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We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
If you want immersive, over-ear listening with active noise cancellation you can wear all day, choose SOAR NBA Active Noise; if you need open-ear awareness for running, cycling and sweaty gym sessions, choose XPAU Bone Conduction Headphones.
• SOAR NBA Active Noise — biggest strength: true over-ear design with Active Noise Cancellation, Bluetooth 5.3 and a huge 40-hour battery figure, plus a wired 3.5 mm fallback. Biggest trade-off: it's a closed, plastic-and-foam over-ear build that blocks your surroundings, so it's a poor fit for anyone who needs to hear traffic or a training partner.
• XPAU Bone Conduction Headphones — biggest strength: open-ear bone conduction with 27 g weight, IPX6 sweat/rain resistance, dual ENC mics and Bluetooth 5.4. Biggest trade-off: bone conduction sound leaks and thin bass by nature, and there's no headphone jack or active noise cancellation.
• Who SOAR is for: commuters, students and desk workers who want quiet focus and long battery life.
• Who XPAU is for: runners, cyclists and gym-goers who rate situational awareness above sound isolation.
• The core clash: sealed, canceled sound vs. open, aware sound. Everything else follows from that.
The SOAR NBA Active Noise is an over-ear, wireless headphone built around one idea: shut the world out. Its noise control is listed as Active Noise Cancellation, and the ear cups are over-ear with a plastic outer shell and headband paired with fabric-and-foam pads. That combination is the classic recipe for passive isolation plus electronic cancellation. The theme is sports and the color is a Chicago Bulls scheme, so it's aimed at fans who want the team look on their head rather than a plain black slab.
What it does best is stamina and flexibility. The battery figure is 40 hours, and the charge time is also listed at 40 hours, which tells you SOAR is treating this as a marathon-listening device rather than something you top up every night. Bluetooth 5.3 handles the wireless side, and there's a 3.5 mm jack for wired listening — genuinely useful on a plane seat-back screen or a dead-battery day. Controls are voice-based, and the driver is a dynamic driver.
Who should buy it: anyone who wants to disappear into a podcast or album on a noisy commute, in a shared office, or on a long flight. The over-ear fit and ANC are there to carve out quiet, and 40 hours means charging is a weekly chore, not a daily one. It's also a sensible pick for a teenager, since the age range is listed as teen and it ships with a 1-year manufacturer warranty.
Who should skip it: if you ride a bike on open roads, run outdoors at dawn, or want to hear your surroundings, this is the wrong tool. Sealed cups and active cancellation are actively working against you there. Skip it too if you hate the feeling of something clamped over your ears for hours, or if you want a headphone you can soak in sweat without a second thought — the fabric and foam pads here are built for comfort, not for drenching.
The XPAU Bone Conduction Headphones sit on the opposite end of the spectrum. This is an open-ear design — the earpiece shape is a circle, the enclosure is ABS, and the driver is a bone conduction driver rather than a dynamic one, with a 15.2 mm driver size, 32 ohm impedance and a 20 Hz–20,000 Hz frequency range. Nothing goes inside your ear canal. The sound is transmitted through bone, and your ears stay open to the world.
That single design choice explains everything else. Because you're not blocking your ears, you get what the spec sheet calls open-ear awareness — traffic, conversation and ambient cues come through. For a runner, cyclist or driver, that's the whole point. The build backs it up: 27 g is light enough to forget you're wearing it, IPX6 means it shrugs off sweat and heavy rain, and the dual ENC microphones with 38 dB sensitivity are there to pull your voice out of wind and gym noise on calls.
The controls are deliberately old-school in the best way. Physical buttons, not touch surfaces: a dedicated plus and minus with haptic feedback, single-tap for play/pause, double-tap for volume, triple-tap to skip, hold for power or voice assistant. Gloves work on them. Sweaty fingers work on them. That matters more than it sounds when you're mid-interval on a treadmill. Bluetooth 5.4 gives you the newer wireless standard with a 15-meter range, and the battery figure is 18 hours — with a Type-C charge that the sheet describes as going from empty to full in under two hours. In the box you get ear plugs, a storage bag, a manual in eight languages, and a 2-year manufacturer warranty.
Who should buy it: runners, cyclists, triathletes, gym regulars and anyone who takes calls while moving. Also worth a look if you simply can't stand things in or over your ears. Who should skip it: if deep bass, total isolation or cinematic immersion is what you're after, bone conduction will feel hollow and leaky by comparison. There's no 3.5 mm jack here either, so it's wireless or nothing.
Side-by-Side: Which Should You Choose?
• Best for outdoor safety and awareness → XPAU Bone Conduction Headphones. Open-ear, nothing blocking the canal.
• Best for battery life → SOAR NBA Active Noise. Its 40-hour figure roughly doubles the XPAU's listed 18 hours.
• Best for workouts and sweat → XPAU Bone Conduction Headphones. IPX6 water resistance and a 27 g frame versus fabric-and-foam over-ear pads.
• Best for calls on the move → XPAU Bone Conduction Headphones. Dual ENC mics with 38 dB sensitivity are specifically aimed at cutting wind and gym noise.
• Best for wired backup → SOAR NBA Active Noise. It has a 3.5 mm jack; the XPAU has none.
• Best for newer wireless standard and range → XPAU Bone Conduction Headphones. Bluetooth 5.4 with a 15-meter range.
• Best for a longer warranty → XPAU Bone Conduction Headphones. 2 years versus SOAR's 1 year.
• Best for comfort over long desk sessions → SOAR NBA Active Noise. Over-ear pads rest around the ear rather than pressing on the temples.
If I had to pick one, I'd buy the SOAR NBA Active Noise — but only because my priority is quiet, long listening sessions at a desk or on a plane, and 40 hours plus ANC plus a 3.5 mm jack covers that better than anything open-ear can. That said, I'd genuinely recommend the XPAU Bone Conduction Headphones to anyone whose listening happens while moving outdoors. In my opinion these two aren't really competing; they solve opposite problems. Buy the SOAR for silence, buy the XPAU for awareness — and if you're torn, let your workout decide. Check the current price on Amazon before you commit, since both sit in very different value brackets.
FAQ
They list Environmental Noise Cancellation, which is about cleaning up your voice on calls via the dual ENC mics — not the immersive active noise cancellation you get on the SOAR. Don't expect the world to go quiet.
The SOAR NBA Active Noise lists 40 hours; the XPAU lists 18 hours. If you charge infrequently and hate cables, the SOAR has the clear edge.
Yes. It has a 3.5 mm jack in addition to Bluetooth 5.3, so you can plug in when the battery is low. The XPAU has no jack and is wireless only.
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