Video 4F0289jmqQs

[00:00] Look at these earbuds. Such a huge variety of earbuds coming out in 2025 and as a tech reviewer I've tested nearly all of them. So in this video I want to talk about my favorite earbuds but I'm

[00:12] not just going to say number one, two, and three. I think that that's really overlooking one of the main aspects of earbuds which is there's so much variety in earbuds. Some people wear them for working out, for traveling, for working at their office. So I want to break these down by category.

[00:27] So in this video, I have nine categories, nine awards if you want to call them that, for the best earbuds of 2025. These are the 2025 Earbud Awards. Now, before we get into the first one, I'll mention I have links to all of these down below.

[00:41] It costs you nothing to use those links, but helps to support the channel, and I appreciate your support. Now, with that being said, this video is not sponsored. These are all my own opinions. We can get right into the first category, which is the best for working out.

[00:54] And a lot of these earbuds can be used for working out, but when you're working out, there are a couple main things you're looking for. One, of course, is going to be a very, very secure fit, and my choice here is none other than the brand new Powerbeats Pro 2.

[01:09] This, I don't think there's going to be a lot of dispute in this category. A lot of people love these for having not only a very comfortable fit, but also that over-ear hook that holds them in your ears, basically whatever you're doing. If you're running, doing jumping jacks, burpees, literally anything you're doing,

[01:24] it's going to be really impressive if you get these to fall out of your ears. But Beats added some extra features in here, such as their heart rate tracking, which we also later saw on the AirPods Pro, and it's no surprise they're both Apple-owned companies.

[01:37] I'm sure there's some cross-pollination there. But it's really, really accurate on the PowerBeats Pro. When I tested it, they were a little buggy early on, and sometimes they would not track your heart rate. But when they did, it was incredibly accurate. The sound on these is also improved over the past ones.

[01:51] The kinks is definitely fairly chunky, but again, slightly reduced over previous generations, and this is a clean win for this category. But I'll give a little honorable mention to another Beats launch.

[02:03] I'm not always the biggest fan of Beats, but when it comes to working out, they just have really good secure fits in my ears, and I think they're very versatile for many people. And so the honorable mention here is a great pair if you're doing a lot of traveling,

[02:15] and you want something a little bit smaller than the Powerbeats Pro, Or if you wear glasses and just don't like that the PowerBeats Pro go over your ears, the PowerBeats Fit Pro are my choice as a runner-up.

[02:27] So these are basically the same exact earbuds as the Beats Fit Pro from like three or four years ago. I absolutely loved those earbuds for a really long time. Now they've redesigned the case, but otherwise have basically all the same tech in here,

[02:39] which means pretty decent ANC, pretty decent call quality. In many ways, they're like the original AirPods Pro in terms of specs and performance, but with that little wing tip on them that, again, if you're wearing glasses, it's kind of nice.

[02:52] Like sunglasses, maybe you're cycling or running outside, and you don't like the ear hook on the Powerbeats Pro 2, then these could be a great option for you. Category number two is another category related to working out. I'm adding it this year because I started doing a lot of swimming this year,

[03:06] which is an incredibly boring workout. You can't talk to anyone. You're looking straight down at the bottom of a pool, so there's no scenery to enjoy, and you're just going back and forth doing laps. So the best for water, for swim workouts, whether you're swimming in a lake, in a pool,

[03:20] or just doing like water aerobics or anything like that, the best, in my opinion, is going to be the Suunto Aqua and the Suunto Aqua Lite. They're both really similar pairs of headphones slash earbuds, just slight differences in features, and either one, whichever is on sale, I would really highly recommend.

[03:35] Not only do these sound really good underwater, which is beyond impressive, like you're not going in your ears, they go around your ears, they sit and they do bone conduction right in front of your ears, and so you can wear earplugs, which actually improves the audio quality,

[03:48] or you don't need any earplugs at all if you prefer not to have them. They're waterproof, they store music on them, they are really secure and never come off no matter what you're doing in the water. Very, very impressive, and I would highly recommend these to anybody who does a lot

[04:02] of showing. Of course, you could also use them for running and things like that, but audio quality out of the water is not nearly as good as it is in the water. Category number three, before we get to the normal mainstream earbuds that I think a lot of people want.

[04:15] I want to add one more interesting category here, which is the best for sleeping. A lot of people like to sleep in AirPods Pro or whatever earbuds they buy, but there actually are dedicated earbuds that are designed for sleeping,

[04:27] to block out the sound around you, to play white noise. Maybe your partner doesn't like white noise at night, but you really need it. Or maybe you live above a train station that really loud every night as I used to and you need to block out that sound in the middle of the night So my choice here last year was the Soundcore Sleep A20 but this year they added some really big improvements to the Soundcore Sleep A30

[04:50] The new improvement, one is ANC, which is huge to block out even more sound than they already were blocking out, and the second big improvement is they now have a microphone on them, which, of course, you could use for phone calls if you weirdly use these as everyday earbuds, which you totally could.

[05:04] They're really small, compact earbuds. But really, the main benefit of the microphone is that they now have snoring detection. So not only do they have an analysis on how well you sleep, but snore detection is another thing you can have on your earbuds.

[05:16] Moving on to category number four, this is one that I think many, many people are going to be very interested in. These are the best earbuds for travel. If you're flying a lot, if you're commuting on trains, if you're just in these loud environments, it can be exhausting.

[05:30] And it's really nice to block out all the sound around you and just listen to your music or a podcast without having to turn the volume all the way up and just, like, really hurt your ears. Additionally, you're probably wearing these for a really long time, so you need a gentle, light fit inside your ears.

[05:46] So my choice here is none other than the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, second generation. Kind of a weird addition to the name there. And honestly, they look almost identical to the first-gen Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds.

[05:58] but there are subtle improvements making the sound quality better making ANC better and if you buy these and you fly a lot I would recommend also buying the AirFly dongle so you can connect by Bluetooth to a little dongle that plugs into a three and a half millimeter like headphone jack

[06:12] so you can watch you know whatever's on your plane and connect you know by Bluetooth like that but yeah for traveling I really want great sound quality which these definitely have a very premium pair of earbuds I want great ANC and again these do an excellent job Bose has always done a really

[06:27] a good job with that, but these just, it's hard to explain how they really do it. They just block a lot of that low frequency on a jet, for example, and so every time I fly, these are my go, too. One thing that is a little bit of a complaint here, and this depends on everybody's ears, obviously,

[06:41] is that if your ears get sweaty or, like, it's raining or any, if it's just not perfectly, like, clean and dry, sometimes these work their way out of one ear, like, I think it's my left ear, very, very slowly. So, again, not for everybody. Some people have a very secure fit, but it's

[06:56] something that you want to consider if you're like carrying a lot of luggage. Maybe they don't fit everybody, but they fit me and they have quite a few different ear tips and wing tips, so hopefully they can fit you too. Next category is not travel, like kind of the opposite of travel. If you're

[07:08] just staying home, if you're working, if you're taking a lot of phone calls and you just want something that can connect very reliably with great microphones, good ANC of course, and seamless switching between your devices, what is the best for work and for calls? Well, my choice here,

[07:25] Unfortunately, I have to give two choices. If you have a MacBook or an iPhone, the AirPods Pro 3 are a huge win in this category with drastically better ANC this year, really top-tier ANC. I mean, like I said, I'll have that comparison to see which one's actually better in which

[07:39] environment, but great ANC and industry-leading microphones. These have incredible call quality. Additionally, they connect very, very quickly to Apple devices. Of course, you can also connect it to an Android phone or a Windows laptop if you wanted to,

[07:53] but you won't have that seamless switching between multiple devices. So I always have my AirPods next to my iMac, so if I get a call, I put them in real quick, it connects immediately, you have great microphones, and you have a very strong, reliable connection,

[08:07] while also getting a ton of impressive features on these earbuds. But let's say you're not in the Apple ecosystem at all. Well, if you don't have any Apple devices, you can't really use the AirPods because you'll never be able to update them or change any settings at all with them.

[08:22] So my choice in this situation would be the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, a strong competitor against the AirPods, very similar design, two different colors, which is kind of nice. But again, great microphones on these, very reliable connection.

[08:35] They have good sound quality. They have good ANC. Across the board, just a really solid, very recommendable pair of earbuds, even though they are a year and a half old now, still a fantastic purchase for this category. Now, moving on to the next one, let's talk about the best sound on a budget.

[08:50] And I know this sounds like a weird category to include. I originally wanted to call these the best mid-range earbuds, but they're just a little bit above my mid-range threshold, which I say is $150. These are $179.

[09:02] So, I don't know. If it's mid-range for you, then buy these earbuds. But I would say that if you're looking for a great sound quality and a great earbuds experience, specifically if you really want good sound quality, but you don't want to spend $300,

[09:14] no doubt about it the best choice here the Nothing Ear 3 I love how these are so versatile So not only do they have incredibly capable drivers which you can tell from the very very deep bass and the very strong treble

[09:27] sometimes even a tad harsh if you don't adjust it correctly. But not only do you have that, but you also have a very advanced EQ that allows you to not only go, you know, on a regular S5 band if you wanted to, but you can go even deeper to a full EQ and choose the frequency and the Q value

[09:42] and adjust it to exactly what you want to hear. In addition, these earbuds have a lot of new features like the talk button on the side, which I hope continues to improve, but I love the idea of that. If you're in a really loud environment,

[09:54] you can hold the microphone right in front of your mouth to talk. So maybe if you're about to get on a train and somebody calls you, that's a really cool feature to have. And this is a personal opinion, but I think these look really, really cool. But again, this category is best sounding on a budget.

[10:07] These are almost the best sounding overall, honestly. These are incredible sounding earbuds at only $179. If you care about sound quality, I cannot stress this enough. These are probably better than all the other ones on this table anywhere near this price point. But since we're

[10:23] talking about more affordable options for earbuds, let's go all the way down. Unfortunately, I don't have a category for best under $50. There are some out there, so I'm not going to include this as a category, but if you're trying to spend under $50, just check out anything from JLab. They usually

[10:39] have some very, very cheap earbuds that are shockingly cheap and shockingly functional, but I haven't tested enough of those to confidently give an answer in that category. So instead, my category for best budget earbuds is under $100. So for this category, what I really recommend

[10:54] doing is instead of buying the newest $99 earbuds, you can look at last year's flagship earbuds, which are often now discounted below $100. And so my choice for this category is the 2024 nothing ear. This is the awkward model that didn't have a number, so it came after the nothing ear 2

[11:11] and before the nothing ear 3, and was just called the nothing ear. I don't know why they did that, but these have incredible sound quality. It's one of the main reasons I like these earbuds, and with an app that is second to none in customization of the controls and the ANC and

[11:25] everything else you want to customize, but especially the EQ, which allows you to customize the sound to exactly what you would like. These have IP54 water resistance on the earbuds. They're very comfortable. They are shaped a lot like AirPods, so I think a lot of people would wear

[11:39] them and have no problem with the fit or the comfort, but the style looks a lot more unique than AirPods or a lot of the other AirPods knockoffs out there, and so now that these are in the $80 to $100 range, I'm seeing sales everywhere within that range, these are easily one of my top

[11:55] recommendations in this price. Now, originally, my review of them, I said that I didn't really like the ANC. That's at $150, which was their original price, but now that they're in the $80 to $100 range, the ANC is perfectly competitive. Now, I know right now, a lot of people, I can already hear,

[12:11] you know, the keyboards clicking, people down in the comments saying, oh, you didn't mention sound piece, your ear fun, or sound court, and don't get me wrong, those are all great earbuds, And if you're trying to buy, you know, a brand new 2025 or 2026 model that is $99 NFRP, those are perfectly good earbuds.

[12:28] They're feature-rich, and they have a lot that you could like about them. There's nothing wrong with buying those earbuds. I think you'll like them. But for me, I value the sound quality a little bit more, and so that's why I'm recommending the Nothing Ear from last year.

[12:40] Now, an honorable mention here, one that I just did not expect at all. This came out of nowhere. These are the Skullcandy Method 360 ANC earbuds. These are also selling for about $89 to $99 now with sales,

[12:53] and these have a lot to like about them. So it's a collab with Bose on the sound, and while there are no, you know, replacement for the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds, the shape is nearly identical. You can see that they're using a lot of the same geometry there,

[13:06] and so you actually are getting surprisingly good sound on these. You're getting very capable bass. It's definitely tuned more Skullcandy-like, so definitely a little more bassy than Bose, but they also have some pretty decent ANC.

[13:18] They have multi-point connectivity. They have a lot that's really likable with these earbuds. They also have low latency modes for gaming. They've got shortcuts like Spotify tap on here. You can take a photo from your phone using the earbuds. Just kind of a nice versatile pair of earbuds.

[13:31] But the one thing I absolutely hate about these earbuds and why they're only an honorable mention here is the case. It's probably the worst case design I've ever seen. Not only is it large and chunky, but you take one earbud out from either side,

[13:43] and it's not always obvious which one is which. I feel like I'm always putting these in the wrong side and twisting them around until they fit in the case. But nonetheless if you can get past the case they a really solid pair of earbuds Now let move up to that mid I know I said I would love to include the Nothing Ear 3 in that category They just a little too expensive And if they not on sale unfortunately they don quite make the cut So my choice here this is really a competitive category

[14:09] You've got the Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro, the Liberty 5, the ear funds. You've got Galaxy Buds 3 FE if they're on sale, OnePlus Buds 4. So many different earbuds really competing here. And this is where you're kind of splitting hairs and deciding,

[14:22] Do you care a little bit more about sound quality, a little bit more about features, a little bit more about ANC? And so you kind of have to move those sliders and figure out what is the right balance for you. So for me, I'm just going to go kind of what I would assume most people would be looking for, which is a really solid balance.

[14:38] But most importantly, decent sound quality, decent microphones, decent ANC, and then as many features as you can add in there. And so, although technically the Soundcore Liberty 5 in some ways are better, better dust resistance, better battery life, my choice here are the Soundcore Liberty 4 Pros.

[14:57] These are $129, and they do a lot right. These have solid ANC. These have great sound quality. And the case, as you can see here, has a really cool feature of having a little touch slider on the front and a display on there.

[15:10] Many people find it not really that useful if you're connecting through just your phone or your laptop. but if you're ever connecting to a device that doesn't have easy controls, maybe that is like a smartwatch or a TV or just any other device that has Bluetooth

[15:22] but isn't able to get the Soundcore app, you are able to control a lot of things on the earbuds just by using the case. So I personally find that a really cool and useful feature that I appreciate having on these. Additionally, they have a very comfortable fit.

[15:36] I think the design looks a little bit better, in my opinion, than the Liberty 5s, and the Liberty 5s, even though they are exactly the same price, feel like they're just boring to me. They're not quite as good as these. So Sound and NMC better on the Liberty 4 Pros,

[15:49] in my opinion, which is why I still have to say they're my recommendation for the mid-range earbuds for 2025. Moving up to my favorite category, the best premium earbuds. I made a whole video comparing

[16:01] six different premium earbuds, and there's kind of a nuanced answer here. I'm going to give three winners in this video, but if you want to see why those winners are what they are, you can check out that entire video after this.

[16:13] It's like a 40-minute video where I go deep into the sound quality, the ANC, the microphones, the fit, everything that you would want to know about those earbuds. In that video, the Sony WF-1000X Mark Vs were the winner.

[16:27] Like I said, check out that video if you want to know why, and they're an easy recommendation, but I'm not going to give you that answer in this video. I'm going to say we have two answers now. One is just a blind answer, right? If I don't know anything about what you like,

[16:40] I don't know what's going to fit in your ears. I don't know what your favorite preferences are. My answer that's the most versatile for most people are actually the Techniques AZ-100. These look a lot like the old Jabra earbuds, which I recommended to so many people,

[16:56] and the fit and the style and the comfort of these are very likely to work with many, many people out there. In addition, they have a great balance of features and performance. They're pretty much never the worst in any category in that entire video.

[17:09] as I mentioned, and these, like I said, not only do they look really nice, but great NHC, really solid sound quality, really solid microphone performance, solid fit, solid comfort, and a really nice compact case that is very pocketable and also very functional. So these

[17:25] are my actual recommendation, just kind of blindly not knowing anything about somebody, these are what I would recommend. And lastly, I know I said there were three answers here, And I hate to do that. But the third one is if you do have the Apple ecosystem, the AirPods Pro 3 were a huge step up this year with better ANC.

[17:44] Still incredible microphones. The sound quality, although not perfect and not really EQable, definitely an improvement and pretty solid on them. And very compact and functional case. Overall, a solid recommendation for Apple users.

[17:57] So premium earbuds, like I said, if you want to know why the Sony's won, watch that video. and for some people, they are going to be the absolute best. For me, they are the best. But if I don't know anything about you, techniques are an easy recommendation.

[18:10] Therefore, a very good gift idea if you're buying earbuds for somebody else and if they're in the Apple ecosystem, the AirPods is the boring but definitely reliable answer. So those are my choices for the 2025 Earbuds Award.

[18:22] I know there are so many great earbuds I didn't mention in this video. Leave a comment down below on what your favorite earbuds are and why, as well as any other categories you would like to see me include in next year's video.

[18:34] Thanks for watching. I'm Michael Bryan, and I'll see you in that full comparison of the best premium earbuds. I'll link that right here, and you can watch that video next.