WIRELESS NOISE-CANCELLERS

If your high-end hi-fi is being drowned out by external din, try a pair of noise-cancelling headphones

If the premium wireless noise-cancelling headphone category were a boxing weight class, it would certainly be the heavyweight division. Here is where all the biggest brands slug it out, using some of the most innovative, feature-laden and sensational-sounding over-ear designs you can buy, all around the £300 mark. And they don’t come much bigger than AKG, Bose, Bowers & Wilkins and Sony.

If you’ve owned multiple pairs of noisecancelling headphones through the years, chances are that at least one of them was made by Bose. The manufacturer kick-started the noise-cancelling trend many moons ago and over the years, its tech has been consistently among the best, if not the best, in class. Its current flagship pair of Bluetooth noise-cancellers are the Quietcomfort QC35 IIS, complete with built-in Google Assistant.

Better known for its loudspeakers, Bowers and Wilkins is a relative newcomer to high-tech headphones, but the PXS are testament to the brand’s ability to diversify into new markets. Still, it will be a big ask for the company’s first pair of wireless noise-cancellers to win this test.

Sony is no stranger to headphones, but the Japanese giant has made a concerted effort recently to try and knock Bose off its perch. On test here, Sony’s third generation noise-canceller, the WH-1000XM3, boasts some very clever noise-cancelling technology.

AKG has built some outstanding headphones, running from affordable to extremely expensive, so how will its new premium noise-cancellers, the N700NCS, fare against these illustrious rivals?

So those are the contenders. It’s now time to sit back, grab a box of popcorn and see how this heavyweight battle unfolds.