Category: Technologies

If you’re a commuter or just want that extra something to help you focus, noise-canceling headphones are the way to go. Headphones with active noise cancellation make it easier to focus in on your music, podcasts or audiobooks by blocking outside noises. This can make noisy commutes on the bus or train much more bearable. Active noise cancellation (or ANC) is achieved by microphones on the headphones that detect noise and work to eliminate it before it reaches your ears. They’re particularly good at canceling out continuous droning sounds like jet engines or railway tracks, making them a favorite of frequent commuters and travelers.

The truth is that budget headphones aren’t as great for listening to music and other audio as premium noise-canceling headphones from Sony, Bose and others, but you can find some pretty decent noise-canceling models for far less money. Here’s a look at some of the best cheap noise-canceling headphones I’ve tried, all of which cost less than $100, and a few even come in under $50. All of these headphones offer decent sound quality, active noise cancellation and a comfy earcup to boot (not an earbud to be seen on this list).

Looking for the best ANC headphone for audio, regardless of price and style? Check out the best noise-canceling headphones and the best noise-canceling true wireless earbuds. This story was recently updated.

Read more: Best Budget Smartwatches Under $100

David Carnoy/CNET

Anker SoundCore Life Q30

Best sound under $100

Battery Life

Rated up to 60 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Over-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

As far as sound, comfort level and build quality go, you’d be hard-pressed to do better than Anker’s SoundCore Life Q30 for the money. It doesn’t have quite the clarity or bass definition as some of the top premium models, but it’s less than a third of the price and gets you about 75% of the way there in terms of sound. It’s well balanced overall, with punchy bass, and there’s an app that allows you to tweak the sound. Noise canceling is good for the price, though not up to the level of the Sony WH-1000XM4 or Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. Battery life is rated at an impressive 40 hours with USB-C charging.

The only area where the Q30 falls a little short is for voice calls. It picks up your voice fine in quieter environments but it just doesn’t reduce background noise all that well.

Compared to the Q20 (see below), the Q30 does offer improved sound (it’s not a huge difference, but it definitely is a notch up) and a more premium design. There’s also the new Life Q35 ($130), which adds support for Sony’s LDAC audio codec for high-resolution audio streaming with music services that support it. I’m not sure it’s worth the upgrade for $50 more, but hopefully the Q35 will come down in price over time.

$60 at Walmart

$60 at Amazon

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Edifier W820NB

Comfortable with good sound

Battery Life

Rated Up to 49 Hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

No

Headphone Type

Over-Ear Wireless Headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP Rating

Edifier’s makes some good-sounding PC speakers and true-wireless earbuds and it’s done a nice job with its W820NB noise-canceling headphones. The first thing you’ll notice about them when you put them on is that they’re comfortable — the earpads are nicely cushioned and the headphones fit snugly on your head. They also sound good for their price, offering just enough clarity and decent bass performance. Their sound didn’t blow me away but I was fine listening to these headphones for a while; they sound pretty pleasant.

There’s also an ambient mode that lets outside sound in and a low-latency gaming mode. They’re decent enough for voice calling and battery life is pretty impressive with up to 49 hours of battery life on a single charge at moderate volume levels (and noise-canceling off).

A couple of things are missing. There’s no carrying case or headphone jack — they’re Bluetooth only. But the 820NB headphones are still a good value.

$70 at Amazon

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Anker SoundCore Life Q20

Best around $50

Battery Life

Rated up to 40 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Over-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

Anker’s SoundCore Life Q20 is arguably the best value in noise-canceling headphones. Not only do these budget noise-canceling over-ear headphones sound quite decent for their regular list price of $60 (they often sell for $10 less with an instant coupon at Amazon), they’re also comfortable to wear thanks to their puffy ear pads. Expect that price to go down even a bit more as Anker has now released the SoundCore Life Q20 Plus, which adds app support and USB-C charging (instead of Micro-USB).

No, the Life Q20 doesn’t sound as good as premium Bluetooth headphones such as the Sony WH-1000XM5, but the audio quality sounds pretty good, which is all you can ask for noise-canceling headphones at this price. It’s fairly well balanced with a reasonable amount of clarity and plump bass that’s not bloated or muddy (there’s a bass boost or BassUp mode if you want an extra helping of bass with your music). Also, the noise cancelation is acceptably effective at noise reduction and blocking out ambient sound and it’s decent enough as a headset for making calls. Battery life is good at 40 hours. A simple carrying pouch is included.

$58 at Walmart

$60 at Amazon

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Wyze Noise-Cancelling Headphones

All-around solid for around $80

Battery Life

Rated up to 20 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Over-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

Founded by four former Amazon employees, Wyze is known for its value security cams but it’s now doing a nice job with value headphones. Its over-ear noise canceling headphones offer a comfortable fit with deep memory foam ear pads and solid all-around performance. Their noise canceling is quite good, although you do get some added passive noise isolation from the tight seal the ear pads give you (your ears will get pretty steamy in warmer weather). These are Alexa-enabled, so all you have to do is press a button to access Amazon’s voice assistant, or you can use your phone’s native voice assistant if you prefer. There’s also a transparency mode that lets ambient sound in.

As for sound quality, these are on the warmer side — they have lots of bass and a pretty open soundstage, though they lack that extra clarity and definition you get from higher-end models (the bass is a touch loose). In other words, the sound is quite good for the money but not ridiculously good.

Battery life is rated at up to 20 hours at moderate volume levels and I thought the headset performance was decent as well. A cloth carrying pouch is included along with a USB-C charging cable and a cord for using these as wired headphones.

$45 at Amazon

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JLab Audio Studio ANC

Best cheap on-ear noise-canceling

Battery Life

Rated up to 34 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

No

Headphone Type

On-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

There aren’t too many on-ear noise-canceling headphones. Beats’ Solo Pro is one of the best, but it’s rather expensive at $300, though we’ve seen it on sale for half that price. Meanwhile, these cheap noise-canceling headphones, the JLab Studio ANC, cost less and deliver solid all-around performance for a budget model with decent sound quality, noise canceling and battery life (28 hours with ANC on). While they may not be stellar for making calls, they do work well as a headset — callers said they could hear me clearly, even with some outside noise around me. A carrying pouch is included.

The Studio ANC headphones are reasonably comfortable for an on-ear model (I prefer over-ear), but those with bigger heads may feel it clamps a little too tightly.

$28 at Amazon

$30 at Target

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Amazon

Tribit QuietPlus

Good cheap Bose knockoff (Update: Out of stock)

Battery Life

Rated up to 30 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Over-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

Tribit makes one of our favorite budget pairs of headphones for sound quality — the Tribit XFree Tune. That’s not an active noise-canceling headphone, however. This model is. You can find similar wireless ANC headphones from other generic headphone companies on Amazon (Taotronics, for example, has a model with a similar design), but this over-ear headset does sound quite decent and its noise canceling works pretty well and eliminates plenty of ambient noise and background noise. It doesn’t sound quite as good as the XFree Tune does with music, but it’s among the better sounding budget models in this roundup and also features USB-C charging. Plus, it has a decent battery: Battery life is rated at 30 hours.

$58 at Walmart

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Panasonic RP-HTX90N

Best design

Battery Life

Rated up to 24 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Over-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

Panasonic calls the style of its RP-HTX90N Bluetooth headphones “retro-modern” and that’s exactly what it is. Based on one of our favorite budget wired pairs of earcup headphones, the RP-HTX80, this wireless version with active noise canceling is comfortable and lightweight. These are warmer closed-back headphones that lack treble clarity and aren’t terribly dynamic, but the audio quality is pleasant overall. Battery life is rated at 24 hours of playback, and a 15-minute quick charge gives you two and a half hours of juice.

The noise canceling is decent, though not stellar. Ultimately, for its slightly higher price tag, the biggest reason to buy this model is for its design and comfort level.

$37 at Ebay

More Headphone Recommendations

• Best Noise-Canceling Earbuds of 2022
• Best Over-Ear Headphones of 2022

• Apple AirPods: Tips and Tricks for Your Wireless Headphones
• Best Record Player for 2022
• Best True Wireless Earbuds of 2022
• Best Noise-Canceling Headphones of 2022

Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory may have achieved a remarkable new high point for fusion reactions, generating even more energy than was pumped in during a recent experiment, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The publication suggests scientists “with knowledge of preliminary results from a recent experiment” have discussed the result and analysis is ongoing. A major announcement is scheduled to take place at LLNL on Tuesday, Dec. 13. It’s expected to be livestreamed by the Department of Energy at approximately 7 a.m. PT.

The National Ignition Facility operates an “inertial confinement fusion” experiment, which sees almost 200 lasers fired directly at a tiny capsule of hydrogen. According to Nathan Garland, a physicist at Griffith University in Australia, the lasers create a plasma around the capsule which eventually starts an implosion — these conditions allow for fusion reactions to take place.

Fusion is the reaction that powers our sun and it works by smashing two atoms together. This requires extreme pressure and extreme heat but trying to recreate the conditions in a lab is “super difficult,” noted Garland.

The energy released by fusing two atoms together is massive and, importantly, releases no carbon dioxide. Unlike fission — splitting atoms — used in nuclear power plants, fusion also leaves behind no radioactive waste and there’s no risk of meltdown, either. In short, if we could harness fusion power, it would revolutionize energy, allowing us to generate clean power without pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

If the FT report and chatter on social media is correct, scientists at LLNL could have achieved “fusion energy gain” which is denoted by the letter Q. In a fusion experiment, if Q > 1, then we’re on our way to a bona fide energy breakthrough, one that scientists have long been dreaming of reaching. “It is a big deal for sure, if true,” Garland said.

But, as with all science, it’s good to be cautious and not overhype results yet to be fully analyzed. We have been here before, after all. In 2013, reports swirled the NIF had achieved this exact feat. It wasn’t the case.

In more recent times, though, NIF has taken big strides toward achieving the goal. In August 2021, researchers reported they had, for a brief moment, re-created the power of the sun in a self-sustaining reaction. That’s a good pedigree and one that makes us here at CNET Science feel a little more confident in the rumors.

A spokesperson for LLNL told CNET “our analysis is still ongoing, so we’re unable to provide details or confirmation at this time” and provided a link to the media advisory — which, in all caps, suggests a “MAJOR SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH.”

The result won’t mean that we suddenly have an endless supply of energy. It’s likely the reaction that took place at NIF lasted for just a fraction of a second or even less. But this is the first step in a journey toward fusion energy as a viable, serious technology to power our world. It provides a proof of concept that fusion experiments like this can reach Q > 1.

So while I’m always cautious about throwing around the word “breakthrough” when reporting on cutting-edge science — especially in the realm of fusion energy — it does feel like it might be justified here. We’ll have to wait and see.

Updated Dec. 12: Changed sentence to “smashing two atoms together” rather than “heavy” atoms because hydrogen is, of course, a very light atom.

Before the US Federal Trade Commission sued to block Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, Microsoft reportedly offered its competitor Sony the right to sell military shooter as part of its PlayStation Plus service, Bloomberg reported Monday.

The offer would help Microsoft avoid scrutiny by regulators such as the FTC, which are pushing back against the deal.

Sony and Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for confirmation on the offer.

In its lawsuit against Microsoft, the FTC argued that the software giant will “harm competition” among game console makers including Sony and Nintendo.

The FTC said in its complaint that Microsoft had used previous acquisitions, including of ZeniMax Media, to make several high-profile upcoming titles like the space exploration game Starfield and the vampire shooting game Redfall exclusive to devices powered by its software.

“Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content fromits gaming rivals,” Holly Vedova, director of the FTC’s Bureau ofCompetition, said in a statement. “Today we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over aleading independent game studio and using it to harm competition inmultiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets.”

Company executives have spent the past couple months making assurances to public audiences and various government regulators around the world that Microsoft would not abuse its position as one of the largest video game publishers and the maker of the Xbox game console.

“We have been committed since Day One to addressing competition concerns, including by offering earlier this week proposed concessions to the FTC,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a statement after the FTC’s announcement. “While we believed in giving peace a chance, we have complete confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present our case in court.”

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick released a statement Thursday saying, “I want to reinforce my confidence that this deal will close.”

The FTC’s move against Microsoft marks one of the US government’s biggest efforts to take on the tech industry, which has witnessed companies like Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta becoming some of the most highly valued companies on the planet. Amid all that growth, competitors and regulators have been asking whether the tech industry has too much power and whether companies have been acting as monopolies.

Sony and its PlayStation console division have raised concerns about the deal to regulators in the US and abroad, saying Microsoft’s assurances to keep hit titles like Call of Duty available for the PlayStation aren’t enough.

Microsoft has faced stiff resistance from European Union regulators over this deal. In October, the European Commission asked other game developers for opinions on the acquisition. The commission opened an in-depth investigation into the deal in November, and Microsoft is reportedly ready to make concessions to appease the regulator.

While FTC’s action doesn’t mean Microsoft’s deal is dead, a move like this by a federal regulator can lead to its failure. In 2011, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against AT&T when it attempted to merge with T-Mobile in a deal worth $39 billion. AT&T abandoned the deal later that year.

In 2009, 19-year-old folk singer Taylor Mitchell was attacked by a pack of coyotes while on a hike at the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Canada. She was just about to start the popular Skyline Trail when climbers in the area saw the animals close- in, unprovoked.

Onlookers called 911, and Mitchell was airlifted to a hospital in Halifax, but 12 hours later, she died from her injuries.

This marked the very first documentation of a coyote attack in North America that resulted in a human adult fatality (in 1981, 3-year-old Kelly Keene was killed by a coyote on her family’s property), raising questions about whether it’s no longer safe to co-exist with these furry mammals.

“We didn’t have good answers,” Stan Gehrt, a professor in Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources and leader of the Urban Coyote Research Project, said in a statement.

But after conducting a multi-year investigation into the incident, Gehrt appears to have offered some insight into the situation at last.

According to a paper published last month in the Journal of Applied Ecology, he along with a crew of wildlife researchers found that coyotes in the region of Mitchell’s attack have adopted an unusual dietary change. Rather than rely on smaller mammals like rodents, birds and snakes for food, they seem to be hunting moose for their meals due to extreme climate conditions forcing the former to move away.

As such, the team believes it’s possible these coyotes learned to attack larger mammals, like humans, and are therefore more prone to killing people.

“We’re describing these animals expanding their niche to basically rely on moose. And we’re also taking a step forward and saying it’s not just scavenging that they were doing, but they were actually killing moose when they could. It’s hard for them to do that, but because they had very little if anything else to eat, that was their prey,” Gehrt said. “And that leads to conflicts with people that you wouldn’t normally see.”

Coyote forensics

Before and after the 2009 tragedy, Gehrt’s project noticed a few dozen less-severe human-coyote incidents in the park as well. He and colleagues even fitted them with what are basically GPS trackers so they could document the animals’ movements and better understand why they were behaving in such surprisingly vicious ways.

“We had been telling communities and cities that the relative risk that coyotes pose is pretty low, and even when you do have a conflict where a person is bitten, it’s pretty minor,” he said. “The fatality was tragic and completely off the charts. I was shocked by it — just absolutely shocked.”

To arrive at their conclusions — that coyotes in Cape Breton National Park were feasting on large moose – the team first collected whiskers of both the coyotes implicated in Mitchell’s death and those related to other more minor incidents between 2011 and 2013. They then collected fur from a wide range of potential coyote prey such as shrews, southern red-backed voles, snowshoe hare, moose and even humans — for humans, they gathered hair from local barber shops.

Seth Newsome, a professor of biology at the University of New Mexico and corresponding author of the study, performed an analysis of specific carbon and nitrogen isotopes within all the samples.

Eventually, Newsome confirmed that, on average, moose constituted between half and two-thirds of the animals’ diets, followed by snowshoe hare, small mammals and deer, according to the press release. Plus, the researchers analyzed coyote droppings, which confirmed the isotope findings further.

Interestingly, they also only found a few examples of individuals having eaten human food, debunking any claims that coyotes’ attraction to human food might’ve been a factor in Mitchell’s attack.

“These coyotes are doing what coyotes do, which is, when their first or second choice of prey isn’t available, they’re going to explore and experiment and change their search range,” Gehrt said. “They’re adaptable, and that is the key to their success.”

From those movement devices, the team tested to see whether coyotes in the park were just familiar with people. However, patterns showed that the animals largely avoided areas of the park frequented by people. Instead, they preferred walking around at night.

“The lines of evidence suggest that this was a resource-poor area with really extreme environments that forced these very adaptable animals to expand their behavior,” Gehrt said. Or as the paper puts it, “our results suggest extreme unprovoked predatory attacks by coyotes on people are likely to be quite rare and associated with unique ecological characteristics.”

If you’ve been interested in trying League of Legends but were put off by the thought of having to unlock 160-plus characters, Microsoft has great news for you. The wildly popular multiplayer online battle arena is coming to Xbox Game Pass. It’s a behemoth of a partnership: League has been around since 2009, has spawned an unbelievably successful esports scene and has even been turned into a Netflix animated series. And Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is CNET’s pick for the best deal in gaming. This new partnership makes that already great deal even better.

The presence of League (and Riot Games’ other titles, like Valorant and Legends of Runeterra) in Game Pass isn’t a huge deal in itself. League of Legends is free to play, so you don’t save money by getting access to the game through Game Pass. You do, however, get access to every single League of Legends champion for free for as long as you keep your Game Pass subscription.

Game Pass Ultimate

See at Xbox

I did the math: There are currently 162 champions in League. They cost, on average, about $6.50 to unlock. That means you’d save more than $1,000 with Game Pass, compared with paying to unlock each champion individually. For context, that would pay for more than five years of Game Pass Ultimate. You’ll also immediately unlock new champions when they’re released, typically about five times per year.

A few caveats worth mentioning: First, paying for champions isn’t the only way to unlock them — the game lets you unlock champions for free over time. Players can use Blue Essence, which you acquire just by leveling up and earning the first win of the day. There’s also a rotation of 16 free champions to play each week, which lets you sample other champions for a week at a time. So you can unlock the whole roster without paying for champions — just very slowly over time.

Second, Game Pass technically doesn’t grant you ownership of all 162 champions, according to Riot’s FAQ. It unlocks them for play, but the game doesn’t consider you an owner, which means you won’t be able to buy skins for the champions you’ve only unlocked with Xbox Game Pass. You’ll still need to buy the champion if you want to buy skins (using paid Riot Points or free Blue Essence). Champions and other content that you’ve unlocked with Game Pass will have a special indicator as a differentiator from content you own.

That means if you end your Xbox Game Pass subscription, or if the partnership dissolves in the future, you’ll no longer have access to the champions you’ve only unlocked through Game Pass. But champions you own will still be available to you.

Still, this partnership is a steal if you’re new to League of Legends or Valorant, especially if you already have Game Pass. (Valorant agents can also be unlocked for free over time but cost $10 to unlock immediately. Players will save about $140 compared with paying to unlock new agents, not to mention future ones.) You’ll have the ability to try out new champs and agents at will, and still have the ability to permanently “buy” the ones you really like for free, just by playing the game.

You can link your Riot account to your Xbox profile by going to the Xbox sign-in page and signing in to both your Xbox and Riot accounts. If you already have Game Pass, you should get a notification when you sign in to the game once the content has been unlocked. Riot says this process may take up to 24 hours.

If you aren’t already subscribed, Xbox Game Pass for PC costs $10 per month, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which combines the console and PC passes and also includes cloud gaming, costs $15 per month.

You’ve likely seen the new filter your friends have been using on social media that transforms their photos into artwork. It’s called Lensa AI, and the viral photo-editing app takes your uploaded photos and creates “magic avatars” using your face. However, the photo editor doesn’t come without privacy concerns. We’ll explain below.

Lensa AI is free to download on your phone, but you’ll have to pay $4 to upload up to 20 photos for editing. You’ll then receive 50 avatar images based on the photos you submitted.

We’ll explain what you need to know about the Lensa AI photo-editing app. For a look at a similar image service, read about the NewProfilePic photo editor.

What is Lensa AI?

Lensa is a photo-editing app available on iPhone and Android with a feature that takes your uploaded selfies and turns them into avatars. The app can also be used to edit your photos, from skin retouching to blurring backgrounds, and can be used to edit videos.

The service isn’t free to use, but the app has quickly topped the charts in the iPhone App Store’s Photo & Video section. A monthly subscription will run you $8, and an annual subscription costs $30.

Who created Lensa?

Lensa isn’t new. Actually, it’s been around since 2018 and was created by Prisma Labs, which also has a self-named photo-editing app. Based in California, Prisma Labs was founded in 2016 by Alexey Moiseenkov and a team of Russian developers, including Andrey Usoltsev, Oleg Poyaganov and Ilya Frolov.

When Moiseenkov resigned as CEO of Prisma Labs and left the company in 2018, Usoltsev took the lead and became the CEO, a Prisma Labs representative told CNET.

Soon after launch, Prisma became one of the most downloaded apps in the world and won the App of the Year award from both the iOS App Store and Google Play.

What are the concerns with using Lensa?

Since the app recently gained popularity, privacy concerns have surfaced — specifically, about how user data is being used. For instance, Lensa can use your uploaded photos to train its AI.

The Lensa privacy policy says it doesn’t use your uploaded photos for anything other than to apply filters and effects to them. However, it adds a slew of ways it may use your information (other than photos and videos), including the following:

• To train its neural network algorithms.
• To provide, improve, test and monitor the effectiveness of Lensa.
• To provide personalized content and information to you in relation to Lensa.
• To diagnose or fix technology problems in relation to Lensa.

See the full list here.

There’s also the app’s terms of use, which states that when you download the app and upload your photos, you’re granting Lensa a “perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable, sub-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, create derivative works of your User Content, without any additional compensation to you and always subject to your additional explicit consent for such use where required by applicable law.”

What Prisma says happens to your avatars

The Prisma Labs representative told CNET the following: “After the batch of Avatars is created, the shared photos are deleted permanently from our servers, as well as the copy of an individually trained model. Each time a user purchases a new pack of Avatars, the process repeats from scratch; that’s why we ask you to upload photos every time you request a new package.”

What to do if you’ve already used the app

If you’ve recently submitted your photos to the app and are now concerned with how your data is being used, you can take action. You can send an email to privacy@lensa-ai.com and request that your personal data be deleted. If your photos are being used in advertising, send an email to contact@lensa-ai.com to remove those permissions.

However, the Lensa privacy policy adds that it may reach out to you to better understand your request “in case of a vague access, erasure, objection request or any other request in exercise of the mentioned rights.” And if this isn’t possible, it notes that it reserves the right to “refuse granting your request.”

Any approved requests could take up to 90 days to process.

If you decide to use the app, we recommend carefully reading the terms and conditions, as well as the privacy policy, to know what you’re getting into.

For more, here are seven privacy tips security experts wish you knew.

With the headphone jack now being part of the feature list that’s specific to select devices, Bluetooth headphones have become even more prevalent in recent years. However, the key feature of great Bluetooth headphones is the ability to connect to two devices at the same time.

The capacity for connections to multiple devices simultaneously allows people to do things like play video games, watch movies or perform other tasks, while also monitoring their phone in case an urgent call comes in — or maybe they just want to listen to music while engaged in another activity. That’s where multipoint Bluetooth earbuds come in.

Multipoint Bluetooth pairing shouldn’t be confused with multiconnection Bluetooth, which allows you to pair several devices (often up to seven or eight) to your headphones and have the headphones remember the device for easy repairing. However, without true multipoint Bluetooth pairing, a given pair of headphones can only be actively paired to one device at a time — you have to manually switch over to another device if you want to access that as the audio source.

Apple and Samsung offer a variation of multipoint Bluetooth pairing called “automatic switching,” which only works for their respective devices. For instance, you can have your AirPods Pro connected to your iPhone and Mac simultaneously (and an iPad) but a non-Apple device can’t be in the mix for simultaneous pairing. Samsung’s various Galaxy Buds have a similar arrangement with Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

In the past, business-focused headphones — some of which featured integrated boom microphones — offered advanced multipoint Bluetooth pairing. But the feature has gradually come to more consumer headphones, which are what we’re focusing on here. (We also have a list of best headphones for WFH that includes some of the more business-class headsets with boom mics and USB dongles for reliable wireless PC connectivity.) Unfortunately, multipoint Bluetooth pairing isn’t easy to implement at all, let alone implement reliably, particularly with true-wireless earbuds.

“Up until recently, Bluetooth chips supported a maximum of two simultaneous connections,” explains Jonathan Levine, CEO and founder of Master & Dynamic. “This makes multipoint easy for headphones, where a wire connects both ear cups. However, for a true wireless product, one of the two connections gets consumed by the other earphone — leaving only one available connection to an audio source. Cutting-edge connectivity protocols have allowed true wireless products to connect much more seamlessly and bypass the maximum limit of two connections.”

Still, some companies like Master & Dynamic and Jabra, which have been early adopters of the latest Qualcomm SoCs (systems on a chip), added multipoint — and sometimes other features — via a firmware upgrade long after their new earbuds have launched. The Jabra Elite 7 Pro has finally been upgraded with multipoint Bluetooth and Master & Dynamic’s MW08 and MW08 Sport should get the feature soon. Both companies use Qualcomm chips.

That said, enough headphones now support multipoint that we’ve pulled our favorites together here. Note that this list does not include the aforementioned Apple and Samsung headphones, as their respective automatic switching only works within their own branded ecosystem.

David Carnoy/CNET

Bose QuietComfort 45

Latest Bose

Battery Life

Rated up to 25 hours

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Over-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

The QuietComfort 45 has virtually the same design as its predecessor, the QuietComfort QC35 II, which many people considered one of the most comfortable over-ear headphones — if not the most comfortable. It has the same drivers, according to Bose, and the buttons are in the same place. However, there are small but notable changes. First off, these thankfully have USB-C instead of micro-USB.

Secondly, the microphone configuration is different. Not only have the mics been shifted on the headphones, but there’s now an extra external microphone for voice pick-up, which means the QC45 has a total of six microphones, four of which are beamforming and used for voice. By contrast, the QC35 II has a total of four, two of which are used for voice. (The Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 also have six microphones total.)

These headphones are excellent for making calls. They’re similar to the Bose Headphones 700 in that regard. They also include top-notch noise canceling and multipoint Bluetooth pairing, so you can connect them with a PC and your phone simultaneously. Read our full review of the QuietComfort 45.

$329 at Bose

$229 at Amazon

$229 at Best Buy

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Sony WH-1000XM4

All-around favorite multipoint headphone

Dec 2020

Battery Life

Rated up to 30 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Over-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

When Sony released the WH-1000XM4 in 2020, it highlighted a couple of key improvements beyond slightly better sound and noise cancellation. The headphone not only offers better voice-calling performance but it adds multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can connect to two devices — such as your phone and PC — at the same time. That means that if a call comes in while you’re using the headphones with your computer the audio will switch to your phone when you answer the call.

The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 probably still have a slight edge for voice calls, but the 1000XM4 is arguably a tad more comfortable and also has some other slight improvements to its noise canceling and sound that makes it a great all-around choice for working from home.

Read our Sony WH-1000XM4 review.

$348 at Amazon

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Technics EAH-AZ60

Premium Panasonic multipoint buds

Battery Life

Rated up to 7 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Wireless earbuds

Water-Resistant

Yes (IPX4 — splash-proof)

Panasonic’s Technics EAH-AZ60 buds don’t have quite as premium a feel as the earlier EAH-AZ70W, but they sound sweet with clean, well-balanced sound, well-defined bass and good detail. They feature active noise canceling (it’s good), a transparency mode, multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can connect to your computer and phone at the same time and it has very solid voice-calling performance with good noise reduction. The buds are IPX4 splash-proof and are rated for up to 7 hours of battery life on a single charge at moderate volume levels.

They’re missing a couple of features usually found at this price point: Namely, an ear-detection sensor that automatically pauses your music when you pull the earbuds out of your ears, and wireless charging (the former feature is more important). The step-down EAH-AZ40 also sound good but the EAH-AZ60 not only have larger drivers (8mm compared to 6mm), but they support Sony’s LDAC audio codec and have two additional microphones for voice calling and noise canceling (the EAH-AZ40 doesn’t have noise canceling).

$200 at Amazon

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Mark Levinson No. 5909

Great if you can afford it

The No. 5909 are premium audio brand Mark Levinson’s first headphones. Yes, they’re expensive at $999 and probably a wee bit overpriced, but they’re excellent. They have a sturdy design without managing to feel hefty on your head (read: they’re substantial, but not heavy) and they’re comfortable to wear over long periods thanks to their nicely padded (and replaceable) leather-covered earcups and headband.

Not only do they have good noise canceling and excellent sound, but their voice-calling performance is top-notch, making them one of the best noise canceling headphones options on the market. Plus, they have multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can pair them with two devices, such as a computer and a phone, simultaneously.

The No. 5909 are high-res certified with support for Sony’s LDAC and Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive codecs that allow for near-lossless streaming over Bluetooth. Apple’s iPhones and iPads don’t support those codecs while certain Android devices do. Using the No. 5909 headphones over Bluetooth on my iPhone 13 Pro, it sounded a tad more natural and refined than the AirPods Max (the No. 5909 had a touch more “pure” and accurate sound).

I did notice a difference when I paired the No. 5909 to my Google Pixel 4 XL, which has support for LDAC, and using the Qobuz audio streaming service that offers high-res streaming. Overall, the sound had a little more depth and texture, and there’s a touch more sparkle, definition and openness.

Read our Mark Levinson No. 5909 review.

$999 at Music Direct

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Creative Sound Blaster Jam V2

Budget on-ear multipoint headphones

Battery Life

Rated up to 22 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (Qualcomm cVc 8.0)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

On-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

I was a fan of Creative’s original Sound Blaster Jam headphones that came out in 2015 and had a decidedly retro look and feel, with good sound for the money. Now they’re available in a 2.0 version that has some key upgrades, including Bluetooth 5.0, USB-C charging, improved call quality and multipoint Bluetooth pairing that allows you to pair it to two devices simultaneously. Battery life is rated at up to 22 hours.

I was able to pair this wireless headphone set with a Mac Mini and an iPhone 12 Pro and then switch audio between them. Often when pairing Bluetooth headphones with Mac and Windows PCs, one can encounter some issues, but once I got the headphones paired with both my PC and phone, they made a good pair of work-from-home headphones. Also, the price is right for parents looking for a decent set of kids’ headphones for remote learning and everyday use.

Comfortable for on-ear headphones, the Jam V2s are lightweight and have nicely balanced sound with good detail and bass that’s ample but not overpowering. Call quality was good in my tests with callers saying they could hear me well even on the noisy streets of New York. No carry pouch is included, but you do get an extra set of foam ear pads, which is good, because they will wear out over time.

The headphones have physical buttons for controlling volume and playback, and there’s aptX support for devices that support the wireless streaming codec.

Read our Creative Sound Blaster Jam review.

$30 at Amazon

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Soundcore Liberty Pro 3

Top Anker multipoint earbuds

Battery Life

Rated up to 8 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Wireless earbuds

Water-Resistant

Yes (IPX4 — splash-proof)

Anker makes several earbuds that cost less than $100. But its Soundcore Liberty Pro is its “high-end” model that features premium sound, as well as support for Sony’s LDAC audio codec with compatible devices (mostly Android phones).

Available in four colors, the third-gen Liberty 3 Pro buds have updated dual drivers and are about 30% smaller than their predecessor. They fit my ears significantly better than the Liberty 2 Pro earbuds, which I didn’t love as much as some people. This new version is improved and a good value compared to other so-called premium buds.

The Liberty 3 Pro deliver a solid noise-canceling experience (they also have three different transparency modes) and feature Anker’s HearID ANC that “analyzes your ears and level of in-ear pressure to create a tailored profile that optimizes noise reduction and reduces external sound to suit your ears.”

The earbuds also perform well — though not exceptionally — as a headset for making calls and feature multipoint Bluetooth pairing. They’re IPX4 splash-proof and deliver up to 6 hours of battery life with noise canceling on and up to 8 hours with it off. The case charges wirelessly, and I liked how the tips of the buds are illuminated by a pair of LEDs on the inside of the case when the buds are charging.

$149 at Walmart

$100 at Best Buy

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Jabra

Jabra Elite 45h

Best value on-ear multipoint headphones

Battery Life

Rated up to 50 hours

Noise Canceling

No

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

On-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

Released in mid-2020, the Jabra Elite 45h were essentially billed as the best on-ear headphones for the money. While there’s nothing fancy about them, they’re among the best value on-ear headphones right now, with good sound quality, a sturdy design and comfortable fit — for on-ear headphones, anyway. They perform well as a headset for making calls too, and include a sidetone feature that allows you to hear your voice so you don’t talk too loudly. Battery life is also good and it has multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can connect to your computer and your phone at the same time, and easily switch between the two should a call come in on your phone. It mostly works.

Note that the $274 Evolve2 65, which has an integrated boom microphone, is essentially the souped-up office version of these headphones.

$70 at Amazon

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Amazon

Soundcore by Anker Life Q30

Value noise-canceling multipoint headphones

Battery Life

Rated up to 60 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Over-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

As far as sound, comfort level and build quality, you’d be hard-pressed to do better than Anker’s SoundCore Life Q30 for the money. It doesn’t quite have the clarity or bass definition as some of the top premium models, but it’s less than a third of the price and gets you about 75% of the way there in terms of sound (it’s well balanced overall with punchy bass and there’s an app that allows you to tweak the sound). Noise canceling is good for the price, though not up to the level of the Sony WH-1000XM4 or Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. Battery life is rated at an impressive 40 hours with USB-C charging.

The only area where the Q30 falls a little short is for voice calls. It picks up your voice fine in quieter environments but it just doesn’t reduce background noise all that well. However, it does offer multipoint Bluetooth pairing and is a solid value overall.

$80 at Walmart

$80 at Amazon

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Jabra

Jabra Elite 7 Pro

Line-topping Jabra buds

Battery Life

Rated Up to 8 Hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Wireless Earbuds

Water-Resistant

Yes (IP57 — Can be Submerged for 30 Minutes Up to 1 Meter)

Coming in at 16% smaller than the Elite 75t, the Elite 7 Pro are Jabra’s top-of-the-line earbuds in its new range and include the company’s new MultiSensor Voice technology with a bone-conduction sensor, four microphones and intelligent algorithms to deliver new “ground-breaking call quality,” Jabra says. The voice calling performance doesn’t quite live up to the hype, but Jabra has updated the buds’ firmware and added multipoint Bluetooth pairing and other small improvements.

These have adjustable active noise cancellation, Jabra’s HearThrough transparency mode and Bluetooth 5.2. They offer up to nine hours’ play time at moderate volume levels with noise canceling on, and nearly three additional charges in the charging case — total battery life is rated at 35 hours. The charging case has wireless charging capabilities.

The earbuds’ IP57 rating means they are dust-resistant and fully waterproof (they can be submerged in up to 1 meter of water). For those who like to use only a single bud, you can also use either bud independently in a mono mode.

$120 at Amazon

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Shokz

Shokz OpenRun Pro

Best bone-conduction

AfterShokz has changed its name to Shokz and released new ninth-gen bone-conduction headphones that offer improved bass performance compared to the company’s earlier flagship model, the Aeropex (now called the Shokz OpenRun). That makes the OpenRun Pro the best bone-conduction headphones you can get right now, although they still can’t match the sound quality of traditional headphones.

Bone-conduction wireless headphones don’t go on your ears — they actually deliver sound through your cheekbones. The big benefit of this technology as a safety feature for running is that, thanks to its open design, you can hear what’s going on around you — traffic noise in particular — while listening to music or having a phone conversation (yes, they perform well for voice calls). Also, some race coordinators don’t allow runners to wear anything in their ears, which is where headphones like this come in handy.

They do offer fuller sound with more bass, but it’s an incremental improvement, not a huge leap forward. Like other bone-conduction headphones these are strongest in the midrange where voices live so they’re best for podcasts, talk radio, newscasts and audiobooks. They’re also good for making calls and, like other Shokz models, have multipoint Bluetooth pairing.

Shokz also makes other more affordable models as well. The OpenComm, which integrates a boom microphone, also has multipoint Bluetooth pairing.

$180 at Amazon

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Jabra Elite 75t

Previous-generation pick

Dec 2020

Battery Life

Rated up to 7.5 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Wireless earbuds

Water-Resistant

Yes (IP55 — protection against low-pressure water streams)

While Jabra’s Elite 75t series has been out a while, they’re still one of the better true wireless earbuds out there and have added noise canceling via a firmware upgrade. Earlier firmware updates improved voice-calling performance. These buds were also among the first to offer multipoint Bluetooth pairing and use different wireless technology from Jabra’s latest buds.

The Elite 75t isn’t quite as comfortable to wear as the AirPods Pro, but they arguably sound a touch better, with clearer overall sound and slightly better bass definition, so long as you get a tight seal. (The step-up 85t have more powerful bass.)

With the arrival of Jabra’s new line of wireless earbuds that includes the Elite 3, Elite 4, Elite 7 Active and Elite 7 Pro, we’re seeing nice discounts on the Elite 75t. Even though it’s an older model, it remains a good value at around $100 and sometimes costs less. Alas, Jabra’s latest buds, while good, don’t offer any major improvements.

Read our Jabra Elite 75t review.

$102 at Amazon

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Jabra Elite 85t

Business-class Jabra

Battery Life

Rated up to 7 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Wireless earbuds

Water-Resistant

Yes (IPX4 — splash-proof)

With the arrival of Jabra’s Elite 7 Active and Elite 7 Pro earbuds, the once top-of-the-line Elite 85t are no longer Jabra’s best buds. But they were released after the Elite 75t — they’re bigger and have more powerful noise canceling — and should stick around for a while.

The Elite 85t include a wireless charging case (it’s a $20 upgrade for the Elite 75t), larger 12mm drivers for improved sound and six-microphone technology — three on each ear, two on the outside, one on the inside — for improved voice calling with better noise reduction (four of the microphone are used for active noise canceling).

Like the Elite 75t (and new Elite 7 Active and Elite 7 Pro), these earbuds feature multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can pair them with your phone and computer at the same time (and take calls with your phone when they come in). They’re IPX4 splash-resistant and deliver 5.5 hours of battery life with noise canceling on and 7 hours with it off.

Read our Jabra Elite 85t review.

$120 at Best Buy

$120 at eBay

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Microsoft

Microsoft Surface Headphones 2

Windows friendly

Battery Life

Rated up to 20 hours

Noise Canceling

Yes (ANC)

Multipoint

Yes

Headphone Type

Over-ear wireless headphones

Water-Resistant

No IP rating

Microsoft’s over-ear noise-canceling Surface Headphones 2 were released in 2020 and the biggest change from their predecessor is the price: The original Surface Headphones launched at $350, while the Headphones 2 cost $250. Like the original, there’s a lot to like about this second-gen model. While they’ve lost their hands-free Cortana voice-control feature (a change no one will lament) and the sound quality hasn’t improved (it’s decent but not stellar), the combination of some small design tweaks, better battery life, upgraded Bluetooth and the new lower price help bump their rating up and make them more recommendable.

Their multipoint Bluetooth pairing capability allows you to pair them with two devices at the same time and since they’re Microsoft headphones, they are designed to be paired with Windows PCs, including the company’s Surface models. These also work well for making voice calls on your phone.

Read our Microsoft Surface Headphones 2 review.

$250 at Walmart

$240 at Amazon

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Tablets have gotten pretty advanced over the past few years, and some of the latest models work great as a simple and more compact alternative to a full-size laptop. Take, for example, Lenovo’s Tab P11. This 2021 model is something of an Android version of the top-rated Duet Chromebook, and right now you can pick one up at a discount. Amazon currently has the upgraded Tab P11 Plus on sale for just $300, which is $120 off the usual price.

The big attraction here is that — unlike a lot of tablets — this deal also includes a detachable keyboard cover and Lenovo’s Precision Pen 2. In other words, it’s got everything you need for both work and play in the box. There’s no set expiration on this deal, so there’s no guaranteeing how long it will be available.

While the P11 Plus tablet won’t be able to compete with Lenovo’s powerful full-size laptops, it boasts some pretty impressive specs for its size and is perfect for light work and entertainment on the go. It features an impressive 2K 11-inch display, and at just 0.3 inches thick and weighting in at just 1.1 pounds, it’s extremely portable. Internally, it’s equipped with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage, plus a MediaTek Helio G90T Tab octa-core processor for speedy performance. It runs the Android 11 operating system, which means it has access to thousands of apps from the Google Play Store, and it has a battery life of up to 15 hours on a single charge.

If you’re in the market for a different model, you can check out our roundup of all the best tablet deals you can shop right now.

Amber is a window into the past. Entomologist George Poinar Jr. peered into a 30 million-year-old piece of Dominican amber and spotted something rare: an extinct fossilized cockroach, complete with sperm cells. In a statement on Monday, Oregon State University called it “the first fossilized roach sperm” ever discovered. So yay?

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Amber is what you get when sticky tree resin hardens and fossilizes over time. It’s famous for preserving unlucky flora and fauna that wandered into its path. Amber gives us remarkable glimpses into life long ago, from exquisite flowers to bizarre bugs. Poinar has an extensive resume of amber discoveries and continues to turn out fascinating finds.

The fossilized cockroach is about three-tenths of an inch (7 millimeters) long. “It has long spines, used for defense, on its legs, especially the hind legs,” said Poinar. “Also of interest is the sperm bundle containing spermatozoa with dark acrosomes, structures covering the head of the sperm, since fossil sperm are rare.” The sperm cells were found at the tip of the roach’s abdomen.

Poinar published a description of the roach in the journal Biologia this month.

A spider’s erection, and other cool things trapped in amber

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Just in case you think cockroach sperm might be the strangest thing ever found in amber, I refer you to this E.T.-looking insect. And this bird with freaky long toes. And these mold pigs. Amber is the gift that keeps on giving.

Poinar named the roach species Supella dominicana. Curiously, its closest modern relatives are found in Asia and Africa, far away from the Dominican Republic. This presents a bit of a mystery. Said Poinar, “So what caused these cockroaches to become extinct when it is so difficult to get rid of them today?” That’s an open question.

Cockroaches don’t have the greatest reputation among humans. They’re unwelcome house guests associated with filth and the spread of germs. Don’t expect experts to crack this amber open to attempt to retrieve those sperm cells. This roach is history. Said Poinar, “Many might say that the best place for a cockroach is entombed in amber.”

Just like your in-game gear, the mouse, keyboard and other equipment you use for gaming can end up being the difference between victory and defeat. And if your setup is in need of an upgrade, then now’s a great time to do some shopping. Woot currently has a selection of both new and refurbished Razer gaming gear that you can pick up at a discount, including keyboards, headsets, streaming cameras and more. These deals are available through Dec. 14, but Woot often has a limited supply, so we’d recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

Razer makes some of our favorite gaming gear on the market, and right now you have a chance to pick some up at a bargain. The Cynosa V2 is a membrane keyboard with fully programmable macros and customizable RGB backlighting, and was named one of our favorite gaming keyboards under $100 for 2022. And right now, you can snag a refurbished model for just $25, which saves you $60 compared to the original list price.

If you do a lot of online gaming, then a proper headset is crucial for chatting and strategizing with your teammates. We named the Razer BlackShark V2 the most comfortable wired PC headset under $100, and right now you can pick the a refurbished model of the upgraded BlackShark V2 X for just $40, which saves you $20 compared to the original list price. It’s equipped with 50mm drivers, passive noise-cancellation capabilities, support for 7.1 surround sound and is compatible with Xbox, PlayStation and PC systems.

And if you’ve got aspirations of being a big-time game streamer, you’ll need some proper equipment to help you get started. This streaming starter kit comes with a Razer Kiyo X full HD streaming webcam with built-in auto-focus and a Razer Seiren USB microphone with a 14mm condenser capsule and a precise supercardioid pickup pattern so you’ve got everything you need to start you channel. This kit is in new condition, and is on sale for just $65, which saves you $60 compared to the usual price. You can also pick up both pieces separately for $40 or less in case you only need one or the other.