Last-Minute Gift Ideas: The 7 Best Over-Ear Headphones for Music Lovers

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Over-the-ear headphones have a way of helping you sink even deeper into your favorite tunes, and 2023 has been a good year for music fans.

To make the search a little easier, we’ve rounded up a list of the best over-the-ear, noise-canceling headphones on the market.

The items on our list are available at Amazon as well as Walmart, Target, Best Buy and other major retailers. With Christmas less than a week away, many retailers are offering last-minute holiday sales on select brands, in-store pickup and fast and free shipping in many cases.

Below, find headphones from Sony, Apple, JBL, Bose and other top brands starting at $59.99 and up. For more product recommendations, be sure to check out our roundup of the best wired headphones and the Shop 100 gift guide.

“Sony’s best headphones yet!” Save $50 on Sony’s WH-1000XM5, noise-cancelling headphones. Available in black or silver, these top-of-the-line headphones provide crystal clear sound by way of four microphones and the battery lasts up to 30 hours on a single charge making them great for travel but you can, of course, use them at the office, home, school and the gym.

Major sound at a great price. Marshall’s Major IV Over-Ear Headphones provide unrivaled sound quality with custom tuned, dynamic drivers and a whopping 80+ hours of listening time – that’s three solid days of battery life before you need to charge them again. You can even fold the Major IV for easy storage and they’e available in brown or black colorways. Purchase the Major IV headphones online at Marshall.com and SSENSE and on sale for $89.99 at Amazon.

JBL Live 660NC headphones are equipped with 40mm drivers delivering JBL’s signature, booming sound while adaptive noise cancelling and smart ambient technologies lets you choose which sounds to let in and which to keep out. These headphones feature voice assistant capabilities (with a tap on the ear cup) and up to 50 hours of uninterrupted listening time. If you want a cheaper JBL design, the Live 460NC headphones are on sale for $64.99 (regular $129.99).

Beats Studio Pro offer up to 40 hours of battery life and soft ear cushions that will make you want to keep them on for hours on end. Save up to 50% off Beats headphones at Amazon.

Soundcore by Anker Life Q30 headphones are one of the better, over-ear options that you can find for under $80 — and they’re even cheaper for the holidays. The Life Q30 headphones, on sale for just $59.99 at Amazon, are equipped with active noise cancellation, multiple sound modes and up to 40 hours of playtime.

Available in black or white, the new Bose QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Headphones are currently discounted $50. The headphones offer up to 24 hours of playtime (they charge via USB in up to two-and-a-half hours, while a 15-minute charge gives you up to three hours of juice) and plush ear cushions make it easy to wear them for hours at a time. Bose QuietComfort headphones are available in black, sandstone and white smoke.

Last but not least, Apple’s AirPods Max feel like a larger version of the AirPods, but you can get them in cool colors like sky blue, space gray, green, pink and silver. AirPods Max discounts rarely drop below $50, so if you want to score an even deeper discount, renewed headphones are priced at around $454 and up at Amazon and $240+ on Ebay