Best Buy Cell Phone Headset
The traditional Bluetooth headset, once the only game in town, is now one option among many. The single-ear headsets of 10 years ago have largely evolved into stereo Bluetooth headphones, almost all of which include microphones for calls. That means many people might want to head over to our list of the best wireless headphones and the best true wireless earbuds. Most have microphones and call control buttons, and we detail call quality in each review. If you're looking for Apple's AirPods Pro, for instance, or anything like them, those are in the true wireless earbuds roundup, not here.
best buy cell phone headset
This roundup is for people who prioritize voice calls above all else, so it's a collection of single-ear voice headsets and headphones that have big boom microphones. A Bluetooth headset with a good microphone is lighter than most music headphones and has better audio quality than most earbuds. If your work requires you to make calls all day, those factors matter.
Stereo headsets aren't just for listening to music. They also make calls, often quite well. So if you're thinking about a pair of wireless headphones to rock out to, you may not need a separate mono Bluetooth headset.
That said, stereo headsets are usually bigger and heavier than mono headsets, and while an over-the-ear pair of headphones may be great at listening to calls, the outbound noise cancellation abilities of their microphones may not be up to heavy street noise. The stereo headsets in this roundup are optimized for calls and often have boom mics that focus on your voice and exclude everything else. We compare the two options more decisively in our roundup of the best headsets and headphones for your home office.
You definitely pay a premium for advanced noise cancellation, but depending on what you need your headset for, it might be worth it. We test noise-cancelling performance in every one of our reviews. For more on noise cancellation, head over to our roundups of the best noise-cancelling headphones and the best noise-cancelling true wireless earbuds, as well as our article on how we test noise cancellation.
The sweet spot for a mono Bluetooth headset is around $100 and you can often find discounts that bring the price down a bit if you shop around. A good stereo headset generally runs between $150 and $300. The headsets in this roundup are on the high end of that price range because we focused on the absolute best-performing devices for people who rely on their headsets all day.
You can still find a decent headset for under $50 and sometimes even a really good one because headsets tend to stay available in retail channels for a long time after the manufacturer discontinues them. Cheaper Jabra, Motorola, and Plantronics headsets work fine; they just aren't up to the performance standards of the more expensive category leaders. Typically, they are a bit clunkier and don't offer as effective noise cancellation, but, then again, you aren't paying a premium for it.
Whether you're listening to the latest episode of the Gadget Lab podcast or hitting the trail with Taylor Swift's album on repeat, the right pair of wireless headphones can make or break your day. The only problem is that there are so many to choose from. WIRED's Gear team is constantly testing new models, and these are the very best we've found.
They're some of the most expensive wireless headphones on the market, but Apple's AirPods Max (8/10, WIRED Recommends) will get you the best sound. They have rich bass, a massive soundstage, and excellent noise cancellation. My favorite part? The large Apple Watch-like knob on the top of the right ear cup, which you use to easily adjust the volume. Apple users will love how well they integrate with iOS devices, and especially how well they handle video. When watching via certain apps (HBO Max, for example), they can track your head to simulate full object-based surround sound.
The Focal Bathys, with their bespoke French drivers and comfortable leather earpads, are the best premium wireless headphones I've heard yet. They look fantastic, with light-up logos on the outside of each earcup, but they sound even better. DNA from its higher-end headphones trickles down heavily here. These noise-canceling headphones possess some of the clearest, most fun sound quality I've heard so far.
When you don't want to listen wirelessly, these have a high-quality, built-in, digital-to-analog converter (DAC), a chip that will make your laptop or cell phone sound much better if you plug it in via the USB-C port. Thirty hours of battery life means they'll last for even the longest trips, plus rapid charging means you can plug them in for 15 minutes and get five quick hours. They're perfect for the stylishly forgetful traveler, if you can stomach the price tag.
A combination of soft memory-foam-filled leather, flawlessly applied fabric, and high-quality plastics makes these light noise-canceling headphones (9/10, WIRED Recommends) the most comfortable I have tried. The sound, too, is remarkable. This established English audio brand showcased the full weight of its many decades of engineering high-end loudspeakers and headphones. The only downside is that this pair doesn't cancel noise quite as well as the best from Sony or Bose, so you may want one of those if you're primarily concerned with silence.
With its immaculate look and premium quality audio, The Corsair Virtuoso RGB Wireless SE is an easy choice for the best wireless headset. The finish utilizes gunmetal-tinged aluminum, matte rubberized plastic, and leatherette padding on the headband and earcups. The earcups even feature a touch of RGB within the Corsair logo, which you can also easily turn off.
The headset sports a fully-retractable bidirectional noise-canceling mic, active noise canceling (optional transparency mode), and simultaneous 2.4GHz wireless and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity with audio mixing capabilities. Despite being designed for gaming, the SteelSeries headset sounds excellent with all types of audio, including music.
The Razer Kraken V3 Pro is the best headset within the Kraken range, including all the incremental updates from its predecessors while cutting the cord at the same time. In addition to the inclusion of THX spatial audio, the headset further immerses audiences with its haptic feedback technology. The wireless headset can also be used on Xbox consoles and the Nintendo Switch via its 3.5mm headphone jack in addition to PC and PlayStation via its 2.4Ghz adapter.
But if longevity is your highest priority when looking for a wireless headset, the HyperX Alpha Cloud Wireless is peerless. Moreover, the sound quality is excellent and enhanced with software features like NGenuity EQ and DTSX spatial audio. The detachable bi-directional microphone is surprisingly good as well.
Whether you're shopping for one of the best wireless headsets that we listed above or a similar model, you may find savings by checking out our lists of best Razer promo codes, best Corsair coupon codes and best Newegg promo codes.
Some of the best extended Labor Day deals at Best Buy include TVs, smart home essentials, kitchen appliances, headphones, laptops and so much more. Be sure to bookmark this page, and check back frequently throughout the week, to shop the best final Labor Day deals available across all categories at Best Buy.
Generally speaking, wired headphones do deliver better sound quality than wireless headphones. But there have been so many advances in audio tech in recent years, that with many of the best wireless headphones you're unlikely to notice a difference.
One of the most important considerations is design. Do you want a pair of in-ear headphones for running that are discrete and will stay snug all-day? Do you want a pair of true wireless headphones to give you ultimate flexibility? Or how about a big pair of over-ear headphones, the ultimate in noise cancellation and comfort?
Yes, there are newer models available, but we still rate the Sony WH-1000XM4 as the best headphones for most people when balancing performance and price. The audio quality is rich and exuberant, the noise cancellation is strong, they work wired or wireless, and they offer great battery life.
For sheer sound quality you can't beat a good pair of wired headphones. But if you want the convenience of cable-free listening there are some excellent unwired options too. In fact, there are so many that we've put together two separate guides: one for the best wireless headphones and one for the best true wireless earbuds.
We've also put together a guide to the best noise-cancelling headphones. They're particularly good for travelling or for drowning out the ambient noise of open-plan offices. If you're on a tight budget, though, some of the best over-ear headphones' ear cups do a pretty good job of cutting out ambient noise without any technological trickery.
We've spent many happy hours testing the best earbuds and headphones over the years and over our ears, and we know exactly what makes a great pair of cans or buds: sound quality, of course, but also comfort and convenience. And you don't necessarily need to spend huge sums of money to get all three of those things, as this guide demonstrates.
These cans boast an incredible 60-hour battery life, a likeable app, an extensive feature set, easy on-ear controls, talented adaptive noise cancellation and a zealous sound that'll have you nodding your head happily wherever you go. Yes, they're a tad plain aesthetically, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and these headphones sound outrageously good for the level.
In our Sony WH-1000XM5 review we said that the XM5s are "the best headphones in the world thanks to their class-leading noise-cancelling features and well-balanced audio". However, "a steeper price point and similar functionality to earlier models make the Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones an ever-so-slightly tougher sell than before."
The new design is more elegant and contains slightly smaller drivers than before, and while there's less wind distortion the trade-off is that they don't fold neatly like the previous model did. The noise cancelling is best-in-class, doing an excellent job of muting the higher pitched sounds that ANC headphones tend to find challenging, and sound quality is exemplary. Your co-workers or fellow commuters won't take a dislike to you either: these headphones don't leak as badly as some over-ears do. 041b061a72