True wireless earbuds

AirPods are not your only option when it comes to true wireless. Here are three of the best buds to consider, all with noise-canceling

- Duncan Bell, Josh Russell

Everyone wants true wireless headphones right now. We know from looking at sales data, and the fact that brands send us about 20 new pairs of the buggers every week.

It wouldn’t be wildly off the mark to say that, more specifically, everyone wants Apple AirPods – or AirPods Pro. And without doubt, those are both very good options. However, you’d be a fool to head straight to the Apple Store without considering the plethora of high-quality offerings from other brands. For this State of the Art review, we’ve picked out three very different rivals that all match or better Apple’s buds in various ways.

True wireless headphones have only really existed for five years, and they have improved massively since their early days. Where the first generation of buds were often plagued by unreliable connectivity, short battery life and mediocre sound, today’s true wireless are much more comparable to ‘traditional’ Bluetooth buds – the ones with wires between them. They’ve even started to incorporate active noise cancelling.

That’s great news because once you’ve experienced the convenience of having no wires whatsoever, it is ever so hard to go back to more traditional earbuds.

These contenders from Bose, Jabra and Samsung are all very different, and all very good. But which is our true wireless winner? Read on to find out…

WHAT’S ON TEST…

1 Jabra Elite 85t