Best Beats Headphones and Earbuds for 2024

Beats Studio Buds: The Studio Buds were once a good value, but the Studio Buds Plus offer significant improvements, so we tend to recommend that newer model. The cheaper Solo Buds also offer superior sound to the standard Studio Buds. These are worth considering only if you see them substantially discounted.

Beats Powerbeats Pro: A lot of people like the Powerbeats Pro and you still see many people wearing them. They remain good ear hook-style buds, but they're rather pricey for earbuds that have been on the market for several years.

Beats Solo Pro: The Solo Pro were a more premium version of standard Beats Solo headphones and featured active noise canceling. But they were too expensive ($300 list) and were discontinued in late 2021.

Budget

Before anything else, you'll want to figure out how much you're willing to spend on new ANC headphones. The quality of value-priced noise canceling headphones continues to improve, so you can find good affordable headphones for less than $100. But the premium models, which offer better build quality and performance, tend to cost $200 or more -- sometimes much more. 

Fit (comfort)

It's key that the headphones you buy fit your head well. They should offer a comfortable fit that's snug yet not too snug. Ideally, you want headphones you can wear over the course of a day with minimal breaks.

Durability

You want headphones that hold up well over time, so look for models that we note have sturdy build quality.

Maximize performance and features for your budget

You want the best-sounding headphones with the best noise-canceling, call quality, and features for whatever you're able to spend.

Return policy

It's critical to buy your headphones at a retailer that has a good return policy, in case you have buyer's remorse. Some people who are having trouble deciding between two models sometimes buy both, try them out for a few days, and then return one.

We test noise-canceling headphones and earbuds based on six key criteria. These criteria include design, sound quality, noise-canceling performance, voice-calling performance, features and value. 

• Design: Evaluating design, we assess not only how comfortable the headphones and earbuds fit (their ergonomics) but their build quality and how well the controls are implemented. When it comes to earbuds, we also look at water- and dust-resistance ratings. 
• Sound quality: We evaluate sound quality by listening to a set playlist of music tracks and comparing the earbuds to top competing products in their price range. Sonic traits such as bass definition, clarity, dynamic range and how natural the headphones sound are key factors in our assessment.
• Noise-canceling performance: We evaluate noise-canceling performance by wearing the headphones in the same spot indoors near a noisy HVAC unit to see how well they do at muffling lower frequencies. Then we head out to the streets of New York to test the headphones in a real-world environment where we see how they do at muffling not only street noise but people's voices. 
• Extra features: Some great-sounding noise-canceling headphones and earbuds aren't loaded with features, but we do take into account what extra features are on board. These include everything from quick-access awareness to transparency modes (your music pauses and the headphones open up to the outside world so you can have a conversation) to special sound modes to ear-detection sensors that automatically pause your music when you take the headphones off your ears. We also take a look at the companion app for the headphones if there is one and how user friendly it is. 
• Voice-calling: When we test voice-calling performance, we make calls in the noisy streets of New York and evaluate how well the headphones or earbuds reduce background noise and how clearly callers can hear our voice.
• Value: We determine value after evaluating the strength of the headphones and earbuds against all these criteria and what they're able to deliver compared to other models in their price class.