These are the best TV, headphones, and audio products of 2023

The Sony WH-1000XM5 have been our favorite over-ear headphones since their release in 2022—and for good reason. They’re an excellent upgrade to the WH-1000XM4, delivering better noise canceling and a comfier fit with lush, customizable sound, loads of features and intuitive controls. The Sony Headphones app is easy to navigate and, best of all, is available for both iOS and Android devices, so functionality is the same regardless of your chosen ecosystem.

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The past year has seen some fierce competition in the true wireless world, but as the dust settles, the Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds are at the top of the heap. Their noise-canceling performance is astounding—especially with troublesome midrange frequency sounds such as coffeehouse chatter—out-of-the-box sound tuning is excellent with impressive bass and midrange response, and their design is sleeker and smaller than previous iterations. If you want to fine tune the sound, there’s a 5-band equalizer in the app as well as a bunch of other features. And as with the WH-1000XM5, these earbuds work equally well with Apple devices as with Android.

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With the Elite 8 Active, Jabra continues to impress with its Active line of earbuds aimed at the workout crowd. The grippy exterior helps to form a secure yet comfortable feel without the need of extra wings that can feel fatiguing during long workout sessions—we were never concerned they’d fall out during our workout testing. Jabra has also upped their IP rating to IP68 to protect them against the elements, even going so far as to protect them from saltwater if you use them at the beach (not to mention the salt content from our sweat). The Jabra Elite 8 Active are the next step in workout earbuds.

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Anker has been at the top of the budget headphones game for a few years now, and the Soundcore Space One are its best offering yet. They’re comfortable thanks to the soft cushioning on the headband and ear cups, and offer impressive noise-canceling performance for the price. Battery life will get you up to 40 hours of listening with the ANC on, and a whopping 55 without, so you only need to worry about charging them every few days. The Anker app includes EQ adjustment and the HearID feature to help customize the sound profile to your liking. It’ll be hard to beat the overall value these headphones deliver.

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The Sony A95L isn't just the best TV of the year, it's one of the best TVs we've ever seen. This quantum dot-enhanced OLED TV offers perfect black levels, remarkable color, and class-leading brightness—all bolstered by Sony's surgically precise picture processing. And if bells and whistles are what you're after, few TVs come close to Sony's Master Series suite of hardware and software enhancements, which cover the gamut from A/V to gaming. It's one of the priciest TVs we've seen this year, but it stands alone on top of the podium.

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If you're shopping for a TV and looking to stretch your dollar as much as possible, you'd be hard pressed to find a better option than the Hisense U8K. With fantastic picture quality and a heaping helping of features, this quantum dot-enhanced, mini-LED TV stands toe to toe with more expensive options. The U8K is one of the brightest TVs of the year, and its local dimming is among the best we've seen, allowing that sensational brightness to be kept in check during darker scenes. It’s also a great way for gamers to save some money on a high-performing TV; it's got two HDMI 2.1 inputs along with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM). You're unlikely to find a better blend of performance and value this year.

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The 55-inch Hisense U6K is a total game-changer, as it brings one of our favorite display technologies to the masses for under $500. For a sensationally low price, the U6K delivers a brighter, more-colorful picture than most TVs in its class. The U6K's inclusion of mini-LEDs makes for better contrast control than most of its competitors, too. And while it isn't as powerful a gaming TV as higher-end mini-LED TVs, the U6K comes equipped with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)—enough to satisfy gamers on a budget.

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In a year of next-level gaming TVs, the Samsung S90C rises to the top. Along with the incredible performance OLED TVs are known for, the S90C delivers just about every gaming-friendly feature one could ask for: a full suite of HDMI 2.1 inputs, AMD FreeSync Premium, Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), and native refresh rate of 120Hz (up to 144Hz for PC gaming). What puts the S90C over the top, however, is the inclusion of Samsung Gaming Hub, the brand's cloud gaming platform. With Gaming Hub, S90C owners can access a host of subscription-based cloud gaming services and stream games right to their TV—no console required. All of these features arrive with the pristine picture quality we've come to expect from an OLED.

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It might sound repetitive, but Roku continues to offer the best, easiest, and least obtrusive streaming experience you can get. The Roku Ultra supports the highest quality picture formats—including 4K, Dolby Vision, HDR+, and HDR—as well as Dolby Atmos. If your wireless network is struggling to get you sufficient speeds, the Ultra box includes an Ethernet port to connect directly to your router or modem for consistently high speed capability. For all the features and support you get, there isn’t a better streaming device out there.

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The Samsung HW-Q990B honestly didn’t leave a lot of room for improvement, but Samsung still managed to squeeze out a bit more functionality with this year’s Q990C. There’s an updated SpaceFit Pro room calibration feature, an improved Adaptive Sound processing mode that offers the best out-of-box listening option, and integration with Samsung’s SmartThings app. But most importantly, the HW-Q990C sounds good with everything—movies and music, alike—with nice channel separation, good dynamics, and a real sense of immersiveness thanks to its Dolby Atmos performance.

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Probably the most innovative audio product of 2023, the Sonos Era 300 was built from the ground up as a Dolby Atmos music speaker—and it delivers. When playing tracks mixed in Dolby Atmos, the soundfield has great depth, spatial placement, and clarity. More than we’d expect possible from a single speaker. Even run of this mill stereo tracks sound excellent coming out of the Era 300. If you’re already a Sonos fan, the Era 300 integrates easily into the Sonos ecosystem, with exceptionally easy setup. One speaker or a pair can even be used as the rear speakers in a full Sonos Atmos home theater setup (we tried it and were blown away).

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