What are the best wireless earbuds for calling in 2024?

Audio quality is the main criterion to consider when buying a pair of wireless headphones. This makes perfect sense. However, we use headphones for listening to music and watching movies, as well as for making calls. Whether for voice or video calls, the quality of the microphone(s) is equally essential.

There are several reasons for this. The microphones are located quite far from your mouth. The Bluetooth connection is not always stable in certain environments, such as when you are on public transport or walking down the street. Finally, the headphones are quite small, which naturally limits the size of the microphones inside them.

Either way, unless you’re planning on walking around with a headset straight out of a call center, you’ll have to settle for what we’ve got. In this comparison, we tested a trio of top-of-the-line models on the market: the Sony WF-1000XM4, the Sennheiser Momentum TW 3, and the Apple AirPods Pro 2.

Notice: Considering that nextpit is an international portal, the audios were recorded in English in the original version of this article. We thought that this should not interfere with the purpose of this article, so we kept the original audios.

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What are the criteria for good microphone quality in wireless headphones?

Microphone quality for calls with wireless headphones depends on both hardware and software. Therefore, wireless headphones are, by definition and design, inadequate for providing decent microphone quality.

Headphone design

Just to reiterate, all models start with one serious drawback: the microphones are located far from your mouth. Manufacturers have to “compensate” for this distance not only to be able to pick up your voice properly, but also to filter out ambient noise that can interfere with calls.

This is very common in the case of circular headphones or earbuds. These models with a “hair dryer” design and boom physically bring the microphone closer to your mouth.

The number of microphones

The easiest way to know if your headphones can provide good call quality is to check their technical specifications, as well as the number of microphones available on each side.

Most high-end models incorporate at least two microphones in each earbud. One is used to transmit your voice, while the other analyzes ambient noise to better neutralize it.

Voice isolation

More and more headphones are offering noise reduction features, not just for audio, but also for their microphones. The most widely used technology is known as cVc (clear voice capture).

So, algorithms built into the software can use the microphones to isolate your voice from ambient noise, but this also allows the headphones to better capture your voice and enhance it if it's too faint.

In general, the best solution is to equip your headphones with a dedicated noise reduction chip. Both Sony and Apple's offerings come equipped with them.

Bluetooth connection types

A stable Bluetooth connection is obviously essential for making calls, and the latest models support the Bluetooth 5.3 standard.

In addition to the microphone quality, having a Bluetooth 5.3 connection with multipoint capability makes it easy to receive or make calls from multiple devices without having to disconnect or unpair.

This also provides us with a better listening experience, making our voice as clear as possible. The audio codec is also another important element to consider. This is not often explained in reviews, but it affects the quality of the microphone. The default SBC codec only provides the minimum call quality.

More HD codecs like aptX, LDAC, or LHDC offer better quality, as long as you have a compatible smartphone and a stable connection.

Nextpit comparison of wireless headset microphone quality

For this test, we used different audio scenarios to analyze the performance of each model. We started with a generic indoor and outdoor test, but also included more specific scenarios.

You can listen to audio clips from each model in this comparison. For each scenario, we recorded each model one after the other during the same session, on the same smartphone, and using the same recording app. I also recorded each scenario using my smartphone’s microphone to show you the difference in quality compared to headset microphones.

If you want to know more, check out the reviews for each model used in this comparison:

Wireless Headphones Microphone Quality Indoors

In this scenario, I was simply sitting in a quiet, enclosed room, alone in our office. There was no background noise or wind to cause me concern.

This is the best-case scenario and serves as a benchmark for evaluating the clarity with which the headphones can reproduce and transmit your voice without any interference.

I found Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 to be the clearest and crispest voice I’ve heard out of any of the other earbuds. The Sennheiser Momentum TW 3 are a bit inferior, but I was particularly surprised by the catastrophic quality of the Sony WF-1000XM4.

I've updated the firmware on each model in this comparison. However, I get the impression that in every scenario, Sony's offering abruptly tried to attenuate my voice, as if identifying it as a parasitic hum. It's really odd, and I'll check for myself whether this mediocre result is due to an error on my part.

Either way, no headset could match the sound from my smartphone's microphone.

Headphone microphone quality outdoors

This time, I recorded my voice outside, walking down the street at random. There were cars passing by, an occasional gust of wind, and people walking and talking around me.

This is the most common scenario where your headphones’ microphone quality will be put to the test. And this is when you need decent quality, as interference is often unavoidable.

In outdoor settings, the AirPods Pro 2 weren’t as effective as they were in the previous scenario. They barely attenuated ambient noise, and my voice was completely drowned out by everything else going on around me.

The Sennheiser Momentum TW 3 was much more efficient, as my voice was well isolated from the rest and words came through clearly. The Sony WF-1000XM4 did a good job of attenuating ambient noise, but it also attenuated my voice, which isn't ideal.

Headphone microphone quality with ambient noise

This scenario is quite similar to the previous one. The only difference? The ambient noise was generated “artificially”. To do this, I played a recording of the office noise on the PC next to me with the volume turned up to maximum.

The idea was to reproduce the same conditions for each headset and have a less random experience than what you would have when leaving the house.

The tricky part is that most of the frequencies here are highly volatile. Human voices and high-pitched sounds are particularly difficult to attenuate because they fluctuate. These are much more complicated to identify and analyze in real time than constant noises, like a car engine, for example.

The results were the same as in the previous scenario. The AirPods Pro 2 let through a lot of noise, while the Sennheiser Momentum TW 3 did better. The Sony WF-1000XM4 were a mess, confusing my voice with ambient noise and leaving me virtually inaudible.

I can't figure out which is which, but I kept thinking I had misconfigured the Sony. I find it hard to believe that the microphone quality is so poor on this pair of headphones that have proven to be excellent in every other department.

Headphone microphone quality with wind noise

Similar to the previous scenario. Still indoors, but this time using a fan at full power to blow air very close to me.

The idea is to simulate wind noise in a more or less controlled environment. Some headphones offer modes that have been specially designed to attenuate wind noise, and this is the case with the Sennheiser Momentum TW 3.

The difficulty is that, in addition to the algorithm that supposedly “cancels” the frequencies, the headphones also need to be designed to withstand gusts of wind, protecting the microphones with mesh filters.

In this scenario, I found the Apple and Sennheiser devices to be neck and neck. Both were more or less able to mask the wind noise generated by the fan. However, I found my voice to be a bit clearer with the Sennheisers. On the other hand, I felt more audible, in terms of pure volume, with the AirPods Pro 2.

Headphone microphone quality with “P” plosives

Here, we’re focusing only on the “P” sounds. We’re talking about plosive consonants. In short, these are sounds that are pronounced with the mouth closed, followed by a sudden release. Ideally, the microphones on your headphones should be able to limit the “pop” when you speak.

The Sennheiser Momentum TW 3 is the clear winner here. There was not a single crackle in the recording.

Headset microphone quality with S-whistles

Whistling sounds in words that begin with the letter S tend to be at the high end of the frequency range. Words that begin with “S” or “F” can create hissing sounds, which can be unpleasant and tiring to the ear.

A good pair of headphones should be able to limit this effect, so as not to give the listener the impression that you are speaking Parseltongue.

In this final scenario, I found that none of the three models excelled. The Sennheiser’s hiss was too high-pitched and irritated my ears. With the AirPods Pro 2, the sibilance was a bit softer, but still audible. It’s hard to say anything about the Sony, as my voice was completely muffled.

That’s all for this non-exhaustive and experimental comparison of wireless headset microphone quality. Feel free to suggest which models you’d like to see in future updates of this article. If you have ideas for new test scenarios to add to my protocol, I’d love to hear them too.

Sony fanboys and fangirls, please calm down. If the mediocre quality of the Sony WF-1000XM4 microphones is partly or entirely the result of a mistake on my part, I will publicly apologize and update this article as soon as possible with new recordings.

To learn more, check out our pick of the best active noise canceling headphones.