The 7 Best Earbuds With A Mic - Spring 2024 Reviews

The best earphones with mic capabilities we've tested are the Sony WF-1000XM5 Truly Wireless. They offer a versatile overall performance, so you can easily go from listening to music on your walk to work to taking a quick call from your parents. While their integrated mic's recording quality means that your voice sounds less than natural and lacks depth, the mic is able to separate speech from background noise decently well. In terms of sound, you can also expect a warm sound with cozy vocals and instruments. Prefer something different? Their companion app offers a graphic EQ and presets to make that sound yours.

Where these well-built buds really shine is in noise isolation. They're equipped with active noise cancelling (ANC), and due to their form-fitting foam ear tips, they can block out a great amount of background noise like rumbly bus engines and ambient chatter. With their ANC on, you'll get under nine hours of continuous playback time. There are also two additional charges in the case. If that's not enough, you can even connect them with up to two devices at a time, which is handy if you want to use them while moving between your phone and laptop.

If you're looking for premium buds with a mic that delivers an even better recording quality, consider the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 4. They're neck and neck with the Sony when it comes to overall performance but have the edge when it comes to rendering your voice clear and bright, making it easy for others to understand you. However, the buds themselves aren't as comfortable, as their weight can feel unevenly distributed on your ears, and they're a bit more expensive.

When you think of earbuds with a mic, your first thought may not be gaming earbuds, but don't balk at the idea until you see what the Razer Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed True Wireless offer. Their mic has a significantly better overall performance than the Sony WF-1000XM5 Truly Wireless, making them a good choice if you're fielding a lot of calls or gaming with friends. Your voice sounds bright and clear and is easy to follow, even if you're standing on a busy street. They also come with a USB-C dongle to reduce latency, so your audio and visuals stay in sync if you're taking a meeting online. That said, they lack multi-device pairing, so you can only be connected to one device at a time.

Like our top pick, they have ANC. They don't reduce as much background noise as the Sony WF-1000XM5 Truly Wireless but are still a very good option if you're in a noisy environment. They also have a balanced sound out of the box, but you can adjust their sound to your liking using the graphic EQ and presets. If that's not enough for customization, they have RGB lighting on the buds' face, which you can control in the app. Their comfortable fit is suitable for long days on the go, and they are well-built. While their battery life is roughly five hours when the ANC is on, their carrying case holds an additional four charges.

Back to the more casual, the Nothing Ear (2) Truly Wireless offer a versatile performance with a sleek design. They have a cool transparent stem design, which allows you to see their inner circuitry. This stem also places the mic closer to your mouth than buds without it. As a result, the mic can separate speech from background noise, so people on the other end of the line will hear you clearly if you're taking calls from a noisy office. Their recording quality is okay, though not as great as the Razer Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed True Wireless because your voice sounds thin and distorted.

They're equipped with an ANC system and can help reduce a decent amount of background noise. With their ANC on, they last over 5.5 hours continuously, which is a touch longer than the Razer, but their carrying case supplies an extra four charges. They also have a fairly neutral sound profile, which you can customize via their companion app's graphic EQ or presets. They even support multi-device pairing, which is handy if you want to connect to your PC and smartphone simultaneously.

For something below the $100 mark, you'll want to check out the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE Truly Wireless. While they lack the premium look and feel that the Nothing Ear (2) Truly Wireless provide, they make up for it with their edge in microphone performance. Your voice sounds clear as well as intelligible, and if you're calling from a noisy environment, speech remains easy to follow, even if a lot is going on around you. They also have a very neutral sound, making them well-suited for most kinds of audio content, and their companion app offers EQ presets for added customizability.

These comfortable buds are equipped with a very good ANC system. They don't block out quite as much noise as our noise cancelling pick below, but you can tune out chatty coworkers with ease. With the ANC on, they last over six hours, and there are 3.5 extra charges in the case if you need it. Unfortunately, their control scheme also lacks volume controls by default, although you can enable them in the app. They don't support multi-device pairing either, but if that's important to you, try the OnePlus Buds 3 Truly Wireless instead. They can connect with up to two devices simultaneously, but their mic's overall performance isn't as good as the Samsung's.

If you're on a budget, the best earbuds with microphone capabilities are the JBL Vibe Beam True Wireless. Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE Truly Wireless, they don't have ANC, so they aren't as good for making calls from noisy places. However, they offer a better mic recording quality, and your voice is clear and easy to understand over the phone. You can adjust the mic sidetone in the earbuds' companion app if you want to hear yourself during calls.

However, the mic's noise handling is just okay. Your voice will be understandable over noise like background chit-chat at the office, but the sound of a bus passing nearby will drown it out. These earbuds have a well-balanced default sound profile that you can adjust with an in-app parametric EQ. They also last about eight hours of continuous use, so they can get you through a workday without recharging. They aren't as comfortable as previous picks and can fall out of your ears after a while.

If you're always on the go, then you may want buds that can help silence the world around you. Enter the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Truly Wireless: they're premium buds with a fantastic noise isolation performance that easily beats other picks'. Their high-powered ANC feature helps block out chatty coworkers and traffic outside your window. With their ANC on, they last for about seven hours of continuous use, and their case stores three extra charges for top-ups when you need them. However, the trade-off is that their mic has worse noise handling than the Sony WF-1000XM5 Truly Wireless. Your voice can also be completely drowned out by loud background noise during a call.

They have a bassy sound profile out of the box, but you can adjust it to suit your tastes using their companion software's graphic EQ and presets. They also support the Bluetooth codec aptX Adaptive, which dynamically adjusts to your content, giving you lower latency when streaming video or improving audio quality for listening to music. They're pretty comfortable, too, and come with a mix of stability fins and ear tips to help give you the best fit.

If you prefer a wired design, you'll want to check out the SteelSeries TUSQ, the best wired earphones with mic capability we've tested. They're another pair of gamer-centric buds—they come with a boom mic for clearer recording quality, so you're easy to follow. Since it's flexible, you can position the mic closer to your mouth than integrated mics like that of the Sony WF-1000XM5 Truly Wireless. It still has trouble separating speech from ambient noise though. But casual users, fear not! These buds also have an in-line mic if you want to use them less gamer-centrically. This mic differs in performance when it comes to noise handling since the mic sits further from your mouth and has a harder time capturing speech clearly.

These earbuds have a decently comfortable fit and are lightweight. Their excited sound is well-suited for genres like rock and pop as it adds extra thump, rumble, and boom while vocals and instruments are bright. However, voices also sound muddy, and the earbuds lack customization features to help you adjust them to your liking. They also struggle to block background sound, so it can be hard to hear your conversations clearly.

For something even cheaper, try the Apple EarPods. These classic one-size-fits-all buds have an in-line mic with a better noise-handling performance. However, they aren't as well-built and have a significantly less stable in-ear fit.