Sony WF-1000XM4 Industry Leading Noise Canceling Truly Wireless Earbud Headphones with Alexa Built-in, Black

I'm writing this as an Android user, so if you value the Apple ecosystem and multi device connectivity, then these aren't for you. I've also never owned any Airpods to compare. I will compare these to Bose Quiet Comfort earbuds because I own them and secondly, because they are the same price. Sony obviously has their sights set on Bose. The short story is that the Bose are going to be returned and these will be my daily drivers. Read on if you want more details... I purchased the Bose a month ago, so I know the benchmark that Bose set for Active Noise Canceling (ANC) in an earbud. The ANC on the Sony's is excellent and very close to Bose quality. ANC and Mic quality are the two categories Bose wins on, but overall these are superior in every other way mainly because of how feature packed these are. Three huge advantages over Bose: First and most importantly, the sound quality exceeds Bose. A big reason why is the ability to adjust the equalizer in the App to preset settings or save your own custom equalizer settings. These are also the first earbuds to support Hi Res Audio via Sony's proprietary codec, LDAC. If you have an Android phone (sorry iPhone) then you can turn this codec on via the Android Developer Settings (I can confirm that Galaxy S10+ supports LDAC). You can tell the difference LDAC makes to your music. These also support 360 audio (with Tidal and Deezer), which I have not tested, but its there if that is important to you. Second, the design of the Sony's are better. They are sleeker fit than the Bose. The Sony case is ALOT smaller and can fit in the weird front jean pocket (which now serves a purpose). Just look at the picture, the Sony's win hands down when it comes to design. Third, is Sony's Speak to Chat feature that works very well. The earbuds will automatically detect you talking and pause the music so you can carry on a conversation with someone without having to take out the buds. This feature is completely absent from Bose. More Pros: -Robust App with a ton more features than Bose -Better Battery life -Ability to go backwards on tracks (Bose hasn't figured out how to do that yet) -Ability to locate the buds if you misplace them via Google's Find Device App Cons: -The foam tips take some getting used to -No ability to adjust the level of ANC like the Bose -No multipoint Bluetooth connection To sum it up, Sony has now set the bar very high. You won't be disappointed.