You know the worst thing about traveling? All the damn racket that inevitably goes along with a long flight or train journey. That’s where the best noise cancelling earbuds come in to save the day.
The finest ANC buds will block out the annoying din that can easily ruin your daily commute, which is why we’ve compiled a list of our favorite noise-kiboshing earbuds to help give your lugs some peace. The picks we’ve chosen below span a variety of budgets from high-end Bose efforts to a stellar set from JLab that cost you less than $30 / £30.
So read on for our favorite noise-cancelling buds that will make travelling a whole lot less stressful on your ears. And if you’re in the market for even more power active noise cancellation and you don’t mind the extra bulk, check out our list of the best noise cancelling headphones.
Best under $30 / £30: JLab Go Pop ANC
If you’re pining for a brilliant budget pair of ANC wireless earbuds, you really can’t do much better than the JLab Go Pop ANC. For just $29.99 / £29.99 / $AU54.99, you get buds that rock solid active noise cancellation that also provide strong bass and treble performance.
Do they look a little on the cheap side? Maybe. but JLab’s aggressively priced buds are far from ugly – although you may feel differently about the ‘Transparent Neon Green’ color. Considering it’s rare to find wireless earbuds that feature genuinely effective ANC at this price, though, we’re not going to grumble about the one awkward color, though.
Though the JLab Go Pop don’t deliver the most convincing mids and their soundstage is quite narrow, overall audio quality impresses thanks to ear-tingling bass and good clarity. These buds’ ANC also gets the job done, comfortably muting loud conversations during noisy commutes.
JLab also deserves credit for the Go Pop’s battery life – they can last a commendable seven hours per bud with ANC activated. Oh, and they’re comfortable to wear, too. Throw in the excellent JLab app that lets you play and pause tracks, adjust the volume and tinker with EQ presets, and these buds deliver in spades, as our full JLab Go Pop ANC review dig into.
Best for under $100 / £100: Nothing Ear (a)
In the market for a set of wireless ANC earbuds that are ideally suited for travel and won’t break the bank? Then you should strongly consider picking up a pair of Nothing Ear (a) buds for the reasonable price of $99 / £99 / AU$169 – though they are regularly on sale for less than their official price.
The noise cancellation of the Nothing Ear (a) is borderline exceptional given their mid-range price. There are four levels you can set their ANC to (High, Mid, Low, and Adaptive) and the first of those profiles is superb at nixing background noises. We tested it with a hair dryer in the background during our Nothing Ear (a) review and could barely hear a peep out of it.
Those of you who own Nothing Phones can also take advantage of the Ear (a’s) nifty ‘pinch to speak’ ChatGPT features, which lets you interact with the AI tool with relative ease. Folks calling you will have no issue hearing you when you’re travelling either, thanks to Nobody’s Clear Voice Technology. The Nothing X app also works well, and switching between presets to up bass or treble levels is hassle-free.
The only real downsides? Battery life is average at best with ANC activated, running out after just 5.5 hours. The lack of wireless charging is also disappointing. Still, these are minor quibbles considering the overall sound quality of the Nothing Ear (a) and their effective noise cancellation.
Best for under $200 / £200: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (2024)
We can’t think of a stronger endorsement of the quality of the noise-cancelling with these buds than the opening line from our Bose QuietComfort Earbuds review. “I could scream about how good the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds’ ANC is, and owners still wouldn’t be able to hear me!”
Bose’s ambient noise-slaying earbuds offer best-in-class value in the mid-range market. Sound quality is has the level of quality and balanced you’d expect from Bose, and their well-thought-out design means they’re super-comfortable to wear, snugly fitting in your ears for long periods.
Back to the QuiteComfort’s ANC, and it’s some of the best we’ve ever seen at this price range – and Bose regularly offers major discounts, bringing them down to just $149 / £129 at the time of writing. Turn on Quiet Mode and you could attend an AC/DC concert and nary hear a peep from Brian Johnson and co. The Aware Mode is also great at letting you hear people talking to you while nullifying distracting ambient noises.
If you don’t mind going over $100 for a pair of noise-cancelling earbuds that are excellent for travel, it’s tough to top the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (although the overly sensitive voice controls are a little annoying). Providing strong sound quality and exceptional ANC, they’re awesome value for blocking out the rest of the world on your travels.
Best for under $300 / £300: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds
If you have sensitive hearing, flying can really suck. So if you want to block out that wailing baby in front of you, we can’t recommend the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds enough. We currently rate them as the best overall noise-cancelling earbuds, and though they’re expensive at $299 / £299 / AU$449, they’re worth every penny. We’ve also seen them regularly drop to as low as £214 / $249 / AU$381, though, so look out for a bargain.
When it comes to the effectiveness of its ANC, the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds remain top of the tree. In terms of modes, ‘Work’ is our favourite preset as it gives you a 10-increment ANC slider that also lets you enable or disable these buds’ Immersive Audio feature, which includes spatial audio from any device.
Qualcomm’s lossless audio codec support is certainly welcome too and can be accessed through the Snapdragon Sound Suite. What does this mean for real-world listening? Engaging audio that is especially nuanced and detailed.
With impressive head-tracking, these noise-cancelling earbuds provide an agnostic spatial audio experience that is a cut above. The multi-point connectivity that lets you switch between devices (which was added after launch, so make sure you update through the app) is appreciated too – we upgraded the score of our Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds review, since this was a major feature we felt was missing.
If you want the very finest audio-cancelling earbuds for those noisy commutes and long haul flights, the Bose QuietComfort Ultras should be your ultimate travel companion. That said, we also love the feature-rich Technics EAH-AZ100, though Bose’s superior ANC gives these buds the edge for travel specifically.
