These are the Best Wireless Noise-Canceling Headphones

Speaker 1: While true wireless earbuds have dominated the headphones landscape the last few years, there are plenty of people who still like the full size variety, and that's why I put together the surround up of the best wireless noise canceling over ear headphones of 2022. Now, to be clear, these are headphones that were at leased in 2022, and I haven't included any models that came out in years past. I've narrowed it down to my five favorites with an additional affordable pick thrown in because when you get into these top wireless [00:00:30] headphones, well, they tend to be rather expensive and a lot of people just can't afford them. But we're talking about the best to the best. So here we go. Here are my picks from highest to lowest price. Speaker 1: At 7 99, we have the Focal Baths. Focal is a French audio company known for its high-end speakers and wired headphones, some of which cost thousands of dollars. [00:01:00] It's finally done what a lot of high-end audio companies have had to do in this age of On the Go Wireless music listening, make active noise canceling Bluetooth headphones, but they also have a built-in deck that stands for Digital to analog converter for U USB Wireless listening with any computer, smartphone, or tablet with u s bbc, and that makes it easy to go from wireless to wireless listening for slightly better sound. The bathy build quality and design are excellent. They're comfortable to wear and they're easily one of the best sounding [00:01:30] wireless headphones. They offer excellent clarity, detail, accuracy, and powerful, well-defined base that's got the right amount of warp to it. They have a spacious sound sage for close back headphones anyway, and they allow you to hear each instrument distinctly in complicated tracks where several instruments are playing at the same time, the baths use aluminum magnesium speaker drivers while phone calls, higher end wired headphones have beryllium drivers that offer even more clarity and accuracy with the right setup. Speaker 1: Their noise canceling isn't [00:02:00] as strong or as good as what you get with the Sony W H 1000 Mark five, or the Bowes Quiet Comfort 45 headphones, for example. But Focal has done its best to implement noise canceling without sacrificing sound quality, which is always a challenge. They're also good for making calls, so a really great headphone overall, but out of most people's price range, though it is cheaper than the Mark Levinson number 5,000 nine oh nine headphones that go for around a thousand bucks. Speaker 1: Okay, moving on to the Bowers [00:02:30] and Wilkins PX eight at $699 when they're originally announced the swanky PX eight were supposed to cost $549. We're essentially the same price as Apples AirPods Max headphones. However, when they finally hit stores, the PX eight s price jump to 6 99 or a full $300 more. Then the company stepped down PX seven series two headphones, which are also excellent. The biggest difference between the PX eight and the PX seven S two are the PX eight s, all new 40 millimeter carbon cone [00:03:00] drive units that are inspired by the Carbon Dome Drive units used in the company's 700 series loudspeaker Line, Bowers and Wilkins says These units help deliver superior resolution, detail and timing with even more accurate sound than the PX seven S two based on my test. That's true. I like the PX seven S two. The PX eight headphones do sound more special with a touch more openness and overall clarity. Speaker 1: They're right near the top for sound in a Bluetooth headphone and are also comfortable to wear for long listening sessions. For the [00:03:30] best sound, you can listen to lossless files on a computer in wired mode with the U S BBC to U S BBC cable. As for the noise canceling function, it's good, but not quite on par with what you get with the Sony W H 1000 x mark five. And while the voice calling capabilities are solid, these don't reduce background noise quite as well as some headphones like the Sony when you're on calls. However, the transparency mode is topnotch. While I can't say they're worth $300 more than the PX seven S two, they're a great set of cans if you [00:04:00] can afford them. I do prefer the sound and overall performance with a more expensive focal baths. Though the baths don't have such strong noise canceling, but the PX eight are a close second. Speaker 1: At 5 99, we have the master of Dynamic M W 75 headphones. The company's best headphones to date. A last metal construction adds weight, but that's a trade off. Some people don't mind. The MW 75 sound excellent with clean, accurate sound, natural sounding mids, and nice treble detail. The bass [00:04:30] is tight and punchy with just enough warmth. The MW 75 seemed well-suited for all types of music genres, and I had no trouble wearing the headphones for longer listening sessions, though I would've liked the ear pads to be slightly larger, I thought they measured up well against the Apple AirPods max for sound quality. The MW 75 came across as the more accurate natural sounding headphones. The AirPods Max had a little more energy and played a little louder, but the MW 75 sounded a bit smoother and a tad [00:05:00] more articulate. It's also worth noting that while the M W 75 don't have quite the noise canceling capabilities of the Sony W H 1000 Xmark five, they do offer very good noise canceling and are also very good for making calls. Speaker 1: Another great headphone overall. Speaking of the Sony, that's the next headphone on this list. It's $400 though it's been discounted lately to around $350. This is the headphone that's gonna hit the sweet spot for a lot of people. It's relatively lightweight [00:05:30] and comfortable. Sounds really good, and offers top notch noise canceling and noise reduction during voice calls. Some people prefer the dual hinge design of the earlier 1000 Mark four, which offers a little more base energy, but I personally prefer the slightly more refined sound of the Mark five and particularly appreciated the improvements to the call quality. While the Sony doesn't sound quite as good as the models I've already talked about, it does have some nice extra features like Sony speak to chat mode, and it [00:06:00] does cost less and has best in class noise canceling. At number five, I have sent he's momentum for wireless, a $350 headphone that's been selling for closer to $300. Speaker 1: While some people may be a little disappointed that their design has become a bit too straightforward and less distinctive with less premium materials than the previous Momentum three, they essentially check all the boxes for what you want in a premium noise canceling headphone from the standpoint of comfort features and performance. Initially, I wasn't wowed [00:06:30] by them, but after I broke them in for a few days, their sound grew on me. Ands sanitizer has improved not only their noise canceling performance, but also their voice calling performance. And unlike the previous Momentum three, they do fold flat and have incredible battery life at up to 60 hours. Depending on what I was listening to. There were times when I thought they did sound slightly better than the Sonys. They're just a tad more natural and accurate sounding, and they do cost less than the Sony, so that's another reason to consider them. Speaker 1: [00:07:00] Last but not least, I have my value Pick the Sound Core by anchor space Q 45, which is currently selling for around $130. If you can't afford Sony's 1000 x mark five or the similarly named Bowz QC 45. Yes, there's a bit of copying going on here. This space, Q 45 is a good alternative. It's comfortable to wear with nicely batted ear cups and a dual henge folding design. Sound quality is very good and the headphones offer better noise [00:07:30] canceling than the step down Q 35, as well as multi-point Bluetooth pairing. And they do support the ldac audio code deck for streaming high resolution music tracks over Bluetooth. If you have a device that supports ldac, many Android phones do. Although Samsung's Galaxy phones don't. Battery life is also very good at up to 50 hours with noise canceling on. To be clear, this headphone isn't up to level of the other headphones in this roundup, but it's anchor's best sounding noise canceling headphone to date, and [00:08:00] a good value, relatively speaking. So that's it. Those are my top over ear wireless headphones of 2022. If you want more info about any of these products, we've got links to all of them in the description below, along with any full reviews I've done on cnet. If you've got a favorite headphone yourself, feel free to let me and other folks know about it in the comments section. And finally, if you found this video informative at all, hit the like button and subscribe if you haven't already. I'm David Carney for cnet. Thanks for watching.