Best Earbuds for Phone Calls for 2025
Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS: What’s special about the Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS headphones is that they sound surprisingly good for open-back earbuds—their sound is very close to the sound of the Apple AirPods 3. On top of that, they also support Sony’s LDAC audio codec, which works on devices that offer it. Not many cheap open-back earbuds have good sound, but these Soundpeats have good bass response and clarity. They’re also great for making calls and have a low-latency gaming mode.
Sony WF-1000XM4: The Sony WF-1000XM4 was released in 2021 and won the CNET Editors’ Choice Award. They’re still excellent earbuds, but Sony has now released the next generation, the WF-1000XM5. If you find they have a good discount, they might be a good choice.
beyerdynamic freebird: Beyerdynamic may be late to the game, but it’s finally launching its first truly wireless headphones with active noise cancellation, up to 11 hours of battery life (with noise cancellation turned off) and impressive sound quality. Read our Beyerdynamic Free Byrd review.
Master and Power MW08: These earbuds may not fit everyone’s ears equally well, but they certainly have a unique look, as well as great sound and a great listening experience if you can get a tight seal (I was able to get a solid fit with the largest earbuds) . They offer a more audiophile sound profile with smooth, balanced sound and clear bass.
Bang & Olufsen Beoplay EX: Bang & Olufsen’s $395 Beoplay EX headphones are the company’s best truly wireless headphones. They offer a comfortable, secure fit (except for those with very small ears), top-notch build quality, great sound quality, good noise cancellation, and improved voice call performance over the B&O EQ headphones, with three included in each earbud. A microphone reduces background noise while picking up your voice. They’re out of most people’s price range, but they’re arguably the best stemmed earbuds and offer slightly better sound than the AirPods Pro 2, with better clarity, deeper, more powerful bass, and more Richer, more accurate sound.
Sony LinkBuds: In a sense, LinkBuds are Sony’s answer to Apple Standard AirPods. They don’t sound as good as Sony’s flagship WF-1000XM4 or LinkBuds S sound-isolating earbuds, but they offer a discreet, innovative design and a more secure fit than AirPods, as well as decent sound and very good voice call performance. Like the third-generation AirPods, their open design lets you hear the outside world—that’s what the ring is all about. Read our Sony LinkBuds review.
JBL Live Free 2: like Live Pro 2JBL’s new Live Free 2 headphones are surprisingly good. Featuring 11mm drivers, six microphones, oval tubes and oval silicon tips, they combine a comfortable fit with powerful noise cancellation, very good sound quality and voice call performance. Features include multi-point Bluetooth pairing and wireless charging, a rated battery life of up to 7 hours, and IPX5 water resistance (splash resistance).
Our reviewer David Carnoy tested voice call performance on the busy streets of New York.
