The Best ANC Headphones to Buy in 2025 - And What to Avoid

So you’re interested in buying an active noise cancelling headphone and you want to know what the best ones are at the end of 2025. As it happens, you’re in luck. There's been a lot of progress in the world of ANC headphones in recent times, both when it comes to noise attenuation (ANC) and when it comes to the sound quality these products deliver.

It used to be that you had to choose between good sound quality and noise cancelling, but this product category actually has the potential to deliver better sound quality than even passive, wired, audiophile headphones, and that’s because these products tend to be active. So in short, while there are still inherent limitations, these types of headphones can be tuned in ways that aren't limited by the constraints of traditional acoustic design. The same is true for other types of wireless headphones, but with ANC headphones that’s generally what we’re talking about.

But, that also doesn’t mean manufacturers are always focused on the sound quality, or even aware of what good sound actually entails. So, in the following guide I’m going to go through the best noise cancelling headphones in 2025 you should be considering, and the reasons why you should or should not buy them.

For additional context, if you haven’t had a chance to see my ANC Headphone Tier List video from previous years, check out this video. There have been other ANC headphones to come out since then, so consider the following as more of a short list of the products to consider for 2025.

Budget - $150 and Under

Moondrop Edge - $90

Full Disclosure… I do not like this headphone. Its default sound signature was very dark, shouty, and particularly low res sounding. However since my perhaps overly critical Moondrop Edge Review last year, they’ve updated the app for this model with parametric EQ. This is something most ANC headphones don’t have, and they should ALL have this feature. For anyone unaware of what this is, this allows users to input the specific values of the frequency ranges they want to adjust, as well as the Q value (how wide or narrow the filter is). So in short, it allows you to customize the sound in ways that traditional graphic EQ can’t.

I’m sure there will be many EQ profiles out there for people to try, and I’ll have my own linked in our community forum as well. I want to be clear that this is still a fairly primitive implementation of parametric EQ with a limited number of bands, and I still have issues with some of its mechanical design (my pinna pushes up against the inside baffle in a weird way). But make no mistake, you can get this headphone to sound competitive with much more expensive options given enough patience.

So despite me still having issues with it, I have to swallow my pride a bit here and give this product a strong recommendation at the end of 2025 specifically because of Moondrop’s willingness to implement a critical feature most other options lack.

CMF Headphone Pro - $80

This is a budget ANC offering from Nothing, the same company that does the Nothing Headphone (1). This headphone makes this list because of its ‘Pop’ preset and its ‘Vocal Enhance’ preset. Unfortunately neither of them are ideal, and you kind of have to choose between massive bass and not enough bass.

Now I won’t say this is exactly the kind of sound quality that I look for - make no mistake this is not some giant killer. But it’s respectable at its asking price and for the variety of features packed into this headphone, like a slider that can be used for either bass or treble. Comfort is also good, and I think it looks fun.

One thing it’s lacking is the ability to customize the sound the way Nothing’s higher end ANC headphone allows for. It’s a shame they didn’t add that to the software suite for this.

Final Audio UX3000 - $150

If you can find this one, it’s an interesting sounding ANC headphone for its unassuming build and design. The UX3000 is extremely barebones with next to no functionality, it’s really just about being a simple no nonsense ANC headphone. It does not have an app, its ANC is mediocre at best, and its industrial design is entirely devoid of any semblance of luxury. But what it offers for sound quality is quite a bit better than most.

You can think of the sound as being a subtle W-shape, or maybe like Harman with some forwardness in the mids. It has a distinct bass shelf, a forward character around 1khz, and then some extra mid and upper treble. Overall it has a kind of flaring effect that makes it both punchy and modestly detailed sounding, despite these quirks.

But I have to stress, only consider this headphone if you’re okay without using an app, or if you have small to mid sized head and ears. Not suitable for big heads.

Mid Range - $500 and Under

Sennheiser Momentum 4 - $200 to $250 (when on sale)

The Momentum 4 can be had at decent prices these days, and it’s still a good sounding headphone. The ANC quality is nothing special and certainly not as good as what you get with the class leaders out there, but it’s serviceable. This is one of the recommendations I keep coming back to for an ANC headphone that’s not really a specialist at any one particular thing, but for this type of device it’s also one that doesn’t compromise nearly as much as many other options.

By default, the sound is way too bassy, particularly in the sub bass, but once you reduce that in the app, the rest of its response is absolutely respectable. There’s a slight relaxed character to early portions of the ear gain near the upper mids, and while the sound shifts towards the treble to balance out its hefty bass presence, it’s not overdone.

So, while it’s easy to find things to criticize on the momentum 4, like I also wish the earpads were bigger or the headband had more padding, it’s good enough at most things that are important for these types of devices to still be recommended.

Bose QC Ultra - $300 (likely regular price now)

People have certain ideas about Bose, thinking it’s a more consumer oriented brand with unhinged levels of bass and muddy sound. Some of that is still true, but what they’ve been doing with their QuietComfort line is… as we said in a recent episode of the Noise Floor podcast, extremely defensible.

Think of the sound signature here as being mostly balanced just with a substantial bass boost. It’s enough to where any audiophile would likely think of that level of bass as effectively ‘store demo mode’, but importantly when you reduce the bass in their app, it cuts it below 300hz, which is exactly where the response benefits from that kind of reduction. Far too commonly you see these types of products with excessive bass or treble, where any EQ functionality in the app only provides filters that don’t make sense for the tuning of the headphone. That is not the case with the Bose QC Ultra.

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My only real criticism of the sound is that it seems there’s a bit of a resonance around 2khz, and I did find this to be audible in an unpleasant way.

But, for the benefit of what is exceptional noise cancelling and class leading comfort, it was a tradeoff I was happy to live with. I took this headphone with me on flights, walked around outside in the city, and genuinely enjoyed my time with it - and when I had people try it at high end audiophile trade shows, everyone else seemed to like it too. So just because it’s a more mainstream brand, that doesn’t mean it can’t be good.

Note about the QC Ultra Gen 2

I’m in the process of evaluating a QC Ultra Gen 2 and will likely add it to this list. My initial sense of it is that they seemed to have fixed the 2khz resonance - at least when measured on the B&K 5128 HATS. Though I have also seen some other reports of the product still having that bump when measured on other fixtures, so I’ll need to do some additional digging. Apart from that, the sound seems to have shifted a bit more towards the treble with a bit more of a V-shape to it overall, and this is likely to balance out their basshead commitments.

I think this is an evolution of the sound in a mostly positive direction. Purists will likely want to tone down the bass and treble a bit, while more casual listeners will likely be fine with this kind of sound signature. I think of it like a slight shift away from what audiophiles want in one aspect, but towards a better product overall if the otherwise unfixable 2khz resonance of the previous version is… resolved.

Sony WH-1000XM6 - $400 (when on sale)

The Sony WH-1000XM6 is in my opinion the best headphone on the market right now for noise cancelling specifically. Not only does it do a good job of active cancellation, particularly in the lower frequencies, but it combines that with very good passive isolation as well, which helps attenuate higher frequencies. Now to be clear, the Bose QC series is competitive for ANC performance, but when I tested them side by side on a busy street, I found that at least for the coupling on my head, the Sony WH-1000XM6 did a better job.

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With that said, it comes with some tradeoffs, both of which can be somewhat alleviated. Number one is that the sound quality is not very good, it’s muddy, thick, boomy and harsh in the treble all at the same time. Thankfully Sony does provide a 10 band fixed EQ where users can customize the sound, and doing this dramatically improves the sound quality. Unfortunately it’s not parametric EQ, so the big issues, namely the mid treble dip and then resonance of death around 10khz are not possible to completely eliminate. So you can improve it, but not completely fix the problem.

The second tradeoff is the comfort. The headband up top doesn’t have much padding at all and many with smaller heads have complained about hot spots up top. This can be alleviated by using a Capra Comfort Strap. If you have a large head, this might not work so well, but for small to average sized heads this is likely to improve the comfort significantly.

High End - $1000 and Under

Sennheiser HDB 630 - $500

The Sennheiser HDB 630 is considered by many to be the best ANC headphone on the market currently, and for good reason. It doesn’t have noise cancelling performance like the Sony WH-1000XM6 or the Bose QC Ultra, or even the Apple Airpods Max, in fact it’s notably behind those models for the overall amount of external noise it attenuates. But, the reason this headphone has been so hyped up this year is because of its sound quality and features and for anyone wanting an ANC headphone for sound quality specifically, this is the one to get over just about everything else.

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The majority of people who are into audio probably aren’t ready for this, but the Sennheiser HDB 630 is easily one of the best sounding wireless headphones currently available at any price, and it actually sounds quite a bit better than the vast majority of passive closed back options, even eclipsing the super high end $1k and up audiophile alternatives. This might sound like hyperbole, but there are meaningful advantages to being able to tune headphones actively, and with the HDB630 Sennheiser have made good use of that.

By default, the tuning is almost exactly what everyone wants. Deep, satisfying bass, that balances weight and tone without sounding boomy or muddy at all. It has a clear, well-textured midrange, and incisive treble. I’d describe it basically neutral with a bit of bass emphasis, but not so much that it overshadows the rest of the balance.

But that’s not all. With the HDB630 app, they also give you five bands of full parametric EQ. So if you do want to try your hand at personalizing the sound exactly how you want it, you can actually do that. I can’t stress enough how much of a game changer this is for closed-back headphones of any kind. So this is effectively a very good baseline platform for sound quality, with a massive range of customization available to you.

Once again… that’s not all. It also comes with the BTD 700, which is a bluetooth dongle that lets you plug it into any PC so you can bypass the typically shoddy bluetooth controllers found on most systems, and better still, this dongle comes with a low latency mode. Tap three times on the dongle and it turns green, making it suitable for gaming and watching movies without sync issues as well.

Focal Bathys - $700

So I just said the HDB 630 is the ANC headphone to get for sound quality, why is the Focal Bathys still on this list? Good question.

I feel that for most people, the HDB 630 is going to be the better sounding headphone. However, its general balance is mostly devoid of what one might call ‘tasteful coloration’ - I can see people thinking it's a bit on the boring side by comparison. It’s not quite as present or incisive or… dare I say detailed as the Focal Bathys, which presents music with a bit more flare.

Now I still have an easier time recommending the HDB 630 largely because it has parametric EQ and the ability to customize the sound in ways you simply can not do with the Focal Bathys, but one other advantage for the Bathys is that it has larger ear cups. In fact, it’s one of the few ANC headphones that actually has over-ear style ear cups, where many of the rest of them feel more like on-ears. It’s a bit heavier than the HDB 630, but if you’re someone with larger than average ears, this may be a reason to go with the Focal instead.

Ultra High End ANC Headphones - $$$

Focal Bathys MG - $1500

It’s really hard to recommend ANC headphones in this price range and that’s because most of them are actually quite a bit worse sounding than ANC headphones that come in at a fraction of the price. It’s not just that this stuff isn’t good value or that it isn’t competitive, most of the time it’s just flat out worse.

You may read various positive impressions of super expensive ANC headphones that are out there, but you also have to remember, people are paying closer attention to things because they spent a lot of money on those experiences. In reality, many ultra-expensive ANC headphones are shockingly bad. They focus on the promise of good sound quality rather than actually delivering it. So as a rule… this is not a good price bracket to be considering for noise cancelling headphones.

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With that said, the Bathys MG is easily the exception to that rule because it actually does sound good, particularly in its dynamic mode. Does it sound better than the HDB 630? Yes, but only slightly. In fact there’s a similarity between the two, and that really is where the question of value stops.

While the Bathys MG is good for its other aspects, like build and comfort, don’t expect the Bathys MG to compete for noise attenuation performance with the likes of the XM6 or the QC Ultras of the world. It’s decent, but not class leading. Moreover, the app functionality is still limited in comparison to a number of the other options at lower price brackets.

So think of it this way, if you feel compelled for some reason to buy an extremely high end ANC headphone, the Bathys MG is the only one currently I’d recommend, as it handily eats the lunch of everything else in that price range. But I would still steer most folks towards the HDB 630 instead.

What to Avoid

I’ve spent a lot of time looking at a wide variety of ANC products over the past few years and come to the conclusion that this space is a bit of a crap shoot. There are some good options for sound quality out there, but it’s really hard to know if it’ll be any good based on the current discourse to do with these products, the marketing that’s involved, and the price points these products come in at.

For that reason, I would caution taking advice on any of these ANC products absent some sense of how they actually perform - how they measure.

Yes, there are meaningful limitations to headphone measurements, particularly for closed-backs and other acoustic impedance sensitive products like ANC headphones and in-ears. The actual performance on real human heads is bound to vary, and the graph doesn’t paint a perfect picture of what that response will be at your eardrum. But at the very least you can get a decent sense of what to disqualify when searching for the right headphone.

Some of the ANC options I’ve tested have been so bad I have to wonder how they even made it to market, and this is really where measurements are crucial. They might not tell you everything about the sound you’re going to get, but they can certainly separate the headphones worth considering from the ones you should probably skip.

And, if it’s my money on the line, I’m going with either the Sennheiser HDB 630 or the Bose QC Ultra (Gen 1 or 2) in 2025. I think the case for either one of those is stronger than the case for any of the others on this list. That is, unless you have specific requirements that would push you in the direction of one of the other options laid out here, or if you have certain mechanical design preferences that make either of these less good.