What with Bose having invented active noise-cancellation, nobody was much surprised when its first in-ears to bear the QuietComfort name were incredibly good at blocking out the horrors of the outside world. They didn’t sound half bad either.
Our only real issue was with the design – the earbuds being too chunky for our liking and the charging case even worse. So we were chuffed when Bose told us it had streamlined the second-gen buds, which are smaller, lighter and simply more wearable than their predecessors.
The QC Earbuds II show their sonic strength whichever zone of the frequency range you choose to focus on, and once again the ANC is as close to flawless as you’ll find in a pair of true wireless buds. We’ve encountered slightly better-sounding in-ears than this, and a fair few that last longer; but as a whole package, nothing could beat Bose this year.
£280 / bose.co.uk
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Gen)
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Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3
BUDGET HEADPHONES OF THE YEAR
SONY LINKBUDS S
Sony was onto something with the original LinkBuds. Rather than following the active noise-cancelling crowd, these strange-looking buds had holes to let the outside world in…
