Noise cancellation has been around long enough that most people will either own or have at least tried a pair of headphones or earbuds promising life-changing silence. But for every pair that delivers, there’s another that sounds more like a snake has made its home in your ears rather than pure, blissful quiet. So, we’ve made it our mission to track down the ones actually worth your money.
Most headphones offer some form of passive noise cancellation, where the shape alone helps to muffle your work neighbour’s loud typing. But active noise cancellation (ANC) is where the real magic happens. Using built-in microphones, ANC listens for irksome external sounds and counters them with matching frequencies, giving you an island of sonic serenity.
Noise cancellation, in theory, should make listening more enjoyable—but it’s not always as simple as blocking everything out. Too much ANC can feel like you’re trapped in a vacuum, while weak noise cancellation is little more than an expensive placebo. The right balance can mean the difference between a cloud of sound or a waterfall of external din.
We’ve put in the listening hours to help you find ANC headphones that actually work – while probably racking up a small fortune in royalties for our favourite artists along the way.
How we tested
When testing noise-cancelling headphones, it’s important to try each pair in a variety of scenarios – some more obvious than others. Yes, we tested them in busy cafés and beside main roads, but we also took care to test ANC, for instance, in a quiet room. This is due to ANC’s tendency to sometimes emit a small hiss when working, something that could begin to grate on your nerves after a while in an empty office.
We tested each pair of headphones with a smorgasbord of different audio sources: from the deep rumbles of Billie Eilish’s Bury a Friend, to the complicated delicacy of Jacob Collier’s Flow Freely, with Yo-Yo Ma, Childish Gambino and Kaho Nakamura thrown into the mix. We made sure to listen to our favourite podcasts to check for vocal clarity, and rang friends and family so much (to test microphone quality) that nobody wanted to FaceTime us for a month.
Why you can trust us
David RS Taylor is a writer and editor who has been writing for The Independent since 2021, mainly covering the latest and best in tech. Whether it’s advice on the best noise cancelling headphones and at-home printers to portable projects and smartwatches, the tried and tested features he writes for IndyBest make it easy to know what tech to invest in.
The best noise-cancelling headphones for 2025 are:
- Best overall – Sony WH-1000XM5 noise-cancelling headphones: £269, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget buy – Jabra elite 7 pro: £99.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for the gym – Beats fit pro noise-cancelling headphones: £199, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for sound quality – Apple AirPods max noise-cancelling headphones: £494, Amazon.co.uk
- Best for Apple users – Apple AirPods pro 2: £229, Amazon.co.uk
