Henri Heikkinen

There's no such thing as the best noise cancelling headphones. There's the best headphones for your ears, your use case and your wallet. This guide was written by a headphone manufacturer, so we're about as biased as it gets. That's why we'll also tell you where our competitors beat us. It hurts, but so does building the Death Star.

What ANC can do, and what it can't

Active noise cancellation (ANC) listens to your environment through microphones and produces an inverse sound wave that cancels out the noise. It kills steady, low-frequency rumble: jet engines, train clatter, air conditioning, open-office drone. What it doesn't kill is speech, screaming kids or sudden clunks, no matter what the ad copy claims. Those get muffled mostly by the physics of the ear cushion, meaning passively.

For a lot of people who get worn down by noise, ANC is a daily-life tool, not a comfort gadget. There's a longer, sourced answer on our headphone questions page. And let's say this outright too: noise cancelling headphones are not hearing protection, and shouldn't be used as such.

Five things that actually matter

1. ANC power and tuning. Open secret of the industry: most noise cancelling headphones run on the same Qualcomm chipset, ours included. Sony makes its own chips. The difference isn't the silicon, it's the tuning: which frequencies get cancelled, and how. According to reviews, the strongest high-end ANC lives in Bose and Sony's flagships, and it costs 350-400 euros. Our hybrid ANC is excellent for the price, but we're not claiming it beats headphones costing twice as much. So the real question is: do you need the best cancellation on the market, or good-enough cancellation and 200 euros back in your pocket? While you're at it, check that the headphones have a transparency mode: it lets you hear the checkout or the platform announcements without taking them off.

2. Comfort. Headphones sit on your head for hours at a time, so weight and clamping force matter more than any frequency response chart. The VMK25.2 weighs about 300 grams, Apple's AirPods Max 385. Clamping force doesn't show up on a spec sheet: you only find out once they're on your head. Try them on if you can, or buy somewhere you can return them. And remember that replaceable ear cushions decide your comfort two years from now too.

3. Battery. The VMK25.2 plays for 55 hours with ANC on. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 lasts 60 hours, so it beats us, and the Marshall Major V lasts over 100 hours, though entirely without ANC. Yes, our model does 95 hours with ANC off too, but who's actually going to use it that way? In 2026, don't accept battery life under 30 hours from anyone.

4. Codecs. If you listen on Spotify, don't worry about codecs. If you listen to lossless music on an Android phone, aptX Lossless is the only route to CD-quality sound wirelessly, and the VMK25.2 is one of the few headphones under 200 euros that supports it. For iPhone users, the codec is AAC regardless of brand, so save your energy for the other line items.

5. Repairability. The most boring spec and the most important one. Headphones you can't repair are a subscription fee: new headphones every two or three years for as long as you listen to music. Ask before you buy what happens after the warranty ends. With us, you can get a repair for 69 euros even years down the line. From most others, you'll get a quote for a new pair. We wrote a whole piece about this: is it worth repairing headphones or buying new ones.

After those five come the everyday small things you only notice once you're using them: multipoint (headphones connected to your laptop and phone at the same time), physical buttons instead of touch surfaces, and a 3.5mm cable included for when Bluetooth won't do. We've got these covered, because we've personally been annoyed by every single one that's missing.

And there's one more feature spec sheets don't know about: ease of use. Good headphones don't ask anything of you. You put them on, hit play, and the world goes quiet. If a device needs an app, an account and a firmware ritual before the first song, it's not a pair of headphones, it's a hobby.

What the price brackets actually mean

Under 100 euros gets you functional basic headphones, where ANC is usually nominal and repairability nonexistent. They're cheap at the till and in the bin three years later. 100-250 euros is the golden zone of sensible spending: the best value for money lives in this bracket, and we'll admit openly that we say so partly because our own models live there too. At 300-600 euros you're buying the last ten percent of performance, an app ecosystem, and a logo you'll recognize from an airport ad. Those are good headphones. You just pay double for every extra percentage point.

Where the big brands win, and where we do

Our homepage has an honest comparison table with the VMK25.2 side by side with the Sony WH-1000XM5, Sennheiser Momentum 4 and Bose QC Ultra, with real numbers. Short version: the big brands win on flagship-level ANC, app settings menus, and brand confidence. We win on price (199 euros against 350-400), on battery against most of them, and on repairability against all of them. You'll find model-by-model comparisons on the headphone questions page. And we're certainly not embarrassed about sound quality next to anyone.

We're also probably the only ones with swappable skins (on the VMK25.2) and the highest customer satisfaction. Granted, that last one is based on our own survey, but it did have over 2000 customers respond.

Let's be honest all the way to the end and tell you when it's actually worth buying a competitor's headphones. If you want the best cancellation on the market and money's no object, buy the Bose or Sony flagship. If you live deep in the Apple ecosystem and 600 euros doesn't scare you, the AirPods Max is the logical choice. If you need the longest possible battery life and don't care about ANC, the Marshall lasts longest. We wrote this paragraph against our own interests, and every sentence in it is still true.

And you don't have to take our word for it alone: Teknavi recently covered how to spot headphones that make listening genuinely easy, and landed on a pretty similar list. We were used as an example in the piece, which delighted the Death Star's funding department greatly.

Over-ear or earbuds

The over-ear model (VMK25.2 for us) gives the best cancellation and the biggest battery, but is the heaviest and warmest. On-ear (VMK15) is lighter and fits smaller heads. Earbuds (NL25) fit in a pocket and under a beanie, but have a smaller battery and lighter cancellation. There's no wrong answer, only the wrong choice for your own use.

Choose based on how you'll use them

If you travel a lot, cancellation, battery and the case matter most: we put together a page on headphones for travel. For students, price matters, and making the study hall noise disappear: headphones for studying. For gamers, latency is what counts, and there are specific ways to handle it: headphones for gaming. For remote workers, the microphone and multipoint matter most, and we cover those in the headphone questions.

Valco's models, and who they're for

VMK25.2 (199 €) is the flagship: aptX Lossless, 55-hour battery, swappable magnetic covers and the whole repairability philosophy. VMK15 (139 €) is a lighter on-ear for smaller heads and budgets. NL25 (169 €) is the earbud model with ANC, if a headband doesn't fit your life. And the used collection has warranty-serviced units starting at 109 euros, with a 24-month warranty.

If your budget is tight

Installment payments work, used ones are a genuine find, and old VMK models get you a trade-in credit toward a new pair. The boring truth is: the best headphones are the ones you can repair. The cheapest headphones are rarely the ones that cost the least in the shop.

Frequently asked questions

Is it worth paying over 300 euros for headphones? If flagship-level ANC or a specific manufacturer's ecosystem is worth it to you, yes. For most people, it isn't.

Which headphones for a flight? Ones with ANC and long battery life, plus an aux cable for the entertainment system. Longer answer: headphones for travel.

Can noise cancelling headphones be used as hearing protection? No. Noise cancelling headphones are not hearing protection, and shouldn't be used as such.

How long should headphones last? As long as they're serviced. Most of the VMK20 headphones sold in 2019-2020 are still in use today, original or serviced. That's our benchmark, and we'd recommend demanding the same from everyone else.

If you'd rather read the entertainment version of the same thing, we've also got our extensive noise cancelling headphones test, where the headphones were tested in, among other things, a private jet and by a dog. And if this guide felt biased, that's because it is. Buy wherever you buy, but buy repairable. If you buy from us, you're funding the Death Star at the same time. That's a kind of sustainability too.