Mashable Selects Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more In My Bag Look Up Creator Playbook Say More AI at School Safety Net Versus Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age All Series From budget to premium options, here are our favorite headphones and earbuds. Bethany Allard is a Los Angeles-based shopping reporter at Mashable covering beauty tech, dating, sex and relationships, and headphones. That basically means she puts her hair through a lot, scrolls through a lot of dating apps, and rotates through a lot of different headphones. In addition to testing out and rounding up the best products, she also covers deals for Mashable, paying an especially obsessive amount of attention to Apple deals and prices. That knowledge comes in handy when she's covering shopping holidays like Prime Day and Black Friday, which she's now done for three years at Mashable. Samantha Mangino, is an e-reader expert. She's tested all the Kindle and Kobo e-readers, diving into the buzziest models. Her love of reading extends beyond the e-reader beat, covering books and authors, too. In the tech space, she covers tablets, smart rings, and headphones. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission. In 2026, a pair of headphones or earbuds is pretty much non-optional. That's why there are hundreds of different headphones and earbuds in varying shapes, sizes, styles, colors, and, of course, prices.

It allows games to be rendered at a lower resolution and then upscaled to a higher output resolution, allowing developers to push for better visuals without the full performance cost of natively rendering at that higher resolution. Our PS5 Pro review noted some games had shimmering textures and distortion around fine text, which can be hard to ignore once you've spotted them. According to Sony, the enhanced version offers fine detail clarity, image reconstruction and stability in motion. Developers who've used it have noted less flickering and afterimages, and more refined details like hair and foliage. The technology is an outgrowth of Project Amethyst, Sony's graphics research with AMD, which has also helped with AMD's machine-learning graphics on PC.

Look Up Versus Say More Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Creator Playbook In My Bag Trending Now Back to School Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Switch Off Mashable Voices All Series Not even the creator of Metal Gear is safe from the dreaded video call layoff. Amanda Yeo is an Assistant Editor at Mashable, covering entertainment, culture, tech, science, and social good. Based in Australia, she writes about everything from video games and K-pop to movies and gadgets. Hideo Kojima has spoken about his shocking split with Sony, revealing that the company not only ended their long-running partnership over a Zoom call, but it also gave no reason for doing so. Though the lauded video game auteur said his mind went blank in shock when he was told the news, he insisted that he doesn't hold any grudge.

Sony will deposit PlayStation Store credit straight into eligible US PlayStation Network accounts to satisfy a 7.85 million antitrust settlement, and many will be happy to learn that there's no claim form to fill in. Anyone who bought a qualifying digital game between April 1, 2019, and December 31, 2023, was enrolled automatically, according to the official settlement website. However, no money can change hands until Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the US District Court for the Northern District of California grants final approval at a fairness hearing in October. Don't mark your calendar and start building a wishlist just yet, though, because more than 4.4 million eligible accounts have been identified. That means once legal fees come out of the fund, the typical share will work out to a less-than-princely sum of a dollar or two in store credit per eligible purchase. If approved, the deal will settle a PlayStation Store class action lawsuit under the Sherman Act, first filed way back in May 2021 over Sony's decision to stop letting retailers like Amazon and GameStop (other outlets are available) sell download codes for PlayStation games.

Look Up Back to School Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable Selects Say More Trending Now Good Connection: Uplifting stories for a digital age Creator Playbook Switch Off Mashable Voices Safety Net Versus All Series Plus, some Sony headphones are getting the Hello Kitty treatment. Bethany Allard is a Los Angeles-based shopping reporter at Mashable covering beauty tech, dating, sex and relationships, and headphones. That basically means she puts her hair through a lot, scrolls through a lot of dating apps, and rotates through a lot of different headphones. In addition to testing out and rounding up the best products, she also covers deals for Mashable, paying an especially obsessive amount of attention to Apple deals and prices. That knowledge comes in handy when she's covering shopping holidays like Prime Day and Black Friday, which she's now done for three years at Mashable.

Sony's budget headphone lineup starts at $70 and includes the WH-1000XM4, WH-CH730N, and WH-CH530 models. Jada Jones is a journalist based outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Sony announced three new pairs of budget headphones. One is a refreshed version of its 2020 WH-1000XM4 headphones. They're solid options for people turned off by Sony's newer flagship headphones.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Sony's best noise-cancelling headphones are 50% off right now Sony's WH-1000XM5 headphones combine top-tier ANC and 30-hour battery life, and they're on sale for $198 (was $400) at Amazon. If you've been itching for a pair of top-tier noise-cancelling headphones but couldn't pull the trigger because of their price tags, now's a good time to make the dive. Right now, the Sony WH-1000XM5 is on sale for $198 at Amazon, which is 50% off its original price and the lowest it's ever been. These headphones regularly top "best of" lists, so that's a real deal.

Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series Three new party speakers have hit the scene. Miller Kern is the Deputy Editor of Shopping and Reviews at Mashable, where she writes and edits reviews, roundups, deals, and news stories about tech products, including headphones, skincare devices, laptops, sex toys, e-readers, robot vacuums, and more. She's been covering all things shopping and tech, including shopping holidays like Prime Day and Black Friday, for Mashable since 2019. Miller can tell you which products are actually worth your money. She also explores trends in the shopping sphere, such as dupes and viral TikTok moments .

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. Gamescom is fast approaching, but there are still lots of new games you can check out before the tidal wave of announcements from that event next week. We'll take a peek at some games that are a little further out as well. Before we dive in, let's take a look at some news from the last few days. Ternox Games says PlayStation is blocking a PS5 version of its stock market game, STONKS-9800, which debuted on Steam in early access in 2023.

Look Up Mashable Selects Mashable Voices Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Say More Safety Net Creator Hub Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Switch Off Trending Now In My Bag All Series Sony's back-to-school sale: Save up to $200 on headphones, earbuds, speakers, and gaming gear Soumya is a deals writer who covers consumer tech, shopping deals, and the products people use every day. With experience writing about everything from AI tools and software to smartphones and home gadgets, she enjoys breaking down product research into clear, useful recommendations. When she's not tracking deals, she's usually comparing products, digging through reviews, and figuring out what actually makes a purchase worth it. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Mashable may earn an affiliate commission.