Best wireless earbuds 2022: Budget and high-end earphones reviewed

Headphones that connect to your smartphone or tablet give you the convenience of listening to your music anywhere. But for the greatest freedom, you also need to cut the wire between the phone and the headphones. And for the greatest portability of all, choose in-ear headphones rather than over-ear.

True-wireless earbuds, as they’re called when they don’t have any wires at all, are lightweight and often offer great comfort.

Some fit so snugly into your ears that they keep the outside world out by a process of noise isolation. Others build on this with electronic help, called active noise cancellation or ANC.

Yet more have extra features, such as built-in voice assistants that can answer your questions, send messages and turn up the volume.

You’re most likely to use wireless earbuds with your phone, computer or tablet, and some earbuds are smart enough to switch seamlessly between devices as you need them to.

How we tested

We’ve tested for sound quality (above all), comfort, battery life, ease of set up and simplicity of use. We’ve also rated each model according to extra features and, of course, value for money.

The best wireless earbuds for 2022 are: