16 best noise-cancelling headphones for frequent travellers and commuters

Sony’s latest flagship WH-1000XM6 noise-cancelling headphones are not only an impressive follow-up to their equally excellent predecessors, they’re also our new top pick in this product category. For outstanding noise-cancelling alone, they now beat the best Bose rival, in our opinion!

These over-ear cans are an ideal balance of sleek design, lightweight build, intuitive controls, reliable battery life, rich sound, and superb noise cancellation. Because they’ve impressed us across the board, we think they’re a terrific pair of go-to headphones for just about everything. There’s no shortage of competition in this price tier, but they’re clearly the top performers.

Compared to the Sony WH-1000XM5, they have a more straightforward design with folding metal hinges (enabling it to fit in a more compact travel case), improved sound quality, and much more powerful nose cancellation that tackled every single annoying distraction we could think of. If you want to exist in a bubble of silence, whether on a train, plane, on the commute or in a coffee shop, these will do the job.

Available in silver, navy or black colourways, the WH-1000XM6 also deliver with a competitive 30-hour battery life, improved call quality, a wider headband that improves comfort, and support for quick charging over USB-C, where just three minutes of charging earns you three hours’ worth of playback.

Read our Sony WH-1000XM6 review

Bose is a leader when it comes to active noise-cancelling technology, and its flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones are some of the best if your priority is eliminating as much background noise as possible – especially if long-term comfort is essential.

The Ultra headphones offer comprehensive ANC with outstanding sound isolation. They cancelled out office chatter, coffee shop crowds, keyboard taps and more. They boast some of the most powerful and most convincing noise-cancelling we’ve heard. They’re also exceptionally comfortable to wear.

We find them more comfortable than the excellent Sony flagship for extended listening, so given that both pairs have excellent ANC, we’d pick these for a little extra cushioning on a long journey. It’s worth saying, though, that there’s really not a lot in it between these two premium rivals!

We also love the reliable built-in controls. They’ve got good old-fashioned buttons and a simple touch surface that you can swipe up and down for volume. They’re built with sturdy but lightweight materials, using aluminium in the arms and yokes that connect to the hard plastic headband. They’re easy to get into position, and the ear cups are lovely and soft.

We’re fans of the excellent sound, too. You can customise this in the app, which we appreciate, and they have a capable “awareness” mode to amplify outside sounds when you need to hear the world around you.

Proper noise-cancelling for £50? It may sound a little unlikely, but it's possible with Soundcore's Life Q20i. These cans cut out more background annoyances than you'd think, with adequate ANC for the price and, unlike the old Q20 model, they now charge via a USB-C cable instead of Micro USB.

On test, we found that they do a decent job with anything that isn't too loud, whether that's a whirring fan or some light office chatter. They'll struggle with higher volumes, though, so might not be ideal for trains and planes.

The sound quality is capable too. They're heavy on the bass before using the "BassUp" mode to amplify it. We recommend avoiding that setting unless you want a bass emphasis over any detail in your music.

Where these deliver is comfort, user-friendliness and battery life – you'll get a massive 40 hours of playtime when the ANC is on, and 60 with it switched off.

Read our Soundcore Life Q20i review

Soundcore has focused on the features that matter for travellers with this release, designing the Space One Pro to be super comfortable, compact and foldable, and excellent at both noise-cancelling and transparency. They deliver a lot of value for the £149.99 price tag and are a worthy rival when compared to more expensive pairs from Bose and Sony.

The large ear cups are quite prominent, but the whole thing folds down into a small size that you won’t have trouble stashing in the included soft pouch to take with you for a day at the office or a holiday. And, during any trip, the fantastic adaptive noise-cancelling and 40 hours of battery life are certain to come in handy.

The Space One Pro is made of reasonably lightweight plastic, and the headband is easy to adjust. On test, we’ve had no trouble wearing them for a long time and they sound great whether we’re listening to podcasts or music. The sound signature is an energetic one with a boosted bass and treble for a lot of dynamism, but it can be tweaked and we think you’ll find they sound even better after you’ve done the “HearID” personalised listening test within the full-featured Soundcore app.

It's a shame that the headphones don’t come with a hard carrying case and that they lack the wear sensor included in the older Space One, but these are very minor downsides. Overall, these are top contenders. The soft plush ear cups and headband are super comfortable, the headphones are incredibly portable, and the noise-cancelling is good enough to match more expensive rivals.

Read our Soundcore Space One Pro review

The Bose QuietComfort Headphones have superb active noise-cancellation, top sound quality and comfortable earcups wrapped up in an iconic design. On test, the soft plush ear-cup covers were comfortable to wear for hours and the fit is secure without feeling tight. There are two listening modes – Quiet (ANC) and Aware (transparency) – and we found ANC drowns out the clacking of a mechanical keyboard, the hum of a fan and some passing traffic.

Turning the Eagles’ ‘Hotel California’ up, you’ll hear the vocals and guitar notes clearly, and there’s no unwanted distortion or muddiness at high volumes. You tailor the sound via the Bose Music mobile app (for Android and iOS), which is easy to navigate and lets you tinker with loads of settings, including the amount of bass and treble in the sound mix.

We like the physical buttons and prefer them over the touch controls on the (admittedly sleeker looking) Sennheiser Momentum 4, and we enjoyed that the QuietComfort pair is significantly more portable thanks to their foldable ear-cups and super small travel case. Taking a busy flight or need a reliable pair of ANC over-ears for your daily commutes? These tick all the boxes.

If you're trying to decide between these and the flagship Ultras, we have a dedicated comparison of the Bose QuietComfort vs QuietComfort Ultra headphones.

As the company that first pioneered the tech back in the ‘60s to protect pilots' hearing, Bose is well regarded as the class leader when it comes to ANC. We’re happy to confirm that the brand’s noise-cancelling prowess extends to its newest offering too. The second-generation QuietComfort Earbuds are a slightly more affordable option compared to the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds, and they’re even better value when they drop from their £179 launch price.

They’re better at noise-cancelling than rivals in this price tier and just a little behind the performance of the Ultra. We’ve used them on the London Underground, in the office, in busy cafes and while walking in windy conditions, and we’ve been impressed at just how good they are at silencing distracting background noise.

They’re almost as good as Bose’s flagship pair, but there are a few downsides to note. The case is far from pocketable and the buds themselves are very large compared to the competition. We do like that they have a great in-ear seal and stability wings, but each bud weighs 8.5g, which you'll feel if you want to wear them for a long time.

On the plus side, the sound quality is great, with punchy bass and detailed high notes, while the app is full of features (many of which, like Bose’s voice control and remote camera shutter, you may not even use). It's a shame that it doesn’t use the same app as the other Bose audio equipment, but it isn’t a major downside.

Soundcore’s latest earbuds are the best travel earbuds for most people. They’re more impressive than the powerful noise-cancelling performance of not only the old Liberty 4 and 4 NC, but also the newer Liberty 4 Pro and rivals in this price tier.

We found them superb at silencing outside sounds, not only the loud din of the London Underground, but also more unpredictable ones like traffic, a busy coffee shop and conversations at the office. They’ve also got an excellent transparency mode, great for awareness of your surroundings.

They pack in loads of features, including a comfy fit with a selection of five different sizes of ear tips, IP55 dust and water resistance, Dolby Atmos spatial audio, and an impressive eight-hour battery life with noise cancelling on (they go for up to 12 hours with it off).

We’ve been highly impressed by the reliability of the squeeze controls on the stems of the buds, and the sound quality is well-rounded too. The best part is that it can be personalised in the app – you take a “HearID” hearing test, and then the sound adapts to the frequencies you may have found harder to hear. We tried this and it’s a big improvement to the default sound.

Aside from a larger-than-typical charging case and plasticky feel, there aren’t serious drawbacks at this price. You’ll get better sound by spending a bit more, but these are more than good enough for most, and customisable, too.

These earphones are right at the pinnacle of high-end earbud tech, packing in many more features than their rivals at this price. The active noise-cancelling is exceptional, continuously fine-tuning the sound environment by monitoring and adjusting to external noise over 50,000 times per second.

Whether you're on a roaring train or in a noisy coffee shop, distractions are effectively silenced. Because of this, the buds are an excellent pick for commuters and frequent travellers – they also come with foam tips that further improve the already superb noise cancellation.

The smart charging case with a screen is something unique to JBL. We found this touchscreen genuinely useful; it's an intuitive “mini smartwatch” that controls the buds. It’s particularly great for monitoring battery life, controlling playback, and adjusting settings without having to reach for your phone.

The upgraded sound quality is another highlight, thanks to a dual-driver setup that delivers rich, detailed audio. Whether you enjoy energetic pop or delicate classical pieces, the Tour Pro 3 provides a well-balanced sound that competes with the best in the market. The earbuds also support the latest in wireless tech for seamless audio retransmission, “low-energy” Bluetooth audio, “Auracast” sharing and more future-proof additions.

While they're a serious investment, the JBL Tour Pro 3 are the buds to pick if you want an extensive list of features and impressive noise control. From the innovative charging case to the superb sound quality and market-leading noise-cancelling, they’re a top choice for anyone needing high-end, high-performance earphones.

Read our JBL Tour Pro 3 review

We loved the previous generation of these Bose earbuds, but the new ones are more impressive in every way. We think they're the top earphones you can buy for noise-cancelling and they impressed in a challenging test on the London Underground’s busy Central Line (which regularly gets as loud as 90db) by cutting out the background distractions just as capably as over-ear models.

They come in a pocketable case and offer a secure fit, with a good range of ear tips and wings. They deliver a fantastic dynamic sound quality too, so you can rest assured that you’ll get a rich listening experience whether you’re playing your podcast queue or streaming music.

The real reason to buy these instead of any other ANC earbud though is for that class-leading noise-cancellation. Yes, they’re quite expensive, but if you’re after the best ANC you can get in a compact package, we’d pick these every time.

Read our Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds review

If you’re after highly impressive noise-cancelling over-ears and want a pair with advanced features, we’d consider the JBL Tour One M3. These cans have smart adaptive ANC, personalised sound through the “Personi-fi 3.0” hearing test, immersive spatial audio, customisable call quality, between 40 and 70 hours of battery life, and the unique addition of a “Smart Tx” transmitter – a tiny screen to control the headphones.

On test, we’ve been happy with how powerful the noise cancelling is, silencing all but the loudest and most sudden sounds nearby. In regular use, you’ll find that they keep you in a distraction-free bubble, dampening the rumble of a train just as capably as they tackle the less predictable sounds of busy office chatter and street noise. They’re excellent and deserve to be discussed alongside the Bose and Sony flagships.

They’re also lightweight and super comfortable for long listening sessions, although the design isn’t the most exciting we’ve seen. The hard travel case is great, though, storing all the cables and the Smart Tx transmitter. These headphones sound their best if you put in the time to personalise them through the app, so we recommend taking the hearing test so the audio adapts to your needs.

We’re not convinced everyone will need the Smart Tx accessory (it’s also available without it), but it will be most useful for those sharing audio or wanting to listen wirelessly from analogue sources, including turntables, CD players or in-flight entertainment systems.

Read our JBL Tour One M3 review

Easily one of the most expensive sets on our list, Apple's premium AirPods Max are something special. With a price tag that makes them more expensive than several top-spec TVs, they have to be.

If you're prepared to spend £500, we can guarantee you'll be getting some of the most impressive headphones on the market. The sound is superb, the noise-cancelling is brilliant, and they come in five gorgeous shades (we love the blue).

They deliver some advanced features you won't find elsewhere too, including cinema-like spatial audio for your movies and shows and audio sharing with other Apple and Beats headphones. They also have a transparency mode that beats all rivals. When it's on, you can amplify sounds and have a conversation without it feeling like you've got headphones on at all.

We love the supreme comfort of the fabric cushions, the hands-free Siri access, and quick setup on Apple devices. The only quirks are with the heavy weight and the battery life. There's no on/off button – they need to slip back into a low-power mode in the included "Smart Case", and we find they run out of battery sooner than rivals.

Read our Apple AirPods Max review

If you’ve already got an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch and are shopping for a pair of wireless earbuds, the AirPods Pro 2 are the natural fit – we love the iconic white stem design, quick pairing with your phone and top noise-cancelling.

The latest update improves them with advanced noise-cancelling, better transparency, a much richer sound and volume controls on the stem of the buds, along with a number of clever additions to the charging case, including full “Find My” support (so you’ll never lose them!) and a built-in speaker to help you locate the case or for it to tell you when it’s running low on juice.

On test, they were highly effective at blocking out loads of external noise – we were unable to hear road works and background noise on a flight – and we’re fans of the incredible transparency mode that amplifies outside noises over your music or phone call if you need to be more aware of your surroundings, such as when crossing the road or out for a morning jog.

This transparency is even better on the second-generation buds, and they’re the only ones we’d be prepared to leave in while ordering a coffee or having a conversation. We find them comfortable to wear, and we like that they sound excellent and provide an impressive six hours' worth of listening time from one full charge, boosted to 30 hours when you factor in the extra juice in the charging case.

Read our Apple AirPods Pro 2 review

The Sony XM5s are our go-to pair of over-ear headphones for popping in our bag for travelling. That’s how good they are at blocking out noises – especially effective when worn during our commute on a London overground train, and they virtually silence traffic sounds and typing on a laptop keyboard. The audio is bass-heavy and the ANC is aggressive, but it doesn’t overpower the mix. They deliver an expansive sound with all genres of music – from the beats of Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ to the jangly guitar of Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’. The vocals are clear, too, so these headphones are ideal if you love podcasts and audiobooks.

Comfort-wise, they’re not quite as good as the Bose QuietComfort but the padding around the cups is nicely cushioned and covers our entire ears – we’ve worn them for multiple hours at a time without issue. The XM5 design is sleek but unremarkable – they won’t draw as much attention as the AirPods Max but it’s an upgrade from the chunky XM4s.

Some of the best features of the XM4s are still here – they’ll switch into an ambient mode when they sense you’re talking so you can hold a conversation without having to remove them. The ANC level automatically changes based on your surroundings, and pressing the right ear cup turns on the ambient mode, too – when you remove your hand, it returns to ANC. It’s just a bit of a shame that the ear cups don’t fold for extra portability when travelling and that the app experience (while still perfectly usable) isn’t quite as intuitive as we’d like.

Read our Sony WH-1000XM5 review

While we recommend going for the Soundcore Q20i if you’re on a tighter budget, it’s worth looking at the Q30 for a bit of a step up. They’re still excellent value for money, usually £79.99 and often on offer, and while they won’t turn heads with their style, they deliver terrific noise-cancelling performance for the price and app support that allows you to tweak the sound and customise settings.

By default, they sound fairly bass-heavy, but you shouldn’t have much trouble changing that in the app if you’d prefer a less booming signature. We find these spacious and comfortable, we like that they pack in a massive 40 hours of battery life, and that a quick charge for five minutes restores four hours of battery life.

Overall, these are lightweight, easy to control and customise, and have a long battery life and entertaining sound quality. We’d recommend them to anyone looking for a pair to see them through flights, commutes and office work, especially as they fold down into a neat hard shell case for travel.

Dyson has thankfully abandoned the air-purifying face visor of its previous release for its audio-focused OnTrac headphones. While they’re some of the heaviest headphones we’ve ever tested and they have a distinctive eye-catching look that won’t be for everyone, we can’t argue with the seriously impressive noise-cancelling performance that rivals the capabilities of class-leading Bose pairs.

These also deliver layered, detailed and balanced sound quality much more ably than many other headphones at this price tier. While we’re not entirely convinced by the touch controls for changing noise-cancelling modes as they require very firm taps, we like the intuitive joystick controls.

The app is also straightforward and provides useful data about your exposure to harmful noise by giving you details on the noise monitored externally and the volume levels of your audio within the headphones. Together, these give you handy insights to keep your ears protected.

We’re most impressed by the 55-hour battery life with noise-cancelling on, which exceeds all our favourites here, but we also find these quite large and cumbersome for travel.

Read our Dyson OnTrac headphones review

The wing-tip design of the Beats Fit Pro means they’re some of the best exercise headphones, as they’ll stay secure in your ears during movement.

The ANC effectively blocks out background noises when you’re working or travelling, but there’s also a quality transparency mode for when you’re exercising or walking outdoors and need to hear the sounds around you. These are more expensive than many models on our list, but they support immersive audio features including dynamic head tracking and spatial audio.

While you’ll have no problem using them with an Android smartphone or tablet, there’s no doubt that (like the AirPods) these work best with iPhones. That’s because they use Apple’s own H1 chip that opens up iOS-only features, including automatic switching, audio sharing and the Siri voice assistant.

The charging case is bigger than rivals and there’s not quite as much battery life in the tank, but we appreciate the quick charge feature that gives you an hour of playback when you charge for five minutes.