There's lots to weigh up when it comes to choosing the best pair of earbuds, whether you're shopping for yourself or looking to surprise someone else with a gift. How much do you want to spend? How important is the audio quality? What kind of features are you looking for – and what are the types of devices you'll be wanting to connect to?
Having reviewed earbuds and headphones of various types for a couple of decades now, these are my top three picks for the best wireless earbuds to consider this Christmas time. Hopefully it should take some of the hassle and the stress out of your shopping – each of these picks is guaranteed to offer reliability, quality, and value for money at a variety of price points.
I've also focused on some of the most well-known earbud brands in the business, so you know the pair you're buying will be backed by a level of trustworthiness and customer support. That's not something you might think about immediately, but it can definitely make a significant difference further down the line.
T3's top picks
If you want the best audio quality and the best build quality, and you're prepared to pay to get them, then I recommend the Technics EAH-AZ100 wireless earbuds. They come with an above-average price tag, but your ears will thank you for spending the extra money here thanks to superb sound quality.
While the AirPods Pro 3 are a great pick too, the more affordable AirPods 4 (with active noise-cancellation, or ANC for short) are just ahead in terms of value for money. The audio sounds fantastic, they're packed with features, are really easy to use, yet remain competitively priced.
The Sony WF-C710N earbuds are perfect for those people who want to spend as little money as possible, without settling for an audio experience that's weak or compromised. There's even active noise-cancelling (ANC) here, which is a solid feature that's rare at the budget end of the market.
Pricing
Technics
When you see a product labelled as a luxury item, you know that you're going to have to spend a little more – but the Technics EAH-AZ100 aren't outrageously expensive at their full retail price. Factor in the number of hours you're going to spend piping top-tier sounds through these earbuds, and your investment starts to seem a lot more reasonable.
Apple
Most Apple products tend to be pricier than rival models from other manufacturers, but the AirPods buck this trend. The AirPods 4 are cheaper than a lot of the alternatives, but you still get the Apple quality in terms of the audio and the way these buds seamlessly connect to your Apple products. It's very much money well spent, even without any sales discounts.
Sony
The cheapest of my three picks here, but despite the drop in price there's really not much of a trade-off in terms of the features you get or the audio experience reaching your ears. The Sony WF-C710N earbuds can often be found with discounts applied as well – check the widgets embedded on this page for the best prices currently available across the web.
Which wins?
I've picked the Apple AirPods 4 as the best wireless earbuds you can buy at the moment, because of the combination of excellent sound quality, solid construction, and useful functionality – like the recently added ability to use them as camera remotes. If you're pairing your earbuds with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, there's really no better choice out there.
AirPods work fine with non-Apple devices too, via standard Bluetooth connectivity, so they're still an appealing pick if you want to connect them wirelessly to Android or Windows devices. If you tend to hop between a lot of different platforms and a lot of different audio sources, then the AirPods 4 are going to serve you very well indeed.
The Technics EAH-AZ100 are winners for a slightly different reason: the excellence of their audio, even if there's a higher price tag attached. In our review, we described these earbuds as "an easy 5-star recommendation", which is a rare phrase. The design and battery life also add to an all-round superb package.
Finally, the Sony WF-C710N earbuds really are the ones to go for if you want to ensure the maximum amount of bang for your buck. Stick these in your ears and you'll be amazed that they come at such an affordable price. In our review we said they offered "fantastic battery life" and a level of sound quality that's "hard to argue with" – especially given their cost.
Other options?
You might be wondering why the Apple AirPods Pro 3 didn't get the nod ahead of the AirPods 4. They're definitely an option, as they're newer and packed with features, plus better battery life. However, they'll also cost you more money, and I think the AirPods 4 are the better buy right now when you take everything into consideration.
Another alternative to our top three picks: the Nothing Ear (3). If you're looking for an AirPods-style experience but for Android devices, then this gets you pretty close. The design of the wireless earbuds and the accompanying charging case are both really well done, and you get a superior level of audio quality for a reasonable amount of money.
