The Cleer Audio Alpha stands out as a cheaper Bose alternative with better sound, longer playtimes, and respectable noise cancellation.

Cleer's Alpha Noise Canceling headphones are a good-sounding, airplane-ready offering packed with enough features to make them a top value compared with similar models from Sony and Bose.

A lot of its qualities are just made better by the Cleer+ app, but on its own, this is a fun sound that’s so easy to like. The noise-canceling is strong and effective in any setting, and all of its controls are instantly responsive. Using the ALPHA goes off without a single hitch, making it one of the most modern wireless headphones you can buy right now. For that price, I wouldn’t miss out on the Cleer Audio Alpha.

There are a lot of headphones in this price range. I haven’t heard a lot of them, because I spend a lot of time with higher-end products. Still, the sound of the Cleer Alpha headphones is musical, even with the imposition of electronic noise shaping. Listening on Bluetooth to the same tracks was a good experience, but the sound was slightly more compressed, and frequency limited. I could hear this in the sizzle of the percussion in the high-resolution Goldfinger tracks and the choral singing in Alpha and Omega. That’s just inherent in Bluetooth codecs, no fault of the Cleer Alpha.

These are an excellent pair of over-ear headphones for someone who doesn't want to replace their cans every other year.

For $199, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a closed small portable that has a powerful presentation and tone like this. Yes, it has some clarity issues on the bass with control, and also on the treble. But the midrange bloom is highly enjoyable, and the headphones themselves are just a fun experience with good sound fidelity from top to bottom.

Cleer Audio Alpha marry good looks and Dirac’s proprietary spatial audio solution, but their heaviness both sonically and physically prove wearing over time