Best Overall Over Ear Noise Canceling Headphones

In the modern world, everyone has headphones. In fact, every year it seems they get smaller and more unobtrusive as the focus largely becomes on the headphones ability to interact with other digital devices.

Sometimes though, we just need to drown out the world around us in order to relax to the music of our choice. Perhaps you’re looking to ensure that the people talking around you don’t interrupt the motivational podcast that you’re listening to. And for those in the office, noise-cancelling headphones can be critical to ensuring you execute at the highest possible levels. A more traditional over the ear noise-canceling headphone can be a much better choice in these scenarios by providing higher levels of noise-canceling, more direct control on the headset itself & high levels of comfort.

We’ve researched, analyzed and ranked our top eight picks in the category of over ear noise canceling headphones. As an added bonus we’ve singled out the best picks for those who want to use them while working out as well as those looking for the best set for traveling. For each headset we’ve created a much more in-depth review which you can take a look at as well if you need more information.

Sony WH-1000xM5

Noise Canceling: 5/5
Battery Life: 30 Hours
Water-Resistant: No

The Sony WH-1000xM5 is a leading noise-canceling over-ear headphone, offering a new and improved listening experience. It is supported by a generous 30 hours of playback time, high-quality microphone (including wind noise reduction technology), a range of Bluetooth codecs, auto-pause capability and a range of new functions including fast pairing and compatibility with Google’s ‘Find my device’ app.

Buy Sony WH-1000xM5

Bose 700 Wireless

Noise Cancellation: 4/5
Battery Life: 20 Hours
Water-Resistant: Yes

The Bose 700s are a premium, seamless headset; if you’re looking for a simple, easy to use headset for office use or in the gym, the Bose 700s are a good solution.However, if noise cancellation and battery life is your absolute priority, we would recommend opting for the Sony WX-1000xM5 for just $20 more. Honestly, if the noise cancellation was just a bit better and the battery life longer, the Bose 700 would have taken our number one spot.

Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2

Noise Cancellation: 5/5
Battery Life: 30 Hours
Water-Resistant: No

The Bowers & Wilkins' Px7 S2 features significant improvements to ANC and sound than its predecessors. It’s had a design makeover and although there may be a few things we’d change; these headphones compare highly against other brands. The features are superior, but the pricing isn’t over the top – a major bonus.

Apple AirPods Max

Noise Cancellation: 5/5
Battery Life: 20 Hours
Water-Resistant: No

If you’re an iOS supporter looking for an unparalleled, quality audio experience, then you will LOVE the Apple AirPods Max. If you’re an Android or Windows user, you may wish to opt for the Sony WH-1000xM5. If the AirPods Max worked better with other systems, this easily would have been higher up on our list.

Sony WH-1000xM4

Noise Cancellation: 4/5
Battery Life: 30 Hours
Water-Resistant: No

The Sony WH-1000xM4 is an affordable over-ear headphone which provides an effortless, hands-free, and quality audio experience. It is supported by a quality microphone, range of Bluetooth codecs, auto-pause capability, functionality to toggle between noise cancellation and ambient noise modes and adaptive sound control which automatically adjusts with you for a quality listening experience.

Bose QuietComfort 45

Noise Cancellation: 4/5
Battery Life: 24 Hours
Water-Resistant: Yes

The Bose QuietComfort® 45 headset has high quality noise-canceling performance, with good quality sound, and affordable pricing. These headphones are a great follow-up to the company's 2019 flagship model, the Bose QuietComfort® 35 II. They are comfortable for long periods of time and great for anyone to use.

Sennheiser Momentum 4

Noise Cancellation: 3/5
Battery Life: 60 Hours
Water Resistant: No

Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless headphones have a long battery life, a good app, a lot of features, easy-to-use on-ear controls, good noise cancellation, and great sound. While they don’t look particularly special, they’re comfortable for hours on end, which is ideal since the battery lasts for days!

Jabra Elite 85H

Noise Cancellation: 3/5
Battery Life: 36 Hours
Water Resistant: Yes

The Elite 85h headphones are Jabra's latest attempt to shake up the premium over-ear headphones market. They are active noise-canceling headphones with long battery life and several AI smart features that can be changed using the company's Sound+ app. These are everything you could want in a good set of noise-canceling headphones at an affordable price.

Best Headphones for The Gym

For the gym goers and marathon runners, we’ve narrowed down our choice to the number one noise-cancelling headphones for these purposes. Putting into greater consideration the water & sweat resistance as well as combined active noise cancellation. Battery life is less of a concern for this as the sessions are short. A clear winner was determined in this category.

Bose 700 Wireless

With a decent enough battery life at 20 hours and rated to be water & sweat resistant, the Bose 700s are the top of the line for taking to the Gym. We couldn’t even come close to recommending any other headset on our list. The price point is a bit higher but they are durable and ready to go for long runs or gym sessions.

Best headphones for the traveler

Whether it be for long haul business trips or personal travel across Europe, with this category we shifted the focus to playback time as a higher priority in order to allow the use of the headphones for a longer period without charging. We still looked to ensure that the headphones carried great noise-canceling properties as well to drown unwanted noise.

Sony WH-1000xM5

The Sony WH-1000xM5 takes its second number one spot here, with 30 hours of playback time this should cover the majority of travel needs. Additionally, as the absolute leading noise-canceling option, they will be great for using on a plane where loud engines are commonplace. All of this capped off with fantastic audio quality, allowing you to hear everything on the inflight movies or your downloaded Spotify playlist without interruption.

Sennheiser Momentum 4

With a massive 60-hour battery life the Sennheiser Momentum 4 is another great option for travelers. While the noise-canceling isn’t as great as the WH-1000xM5, if having twice as much battery life is worth the tradeoff then these are the headphones for you. With a great app to boot and a lot of features, as well as easy to use ear controls, this is ideal for anyone that wants to have little need to charge for a business or personal trip.

The Wrap

Ultimately, the choice is personal for which headset to get. Depending on how you’re going to use them, how important it is for noise cancellation versus battery life, the choices are endless on the web. Our simple wrap up is a great list that covers a number of competing brands while determining the absolute best options. The last point to look at now simply becomes budget. If you get a chance, head down to your nearest electronics store and give each of the headphones a go to have that personal comfort feel for yourself.