The best headphones of 2025 for every budget, tested by a tech expert

Talk about bang for the buck, the soundcore P20i are under $25, yet they sound like much more expensive earbuds. They're built with 10mm drivers that deliver impressive bass performance, a comfortable fit, and an optional smartphone app to tweak the EQ settings for personalized sound. The app also offers a “Find My Earbuds” feature if you misplace the small buds.

Battery life is an impressive 10 hours, and a charging case (with lanyard) that extends playback to 30 hours in total; a “Quick Charge” feature can give you two hours of playtime with a 10-minute charge.

The soundcore P20i is available in three colours: Black, white and navy.

Fitness types, Apple’s Beats brand is back with its best headphones yet.

The Powerbeats Pro 2 stay snug in your ears—in part due to its flexible silicone loop that goes around the ear—and they sound absolutely incredible, with powerful and well-balanced lows, mids, and highs. Control your tunes with its multifunction “b” touch-enabled button and volume rocker. 

Available in one of four colours (Jet Black, Quick Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electric Orange), extra features include active noise cancellation, heart-rate monitoring (for workouts only, not to detect health issues), and a battery that lasts about 10 hours (without noise cancelling, or about eight hours with it enabled).

JBL earned a reputation for delivering good audio quality without a premium price. The comfy on-ear JBL Tune 520BT Bluetooth headphones are no exception.

Tap the controls located on the earcup to skip between tracks or podcasts, manage calls, or adjust volume, plus the JBL app offers additional EQ settings. These foldable headphones also support voice commands through assistants like Siri and Google.

So long as you don’t mind not having noise-cancellation, you’ll no doubt appreciate the stellar sound, with solid bass performance, with all kinds of music and streaming services. 

Battery life is probably the most impressive feature, as you can squeeze up to 57 hours of playtime between charges.

The Beats Solo 4 Wireless On-Ear Headphones are a sound investment for music lovers.

Available in several colours, these Beats Solo 4s feature an ultra-lightweight design (217 grams) and comfortable on-ear fit.

Most importantly, they really do sound great — whether you’re chilling at home or on the go — plus you can use the optional 3.5mm audio jack or USB-C cable (both included in the box) to connect to a music source for high-resolution (“lossless”) audio, thanks to its digital-to-analog converter.

Battery life tops 50 hours between charges.

Those who prefer larger, over-ear wireless headphones will find the Bose QuietComfort sound as good as they feel. Inside these buttery soft earcups are premium drivers that deliver full, rich sound — and with some of the best noise-cancellation you can find today.

Along with Quiet Mode, to melt away any ambient audio distractions, and an Aware Mode, when you need to let the outside in, expect up to 24 hours of Bluetooth playback and a “Quick Charge” feature that yields 2.5 hours of music with a 15-minute charge. Along with the travel case, there’s also an included audio cable for wired listening.   

Other features include a Bose Music app to personalize the audio performance and wind-resistant mic for taking calls.

While Sony may not be the TV powerhouse they once were, anyone who appreciates private audio knows the 1000X series are among some of the best-sounding over-ear headphones you can buy today.

A unique feature, Sony’s WH-1000XM5s support LDAC (Lossless Digital Audio Codec) — i.e. high-resolution audio playback — streamed over Bluetooth via a compatible music source.

What’s more, “Adaptive Sound Control” means the headphones will automatically adjust settings based on your environment and activity, and you can place a hand over the right earcup to pause the music and amplify outside sounds (such as if a passerby on the street asked you a question).

Noise-cancelling is almost as good as Bose, plus these headphones fared very well in phone call clarity. 

Joggers, runners and cyclists often want to enjoy content while exercising outside — be it music, podcasts or audiobooks — but it’s also important to hear what’s going on around you.

The solution may be “open-ear” headphones, like the $180 Shokz OpenRun Pro. These earbud-free headphones are connected by a wraparound titanium headband (for a more secure fit for active types) that deliver premium audio through your cheekbones. Music and spoken content are both loud and clear, with good bass on hip-hop and rock tracks, and calls also sound clear, too.

Bluetooth battery life tops 10 hours between charges. Available colours include black, blue, beige, and pink. 

Monster has a well-deserved reputation in the over-ear and in-ear headphone category, but they’re also able to provide great-sounding open-ear headphones.

With flexible ear hooks to help the small speakers stay in place, wireless audio is powered by a proprietary digital processor and tuned drivers, able to deliver very good sound while simultaneously keeping your ears tuned to the outside world.

Battery life is good for wireless bone conduction headphones at 7 hours but a wireless case that provides up to 24 hours — and thanks to fast USB-C connectivity the case can be fully charged in about an hour (plugged into an AC outlet and not a computer or other USB port). 

As for wireless performance, the AC317s work on the latest Bluetooth (5.4) technology, for quick pairing and enhanced energy efficiency that translates to longer battery life.