Our picks for Samsung loyalists

The nearest thing that Samsung has to its own form of AirPods, the Samsung Galaxy Buds do a ton of things well, especially for Samsung smartphone users. Pairing is a simple and speedy matter of opening up the case and waiting for your phone to do the hard work for you. The rest of the experience is just as simple too, with easy-to-use touchpad controls on the earbuds, and useful bonuses like music that automatically pauses once you take both earbuds out of your ears. The sound quality is good for the price too, being well balanced and allowing for upscaling. They’re great all-around headphones, especially if you don’t want to spend a while tweaking.

Simply put, the Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones sound fantastic. They’re a little bulky, which means they don’t entirely fit into your lifestyle when commuting, but when you just want to relax at home and listen to music via headphones, they’re near flawless. Besides offering a balanced audio experience, they have three levels of noise cancellation so you can block out the world. There’s also Alexa and Google Assistant support, which is great for those times when you don’t mind talking to yourself at home. A comfy and snug cushioned fit means you can wear them for hours with no discomfort, too.

The Beats Solo 3 look super stylish and are ideal for fashionistas. They’re also good if you want high quality active noise cancellation thanks to their ability to match with your surroundings. Elsewhere, we’re impressed by the Beats Solo 3’s S-Voice support. It’s Samsung’s dedicated voice assistant and it can be pretty useful when you want more information without having to type. A tap of the button is all that’s between you and using it. Also, a mere 5 minute charge can provide you with up to 3 hours of playback, which is sure to be convenient. 

When you’re on a budget, you need to make a few sacrifices. Fortunately with the 1MORE Triple Driver in-ear headphones, the only sacrifice you need to make is to stick with wired headphones over Bluetooth connectivity. Other than that, these are impressively high quality for the price. The audio quality is fantastic thanks to the use of two balanced armatures and a separate dynamic driver, and they’re very comfortable to wear with a choice of nine different sets of ear tips. Just make sure you have a Samsung phone with a headphone jack. Newer phones like the Note 10 don’t, but then if you can afford that, you should be able to afford wireless earphones. 

When out running, you want to enjoy punchy sound and that’s what the Creative Outlier Gold offers extensively. That’s in part to its Super X-Fi technology that provides you with personalized sound by mapping your head beforehand. In our experience, it works a little more effectively via the Android app rather than the iOS app, making it a perfect choice for Samsung owners. Sound quality is notably improved once mapped correctly, plus there are other benefits like smart assistant support, sweatproofing, and that impressive 14 hour battery life. Just bear in mind they’re a little bulkier to wear than some other earbuds. 

With a wraparound neckband, the Samsung U Flex headphones are perfect for when you’re working out and don’t want your earbuds slipping out or wires getting in the way. Thanks to a magnetic design, they easily snap and fold together so it’s easy to store the Samsung U Flex in your gym bag. There’s a companion app that only really works well with Samsung smartphones, so you’ll need to stay brand loyal. The app allows you to tweak the equalizer so while your music won’t sound quite as good as with a more expensive pair, it’s not bad at all.