The Best Headphones and Earbuds for Calls in 2023

Many headphones and earbuds, no matter the price, will advertise their quality while making calls, but that doesn’t mean they’re all alike.

Microphone quality in headphones and earbuds varies significantly between similar-looking models, and the advertised specs can be difficult to understand if you’re not an expert. In the worst cases your voice will sound tinny, echoey, and choppy, if the person on the other end can hear you at all. 

When making an important business call, no one wants their voice drowned out by passing traffic or a baby’s piercing cries. Through no fault of your own, you’ll come across unprepared and unprofessional. With more and more businesses moving toward remote work, voice call quality is increasingly vital. 

There are plenty of headphones and earbuds out there that are fine for a quick chat with a family member, but don’t offer enough when it comes to professional work calls. If you take a lot of business calls, it’s pretty much true across the board that you’ll need to spend for quality. 

If budget is a concern, choose cheaper headphones and add a USB or Bluetooth microphone—but keep in mind that this solution won’t be quite as portable. 

These are our recommendations for the best headphones and earbuds for calls in 2023. Note that we haven’t included single-ear headsets in this list: if you don’t need or want stereo sound, one of the options in our roundups of the best Bluetooth headsets or best headsets for working from home may be a better bet.

Best Headset for Calls: Plantronics Voyager Focus UC

Whether you’re working from home or wandering around outside, the Plantronics Voyager Focus UC is a great choice for making calls. Comfortable and lightweight, with excellent sound quality, you’ll get up to 12 hours of active talk time on a single charge.

Unusually for an office-style headset like this, it’s a stereo device that provides audio in both ears. This helps keeps the outside noise level down, helped significantly by the inbuilt active noise cancellation. While the Focus UC wouldn’t be our first choice for listening to music, it does a reasonable job of it given it’s not the main purpose.

The noise-cancelation continues into the three microphones, help to reduce the amount of background noise that makes its way into your calls. Your co-workers will thank you, especially if you’re prone to being interrupted by barking dogs, traffic noise, or other disturbances.

Charging is handled either by a traditional microUSB cable, or unusually, a desk stand that’s bundled with headset. This provides the best of both worlds, letting you power the headset on the go when you need to, and ensuring a full charge and convenient storage when you’re back at your desk.

While our focus in this article is on the Bluetooth side of things, it’s worth noting that the headset also comes with a wireless dongle that plugs into the USB-A port on a Mac or Windows machine if you’d prefer to use that instead.

The only thing we don’t love about the Focus UC is that it’s predominantly made of plastic, which means that durability isn’t quite as high as we’d like it to be. Treat it with a degree of care, however, and you’ll get a high-quality headset that provides impressive sound quality for both you and those you’re talking to.

Buy on Amazon

Best Headphones For Calls: Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700

If you’re more after a premium set of general-purpose headphones that also do a great job on calls, look no further than the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700.

Along with their high-quality noise cancelation, these headphones were designed with voice calls in mind. There are eight individual mics in the system, six of which cancel the noise around you, so you can hear the caller better.

Four of the eight work together to make your own voice as clear as possible by isolating it from surrounding noise and suppressing everything else, even in very loud environments. Some background noise will still break through when you speak, but it’s greatly reduced compared to other models. 

You can control the headphones with voice commands for Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant, or there are touch controls included on the earcup. Another useful feature is the adjustable sidetone, which lets you hear your own voice in the headphones so that you’re aware of how loud you’re speaking on calls. Nobody likes a meeting shouter. 

The design is sleek and sturdy, the fit is well-cushioned, and the Bose 700’s are lightweight, so they’ll stay comfortable even during the longest, most boring conference call. Throw in the large, plush cushions, and these are some of the most best headphones you’ll find for all-day wear.

The headband is made from stainless steel, which means the 700’s don’t fold up. As a result, the protective carrying case is built large enough to lay the headphones flat, with an included compartment to store the USB C charging cable. 

While this makes the case a bit on the bulky side, the stainless steel headband is vulnerable to scratches if the headphones are placed in your bag without it, so it’s worth using. Although the 700’s come with basic splash protection (IPX4), its better to put them back in the case if it really starts to pour. 

The 700’s provide twenty hours of wireless battery life on a single charge, a bit less than other headphones in this price class, but still fine for most situations.  

Music sounds great, with clear details and strong bass, but perhaps not quite as incredible as you might expect for such expensive gear. That said, if your chief use of these headphones is to drown out the outside world and/or make important business calls in potentially noisy or distracting environments, these are definitely top of the line. 

Buy on Amazon

Best Budget Headphones For Calls: Sennheiser HD 450

Not everybody wants to spend a few hundred bucks on headphones. We hear you. The thing is, while there are some great budget headphone options out there in terms of audio quality, none of them are going to blow you away when it comes to making calls. 

With that in mind, our budget pick in this category is the Sennheiser HD 450BT. About half the price of many top-tier offerings, the sound quality is excellent (as usual with Sennheiser), with crisp detail and bass that’s deep but not overpowering.

Bassheads may feel differently, but for the average person, these are a great pair of headphones for listening to music. The battery life is also higher than the two Bose options listed above, with up to 30 hours of play time.

The earcups are somewhat smaller than other models, however, so those with an above-average ear size may find these headphones uncomfortable, and the headband doesn’t have much cushioning to speak of. 

The ANC does a pretty good job of cutting out background noise, although you can’t compare it to top-tier noise-canceling headphones. Of course, it’s also a lot cheaper than those models as well, so it’s pretty good for headphones in this price range. 

When it comes to phone calls, though, the 450BT scores a solid ‘meh’. That is to say, it meets the minimum requirements, but no more than that, and ambient noise can be a problem. It’s an unfortunate reality that when it comes to making quality calls, you’re going to need to spend some money.

These are solid headphones worth trying out, but if the call quality doesn’t live up to expectations, we recommend either returning them and upgrading to one of our top picks above, or pairing them with a USB microphone. Of course, the latter is better suited for making calls from a home or office than while on the move.

Buy on Amazon

Best Earbuds For Calls: Apple Airpods Pro 2

The Apple AirPods Pro 2 earbuds aren’t cheap, but they come with fantastic active noise-cancelation that dramatically reduces ambient sound levels around you. That’s a major bonus when taking calls in noisy environments, at least for the wearer.

As far as the person on the other end of the call is concerned, the AirPods Pro have three microphones on each bud to help isolate the speaker’s voice from the surrounding din. They do a good job in all but the loudest environments, and combined with the ANC, ensure calls are clear and reliable for both parties. 

They come with four different ear tips to ensure a tight seal, from XS to L. That’s one more than the previous generation, and a welcome addition: a secure fit is vital for good noise cancellation. That tight fit, coupled with inbuilt sweat-resistance (IPX4), makes them appropriate for strenuous exercise as well. 

Music sounds nicely balanced, with a good amount of bass and clear vocals. The earbuds have a solid if not outstanding amount of play time per charge (about six hours with noise cancelling enabled), and the wireless charging case provides up to 24 hours of play time.

Wireless charging is built into the case, so as long as you’ve got a Qi-compatible charger, you can just drop the case onto it and walk away. New in this version of the case is a small speaker that lets you know when the battery is low, or to help you track it down when you’ve misplaced it.

Owners of non-Apple devices might also want to keep scrolling: while you can pair and use these earbuds with Android phones and Windows laptops, many of their best features are restricted to those with iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. Sadly, there isn’t even an Android app available.

Overall, then, these are the best earbuds for calls right now if you’re an Apple owner with the money to spend on them. If you don’t mind the price, and want buds that are as good for listening to music as they are your work colleagues, however, the second-generation AirPods Pro can’t be beaten right now.

Buy on Amazon

Best Budget Earbuds For Calls: TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80

Here’s where we run into a bit of a problem. Budget earbuds just don’t make the cut when it comes to making voice calls, at least not professionally.

The TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 wireless earbuds are definitely a good budget option when it comes to calls, but they don’t compare to the models listed above. That said, the microphone noise-suppression technology is solid and reasonably effective at filtering out background noise, which means these buds are fine for calls with friends and family.

 Instead of silicone eartips, the earbuds have a vertical housing made of molded plastic, which makes for a comfortable fit. They have voice-control for basic skip track and volume adjustments, and you can ask them directly how much battery life is left.

The earbuds have inbuilt motion sensors that will automatically pause whatever you’re listening to as soon as you remove the buds from your ears, and audio will start up again as soon as the buds are put back in. 

A downside to these budget buds is the battery life. Those who listen to loud music may only get three hours of playtime per full charge, though the case at least provides an extra five charges.

---

🎶 Curious about more options? We’ve covered the best wireless earbuds, best earbuds for sleeping, and the best noise-canceling headphones. 

---

Main image via Charles Deluvio, product images via Amazon