David Carnoy/CNET

Premium noise-canceling headphones tend to cost more than $300. But what if you’re on a tight budget — what’s your best option for noise-canceling over-ear headphones?

As far as sound, comfort level and build quality, you’d be hard-pressed to do better than Anker’s SoundCore Life Q30 for the money. They don’t quite have the same clarity or bass definition as some of the top premium models, but they’re less than a third of the price and get you about 75% of the way there in terms of sound: It’s well-balanced overall with punchy bass, and there’s an app that allows you to tweak the sound. The noise canceling is good for the price, though not up to the level of the Sony WH-1000XM4 or Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. Battery life is rated at an impressive 40 hours with USB-C charging.

The only area where the Q30 headphones fall a little short is voice calls. They pick up your voice fine in quieter environments, but they just don’t reduce background noise all that well. 

Compared with the step-down Q20, the Q30 headphones do offer improved sound (it’s not a huge difference, but it definitely is a notch up) and a more premium design.