Tech
Noise cancelling headphones
Over-ear headphones built to cut outside noise, compared on battery life, noise cancelling strength and price.
We track full-size, over-ear noise cancelling headphones here, not true wireless earbuds. Prices below span a flagship-to-budget range so you can see what changes as the price drops.
What noise cancelling headphones cost right now
We track 4 products here across 8 offers from 4 retailers. Every figure below comes from a price we opened and checked ourselves, on Aug 30, 2026.
- Typical
- $258.22
- Most expensive
- $449
The middle of the 4 best prices on this page
Top of the range we currently track
Where stores disagree today
Same product, different shelf, different price. These are the gaps we found on the dates shown, and they are the whole reason to check before buying.
- Sony WH-1000XM6: $386.49 at Newegg against $399.99 at Target. $13.50 apart, checked Aug 30, 2026.
Best rated by shoppers
Cheapest is not the same as best liked. Of the 4 noise cancelling headphones here that stores publish a rating for, Sennheiser Accentum Plus holds the highest, 4.7 out of 5 from 53 ratings at Target. Its best price today is $129.95. These are the stores' numbers, not ours.
All 4 products we track, cheapest first
Anker Soundcore Space One
A budget over-ear ANC headphone with LDAC support and a long battery rating, for listeners who want real noise cancelling well under 100 dollars.
Sennheiser Accentum Plus
A midrange over-ear headphone with a long battery rating and app-based sound personalization, for listeners who want most of the flagship features without the flagship price.
Sony WH-1000XM6
Sony's current flagship over-ear noise cancelling headphone, for anyone who wants the strongest all-round ANC and call quality money can buy.
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen)
Bose's current flagship over-ear headphone, built around its strongest noise cancelling and a spatial Immersive Audio mode.
What actually differs
The specs that vary across the noise cancelling headphones we track. Sorted cheapest first, so you can see what the extra money is buying rather than guessing.
| Product | Best price | Shopper rating | Battery | Bluetooth | Charging | Codecs | In the Box | Noise Cancelling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anker Soundcore Space One | $99.99 | 4.4 62 | Up to 40 hours with noise cancelling on, 55 hours with it off (Anker's rating) | Bluetooth 5.3, multipoint | A 5-minute quick charge adds about 4 hours of playback in normal mode (Anker's rating) | LDAC, AAC, SBC | Headphones, USB-C charging cable, 3.5 mm aux cable, travel pouch | Adaptive ANC with 5 adjustable levels in the Soundcore app, up to 98% noise reduction claimed |
| Sennheiser Accentum Plus | $129.95 | 4.7 53 | Up to 50 hours with noise cancelling on (Sennheiser's rating) | Bluetooth 5.2, class 1 | Full charge in about 3.5 hours; a 10-minute quick charge adds about 5 hours of playback (Sennheiser's rating) | SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive | Headphones, USB-C cable, carrying case, auxiliary cable, documentation | Hybrid Adaptive ANC with a Transparency mode |
| Sony WH-1000XM6 | $386.49 | 4.4 346 | Up to 30 hours with noise cancelling on (Sony's rating) | Bluetooth 5.3 | 3 minutes on charge gives about 3 hours of playback (Sony's quick-charge rating) | LDAC, AAC, SBC; Hi-Res Audio Wireless certified | Headphones, carrying case, USB-C charging cable, 3.5 mm audio cable | HD Noise Canceling Processor QN3 with 12 microphones, which Sony says processes noise 7x faster than the prior QN1 chip |
| Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) | $449 | 4.6 991 | Up to 30 hours with noise cancelling on (Bose's rating); about 23 hours with Immersive Audio turned on | Bluetooth 5.4, about 30 ft range (Bose's spec) | Full charge in about 3 hours (Bose's spec) | SBC, AAC, aptX Adaptive family (including aptX Lossless and aptX Low Latency); wired USB-C audio up to 24-bit/48kHz | Headphones, carrying case, 3.5 mm to 2.5 mm audio cable, USB-C cable, safety sheet | Ten microphones across the ear cups with Bose's ActiveSense algorithm, plus a spatial Immersive Audio mode |
Common questions
How much should a good pair of noise cancelling headphones cost?
The ones we track run from about a hundred dollars to just under four hundred and fifty. Under that range you generally give up battery life or noise cancelling strength; above it you're mostly paying for marginal ANC gains and premium materials.
Do expensive noise cancelling headphones actually cancel more noise than cheap ones?
Yes, but the gap is smaller for steady low-frequency noise, like engine drone, than for variable noise, like voices. Budget headphones handle the former reasonably well; flagships pull ahead mostly on the harder, more variable kind.
Does higher battery life mean better headphones overall?
Not necessarily. Battery ratings depend on volume and ANC settings during testing, and a longer number can come from a bigger, heavier battery rather than better efficiency. Weigh it alongside noise cancelling strength and comfort, not on its own.
Is LDAC or aptX Adaptive worth paying for?
Only if your phone supports the codec. iPhones don't support either over Bluetooth, so that spec is irrelevant for iPhone owners regardless of which headphone they choose.