 Wireless headphones are awesome. Of all the gadgets I use on a daily basis, they are the ones that make me most feel like I'm living in the near future. That may sound like hyperbole, but putting on headphones and having music pump directly into my ears without any wires getting in the way is just fantastic. It's the freedom and convenience of wireless headphones that draws me and countless others to them. There are lots of wireless headphones out there, but for this guide we focus on the on-ear and over-ear styles. The best wireless headphones do four things. They connect to your phone reliably, they're comfortable to wear for a long period of time, they're compact enough that you can shove them in most any bag, and most importantly they sound nearly as good as wired headphones. They also should last a long time between charges. Nobody wants to have to charge their headphones as often as they charge their smartphone. Out of all the headphones that we tested, one model stood out from the rest, the Sennheiser MM550x. The MM550x satisfy all the things we're looking for in wireless headphones. They have a strong Bluetooth connection, they're comfortable to wear for a long time, they fold up into a really compact shape and slip into your bag, and they have a great balanced sound that doesn't favor too much bass or too much treble. The MM550x have active noise cancellation, built-in media controls, the option to use them wired if you're on a plane, and a battery that's rated for 20 hours of use. I was able to go multiple days of wearing them on a long commute without having to recharge them in between. The MM550x also offer the option to swap the battery for a spare when it dies, which no other brand of headphones we looked at provided. But as you may have noticed, the MM550x aren't really the best looking headphones and they kind of look goofy on your head. They can also be difficult to pair to your device the first time you use them, but fortunately you only have to do that once. The MM550x are also expensive, sitting at the top of the field of the headphones we tested. But if sound, comfort, and performance are what you're looking for in a wireless headphone, the MM550x can't really be beat. But if they're too expensive for your taste and you're not a fan of their retro done wrong aesthetic, you should check out our runner-up pick, the Bose SoundLink. The SoundLinks are an on-ear design, but they are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn, with pillowy soft ear cushions and a compact lightweight design. Folded up, they're even more compact than the MM550x and they're significantly less expensive than the Sennheiser's. The Bose's also have a great sound, though they're a little heavier in the bass than the Sennheiser's. They also have a 15 hour battery and a voice-guided pairing system. My only real complaint with the SoundLinks is the lack of active noise cancellation and a weaker Bluetooth radio that had more interference and dropouts than the Sennheiser's. The rest of the field has some really good headphone options, but none are as great as our top picks. The new Beats Solo 2 Wireless sound great and they last a long time between charges, but they're not nearly as comfortable to wear for long stretches as the Bose SoundLinks. Sennheiser's MM450x are the smaller, cheaper, on-ear versions of my top pick. They sound great and offer many of the same features as the 550x, but they're not as comfortable to wear as the Bose SoundLinks. They also have the same problem of being as ugly as Sennheiser's larger headphones. Samsung's Level Overs have great sound quality, but they're huge and not very portable. Their touch-based controls can also be kind of finicky to use. Similarly, the Parrot Zik 2 have clumsy touch-based controls on their earcups. The Zik 2's offer some innovative ideas, but in order to control those features you need to use the app, which is annoying, and they just don't sound as good as our other headphones. Jabra's Revo Wireless are a durable, good-looking set of on-ear headphones. They sound good, but they're a bit too bassy and they're not nearly as comfortable to wear as the Bose SoundLinks. But if you can't find the Bose's in stock, the Jabra Revos are a good alternative pick if you're looking for a solid on-ear headphone. Sony has a whole range of wireless headphones, but none of them really stood out compared to the rest of the field. Of the Sonys, the MDR1RBT sound the best, but they're larger and clumsier than the Sennheiser's at the same price. Wireless headphones are all about freedom. Freedom from tangles, freedom from accidents, freedom from wires. They're great, and eventually everyone will be using wireless headphones instead of wired ones. But if you want the best wireless headphones today, the Sennheiser MM550X are the ones you should buy.