The best earbuds for Android devices in 2024

Read our full Sony WF-1000XM5 review

The Sony WF-1000XM5 hit on just about everything we want from a premium set of wireless earbuds. Their small, rounded design should feel comfortable and secure in most ears. They’re nearly unmatched at muting outside noise, thanks to a powerful ANC feature and memory foam eartips that do a remarkable job of isolating sound passively. They sound great out of the box, especially if you like a warmer profile with elevated bass, but you can easily customize the EQ curve through Sony’s app, and they do well to draw out treble-range detail either way. They’re also loaded with extra features, including multipoint connectivity, Google Fast Pair, LDAC and spatial audio support, the ability to swap between ANC and ambient sound modes automatically and more. The wireless charging case is conveniently tiny, while the eight- to 12-hour battery life gives little to complain about.

Still, the XM5s still aren’t a total slam dunk. The built-in mics aren’t the clearest for phone calls. The IPX4 water-resistance rating could be higher. Some people might find the memory foam eartips a little too full-feeling. They also cost $300, which is far from affordable. But no other wireless earbuds we’ve tested have managed to tick so many boxes.

Read our guide to the best budget wireless earbuds

If you don’t have hundreds to spend, our favorite wireless earbuds in the budget bracket are the Anker Soundcore Space A40. Frequently priced in the $50 to $60 range, this pair has the kind of features we’d expect from earbuds that cost twice as much: genuinely powerful ANC, multipoint connectivity, wireless charging, a solid eight to ten hours of battery life, LDAC support, decent (if not great) IPX4 water resistance and a usable ambient sound mode. They don’t have the most resolving or detail-rich sound of the box, unsurprisingly, but their warm profile offers pleasant, thumpy bass without totally blowing out the low-end. If you want to add more treble presence, you can customize the EQ through a clean and easy-to-read companion app. The actual earpieces are small, round and comfortable as well.

The main trade-off is call quality, as the built-in mic can lose your voice in noisy environments and doesn’t handle sibilant sounds very well. There’s no wear detection either, so your music won’t auto-pause when you remove an earbud. They don’t support Google’s Fast Pair tech either, though the earbuds should remember your device and automatically reconnect after you pair them for the first time. But for the price, it’s hard to complain.

Read our full Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 review

Determining which set of headphones has the “best” audio quality is always a fool’s errand — at the end of the day, it’ll come down to personal taste. But if we had to pick one pair we’ve particularly enjoyed for music, we’d go with the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4. They have a slightly warm but detailed and inviting sound profile out of the box, the kind that plays well with most popular music right away. There’s a little extra emphasis on the low-end, but the bass is well-controlled on the whole, while a mostly neutral midrange makes the instrumentation on most tracks come through clearly. The treble is a bit underemphasized, so vocals or cymbals may not always sound as bright as some would like, but it’s smooth. In general, the laid-back-ness of the default tuning makes it easy to tweak in Sennheiser’s app. This pair also supports hi-res codecs like aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive, which can help it reproduce some finer details with the appropriate music files.

Beyond that, Sennheiser’s earbuds are well-built and IP54-rated, plus they can connect to two devices simultaneously. Battery life is also competitive at roughly seven or eight hours per charge. That said, the adaptive ANC, while good, isn’t on the level of the Sony WF-1000XM5 or Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. Call quality isn’t as clear as Sony’s pair either, and the design may feel bulky if you have smaller ears. There’s also no Google Fast Pair support. With an MSRP of $300, they aren’t cheap, but if you like a bit of bass and care about audio quality above all else, the Momentum is a good premium alternative to our top pick.

Read our full Beats Fit Pro review

Most of our picks above will work just fine in the gym, but if you’re buying a pair for workouts first and foremost, try the Beats Fit Pro. Yes, we’re recommending a set of Apple-made earbuds in an Android buying guide. But while they work best with iPhones, most of their AirPods-style features are also available on Android through the Beats app. You can pair them with one tap through a pop-up card, view a map with their last known location, swap between ANC and ambient sound modes from the home screen, remap controls and check their battery level from the notification tray. There’s no hi-res codec support, but the drop-off from iOS to Android here isn’t nearly as great as it is with AirPods.

The main reason we recommend the Fit Pro is their lightweight design, which is equipped with bendy silicone fins that keep the earbuds secure in place while you’re moving around. Their IPX4 water-resistance rating isn’t the best, but it should be enough for all but the sweatiest gymgoers. (Just don’t use these in the pool.) We also like that the Fit Pro uses physical buttons to adjust volume or skip tracks, since touch controls can feel finicky when you’re trying to keep up with a workout. Their punchy sound is well-suited to the gym as well, with a noticeable but not overwhelming push in the bass and treble. It’s not one for purists, but it’s energetic.

If you aren’t specifically looking for workout earbuds, you can still do better. The Fit Pro lack wireless charging and multipoint connectivity, and there’s no way to customize the EQ if you don’t like the default sound. Their built-in mics aren’t anything special for phone calls, and the five- to six-hour battery life is on the edge of passable. The charging case is somewhat large as well. Plus, while the ANC mode is useful enough for tamping down the noise of a gym, it’s a clear step down from the best options on the market.

Read our full Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 review

The Pixel Buds Pro 2 are explicitly designed to work in harmony with other Pixel devices, so they’re worth considering if you’re a dedicated fan of Google’s phones. They come with a host of useful bonus features, from remote ringing and a “conversation detection” mode to a customizable EQ and automatic switching between devices paired to your Google account. (You also get hands-free access to Google’s Gemini AI bot, though we wouldn’t call that essential.) You can still access most of the Pixel Buds’ perks on other Android devices by downloading a separate app, but all of the functionality is baked into Pixel phones natively. This means you can manage the earbuds, check battery status and the like right from your device’s settings menus. It’s similar to how Apple integrates AirPods with iOS.

The earbuds themselves are perfectly competent beyond that, with a tiny yet comfortable design, decent ANC for the price, eight-ish hours of battery life, adequate call quality and an enjoyable sound with punchy bass and extended treble. That said, you’ll still get richer audio quality and more robust noise cancellation from our Sony and Sennheiser picks above, so those who aren’t all-in on Google hardware can feel free to look elsewhere.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro review

Along those lines, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are to Galaxy phones what the Pixel Buds Pro 2 are to Pixel phones. Using them with a Samsung handset unlocks a few ecosystem-specific perks, including the hi-res Samsung Seamless codec, a real-time translation tool and a “Game Mode” that reduces latency. That’s on top of features like spatial audio, a graphic EQ, a lost device finder, adaptive ANC, simplified voice commands and automatic switching between Samsung devices.

This kind of walled garden approach is frustrating — remember when you could plug your headphones into any device and it’d work the same way every time? — but, as with the Pixel Buds and AirPods, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are undeniably convenient if you’ve already bought into their chosen platform.

The rest of the package gets more right than wrong, though there are some issues worth calling out. The stem-style design pretty much rips off the AirPods Pro — this is particularly evident with the white finish — but adds weird, unnecessary LED strips down the stems. It’s comfortable, but Samsung isn’t beating the copycat allegations here. The ANC isn’t on par with the Sony XM5s either, and the six-hour battery life is shorter than many other premium pairs. There’s also no hi-res codec support with non-Samsung phones. On the plus side, the ambient sound mode works well. And most importantly, these things sound excellent out of the box, with full, meaty bass complemented by amply detailed highs and upper-mids.

It’s worth noting that Samsung froze shipments of the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro right around launch due to quality control concerns (mainly regarding the stock eartips), but those look to have been resolved, and we haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary with our review unit.