Ask many headphone connoisseurs about their favorite headphones and they might just point you to the Bose QuietComfort headphones. Not surprising, the QuietComfort Ultra Headphones from Bose are the flagship in the field noise-canceling. But that also comes with a price tag of around 390 euros. An investment in your peace of mind, so to speak.

With the Ultra, Bose goes back to a traditional design. Not too much luxury, but a portable model that is easy to fold (and many cannot be as flat as this one). With a battery life of 24 hours, they perform well, but there are much better models. Connoisseurs are particularly pleased with the noise-canceling and sound quality. Top performers at blocking a wide range of frequencies and you can control the intensity of the noise-canceling Adjust for different environments via the companion app.

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Oompf, what a beautiful model with that vegan leather and the softness coating. You can hold that handsome model against your ears for no less than thirty hours before you have to plug it in. Sony's XM5 is a hit and we prefer to stick them to our ears at lightning speed. By the way, it is actually the Sony WH-1000XM5 and the product lives up to the name. The device comes with a lot of bells and whistles, and Sony still gets most of the basics right. Value pads While previous WH-1000X headsets were a bit awkward for those with larger ears, this one is comfortable for everyone.

The ear sensor is good at pausing music when you remove the headphones from your ear, and you won't hear us complain about the option to switch on ambient noise by dragging your hand over the right ear cup. There are some caveats about the waterproofness of the headphones, but there is decent sound quality and a large number of modern functions, such as Find My Device support.

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Headphones are more than handy, but not when you need to charge them and still have to fish them out of a bin somewhere. Oops, just too late to plug in the headphones, and then they disappear back into the cupboard. The clever minds at Sonos came up with the solution: the launch of Sonos' first headphones, Sonos Ace, was celebrated with a collaboration with the well-known Dutch interior design brand POLSPOTTEN. Inspired by the club scene of the 80s and 90s, POLSPOTTEN originated in the late 80s in Amsterdam as a counter-voice to everything that was boring and monotonous.

Here’s how the collaboration works: Sonos Ace can now be hung from the hands of a ceramic accessory called the Hand-Stand, designed to hold Sonos Ace when not in use. This keeps it safe, charged, and always within reach.

Now, about the Sonos Ace: of course, with spatial audio, dynamic head tracking and Active Noise Cancellation, a battery life of up to 30 hours, exceptional comfort and clear conversations.

Sonos Ace x POLSPOTTEN

We have a small soft spot for the design of the Apple Airpods Max. Cool colors and large pads. Everyone is hopping around with it: celebrities and influencers, but also the neighbor. Apple's AirPods Max are just as good one fashion statements like a luxury headset. And that comes with a price tag, because Sony and Bose, models with many of the same functions, sell for almost half the price. There's some room for debate about how many glitches there are, but like Apple's other products, they're the easiest to use. Same operating system as we are used to, really. There's also no denying that the AirPods Max are some of the best over-ear headphones on the market with the premium design, competitive sound profile and Spatial Audio feature.

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