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Best Budget Earbuds for 2024: Cheap Wireless Picks [CNET]
Our Experts
David Carnoy Executive Editor / Reviews
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET’s Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He’s also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Kobo e-books and audiobooks.
Expertise Headphones, Bluetooth speakers, mobile accessories, Apple, Sony, Bose, e-readers, Amazon, glasses, ski gear, iPhone cases, gaming accessories, sports tech, portable audio, interviews, audiophile gear, PC speakers Credentials
- Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
What are the best cheap wireless earbuds?
Over the last 10 years, I’ve personally tested hundreds of budget wireless earbuds. In recent years, the quality of earbuds has drastically improved, offering better sound, more features and surprisingly good performance. Getting a decent pair doesn’t even require a high price tag anymore, so it’s difficult to name just one as the best overall pick. While there are a few models that stand out from the pack, we currently have the Soundcore by Anker P40i at the top of this list. Beats’ new no-frills Solo Buds is a recent addition.
All the earbuds on this list cost $100 or less. I’ve tested all of them and fully reviewed a few of them. As other top affordable wireless earbuds are released, I’ll update this list.
Read more: Best Wireless Earbuds
Best budget wireless earbuds for 2024
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Lightweight and comfortable to wear — I got a good seal with the largest ear tip size — these aren’t a huge upgrade over the Earfun Air S, but they are better. They have slightly larger wool-composite drivers (11mm versus 10mm), slightly improved noise canceling and better battery life (up to seven hours with noise canceling on, according to Earfun).
In short, the Earfun Air 3 delivers strong performance for its modest price, with robust bass, good clarity and a relatively wide soundstage. They also pack in a lot of features, including a wireless charging case and “multidevice” connectivity. (I could pair them to two devices simultaneously but had to pause the music on one device and hit play on the other for the audio to switch.) They’re IPX5 splash-proof and also work well (although not exceptionally well) as a headset for making calls.
Use the code EAP3CNET at checkout at Amazon to drop the price to around $60.
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Earfun has put out a series of wireless earbuds over the last couple of years with one important commonality: They’re very good values, made more so by frequent discounts. The company’s new-for-2024 Earfun Air Pro 3 earbuds feature the latest Qualcomm QCC3071 system-on-a-chip with AptX Adaptive for Android and other devices that support the new LE Audio standard and LC3 audio codec, which is superior to the SBC codec (they also support AAC for Apple devices).
Lightweight and comfortable to wear — I got a good seal with the largest ear tip size — these aren’t a huge upgrade over the Earfun Air S, but they are better. They have slightly larger wool-composite drivers (11mm versus 10mm), slightly improved noise canceling and better battery life (up to seven hours with noise canceling on, according to Earfun).
In short, the Earfun Air 3 delivers strong performance for its modest price, with robust bass, good clarity and a relatively wide soundstage. They also pack in a lot of features, including a wireless charging case and “multidevice” connectivity. (I could pair them to two devices simultaneously but had to pause the music on one device and hit play on the other for the audio to switch.) They’re IPX5 splash-proof and also work well (although not exceptionally well) as a headset for making calls.
Use the code EAP3CNET at checkout at Amazon to drop the price to around $60.
” page-position linktext=”Read our Amazon Echo Buds 2023 review” linkurl=”https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/amazons-new-echo-buds-have-2-key-features-missing-from-other-cheap-earbuds/” like=”~Well-designed inexpensive earbuds ~Good sound for open earbuds ~Strong feature set, including hands-free Alexa” dislike=”~May not fit everyone’s ears comfortably ~Not a ton of bass ~No ANC (they’re open earbuds)” can-collapse=”true” can-truncate=”true” truncate-on-page-load=”true” offer=”{“id”:”44d84e83-2ca6-4238-b263-e31156065355″,”label”:”Amazon Echo Buds (2023)”,”slug”:”amazon-echo-buds-2023″,”edition”:[“us”],”imageId”:””,”imgUrl”:””,”imageHeight”:0,”imageWidth”:0,”typeLabel”:”Series”,”objectType”:”content_product_series”,”icon”:””}” techobjectinfo=”{“uuid”:”44d84e83-2ca6-4238-b263-e31156065355″,”slug”:”amazon-echo-buds-2023″,”name”:”Amazon Echo Buds (2023)”,”productType”:”SERIES”,”updateType”:”EZMONEY”,”mod”:1723007449715}” overridecredit=”David Carnoy/CNET” overridecaption=”
The Echo Buds include removable silicone sleeves that help your get a more secure fit.
” imagegroup=”{“uuid”:”c01ae8ce-3cf6-46ed-a563-bf808e3b15e6″,”alt”:”The Echo Buds 2023 are a good AirPods 3 alternative for less”,”caption”:”
The Echo Buds include removable silicone sleeves that help your get a more secure fit.
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The Echo Buds include removable silicone sleeves that help your get a more secure fit.
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Amazon’s 2023 Echo Buds impressed me in a few ways that I wasn’t expecting. For starters, they sound good for inexpensive open earbuds, delivering decent clarity and ample bass. They also have a robust feature set, including multipoint Bluetooth pairing, hands-free Alexa and ear-detection sensors that pause your audio when you take one or both buds out of your ears.
Their sound falls short of that of Apple’s AirPods 3, which delivers fuller bass and overall fuller, smoother sound (they’re better at handling more complicated music tracks with a lot of instruments playing at the same time). The AirPods 3 cost around $150 and offer only about 15% to 20% better audio. In short, if you’re looking for open earbuds — or “semi-open” as these types of earbuds are sometimes called — the Echo Buds are good value at their $50 list price and even easier to recommend when they go on sale.
The lightweight Elite 4 fit my ears comfortably and offered good, well-balanced sound with punchy bass and decent clarity. They support Qualcomm’s AptX audio codec (for Android and other devices that support AptX) but only the SBC codec for iPhones (no AAC support). The Elite 4 is missing more premium features like ear detection sensors and has a four-microphone array for noise canceling and voice calls (voice-calling performance is good but not exceptionally good). Battery life is rated at up to seven hours at moderate volume levels and the buds have an IP55 water-resistance rating, which means they can take a sustained spray of water and are also dust-resistant. As with a lot of other new buds, you can use either bud independently in a mono mode.
” page-position linktext linkurl like=”~Good sound quality with a comfortable fit ~Decent call quality ~Support Sony’s AptX audio codec for Android devices ~Multipoint Bluetooth” dislike=”~No ear-detection sensors ~Only SBC audio codec for iPhones (no AAC support)” can-collapse=”true” can-truncate=”true” truncate-on-page-load=”true” offer=”{“id”:”8ce5b0c2-0abf-406f-b1c4-42755980c3b5″,”label”:”Jabra Elite 4 True Wireless Earbuds – Active Noise Cancelling Headphones – Discreet & Comfortable Bluetooth Earphones with Spotify Tap Playback, Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift Pair – Dark Grey”,”slug”:”jabra-elite-4-true-wireless-earbuds-active-noise-cancelling-headphones-discreet-comfortable-bluetooth-earphones”,”edition”:[“us”],”imageId”:””,”imgUrl”:””,”imageHeight”:0,”imageWidth”:0,”typeLabel”:”Series”,”objectType”:”content_product_series”,”icon”:””}” techobjectinfo=”{“uuid”:”8ce5b0c2-0abf-406f-b1c4-42755980c3b5″,”slug”:”jabra-elite-4-true-wireless-earbuds-active-noise-cancelling-headphones-discreet-comfortable-bluetooth-earphones”,”name”:”Jabra Elite 4 True Wireless Earbuds – Active Noise Cancelling Headphones – Discreet & Comfortable Bluetooth Earphones with Spotify Tap Playback, Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift Pair – Dark Grey”,”productType”:”SERIES”,”updateType”:”EZMONEY”,”mod”:1723007449701}” overridecredit=”Screenshot by David Carnoy/CNET” overridecaption=”
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Jabra has replaced its entry-level Elite 3 buds with the new-for-2023 Elite 4, which offers active noise canceling and multipoint Bluetooth pairing. What’s a little confusing is that Jabra also sells the Elite 4 Active, a slightly more ruggedized version of the same buds that carries a list price of $120 but sometimes sells for less than the standard Elite 4. So get the Elite 4 Active if it costs less.
The lightweight Elite 4 fit my ears comfortably and offered good, well-balanced sound with punchy bass and decent clarity. They support Qualcomm’s AptX audio codec (for Android and other devices that support AptX) but only the SBC codec for iPhones (no AAC support). The Elite 4 is missing more premium features like ear detection sensors and has a four-microphone array for noise canceling and voice calls (voice-calling performance is good but not exceptionally good). Battery life is rated at up to seven hours at moderate volume levels and the buds have an IP55 water-resistance rating, which means they can take a sustained spray of water and are also dust-resistant. As with a lot of other new buds, you can use either bud independently in a mono mode.
Budget
Before anything else, you’ll want to figure out how much you’re willing to spend on new earbuds. Value priced earbuds continue to improve, so you can find good “cheap” buds for not too much money (less than $60). But if you’re looking for premium buds from Sony, Apple and Bose, be prepared to spend a lot more.
Fit
It’s key that the earbuds you buy fit your ears well. They should offer a comfortable, secure fit. If you don’t get a tight seal with noise-isolating earbuds, sound quality and noise canceling can be dramatically impacted for the worse. Open earbuds don’t have that issue, but they should be comfortable to wear and sit securely in your ears.
Return Policy
Because the fit of your earbuds is so important, it’s critical to buy your buds at a retailer that has a good return policy, in case the buds aren’t a good match for your ears.
We test true-wireless earbuds based on five key criteria, comparing similarly styled and priced models. These criteria are design, sound quality, features, voice-calling performance and value.
- Design: We assess not only how comfortable the earbuds fit (ergonomics) but their build quality and how well the controls are implemented. We also look at water- and dust-resistance ratings.
- Sound quality: We evaluate sound quality by listening to a set playlist of music tracks and comparing the earbuds to top competing products in their price range. Sonic traits such as bass definition, clarity, dynamic range and how natural the headphones sound are key factors in our assessment.
- Features: Some great-sounding earbuds aren’t loaded with features, but we do take into account what extra features are on board. These include everything from noise-canceling and transparency modes (ambient sound mode) to special sound modes to ear-detection sensors that automatically pause your music when you take the headphones off your ears.
- Voice-calling performance: When we test voice-calling performance, we make calls in the noisy streets of New York and evaluate how well the earbuds reduce background noise and how clearly callers can hear your voice.
- Value: We determine value after evaluating the strength of the earbuds against all these criteria and what the buds are able to deliver compared to other models in their price class.
Enlarge Image
Our reviewer David Carnoy testing voice-calling performance on the noisy streets of New York.
David Carnoy/CNETJBL Live Pro 2: Over the years, JBL has put out some decent true-wireless earbuds, but nothing that really got me too excited. That’s finally changed with the arrival of the Samsung-owned brand’s new Live Pro 2 and Live Free 2 buds. Both sets of buds — the Live Pro 2 have stems while the Live Free 2 have a pill-shaped design — offer a comfortable fit along with strong noise canceling, very good sound quality and voice-calling performance, plus a robust set of features, including multipoint Bluetooth pairing, an IPX5 splash-proof rating and wireless charging.
JBL Live Free 2: Like the Live Pro 2, JBL’s new Live Free 2 buds are surprisingly good. With 11mm drivers, six microphones, oval tubes and oval silicon tips, they combine a comfortable fit along with strong noise canceling, very good sound quality and voice-calling performance. Features include multipoint Bluetooth pairing and wireless charging, and they’re rated for up to seven hours with IPX5 water-resistance (splash-proof).
Beats Studio Buds: The Beats Studio Buds look a lot like the rumored stemless AirPods some people have been waiting for. Geared toward both iOS and Android users, they are missing a few key features on the Apple side of things (there’s no H1 or W1 chip), but they’re small, lightweight buds that are comfortable to wear and offer really good sound. While their noise canceling isn’t as good as the AirPods Pro’s, they do have a transparency mode and they’re decent for making calls. Read our Beats Studio Buds review.
Sennheiser CX: If you can’t afford Sennheiser’s flagship Momentum True Wireless 4 earbuds, the CX are a good alternative, though they have . They feature very good sound, plus decent noise canceling and voice-calling performance. The only issue is they stick out of your ears a bit and may not fit some smaller ears. This model, which often sells for less than $100 on Amazon, doesn’t feature active noise canceling but the step-up CX Plus does (the CX Plus is also a good value, particularly when it goes on sale).
Do cheap earbuds sound as good as the AirPods 3rd Gen and AirPods Pro 2?
Apple improved the sound quality of the third-gen AirPods so it raised the bar. That said, many true wireless earbuds that cost less than $100 or even less than $50 offer surprisingly good sound for the money and measure up pretty well against the AirPods and AirPods Pro, although not the AirPods Pro 2, which offer significantly improved sound.
What are the biggest differences between cheaper buds and more premium buds?
Often, the biggest difference is build quality. Premium buds tend to feel sturdier and tend to be built with more premium materials. They also have a more premium look and feel to both the buds themselves and their charging case. In theory, premium buds should hold up better over time. Additionally, they tend to have more features such as ear-detection sensors and they pair with a companion app so you can upgrade the firmware (as well as tweak the sound and possibly customize the controls). Finally, while some cheaper buds have active noise cancellation, the performance of the noise-canceling and transparency modes tends to be better with more premium buds.
Do cheap earbuds work well for making voice calls?
Some do. Many cheaper buds now feature multiple microphones and some do a surprisingly good job when it comes to voice calling. A few models on this list have surprisingly good noise reduction and measure up well against the AirPods, which are known for their strong voice-calling performance.
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