2024's Best Headphones Roundup
Hey there. So some of you may have watched my roundup of the best true wireless earbuds of 2024. But this video is all about the best over ear, wireless headphones of the year. And frankly, the list is a little shorter than it typically is because there just weren't that many great new wireless headphones released this year. Still there were some good ones. So let's jump right into my picks now to be clear, to be eligible for this best for 2024 list. The headphone has to have been released in 2024. So while headphones like Sony's wh 1000 X mark five and Bose's quiet comfort, ultra headphones are certainly among the best headphones right now. They aren't eligible. I'll start with the most expensive model. The Sonos Ace. It lists for $449 and is a direct competitor to Apple's airpods Max, which unfortunately weren't upgraded this year except for going from lightning to USB C charging. So that's not really a new product. I was a little disappointed that so first headphones didn't offer Wi Fi streaming on my Sonos network at home. But otherwise This is a very comfortable Bluetooth headphone. That sounds excellent as top notch noise canceling as well as very good voice calling performance. Sonos users can link the Ace with various Sonos sound bars and swap your T V's audio from the sound bar to the headphones for late night TV viewing. But like I said, the Ace doesn't appear on your Sonos network as a speaker, which is what a lot of people were hoping for. At number two, I have a bit of a wild card. The NVM one headphones which have a funky open design. It still managed to deliver a surprisingly good sound and that sound barely leaks out. So you don't have to worry about disturbing people around you, which has always been the knock against open back headphones. The one big strike against these headphones is they just cost a little too much at $299 and no, they aren't noise canceling headphones, but they are the first over ear headphones I've worn that don't steam up your ears on hot days and that makes them special in my book. On to my third pick. It's the Sony old wear, the successor to Sony's WHXB 910 N headphones which were in Sony's extra baseline and well, like folks who appreciate base forward headphones, the old wear list for $200 but have been discounted to 100 and $50 and may go lower during the holiday. Buying season with the old wear, you get a lot of what's in Sony's flagship wh 1000 X Mark fives for a lot less money. And I argued the old wear is basically a cross between the XB 910 N and the XM five. The XM five is equipped not only with Sony's V one chip, but the QN one chip. So they do have slightly better noise canceling and voice calling performance. However, when I was using the wa I did notice an upgrade in both noise canceling and voice calling performance from the XB 910 N. It's still a bit pricey, but if you can't afford the step up XM five, the wa is a very good midrange headphone in the four lot. I have another $200 model, the sound cord by Anchor Space One Pro. This is a headphone that didn't totally impress me out of the gate but has grown on me over time. Anchor touts how it folds up into a compact package, which is kind of cool, but it's more important that the headphones are comfortable to wear, sound quite good and have good noise handling and voice calling performance along with strong battery life, not only is the design and upgrade over Anchor standard Space One headphones, but they have upgraded drivers that augment the sound for my last pick. I'm going with a more affordable budget model, the IW 830 NB which cost a little less than $70 on Amazon. I like last year's W 820 NB and this new for 2024 model has been slightly improved all around with a little more premium looking design and a tad better performance. It doesn't come with a carrying case or have an option for connecting a 3.5 millimeter headphone cable that you can plug into an in flight entertainment system. But it does have USB C audio If you want to get wire connection with your USB C enabled iphone Android device or computer, the sound quality and noise canceling don't quite measure up to what you get with more premium headphones, but what you get for the price is impressive. That's it. That's my list of best wireless headphones for this year. I've got more extensive write ups of all these models on cnet.com, including full reviews of the Sonos Ace and Sony Old Ware and check out my video of the NVM one. If you want to hear more about that model, as always, feel free to let me know what you think about my picks and tell me what should have been on this list as I'm sure I missed some good headphones, particularly in the budget category where we did see a lot of new releases. I'm David Connor for C net.com. Thanks for watching.