The best headphones for work, focus and video calls

For most people who work at a desk, the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless is the pair to buy: adaptive noise cancelling, a battery rated at up to 60 hours, and a cable in the box for wired listening. If meetings fill most of your day, a light office headset with a boom mic, the Logitech Zone Vibe 100, will make you sound clearer than any noise cancelling pair, for much less.

That is the first decision to make, before brand or colour.

Noise cancelling or boom mic: decide first

Work headphones solve two different problems, and few products solve both.

• You want to hear less. Active noise cancelling (ANC) removes the hum of an open office, a fan or a train. It changes your day if you need to focus in a noisy place. The mics built into the ear cups are good enough for daily meetings, but they sit far from your mouth, so a noisy room reaches the other end of the call.
• You want others to hear you better. A boom mic sits close to your mouth and picks up your voice over the room. If you lead meetings, do support or sales calls, or simply spend hours on camera, that matters more than ANC.

If you need both, you can split the job: noise cancelling headphones for listening and a small desk microphone for your voice. We cover that option at the end.

How we picked

• Calls and focus, tested against real use. Each pick has a clear job: focus, meetings, open office, or a desk that turns into a gaming station at night.
• A full working day. Battery life, comfort and the ability to keep a laptop and a phone connected at once (multipoint) count more than sound tuning.
• Sold in your market. Top picks are on sale in both the US and France. When a product is only available in one market, we say so.

Best overall: Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless

The MOMENTUM 4 Wireless gets the balance right for desk work. Its adaptive noise cancellation adjusts to the room, and a transparency mode lets you hear a colleague without taking the headphones off. The battery is rated at up to 60 hours, which is more than a full working week, and when you forget to charge it you can still listen wired with the included cable, handy with a desk DAC or on a plane.

It pairs over Bluetooth 5.2, and the built-in mics handle calls well enough for daily meetings. The white finish with a grey fabric headband suits a bright, minimal desk.

Sennheiser / Headset

Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless

Setuplify score: 8.7/10

White noise cancelling headphones with adaptive ANC and up to 60 hours of battery on a charge.

HeadphonesWired + wireless

$199.95Check priceat Amazon(Affiliate link)

Skip it if you take calls from a noisy room every day: without a boom mic, call quality is only average there. It is also not built for gaming latency.

Best for calls: Logitech Zone Vibe 100

The Zone Vibe 100 is the headset we would give anyone who spends the day in meetings. The noise-cancelling mic sits on a boom that mutes when you flip it up, so you always know whether people can hear you, without hunting for a button in the meeting app.

It is light, with memory foam and knit fabric, and pairs over multipoint Bluetooth with a laptop and a phone at once. It works with the usual meeting apps. Logitech rates it at up to 20 hours of listening, and a 5 minute charge gives about 1 hour.

Logitech / Headset

Logitech Zone Vibe 100

Setuplify score: 7.3/10

Light Bluetooth work headphones with a flip-to-mute boom mic and up to 20 hours of listening.

HeadphonesWireless

$79.99Check priceat Logitech Store(Affiliate link)

Skip it if you work in a loud open office or commute with your headphones: there is no active noise cancellation. It is not suited to gaming either.

If your desk never moves and the budget is tiny, the wired Logitech H390 does the same core job: a noise-canceling boom mic, volume and mute on the cable, and a USB-A plug that works on Windows, macOS and ChromeOS without software. It weighs 197 g, though its leatherette cushions get warm over a long day.

Logitech / Headset

Logitech H390 USB Computer Headset

Setuplify score: 6.6/10

A 197 g USB-A headset for calls, with a noise-canceling boom mic, inline volume and mute, and a 1.9 m cable.

HeadphonesWired

$24.99Check priceat Logitech Store(Affiliate link)

Best premium: Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen)

The Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen) has strong, adjustable ActiveSense noise cancellation and one feature worth knowing for desk work: it plays lossless audio over USB-C from a computer or a phone, on top of Bluetooth 5.4 and a 3.5 mm cable. Plugged into a laptop, it works as a wired headset with no Bluetooth pairing involved.

At about 264 g it is comfortable, the ear cushions are removable, and the Driftwood Sand finish we list suits a warm wooden room. Bose rates the battery at 30 hours, and 15 minutes of charging gives about 3 hours.

Bose / Headset

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen)

Setuplify score: 8.9/10

Bose's flagship noise cancelling headphones, here in Driftwood Sand, with USB-C lossless audio and 30 hours of battery.

HeadphonesWired + wireless

$449Check priceat Amazon(Affiliate link)

Skip it if battery life is your priority (30 hours is behind the MOMENTUM 4) or if price matters: it is expensive. Like the others in this section, it uses built-in mics, not a boom.

If you like Bose but not the Ultra's price, the Bose QuietComfort Headphones sit one step below. You get strong noise cancelling with Quiet, Aware and custom modes, replaceable cushions and a carry case, but a shorter battery (up to 24 hours) and no USB-C audio: wired listening goes through the 3.5 mm to 2.5 mm cable in the box.

Bose / Headset

Bose QuietComfort Headphones

Setuplify score: 8.3/10

Bose's classic noise cancelling headphones, successor to the QC45, with Quiet and Aware modes and up to 24 hours of battery.

HeadphonesWired + wireless

$169Check priceat Bose(Affiliate link)

Best for open offices: Sony WH-1000XM6

The Sony WH-1000XM6 is the pair we would wear in a loud open office or on a train. The HD QN3 processor drives 12 microphones to adapt the noise cancellation to your surroundings, and Sony rates the battery at up to 30 hours with ANC on. It pairs with two devices at once, so your laptop and phone share it, it weighs 254 g, and the frame folds into its case again.

Sony / Headset

Sony WH-1000XM6

Setuplify score: 9.0/10

Sony's sixth 1000X headphones: strong adaptive noise cancelling, 30 hours with ANC on and a 254 g foldable frame.

HeadphonesWired + wireless

$378Check priceat Amazon(Affiliate link)

Skip it if you are in France: we only track a US offer for it at the moment, so the MOMENTUM 4 or the Bose are the picks there. It is also not made for competitive gaming over Bluetooth, and it has no boom mic for long calls.

If your work desk is also your gaming desk

Noise cancelling headphones are poor gaming headsets because of Bluetooth latency. If you work and play at the same desk, a wireless gaming headset that also handles calls is a better single purchase.

• The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless Gen 2 plays 2.4 GHz game audio and Bluetooth at the same time, so a phone call comes through while your PC is connected. Its mic retracts into the ear cup, and the battery is rated at up to 54 hours. The mic is good for chat and meetings, not a studio replacement.
• The SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni adds real 4-mic noise cancelling and a GameHub with three USB-C system inputs, so a work laptop and a gaming PC can both stay plugged in. It is expensive and heavy at 339 g.
• The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5 is the lighter, cheaper option at 265 g. Its USB-C dongle moves from a PC to a phone or a handheld, a Quick-Switch button jumps to Bluetooth for a call, the mic retracts into the ear cup, and the battery is rated at up to 60 hours.

SteelSeries / Headset

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless Gen 2

• Gaming headset
• Wireless

$184.62Setuplify score: 8.6/10

SteelSeries / Headset

SteelSeries Arctis Nova 5

• Gaming headset
• Wireless

$113.99Setuplify score: 8.3/10

SteelSeries / Headset

SteelSeries Arctis Nova Pro Omni

• Gaming headset
• Wireless

$359.99Setuplify score: 8.9/10

For a pure gaming pick, see our gaming headset guide or our wireless gaming headset picks.

Make calls clearer without changing headphones

If you love your noise cancelling pair but colleagues say you sound distant, add a small desk mic rather than a second headset. The Razer Seiren V3 Mini is cheap, takes almost no space on its own base, and its supercardioid pattern narrows the pickup to what is right in front of it. Tap the top to mute, and an LED shows when you are live.

Your camera matters as much as your voice on a call: our webcam guide covers that, our step-by-step guide to looking and sounding good on video calls fixes light and framing too, and our home office setup puts it all together.

Quick summary

• Focus and calls, long battery: Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 Wireless.
• Meetings all day, small budget: Logitech Zone Vibe 100, or the wired Logitech H390.
• Premium noise cancelling, USB-C audio: Bose QuietComfort Ultra (2nd Gen).
• Bose noise cancelling for less: Bose QuietComfort Headphones.
• Loud open office (US): Sony WH-1000XM6.
• Work by day, games by night: SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless Gen 2.

Browse all headsets, or add your pick to the Setup Builder to build the rest of your workspace around it.