Apple, Bose, and Sony are all at the top of their noise-cancelling true wireless games. We compare their most recent flagship models to see which pair reigns supreme.

I've been a contributing editor for PCMag since 2011. Before that, I was PCMag's lead audio analyst from 2006 to 2011. Even though I'm a freelancer now, PCMag has been my home for well over a decade, and audio gear reviews are still my primary focus. Prior to my career in reviewing tech, I worked as an audio engineer—my love of recording audio eventually led me to writing about audio gear.

If you're shooping for a pair of true wireless noise-cancelling earphones, you're likely considering the $250 Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation), the $300 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II, and the $280 Sony WF-1000XM4. We put each pair of earphones through the same extensive range of active noise cancellation (ANC) tests to determine which works the best. We also evaluate every other factor you should consider before buying, including audio performance, battery life, and mic quality.

Dive into our detailed analysis below, and feel free to add your thoughts about any of these models in the comments section.

The Apple and Bose earphones both offer better noise cancellation than Sony, but we give slight preference to the QC Earbuds II because of their more consistent approach.

The AirPods dial up a more effective ANC profile in certain situations, but they tend to more noticeably adjust to new noises (such as when a train passes or a loud AC unit turns on). Even slight adjustments to how the AirPods sit in your ears can result in a brand new ANC profile (though admittedly, often for the better). The QC Earbuds II, on the other hand, emit a chime when you insert them into your ear, create an ideal ANC profile, and then make only subtle changes in the presence of new sounds. That said, the AirPods introduce almost no audible hiss to the signal in a quiet room with ANC active, something the Bose model can't claim.

Winner: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

Bose’s latest earphones are so good at dialing back deep low-frequency rumble (like you hear on a plane) that you might not even detect it at all. On some of tests, we could feel the rumble blasting, but the actual sound was nearly inaudible. Apple’s new AirPods are also fantastic in this regard, in a few cases even coming out ahead of Bose. But, more often, the reverse was true. Sony is no slouch in this department, but ultimately Bose takes the cake.

Winner: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

Our midrange tests involve a mix of low-mids, mids, and high-mids. Some noises are closer to static in consistency, but we also use recordings of loud, real-world environments with human voices and construction noises straight from the streets of Brooklyn. We give the Bose QC Earbuds II the edge here, though the AirPods Pro lock in a quieter ANC profile in select scenarios.

Generally, the most revealing of our midrange tests involves a recording of a busy restaurant with clanging dishes and loud conversation. The Bose earphones reduce the mids here more consistently, but the AirPods Pro aren't very far behind. The AirPods let in a thin band of audible hiss initially, though adjusting their in-ear fit fixed this issue and lowered the volume of the mids a bit more. The QC Earbuds II didn't require such an adjustment. Meanwhile, Sony’s earphones simply didn’t fare well here by comparison.

Winner: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

Most noise-cancelling earbuds struggle to eliminate frequencies above the typical high-mid range (above 6Hz or so). Blasting hiss above this threshold is a somewhat useful test, even though you are unlikely to hear sounds this high by themselves all that often—other types of complex lower and midrange frequencies usually accompany them.

To their fault, the Bose earphones add a bit of hiss to try to eliminate that pesky thin band that floats above everything else. Thus, Sony is the surprise winner here, but not becuase of ANC prowess. Instead, foam eartips provide enough passive noise isolation that they block a wide swath of very high frequencies that the silicone eartips for the other two models don’t.

The Apple and Bose earphones both use adaptive ANC methods to cancel noise effectively based on your surroundings. With the QC Earbuds II, you hear a chime test as soon as you insert an earpiece, and then the ANC profile is active. The AirPods Pro take a bit longer to establish an appropriate ANC profile. The first adjustment happens within a few seconds, then the more subtle adjustment seems to fade in around six seconds or so after that.

If the noise around you changes drastically, the AirPods audibly recalculate and devise a completely new ANC profile. The QC Earbuds, for comparison, make only subtle changes after the initial tests and therefore don’t always successfully block out new sounds in the environment. You can perhaps lock in a better ANC profile with the Bose pair by docking the earpieces and then putting them back in your ears, but there’s no guarantee that this will result in a drastically different profile. In our experience, the Bose earphones seem to focus more on your ear canal shape, whereas the AirPods Pro concern themselves more with outside noise in the process of creating an ANC profile.

Both the Apple and Sony models adjust the ANC if you change how the earbuds sit in your ears, though the AirPods do so more blatantly. That means it's worth trying to adjust their in-ear position if the ANC seems unimpressive at first.

Winner: Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

Yes, we know that not everyone needs noise cancellation in a room that’s already quiet, but the effect can still be calming. More importantly, this test reveals whether the earbuds add noise of any type to a quiet setting—believe it or not, activating ANC often makes a quiet room seem louder.

Typically, the additional noise comes in the form of a hiss, though plenty of manufacturers claim this is not actually a masking hiss but rather what's left of the high frequencies after the ANC takes effect. Even if you can't pin down why you hear a hiss, the real issue is that you hear it in the first place.

Of the three models, the Sony and Apple earphones lead the way; neither seems to raise the noise floor in a quiet room. The Sony earbuds get a major assist from their foam eartips, however, while the AirPods rely more on an ANC power. The Bose pair doesn’t do very well in this category. You can plainly hear faint hiss in a quiet room that's not present with the other two models. Because the AirPods are more technically impressive here, we give them the nod, but Sony achieves nearly the same result.

Winner: Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

Both the AirPods Pro and the QC Earbuds II offer something new to augment their ambient listening modes. Apple calls it Adaptive Transparency mode and Bose’s version is ActiveSense Aware mode. The concept is the same: ambient mode, but with a form of noise suppression that dials back very loud noises to regular volume levels.

Bose’s version is more effective if your main goal is to tamp down loud noises. The louder the surrounding noises get, the more ActiveSense behaves like an intense ANC mode.

Apple’s approach results in a far more natural presentation of your surroundings. It simply lowers any sounds over the 85dB threshold without adjusting the timbre much, if at all. Transparency mode can actually be adjusted in some useful ways (Amplification Level, Brightness/Darkness, Stereo Balance, Ambient Noise Reduction, and perhaps most notably, Conversation Boost—a feature sometimes found in competitors). Thus, Apple’s mode protects your ears from loud noises and still allows you to hear the dynamics of the outside world; it never sounds like regular ANC is in play. As such, you can use AirPods as transparent, active earplugs at concerts, for instance. Just make sure to perform a successful Earfit Test in the AirPods settings menu so you can be sure that you won't hear anything past the 85dB level. You have to take Apple’s word that it's limiting sounds past this range, but, based on our testing experience, we trust that it is.

The older Sonys offer a simpler ambient mode: You can raise or lower the overall level of the ambient mics with an in-app fader, as well as select the Focus on Voice option to emphasize the frequencies of a typical human conversation. You also get an Adaptive Sound Control feature in the Sony app that tracks your location to create ANC profiles for different places and even times of the day. It’s not a terrible implementation, but it seems much less useful than the real-time, non-tracking approaches from Apple and Bose.

Winner: Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

Between the Apple and Bose models, it’s less about hi-res capabilities (both support only the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs and thus aren't ideal for Android) and more about which sounds best out of the box and offers the better EQ. In both cases, we give the nod to Bose. The QC Earbuds II offer richer bass depth and thump on certain tracks, plus they let you make tweaks via a modest three-band EQ in their companion app.

Apple offers only non-adjustable EQ presets in its Music app, for comparison. The AirPods still sound quite good, but they produce slightly less bass depth overall.

Meanwhile, the Sony earphones arguably sound a little less bass-rich than either of the other two. However, superior in-app EQ (five adjustable bands and a Clear Bass adjustable fader) and LDAC support (for hi-res streaming) make them the obvious choice for Android users and audiophiles.

All three models deliver quality, relatively balanced audio.

Winner: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II (for bass lovers); Sony WF-1000XM4 (for hi-res streaming)

One of our main complaints about the new AirPods Pro, in particular, is that they can't stream lossless audio from Apple Music at its full quality. Apple doesn’t appear interested in creating a scalable codec like Sony’s LDAC, which leaves AAC as the best option for iPhone users. All three models at least support that codec.

For Android users, the situation is a bit more clear-cut if you care about high-resolution streaming. The Sony WF-1000XM4 earphones are the only pair that support the LDAC codec.

Both Apple and Bose earbuds work with Bluetooth 5.3, while Sony supports Bluetooth 5.2. We haven't heard anything about support for Bluetooth LE or the LC3 codec for any of these models.

In-ear fit is highly subjective, so ranking the models might seem a bit pointless. However, we can rank the spread of accessories that each includes.

The QC Earbuds II win here because they arrive with three pairs of oval silicone eartips (S, M, and L) and three pairs of silicone stability bands (also in three sizes). The latter help stabilize the fit and also make it easier to pluck the earbuds out of the charging case. You can mix and match these accessories to get a better fit in a way you can’t with the AirPods, which ship with four oval eartips (XS, S, M, and L).

The Sony earphones only come with three sizes of eartips (S, M, and L), but they use a higher-quality foam material. This design choice helps with fit stability (simply compress the eartip and then let it expand to fit your ear canal's shape), bass response, and passive noise isolation.

Overall, the Bose earpieces seem the most likely to stay in place during a run. But, again, all ears are different and all three models fit securely in our experience.

Winner: Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

All three models offer an average but unimpressive IPX4 rating. They don't offer any amount of dust resistance and can withstand only light splashes and mists from any direction. Yes, this rating should be sufficient for most types of exercise, but don't try to rinse the earphones under a faucet for cleaning or submerge them. JBL and Jabra offer several fully waterproof ANC alternatives now, so we're not sure why others can't do the same. The AirPods Pro at least extend the IPX4 rating to the exterior and interior of their charging case, which is enough to give it the win in this unimpressive showing from all three models.

Winner: Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

This category is difficult to judge because the AirPods Pro don't offer a companion app; instead, they pair seamlessly with iOS itself. The settings menu on your iPhone automatically incorporates a section for the AirPods when you pair them initially and the Control Center facilitates quick connections.

The Bose app is much better than it was previously and now offers more control over the ANC and Aware modes, as well as a basic (but adjustable) EQ. Notably, it sports the simplest, cleanest interface of the two proper apps here.

Sony’s Headphones app, on the other hand, offers a more sophisticated customizable EQ, as well as some control over the ambient listening mode. It's also full of unnecessary bloatware, like a 3D audio mode that just sounds bad in most listening scenarios, but its functionality keeps it ahead of the Bose app for now.

Winner: Tie between iOS integrations and Sony Headphones app

True wireless battery life continues to improve, but is notoriously nothing special—it's neither a strong suit for any of these three pairs nor a drawback. The best we can say is that all three pairs hover somewhere near the average. Also, take these manufacturer estimates with a grain of salt because your results will depend on your use of ANC and typical listening volume.

The AirPods Pro 2 get roughly five-and-a-half (with ANC, Transparency mode, and Spatial audio with head tracking all on), six (ANC and Transparency mode on), or seven hours (everything off) of battery life per charge. The case respectively holds an additional 22, 24, or 28 hours of charge for the above scenarios. Note that these numbers are all for music playback. Apple claims talk time is roughly four-and-a-half hours per charge and that the case provides an additional 18 hours. Apple also says a five-minute charge should deliver roughly an hour of battery life.

The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II get roughly six hours of playback on a full charge and their case holds another 18 hours. You can't turn off ANC completely, so we don't have any additional numbers to share. Bose says that charging the earbuds fully takes roughly three hours, but this estimate depends on your charging source.

Sony's WF-1000XM4 earbuds should get roughly eight (ANC on) or 12 hours (ANC off) of battery life on a full charge. The case should provide either 16 (ANC on) or 24 hours (ANC off) of additional power. These numbers are for music playback. Sony also provides talk time estimates: five-and-a-half hours (ANC on) or six hours (ANC off), with between 11 and 12 hours in the case. Charging from empty takes roughly 2.5 hours, but again, this speed varies based on your charging source. Note that selecting the LDAC codec is also likely to decrease battery life.

All three models deliver solid voice mic clarity, but they take slightly different approaches. The Bose model sounds the most distant of the three—Bose heavily EQs the signal and emphasizes consonants. This helps with intelligibility, but provides a far less natural overall sound (this makes more sense for pro headsets that a pilot or NFL coach might use).

Sony gets the nod for the most natural sound. Its mics produce clear sonics, sound less distant than those of the Bose model, and don't EQ the signal as much. You even get a little bit of low-mid richness in the signal.

But, if we're talking about the easiest overall to understand, that honor goes to the AirPods Pro. They offer the best of both worlds, with a relatively natural sound and an emphasis on intelligibility. They also sound the least distant (and fullest) out of the three.

Winner: Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

If you're keeping track of the head-to-head-to-head winners, here's the final tally:

Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation): 6

Yes, the AirPods Pro win more categories, but not all of these categories hold equal weight. For instance, one of Bose's wins is for Best Overall Noise Cancellation, whereas one of Apple's comes from the Water Resistance section.

But really, we can declare all three winners in this matchup. The $279.99 Sony WF-1000XM4 earphones are best suited for audiophiles, with the most customizable EQ and LDAC support. Meanwhile, the $299.99 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II offer the best ANC performance. And, finally, the $249 AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) come in as the best value, and they're also the most seamless to use with Apple devices.

Which pair would we choose for an overnight flight or to ensure silence in a loud cafe? After hesitating on our way out the door, we would grab the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II.

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I've been a contributing editor for PCMag since 2011. Before that, I was PCMag's lead audio analyst from 2006 to 2011. Even though I'm a freelancer now, PCMag has been my home for well over a decade, and audio gear reviews are still my primary focus. Prior to my career in reviewing tech, I worked as an audio engineer—my love of recording audio eventually led me to writing about audio gear.

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