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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, Nook e-books and audiobooks.
Expertise Mobile accessories and portable audio, including headphones, earbuds and speakers Credentials
- Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
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Our Picks
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Apple AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C): $199
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Earfun Air Pro 3: $54
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Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones: $379
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Sony WH-1000XM5: $328
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Anker Soundcore AeroFit Pro: $130
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Anker Soundcore Space One: $79 (black only)
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Looking for a deal on a new set of headphones or earbuds? We've rounded up the best current deals on headphones and earbuds and will continue to update this page as we find more top deals.
Read more: Best Wireless Earbuds for 2024
Best deals on headphones and earbuds
Pros
- Lightweight design, now with USB-C charging
- Excellent sound and noise canceling
- Powered by Apple's H2 chip
- Strong voice-calling performance
- Support for 20-bit/48 kHz Lossless Audio with Apple's Vision Pro headset
Cons
- No support for high-resolution audio with other Apple devices except headset
- Still no XL tips included
Full Review Read full review
Apple not only swapped in USB-C for Lightning connectivity in its new iPhone 15 models, but it made the switch with the AirPods Pro (2nd generation). The new AirPods Pro 2 with MagSafe (USB-C) are nearly identical to their Lightning predecessor, delivering the same excellent sound, noise canceling and voice-calling performance. That said, they offer some other small upgrades, including additional dust resistance and a new acoustic architecture that allows for Lossless Audio with theVision Pro, Apple's upcoming wearable headset that is coming in February 2024 and costs $3,499. Is it possible that new acoustic architecture makes the buds sound subtly different with current devices like the iPhone? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, the AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) are easy to recommend to Apple users despite their high price. Pro tip: Don't pay more than $190 for these, which is the online sale price at which they're now frequently available.
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Pros
- Well-designed inexpensive earbuds
- Good sound for open earbuds
- Strong feature set, including hands-free Alexa
Cons
- May not fit everyone's ears comfortably
- Not a ton of bass
- No ANC (they're open earbuds)
Battery life Rated up to 5 hours
Noise Canceling No
Multipoint Yes
Water-Resistant Yes (IPX2-- splash-proof)
Full Review Read full review
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 ofApple's AirPods 3, which deliver 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, however, 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.
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Pros
- Improved sound quality, ANC and ear pad design
- Very good voice-calling performance
- Spatial audio with head tracking for Apple users
- USB-C audio
Cons
- No Apple H2 chip
- No ear-detection sensors
- No major design changes except for case
Battery life Rated up to 40 hours
Noise Canceling Yes (ANC)
Multipoint No
Headphone Type Over-ear wireless headphones
Water-Resistant No IP rating
Full Review Read full review
Love 'em or hate 'em, Beats Studio headphones are among the most popular headphones of all time, launching as wired headphones back in 2008. This is the fourth generation of them, and they carry the same list price as their predecessor and look very similar on the outside but have some big changes on the inside that make them significantly better headphones. I'm tempted to describe them as more affordable plastic versions of the AirPods Max. However, that's not quite accurate due to a choice in chipsets and one notable missing feature. But read our full review to find out what makes these very good headphones, albeit with some caveats.
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Pros
- Low price
- Surprisingly good sound for the money
- Active noise canceling and multipoint Bluetooth
- Strong battery life
Cons
- Charging case is bulky
- Earbuds are a little big
Priced at just $17.50 after you redeem a 30% discount code on Amazon, the Baseus Bowie MA10 delivers surprisingly good sound along with active noise canceling for its low price -- you just don't see too many ANC earbuds at this price. They're IPX6 water-resistant (meaning they can withstand a strong spray of water) and also have multipoint Bluetooth pairing and connect to a companion app. They stick out of your ears a bit,but they did fit my ears comfortably.
The earbuds deliver impressive battery life, offering up to 8 hours on a single charge at moderate volume levels with an extra 132 hours in the charging case. Yes, you read right: 132 hours. The one big downside to these buds is that their charging case is rather large and bulky. If you can live with that, these are a nice bargain.
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Pros
- Relatively inexpensive
- Good sound and overall performance for their price
- Wireless charging and support for new Bluetooth LE Audio standar
Cons
- Voice calling performance is only OK
Battery life Rated up to 7.5 hours
Noise Canceling Yes
Multipoint Yes
Water-Resistant Yes (IPX5-- splash-proof)
Full Review Read full review
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 Earfun Air Pro 3 earbuds feature the aQualcomm QCC3071system-on-a-chip with AptX Adaptive for Android and other devices that support the newLE 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 theEarfun 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 deliver strong performance for their 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 (though not exceptionally well) as a headset for making calls.
Use the codeEAP3CNETat checkout at Amazon to drop the price to just less than $55.
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Pros
- Design is an upgrade
- Lightweight and very comfortable
- Excellent sound and great noise canceling
- Voice-calling performance is top-notch
- Immersive Audio mode offers some sound-quality enhancements
Cons
- Higher price than the previous model
- No USB-C audio
- Immersive Audio mode hurts battery life
Full Review Read full review
While Bose's new flagship QuietComfort Ultra Headphones may not be a huge upgrade over the company's Noise Cancelling 700 headphones, they feature a more premium design along with Bose's new Immersive Audio feature, which delivers some sound-quality enhancements. Along with excellent sound and great noise canceling, the QC Ultra Headphones are also superb for making calls, with top-notch background noise reduction. All that adds up to the best new noise-canceling headphones of 2023 and a worthy adversary to Sony's highly rated WH-1000XM5 and Apple's AirPods Max.
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Pros
- Lightweight design
- Decent battery life
- Decent sound for their price
- IPX splashproof
Cons
- Voice-calling performance could be a little better
- No active noise canceling
The Anker Soundcore Life P2 Mini have been out for some time but remain a good set of budget earbuds. Available in several colors (navy is shown here), they're compact and lightweight and offer decent sound with three EQ modes to choose from. While these don't have active noise canceling, their battery life is very good at up to 8 hours at moderate volume levels. The P2 Minis are IPX5 splash-proof and perform well, but not exceptionally well, as a headset for making calls.
I also like Anker's
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Pros
- Excellent sound and best-in-class noise canceling
- Fit Kit ear tips and stabilizer system gets you a secure, comfortable fit
- Immersive Audio creates a different listening experience
- Slightly improved voice-calling
Cons
- No wireless charging or multipoint Bluetooth
- Immersive Audio mode hurts battery life
Full Review Read full review
While the QC Ultra Earbuds aren't a major upgrade over Bose's excellent QC Earbuds 2 that were released in 2022, they're definitely a little better. They should fit most ears very well, and they feature superb noise canceling, arguably the best out there. And a natural-sounding transparency mode with a new ActiveSense feature kicks in some ANC should the sound get too loud around you (it's sort of similar to the AirPods Pro's Adaptive Audio feature). They also sound slightly better overall, with a touch more clarity, and their new Immersive Audio feature opens up the sound a bit.
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Beats latest earbuds, which offer big improvements over the Studio Buds Plus, are on sale for $20 off, hitting their lowest price to date.
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Pros
- More refined sound and even better noise canceling
- Slightly more comfortable
- Best-in-class voice call quality
- Robust feature set
Cons
- Higher price tag than the previous model
- Larger carrying case (headphones fold flat but not up)
Battery Life Rated up to 32 hours
Noise Canceling Yes (ANC)
Multipoint Yes
Headphone Type Over-ear wireless headphones
Water-Resistant No IP rating
Full Review Read full review
When you have a product that a lot of people love, change can be risky. Such is the case for Sony's WH-1000XM5, the fifth generation of the 1000X series headphones, which were first released in 2016 as the MDR-1000X Wireless and have become increasingly popular as they've improved with each generation. Over the years, Sony has made some tweaks to the design, but nothing as dramatic as what it's done with the WH-1000XM5. Other than the higher $400 price tag ($50 more than the WH-1000XM4), most of those changes are good, and Sony's made some dramatic improvements with voice-calling performance as well as even better noise canceling and more refined sound. $330 is their lowest price to date.
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Pros
- Premium look and feel
- Strong sound quality for open earbuds
- Very good battery life
- Good voice-calling performance
Cons
- Pricey
The Anker Soundcore AeroFit Pro are among the best open-ear "air conduction" earbuds, with a premium look and feel, and are comfortable to wear. (I had no problem keeping them on my ears while running or working out.) On the downside, they're expensive, but they do feature strong audio quality for these types of earbuds, with ample bass and volume, plus decent clarity. They're good for making calls (they do a pretty good job reducing background noise reduction) and also offer strong battery life -- up to 14 hours at moderate volume levels.
While they don't have ear-detection sensors, I liked that they have physical buttons to control playback and also come with a cord, should you want to turn them into neckband-style wireless headphones. It's also worth noting that they have a spatial audio feature and offer the LDAC audio codec for devices like Android smartphones that support it for Bluetooth streaming.
Anker's standard AeroFit fit model ($130) has smaller drivers (14mm versus 16.2mm for the Pro), so it doesn't sound quite as good, and also has a battery life rating of 11 hours. However, those buds are fully waterproof with an IPX7 rating, while these are splash-proof with an IPX5 rating.
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Pros
- Tapered design allows for secure, discreet, comfortable fit
- Good sound, noise canceling and voice-calling performance
- Robust feature set for Android users
Cons
- No support for aptX or LDAC audio codecs for Android users
- A few features not available for Apple users
Battery Life Rated up to 11 hours
Noise Canceling Yes (ANC)
Multipoint Yes
Headphone Type Wireless earbuds
Water-Resistant Yes (IPX4 -- splash-proof)
Full Review Read full review
The Pixel Buds Pro are Google's first earbuds to feature active noise canceling. While it's nice that they finally have a feature that a lot of true-wireless earbuds have had for a while, what ultimately sets the Pixel Buds Pro apart and makes them worth considering -- particularly for Android users -- is their distinct design and winning fit. That helps enhance their performance on both the sound quality and noise-canceling fronts. While not quite elite for voice-calling, they did perform well as a headset for making calls.
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Available in three color options, the Soundcore Space One are Anker's latest noise-canceling headphones. They're a good value for around $100, offering a strong feature set along with good sound quality and performance. They can't quite compete sound-wise with many of the premium noise-canceling models, but you don't feel like you're giving up that much on the sound front to save a good deal of money. They lack a bit of that natural, refined quality you look for in a great set of cans, but the Space One sound respectable, with decent clarity and bass definition and measure up well to the more expensive Soundcore Space 45.
Noise-canceling and voice-calling performance are also good for headphones in this price range, though the transparency mode is only OK. Anker has developed a version of Sony's Speak-to-Chat feature -- Anker calls it Easy Chat -- that automatically pauses your music and enters a transparency mode when you walk up to someone and start a conversation. The headphones are equipped with wear-detection sensors, a feature not usually found at this price, and include a carrying pouch. LDAC audio codec support is available for Android users.
I found them comfortable to wear, but they do look a bit bulky compared to more premium models.
Pros:
- Strong feature set
- Very good sound quality for their price
- Decent noise canceling and voice calling
- LDAC audio codec support
Cons:
- Bit bulky-looking
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Pros
- More affordable and better than Liberty 4 buds
- Comfortable fit with upgraded sound and noise canceling
- Robust feature set and solid call quality
Cons
- Noise canceling could be a little better
New for 2023, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC earbuds carry a lower list price than last year's Liberty 4 buds and are arguably better. They have improved noise canceling and better sound quality, along with support for the LDAC audio codec for devices that support it. (Many Android smartphones do, and in theory, it offers slightly improved sound quality when paired with a music streaming service that offers high-res tracks.) They're lightweight buds that should fit most ears comfortably with four sizes of ear tips to choose from.
The Liberty 4 NC buds have single custom drivers compared to the Liberty 4's dynamic dual drivers -- and a completely different case design -- but I thought they delivered a more pleasant sound than the Liberty 4s. Their treble is a little smoother and they feature strong bass performance. They came across as fairly open, with a reasonably wide soundstage. You can tweak the sound profile in the companion app for iOS and Android.
The buds come in several color options and are IPX4 splashproof, so they're suitable for running and gym use. They feature excellent battery life -- up to 10 hours on a single charge at moderate volume levels -- and there's also a transparency mode that lets ambient sound in and sounds pretty natural with only a very faint audible hiss. While the noise canceling is an improvement over the Liberty 4's and is effective, it falls short of what you get from Bose's and Sony's premium ANC earbuds.
Like the Liberty 4, the earbuds have six integrated mics for noise canceling and making calls, and callers said they thought the buds did a pretty good job of reducing background noise, with my voice coming through relatively clearly. They're an all-around good-performing set of buds for the money and they have a strong feature set, including ear-detection sensors and wireless charging.
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