Top Headphones with Microphones for 2025: Clear Sound and Comfort

Explore the best headphones with microphones for 2025, focusing on sound quality and user comfort. Get ready for your next listening experience!

Introduction to Headphones with Microphones

If you're one of those music lovers who increasingly wants to make and receive calls using headphones or a headset, as well as enjoy music on the way home, we have good news for you.

According to our latest tests, there are numerous fantastic headphones and earbuds that provide excellent sound and microphone quality. So, unlike just a few years ago, you can both work and play while choosing headphones that suit your tastes.

The only downside is that for every pair that meets the requirements in both areas, there are at least three or four terrible options. Common issues include poor sound quality, inability to block background noise during calls, and much more.

In short, we put each pair through rigorous comparative testing. This includes comparing them with direct competitors, checking call quality in street and indoor conditions, and assessing other key performance indicators, including sound quality, noise cancellation, comfort, and value for money—you can trust our buying advice!

The Best Headphones with Microphones: A Quick List

Best Over-Ear Headphones with Microphone

Sony WH-1000XM5

Best Over-Ear Headphones
The WH-1000XM5 are not only the best full-size headphones with a microphone for calls but they also excel in every task. In addition to crystal-clear sound quality, they provide a comfortable fit, impressively detailed sound, reliable active noise cancellation, and long battery life.

Best In-Ear Headphones with Microphone

Sony WF-1000XM5

Best In-Ear Headphones
The WF-1000XM5 are the best wireless earbuds that we currently recommend to most people. Besides excellent microphone quality, they offer superb sound and reliable active noise cancellation, making them a great choice for any shopper with a little extra cash to spend.

Best Budget Headphones with Microphone

Sony WF-C700N

Best Affordable Headphones
According to our testing, the Sony WF-C700N are headphones worth buying if you're low on cash and need a great all-rounder that works for calls and music listening. While they may not perform as well as pricier options on this list, you can't get much better for the price.

Best Wired Headphones with Microphone

Shure Aonic 3

Best Wired Headphones
If you prefer wired headphones with a good microphone, the Shure Aonic 3 is what you need. In our tests, they provided excellent seal, as well as great microphone and sound quality.

Best Apple Headphones with Microphone

Apple AirPods Pro 2

Best Apple Headphones
If you have an iPhone and want to buy wireless earbuds with a good microphone, the AirPods Pro 2 are the perfect match. During our tests, they provided excellent call quality, combined with superb noise cancellation, making them an outstanding choice for those seeking wireless headphones for communication and music listening on the go.

Best Samsung Headphones with Microphone

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro

Best for Samsung Phone Owners
The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are the best headphones for Samsung phone owners. They come with many special features, including access to a proprietary high-resolution wireless codec exclusive to Samsung, excellent sound quality, and reliable active noise cancellation. Most importantly, they are superb for making and receiving calls.

Best ANC Headphones with Microphone

JBL Tour Pro 3

Best ANC Headphones with Microphone
If powerful active noise cancellation and excellent call quality are your primary objectives, then these are the best option we've tested.

Detailed Review of the Best Headphones with Microphones

Best Over-Ear Headphones with Microphone

Sony WH-1000XM5

The Sony WH-1000XM5 are the ultimate choice for music lovers who also need a headset for calls.

Specifications:

• Style: Closed-back
• Wireless: Yes
• Noise Cancellation: Yes
• Battery Life: 30 hours
• Charging: USB-C
• Weight: 250g

Pros:

• Sensational sound clarity
• Comfortable to use
• Powerful and precise bass

Cons:

• Build feels slightly less premium than before
• Doesn’t fold completely

The Sony WH-1000XM5 currently stands as the best over-ear headphones if you need high microphone quality and great sound.

A key advantage, especially if microphone quality is crucial in your headphone wishlist, is the proprietary Precise Voice Pickup technology. It utilizes four beamforming microphones and AI-based noise suppression, plus wind noise reduction, ensuring your calls sound crystal clear.

When testing the headphones during calls, made both in our dedicated listening rooms and outside in windy conditions, we were impressed by how well the XM5 microphones performed. During our evaluations, the XM5 effectively suppressed an astonishing amount of wind noise, ensuring that people could hear us even in very challenging conditions. This is a key achievement that most headphones struggle with, and the reason our testers concluded in our XM5 review:

“The combination of all these technologies means your voice will sound clear and distortion-free in the WH-1000XM5. When we use WH-1000XM5 for calls, Sony superbly suppresses ambient noise and wind gusts that can drown you out when using lesser-quality headphones. These are among the best headphones with a microphone we’ve tested.”

As an added bonus, the XM5 can easily switch between two connected devices. This means you can enjoy listening to music connected to your portable music player and then automatically switch to your phone when you need to answer an incoming call.

The only minor note we would like to make is that there are rumors Sony may release the next-generation WH-1000XM6 this year, which is expected to be a significant upgrade. If this doesn’t deter you and you need wireless headphones for calls and listening to music, then these are the ones to consider.

Best In-Ear Headphones with Microphone

Sony WF-1000XM5

The Sony WF-1000XM5 are the best-sounding headphones also providing excellent call quality.

Specifications:

• Style: Earbuds
• Wireless: Yes
• Noise Cancellation: Yes
• Battery Life: 8 hours (+16 hours with charging case)
• Wireless Charging: Yes
• Weight: 39g

Pros:

• Class-leading level of detail and clarity
• First-class musicality and timing
• Comfortable, understated design

Cons:

• Some competitors produce more bass
• Could feel more secure

The Sony WF-1000XM5 are currently the top choice and overall recommendation in our review of the best wireless earbuds. Fortunately, they not only sound fantastic, providing a high level of detail and clarity, but are also very effective for making and receiving calls.

When used in the office, outside in wind, and in areas with poor signal, the microphones consistently provided reliable sound quality. During all our checks, the person on the other end reported clear audio.

We were particularly impressed with how well the microphones handled wind noise. This is aided by their new noise-cancellation system, which helps them perform well in challenging outdoor conditions. Thanks to the new bone conduction sensor that utilizes AI capabilities to detect when you speak, the headphones seem more responsive than most competitors during calls.

Here’s what our testers reported:

“It seems design and technology changes have done their job. Wind noise is almost inaudible even in the windy weather we experienced during testing. Our voice sounded clear, distinct, and intelligible, which is not always the case for wireless earbuds.”

This combination of factors means the WF-1000XM5 are the best headphones with a microphone for most people at the moment.

Best Budget Headphones with Microphone

Sony WF-C700N

The Sony WF-C700N are wireless headphones that combine comfort, noise cancellation, and stunning sound quality.

Specifications:

• Style: Earbuds
• Wireless: Yes
• Noise Cancellation: Yes
• Battery Life: 15 hours (earbuds: 7.5 hours; case: 7.5 hours)
• Charging: USB-C
• Weight: 4.6g each

Pros:

• Extremely comfortable fit
• Excellent presentation for the price
• Detailed, dynamic, musical sound

Cons:

• The charging case lacks battery capacity
• No aptX or LDAC support

These are mid-range headphones in Sony’s lineup, positioned between the budget WF-C510 and the flagship WF-1000XM5. And they are an excellent option that more than justifies their price.

The headphones are very small, and their lightweight design makes them even more comfortable than the new flagship Sony WF-1000XM5, while providing a battery life of seven and a half hours. Calls are enjoyable thanks to Sony’s Wind Noise Reduction technology that blocks background noise, ensuring voices sound natural and clear. Even strong wind gusts did not affect the clarity of our conversations.

While they lack aptX HD and LDAC, they do have noise cancellation technology that the cheaper WF-C510 does not. The Adaptive Sound Control feature automatically switches listening modes depending on your location, and Sony’s DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) enhances the quality of low-resolution digital audio files. The software update also added a Bluetooth Multipoint feature to connect to two devices simultaneously.

The sound quality is excellent too: deep, detailed bass, expressive mids, and immersive highs. For the money, these are very musical headphones and well-deserving of their current What Hi-Fi? award amid Sony's dominance in the wireless headphone market.

Best Wired Headphones with Microphone

Shure Aonic 3

The Shure Aonic 3 are sensational wired in-ear headphones with a microphone.

Specifications:

• Style: Earbuds
• Wireless: No
• Noise Cancellation: No
• Battery Life: N/A
• Charging: N/A
• Weight: 20.4g

Pros:

• Excellent dynamics and musicality
• Detailed, balanced sound
• Lightweight and comfortable

Cons:

• Lower cost of delivery

Thanks to their sound-isolating design (without noise-cancellation technology), wired connection, and 3.5mm headphone jack, you might think these Shure headphones seem a bit dated compared to most modern models. And the price! They’ll have to do something impressive to convince us they’re worth considering.

Thankfully, they do just that, and they have already won four consecutive What Hi-Fi? awards in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. They are nearly perfectly synchronized, capable of separating threads and weaving them into one beautiful musical tapestry. You need to hear them to believe their sense of rhythm and timing.

The same goes for their dynamic capabilities. Simply put, these are the kind of headphones you can wear and just forget about. There’s nothing prominent about them—bass doesn’t overpower, and highs don’t cut through. They are honest, transparent, and true to the original recording. They have detail and analysis, but not at the expense of the life and emotion of the music.

They’re also comfortable and lightweight, and with nine different pairs of ear tips, you’re sure to find the perfect fit. The built-in microphone makes calls clearer than many competitors.

Best Apple Headphones with Microphone

Apple AirPods Pro 2

The Apple AirPods Pro 2 are the best for Apple fans in search of decent call quality.

Specifications:

• Style: Earbuds
• Wireless: Yes
• Noise Cancellation: Yes
• Battery Life: 30 hours (earbuds: 6 hours; case: 24 hours)
• Charging: Lightning
• Weight: 5.4g each

Pros:

• Clean, detailed, and powerful sound
• Excellent noise cancellation
• Longer battery life
• Seamless and intuitive use with iOS devices

Cons:

• Many features are limited to iOS devices
• Customizable ANC modes would be beneficial

Apple AirPods have always been decent but unremarkable, as reflected in their four-star reviews. However, with the AirPods Pro 2, Apple has crafted a pair of true wireless earbuds that can contend for a fifth star.

How? More effective noise cancellation, longer battery life, new features, and most importantly, better sound quality. Moreover, upon launch, they cost the same as their predecessors, which also helps.

For calls, they are still as good as the first-generation Pro. But with all the other improvements, they've taken a real step forward.

The new XS-sized ear tips should fit better, and with ventilation holes, they feel much less intrusive than some in-ear models. Apple has finally added volume controls to the earbuds, making it much more convenient than pulling out your phone or asking Siri for help.

The noise-cancellation technology blocks twice as many background sounds as their predecessors, and the adaptive transparency feature muffles loud noises while allowing surrounding sounds to pass through. Sound quality? With increased weight, greater detail, and even more dynamic nuance than the original Pro model, they truly set the standard.

Best Samsung Headphones with Microphone

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are the best headphones with a microphone for Samsung phone owners.

Specifications:

• Style: Earbuds
• Wireless: Yes
• Noise Cancellation: Yes
• Battery Life: 7 hours in earbuds, 30 hours with case (ANC off); 6 hours in earbuds, 26 hours with case (ANC on)
• Charging: USB-C
• Weight: 46.5g

Pros:

• Bright, lively sound with lots of attack
• Detailed enough for clarity
• Strong feature set

Cons:

• Could be a bit aggressive for some
• Competitors perform better with rhythms and dynamics
• Derivative design

The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are Samsung’s direct answer to Apple AirPods Pro, and they largely follow the same formula. They come with everything from spatial audio and head tracking to new improved active noise cancellation. The in-ear headphones even look similar from a distance.

The unique advantage that earns them a spot on this list is their superior call quality. Samsung has put considerable effort into developing the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro to ensure excellent call and sound quality. Key features include a 15kHz bandwidth specifically for calls and advanced AI algorithms for voice tracking that help improve call quality even in challenging conditions.

Testing them in our viewing rooms with varying background noise levels and in real-world scenarios, we concluded that the headphones consistently performed excellently. Thus, our reviewers noted:

“The new earbuds sound clear, natural, and pleasing, with good depth of sound during Zoom team meetings.”

For Samsung fans, this is especially a good choice, as in addition to reliable sound quality, they also support Samsung's proprietary high-resolution SSC UHQ codec. This allows streaming music files at resolutions up to 24-bit/96kHz over Bluetooth when the headphones are paired with a modern Galaxy phone as the source.

The only downside is that, like the AirPods, to utilize all their best features, you’ll need a Samsung phone. This, along with their high price, is the main reason we recommend them only for fans/owners of Samsung in this list.

Best ANC Headphones with Microphone

JBL Tour Pro 3

The JBL Tour Pro 3 are the best headphones with a microphone for ANC performance.

Specifications:

• Style: Earbuds
• Wireless: Yes
• Noise Cancellation: Yes
• Battery Life: 7 hours with ANC on, 11 hours with ANC off (+33 hours from case with ANC off)
• Charging: USB-C
• Weight: 82.9g

Pros:

• Solid, accurate sound
• Spacious presentation
• Smart features

Cons:

• Class leaders sound more dynamic
• Could pack even more rhythmic drive

The JBL Tour Pro 3 are a fantastic pair of wireless headphones if you need top-notch sound quality in headphones.

The headphones feature three microphones and JBL's special wind-resistant design, which reduces background noise even if you’re talking on the phone or giving commands to Google Assistant outdoors.

Even in windy winter weather, this system provided exceptional call quality, and both our tester and the person on the other end unanimously noted the crystal-clear sound. Our reviewer went so far as to say:

“During testing, we were very impressed with how well background noise was suppressed. Disturbances from passing cars and wind gusts were minimal, and our voice sounded loud and clear. We compared the sound quality with Bose QuietComfort Ultra, and JBL headphones clearly performed better in this regard.”

They also delivered a competitive level of noise cancellation, and our testers found they were more than able to drown out the noise of trains and the din in a crowded bar with ease.

The only reason they don’t rank higher in our overall best wireless headphones ratings is that, despite excellent call quality and JBL’s better sound that we’ve recently tested, in terms of music, they don't perform as well as their main competitors. Particularly, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones, with which we compared them, offered a more dynamic sound.

Also Consider

• Technics EAH-AZ100. These are the best premium wireless headphones we tested. In addition to exceptional sound quality, especially for jazz and classical music, they feature effective noise cancellation and good, though not the best in class, microphone quality.
• Bose QuietComfort Ultra. If you need a pair of wireless headphones with noise cancellation and great sound, while the microphone quality stands up to the main recommendations on this list, then the Bose QuietComfort Ultra are a great choice.
• Apple AirPods Max. If you’re an Apple fan and don’t mind spending a lot of money, the AirPods Max are a pair of earbuds with fantastic sound from the iPhone maker that also deliver excellent call quality.
• Sony WF-1000XM4. While they may not be the newest model and the microphone quality isn't as good, if you're looking to save money, the previous generation Sony headphones are worth considering.

How to Choose the Best Headphones with Microphones?

At the basic level, considering that we pay special attention to sound, all the headphones on this list should deliver quality sound, although in this specific guide, we focus more on microphone quality than usual.

This is why you’ll see these models differ from our best headphones, best wireless earbuds, and other buyer’s guides where microphone quality is not a primary criterion. With that in mind, here’s what we look for when testing headphones and earbuds with microphones.

Call Sound Quality is the primary feature we expect from headphones with a microphone. If the microphones can’t provide crystal-clear sound quality during calls, they won’t make it onto this list. But that's just the start of our microphone checks. Besides voice transmission, for wireless headsets, we also take into account connection stability. No matter how good the microphone is, headphones won’t deliver good call quality if they’re prone to signal dropouts.

As a brand focused on Hi-Fi, we pay more attention to microphone quality than usual in this list, but sound quality is another key metric that any headphones must meet before we can recommend them. Every time we test headphones, our testers listen to a wide variety of tracks across different genres, using various sources to ensure they produce quality sound.

If the headphones support this technology, reliable active noise cancellation (ANC) is another key feature we expect to see in most modern headphones with a microphone. In fact, it’s present in every model on this list except the Shure wired in-ear headphones (and in some of our guides on the best noise-cancelling headphones and the best noise-cancelling earbuds). ANC is a key feature that helps headphones with microphones block out background noise.

Many of the headphones on this list are wireless, so we also want them to have reliable battery life. If you’re looking for headphones with a microphone, you’re likely making phone calls regularly. So, it’s impractical to have headphones that die after a few hours of usage.

Comfort is the final important factor we look for when choosing the best wireless headphones and earbuds with microphones. Just like any other pair of headphones or accessories you wear, comfort is a key factor. With that in mind, we expect any headphones or earbuds with a microphone we test to sit comfortably and provide a secure fit even during prolonged wear.

For those looking for unique and stylish ways to express their love for music, consider shopping for your favorite album cover poster at our store here for an eye-catching addition to your space!