---
title: 'Best Premium Headphones 2026: Tested & Compared'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=mEqN-1droPE'
video_id: 'mEqN-1droPE'
date: 2026-08-06
duration_sec: 2546
---

# Best Premium Headphones 2026: Tested & Compared

> Source: [Best Premium Headphones 2026: Tested & Compared](https://youtube.com/watch?v=mEqN-1droPE)

## Summary

This video compares six premium Bluetooth headphones: Apple AirPods Max 2, Sennheiser HD 630, Sony WH-1000XM6, Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Gen 2, JBL Tour One M3, and Sonos Ace. The host tests them across categories like ANC, design, transparency, comfort, fit, microphones, sound quality, controls, features, cases, and battery life, ranking each from 1 to 6. The final scores, with sound quality weighted double, determine the overall winner.

### Key Points

- **Contestants Introduced** [00:43] — Six headphones compared, from most to least expensive: AirPods Max 2 ($549), Sennheiser HD 630, Sony WH-1000XM6 ($459), Bose QC Ultra Gen 2 ($449), JBL Tour One M3 ($449), Sonos Ace ($399).
- **ANC Low-Frequency Test** [02:20] — Jet noise test: JBL blocked 57 dB (last), Sennheiser 58 dB, Sonos 59 dB, AirPods 62 dB, Bose 64 dB, Sony 65 dB (first).
- **ANC High-Frequency Test** [04:18] — Voices/chatter test: JBL blocked up to volume 18 (last), Sonos 21, Sennheiser 22, AirPods 23, Bose and Sony tied at 26 (first).
- **Design Ranking** [05:24] — Sennheiser last (plasticky), JBL fifth (jiggly), Bose fourth (wobbly but light), Sony third (minimal, no hinge issue), AirPods second (aluminum, solid), Sonos first (most premium).
- **Transparency Mode Test** [08:31] — Sennheiser last (hissing), JBL fifth, Sonos fourth (amplifies noises), Sony third, Bose second (natural), AirPods first (gold standard, indistinguishable from not wearing).
- **Comfort Ranking** [10:16] — Three-way tie for fourth: AirPods (heavy), Sony (shallow cups), Sennheiser (shallow). Third: Sonos (soft foam). Second: Bose (light, ideal for long flights). First: JBL (super soft, breathable).
- **Fit (Stability) Test** [13:11] — Push-up test: AirPods last (fall off), Bose fourth, Sennheiser fifth, JBL third, Bose second, Sony first (stays on best).
- **Microphone Tests** [14:30] — Indoor: Sennheiser last, JBL fourth, Sonos fourth, Sony third, Bose second, AirPods first. Outdoor: Sonos last, Sennheiser fifth, Sony fourth, Bose third, JBL second, AirPods first (with voice isolation).
- **Sound Quality Ranking** [18:32] — JBL last (boring, distortion), Sonos fifth (warm, U-shaped), Bose fourth (V-shaped, consumer), AirPods third (clean, accurate), Sony second (adjustable 10-band EQ), Sennheiser first (best sounding, neutral, high-res codecs via dongle).
- **Controls Ranking** [22:28] — Bose last (limited), Sonos fifth (few controls), AirPods fourth (crown, Siri), JBL third (touchpad, Smart TX), Sennheiser second (touchpad, pinch gestures), Sony first (many controls, gestures, voice).
- **Features and App Ranking** [26:13] — Sonos tied last (limited app), Bose fifth (basic), JBL fourth (Smart TX, parametric EQ), AirPods third (Apple ecosystem), Sony second (tons of features), JBL first (Smart TX, Auracast, app).
- **Case Ranking** [35:08] — AirPods last (exposed, soft), Sonos fifth (zipper issues), JBL and Bose tied third, Sony and Sennheiser tied first (hard, compact, well-designed).
- **Battery Life** [38:39] — AirPods 20h (last), Sonos/Sony/Bose 30h (tied third), JBL 40h (second, 70h with ANC off), Sennheiser 60h (first).
- **Final Scores** [39:20] — Sonos 58 points (last), JBL 57 (fifth, penalty for left ear issue), Sennheiser 53 (fourth), AirPods 51 (third), Bose 48 (second), Sony 35 (first).

### Conclusion

The Sony WH-1000XM6 emerge as the overall best premium headphones, excelling across most categories with a balanced performance. However, the ideal choice depends on individual priorities: Sennheiser for sound quality, Bose for travel comfort, AirPods for Apple ecosystem integration, and JBL for unique features like the Smart TX.

## Transcript

actually the best [music] of the best? I've tried dozens of pairs of headphones and the stereotypes for who has the best ANC or best sound aren't always true. In fact, I have six of my favorite pairs of headphones on the desk in front of me,
and the most expensive ones are not always the best. In fact, in some So, in this video, we're going to compare the six best pairs of Bluetooth and these categories cover the entire spectrum of what you'd be using these
for, from sound quality to ANC, transparency, microphones, features, comfort, and more. And for each category, I'll rank them one through six. So, by the end of this video, we can add up all the scores and see who is
should start off by introducing the contestants here. Going in order of most expensive to least expensive. Starting off, the most expensive ones at $549 are the brand-new Apple AirPods Max 2. These just came out a couple weeks ago,
identical to the previous generation, some updates under the hood really bring cheaper than that, a pair of headphones that you may have never heard of. These are the Sennheiser HD 630 headphones,
Momentum headphones. Although, they address some of the biggest issues of the Momentum headphones and make them sound absolutely incredible and added some really cool features as well. Moving down slightly in price again, in
fourth place for price, we have the Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones, a classic pair of Bluetooth headphones that is $459, so pretty much lot of features, pretty well balanced across everything, and I couldn't make
this video without including these or the next contender, the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Gen 2 headphones. Another fairly new pair here at $449. anywhere in the US, you're going to see at least a handful of these on your
flight. And at the exact same price, also $449, the JBL Tour One M3 headphones. And these have a really unique trick up their sleeve, a little device called the Smart TX that I'll explain later in the
which by no means is a cheap pair of headphones, but at $399, the Sonos Ace. These came out a couple years ago. They're Sonos's first pair of into one of the most exciting tests right away, which is the active noise
cancellation, which is not as linear and one-dimensional as many people think. So, I want to give you a couple tests here. The first one is lower jet at a set distance away. I turn that volume up until the headphones are no
longer able to block it out, and I record the decibel level. So, in last place here, we have the JBL headphones blocking 57 decibels, which is still decent, but distinctly more noise coming through than the other headphones out
there. In fifth place, we have the Sennheisers blocking 58 decibels, and It sounds a lot lower pitched, which better, which is likely due to the really nice foam that they have on here.
Makes sense for this pair of headphones, and I'll explain why in a minute, but Then, fourth place, we have the Sonos headphones, which are blocking up to 59 these, the engine is doing an excellent
job of crushing low frequencies, and the higher overtones tend to break through a blocking slightly more than they're getting credit for, but they're high frequencies go through. And a couple years ago, that was a really
common form of ANC, and these would have easily been tied in first or second place. But, nonetheless, fourth place. Moving on to third place, the Apple AirPods Max 2 blocked 62 decibels in my test. Although, they are really
adjust. Like, you put them on, they're blocking sound, and then they start blocking more sound. So, it's adaptive ANC based on where you go. Bose came in second place then, just barely behind first place, and they trade blows
blocking. But, for the sound of a jet, they were blocking 64 dB in my test. And then, in first place, just 1 dB better than the Bose, the Sony headphones blocked 65 dB, which did a pretty even job blocking all frequencies. It
getting any, you know, higher low frequency sneaking through like we saw low frequencies, and that's not everything. ANC needs to block more than just the lowest sound. So, my second test is higher voices, people talking,
chatter, stuff like that, which is generally a lot more difficult for ANC engines. So, going in last place, unfortunately, twice in a row here, the JBL headphones. This one I didn't measure in decibels, I measured in
volume level that I was using on this device. And these were blocking up to volume 18. Then, the Sonos headphones blocked up to volume 21. So, these went this test, which makes sense. As I said before, the higher frequencies are a
headphones. They do an excellent job with the low frequencies, though. In fourth place, the Sennheiser headphones blocked up to volume 22. In third place, the AirPods blocked up to volume 23. And tied in first place here, the Bose and
the Sonys both blocked up to volume 26. So, if you're trying to block out frequencies of any range, the Sony and the Bose really were trading blows, like did an excellent job. Now, by the way, YouTube launches new feature that lets
to be down below on this little shelf thing or in the description. So, if you to check out all the different colors, you can do that. It supports the channel you can do that. It supports the channel at no extra to you. So, again, either be
somewhere down below you can see those. Next category, design. And for this, I'm appearance, I'm looking at materials, anything related to how these are physically made. And this is admittedly a little bit subjective, but I want to
keep it as objective as I can. So, in last place here, in my opinion, are the Sennheiser headphones. Because they have a very plasticky feel, they're only available in one color, they clearly were not optimized for appearance. Not
to say they look bad, but you know, compared to the others, they're these were made for one main purpose. In fifth place, the JBL headphones. These come in really like the way they look, very minimal, kind of rounded, a little bit
slimmer, but they are very jiggly, like extremely jiggly, and they feel kind of eyes closed, you probably wouldn't know that they were $400 headphones. They feel a lot more like maybe $100 headphones. Then in fourth place, we
have the Bose headphones. These wobble around a lot. They feel a little bit they're incredibly light, which will make a lot more sense in a future category. They are very plastic feeling everywhere, but I have to say the kind
of leathery texture on the ear cups and the headband do make up for that. They my opinion. They come in five different really nice looking colors. This one, I I'll I'll show you the colors on screen here, but very nice like metallic accent
kind of wish that was a little bit smaller on the side. In third place, we've got the Sony headphones, which these are much more minimal, but again, they don't really rattle as you wiggle them around. They feel pretty nice in my
not have ranked as well because they used to have a hinge problem, but from my testing on these, and from everything I saw on Reddit and everyone else I talked to, the hinge problem doesn't really seem to be around anymore. Like I
haven't experienced it, and everyone I talked to didn't experience that either. that there's no big brand logo on the side. So, I really like the way these look. In second place, this one might be controversial, but the Apple AirPods
they look. They're a really solid pair of headphones. Like feeling them, you've got them all aluminum ear cups on the outside, so very durable. They come in five different colors. The slider is just among the best out there. It's so
smooth and really well done. You got a metal headband that is perfectly flexible, but very solid feeling as well. And although they only rotate one removable ear cups, everything about them is just very well built and well
designed. And then in first place, what I actually would have assumed Apple AirPods Max would look like originally, the Sonos Ace. These headphones are the most premium of the bunch in my opinion. The slider is also very high gloss
metal, very premium feeling. The ear cups look minimal. There's two different colors. It's just a really well-designed pair of headphones. Like I said, you first pair of headphones ever. Even the controls have a nice accent, and they
feel very smooth and premium when you're using them. Okay. Now, so far, this and JBL's falling behind, but I assure you they will have their time to shine soon. We're honestly just getting started. But, back to Remember I said
ANC great for blocking sounds, but maybe you don't want to block everything around you. Which of these does the best job with transparency? Well, Sennheiser just wasn't really good in this category. You got a lot of hissing.
appreciated, and you can actually adjust them on the ear cups themselves, but it's just not really a very natural sound. In fifth place, JBL had a little bit of hissing. They were mostly natural. They had the correct volume,
felt like I was doing this the whole time, and that's what the transparency sounded like. In fourth place, the Sonos headphones did a pretty decent job with maybe a tad low, but the real drawback for them is they seem to amplify little
too much. So, like rubbing your clothes or clicking on a keyboard, just sounded place, the Sony's had a bit too much emphasis on those same frequencies as well, like your jeans or rubbing clothing. They did have less hissing,
and they sounded a bit more natural, but they didn't compete at all with the first two. Second place here, Bose. These Miss makes sense. Bose has been in Absolutely amazing and excellent job
here. Very, very little white noise, incredibly natural sounding, but without a doubt first place here, the AirPods Max. These are the gold standard in this category. Wearing them sounds pretty much indistinguishable from not wearing
them. You can hear where things are, there's no white noise, it just sounds really nice, very natural, and they also have loud sound reduction. Some of the other ones on this table do as well, but if somebody, you know, like dropped a
not going to reproduce those loud frequencies into your ears. And of you don't have comfortable headphones. So, I have two categories here, comfort you're wearing them, how does it feel to wear them? And fit is how well do they
things, running, doing push-ups, whatever. But starting off with comfort, tie actually, so I'm going to call it three-way tie in fourth place. The AirPods Max. These, while they are fairly comfortable, are incredibly
table. The premium materials are very nice, but you get that drawback of, you heavy. They're somewhat breathable, they're not super hot, and they do have a fairly gentle clamping force, but I do get fatigue just from the weight of them
fourth place here, the Sony headphones. They have a very shallow ear cup, so while I really like everything about how you wear these, I don't like when I put right away. I can always feel that. I wish that we had slightly deeper or more
puffy ear cups here, ear cushions, and maybe you can get aftermarket ones, but that was the problem I saw with these. Otherwise, gentle clamping force, even really minimal fatigue except the shallowness, and I did have some some
little bit warm on my ears. And then the third one, which is again tied in fourth place here, the Sennheiser headphones are a bit shallow, like I can feel I can feel that with my ear when I put it on. And I mean, otherwise, average comfort.
clamp is a little bit strong, but they have a very large range in sizes. I head sizes out there, and I can definitely wear these for a few hours, no problem. Like, they're really not bad in the terms of comfort. But, in third
place here, so definitely significantly better, the Sonos headphones. Very gelatin It's hard to explain this foam. It's a really soft like very satisfying foam feeling there. And they have some a little bit of heat when you wear them,
but really not bad. They're not too heavy. They bend well. They might They're plenty deep for my ears. I think these are incredibly comfortable. But, Mainly because like they're so light. And it's It's in their name. They're the
Quiet Comfort headphones. It was clearly a priority for Bose to make these optimal for somebody who's going to go on like a 15-hour flight. And these like I've flown like 8 to 10 hours with these, and it's so comfortable. I also
wear them like many days when I'm working all day. Lightweight, very very soft, an ideal depth for the ear cups, so my ears not touching it. Really no heat on these. The headband does a great job. Uh so, really these are incredibly
comfortable, and I could wear these absolutely all day. And then, in first track, this is the first time this brand has come in first place in this video, the JBL headphones. Super soft cushions here. They bend around really well. Uh a
very soft band. Very gentle and even clamping force. It's like they're not even on your ears. You have a very wide range of sizes. Just incredibly They're plenty breathable. These just
props to Bose and JBL. I could wear those for infinite time without any discomfort. But, let's talk about fit, which is almost the opposite. You know, you want clamping force for fit, you want gentle for for comfort. So, I'm not
these when they're doing push-ups or burpees or running. Many people won't. be honest, if you're buying nice headphones, and you're going to go for a run, a lot of people are going to end up using this. So, I did a push-up test,
much they fall off my head. And unsurprisingly, in last place here, the AirPods. Mostly cuz of the weight, they fall off after like one push-up. In really gentle clamping force, and I think that was the main reason that they
ended up sliding off. They lasted a lot longer than the AirPods, but still, they came off. In fourth place, the Sennheisers, again, fairly large chunky unsurprising that they didn't stay on as well. In third place, I was pretty
impressed by how long these stayed on, the JBL headphones. I think it's because the clamp is just so evenly distributed, and maybe it's just my head shape, but these were pretty optimal in terms of the fit and the comfort design. In
surprisingly well. I think they have a slightly stronger clamping force than first place, the Sonys, mainly because they have a slightly different geometry. instead of the other ones, which are more of an arc. These stayed on very
really long run, I would be confident Sony would stay on my head well. Now, let's talk about the microphones. >> This is an indoor microphone test with >> This is an indoor microphone test with the Sennheiser HD B 630 headphones.
They're connected using Bluetooth directly to my phone by aptX. Uh this is not using the dongle, but I'll test it again using the dongle to see if that indoor microphone test with the Sennheiser HD B 630 headphones. This
time using the little USB type-C dongle. Let me know if you hear a difference. This is an indoor microphone test using the microphones on the JBL Tour One M3 headphones. This is an indoor microphone test with the Sonos Ace headphones. By
the way, I can hear my voice quite well, and it's a pleasant experience using these. This is an indoor microphone test with the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Gen 2 headphones. I can hear my voice incredibly naturally. It sounds like I'm
not even wearing headphones, and speaking on the phone with these is an excellent It's really an A+ experience. But how does it sound on the other end? This is an indoor microphone test with the Sony WH-1000XM6
headphones. Again, these have a pretty nice pass-through where I can hear my voice while I'm speaking and talking on the phone is a pleasant experience with >> And this is an indoor microphone test on the Apple AirPods Max 2. The video looks
connected to an iPhone, the others were connected to an Android for the optimal experiences, and most people who have AirPods Max 2 will very likely be can actually record videos using these
as microphones, or you can use it for phone calls of course as well, but let >> This is an outdoor microphone test with the Sennheiser headphones. Um, let me know how this sounds. Uh, does it block out the background noise? Are you able
to hear my voice? And this is a test with the Sennheiser headphones. Um, obviously a lot of traffic. I can't tell if I don't think the wind picked up, but I definitely hear it more in the headphones right now, but let me know
test, I'm a little skeptical they're going to sound good at all here. >> This is an outdoor microphone test with the Sony WH-1000XM6s, funny to all these people with like a backpack full of headphones filming
I don't know. YouTube channel, I guess. This is an outdoor microphone test with the Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Gen 2 headphones with some traffic behind me and a gentle breeze. And now this is an outdoor
microphone test with the JBL headphones. There's still traffic behind me as you can see. The breeze is about the same, and before I filmed this, the left ear a bunch. I think it's a loose connection.
AirPods Max. There's two different modes you could use. There's standard and there's voice isolation. This is standard, and this is voice isolation. I filming this. Um, and again, I'm connected to an iPhone for the AirPods
Max, so that's what makes sense, but let me know. I mean, this having options is pretty nice. Let me know how this sounds. And for reference, this is what it sounds like out here. Just a microphone on my phone right now.
Okay, so kind of recapping what we saw there. Indoor microphone test, sounded like 2018 headphones. They were definitely behind the other ones. JBL Sonos was in fourth place because it felt like it was missing the S. Sony was
a little bit over compressed. Bose was really good. I think the frequencies sounded right, but AirPods sounded like maybe even better than my microphone, then outdoors was kind of a different story. Sonos came in last place here
Sennheiser was in fifth place. It sounded much more natural, but I think ambient sound being kept in there, which sometimes I appreciate, but compared to the others, Sony did an excellent job of blocking everything, but there was a lot
which kind of gave it too much echo, listen to the letter S in there, you'll hear what I mean. In third place, the Bose blocked everything very, very well, but definitely a lot of artifacts in
there as well. Second place, JBL did a great job. I think that it was almost a tie in first place for them, but AirPods, I mean, once you have those two options in there, excellent, excellent job. Now, of course, probably the
biggest category for a lot of people is going to be the sound quality. If you're buying expensive headphones, you need them to sound really good. So, in last place here, unfortunately, the JBLs. They sounded decent. They have LDAC,
some high-res codecs, but a bit less of a tight, controlled bass compared to the other ones on this table, at least. But still relatively neutral overall in their balance. I would say it's kind of boring. Like it was missing some
clarity. It seemed to lack a bit of like the 3 kHz range. Could use more texture. The cymbals were a little bit mushy, and there was some distortion going on. But Ace. They were quite warm due to the bass boost, and they have a very typical
U-shaped tuning with a boost in the highs and in the lows. So, the highs Overall, it was pretty pleasant and they do have Snapdragon Sound which gives you high resolution codecs if you're using an Android phone, but just a a tad dull.
Not terrible. The EQ in the app is a little bit weak. I wish there was more options in the EQ. In fourth place, Bose is very consumer focused. I think a lot sound quality would probably find these to be their favorite. They're very
much bass and too much treble. Kind of that V-shaped tuning I mentioned before. sound stage is pretty decent. Bass is very deep and very punchy. They have a listen to. But again, kind of that real consumer V-shape profile. The EQ is also
fairly limited, but a bass reducer in there can do a good good improvement for these. And moving up to third place, which might surprise some people because the AirPods Max do not have high resolution codecs, which some people
honestly, the tuning is way more important than that. And these did an sound really good with pretty much any genre of music out there. They're very clean, great accuracy. They have a slight emphasis on the highs and the
lows, but very very minimal compared to others on this table. Everything felt very tight, very well controlled. There's maybe a bit too much treble for symbol heavy songs, but honestly, there's really not much to complain
are not higher on the list is because there's no like there's a personalized you can really make. But there definitely are songs that would sound better on these than the Sonys, but I had to put them in third place here. The
Sonys give you a lot of flexibility. They have SBC and AAC as well as LC3 and codecs that work with a lot of Android phones. They do have a very pronounced profile I talked about before, but you have a 10-band EQ, so it is very easy to
adjust it and make it sound how you want. Overall, I think the sound quality on them is not only very good, but very adjustable as well. But I mean, this is just no contest. The main reason the Sennheisers are in this video is because
of the sound quality. Sennheiser absolutely dominates this category. These are the best sounding headphones on this table, and it's not even close. that. One, they do have good high-resolution codecs. So, they have
high-resolution codecs. So, they have aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, different things iPhone, and you don't get high-resolution codecs with any of these except with Sennheiser because in the box they include this little dongle.
looks like a tiny tiny flash drive that plugs into USB Type-C. You can plug it your laptop, plug it into whatever you want. Anything with USB Type-C, plug this in and it connects and then you're getting the high-res codecs that you
playback on here, and in the app you Essentially, this is going to give you the most flexible and the best sound quality, no matter what your device is. They have 42-mm dynamic drivers, and I
and what it can do, but how it actually sounds, it's very neutral out of the box, easily adjusted, overall great sounding pair of headphones. They really nail the details. They're tight, clean, accurate bass without any muddiness or
Bluetooth headphones that is. And I mean, without a doubt, the best sounding Bluetooth ANC headphones on the market controls. This is a really important category. If your phone's in your
everything easily on the headphones, and you want to never accidentally change things on the headphones. So, in last place here, the Bose headphones. They which you can also double tap to open Spotify or your voice assistant. They
between connections, you can power on off, you can, you know, play, pause, skip songs, and you can change the modes. But, it's fairly limited, and the Sonos headphones. I actually think
don't have a lot of controls. So, the button is just super premium, very very and that's going to be your volume. You can press it, you can double press it, that's going to be a lot of your playback controls. And below that, you
have a button you can toggle between ANC and transparency, or you can hold it for And on the other side, of course, you have your power button. Really solid headphones just have slightly more. So, in fourth place, the AirPods have a
rotating crown and an ANC button. Uh there's no power button, but you can nod and shake to interact with Siri. Uh overall, zero customization on here, but again, that rotating crown, very intuitive. And the Siri interactions
also help a lot. So, you can talk to Siri to, you know, skip songs and do stuff like that. In third place, JBL did a pretty good job here. And although, a touch pad on the right, so you can, you know, tap it once, twice, three
times, tap and hold. You got volume rocker on the left side, essentially. physical switch to turn these on and off. And the big trick with these headphones is this little Smart TX module. So, you can plug this into Maybe
got a little screen on the back of the seat in front of you, and you want to use Bluetooth headphones, but you can't connect by Bluetooth. Well, instead of plug this in with a wire, and, you know, you can control everything on here. So,
able to control the volume, control a lot of things on this little touch screen right here. This also works if you're plugging into a number of other devices, similar to what Sennheiser did with theirs. I think that's very useful.
It's really a nifty thing they have. And unlike the Sennheiser one, you can It's basically like having the app on this device right here, not needing your Unfortunately, the controls for the headphones are not super customizable.
Sennheiser headphones. They have only one button on the entire pair of headphones, but they have a touch pad, which does surprisingly more than you volume, forward and back for track selection. You can pinch in and out to
control transparency and ANC levels specifically. So, keep pinching to get more or less ANC. You can swipe and hold forward and backward to fast-forward or rewind. You can tap to play and pause. You can double tap to toggle ANC and
transparency. Honestly, it's pretty clean. It's pretty intuitive as well. time to get used to, I actually think it's pretty great the way they do that. Then in first place here, just because we have so many controls with these, the
Sony headphones. You can swipe for volume. You can slide for track selection, just like Sennheiser. There's a button for the power, a button for the noise cancellation. You can tap and hold for the assistant. You can palm the ear
speak to somebody or like, you know, what if you want to hear an announcement or something like that on a plane. You can also use speak to chat. So, if talking, it detects that. It turns your music down. It docks and it essentially
like turns on transparency. You can hear everything. You can press noise canceling twice to open Spotify or some other shortcut like that. You can press it three times for another shortcut. There's also head gestures on here.
There's voice commands to Sony. You can say, "Hey headphones, pause." And you that was a lot. There's a lot of controls there, but I have to give them many controls. Even if you don't use all of those, you have so much flexibility.
Like you don't need to have your phone on you at all. And of course, one of my favorite categories now, the features and the app. So, there's so much headphones that depending on why you're using the headphones, one pair might be
significantly better than the others. Before I get into individual ones, starting high-level here, these all have some form of spatial audio except for the Sennheiser ones. Also, for wired audio playback, Sony is AUX only.
There's no USB playback on there. I don't know why they did that. Bose and Sennheiser both have USB and AUX wire inputs. And the other ones are only USB-C inputs. You can get adapters for them to go to like 3.5 mm, but again,
you need an adapter for that. Also, all of these have some form of multi-point connectivity, but it's a little bit different on them. The AirPods Max, they can connect to any Apple device and seamlessly switch between many of them,
but they cannot switch between like an Android phone and a MacBook or an iPhone and a Windows laptop. Like, it just doesn't work like that. The Bose my opinion, which basically means you can connect to two devices at once. If
I'm on my laptop watching a video and I get a phone call, it'll seamlessly over with the phone call, it'll switch back to my laptop. It's a really great feature, but Bose goes one level further and lets you connect to more than two
devices at once. They'll seamlessly switch between two, but you can press the button on the right side to toggle between the devices and if you're like, my work phone right now, just keep pressing it until it tells you it's
connecting to your work phone, which is really well done. So, we have a tie in last place here. One of them is going to be the Sonos headphones, which have one swap, which allows you, if you have like a Sonos sound bar and, you know, your
your TV's connected to that, you're watching TV and then maybe your wife's be really loud, so you just put on your Sonos headphones, you you can switch headphones and now you can watch your TV with these headphones, which is actually
a very good experience and one of the best executions of essentially the 360 audio I mentioned before, where you can wear this and it feels like you have surround sound. When you're watching TV is the perfect time to do that. Sonos
app you can see there's not a whole lot we can do. We can see like the status, you can toggle aware mode, which is transparency or ANC. You can customize it a little bit, but like not really much. The EQ, as I said before, very
limited. You've got a two-band EQ and balance left versus right. We've got multi-point connectivity and that's kind of it. There's not a whole lot you can do with this, but these are first gen headphones. They're really well executed
really blame Sonos for not having more features yet. Then, tied in fifth place, toggle between multiple connections, modes. So, if we look at the app and I go to modes, I can have one set for like
know, whatever. And if you go to each one, let's go and customize this, you can change the noise control, you can change like wind blocking, um different can hear myself. The modes are a cool thing that that Bose has. And you can
starred. Uh that's going to be how you switch between them on your headphones. Otherwise, there's not much these have. Like they're very basic in terms of what surprising. I feel like Bose could have added more here. In fourth place, the
cool features. That Bluetooth transmitter is a huge one, being able to plug into anything. Think about all the things that either don't have Bluetooth or don't have good resolution codecs or are just annoying to connect to. You can
whatever you want. You go to a library, you have a different computer, boom, you are connected. It's an awesome thing to have. These also in the app, as you can a really well-done app in my opinion. You have personalized sound, so you can
choose, you know, hey, I'm listening to like a podcast, I'm listening to have a bass booster real quick. And as I mentioned before, you've got the parametric equalizer, which I can go and edit that, and you'll see we can adjust
holding. You can move them up and down. You can change your Q value, which is how tight that band is right there. Overall, I think Let me go back and not save this. It's so cool that you're able to do all of that on there. You also
have the graphic equalizer, which is just like a five-band EQ here, a lot thing that I mentioned before. We also have crossfeed, so even though these don't have a surround sound, crossfeed is meant for like older recordings that
are like really heavy LR. Uh so, this will like kind of mix it so all right, a all mixed together? So, that's essentially what it's doing. We've got between what these are actually connected to, sort of similar to Bose,
connectivity. You can find your headphones. You have sound zones, so this, but where you are, like your phone's going to recognize, all right, we are at work, we want these settings. We are at home, we want these settings.
but they show you all the controls here. That's kind of useful at least to see you want the app to look different, maybe you constantly access one thing or right here. It's kind of interesting they're in second place here, but hear
me out. They don't have a power button. They don't have an app. Like you can can't do anything then. Like they'll play back and they'll work as a You can't change the settings. But on an iPhone or on a Mac or anything like
features. They have speak-to-chat, so I could start speaking, much like I mentioned before with Sony, it'll turn it'll duck, it'll turn the volume down, really well executed. There's a camera remote, so if you set your iPhone up,
can just push the button and hold it behind your back if you wanted to. Uh conversation awareness. They have the full Apple ecosystem suite of features, engraving if you want to. Like they're just really well done in my opinion as
far as features go. In second place, the Sony XM6 headphones have a ton of features. So, taking a look at the redesigned app here, we can of course go dig into every single one, but you can customize your little shortcuts here.
them, I mean, the equalizer's not a cool one, but I'll dig into that in a second. modes, where depending on what your settings are, you can have background music, which means your music plays and it sounds like it's in the room around
standard mode. We also have like the 360 sound control, which much like I was describing a minute ago, when you move around, it's going to detect that and change your settings. So, if you're on a
at work, maybe you want transparency. Those options are all on here. And lot of options on here, Sony has an enormous amount of settings and options in here. You have DSEE Extreme, which is upscaling. You have different scene
detections, as I mentioned. You can mute or unmute on calls. You can customize sure you have the right codecs on here. You can customize your controls, which a customization for the controls. You have the voice assistant, as I mentioned
access. Are you opening Spotify or Amazon Music? And as I mentioned, the equalizer, I think it's a 10-band EQ here. Pretty decent overall. So, a lot of features on Sony. And in first place, the JBL headphones, mostly because they
have that Smart TX unit. It allows you to connect and control with any 3.5 mm port. So, on a plane, maybe like a tablet, TV, laptop, projector, stereo, whatever. It's also, like, it's cool. It also acts as a universal Auracast
if you have other headphones that work with Auracast, you can both watch like one screen, and you're not like, "All right, 3 2 1, press play." Like, you can thing with Auracast and watch on the
same screen. This could also be used with like a a TV at home, for example. the app here, this is a very well-done app, in my opinion. You've got the ambient sound control settings there. You have Smart Talk, which is similar to
Sonys. If I just start speaking, it'll do the docking. It'll turn on transparency. I can talk. And you can choose how long is it going to last, 5, you can't actually customize. So, I do appreciate that. You have personal sound
accessibility feature, I would say. You've got the audio and video modes. really customize them that much. Uh but, you know, you can see what they are. which is going to basically disconnect from your phone, and it's good for like
taking a nap or just kind of focusing in on some some work. It can play some different sounds, uh and you can set how long it's actually going to be, and think it's mostly designed for taking a nap. Um so, it disconnects from your
phone. It'll reconnect after like 4 hours or, you know, whatever amount of time you set. A really cool feature that I've just never seen on any other pair and change, you know, what your codec actually is. You can set up spatial
in here, which I think is quite quite impressive. And over in other, you've got relax mode. If you want to just play some white noise, maybe like you want a customizing what I was showing you before, and you can hit play as well for
that. So, I think these are really well done. On honestly, the app, the smart TX thing, there's so much that these headphones do, and I feel like they do a lot of it fairly well. But, the next category is, of course, the cases. This
you it's going to matter a lot, and I couldn't exclude it from this video. Without a doubt, in last place here, the AirPods case just leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. It leaves so much exposed here, and I mean, the benefit is
still charge them, and you can hang them up next to your desk. That's kind of the only main benefit of this case. Otherwise, while it does mostly protect the ear cups and the aluminum, it's a very soft case. You have to put it in
the case in order to turn them off, so a lot of the cheap aftermarket cases don't work. Uh but, you know, obviously, this is like this mesh here on my first-gen AirPods Max definitely got really damaged and wrinkly because it's always
exposed. However, you can spend like $100. I found this leather case. It headphones cases. It's a hard shell case, and it has a little magnet in there, so it should work to turn off your headphones the same way this smart
case does from Apple. But, nonetheless, this case is in last place, no doubt. In fifth place then, the Sonos case is a little bit large. It has this neat little pouch on the inside, which I do appreciate. It's like my nana's old coin
your cables out of there. It's also magnetic, so it stays in the middle of the case just with magnets. But, the zipper on this just It feels like it closing it. Like, right there it got hung up. And the little handle for the
zipper can easily get stuck in the little ridge where the zipper was, and thumbnail in there to get it out. So, not the best way to open and close the case. We have a tie in third place. The JBL case, solid, hard case, large
as well, so it holds everything in. You've got a loop and a carabiner on the outside. Overall, a really good case. I like it. And the tie in third place is of all the cases. It makes sense. This is optimized for traveling. You've got a
zipper. It's a semi-hard case, so it protects your headphones well enough. It is It has one pocket inside for all your stuff, uh but you do need to like really fold your headphones in a specific way to make them fit in there. Decent case,
though. I like it. And we have a tie in first place. So, these are very different cases. I'll go with well, one that I think is probably the best, but really like the Sony case. It is a very hard case. It is very, very compact as
and the main benefit is you don't need a very easily, because you have this magnetic closure. But, it never like it magnet would not be good, but it's
magnetic over a little latch there. So, very well done. Props to the Sony thing is you really have to get used to how you fold your headphones to get in here. And the pocket is a little bit small, so while you can fit a 3.5 mm
cable and a USB cable, the included one is like it's only like 6 in long. Like, come on, Sony. You can give us a bigger cable than that. But, yeah. Definitely A+ case. I think it's only a matter of time until everyone else in the industry
is copying that case design. It's very popular. People like it. And I'm saying tied in first place, even though it's a really large case, but a very well done very hard shell. You've got a pretty nice zipper on there, a loop on the top
if you want to hang it. And the benefit of this one, deep pockets, no weird gymnastics with your headphones. They just fit right in. And there's a dedicated pouch for the dongle, a dedicated pouch for the adapter, you've
got a dedicated little pocket with a a little strap on top for the USB cable, as well as the AUX cable. You've got your user manual in here. You just have need it. This case has everything. I could travel with this and although it's
bulky, it's just a it's a good case. Sennheiser didn't cheap out on this. And the scores, this is battery life. In last place, AirPods give us 20 hours of battery life. Tied third place, Sonos, Sony, and Bose all give you 30 hours. In
second place, JBL gives you 40 hours and this is all with ANC on. If you turn ANC off, JBL goes up to 70 hours. But in first place, with ANC on, with everything connected by Bluetooth, Sennheiser gives you 60 hours in the
headphones, which I think is pretty awesome. Now, one drawback, near the end of my testing, the JBL headphones stopped working in the left ear until I moved the headband back and forth a bunch and like turned it. So, I think it
might be a loose connection. I'm going to give them one penalty point for that. really big downside, but you know what, maybe it's just my unit, I don't know. let's add up the final scores. Now, I care a lot about sound quality, so I'm
giving that a 2x weight in here and then just adding everything else up. And the lowest score is going to be the best. This is like a golf score. So, in last place, with 58 points, the Sonos headphones were the best for price, best
in design, but they lacked some features and they fell behind slightly in a few other categories. Nonetheless, a very, very impressive first attempt at headphones from Sonos and these are a great pair that are very recommendable.
In fifth place, the JBL headphones. I honestly could put these in last because they broke. Like for me personally, that's just such a big problem, but these have 57 points. So, 56 plus that one penalty point. Honestly, amazing
idea with that little extra module to connect to planes and other devices, but they fell behind in the microphones, the sound quality, the ANC, and the build comfortable, they fit very well, but they didn't quite come away with the
win. In fourth place, the Sennheiser headphones with 53 points. These were here for one reason and one reason only, the sound quality. If you want good sound, these proved that these could also hold their own in a lot of the
jack-of-all-trades, but they're good enough in every category and they're without a doubt the best in sound quality. In third place, the AirPods with 51 points. Great microphones, great transparency, great ANC, and great
sound. They nailed the fundamentals, but they're heavy and they lack a case. Honestly, I think Apple's really close and I think that they could make these number one on this entire table with a few simple fixes. So, if you're in the
Apple ecosystem, don't feel confined to these, but there definitely are plenty of perks in the Apple ecosystem for the AirPods Max. In second place, with 48 points, a top contender with lots of first and second place positions in this
video, but features, controls, and sound quality knocked them out of first place. These are the Bose headphones. For travel, the lightweight, excellent ANC design, compact case, like these are obviously ideal if you're doing a lot of
flying. But, the jack-of-all-trades with 35 points, absolutely number one in this video, they came in top three in pretty much every category except for comfort number one in a lot of categories. A solid choice are the Sony WH-1000XM6
headphones. I think that me, personally, I would love to get different ear cups on these. Maybe some aftermarket ones would help, but otherwise, just really across the board, very solid headphones. So, which ones should you buy? Well, it
depends. Do you value comfort, sound quality, ANC? Feel free to pause the video here and add up the scores and multiply your favorite categories by two or even remove some categories that maybe you don't care about. Then,
going to be your best pair of headphones. And if you want to order absolutely no extra cost to you by going through the links I have down below. So, for hanging out with me, and be sure to leave a comment on which headphones were
leave a comment on which headphones were your favorites.