The Best Noise Cancelling Headphones of 2026

The Sony WH-1000XM6 is the top pick on this list. It combines the strongest measured noise cancelling of the five headphones here with balanced sound and Bluetooth multipoint, and it holds the top spot in our scoring even at $458.99, which is not the cheapest option on this list. Buy the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) instead if all day comfort on flights matters more to you than the last decibel of isolation. Buy the Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless if you want the longest battery life at a lower price, and look at the Soundcore Space One Pro if $199.99 is closer to your budget. The Apple AirPods Max 2 is worth its $549 price mainly if you already live inside the Apple ecosystem.

Every pick below is researched from each brand’s published specifications, the CPSC’s recall database, and measurements published by named third-party testers, not from a pair we bought and tried ourselves. See how we score for the full method.

How we picked

We weighed five noise cancelling headphones on five criteria:

• Noise cancelling, measured by independent testers: 30%
• Sound quality: 20%
• Battery life: 15%
• Comfort and calls: 15%
• 3-year cost: 20%

The specification numbers come from Sony’s own help guide, Bose’s product page, Sennheiser’s product page, Apple’s tech specs page, and Soundcore’s product page. The noise cancelling measurements come from RTINGS’ review of the Sony WH-1000XM6 and TechGearLab’s review of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen). Owner sentiment comes from the customer reviews published on Target’s listing for the WH-1000XM6. Every model on this list was checked against the CPSC’s saferproducts.gov recall database before it was added. These picks are researched from published data and named third-party measurements, not tested in our own lab. See how we score for the full source list and weighting.

What to look for

• A measured isolation score, not a marketing line. RTINGS scores noise isolation on a 0 to 10 scale, and a published score of 9.0 or higher is a strong signal. TechGearLab reports an average dB reduction across low, mid, and high frequencies instead, and anything above 30 dB average, the way the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) measured at 32.3 dB, counts as strong.
• At least 20 hours of battery with ANC turned on. That covers a full workday plus a long-haul flight without a mid-trip charge, based on the brand’s own published spec.
• A weight under 290 grams for anything you wear past 3 hours at a stretch. The AirPods Max 2, at 386.2 grams per Apple’s own tech specs page, is the heaviest pick on this list.
• Bluetooth multipoint if you switch between a phone and a laptop during the day. The Sony, Bose, and Soundcore picks here all list it; check the spec sheet before you assume a model has it.
• A quick charge that returns at least 1.5 hours of playback from a 5 minute plug in. Every headphone on this list meets that bar on its own spec sheet.
• A recall check on saferproducts.gov before you buy secondhand or from a reseller. None of the five current models here carried an open recall as of this check, but older headphone lines from the same brands sometimes do.

FAQ

Which noise cancelling headphones block the most outside noise?

Among the headphones on this list, RTINGS measured the Sony WH-1000XM6 at an average isolation of -28.4 dB, a 9.8 out of 10 score in its headphone database at the time of testing. TechGearLab measured the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) close behind it, at an average of 32.3 dB reduction across low, mid, and high frequencies, with the biggest advantage in the treble range above 40 dB. No independent lab figure for the Sennheiser Momentum 4, the AirPods Max 2, or the Soundcore Space One Pro turned up in the sources checked for this article, so those three rely on the brand’s own claims.

Do noise cancelling headphones work well for phone calls?

Call quality depends mostly on microphone count and beamforming, not on ANC strength on its own. The Sony WH-1000XM6 uses 12 microphones in total, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 uses 4 beamforming microphones with wind noise suppression, and the Soundcore Space One Pro uses 4 AI-enhanced microphones. Bose does not publish an exact microphone count for the QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) on its product page.

How much should you plan to spend on good ANC in 2026?

The five headphones on this list range from $199.99 for the Soundcore Space One Pro to $549 for the Apple AirPods Max 2, with the Sony and Bose flagships priced between $449 and $458.99. None of these headphones use replaceable filters or draw meaningful electricity to charge, so the purchase price is close to the full 3-year cost of ownership for every pick here.

Is Bluetooth multipoint worth looking for?

Yes, if you regularly switch between a laptop and a phone. Multipoint keeps a headset paired to two devices at once, so an incoming call can interrupt music without a manual Bluetooth switch. The Sony WH-1000XM6 supports it over Bluetooth 5.3, and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) supports it over Bluetooth 5.4. Soundcore also lists multipoint connection among the Space One Pro’s features.

Are the Apple AirPods Max 2 worth the extra cost over Sony or Bose?

Mostly for iPhone owners. At $549 and 386.2 grams, the heaviest of the five picks per Apple’s own tech specs page, the AirPods Max 2 scores lower than the Sony and Bose picks under this article’s weighting. The trade-off is Apple’s H2 chip, Lossless Audio over the wired USB-C connection, and deeper integration with Siri and Live Translation, none of which carry over to Android devices. See the audio section for other Apple-focused picks.