Affiliate links below:
SONY WF-1000XM5 👉
TECHNICS AZ100 👉
BOSE QUIETCOMFORT ULTRA 👉
SKULLCANDY 👉
NOTHING EAR 👉
TECHNICS AZ100 👉
Galaxy Buds3 Pro 👉
Galaxy Buds3 👉
Suunto Aqua 👉
Soundcore Sleep A30 👉
Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro 👉
I tested dozens of pairs of earbuds this year and hundreds over the years. These are my picks for the very best earbuds in 2025 by category. The categories are:
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Welcome to the 2025 Earbuds Awards
0:54 Best Workout Earbuds
3:00 Best Swim Earbuds
4:06 Best Sleep Earbuds
5:14 Best Travel Earbuds (Best ANC)
7:00 Best Earbuds for Work (Great Microphones)
8:45 Best Sounding Earbuds on A Budget
10:22 Best Budget Earbuds (under $99)
13:50 Best Midrange Earbuds (under $150)
16:00 Best Premium Earbuds
17:30 Best for Apple
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Please comment below with any questions you might have. Thank you all for watching! I appreciate you!
Disclaimer: This video is purely based on my experiences, research, and opinions. You and only you are responsible for your actions. I made this channel to advise viewers and I truly hope to help you all out. I love making these videos and connecting with my viewers!
One or more of the products shown in this video may have been sent to me at no cost. This does not influence my opinions; I always cover both pros and cons.
This channel is monetized via YouTube ads as well as some affiliate links. If a purchase is made after clicking the link, I will receive a small commission at no extra charge to the buyer. Thank you all for watching!
Affiliate links below:
SONY WF-1000XM5 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/SonyXM5
TECHNICS AZ100 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/TechnicsAZ100
BOSE QUIETCOMFORT ULTRA 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/BoseQCU2
SKULLCANDY 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/skullcandy
NOTHING EAR 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/NothingEar
TECHNICS AZ100 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/TechnicsAZ100
Galaxy Buds3 Pro 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/GalaxyBuds3Pro
Galaxy Buds3 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/GalaxyBuds3
Suunto Aqua 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/suuntoaqua
Soundcore Sleep A30 👉 https://mikeobrienmedia.com/soundcoresleepa30
Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro 👉 https://amzn.to/3XTIG2u
you didnt make the ONLY catagory i want award for best battery life. tired of the crap 5 hour charges. and i dont care if the case has a battery that doesnt do anything for my listening while its charging up. so far i have only seen 12 ish hours on my ows 2 i want more like 16 or 20. i dont care if its a little bigger bacause of it either. who the hell cares about gaming earbuds if you can only use them for 5 hours at a time its so dumb.
I have the sony 1000XM5
And it has the worst software ever. In 2026 you can NOT set them in a way, that when you put only one it, it does NOT go to passthrough.
It immediately goes to passthrough and you can hear the white noise of it, it’s so getting on ones nerves. So you need to open the app on the phone (half the time it STILL needs to “connect” first, even though they’re already plaing the sound from your phone) and then manually switch to ANC. Or off.
Now… you can set the tap on your bud to do this. But then, the entire bud ONLY has the ambient on/off function, and NOT “pause/play” anymore.
How annoying is that? So after switching off passthrough, you’re stuck pausing and playing with your phone.
I will buy another pair now, where the software lets me:
a) default to off/ANC when I put just one bud in.
b) define what a single/double tap does. so single for pause/play for example, and double will toggle on/off passthrough and so on.
Super annoying. Just the software, for otherwise a great product.
Oh, and I still can’t understand, why people buy “in ear” buds, that have a stupid stick poking out. It just doesnt make sense.
They are not truely in ear. Apple started it by just cutting off the cable of their in ears, but not being able to fit all the tech into just a bud. but of course they marketed this as “cool”. Now everyone else follows that…
Budget is 50 bucks or less. You’re out of touch. The sound difference is just not worth that kind of money. Would not pick any of them