Bose

Buy them as a second pair only if you carry a Galaxy phone. Many features need One UI 8.5 or later, and they won't hold two connections at once.

Skullcandy stays in Park City under its own name, and its earbuds already use Bose noise cancelling at well under Bose prices.

Bose built these in eight or nine months to catch a wired comeback. An early WIRED listen likes the sound and noise canceling, but not the weight of the inline controls.

If you liked the idea of open earbuds but found them too quiet, the $299 Ultra Open 2nd Gen targets exactly that. Workout buyers now get a cheaper, sweat-rated option.

These trade noise cancellation for an open fit, and everything known so far comes from app code rather than Samsung, so the feature list is not final.

Sleepbuds 2 drop to $279 with 14-hour battery, from the team that built Bose's original.

Samsung is reportedly copying a form factor Xiaomi launched six months ago. The follower is now the headline.

Noise-canceling earbuds are great right up until you need to hear a human. Open-ear skips the awkward one-earbud-out dance entirely.