Other Earbuds We Like

Every month seems to bring new sets of earbuds with longer battery life, new features, and more compact designs. As such, we can’t list everything we like. But if you’re still hunting, here are some other recommendations.

Nothing Ear (a) for $59: It has taken a lot for me to recommend a pair of ostensible AirPods Pro clones as the best earbuds for most people, but that speaks to just how much I actually like the Nothing Ear (a). These stylish little yellow earbuds come in a sleek, clear charging case, and they have excellent sound and decent noise cancellation for under $100 retail. I liked how easily they paired with Android and iOS devices and that the lightweight, compact design helped them stay comfortable during longer listening sessions. The larger, more expensive Nothing Ear are also good, but they don’t quite match the Ear (a)’s svelte figure.

Status Audio Pro X for $239: The multi-driver array inside these cool-looking earbuds from little-known brand Status Audio helps them rise above the rest when it comes to audio quality. A dynamic driver down low pairs with a set of Knowles balanced armatures for upper mids and highs, providing a ton of musical separation between instruments, and offering some of the best detail down low that we’ve heard in a pair of buds so far. The warm EQ works well with pop music and acoustic music alike, and the Pro X support Sony’s LDAC Bluetooth codec for near-lossless streaming quality. We compared them with the best from Sony, Bose, Sennheiser, and Technics, and found that the Pro X hold their own valiantly, with only the call quality coming in a touch below what others have to offer.

Technics EAH-AZ80 for $165: Technics’ follow-up to the fantastic EAH-AZ80 provides trickle-down driver technology from the brand’s hi-fi in-ears, the EAH-TZ700. The result for the AZ100 is even richer and more detailed sound that digs deep into instrumental textures to reveal new dimensions in old songs. The buds add new features like Dolby-powered Spatial Audio and Bluetooth LE Audio support for futureproofing, along with old favorites like three-device multipoint pairing and mildly improved noise canceling. The slimmer design isn’t as ergonomic as the AZ80 to my ears, but they’re still comfy, and battery life of up to 10 hours per charge with ANC lets you listen long past Bose and Apple buds. —Ryan Waniata

Beyerdynamic Amiron 300 for $150: These premium earbuds from Beyerdynamic look nondescript and sound fantastic, but they lack any of the superlative qualities of the buds on the list above. If you’re after a clean-looking pair of headphones with fantastic vocal definition, they’re worth considering.

Audio-Technica ATH-CKS50TW2 for $159: These buds from Audio Technica boast 15 hours of battery life with noise canceling on, which is the longest we’ve tested in a pair of earbuds. Despite a somewhat bulky appearance, they actually remain very ergonomic, with multiple pairs of included eartips to guarantee a good fit. A cool magnetic feature allows you to clip the buds together when they’re not in their wireless charging case to engage standby mode. These aren’t the best-sounding buds for the money, nor do they have the best noise reduction, but if you want a pair that will last you throughout multiple workdays (or one really long one), these are a great option. (Note: These have been in and out of stock on Amazon.)

Soundcore Space A40 for $45: While they’re no longer on our main list, the Space A40 are still some of my favorite buds for the money, providing good features, clear sound, and excellent noise canceling for their price class. They also look polished, with only their lack of auto-pause sensors betraying their low price.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro for $100–$200: The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are getting older, but they’re still among the best buds to pair with a Samsung phone. They don’t have the multi-device connectivity of our top pick for Android users, and their five-hour battery is looking pretty short these days, but they provide excellent sound quality, IPX7 waterproofing, and a distinctive design that doesn’t just ape the AirPods Pro. That makes them well worth considering on sale.

Sony Linkbuds Fit for $200: Sony’s Linkbuds Fit offer rich and punchy sound, naturalistic transparency mode, and a light and comfy fit, helping them live up to their intent as a “wear anywhere” solution. They provide some solid features, but skimp on battery life with just 5.5 hours per charge, and their noise canceling is just OK. Their oddly unresponsive touch controls and reliance on flimsy silicone sleeves further diminish their value, but they’re still Sony buds and could be worth nabbing on a good sale.

Montblanc MTB 03 for $395: These earbuds are priced out of reach for most buyers, but if you’ve got the cash, you’ll be rewarded with a luxury experience worthy of the brand. Montblanc has called in some heavy hitters from the audio industry to design and voice these buds. The result is a small, comfortable, and quite flashy-looking pair of wireless earbuds that sound really impressive.

Raycon Everyday Earbuds for $80: These YouTuber-beloved earbuds are actually a decent cheap pair. They are small and light, and they come with an IPX6 rating, which makes them great for workouts.

Earbuds to Avoid

As a general rule, you should avoid earbuds that don’t support the Bluetooth 5.0 standard (or higher), or don’t offer at least five hours of battery life—more like six these days. Batteries in wireless headphones degrade over time, so the better your battery life is at first, the more tolerable it will be in two to three years.

Apple AirPods (Previous or Current Gen) for $119–$170: These headphones do some things well, we just don’t like them all that much. (Read our latest review.) They get OK battery life, come in a compact case, and work well for calls, but they don’t fit all ears well, and since they don’t have ear tips or wings, you’re out of luck if they’re loose. The priciest model adds noise canceling, which works about as well as you’d expect for a pair that doesn’t offer a proper seal. Want clear music, good noise canceling, and advanced features made for iPhones for less than the AirPods Pro 3? Get the AirPods Pro Gen 2, which sometimes cost more (and sometimes less) but are legitimately great.

Beats Solo Buds for $70: These are lackluster in virtually every possible way, especially when it comes to features for the money. Their best traits are their micro-size and big battery, but that’s about it. It’s odd, because we like other headphones from the brand, but these just don’t keep pace. The best we can say is they are cheap.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 for $170: A Cybertrucked pair of AirPods clones, the headphones in the new Galaxy Buds line work worse than they already look. With no eartips, these are uncomfortable to wear for long periods, and the noise canceling is all but useless.

Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting and exclusive subscriber content that’s too important to ignore. Subscribe Today.

I never liked playing darts, but I did a complete 180 with this auto-scoring system. This gadget has ignited my newfound love of the old pub favorite. It’s a light ring with four hi-def cameras that slots onto your board. Connect with the DartCounter app via Wi-Fi and you get effortless automatic scoring with an announcer calling your points and telling you what you need to check out.

I’ve been testing the Target Darts Omni Auto Scoring System for the last few weeks, playing locally on my own and with family, and playing the odd match online. It’s a pricey system, but for darts fans and players looking to improve their game, it could be worth the investment. As a casual fan, I’ve found that a wee game of darts is a great way to unwind at the end of your day.

Stepping Up to the Oche

The Target Darts Omni Auto Scoring System pairs with the DartCounter app (Android or iOS). It’s quick and easy to put together, attaching to your board via magnetic legs, but you will need to run the power cable to an outlet. Connect to Wi-Fi, run a short calibration, and it’s time to play. I tested with Target’s Star Wars Millennium Falcon Surround and Dartboard ($200 or £150) and a set of Darth Vader Darts ($340 or £250)—both amazing Star Wars gifts for the fan in your life—but it should work with most boards and any darts.

The LED ring lights up the dartboard beautifully. The four HD cameras accurately record the score for each dart thrown. The DartCounter app compiles comprehensive statistics on your play. You can configure all the match parameters in the app for a tailor-made session, and there are also multiple practice modes and games, such as Around the Clock, where you have to hit each number in sequence and then the bull’s-eye, and Bob’s 27, where you start with 27 points and have to hit the doubles shown.

Online multiplayer is perhaps the biggest selling point, and you can find matches or create your own lobby in the DartCounter app. I never had any trouble finding a match, and there were well over 100 live matches in progress every time I checked. You get three free online matches every week. To unlock all the features, including tournaments, unlimited online games, more detailed stats, and the Master Caller using your name, you must subscribe for $6 a month or $40 a year (£6 and £40 in the UK). You get a three-month free trial with the system. Local play is free, with the exception of a couple of games (121 Checkout and Halve It), so you don’t need to subscribe.

I’ve played loads of games over the past few weeks, but I had the most fun playing a tournament with my brother. We had a dartboard in the garage when I was a teen and spent hours throwing darts, but neither of us had played in years. After much hilarity at how inept we had become and plenty of reminiscing, we both got our eye in, and things became competitive. I won the best-of-five classic 501 matches, but then my brother beat me at Around the Clock (I got stuck on the bull’s-eye).

An analysis by WIRED this week found that ICE and CBP’s face recognition app Mobile Fortify, which is being used to identify people across the United States, isn’t actually designed to verify who people are and was only approved for Department of Homeland Security use by relaxing some of the agency’s own privacy rules.

WIRED took a close look at highly militarized ICE and CBP units that use extreme tactics typically seen only in active combat. Two agents involved in the shooting deaths of US citizens in Minneapolis are reportedly members of these paramilitary units. And a new report from the Public Service Alliance this week found that data brokers can fuel violence against public servants, who are facing more and more threats but have few ways to protect their personal information under state privacy laws.

Meanwhile, with the Milano Cortina Olympic Games beginning this week, Italians and other spectators are on edge as an influx of security personnel—including ICE agents and members of the Qatari Security Forces—descend on the event.

And there’s more. Each week, we round up the security and privacy news we didn’t cover in depth ourselves. Click the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.

AI has been touted as a super-powered tool for finding security flaws in code for hackers to exploit or for defenders to fix. For now, one thing is confirmed: AI creates a lot of those hackable bugs itself—including a very bad one revealed this week in the AI-coded social network for AI agents known as Moltbook.

Researchers at the security firm Wiz this week revealed that they’d found a serious security flaw in Moltbook, a social network intended to be a Reddit-like platform for AI agents to interact with one another. The mishandling of a private key in the site’s JavaScript code exposed the email addresses of thousands of users along with millions of API credentials, allowing anyone access “that would allow complete account impersonation of any user on the platform,” as Wiz wrote, along with access to the private communications between AI agents.

That security flaw may come as little surprise given that Moltbook was proudly “vibe-coded” by its founder, Matt Schlicht, who has stated that he “didn’t write one line of code” himself in creating the site. “I just had a vision for the technical architecture, and AI made it a reality,” he wrote on X.

Though Moltbook has now fixed the site’s flaw discovered by Wiz, its critical vulnerability should serve as a cautionary tale about the security of AI-made platforms. The problem often isn’t any security flaw inherent in companies’ implementation of AI. Instead, it’s that these firms are far more likely to let AI write their code—and a lot of AI-generated bugs.

The FBI’s raid on Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home and search of her computers and phone amid its investigation into a federal contractor’s alleged leaks has offered important security lessons in how federal agents can access your devices if you have biometrics enabled. It also reveals at least one safeguard that can keep them out of those devices: Apple’s Lockdown mode for iOS. The feature, designed at least in part to prevent the hacking of iPhones by governments contracting with spyware companies like NSO Group, also kept the FBI out of Natanson’s phone, according to a court filing first reported by 404 Media. “Because the iPhone was in Lockdown mode, CART could not extract that device,” the filing read, using an acronym for the FBI’s Computer Analysis Response Team. That protection likely resulted from Lockdown mode’s security measure that prevents connection to peripherals—as well as forensic analysis devices like the Graykey or Cellebrite tools used for hacking phones—unless the phone is unlocked.

The role of Elon Musk and Starlink in the war in Ukraine has been complicated, and has not always favored Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion. But Starlink this week gave Ukraine a significant win, disabling the Russian military’s use of Starlink, causing a communications blackout among many of its frontline forces. Russian military bloggers described the measure as a serious problem for Russian troops, in particular for its use of drones. The move reportedly comes after Ukraine’s defense minister wrote to Starlink’s parent company, SpaceX, last month. Now it appears to have responded to that request for help. “The enemy has not only a problem, the enemy has a catastrophe,” Serhiy Beskrestnov, one of the defense minister’s advisers, wrote on Facebook.

In a coordinated digital operation last year, US Cyber Command used digital weapons to disrupt Iran’s air missile defense systems during the US’s kinetic attack on Iran’s nuclear program. The disruption “helped to prevent Iran from launching surface-to-air missiles at American warplanes,” according to The Record. US agents reportedly used intelligence from the National Security Agency to find an advantageous weakness in Iran’s military systems that allowed them to get at the anti-missile defenses without having to directly attack and defeat Iran’s military digital defenses.

“US Cyber Command was proud to support Operation Midnight Hammer and is fully equipped to execute the orders of the commander-in-chief and the secretary of war at any time and in any place,” a command spokesperson said in a statement to The Record.