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The 6 Best Earbuds For Phone Calls of 2025

Updated Feb 14, 2025 at 12:03 pm
Best Earbuds For Phone Calls

In this day and age, there's an expectation that you can answer calls quickly and easily. Whether you're working from home and joining a meeting or you're getting a call from family on the go, you'll want earbuds with a solid mic performance. If you're taking calls from a noisy office or busy street, blocking out background noise can make it easier to understand your conversation. This article mostly covers truly wireless earbuds. They don't offer the best performance regarding calls, especially when compared to dedicated earbuds and Bluetooth headsets for phone calls, but they maximize versatility and portability.

We've tested over 315 pairs of earbuds and in-ear headphones with microphones, and below are our recommendations for the best earbuds for calls to buy. If you want more recommendations, check out our picks for the best earbuds with a mic. If you don't mind an over-ear fit, you'll also want to check out the best office headphones.


  1. Best Earbuds For Phone Calls

    The Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 are the best earbuds for phone calls we've tested. Their mic system captures your voice intelligibly, and their noise handling reduces constant background hiss and sudden, loud noises like subway trains. While your voice isn't perfectly natural-sounding—limited by the distance and angle of truly wireless earbud microphones from your mouth—callers will easily understand your voice. Within their app, you can adjust the buds' sidetone to hear yourself (if you want) during a call. Their fantastic noise isolation means you won't be distracted by construction outside your window or ambient office chatter.

    Their multi-device pairing lets you easily switch between your phone and your PC for calls and meetings. Plus, their nearly eight-hour continuous battery life decreases your chances of needing to contend with a dead battery mid-call. You can also adjust their dedicated call controls to suit your needs, including a touch control to mute/unmute mic, which is handy during group meetings.

    If you predominantly take calls or meetings with video and are sensitive to audio-visual desync, you could also consider the Razer Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed True Wireless, which includes a 2.4GHz USB-C dongle in addition to Bluetooth capabilities. They have much lower latency with the dongle compared to any of the Jabra's connection methods, so you likely won't notice any lip sync issues on varied calling applications. The Razer's mic system sounds clear and rejects background noise well, but a shorter battery life hampers their performance, and their app doesn't offer as much control over the call commands. Their ANC is very good, but it won't block out as much environmental noise as the Jabra's.

    See our review

  2. Best Upper Mid-Range Earbuds For Phone Calls

    The best Bluetooth earbuds for phone calls in the upper mid-range we've tested are the Nothing Ear. While they lack a sidetone (which not everyone likes) found on the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2, the Nothing have a comparable mic performance. They cut out noises in the background well, so callers can make out your voice even in hectic spaces, though your voice will lack in body and come off a bit harsh. The Nothing also offer a stable fit with dedicated call controls via pressure-sensitive stems, which means they won't fall out or accidentally hang up on a call if you brush up against them.

    Their frequency response reproduces the person you're speaking to on the line well, so they sound essentially the same as what their mic captures. While their active noise cancelling isn't class-leading, it still handles office and street racket decently well to help isolate you from your environment and hear the caller better. Their multi-device pairing also expands their utility so you can quickly move from one device to another for a smooth transition between your phone and laptop.

    See our review

  3. Best Mid-Range Earbuds For Phone Calls

    The Samsung Galaxy Buds FE are more affordable wireless earbuds. Their integrated mic has a good overall performance, ensuring your voice sounds clear and intelligible. Your voice won't be drowned out by moderate background noise from a busy street. If you're having difficulty paying attention to your call, their noise isolation system can block out more background noise than our previous pick, the Nothing Ear. Out of the box, these very comfortable buds reproduce the range of speech well to ensure your conversation is easy to understand. It's versatile enough for most kinds of music, and you can use their companion app's EQ presets to adjust their sound to your liking.

    They have over six hours of continuous playback time, shorter than the Nothing's 7.5-hour battery life but still enough to last you through the day if you top them up when you're not using them. Unfortunately, the Samsung don't support multi-device pairing, which limits your options in terms of multitasking. If you want earbuds that can connect to your phone and computer simultaneously without increasing your spend, you might prefer the OnePlus Buds 3. Their mic isn't quite as good as the Samsung's, so your voice sounds thinner and is more likely to be drowned out by loud noise, but it still has a good performance for the price. The OnePlus also offer a similarly comfortable fit with slightly worse noise isolation.

    See our review

  4. Best Budget Earbuds For Phone Calls

    Shopping on a budget? The best wireless earbuds for phone calls we've tested at this price point are the JBL Vibe Beam True Wireless. They aren't quite as comfortable as the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE and lack an ANC system like the more premium picks on this list, so you're reliant on their passive isolation for blocking out noise. Still, that can be useful if you want to stay aware of your surroundings while you chat on the phone, like when working in an office. Their integrated microphone has a very good recording quality for the price, and it can handle a reasonable amount of background noise, making it easy for whoever's on the other end of the line to understand you. They're customizable, and their 8.3-hour battery life will be more than enough to last through your workday.

    However, you might also prefer a mono headset like the Jabra Talk 45 Bluetooth Headset at this budget price point. This headset only has one earbud with a tiny boom mic, so you can keep an ear free when you're on the phone. It makes your voice sound clear and does a passable job of separating voices from background noise. As expected for mono buds, its sound profile isn't good for music, but voices are reproduced accurately. It also supports multi-device pairing, and you can set it up to read out your text messages when you can't look at your phone.

    See our review

  5. Best Premium Earbuds For Phone Calls

    If you're happy to pay a premium for earbuds with outstanding noise isolation, it's hard to beat the Devialet Gemini II True Wireless. These expensive earbuds have remarkable noise isolation that blocks out everything from the rumble of train engines to the high-pitched whine of A/C units. Their battery is considerably shorter than that of our top pick, the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2, which can limit their usefulness for back-to-back calls. Their microphone does a very good job separating your voice from the noise around you, so whoever you're talking to will hear you clearly.

    They have great build quality and a well-balanced sound out of the box, ensuring anyone you're talking to sounds natural and clear. They also support multi-device pairing and Google Fast Pair. You may prefer the touch-sensitive controls to the shallow buttons that the Jabra use, although the Devialet lack a mute/unmute control. Still, if you often find yourself making calls in noisy environments and have cash to splash, these earbuds are a great choice.

    See our review

  6. Best Wired Earbuds For Phone Calls

    Wired earbuds are worth checking out if call quality is your top priority. While they're more unwieldy than their truly wireless counterparts and usually lack useful features like an EQ or noise cancelling, they have in-line mics rather than integrated ones. This design puts the mic closer to your mouth, making it easier for the mic to separate speech from background noise. Enter the Apple EarPods. Even though they're a lot older and less refined than other buds on this list, their mic has a great recording quality. It can also separate speech from ambient noise so you're heard clearly.

    These budget-friendly buds may not be as well-built or as customizable as the JBL Vibe Beam True Wireless since their cable is pretty flimsy, but some people may find their one-size-fits-all design more comfortable than a deeper in-ear fit. They also have a relatively well-balanced sound that ensures voices sound clear and natural. That said, they have an open-back design and lack low-bass, so they may not be ideal if you want to listen to genres like EDM or hip-hop in your downtime. For the same reason, they don't block out much background noise, so it can be harder to hear your conversation well if you're calling from a noisy office.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Anker Soundcore Life A2 NC Truly Wireless: The Anker Soundcore Life A2 NC Truly Wireless are easy on your budget, and their microphone system handles background noise without cutting out your speech very well. That said, compared to the JBL Vibe Beam True Wireless, your speech doesn't sound as natural in quiet spaces. See our review
  • SteelSeries TUSQ:

    The SteelSeries TUSQ are wired gaming earbuds with a detachable boom mic. While their mic offers a better overall recording quality, they're not as comfortable as the Apple EarPods.

    See our review
  • TOZO T6 Truly Wireless: The TOZO T6 Truly Wireless are the cheaper alternative to the JBL Vibe Beam True Wireless. They're similarly well-built and passively isolate against more background noise. However, their battery life isn't as long-lasting, and they lack sound customization tools. See our review
  • Turtle Beach Battle Buds:

    The Turtle Beach Battle Buds are another pair of wired gaming earbuds with a boom mic. They're much less comfortable than the Apple EarPods, but they can passively block more ambient noise.

    See our review
  • Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2:

    The Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 perform very similarly to the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 but have a slightly shorter battery life. However, you may prefer them for other reasons; their mic's noise gate seems slightly faster than that of the Elite 8 Active Gen 2, but their performance is very similar in sound and features.

    See our review
  • Jabra Elite 8 Active:

    The Jabra Elite 8 Active are the predecessor to the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2. The main reason to consider the original Elite 8 Active is that you found them considerably cheaper than the second-generation model. They have more in common than not, including the sidetone and similar mic performances. However, their noise isolation isn't as powerful as the second-generation earbuds.

    See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Feb 14, 2025:

    Our picks haven't changed, but we've updated the text in the article for clarity and accuracy.

  2. Nov 22, 2024:

    This article's picks have been updated to replace the Razer Hammerhead HyperSpeed Pro True Wireless with the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 True Wireless as the best pick for the improved feature set, though the Razer is mentioned as an alternative for the USB connectivity. The Nothing Ear Truly Wireless have replaced the Jabra Elite 8 Active True Wireless as the upper mid-range pick because their performance is similar, and the Nothing are cheaper. The Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 True Wireless and Jabra Elite 8 Active True Wireless were added as a Notable Mention, and the text throughout has been slightly adjusted.

  3. Aug 09, 2024: Our top pick is now the Razer Hammerhead Pro HyperSpeed True Wireless because it has a better microphone than the Sony WF-1000XM5 Truly Wireless. Our new upper mid-range pick is the Jabra Elite 8 Active True Wireless because it has a much better battery life than our previous pick, the Nothing Ear (2) Truly Wireless. The Devialet Gemini II True Wireless moved from being a Notable Mention to our Premium Pick because they have a very good microphone along with outstanding noise isolation but are very expensive.

  4. May 14, 2024: We've added the OnePlus Buds 3 Truly Wireless as an alternative to the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE Truly Wireless because they support multi-device pairing.

  5. Apr 04, 2024: The Anker Soundcore Life A2 NC Truly Wireless were added to the Notable Mentions for how well their microphone filters background noise. The article has been checked for accuracy with no changes to the picks.

All Reviews

Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best earbuds for calls for most people. We factor in the price (cheaper headphones win over pricier ones if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no headphones that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).

If you would like to choose for yourself, here is the list of all earbuds sorted by phone call usage. Be careful not to get caught up in the details. There are no perfect headphones. Personal taste, preference, and listening habits will matter more in your selection.

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Comments

  1. Recommendation

Best Earbuds For Phone Calls: Main Discussion

What do you think of our picks? Let us know below.


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  1. Update: Our picks haven’t changed, but we’ve updated the text in the article for clarity and accuracy.

    What do you think of these changes? Let us know

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    Should recommendations be updated after the new Jabra headphones review?

    Thanks for your comment, ekerazha.

    It’s great you picked up on this. We do regularly update our recommendation articles. The next time we update this one, we will definitely consider adding the new Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 and Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2. We’ve already discussed it internally and both pairs are strong contenders for a few lists. For instance, the Elite 8 Gen 2s are our new top pick for best running earbuds: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/reviews/best/wireless-bluetooth-earbuds-running

    I hope that helps! Let us know if you have any further questions.

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    Should recommendations be updated after the new Jabra headphones review?

  4. We’ve just released a new video that mentions the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE Truly Wireless here.