By BestTravelGear

Published Aug 23, 2026 Updated Oct 13, 2026

Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones in 2026: the buyer's shortlist

The Sony WH-1000XM5 is the first pick. Sony publishes about 250 g, up to 30 hours with noise cancelling on, up to 40 hours with it off, and a $399.99 list price. That is the fullest battery and weight sheet on this page. If you want the best noise cancelling headphones for travel and you can pack an over-ear case, start with the XM5, then compare the Bose over-ear and the in-ear options below.

Key Takeaways

• The Sony WH-1000XM5 leads because Sony publishes about 250 g, up to 30 hours with noise cancelling on, up to 40 hours with it off, a 3.5 hour charge, and a $399.99 list. The logged band is $248 to $400. A review count is not published on this page.
• Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Headphones page, the model before the 2nd Gen, lists the headphone at 0.25 kg and up to 24 hours in Quiet or Aware mode, or up to 18 hours with Immersive Audio. The logged price band is $329 to $429, with a $429 launch list. Do not mix those hours with the 2nd Gen sheet.
• Apple's AirPods Pro 2 tech specs say up to 6 hours of listening on one charge with Active Noise Cancellation on, up to 5.5 hours with Spatial Audio and Head Tracking, and up to 30 hours with the case. The logged list is $249, and the band is $189 to $249. Earbud weight is not published here.
• The Sony WF-1000XM5 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are the other in-ear rows. Their logged list classes are $299.99 and about $299. Playback hours and grams are not copied onto this note, so those cells say not published.
• Warranty length is not published for any headphone on this page. Sony, Bose, and Apple each point buyers to a warranty page, and this note does not turn that pointer into a year count. A star rating is not published either.

Plane sleep gear for the same flight

What noise-cancelling headphones actually are (and what they are not)

Noise-cancelling headphones for travel are over-ear or in-ear headphones that use microphones and an inverted signal to cut steady cabin noise. On this page the over-ear rows are the Sony WH-1000XM5 and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. The in-ear rows are Apple AirPods Pro 2, the Sony WF-1000XM5, and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. The job is the flight, the train, and the security tray. The numbers we compare are the ones a maker prints: grams, hours, and a price.

They are not foam earplugs, and they are not a decibel score. This page does not invent an isolation chart. When Sony writes "max" or Apple writes "up to," those words stay in the cell. A case total is not the same as one charge of the earbuds. Apple's 30 hour figure includes the case. The 6 hour figure is one charge with Active Noise Cancellation on. Bose's 24 hour figure is Quiet or Aware mode, and the 18 hour figure is with Immersive Audio on. Those are different tests, so they are not stacked into one winner's hour count.

They are also not a warranty term we did not copy, and they are not a review-count contest. Weight is published for the WH-1000XM5 at about 250 g and for the Bose over-ear at 0.25 kg. The three in-ear weights are not published here. Form factor is published for every row, which is why the security-tray pick is an in-ear and the long-haul pick is an over-ear with a printed hour table. If a cell says not published, the gear note and the pages cited below do not give that figure.

How We Ranked These Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Five published facts decide the order. Price is the USD band logged on the gear page. Weight is the gram or kilogram figure on the maker sheet. Battery is the playback time with noise cancelling on, kept in the maker's own "up to" or "max" wording, with a separate figure when the maker prints one. Form is over-ear or in-ear. Warranty is the term this note can actually quote, which on these five rows is not published.

The WH-1000XM5 is first because it publishes weight, noise-cancelling-on hours, noise-cancelling-off hours, charge time, and a list price. The Bose over-ear is second because its product page publishes weight and two battery modes. AirPods Pro 2 is third because Apple publishes a list price and an hour table, without a weight on this note. The two remaining in-ears follow because hours and grams are not published here. There is no point score.

The Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones in 2026

These five models are the noise-cancelling headphones already logged on this site, ordered by the five criteria, starting with the sheet that prints weight and hours together.

Each pick uses the maker page or the gear note, and a star rating and a review count are not published for any row.

The Bose over-ear figures below are for QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, not the 2nd Gen model, which publishes a different hour table.

Use the gear page on each pick for the retailer link this site already uses.

1. Sony WH-1000XM5, best for long-haul over-ear flights

Sony's specification list for the WH-1000XM5 gives about 250 g / 8.82 oz, a maximum of 30 hours with noise cancelling on, a maximum of 40 hours with it off, and a charge time of about 3.5 hours. The logged list price is $399.99, and the band on this page is $248 to $400 because Sony's own store pages have also shown a sale near $248. Sony's maker card dates the company to 1946. The gear note says quick-charge marketing is written as "up to," so this page keeps the spec-table hours and does not add a minute-to-hour claim.

That 30 hour noise-cancelling figure is the longest noise-cancelling-on time printed on this page. Bose's pre-2nd-Gen Ultra over-ear lists up to 24 hours, and Apple's single-charge figure is up to 6 hours. The comparison is only as fair as the test each maker describes. Sony's weight, about 250 g, matches the 0.25 kg Bose prints for its over-ear, so weight does not separate those two rows. The XM5 still leads because the hour table and the charge time are both on the sheet.

A warranty length is not published on this note. Sony's maker card says regional warranties vary and points to the support page for your market. A review count is not published. The row is the long-haul over-ear pick because the public sheet is the most complete one here, not because a lab scored the cabin.

Best suited for a long flight when you want an over-ear with published weight, noise-cancelling hours, and a list price on Sony's own page. Choose an in-ear row if the case has to live in a pocket at the security tray.

Source: Sony WH-1000XM5. Gear page and retailer link.

2. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones, best for Bose's over-ear flagship

Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Headphones page lists the headphone at 0.25 kg and battery life at 24 hours. The footnote on that page says playback was up to 24 hours with Immersive Audio off, in Quiet mode, and up to 18 hours with Immersive Audio on. This is the model before the 2nd Gen, which publishes a different hour table, so those 2nd Gen hours are not used here. The logged price band is $329 to $429, and the gear note says the headphones launched with a $429 list. Bose's maker card dates the company to 1964.

Set next to the XM5, the published noise-cancelling-on time is shorter: up to 24 hours versus Sony's maximum of 30 hours. The weights match at 0.25 kg and about 250 g. Form is over-ear on both rows, so the split is the hour table and the price band, not the shape. A charge-time cell is left as not published here because the Bose page's charge lines are not copied onto the gear note as a single figure.

A warranty length is not published. Bose's maker card says the company publishes limited warranties by product. A review count is not published. The row is second because weight and two battery modes are public, and the warranty term is not.

Best suited for travelers who want Bose's over-ear flagship and will read the 24 hour and 18 hour figures as two different modes. If you need the longer published noise-cancelling-on time on this page, that figure belongs to the Sony WH-1000XM5.

Source: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. Gear page and retailer link.

3. Apple AirPods Pro 2, best for a security-tray in-ear

Apple's tech specs for AirPods Pro 2 with the USB-C MagSafe case say up to 6 hours of listening on a single charge with Active Noise Cancellation enabled, up to 5.5 hours with Spatial Audio and Head Tracking enabled, and up to 30 hours with the case. Five minutes in the case is listed as about 1 hour of listening. The gear note logs a $249 list and a band of $189 to $249. Apple's maker card dates the company to 1976. Earbud weight is not on the gear note, so the weight cell is not published.

The 6 hour figure is one charge, not the 30 hour case total. Putting the 30 hour number next to Sony's 30 hour over-ear figure would mix a case refill with a single headset charge. The form is in-ear, which is the security-tray argument: the case is a pocket object, and the gear note says fit is checked with Apple's own ear-tip test. This page does not add a fit score.

A warranty length is not published. The maker card names an Apple limited warranty plus optional AppleCare and points to Apple's legal page, without a year count copied here. A review count is not published. The row is the in-ear with a full hour table, behind the two over-ears that also print a weight.

Best suited for a security tray and a pocket, when you want Apple's published 6 hour and 30 hour listening figures and a $249 list. It is the wrong row if you want an over-ear cup and a published gram weight, which the WH-1000XM5 has.

Source: Apple AirPods Pro 2 tech specs. Gear page and retailer link.

4. Sony WF-1000XM5, best for Sony in-ear noise cancelling

The WF-1000XM5 is Sony's in-ear row on this page. The gear note logs a $299.99 list class and a band of $198 to $299, and it says Sony's support specification page is where grams and hours live. Those grams and hours are not copied onto the note, so weight and battery both say not published. Sony dates to 1946. The form is true wireless in-ear noise cancelling, which is published.

That missing hour table is why the row sits behind AirPods Pro 2, which does print 6 hours and 30 hours, and behind the WH-1000XM5, which prints 30 hours and 40 hours. The list price is higher than AirPods' $249 list and lower than the WH-1000XM5's $399.99 list. Those are the price facts we can compare. A carry case total is not assumed from the over-ear model.

A warranty length is not published, same as the other Sony row. A review count is not published. The product stays on the shortlist because the gear note already logs a current Sony in-ear with a public spec page, and the empty cells stay empty until that table is copied.

Best suited for travelers who want Sony's in-ear naming and will read the live support table for grams and hours before trusting a battery claim. If you need hours on this page today, use the WH-1000XM5 or AirPods Pro 2, where the figures are already printed.

Source: Sony WF-1000XM5. Gear page and retailer link.

5. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, best for Bose in-ear noise cancelling

Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are the in-ear QC row. The gear note says they launched near $299, and the logged band is $199 to $299. The form is true wireless in-ear noise cancelling. Hours and case totals are described as living on the live Bose spec sheet, and Immersive Audio footnotes can change the hour table, so this page does not copy a number that the note itself does not print. Weight is not published. Bose dates to 1964.

Next to the over-ear Ultra row, the earbuds do not inherit the 24 hour or 0.25 kg figures. Those belong to the headphone page cited above. Next to AirPods Pro 2, the earbuds do not have a 6 hour or 30 hour figure on this note. The price bands overlap: $199 to $299 here, $189 to $249 for AirPods. The low end is close, and the lists are not the same.

A warranty length is not published. A review count is not published. The row is last because the battery and weight cells are open. It stays because it is the current Bose in-ear flagship the gear note already files, with a logged price band and a named form.

Best suited for travelers who want Bose noise cancelling in a true wireless case and will check the live hour table before comparing battery life. Use the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones row if you want the published 0.25 kg weight and the 24 hour figure.

Source: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. Gear page and retailer link.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Criteria: logged USD price band, published weight, battery with noise cancelling on, over-ear or in-ear form, and warranty term.

Which headphones fit your trip type

What results look like

Example, built from the table. Sony's maximum with noise cancelling on is 30 hours. Bose's Quiet or Aware figure for the pre-2nd-Gen Ultra over-ear is up to 24 hours. 30 minus 24 is 6 hours between those two published maximums. It is not a stopwatch from a flight.

A second example keeps Apple's case math separate. Up to 6 hours is one charge with noise cancelling on. Up to 30 hours includes the case. 30 divided by 6 is 5, which is how many of those single charges fit in the published case total. That is arithmetic on Apple's two lines, not a count of refills you will get.

A third example uses list prices only. The WH-1000XM5 list is $399.99. The AirPods Pro 2 list is $249. 399.99 minus 249 is $150.99 between those two lists. Street prices inside the logged bands can be lower, and a review count is not published.

Sources

• Sony WH-1000XM5
• Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones
• Apple AirPods Pro 2 tech specs
• Sony WF-1000XM5
• Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds

See the full field shortlist

The field hub lists every shortlist on this site, including sleep gear and packs.

Open the field shortlist if the headphone decision is made and the next category is still open.

The WH-1000XM5 gear page has the maker link and the retailer link this site already uses.

Plane sleep is the companion note if the cup is chosen and the mask is not.

Every price above is the band logged on the gear note, with the source named on the pick.

Start at the hub if you are still choosing the category.

See the full field shortlist