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Title: The best budget wireless earbuds for 2025

Date: Thu, 03 Jul 2025 07:00:36 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/bes...

The newest wireless earbuds from Apple, Sony, Bose and other big-name brands
may get the most attention, but these days you donΓÇÖt have to spend triple
digits to find a decent alternative. If youΓÇÖre looking to upgrade without
spending more than $100, weΓÇÖve spent hours researching the bargain bin and
testing top contenders over the past couple of years. Here are the best cheap
wireless earbuds weΓÇÖve tested.

Table of contents

Best budget wireless earbuds for 2025

Other budget wireless earbuds we tested

Best cheap wireless earbuds: FAQs

Recent updates

Best budget wireless earbuds for 2025

Other budget wireless earbuds we tested The Skullcandy Method 360 ANC. Jeff
Dunn for Engadget

Note: This is a selection of noteworthy earbuds weΓÇÖve put through their
paces, not a comprehensive list of everything weΓÇÖve ever tried.

Skullcandy Method 360 ANC

The Skullcandy Method 360 ANC is often available for $100, and at that price
itΓÇÖs worth considering over our picks above. These earphones have an
extremely V-shaped sound signature with thunderous bass and noticeably
clearer highs than the Soundcore Space A40, along with decent ANC and a bulky
yet comfortable design that takes after BoseΓÇÖs QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds.
They technically have a list price of $130, however, which puts them over the
$100 limit we have for picks in this guide. Their enormous case and lack of
wireless charging donΓÇÖt help either. You can read our review for a full
breakdown.

Beats Solo Buds

The $80 Beats Solo Buds are comfortable and long-lasting, with an impressive
18 hours of battery life. But they sound a bit flat and are severely lacking
in features. ThereΓÇÖs no ANC, wear detection or official water-resistance
rating, and the included case canΓÇÖt wirelessly charge the earbuds on its
own. You can read our full review for more details.

JLab Go Pop ANC

The $30 JLab Go Pop ANC is worth a look if you just want a competent pair of
wireless earphones for as little money as possible. ItΓÇÖs the cheapest set
weΓÇÖve tested with active noise cancellation and transparency mode, though
neither feature is all that effective. Like the Go Sport+, it also relies on
a short USB-C cable tethered to its case to charge. But it actually sounds OK
for the price: not particularly wide or detailed, but not harsh either, with
decent energy and bass punch. The tiny earpieces fit snugly and isolate a
good chunk of background noise passively. TheyΓÇÖre also IP55-rated, while
the case is similarly compact. ThereΓÇÖs no auto-pausing, but you can connect
to two devices at once, the touch controls work well and JLabΓÇÖs app makes
it easy to adjust settings. Battery life is alright at six to seven hours,
too, though this is another one thatΓÇÖll get wrecked by the wind if you take
a call outside.

The JLab Go Pop+ is another option here. It gives up the ANC, IP55 rating and
multipoint connectivity, but it costs $5 less and has longer battery life.

EarFun Air Pro 4

We liked what we heard from the EarFun Air Pro 4 for about a day or so ΓÇö
then one earbud broke, apparently deciding that it would only play at an
extremely low volume from that point on. WeΓÇÖve seen a few users report the
same issue, while others have noted problems with crackling sounds coming out
of single earpieces. This pair has received heaps of praise from other
outlets, and we generally liked its predecessor, so it may well work for you.
But we canΓÇÖt recommend something that died before we could finish testing
it.

The Beats Solo Buds. Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget EarFun Free Pro 3

The EarFun Free Pro 3 are totally solid, but the Space A40 gets you superior
ANC, longer battery life and a more comfortable design for a lower price
these days.

EarFun Air 2

Along those lines, the EarFun Air 2 are a good alternative to EarFunΓÇÖs Free
2S if youΓÇÖre partial an AirPods-style stem design, but they cost $10 more
and arenΓÇÖt significantly better.

Baseus Bowie MA10

The Baseus Bowie MA10 are saddled with a ginormous charging case, a sloppy
app and bulky earpieces that we found uncomfortable to wear over time.

Baseus Eli Sport 1

The Baseus Eli Sport 1 have a fully open design that wraps around the ear and
rests outside of your ear canal entirely. ThatΓÇÖs nice for staying alert to
the outside world, but itΓÇÖs less so for getting the most detail out of your
music. This is another pair with an oversized case, too.

OnePlus Buds 3

The OnePlus Buds 3 have an excited sound and a stylish design in the same
vein as the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC, and their mic is a bit clearer for phone
calls. They fall short of AnkerΓÇÖs pair when it comes to noise cancellation
and battery life, however.

Skullcandy Dime 3

The Skullcandy Dime 3 deliver a surprisingly neutral sound profile for their
dirt-cheap price, so theyΓÇÖre worth considering over the JLab Go Pop ANC if
you see them in the $25 range. Like that pair, they can also connect to two
devices simultaneously. But their overall battery life is a bit shorter,
their call quality is poor and their physical controls are both unintuitive
and uncomfortable, since they lead you to push the buds deeper into your ear
canals.

Skullcandy Smokin' Buds

The Skullcandy SmokinΓÇÖ Buds are another ultra-budget option with a sick
name, bro, but they sound harsher in the treble than the JLab Go Pop ANC and
offer worse battery life through their charging case. This pair does use tap-
based controls, but they can be finicky, and they still arenΓÇÖt the most
straightforward things to operate.

Best cheap wireless earbuds: FAQs The JLab Go Pop ANC (left) and EarFun Air
Pro 4. Jeff Dunn for Engadget What are the biggest differences between
cheaper earbuds and more premium models?

A higher price does not guarantee higher quality. We'd take a pair like the
Anker Soundcore Space A40 over many alternatives priced well over $100.
Broadly speaking, though, the pricier components used by the best wireless
earbuds let them put out a more detailed and versatile sound, more powerful
active noise cancellation and a more complete list of features like
multipoint connectivity, faster pairing, wear detection or wireless charging.
They generally feel less flimsy in the hand, and their companion software
tends to be less buggy. Battery life may be longer as well. But you have to
look at these things on a case-by-case basis: Some earbuds justify their
cost, others very much do not.

Can you improve the sound of cheap wireless earbuds?

Evaluating audio quality is always subjective to some extent ΓÇö what I find
"bloated," you may consider "fun" or "lively." In general, if a set of
earbuds is tuned poorly or built with cheap materials, you can't magically
fix that. However, most new pairs allow you to adjust their EQ curve through
software, so you can sculpt the frequency ranges in a way that better suits
your tastes, at least somewhat. Also, remember that fit is king: If your in-
ear headphones aren't sealed tight enough, they'll inevitably sound less
detailed, with weaker bass response and worse isolation from outside noise.
Consider trying different ear tips in that case.

Can cheap earbuds sound as good as AirPods?

A few can, sure! I'd take the top-end AirPods Pro 2 over any of the top picks
in this guide, but they are far from unassailable. Meanwhile, the AirPods 4's
unsealed design prevents them from pumping out truly deep bass, and I find
them to sound a bit veiled in the treble. (They're still a level above the
open-back Amazon Echo Buds, though.) The big appeal with AirPods is how
tightly they integrate with other Apple devices: You open them with an iPhone
and they just work. No other earbuds can replicate that, cheap or otherwise,
because Apple uses proprietary tech that prevents competitors from offering
the same features. Again, price and advertising budget has little to do with
how good a set of earbuds is. (This is a silly question, but we know some
casual buyers will inevitably ask it.)

Recent updates

June 2025: WeΓÇÖve ensured our picks are still accurate and added testing
notes on SkullcandyΓÇÖs Method 360 ANC.

April 2025: The JLab Go Sport+ replaces the older JLab Go Air Sport as our
ΓÇ£best for workoutsΓÇ¥ pick. WeΓÇÖve also added testing notes on the EarFun
Air Pro 4 and JLab Go Pop ANC, removing our blurbs for their predecessors
along the way.

December 2024: WeΓÇÖve lightly edited this guide for clarity and moved the
aging JLab Go Air Pop and EarFun Air Pro 3 from honorable mentions to our
ΓÇ£others we testedΓÇ¥ section.

September 2024: WeΓÇÖve added notes on a handful of other budget wireless
earbuds that weΓÇÖve tested but fall short of our top picks, which remain
unchanged.

June 2024: WeΓÇÖve checked this guide to ensure that all of our picks are
still in stock. Accordingly, weΓÇÖve removed the Nothing Ear Stick as an
honorable mention, as it no longer appears to be available ΓÇö though it
remains a decent option if you do see it and want an unsealed alternative to
the Amazon Echo Buds. WeΓÇÖre also still in the process of testing several
other sub-$100 Bluetooth earbuds for a future update.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/bes...
130028735.html?src=rss

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