As a frequent flier, the rumble of airplane engines and endless drone of crying babies has made active noise canceling headphones my non-negotiable travel companion. And for over half a decade, I reached for the same pair — Bose’s QuietComfort 35 II — every time, until I finally decided to upgrade this holiday season. Even then, I only upgraded because I was ready to ditch my final micro-USB gadget in favor of something with USB-C.
Of course, the Bluetooth audio market has changed quite a bit since 2018 with better noise canceling tech, sleeker designs, features galore, and an explosion of wireless earbuds. Beyond all of that, though, the core values of comfort and build quality matter the most to me. Needless to say, when spending hundreds of dollars on a piece of tech, you’d expect it to last a while.