In the past, I’ve typically produced a couple of videos highlighting my top headphones and earbuds of the year. In 2026, we’re wrapping things up a bit differently with our Holiday Office Hours from the Labs video series.
Instead of just talking about my favorites, I recently tested the voice-calling performance of some of this year’s best earbuds alongside a set of budget buds. Plus, my colleagues Jada Jones from ZDNET and Eric Zeman from PCMag drop their own top holiday picks for headphones and earbuds.
Read more: Best Wireless Earbuds of 2026
Each premium pair of earbuds I selected for my test has earned a CNET Editors’ Choice award. They include Apple’s AirPods Pro 3, Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 5 and Anker’s Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro. I also threw the $27 JLab Go Pods ANC into the mix to see how a pair of truly budget wireless earbuds would compare. (Spoiler: They weren’t great, but they performed better than I expected.)
I rated the Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro very highly in my review for voice-calling performance, so it’s not surprising that they managed to deliver the best noise reduction, as my voice came across as clear and natural. Check out the whole video above.
David Carnoy
Executive Editor / Reviews
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Kobo e-books and audiobooks. See full bio
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