge the headset.

5. Great value

Available now, the Lypertek Soundfree S30 costs just £79.95. For open-ear headphones, that’s a relative steal. Though there are fancier models on the market, they can cost twice, even three times as much as what Lypertek is offering here. It makes the Lypertek Soundfree S30 a good choice for those unsure whether or not open-ear headphones are for them, or those simply looking to save a bit of dough.

Final Verdict

The Lypertek Soundfree S30 headphones offer a solid package for budget-conscious fitness enthusiasts. Their open-ear design puts safety first during outdoor activities, while the built-in MP3 storage frees you from carrying a phone in your gym shorts. With IP68 waterproofing, rear safety LEDs, and up to 8 hours of battery life, they're built for endurance — even if it takes a little while to charge them. While the sound quality is solid rather than spectacular, it's just right for podcasts and most music genres, especially given the affordable £79.95 price point. For those seeking a comfortable, feature-rich, and safe audio solution for their workouts without breaking the bank, the Lypertek Soundfree S30 is an excellent choice, proving that you don't need to spend a fortune to enjoy your tunes and get ripped at the same time.

With the cost of living emptying the wallets of us all right now, when a bargain comes along that truly feels like a bargain then it has to be called out. That’s exactly what we are doing with two new products from CMF, the spin-off from upstart tech brand Nothing.

The two low-cost gadgets launched are the CMF by Nothing Headphone Pro, a pair of noise cancelling over-ear cans, and the CMF Watch 3 Pro, one of the most stylish — and cheapest — smartwatches around.

The RRP for both of these products is pretty jaw dropping, with CMF staying true to its mantra of making desirable products at an accessible price point. The headphones retail for just £79 while the watch is just £20 more expensive at £99.

Shortlist has been lucky enough to be among the first to try both these products out and with a combined value of £178, it’s impressive just how much tech you get, with very little compromise when it comes to style and substance. Here’s what you need to know…

1. The Nothing Headphone Pro headphones are the first over ears from CMF

CMF is an acronym for Colour, Material and Finish and all of this is highlighted nicely in the Nothing Headphone Pro.

Let’s start with the colour: they come in dark gray, light green and light gray. We tried out the dark gray variant and they are a great-looking pair of headphones. If you fancy adding a splash of colour, then there are swappable ear cushions available, in a multitude of colours, from the CMF website costing just £19 for a pair.

Material wise, they are made from an eco-friendly plastic shell, high-strength PA+GF sliding arms and stainless steel headband strips. They look oversized with their bubble-like ear cushions but that only adds to the fun of these ‘phones.

The controls on either side are tactile with a bass slider, a volume rocker and buttons for power and the voice-aware Smart Assistant. There’s good news for wired folks, too, as there is an aux port and a 3.5mm cable in the box.

As for the finish, these are incredibly well constructed headphones that aren’t too heavy but also feel nice and durable. CMF has put them through a lot of stress tests, too — 61 in fact — to make sure they are ready for everyday wear.

2. Sound and battery go way beyond the headphone’s price

The CMF by Nothing Headphone Pro have an impressive battery life. They can last for some 100 hours before a charge, with some 50 hours of talk time. ANC does reduce this but this is still up there with the best battery life for a pair of wireless headphones.

When it comes to sound quality, the ANC is decent, thanks to the isolation offered by the rather large ear cups. It’s worth noting, though, that the ANC is hybrid so won’t knock out every bit of background noise. They did well to tackle the rumble of the Tube in our test, though. And we didn’t even know the person sitting next to us on the 261 bus was earphone less while scrolling TikTok. These headphones are also Hi-Res audio compatible which is great news for audio fiends.

We listened to Underworld, Born Slippy in prep for their Brixton dates and the synth was sumptuous, the bass nice and big — and with the bass slider, it boomed.

Keeping to the dance beat, Global Underground: Select #10 sounded superb, especially Dee Montero’s With A Dream. Things slowed down when we listened to Essex Honey by Blood Orange, but there was a decent amount of clarity through the headphones.

3. CMF has made a smartwatch for all

As for the Watch Pro 3, this third iteration of budget smartwatches from CMF is the best yet. It may have lost the modular features of the Watch Pro 2 — where you could swap out the bezel — but it has added a number of new features.

We love the minimal look of the device. Its precision-milled metal frame is lovely and simple, with the round watchface giving it an air of sophistication. And there is one simple button, with a red dot in the centre and grooves around the edge, that allows you tactile control of the watch.

The 1.43-inch AMOLED is big and bright while the accompanying silicon strap is soft and comfortable.

Pairing the device was simple — you can use a QR code for this. If you are already a Nothing user, then the watch is automatically recognised and pairs in under a minute.

There is a lovely bit of customization on board, too, thanks to the 120 odd watch faces available. These are some of the nicest designs we have seen for watch faces — CMF really has taken care to make sure your watch looks as stylish as it can without breaking the bank.

4. The Watch Pro 3 has pared down features — but the right features

There are a number of features that you won’t find on the Watch Pro 3. There’s no NFC on board, no access to third-party apps and it’s not water resistant, so this isn’t a watch for those who like a swim.

There’s plenty it does do, though. Fitness tracking is plentiful with a running coach on board and the ability to track myriad sports (just not watersports). There’s access to whichever smart assistant you are using on your phone, the ability to get news through the device thanks to Essential News and sleep tracking, heart-rate monitoring and more.

Yes, it’s a scaled back experience but we were never wanting more when using it, especially when we kept reminding ourselves that you get all of this for less than a Five Guys Burger (okay, we might be exaggerating a little there).

5. The price is more than alright

With prices for everyday goods skyrocketing, it is fantastic to see a tech company cater for those whose budgets don’t stretch all that far. And not just cater, but offer incredibly stylish alternatives in a market that is going more and more high end.

Yes, some features are lacking but the care and attention that has gone into making these not just good gadgets but desirable ones cannot be underestimated.

Both the CMF Watch 3 Pro and CMF by Nothing Headphone Pro are available now.

• Apple Watch Series 11, Ultra 3, and SE 3 review: Which one is right for you?

If you’re after a pair of wireless headphones that combine luxury style with seriously impressive sound, the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 should be top of your shopping list. Known for its high-end audio gear, B&W has created a pair of cans that feel premium from the moment you put them on, with features that music lovers will adore. That they sound exemplary is just the icing on the cake.

That said, with a price that leans into the wallet-emptying zone, you might want to know exactly what you’re getting before you splash the cash. Here’s seven things you need to know about the Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2, giving you the lowdown on what makes these headphones so special, and the rare spots they fall a little short.

Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2: In short...

• Sound that wows: Deep bass, crisp highs, and vocals so clear you’ll swear you’re in the studio
• Look good, feel good: Sleek metal and leather make these headphones a luxury item that is comfy to wear for hours
• Noise cancelling: Blocks out most distractions, although really loud noises might sneak through
• All-day battery: 30 hours per charge, plus a quick five-minute top-up for hours more
• Pricey, but premium: £629 isn’t small change, but if style, comfort, and sound matter, it’s a treat for your ears. Available now

1. Sound quality that hits all the right notes

The Px8 S2 headphones are all about delivering rich, detailed sound, powered by 40mm carbon cone drivers, the same high-precision components Bowers & Wilkins use in their flagship speakers. These drivers bring refined audio performance across the board, delivering an experience that’s detailed, warm, and impressively immersive.

To really put them to the test, we ran through a few tracks from artists that thrive on energy, texture, and layered production. Here’s how the Px8 S2 delivered:

• Heavy: Punk’s Dead – Soft Play
  This track is all snarl and drive, and the Px8 S2 handle it with real control. The aggressive guitar tones sound raw but not ragged, with a real sense of texture and bite. Drums punch through clearly, which is good for Soft Play who love presence to their drum mix — but the vocals stay prominent even when the song’s chaos kicks in. There’s a noticeable sense of space and separation, which helps the track avoid turning into a wall of indistinct noise (a common pitfall on cheaper headphones). Everything hits with power, but never overwhelms.
• Big beats: Sick in the Head – Kneecap
  The Px8 S2 showcase this track’s dense, moody production with clarity and punch. The bass is deep and solid, but never muddy, and the electronic textures layered under the beat come through clearly. It’s a great example of how well these headphones handle complex, beat-driven music without losing intensity or detail.
• Soul: Beyond – Leon Bridges
  A perfect match for the Px8 S2’s smooth, natural tuning. Leon’s voice sounds intimate and nuanced, and you can hear the breathiness in his delivery. The guitar tones are rich and full, and background instrumentation feels layered but never crushed. It’s a lush, smooth listening experience that makes slower tracks feel more intimate and immersive.

2. Luxury materials mean they feel as good as they sound

Put these headphones on, and you're wrapping your ears in luxury. The frame blends sleek metal with soft, leather earcups that mould comfortably around your ears. They weigh in at 310g, but the weight is so well-distributed that even after a few hours of listening, your head doesn’t feel pinched or develop that aching sensation that heavier headphones can cause.

Plus, the build feels rugged enough to survive daily use without looking worn down, which is rare for headphones this stylish. The exposed wire adds some extra panache. We reviewed the “Onyx Black”, which looked incredibly slick, but the “Warm Stone” was also stunning in person.

Every pair comes with a matching hard-shell carry case that’s as classy as you’d expect, sturdy and with a few handy compartments inside for cables and accessories. While the Px8 S2 don’t fold inwards like some travel-focused headphones, the earcups do rotate to lie flat in either direction, making them easier to slide into a bag or stow in their case.

They’re designed for people who care about both how their tech performs and looks, although if you’re someone who avoids animal products, you’re out of luck, as these only come in a leather finish.

3. Noise-cancelling that’s strong — but not the best on the market

If you’re buying premium headphones, great noise-cancelling is a must. The Px8 S2 do a solid job here, effectively blocking out everyday noises like background chatter, traffic, and the hum of trains, planes and automobiles.

However, if you’re the kind of person who needs absolute silence, especially in super noisy environments, other brands still edge ahead with slightly more powerful ANC. Sony's WH-1000XM6 remain the headphones to beat in this respect. But for most people, the noise cancelling here will be more than enough to focus or unwind. Just be ready to still hear a shallow hum over the top if anything too noisy is going on nearby… a tree surgeon working on your front garden, for example (and frustratingly from experience!).

4. Battery life that keeps up with your day

You won’t need to worry about constantly charging these headphones. They offer around 30 hours of playback on a single charge, which means they can easily power you through long flights, workdays, or weekend binge listening sessions.

If you forget to charge them, no sweat — the quick charge feature gives you several hours of listening from just five minutes plugged in. This kind of battery performance means less hassle and more music, which is always a win.

5. Simple controls and a handy app for tweaking your sound

Instead of touch-sensitive panels, the Px8 S2 use physical buttons, a welcome choice for most. They’re easy to locate without looking and handle playback, volume, skipping tracks, activating voice assistants, and toggling noise-cancelling/transparency modes.

The controls aren’t fully programmable, but the Bowers & Wilkins Music app lets you customise the noise-cancelling button’s function and tweak sound preferences.

There is also wear detection; take the headphones off and your music automatically pauses, pop them back on and it resumes. It’s a small touch, but it works seamlessly and makes use feel more intuitive.

6. Clear calls, but don’t expect studio-level mic quality

These headphones handle calls pretty well, capturing your voice clearly for meetings or casual chats. The mic does a good job of reducing background noise, so people on the other end can hear you without distractions.

That said, much like the noise cancelling, they’re not the absolute best if you’re looking for pristine, studio-quality call audio. But for everyday use, they’re reliable and definitely a step up from your phone’s built-in mic.

7. Premium price tag for a premium experience

At £629, these headphones definitely sit in the luxury category. But if you’re someone who cares deeply about audio quality, design, and comfort, this price will feel justified. They’re a statement as much as a piece of tech.

If that’s a bit steep, Bowers & Wilkins’ Px7 S3 offer a similar experience with a lower price tag, though with slightly fewer premium touches. We reviewed them earlier this year and loved them. Either way, the Px8 S2 are built for people who want to treat themselves and their ears.

Final verdict

The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 combine stylish design, rich sound, and practical features in a package that feels both luxurious and user-friendly. They might not have the absolute top-tier noise cancelling or call quality, but if you want headphones that feel special and sound fantastic, they’re a great choice.

Incredibly classy and offering a rich soundstage, Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 look lovely whilst you’re wearing them, and deliver immense comfort even during extensive listening sessions without compromising sound.

• Philips Fidelio FT1 promises to be the perfect vinyl and CD deck for retro revivalists — while still boasting wireless playback freedom

Think your headphones are premium? Think again. Luxury German AV brand Loewe, the name behind over 100 years of high-end audio-visual craftsmanship, has just entered the headphone game. And they’ve done it the Loewe way: unapologetically luxe, precision-engineered, and designed to turn heads as much as they thrill ears.

Meet the Loewe Leo, the brand’s first-ever over-ear headphones. Retailing at £1,299, this isn’t your average pair of cans. This is audio couture.

To make the launch even more notable, Loewe brought in global superstar Kylian Mbappé and DJ heavyweight David Guetta as ambassadors. Because if anyone knows the value of performance and sonic perfection, it’s these two.

Under the hood, Loewe Leo is a serious piece of kit: precision-tuned 50mm drivers, a high-end amplifier by Texas Instruments, adaptive noise cancellation, and support for all the premium formats, including Hi-Res Audio, Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos, and Bluetooth LE Audio.

But it's not just about tech. Loewe’s known for design, and Leo is no exception. The frame is sculpted from anodised aluminium, finished with genuine leather cushions, and folds flat into an elegant carry case complete with its own leather lambskin travel bag, of course.

On the smart side, Loewe Leo is no slouch: voice assistant integration, real-time AI translation, Mimi Sound Personalisation via the Loewe app, and multipoint connectivity across devices. All with a staggering 65-hour battery life.

And because this is Loewe, sustainability hasn’t been left behind. Most components are repairable, replaceable, and upgradeable, making this a long-term relationship, not a fling.

In short, Loewe Leo isn’t just a pair of headphones. It’s a statement. A flex. A masterpiece of modern audio luxury made for those who demand nothing less than perfection, whether you’re remixing beats in Ibiza or zoning out on your private jet.

Available for pre-order now in Midnight Blue or Moonlight Beige, but chances are you might need to save for a while or play upfront for Real Madrid.

And if this isn't enough luxury for you, Loewe's also putting out a limited run of rare-jewel encrusted cans, too.

• Philips turns back time with new retro-inspired audio range: boomboxes, headphones and some totally gnarly 80s designs

Whether you’re hankering for the music hall sepia toned days of the gramophone, or the day-glo vibes of the 80s ghetto blaster, a new line of retro-inspired audio gear from Philips will send you (radio) ga-ga.

Celebrating 100 years in the audio business, the Philips Retro Range revives and modernises designs and classic products from across Philips history, dipping into the different trends, styles and passions of music lovers across the decades — all the while keeping the modern conveniences expected of the streaming generation.

There’s a lot to look at, from old-school headphones to colourful boomboxes and mid-century styled turntable decks. We’ve been checking out the new design-led range at a worldwide launch event in the company’s hometown of Eindhoven — here’s a sneak peek at the new products ready to rock in the coming weeks and months.

The Tina — compact all-in-one turntable with heritage styling

Compact, all-in-one turntables are an easy way to get into the vinyl revival, but they tend to be a bit hit and miss when it comes to quality. The Philips Tina wants to plug that gap with a design that not only harks back to the glory days of the record player, but fills it with current tech.

Combining turntable, DAB+/FM tuner, USB audio and Bluetooth 5.4 (with Auracast multi-device daisy-chain connectivity), this integrated system pumps out 120W power (making it the world’s most powerful all-in-one) in a 2.1 configuration.

Two 1-inch tweeters, and two 2.5-inch mid-range drivers sit alongside a 4.5-inch subwoofer to give some rarely-seen oomph in this form factor, while a two-speed precision belt-drive, solid aluminium diecast platter, extruded aluminium straight arm and a replaceable Audio Technica MM cartridge give it credibility for the vinyl diehards. SBC and LC3 codecs on the digital side will make your MP3s and streamed audio sing, too.

The key draw here though is the look — with a dark oak-like casing and a chunky speaker grill that sits below the vinyl platter, it harks back to the legacy radio and hi-fi designs that Philips made its name with.

• Price: £399.99

The Stevie — Tina’s soulful little bro

If The Tina is simply the best, The Stevie is the master blaster for those looking to get a foot in the door at the entry level with turntables. More reserved in its design and nodding to the black plastic casings of 1990s hi-fi, it’s an affordable one-stop device for the next generation of vinyl lovers.

It’s a three-speed, belt driven turntable with a replaceable Audio Technica MM cartridge, with the system offering a more modest 12W power output. Like the Tina, it’s also well equipped for wireless playback, making use of Bluetooth 5.4 and the SBC and LC3 codecs.

• Price: £129.99

The Janet — Portable radio with atomic-age curves

Philips was one of the early consumer radio pioneers, and The Janet takes its cues from the golden age of radio, the 1950s with its atomic-era optimism, reflected in this new FM & DAB radio’s curved exterior. Measuring just 180mm x 100mm x 60mm, The Janet squeezes in a 2.4-inch colour display, a range of FM and DAB presets, Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity, alarm clock functionality and a replaceable battery that’s good for 15 hours of playback per 3.5 hour charge.

• Price: £69.99

The Freddie and The Ringo — Throwback open-backs, and light band on-ears

Classic Philips designs return in the portable over-ear headphone range element of the Century line-up, too. The Freddie is the stadium filling rhapsody here, packing 50mm neodymium drivers, spacious over-ear sound and wired connectivity. The Ringo is the wireless option, and will be familiar to anyone who was best friends with a personal cassette player, marrying the 80s era metal headband with 40mm drivers, Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity and 26-hours playback per charge.

• Prices: The Freddie (£99.99) / The Ringo (£29.99)

The Moving Sound range - The Roller, The Tube, and more TBC

The most fun elements of the line up might be the stuff we’ve got to wait longest for — Philips is reviving its Moving Sound range, bringing modernised versions of its classic, colourful 1980s range back.

Boldly coloured with yellow chassis, black speaker grilles and primary coloured buttons, they’re speakers and personal audio gear that look like a bag of liquorice all sorts. Two main products will lead the range — the roller-skate inspired, curvy-shaped The Roller, and a larger, beefier The Tube device which will be block-party ready with its audio output.

Both boast 24-hour playback and bang-up-to-date Bluetooth 5.5 connectivity with Auracast multi-device linking, so it’s size and output the differentiating factors here. The larger The Tube measures 510mm x 200mm x 165mm and pumps 140W of power through its two 5-inch woofers, two 1.5-inch tweeters, and two side firing passive bass radiators. The Roller measures 380mm × 200mm × 120mm, and offers 60W output. Both are designed to be used on the go, each with carry handles and The Tube with a shoulder strap, while an IP67 rating keeps them safe in harsh weather.

Though aping the look of portable cassette decks of the 80s, these will be digital-only playback devices, built for streaming and Bluetooth playback — but will feature a screen animated to hark back to the mechanics of cassette playback. Thankfully without the chewed up tapes and pencil rewinders.

A line-up of over-ear headphones and in-ear true wireless buds complete the range — the MS1 and MS5 — while a karaoke box is also being considered.

The kicker? We’ll have to wait until a vague “Q2 2026” release date for these items, and both their final designs and tech specs are still to be finalised. But if legwarmers and Now That’s What I Call Music compilations tickle your nostalgia gland, you’ll get as much a kick out of these new speakers as the ‘yoof’ they’re aimed at. We’ll keep you posted as their releases come into focus.

• Price and release date: TBC

• Apple AirPods Pro 3 review: The best in-ear noise cancelling you’ll ever not hear

I use my AirPods Pro 2 every single day. They’re my buffer against the screech of the tube tracks on the commute, the randy foxes in the garden at night, and the general hubbub of inner city life. So when Apple revealed the new AirPods Pro 3 model at today’s iPhone 17 launch event, I may have given a slightly embarrassing squeak of joy.

Regardless, I wasn’t prepared for quite how big a jump in noise-cancelling performance these new AirPod Pro 3 in-ears represent. I had a demo of the new buds on the event show floor at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters, a manic scrum of journalists and influencers creating the sort of din that would make even the most hardy among us anxious. Throw in some block-rocking beats from the on-site sound system, and it was hard to hear yourself think.

But pop in the new AirPods Pro 3, and, genuinely, that noise just disappeared, almost completely. Apple’s claiming that the AirPods Pro 3 are now the world’s best in-ear buds when it comes to noise cancelling, and it’s hard to argue against that. Of all the things Apple revealed today, these may be my most-wanted.

Pushing noise-cancelling to its limits

So what’s making that noise-cancelling tech so impressive in the new models?

There’s a few design tweaks at work here that make it possible. Firstly, the earbud shape itself has changed. Slightly smaller, it’s now shaped to angle sound directly into your ear canal rather than resting in front of it. The ear-tips now come in five different sizes too, for greater comfort and sealing fit over a range of ear shapes, and those tips are now ‘foam-infused’, which ups the passive noise cancellation at work.

Throw in a new multi-port acoustic architecture, improved noise-cancelling algorithms and a wider-feeling soundstage, and the collective bump in performance feels transformative. Apple’s claiming that the noise cancellation level here is twice as good as on the AirPods Pro 2, and 4x greater than on the original AirPod Pro models.

Smart features for healthier listeners

Away from the noise-cancelling improvements, Apple’s packed the AirPods Pro 3 with other smart features.

Top of the list is a new heart-rate monitoring function. A small sensor now sits in each bud to monitor how fast your blood is pumping. I won’t pretend to be a cardiologist, so the next line is direct from Apple’s press release — the AirPods Pro 3 use “a custom photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor that shines invisible infrared light pulsed at 256 times per second to measure light absorption in blood flow.”

From there, it can get a pretty accurate reading of how your heart is doing and, in combination with accelerometers, gyroscopes and GPS functionalities already present in AirPods Pro, enables a whole range of workout tracking options using just the earbuds alone. With an on-device AI model, Apple’s also introducing the ‘Workout Buddy’, a nice assistant that will help you keep track of your workout goals via audio cues and positive messages using just the buds alone.

The AirPods Pro 3 are now also IP57 rated for sweat and water resistance, so when you’re working out, they’re well protected against the elements.

AI features extend to a new Live Translation feature, too. By squeezing the pressure sensors on both earbuds simultaneously, the onboard microphones then start looking out for words spoken in languages other than your native tongue, and will translate back to you what is being said in real time. And, so that the other members of the conversation can understand your responses, your iPhone screen will relay text in both languages.

All these new features would be a drain on the battery, but Apple’s ready to counteract that with improvements in that regard too— you’ll now get 8 hours per charge compared to 6 hours on the last version, with the case acting as ever as a recharge station. 10 hours of transparency mode on a single charge is now offered too — handy for those who use the feature over longer stretches of time as a hearing aid.

It’s looking like a mighty upgrade then, and set to lock in the omnipresence of Apple’s white buds in ears the world over. The AirPods Pro 3 go up for pre-order today, priced at $249, and land on general sale from September 19th.

• Hands-on: iPhone Air is the biggest change to iPhone in a decade — here’s 5 things you need to know

They’ve got the yacht, they’ve got the sportscar, and they’ve put a bid in for a football team with their pocket money for the bantz. When it comes to money-can’t-buy gifts — or at least, lots and lots of money will buy gifts — what do you get the person who’s got everything?

How about ‘the best headphones in the world?’

That’s what Loewe is claiming its new luxurious headphones are, and it has conducted a blind listening session against top-tier headphones to prove it.

Partnering with exclusive watch maker Jacob & Co, the Loewe x Jacob & Co headphones come in two special editions — Noir Rainbow and Ice Diamond — and are finished with a selection of precious stones.

The more colourful Noir Rainbow is studded with 15.97 carats of multicoloured sapphires, while the cool Ice Diamond cans have 12.47 carats of white diamonds. Each is hand crafted and constructed with premium materials elsewhere too, including anodised aluminium and real leather.

As you’d expect, that puts them firmly into playboy pricing territory — the Noir Rainbow headphones are priced at €99,000 (about £85,400), while the Ice Diamond version is €119,000 (just over £113,000). And you’ll have to be quick to splash down the cash — only ten of the headphones are ever set to be made.

A best headphones showdown

Beyond the flash there’s some solid tech specs here. The headphones are good for 65 hours of playback per charge, feature adaptive noise cancellation and ambient sound awareness, play nicely with high-resolution audio formats, and feature an integrated AI assistant capable of real time translations.

Launched at a suitably-lush press event in Monaco, Loewe had the confidence to put its headphones to the test against six leading rivals in a blind-listening session, with disguised cans set up side by side for comparison. Our expert noggins were able to identify headphones from Apple and Sony by ‘head-feel’ alone and, though a more thorough listening session will be needed to really put Loewe’s new offering through its paces, the luxury cans certainly sounded every bit as good as their much-lauded competition.

However, that price tag is going to limit the amount of Christmas wishlists these new cans are going to realistically end up on. But given the audio advancements Loewe’s made on the inside of these luxury headphones, we’d be shocked not to see these reappear a little further down the line in a more affordable, jewel-free form before long. Watch this space / save up those pennies…

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GamesCom doesn’t just play host to all the new games you’re going to be playing over the next 12 months — the mammoth German games show, underway this week, is also the global stage where all the new hardware you’re going to be playing with is unveiled, too.

JBL, purveyors of all things that go in or over your ears, are using the GamesCom 2025 conference to show its latest gamer-oriented wares, taking its premium approach to audio quality and tuning it to the specific headshot-hunting needs of gamers.

And we’ve been on the show floor in Cologne to check them out.

JBL Quantum 950 levels up immersive play

The top tier offering is the all-new, over-ear JBL Quantum 950 gaming headset. Built ‘from the ground up’, it’s looking to bring pro-grade audio tech to the gaming masses — audiophile-tier audio quality where gamers are usually fobbed off with some naff RGB flash instead.

As such, JBL’s new headset is boasting 50mm carbon dynamic drivers, certified for Hi-Res audio playback. Though they’re tuned for the ‘wahoos’ of the Mushroom Kingdom, they’ll also sound just as good when faced with your favourite magic mushroom chomping 70s rock band.

But the real draw here is that game-oriented tuning — the high-frequency response is designed to pick up on audio cues that’ll give you a competitive edge in-game — think footsteps, or the sound of an enemy frantically reloading as you hunt out their camping spot. It’s “the kind of precision audio once reserved for elite in-ear monitors” says a statement from JBL on the new release. This is paired with JBL’s Quantum Spatial Sound 3D head tracking system — powered by JBL’s computational QuantumEngine, meaning that even as you turn your head during a play session, you’ll still have the directional and situational awareness needed to top tables and take the win.

A winning spec sheet

Those looking to team up with mates will benefit from a super-smart microphone system. Using a 6mm cardioid boom (up from 4mm on previous models) it’s offering crystal clear chat (and smack-talk), with that QuantumEngine again kicking in to lock in on the sound of your voice, rather than any other noise coming from your playroom. It should eliminate the cup-to-mic bleed that some headsets suffer from, as well as the clackity-clack of keyboard sounds.

Battery life is solid, thanks to a rarely-seen hot-swappable battery system. Following the same principle as the Steel Series Arctis line-up that we’re so fond of, you can pop a new battery into the cans without any downtime, with the batteries charging on an included base station. Each battery offers 25 hours of play, and the kit comes with two in the box, for an effective 50 hours of non-stop play time.

You’ve got plenty of connectivity options here, too. The Quantum 950’s base station charger also houses a wireless 2.4GHz dongle for low-latency lossless connectivity, and you’ve got Bluetooth 5.3 for when that 2.4GHz connection isn’t suitable. You’ve of course also got a wired connection option too, meaning the JBL Quantum 950 should be compatible with basically any gaming platform you want to use it with.

PC gamers in particular will also be pleased to hear (or, rather, not hear anything at all) the inclusion of active noise cancellation in the cans. As the summer heat kicks in and GPU fans ramp up to jet-engine levels of whine, the Quantum 950 is able to effectively eliminate their drone — and a good deal more ambient sound that could disturb your play session.

Repairable and replaceable

It’s set to be a very comfortable headset. Lightweight, with a hammock-like headband that balances weight carefully across your head, a breathable mesh keeps your noggin’ from getting sweaty even over extended, summertime play sessions. A decent amount of clamping force keeps the headset locked in place, but memory foam cushioning on the ear cups keeps everything from feeling too tight or claustrophobic. It looks good too — perhaps a bit on the ‘look at me’ side of things, but with a slick black or white design featuring purple and orange accents, and (crucially) customisable RGB lighting to keep everything from becoming too obnoxious.

It’s great to see JBL looking to do right by customers — and the Earth — by building out a fully modular system. From the mic to the cable, cushioning and more, each part of the headset is replaceable, meaning you should get many years out of the Quantum 950, even after many battle-hardened years of use.

Which brings us to the price — it’s not cheap at £299.99, but considering it reads like a dream wishlist of features for the modern gamer, it’s hard to hold the cost against it. And in any case, JBL’s catering for smaller wallets too…

Affordable alternatives

If the top tier JBL Quantum 950 is a bit rich for your taste, JBL’s also putting out two more budget-friendly options as well.

First up is the JBL Quantum 650. Priced at £129.99, it’s fairly close to the spec sheet laid out by the 950, but with a few key differences: there’s no base station, no noise cancelling, and no RGB lighting. It’s otherwise quite close to the 950 — you’ve still got the 50mm drivers, spatial sound, dual 2.4GHz and Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity, that 6mm boom mic and swappable batteries — which are actually rated at a more capacious 45 hours per charge, likely because of the absence of RGB lighting and noise cancelling.

And at the most affordable end of the scale, there’s the JBL Quantum 250. This wired-only headset still packs the same drivers, mic and Spatial Audio support, but has no need for batteries (being wired), and does away with the base station, noise cancelling and RGB lighting. It’s priced at an attainable £49.99, and seems well spec’d for the price.

Both the 650 and 250 add two additional colour ways to join the white and black options of the 950, with purple and teal options available, too.

It’s a solid line-up then, whatever your bank balance. JBL is looking to get these into stores in time for the holiday rush — the 250 launches now, the 650 lands in October, and the top-dog 950 hits in November. So don’t be surprised if little Jimmy is expecting to find one of these under the tree come Christmas.

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If you’re reading this with bags under your eyes, then, on behalf of snorers worldwide: I apologise. We can’t help it. We know the crime — your head hits the pillow, dreamland calls you... and then the washing-machine rhythmic rumble of your partner's snoring kicks in. It's an age-old bedroom battle, and one in which there are no winners. Many gadgets over the years have tried to come to the rescue — the latest being sleep-oriented headphone devices. But too often they’ve been more hangman than sandman, ending up as bulky, battery-dead contraptions that are more of a headache than a help.

But a new British startup claims to have found the secret to a lifetime of snore-free sleep. Well — at least ‘snore-free’ in terms of discreetly drowning out the drone. It’s created the SomniBuds, a pair of tiny earbuds that promise endless, all-night audio without the need for charging, ever. Without the need for batteries at all, in fact.

Designed by father-and-son team Keith and Charles Phillips, the idea was first envisioned as an audio system for inside motorcycle helmets (Keith has worked in the EXTREMELY NOISY motocross industry for many years), before the 'light-bulb-moment' application for a bedtime product became clear.

“When I put it in and then we did a global search, I was kind of shocked that nothing came back,” says Keith. “No one's done this before."

Does it all sound too good to be real? We’ve been living with a prototype pair of the SomniBuds for just over a week now, ahead of its Kickstarter campaign kicking off. And yep, we can confirm — it’s more than good enough, and very, very real.

How the SomniBuds work

Here’s the rub with existing sleep headphones: In order to make use of a wireless Bluetooth design to keep you from strangling yourself with headphone cabling in the night, they need to include a battery. That gives them the sort of bulk that side-sleepers just can’t stand, pushing into their ears uncomfortably as they lie down. But make the batteries too small and you run into another problem — the earbuds run out of power too quickly and, due to the nature of lithium ion rechargeable batteries, are quick to die altogether due to repeated charging cycles.

The SomniBuds answer this problem with a patented, battery-free design.

“What we've done is solved the two, real big problems,” Keith tells me when we meet for a demo in East London.

“First is battery life, because we don't have one, and the second one is comfort, because if you think about what's in a normal earbud — you've got the diaphragm, the coil, the magnet, a Bluetooth receiver, a micro amplifier and the battery — even if they make that all really tiny, it's still four times bigger than what we’ve got here.”

Instead of squeezing an uncomfortable battery into each earbud, the buds pair with a device called the SomniMat. This thin mat covers magnetic coils in a soft fabric, and can slide under your pillow or mattress. The mat then uses magnetic induction waves to wirelessly transmit both power and audio to the earbuds. This means they never run out of juice and don't need to be charged.

There’s a clever application of physics at work here, but in layman's terms, it’s a bit like blowing up a speaker, and putting your head right in between the myriad components that make them up. The speaker cone, the part of a regular speaker that vibrates to make sound, is here separated from the part that needs to be wired and directly powered.It means the SomniBubs earbuds can be incredibly tiny, light, and comfortable for all-night wear.

There are still chips and circuitboards involved, but these are all housed in a separate 'SomniMate' powered basestation that hooks up to the mat over a single thin wire. It’s to this box that you connect your streaming device of choice over Bluetooth, whether that’s a phone, a smart speaker or even a TV — meaning you can get the audio from basically any service you want, right through the night, without disturbing anyone sharing the room with you. Considering some sleep buds are limited to just a select library of sounds, this is great.

What they’re like to use

When I first saw the press release for the SomniBuds, I read with eyebrows very much raised. It sounded like impossible sci-fi tech. But the concept very much works — though it’s quite a different experience to using standard earbuds.

The earbuds themselves are truly tiny — with a 3mm ear-tip post tipped with audiophile grade memory foam and sitting on a ball-joint socket, they’re able to go deep enough into your ear canal to block out sound without the need for noise cancellation technology (which, given the space limitations here, isn’t present, and wouldn’t be particularly good at blocking the irregular sound patterns — such as noisy neighbours or snoring — that disturb sleep, anyway). Their resonant discs are able to sit plush in your outer ear, meaning they’re pleasant enough for side-sleepers to use, too — you won’t ever forget they’re inserted, but it’s much more comfy than any other buds of this ilk I’ve tried. And, as it’s still in a ‘hand-made’ 3D printing prototype stage, there’s room for further refinements in this regard, too.

Things feel more unusual when you actually lay down to listen to the SomniBuds. The electromagnetic resonance they use to produce volume is proximity based — so the further you are away from the mat, the quieter the audio will appear. Get up close and you can get the full range of volume boost your streaming device can provide, while moving away sees the audio fade like a radio station lost travelling through a tunnel, going silent at a distance of about two feet from the mat. You’ll also be aware of the sense of minute vibrations being used to create the sounds — though this is neither unpleasant nor distracting.

You will note that the buds are mono-only though, and this is for a practical reason — stereo sound would require double the amount of magnetic coils in the mat, and side sleepers would find that the volume of the earbud (and corresponding stereo channel) closest to the mat would dominate the mix. And though another bout of tuning is underway before mass production, there’s no attempt here to fulfil the audio quality expectations of audiophiles — these are specifically designed as a sleep aid rather than for critical listening sessions. Not that the SomniBuds sound bad! It’s just that they’d sound quite basic against regular earbuds, not taking into account the specific innovations that their intended use case sees them excel with. There’s no other earbuds out there that work like this, and in use you start to see why they’ll be hard to beat in a sleep scenario.

Dreamland awaits

There are some elements that still need to be ironed out, though. A final design for the basestation hasn’t been settled on yet, for instance — my prototype unit has a nondescript black box, which isn’t a problem if it’s stuffed under your bed, but isn’t much to look at if it’s set to be placed on a bedside table. Charles and Keith have shown me some lovely potential designs for the final production unit, from glowing orbs to more sedate Amazon Echo-like units, but when I met with them they hadn’t decided yet which one would end up being the final product.

It’s worth noting that the mat can generate a decent amount of heat after a few hours use. It’s not uncomfortable, and I wouldn’t say it’s cause for concern from a safety standpoint either. But British summers are only getting hotter, and anything that generates heat in a sweaty bedroom might put some people off. Similarly, the very nature of the product — reliant on putting you in the middle of electromagnetic waves — is in principle no more harmful for you than using regular Bluetooth headphones — the EMF waves here are incredibly low frequency, and as a result harmlessly non-ionising. But I can already see the tinfoil hat wearers needing convincing that their brains aren’t going to be fried, and getting that part of the message across will be key to the SomniBuds' mainstream success.

The small team has big ambitions. Though this first SomniBuds product is aimed solely at the home, there are talks taking place to bring the technology to airlines and hotels. It’s easy to imagine the usefulness of the buds in hospitals too, where patients have little control over the ambient sounds around them. Future improvements look to potentially include a remote control for the basestation, and miniaturisation of basically all components included, as current prototypes are built using off-the-shelf components rather than gear built for purpose.

From my relatively brief time with a mere prototype, there’s a genuine sense that the SomniBuds could be a truly transformative product for restless sleepers. You’ll get through that War and Peace audiobook in just a few nights with these, without ever reaching for a charger, and whether it’s snoring or roadworks you’re banishing from the bedroom, the SomniBuds are ready to take them on.

A Kickstarter campaign is set to kick off any day now, with early bird pricing set for $199 dollars (about £150), before raising to a retail price of $299 (about £225). While you’re waiting, you can check out the SomniBuds website.

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I've long been a believer in the power of fitness to improve one’s moods and outlook on life, but that's always translated to lifting big things and then putting them down again.

Still, this Summer I wanted a different kind of challenge, and so set out to run a long-distance event. A marathon — or even a half-marathon — felt a little too far, so I decided to run a 10k.

In the days before my race was to take place, I prepared by ...erm, downloading an audiobook to play while I ran. If my lack of prep wasn't a harbinger of the doom to come, true disaster then struck — I realised that in-ear earbuds and over-ear headphones were no longer allowed to be used under UK race event rules.

Instead, open-ear earphones and headphones have to be used, which leave your ear canal open and unplugged for better awareness of your immediate surroundings. Bone conduction (vibrating the bones near your inner ear) or air conduction (basically putting a little speaker outside but near your ear) are used to deliver sound to your ears without blocking the ear canal

Thankfully, I had a pair of open ears manufactured by Shokz lying around (being a tech reviewer has its perks), but it left me curious. Why open ears? In my research, I found that not only are open-ear earbuds the only approved earbuds for competition in many countries now, but Shokz is actually the only brand approved for usage in the UK.

Here's what I learned.

Shokz to the system

As with many runners (and reluctant runners like myself), I'm prone to 'switch off' a little while running, and having earbuds playing a playlist or podcast (or an audiobook) is a huge part of this.

In all honesty, the idea of running without any external audio to drown out my own labored breath was my idea of hell. I’m an “earbuds in, noise cancellation on” kind of runner, and have been for years thanks to the Beats Fit Pro, which, admittedly, are starting to show their age.

My first fear was one of sound quality. Sure, open-ear devices are smart, but could they really drown out wind noise, chatter, and my own internal monologue questioning the choices I’d made?

I used the Shokz OpenFit, and found that actually, yes, they can. Naturally, without a seal around the ear, there’s little to no noise isolation but when everyone is just trying to make it to the next mile marker, I had no qualms about pumping out music and other audio.

On the other hand, the OpenFit’s are way more comfortable than even my trusty Beats. By not going inside the ear, there’s no build-up of sweat, no pressurised feeling, and no real rubbing against the ear after a few kilometers.

Safety first (and last)

So there’s very little trade-off, but why are in-ears frowned upon for competition? I spoke to Shokz Marketing Manager Noemie Deng.

“Compared to in-ear headphones, open-ear headphones have a natural advantage in terms of safety,” Deng explained.

“First, the design of open-ear headphones places the device outside the ear canal, leaving the ears unobstructed. This allows users to hear ambient sounds while listening to music, meaning they can stay aware of their surroundings—such as bicycles or cars—when crossing the street, running, or walking, thereby avoiding potential safety hazards.”

While my run was only out in pedestrian areas, it’d be fair to say I wouldn’t have heard runners behind me gearing up for a (safe) overtake had I been wearing the Beats.

“Second, open-ear headphones typically do not feature noise cancellation, which means external sounds are not blocked out. Compared to the transparency mode of in-ear headphones, this enables users to more accurately detect the direction of incoming sounds for better situational awareness.

“Finally, many of our users also ensure the safety of others while using open-ear headphones. For instance, some need to constantly listen for sounds from their children or elderly family members while caring for them, which open-ear headphones make much more convenient.”

That all makes sense, but there are other brands of over-ear earphones available in the UK. I wanted to know what it was about Shokz that got them the official seal of approval from England Athletics and the London Marathon.

“Unlike traditional in-ear headphones, we use bone conduction technology along with DirectPitch [Shokz's audio tuning profile] to deliver sound directly to the ear without blocking the ear canal," reiterates Deng.

"This allows users to stay aware of their surroundings, which is especially important during races. Runners can hear ambient sounds such as other participants, race instructions, or nearby traffic, helping to ensure their safety throughout the event.”

All of this is to say that, spurred on by a pair of Shokz earbuds and Jason Schreier’s “Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future Of Blizzard Entertainment” I managed to make pretty good time, finishing in just over an hour.

Would that have been possible without audio to distract me on a very, very hot day? Probably not, but I’m grateful to have learned about Shokz in the process.

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Sony is back with a new pair of flagship full-size wireless headphones, the Sony WH-1000XM6.

We’ve been fans of this series since it emerged all the way back in 2016. And this latest pair promises improvements in almost every area.

The most important of these are probably the sound and the ANC, active noise cancellation. Sony claims the WH-1000XM6 have its “most advanced noise cancellation yet,” which like so much in tech these days is partly powered by AI.

There’s more to it, though. The Sony WH-1000XM6 have a whopping 12 microphone around and in the headphones, brought together by a QN3 processor chip Sony says is seven times faster than its old tech.

This is also used to make sure your calls come through clear over on the other end, which is essential if you make calls while out in the city.

The Sony WH-1000XM6 have an Auto Ambient Sound mode that attempts to balance your music and external sound, letting in elements it thinks you might need to hear. We’re thinking train announcements — no-one wants to miss a train platform alteration or notice of a stop being missed out, right?

These headphones use 30mm drivers, which Sony says provide “studio-level precision” in the sound. This series tends to lean towards a bassy, warm sound signature, but that’s often a good fit for the way pairs like this are used — out and about rather than chin-stroking in a listening room at home.

A charge of the Sony WH-1000XM6 battery will last up to 30 hours with active noise cancellation switched on, or 40 hours with it turned off. And they support the high-quality LDAC Bluetooth codec as well as the usual suspects like SBC and AAC, for great wireless sound quality.

You can also use the Sony WH-1000XM6 as a cabled pair too, but they don’t support audio over USB-C, which would be handy for connection to some laptops.

There’s one potential snag. The Sony WH-1000XM6 don’t come cheap at £399. But if your budget’s up to it, you can pick up a pair from May 23, in blue, black or silver.

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As his stock and stardom only continue to rise, 17-year-old Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal has now been announced as the latest global ambassador for Beats by Dre. Yamal, who’s not 18 until July, plys his trade for Barcelona and Spain after coming through the club's iconic academy.

He has already lifted silverware for his National Team after playing a pivotal role for Spain at Euro 2024 and currently looks on track to win the league with Barca this season – it's fair to say, the teenager is doing pretty well for himself.

Yamal joins an impressive list of athletes as Beats ambassadors, including Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Qinwen Zheng, LeBron James, and more.

The trailer below shows off his desire to find the right track for an upcoming game, as he sports Powerbeats Pro 2, Studio Pro, Beats Pill and Beats Solo 4, and a custom pair of Beats Studio Pro. When asked what music helps him prepare for big moments, the Spanish winger said "I’d say old-school rappers like 50 Cent and Eminem. I put on my Beats, turn up the volume, and get into game mode.”

Also featured in the announcement video is Yamal’s favourite artist, Morad, with Yamal stating “Morad is always on the playlist." The Spanish Moroccan rapper shares plenty of similarities with the young footballer, growing up in the same neighbourhood in Spain, the 304, which Yamal often pays tribute to when celebrating.

Chris Thorne, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Product at Beats, said, "Having Lamine as part of the Beats family is a huge honour. Lamine creates magic on the pitch and we know that music is another huge passion for him. We wanted to storytell around his love of music and allow his fun and infectious personality to shine through.”

It will be interesting to see what more may come of this partnership, maybe even a limited edition pair of the custom Beats worn during the promotional video, but at least we now know more about the youngsters' pre-match ritual after he said "I usually use them to get into my own headspace - they help me focus. On flights, bus rides to the stadium, during the pitch walk-throughs - my Beats are always with me.”

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Bowers & Wilkins has announced the Px7 S3, the brand's most advanced wireless headphone yet. It boasts new active noise-cancelling technology and, according to the company, delivers exceptional sound and a refined design that promotes extra comfort.

The Px7 S3 boasts dramatic acoustic advancements over its predecessor. Featuring re-engineered 40mm biocellulose drive units with improved chassis, voice coil, suspension, and magnet, the headphones deliver lower colouration and distortion, enhanced resolution, and superior dynamics.

Utilising an eight-microphone configuration is how the headphones achieve noise cancellation. While four microphones monitor external ambient noise - two measure the output of each drive unit, and two provide voice clarity.

The Px7 S3 offers 30 hours of battery life with Active Noise Cancellation, and a 15-minute quick charge provides up to 7 hours of additional listening time. The Bowers & Wilkins Music app allows users to configure and control the headphones, including adjusting noise-cancelling transparency mode, monitoring battery levels, and customising the physical Quick Action button – so you can really customise your experience.

The physical controls on each earcup have been revised for easier use. Notably, the Px7 S3 will be the first Bowers & Wilkins headphone to offer support for spatial audio via a proprietary processing technology, which will be rolled out later this year. However, a specific release date has not been announced. Future software updates will also add support for Bluetooth LE Audio with Auracast broadcast functionality and the LC3 codec.

The new headphones are available in Anthracite Black, Indigo Blue, and Canvas White. Designed for long-term ownership, both ear cushions and the headband are replaceable by trained service engineers.

The all-new Px7 S3 is available now at www.bowerswilkins.com and select retailers for £399.

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Images provided by Bowers & Wilkins

Grado has announced its new, open-back, Signature S950 headphones. Encased in Brazilian walnut for some extra pizzazz, these are only the second headphones to become part of Grado’s top-tier Signature line, and with these nestled on your swede, you'll be listening in style.

The Brooklyn-based company has always had an eye for design, and these slick, predominantly black headphones adorned with Brazilian walnut will set you back £2,495 / $2,195 when released in March.

If you're really into the minutia and finer details, we've listed the technical specs below:

• Transducer Type: Dynamic
• Operating Principle: Open Air
• Frequency response: 3.5 Hz – 51.5 kHz
• THD: <0.1% @100 dB
• SPL 1mW: 115 dB
• Nominal impedance: 38 ohms
• Driver size: 52 mm
• Driver Matched dB: 0.4 dB
• Cable type: 12-conductor detachable
• Headphone Connection: 4pin Mini XLR
• Source Connection: 6.3 mm
• Earpad Supplied: G Cushions and F Cushions

Image Credit:

It's oak-ay to be excited

If you're not an audiophile like our pals over at What Hi-Fi? you can rest assured that those specs will serve you well if you are willing to drop some big money on quality headphones to cater to all your audio needs.

According to Grado, these headphones "offer a speaker that delivers exceptional high-frequency detail, a smooth midrange, and powerful bass while maintaining minimal distortion, ensuring a musically and harmonically accurate sound."

Grado also states that the Signature S950 offers a more 'balanced and neutral' sound than the award-winning Signature HP100 SE. The design is lightweight, coming in at less than 400 grams, despite 50% extra padding on the adjustable steel headband for a more comfortable fit. The wood grain, which makes me think of an old-school Morris Minor, is also unique on every pair, so these headphones will always feel personal to you.

It will be interesting to see how these sound once they are released, but if you’re on the market for a swish-looking pair of headphones that hopefully elevate anything you listen to, you can grab a pair at www.grado.co.uk. When they release in March.

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The true-wireless earphone market is brimming with decent brands right now, all trying to offer up the best audio from the smallest device.

In recent months we have had some fantastic buds in our ears - from Nura’s AI efforts, the NuraTrue, to Devialet’s premium offerings, the Devialet Gemini. All wanting the ‘AirPods killer’ tag, all ‘nearly’ grabbing it.

And now for Sony. Sony released its Sony WF-1000XM4 range in recent months, hoping to prove to the world that when it comes to both true wireless and noise cancelling it can still deliver the goods.

We have spent a few weeks now using the earphones - here are 5 things to know about the Sony WF-1000XM4 ANC buds.

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1. The design is superb

Where their predecessors were somewhat bean-shaped, Sony has redesigned its earbuds to great effect. They use a completely redesigned 6mm driver and are bloody stylish. We are big fans of the industrial design, with the brushed metal and gold-looking circle adding a nice design flourish (it’s actually a mic inlet but Sony treating it as an essential part of the design is a great touch).

They are 10% smaller than their predecessors and because of this fit flush in the ear. Couple this with a suitably small carry case (that also charges) and what you have is a smart, well-designed pair of buds.

There are three tips thrown into the mix as well, with Sony deciding (quite rightly) that memory foam tips are the way forward when it comes to keeping in the music.

2. They work out when you workout

Sony has added an IPX4 rating to the WF-1000XM4s. This means that the earphones are both water and sweat resistant - ideal then for your workouts and the Great British weather (of which both helped with the testing of these earbuds).

As mentioned, the earbuds have been reduced around 10% in size and the case is 40% smaller. The smaller the buds, the better the fit in our ear and after 45 minutes or so of cross training, we never once had to adjust the earphones.

The only niggle we had was when using a towel to wipe the sweat from our face. It would sometimes trigger the touch ‘pausing’ on the side of the earphones when it brushed against them.

3. Touch controls (and setup) are fantastic

Towel-touches aside, we were really impressed with the no-nonsense controls. They are easy to decipher and work well whether on the go or in the gym. You can hold the button for Sony’s passthrough, so you can speak and listen to people when you need to. You can tap quickly to pause, double tap to skip tracks and so on. If you take a bud out then they automatically pause what you are listening to as well.

There is also Google Assistant and Alexa integration which works a treat if you are into that sort of thing. There is also a Speak-to-Chat feature can be enabled which will pause what you are listening to when you start talking. The idea is that you will actually be speaking to someone and want to hear their reply. We, ahem, like to sing to the songs we are listening to which meant that we had to turn this feature off. If you are a silent singer, then it may well be for you!

Setup can take as long or as short as you want it to. You can just connect straight through Bluetooth and not worry about the app. Go through the app, though, and you get far more choice with controls and audio tweaks.

4. Sound is market leading, noise is cancelled

Apple may have shifted the mainstream consciousness about spatial audio, but Sony has been making strides in this department and this can be found in its 360 Reality Audio feature. This is supported by the likes of Deezer, Tidal and Amazon - and involves you, seriously, taking photos of your ear for it to work. But even if you don’t use this in your music (and it is only available for music) listening you are in for a treat.

Load up the accompanying Sony Headphones Connect app and there are a decent amount of EQ settings that you can tinker with. We balanced out the lower end and the mids, but even by default the music sounds fantastic.

LUMP’s blip-heavy Animal was utterly entrancing, its syncopated sound echoing throughout the earphones, creating a much bigger sound space than we were expecting. The beauty of Halley’s Comet by Billie Eilish whispered through the earphones, but even with the slight sound everything was picked up perfectly.

Little Fluffy Clouds pulsated as it should, we got more out of the song that we have in a long time (and this one is a mainstay in our headphone testing).

When we brought the bass, things were a little too ‘booming’ but that is something that can be fixed in the app. It’s nowhere like listening to Beats which are tuned to the bass, but it was overpowering on tracks such as Rusko’s Gone Sleep and Chesters Groove by Skream.

Still, each time we listened we were utterly impressed by what we heard.

ANC-wise, the seal is the real deal here, allowing for a really immersive noise-cancelling experience.

5. The Battery is a belter - thanks to the case

Sony has really thought about battery here and offers one of the longest-lasting wireless earphones around. We got eight hours out of the earphones on a single charge and if you aren’t happy with that, then you could get around 50% more battery by turning the noise cancelling off.

Couple this with a case that holds two full charges and what you have is a pair of wireless earphones that can potentially last a full 24 hours without a charge. This really is impressive stuff - and wireless charging has also been added like a cherry on top.

Sony WF-1000XM4: final verdict

We are big fans of the Sony WF-1000XM4 true wireless earphones. A huge amount of audio prowess has gone into the buds. This is coupled with a great-looking, new slimline design and a battery life that is best in the business.

The only caveat is that this comes at a premium. Currently at £249 they are some of the priciest earbuds around but they are high-end, powerful little buds that made us fall in love with our music all over again.

You can buy the Sony WF-1000XM4 from Amazon now.

• Sony WH-1000XM4 review: the best just got better

Live in a city? Busy commute? Work in a noisy office? All of these do your stress level no favours. So, buying a pair of the best noise-cancelling headphones around is one way to turn down the cortisol and get back a little piece of zen.

UPDATE:If you're working from home and have a partner, family or pets around the house too, a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones is essential if you want to be able to get anything done. Luckily, our list of the best noise-cancelling headphones below includes plenty of devices and some of them have had some pretty impressive discounts recently. The one that's getting the most attention is the Amazon discount on the Sony WH-1000XM3 Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones, which knocks the price from £330 to £253.

The best models with active noise cancellation use microphones that sit on the outside to monitor the noise level. And they actively cancel out that sound with extra waves piped through the drivers.

The extent they can zap engine noise and the sound of big crowds is mind-blowing. But which pair should you buy?

Here are some of the best options available right now. Upvote the set you’d pick.

• These are the best wireless headphones around right now.

Best noise-cancelling headphones

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

Tell us about it, and if enough people agree we'll add it in.

[SQUIRREL_149966]

Sometimes you have to suffer for your art, so we did. We sweated the details while testing a raft of the best running headphones on the market, racking up the Strava miles over a period of two months.

UPDATE:We're currently trialling adidas' FWD-01 sports headphones which are strong contenders when it comes to Shortlist additions. Serving up 16 hours worth of playback times (that's pretty much 4 consecutive marathons to you and I), the rugged design is sweatproof (I mean, you'd hope that's as standard), offers passive transparency to ensure you hear your surroundings and feature a tangle-free neck chord to ensure you don't loose a bud mid-run. Let's see what our verdict is.

And as if that wasn't enough, there's been a pretty big breakthrough when it comes to running music. Scientists claim to have found the perfect running track - well, created it anyway. We know it can be a hard old slog getting into the rhythm of a run, but thanks to Professor Costas Karageorghis at Brunel University - alongside a team of music producers - the perfect running song claims to have been created. The track claims to boost your mood mid-run by 15% in comparison to those who do not listen to music, so there's got to be something in it, right?

The pairs that ended up on our comprehensive shortlist all have their benefits, but top of the tree by some margin were the Jaybird Tarah Pro. Their combination of long battery life, amazing sound quality and super-secure fit make them the perfect choice for most users.

For anyone on a modest budget but still wanting decent quality, we plumped for the Urbanista Boston, good all-rounder earphones at a very wallet-friendly price. Here's the run down of the 10 pairs you should consider.

• The best wireless headphones revealed
• These are the best in-ear headphones

Best running headphones: best buys

The Urbanista Boston are decent jack-of-all-trades headphones. With a lack of pretension and a pleasing simplicity, they combine more than acceptable comfort and functionality at a price most runners will be able to afford. They offer the best value on test.

Amazing sound quality, rock solid grip in the ears, long battery life, an impressively short charging time and excellent durability are just some of the reasons the Jaybird Tarah Pro deserve to be at the top of your shopping list. Quite simply the best running headphones by a four-minute mile.

Related: best wireless headphones, if you'd prefer a less sporty pair

• best buys
• The Shortlist
• Our expert
• Test selection
• How we tested
• test results
• best overall
• best value
• the rest compared

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The best running headphones shortlist

The expert's view

149

Hours of testing

24

Pairs considered

2

Best buys

3

Experts consulted

We selected 24 pairs of running headphones across 18 different brands. The manufacturers that made it into the final 10 all have a demonstrable track record in fitness audio and all the models on test showcased the ability to offer a decent level of fit, durability, comfort, user-friendliness, sweatproofing and sound quality – in other words, the basics that users look for first of all when considering a purchase.

Author Bio

Kerry McCarthy

Kerry McCarthy is Commissioning Editor at Runner’s World magazine and has been testing the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright ridiculous of the fitness equipment world since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister.

Best running headphones: how we selected

We chose to test ‘middle of the road’ headphones that fall into the £50-£150 price bracket because that’s what experience tells us most people are prepared to spend. Any less and there’s a risk they might not be of sufficient quality to survive in the long-term, while any more puts them into the niche bracket for those who are either huge technophiles or obsessive music lovers.

We also wanted to compare models that were roughly like-for-like in what they offered. For this reason (and with price a consideration) we left out ‘smart training’ headphones, which can offer metrics such as heart rate, audio coaching and other premium features.

Best running headphones: how we tested

Each pair of running headphones were put through the same testing process to ensure as much consistency as possible. First of all we looked at how easy or difficult they were to set up and use. It should be possible to get them out of the box, onto your ears and get out the door without having to either a) read the user manual from cover to cover, or b) have a degree in advanced electronics.

In these time-poor times, the best tech is intuitive.

Next up, what did they feel like on the run? Did they slot into place easily? Did they hurt or pinch anywhere after a while? Did our sweaty lugholes force them to pop out? Could we leave them be or did we have to fiddle with them during the run?

When it came to sound quality we made sure we played different types of music to assess how bass, mids and treble performed. Was the sound a little fuzzy or crystal clear? Did the volume have to be turned up to the max for us to hear small details?

Durability is also a key consideration for running headphones. We were unable to test how the earphones responded to the potentially corrosive effects of sweat over time, but we did measure their weatherproofing by either running in the rain or, if it was dry, dunking them in water and wearing them afterwards.

We also dropped them on the ground, slung them into gym bags without putting them back in their case and generally treated them sloppily (as most of us do in the real world) to see if any internal parts moved or if they suffered any loss of functionality.

Overall, each pair was run in four to six times. At the end of the testing period we took all the above feedback, considered the RRP of each pair, and gave them a rating out of ten.

Best running headphones: The test results

The Jaybird Tarah Pro was the best performer by far. They get all of the basics right and add some neat design features on top – such as magnetic buds which clip together, an auto-off function if you take them off and forget to power them down, and a reflective cord to help in low-light running.

Their durability was both impressive and immensely reassuring – a quality they shared with the Sennheiser CX Sport and the Plantronics Backbeat Fit, which both also demonstrated excellent waterproofing and the resilience to be treated lazily without having any bits go wrong or fall off.

They each offered excellent fit, too, which was a feature all the earphones on test shared. Special mentions on that score go to the Monster iSport Victory, which come with five different sets of bud sizes and wing tips so you can mix and match – especially handy if your earholes are different sizes, as is often the case.

Snugs goes further. Its Wireless Magnet includes a bespoke fitting service at a local participating audiologist. This ensures that not only is the fit perfect for your lugs but they won’t actually fit in anybody else’s ears. If you have grabby teenage kids this is definitely a win.

When it came to sound quality the Bose Soundsport Wireless were the standout option (unsurprisingly, given the brand’s heritage in this area). The JBL Endurance Peak and Jaybird Tarah Pro also impressed.

The Tarah Pro sync to a proprietary app where you can create your perfect sound profile for different musical genres, as well as search to see what other Jaybird users have done.

Our choice for best value were the Urbanista Boston, a pleasingly low-key and efficient option that just got the job done with a minimum of fuss for less than 70 quid. Sound quality, fit, durability, ease of use and waterproofing were all above average and, while the battery life was only four or so hours, the quality of the mic was surprisingly excellent, which went some way to making up for its shortcomings.

Speaking of battery life – which is one of the most important factors for keen runners, especially those training for a marathon – the Tarah Pro offer a whopping 14 hours, which means you’ll probably get a good fortnight out of them between charges. And if you do run low a quick five minutes will give you a couple of hours’ power.

Next best were the JBL Endurance Peak, which offer ’28 hours of playback’ – four hours of power in the earphones and 24 hours stored in the case, which also serves as a charging dock. These are true wireless earphones, with no cable between the buds.

The Plantronics Backbeat Fit offer a more-than-respectable eight hours.

Skullcandy’s Method Sport Wireless and the AfterShokz Trekz Air running headphones took contrasting approaches to noise isolation, in that the Skullcandy are completely sealed (you can’t hear a thing other than those big beats in your ears), while the whole point of the bone conduction AfterShokz (which sit outside your ear on your cheekbone) is to free you up to hear ambient noise. If your primary focus is safety on the run, these should be your preferred option.

The best running headphones reviewed:

Jaybird Tarah Pro, £139.99

Running headphones have almost become like smartwatches, in that brands clamour to build bigger and bolder functionality into what should be quite a simple device. And often these innovations come at the cost of the basics – sound quality, comfort and battery life.

What made the Tarah Pro stand out was that Jaybird has clearly not lost sight of the bigger picture, ensuring that the fundamentals were taken care of, as well as introducing a few fantastic design touches that make these headphones the winner here by a country mile.

The battery life is sensational. Fourteen hours is the claim Jaybird make and, while we obviously didn’t run for 14 hours without stopping (yeah, proper lazy right?), we were able to fit in ten days’ worth of runs without having to charge. When you eventually have to top up, five minutes in the cradle gives you two hours of charge, while it’ll be back up to maximum power after just an hour. Impressive.

Linked to this is the excellent power-saving functionality. If you remove the earphones and leave them lying around without turning them off, fear not – after 15 minutes they’ll power down automatically. While we found that this auto-stop function didn’t kick in on one or two occasions, overall it worked more than enough to save a fair chunk of power.

Fit has been well thought out and, thanks to two different ways of wearing the earphones, it was the best on test for this. We could choose from either the standard method (cord hangs in front of the ears and round the back of the neck) or alternatively you could rotate the buds 180 degrees to have the cable come out of the top, be looped over the ear and behind your head, then cinched with a pull cord. Both ways offered a brilliant fit.

The thoughtful design continues throughout – the ends of the buds are magnetic so you can clip them together around your neck for security when not in use. Doing so also auto-pauses the music so you don’t have to faff with controls.

The woven nylon cord is extremely tough and won’t kink into awkward positions. It also has flecks of reflective material in it to add a bit more visibility if you’re running in low light.

But if you’re all about the sound quality, rest assured – the clarity is amazing and the balance of bass, mid and treble is exquisite. And if you like to tailor your EQ to the music genre, you can pair the Tarah Pro with an app to play around and match your own preferences. Proper music geekery.

The best running headphones for value reviewed:

Urbanista Boston, £44.99

Fifty quid might not sound like a budget option but, believe us, these days it’s unusual to get good value for less than that. We tested cheaper headphones but chose the Boston because, despite a few small irritations, they offer an above average level of performance across numerous touchpoints. They also have an ease of experience that will appeal to those runners who are just looking for something simple and reliable that doesn’t cost the earth.

Let’s get the snafus out of the way first – battery life is only average, and is actually closer to four hours than the six hours Urbanista claims it is. It’s also not ideal that you don’t get a battery status update (as is now common among Bluetooth headphones), when you turn them on – so to some extent you’re playing battery roulette if you go out for a long run. But the solution to this is just to charge them beforehand if you’re going to be out for any length of time. Happily, one hour is all it takes to get a full charge.

Sound quality is acceptable without being amazing. The bass is booming, so if you love your R&B these will do you a treat, but vocals and softer instruments felt a little weak, although we’re being picky.

Finally, the volume control on the cord is not worth using – it’s much better to get your phone out and control from there as we found, unusually, the volume went up higher using the phone than it did via the cord control.

Among the stand-out positives was the built-in microphone for taking calls. We expected the reception and sound quality on such a relatively low-spec pair of headphones to be poor, but in fact it excelled

and callers could hear us loud and clear.

The fit and comfort are both excellent, thanks in part to the charging module being positioned at the back of the neck, so they don’t tug on your ears.

Magnetised buds mean you can stick them together around your neck when not in use to prevent the cord tangling, and there’s also a clip to attach the neck cord to your top to cut out on any flappage when you’re running. Throw in a couple of additional features such as solid water-resistance and a choice of five different colours and these add up to a pair of headphones that offer reliable performance with satisfying bang for your buck.

Comparing the rest on test

If our overall winner and best value options don’t take your fancy, here’s everything you need to know to find your perfect pair of running headphones from the rest we tested.

Best for durability

Plantronics Backbeat Fit are the Steve McQueen of Bluetooth headphones – rugged and dependable with a consistent level of performance. Aesthetes may not appreciate the army-style look and feel but they stayed firmly in our ears on every type of session, performed brilliantly in torrential downpours and handled being treated indelicately. The controls could be less fiddly but you get used to them and, for the price, they’re lacking in additional features, but overall these were a pleasure to wear.

Best for fit

You can’t get a better fit than bespoke, which is exactly what the Snugs Wireless Magnet offer. Moulds are taken of your ears (at a participating audiologist) and then customised silicone buds (sweat-, water- and degradation-proof) are sent on to you, designed to fit perfectly over the earphone drivers. On the downside, sound quality is a little tinny, the volume doesn’t go up high enough and the four-hour battery life is on the modest side.

Best for safe running

One of the most comfortable earphones we’ve tried, the AfterShokz Trekz Air’s bone conduction technology mean they sit against the cheekbones, not in the ear, transmitting sound to the inner ear. Music quality, especially bass, suffers with bone conduction, and while it was better than expected, it wasn’t as rich as you get with in-ear devices. Battery charge lasts six hours.

They are pricey, but if you want exceptional comfort and the confidence that comes with being aware of ambient sounds, look no further.

Best for low weight

The smart twist-lock feature of the JBL Endurance Peak means they won’t shake loose no matter how much you channel Paula Radcliffe’s nodding dog routine. They’re very lightweight and, on one occasion when not listening to music, we actually forgot we were wearing them.

We loved the ‘powerhook’ technology, which means they automatically turn on or off whenever you put them on or remove them. The microphone was impressively powerful when receiving calls and the controls are logically set out. A pair of running headphones where your money is spent on ease of experience.

Best for out-and-out sound quality

As you might expect from a brand with Bose’s heritage, the best thing about the Soundsport Wireless headphones was the effortlessly great sound quality. The earbuds sit on the outside of your ear canal rather than being twisted partway into it as other models often are.

On the upside, this makes for safer running as you can hear some ambient noise around you, but if you’re wearing them on public transport the likelihood is your neighbours will clock that you’re secretly listening to Enya if you have the volume turned up high.

Battery life is sub-optimal (a shade under four hours) and the placement of the battery pack and remote drags one side down a little unless you use the clip to secure the cable to your top for stability. But if you run for short distances of an hour or less and want crystal clear sound above all else, these are a great option.

Best for easy use on the move

The controls on the Skullcandy Method Sport Wireless neckband are nice and big and incredibly easy to use, Bluetooth connectivity is almost instant every time, noise cancelling is better than average (albeit with some residual leakage), and the battery life is excellent – a 30-minute charge will get you eight hours of use.

There’s just one issue: the one-size-fits-all neckband can be a little rigid and restrictive depending on your neck size, so it’s worth trying before you buy. But overall these do the job, and for your money you get a highly functional, robust pair of headphones.

Best for build quality

The Sennheiser CX Sport certainly passed the weatherproof test – our first run was a 12-miler in a downpour and they sailed through without a hitch. Sound quality was good, offering a nice balance between bass, volume and letting just enough ambient noise in to stay aware of our surroundings. They’re also very comfortable, as we didn’t have to ram them halfway down our ear canal to get them to stay in.

Best for Bluetooth connectivity

The only thing that stopped the Monster iSport Victory from scoring higher was the feeling that we had to handle them with care. Nothing fell apart, but some parts just looked plasticky and we were dubious about longevity – although we must stress they survived the testing process perfectly well and were a joy to wear.

There are five different sizes of earbuds to choose from to help you get a fit that’s rock solid. Sound quality is among the best we’ve come across, with a great balance of bass, mid and treble.

Nearly two years after the release of the Jabra Elite 65t were released, the Danish brand has now released their successors the Elite 75t. Having been revealed in early 2020, we were pretty excited to get our hands on their latest model.

The Elite 75t are smaller and lighter than their predecessors - weighing just 5.5g - and offer all the features you’d expect from your true wireless earbuds. They allow you to use voice commands (with the help of Google Assistant, Alexa or Siri), they have IP55-rated protection from water and dust, and 4-mic technology that should make your calls even clearer than before.

On paper, they sound pretty fantastic, but what about in reality? The Jabra Elite 75t earbuds certainly won’t be for everyone - and at £169.99, there are certainly cheaper options out there - but if you’re looking for headphones that don’t budge no matter strenuous your workout, you’ll be hard beat to find a better pair than these.

Here are the five things you need to know before buying them.

The Jabra Elite 75t true wireless earbuds are available now for £169.99 and come in three colours - black, titanium and gold beige.

• Headphones on the blink? Here are our picks of the best in-ear headphones and best wireless headphones
• And if you’re looking earbuds to keep you company while you workout, these are the best running headphones

1. The Perfect Fit

Jabra has described the fit of the Elite 75t as “their best yet” and we have to agree. Three sizes of earbuds come in the box, so you can make sure the fit is just right. Once we found ours (which happened to be the smallest), these earbuds do not budge. Not once during our commute, workouts or even a trip to Barcelona and back, did we feel like these headphones would come out or even feel them come loose at all.

The design of the headphone itself is also lighter and 20% smaller than the Elite 65t. The Jabra Elite 75t are some of the most comfortable in-ear headphones we’ve worn in some time. We could easily wear them for four hours or so before feeling the need to take them out. That may not seem like a lot but considering that we struggle to wear most earbuds for over two hours, we were pretty impressed.

The only awkwardness came when we were actually taking the headphones in and out of our ears. For the first few days, we tend to accidentally press the buttons on the earbuds because they’re so small. It’s not a major issue - just a slightly annoying one - and it has lessened as we’ve got more used to the headphones and know how to hold and adjust them without this happening.

2. An iron-clad connection

During our week and a bit of testing, not once did the connection drop out. They connected immediately to our phone when we put the earbuds in, and have a nice feature that pauses your music if you take your headphones out so that you don’t miss a single second of your playlist. You can also listen to music with one earbud in if you fancy - though it does have to be the right one - you just simply restart the music once you’ve put your left headphone safely back in the case.

Be warned, for the size of the headphones they sure to pack a lot of bass. So much bass, that our favourite songs just didn’t sound right. This was largely resolved by fiddling with the customisable equaliser on the Jabra Sound+ app, but it’s worth being aware you may have to do this. However, we’re also aware that most people like a decent amount of bass - especially if you love a House or dance anthem - so this is more a personal tastes situation rather than major flaw. Plus, after a week testing the headphones out

3. Keep the real world out

The Jabra Elite 75t may not have ANC but they do have a noise-isolating fit (or PNC) that tries to do the same thing - keep the chaos of the world at arm’s length. And, all in all, they do a pretty good job at it, the fit means very little noise filters through and we never needed to put our volume above halfway. We could clearly hear our music, whether we were walking through central London, on a plane to Barcelona, or simply trying to drown out the TV in our own home.

For those few times where hearing the outside is important - crossing the road, train announcements etc - there’s a ‘hear-through’ function. You simply press the left-hand button once and the microphone picks up the outside noise and allows you to hear what’s going on around you. As with the noise-isolated sound, we were pretty impressed with the sound quality on the hear-through.

4. Gym-approved

The ‘no budge’ nature of these earbuds - plus the fact they’re true wireless - makes them perfect for the gym. No matter how dynamic your workout is, these headphones will stay firmly in your ears. This is also where the IP55-rated protection for water comes in handy because it means no matter how gross and sweaty you get, these earbuds will still be there firmly in your ear motivating you on.

To be certain of this, we took the headphones out on a small run around our local area. On our half an hour run, we only had to do one slight adjustment of the headphones right at the beginning of our run which, considering this was the first time we'd worn them doing exercise, was pretty good. Even on that occasion, the earbuds didn't feel like they were going to fall out, they just needed shifting ever so slightly. These are some of the best running headphones we've worn in some time.

5. A battery that keeps on going

Alongside the fit of these headphones, the battery life is one of the main selling points of these earbuds - it’s mightily impressive. The headphones themselves can easily last a full work day (8 hours) on a single charge and the charging case keeps them topped up for another two and a bit days. Put another way, as long as the case was fully charged, you could happily go away for the weekend without the charging cable and not have to worry until you get back.

The case isn’t wireless, it’s instead topped up by a USB cable. From empty, the headphones take just over two hours to be fully charged, though there is fast charge so you can get an hour of charge from just 15 minutes in the case - just enough to get you through that evening commute.

Cheap headphones, everyone's got a pair. They're convenient and, let's be honest, they're the ideal backup, which is why we've collated this list of the best cheap headphones around.

You’ll often hear audiophiles opining that you really mustn’t rely on the earphones that come bundled with your smartphone. We’d agree with that sentiment 100%, but with one important modifier.

UPDATE:For those who want a nice-looking pair of headphones, rich sound and a budget-friendly price tag, you're in luck. We've added the over-ear Urbanista Seattle headphones to our list this week. They're a comfy pair of cans that are particularly appealing right now because you can grab a pair for under £50 on Amazon.

That is: you really don’t have to spend all that much money on a new set of headphones. The right budget headphones these days will give you brilliant sound quality as well as features like wireless connectivity and active noise cancellation (ANC).

The following headphones come in all shapes and sizes, and also a variety of prices. After all, £75 might be considered quite a lot of money for a simple pair of in-ear ’buds, but it’s downright cheap for a set of noise-cancelling on-ear headphones. But they’re all firmly in the budget category.

Which of these cut-price headphones do you prefer? Be sure to vote below.

• Thinking about opening up your budget? Don't miss our best wireless headphones mega-test.

Best cheap headphones

SOMETHING MISSING FROM OUR SHORTLIST?

Tell us about it, and if enough people agree we'll add it in.

With three top 10 singles, over 100 weeks in the charts and music videos that have been watched over 3 billion times, Kygo certainly knows something about making good music.

With all that time in the studio, we also imagine he churns through headphones pretty quick, too. So, it's no surprise the DJ decided to create his own way back in 2016.

After all, if you’re looking for someone who knows a good pair of headphones, you can’t go far wrong with a world-famous producer who wears them day-in, day-out.

Four years on, the latest offering from X by Kygo are everything you’d expect from Scandinavian design - they’re minimalist, simple and sleek.

There’s something for everyone, too, with five new models available - three pairs of headphones and two pairs of earphones (one of which are true wireless).

Prices start at just under £80 for the A3/600 and Xelerate models. As you can probably tell by the latter’s name, they’re designed with workouts in mind.

Xelerate the only model in the range to come with wires but they do have a water-resistant design and a quick charge mode (which gives you an hour of playtime from 10 minutes charge).

At the higher price of £229, the A11/800 headphones are the most expensive, though they do offer the most advanced active noise-cancelling technology in the range.

They also offer a decent battery life of 19 hours in ANC, which jumps to a huge 40 hours when listening via Bluetooth. They also have voice command via Google or Siri and memory foam pads for extra comfort.

And in the middle of the road, you’ll find the Xenon and E7/1000 headphones. The E7 are true wireless, while the former are a wireless on-ear offering which offer much the same as the A11/800 just at a lower price (and shorter battery life).

All the headphones are available now from Amazon, Argos and online at X by Kygo.

• Looking for a new pair of headphones? Check out our picks for best wireless headphones
• If you prefer an in-ear option, these are our best true wireless earphones for 2020

The world of headphones has seen vast improvements in the last few years, with wires becoming non-existent and earbuds become smaller, smarter and more comfortable.

But never content, Bang & Olufsen has made some big improvements to its famed Beoplay E8 2.0 headphones - especially when it comes to wireless headphones’ biggest enemy - battery life.

According to B&O, the new Beoplay E8 3.0 true wireless headphones not only have a longer battery life but they are also more comfortable than the previous iteration, and have better call clarity.

The comfort comes thanks to the B&O engineers fiddling with 3D-modelling so that the new generation headphones should fit a bigger variety of ear shapes and sizes.

The earphones are also more compact - 17% smaller to be exact - and now only weight 5.8g each.

So, battery life? You can now get up to 7 hours continuous playtime - that's an improvement of 119% compared to the 2nd Gen - and the premium leather wireless charging case can hold four full charges for on the go top-ups.

Finally, the claim of better call clarity is thanks to B&O doubling the number of microphones to four to provide “beam forming technology directed towards the mouth”.

Available in the UK from 14 February, the Beoplay E8 (3rd Gen) will set you back a hefty £300 from the B&O website.

• Want to see how B&O fair against other brands? Check out our review of the best true wireless headphones
• Or if you also want over-ear options, have a read of our best wireless headphones review

Bang & Olufsen’s headphones are some of the best in the business, which also means that they usually have a decent price tag attached.

Not today. Thanks to Amazon's Black Friday sale, B&O's Beoplay H9i Wireless Bluetooth Over-Ear Headphones are currently 30% off. That's a saving of £99, bringing the price down to a more manageable £230.

With these noise-cancelling headphones, there is no need to fumble in your pockets for your phone, you can change the volume, song and answer calls with the headphone’s touch controls.

The improved Bluetooth range also means that you only have to be within 121 feet (36 metres) of your music source. Essentially, you can dance around your house to your heart’s content without worrying about a poor connection.

Finally, they’ve got an honourable battery life of 18 hours of playtime, and that’s using the noise-cancelling function (it’ll last even longer without it).

• Feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the deals? Why not try our best Black Friday headphone deals
• Or, check out our best Black Friday gaming deals to get you started

Given that the Jaybird Tarah Pro's currently have Shortlist's 'best overall' award in our best in-ear headphones guide, we are extremely interested in the new Jaybird Vista range.

These are Bluetooth sports headphones that are true wireless. They are the lightest Jaybirds around right now and have been made with runners in mind. What this essentially means is that they are water, sweat and even crush proof.

When it comes to battery life, you can get a cool 16 hours out of these earphones... well, you can if you take into account the 10 hours' charging the accompanying case offers. If you don't count this, then you should get six hours in the ears. And even if they need charging, just five minutes plugged in should give you an hour's battery life.

They are both iOS and Android friendly (working with Siri and Google Assistant), and come in two colours: Nimbus Gray and Mineral Blue.

Retailing at £159, the Jaybirds will be out in stores come August.

The frequent flyers’ favourite set of headphones is getting a successor. Bose has unveiled a follow up to the popular QC35 II headphones which offer improvements across the board.

Dubbed the Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, you have to hope the company has invested more in the technology than brainstorming a memorable name. Fortunately it looks like they have as the headphones are packed with new features, as well as a boost to sound quality.

Alongside a more modern design, Bose introduces touch controls and USB-C charging – which is handy for anyone who was stuck holding onto a dated microUSB charger just for their headphones.

More importantly, Bose has substantially upgraded the built-in microphones. There are now four built in to isolate your voice and “dramatically improve” the quality. That’s useful for making calls without taking off your headphones, but it’s even more handy for chatting to your virtual assistant, be it Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri.

Noise cancellation is Bose’s main calling card, and the company reckons that it’s better here than ever with 11 different intensity settings to match your environment. Most intriguing of all, the company has introduced a Bose AR platform, which will allow apps to give you audio cues about the world around you.

While we don’t have a UK release date, we do have a price: £349.95 on the Bose site. Given they’ll be on sale in the US from June 20, you don’t imagine we have too long to wait, but in the meantime you should read up on our guide to the best wireless headphones around.

Wireless Festival is not, as your nan might think, a festival dedicated to the latest gadgets with no wires. However, JBL makes some of the finest wireless products out there, and as it’s giving away a pair of VIP tickets to the festival and a pair of JBL Tune 600BTNC headphones, you can forgive her this time. Maybe, if you win, take her with you for the weekend (6-8 July) to bounce along to Stormzy and J Cole.

The JBL Xtreme2 with huge, clear, wireless, JBL sound, full IPX 7 waterproofing, a carry strap and up to 15 hours of play time, is the perfect summer party and festival speaker.

Follow us on JBL Audio on Instagram to see more great audio products and to keep up to date with all things music this summer.

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