Best Headphone and Earbuds Deals – CNET
Best Headphone and Earbuds Deals - CNET
Having the right pair of headphones for whatever activity you’re involved in can be a game changer. I like over-the-ear headphones when I’m working at the computer and listening to background music, but I prefer in-ear buds when I’m working out at the gym.
Headphones and earbuds are constantly on sale, but being on sale doesn’t make something a good deal. That’s why we’re only highlighting headphone and earbud deals we think are good buys and truly worth your attention. Some older models are on sale at good prices, but that doesn’t make them good bargains: We tend to focus on newer models that are on sale and also keep our eye on deals from top earbuds and headphones brands like Sony, Apple, Bose, Jabra, Beats, Sennheiser and much more.
We’ll regularly update this post with new deals as they arrive so check back often for the best prices on top headphones and earbuds.
Read more: Best Wireless Earbuds for 2022
Best wireless headphone and earbuds deals
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The new AirPods Pro (2nd generation) are powered by Apple’s new H2 chip, which delivers more processing power while being more energy efficient, according to Apple. The new chip, combined with new low-distortion drivers, allows for improved sound that offers better clarity and depth. The noise canceling is also improved — Apple says the new AirPods have “double” the noise canceling of the original AirPods Pro. Additionally, the new AirPods add an extra hour of battery life, up from 5 to 6 hours with noise canceling on. Plus, a speaker in the case that emits a sound that helps locate your buds via Find My should they decide to hide from you.
Note that while Apple has discontinued the original AirPods Pro, they’ll remain on sale at discounted prices until supplies are exhausted. However, most people should get this newer model if they can afford it. The AirPods Pro 2 continue to see discounts and have hit a price of $239.
Water-resistant: Yes (IPX4 rating — splash-proof).
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Unlike the “open” LinkBuds, the LinkBuds S are traditional noise-isolating earbuds with tips you jam in your ears. They’re more compact and lighter than Sony’s flagship WF-1000M4 and also feature Sony’s V1 processor. While their sound and noise canceling don’t quite measure up to the WF-1000XM4’s, they’re close and happen to cost less. They’re the Sony buds for people who can deal with larger buds like WF-1000XM4 but want 80% to 85% of those buds’ features and performance for $80 less.
When they were released last August, Jabra touted its $80 Elite 3 earbuds as its most affordable true-wireless buds to date. Now they’re even more affordable, dipping to just $50 right now at Amazon.
The Elite 3 have a fairly basic feature set, though they offer strong sound and call quality for the money. They have 6mm drivers, four microphones for calls and Jabra’s HearThrough transparency mode. Qualcomm aptX HD audio is supported for aptX-enabled devices.
Jabra
Coming in at 16% smaller than the Elite 75t, the Elite 7 Pro are Jabra’s top-of-the-line earbuds in its new range and include the company’s new MultiSensor Voice technology with a bone-conduction sensor, four microphones and intelligent algorithms to deliver new “ground-breaking call quality,” Jabra says. The voice calling performance doesn’t quite live up to the hype, but Jabra has updated the buds’ firmware, adding multipoint Bluetooth pairing and slightly improving sound quality, noise canceling and headset performance. It took a while but they’re now excellent all-around buds.
These have adjustable active noise cancellation, Jabra’s HearThrough transparency mode and Bluetooth 5.2. They offer up to 9 hours’ play time at moderate volume levels with noise canceling on, and nearly three additional charges in the charging case — total battery life is rated at 35 hours. The charging case has wireless charging capabilities.
The earbuds’ IP57 rating means they are dust-resistant and fully waterproof (they can be submerged in up to 1 meter of water). For those who like to use only a single bud, you can also use either one independently in a mono mode.
All of Samsung’s Galaxy Buds models are on sale right now, including the Galaxy Buds 2, which I tend to like the best of the current crop of Galaxy Buds. You can pick up a pair in the graphite color variant for as low as $109, with most other colors discounted by around $30. Read our Galaxy Buds 2 review.
Jabra
Released in mid-2020, the Jabra Elite 45h were essentially billed as the best on-ear headphones for the money and among the best headphones for work. While there’s nothing terribly fancy about them, they are a great value for on-ear headphones, with good sound quality, a sturdy design and comfortable fit — for on-ear headphones, anyway.
They perform well as a headset for making calls too, and include a sidetone feature that allows you to hear your voice so you don’t talk too loudly. Battery life is also good and it has multipoint Bluetooth pairing so you can connect to both your computer and your smartphone at the same time, and easily switch between the two should a call come in on your phone.
We’ve seen these headphones on sale for as much as $50 off, so it may be worth it to wait and see if the price drops even further.
Amazon
The Treblab Z7 Pro headphones offer comfort and noise cancellation along with premium sound quality. With 45 hours of playtime and fast USB-C charging, you can use these headphones all day and night without worry. Touch controls line both sides of the headphones, so you can simply tap on the side to pause a song. Volume controls are also on the headphones themselves. Save $20 with an onsite coupon.
Amazon
Not quite as nice as the Z7 Pro headphones but still worth it are the Z2 over-ear headphones. These are made to withstand jerk movement while you workout and have active noise cancellation. They can run for 35 hours without dying and are great for running and the gym. These headphones are made sturdy and can withstand a drop or two. Both styles (black with silver designs and all-black) are $85 (save $35).
Amazon
The Beats Solo3 wireless headphones are now down to $131 from their usual pricetag of $200. These headphones come with the Apple W1 chip, Class 1 Bluetooth, and 40 hours of listening time. A built-in microphone allows you to make phone calls wirelessly. There are four different colors available on Amazon, with the black and pink models at the same price. The red model is $139 and the silver one is $150.
Amazon
If you want the simple, traditional headphones that can plug into your iPhone, then you can save on these headphones that typically retail for $18. I have a pair of these as a backup and as a good option when I don’t want noise cancellation. Something about these headphones just looks good to me, and they fit snugly. Though they aren’t the loudest, making phone calls are easy and clear.
Expired deals
These deals have expired, but we expect to see these products at similarly discounted prices sometime in the future.
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The LinkBuds are, in a sense, Sony’s answer to Apple’s standard AirPods. While they don’t sound as good as Sony’s flagship WF-1000XM4 noise-isolating earbuds, they offer a discreet, innovative design and a more secure fit than the AirPods, as well as good sound and very good voice-calling performance.
Like the third-gen AirPods, their open design allows you to hear the outside world — that’s what the ring is all about. That makes them a good choice for folks who want to hear what’s going around them for safety reasons or just don’t like having ear tips jammed in their ears. They also have a few distinguishing extra features, including Speak to Chat and Wide Area Tap. Instead of tapping on a bud, you can tap on your face, just in front of your ear, to control playback.
They’re IPX4 splash-proof and thanks to their fins — Sony calls them Arc Supporters — they lock in your ears securely and work well for running and other sporting activities.
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The Beats Studio Buds look a lot like the rumored stemless AirPods that people were talking about but never materialized — as AirPods anyway. Geared toward both iOS and Android users, they’re missing a few key features on the Apple side of things (there’s no H1 or W1 chip), but they’re small, lightweight earbuds that are comfortable to wear and offer good sound. They fit most ears securely, including mine — I run with them without a problem — but others may find a better fit with the Beats Fit Pro and their integrated wing tips.
Their lowest price to date is $90.
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While the C500’s design sensibility has more in common with the high-end WF-1000XM4 than their predecessor, the WF-XB700 Extra Bass, the C500 don’t have noise canceling and are pretty basic as far as earbuds go, with no ear-detection sensors or transparency mode. But the buds are compact, lightweight, fit comfortably and sound good for an entry-level model. They list for around $100. Read our Sony C500 first take.
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Samsung-owned JBL has a couple of new sets of earbuds, the Live Pro 2 and Live Free 2 that are surprisingly good. Both are equipped with the same 11mm drivers, six microphones, oval tubes and oval silicon tips. And they also combine a comfortable fit along with strong noise canceling, very good sound quality and voice-calling performance, plus a robust feature set, including multipoint Bluetooth pairing, an IPX5 splash-proof rating and wireless charging.
Aside from the design — The Live Pro 2 has stems while the Live Free 2 is pill-shaped — the biggest difference between the two buds is battery life. The stemless Live Free 2 are rated for up to 7 hours, while the Live Pro 2 are rated for 10 hours.
The Live Free 2 fit securely in my ears and are smaller and superior to Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro, particularly in terms of comfort level. The buds are available in three color options.
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The QuietComfort 45 have virtually the same design as their predecessors, the QuietComfort QC35 II, which many people considered among the most comfortable over-ear headphones — if not the most comfortable. They have the same drivers, according to Bose, and the buttons are in the same place. However, there are small but notable changes, including USB-C charging instead of micro-USB and an improved microphone configuration that boosts their voice-calling noise-canceling performance (they’re both excellent). The QC45 also include multipoint Bluetooth pairing, so you can connect them with a PC and your phone simultaneously. Read our QuietComfort 45 review.
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No earbuds are perfect, of course, and not everybody will love the fit of the Sony WF-1000XM4 buds. But if you’re looking for great-sounding earbuds with active noise cancellation, solid voice-calling capabilities and good battery life, these buds check all the boxes.
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The WH-XB910N are Sony’s midlevel noise-canceling headphones and since they’re an Extra Bass model, they do have a preponderance of bass. While the noise canceling isn’t up to the level of the WH-1000XM4 or new WH-1000XM5, it is improved over the previous model and it does have some of the extra features found on those higher-end models, including speak to chat, wearing detection sensors and Sony’s Precise Voice Pickup technology. There’s also multipoint Bluetooth pairing, so you can pair it with your phone and computer simultaneously, and it supports Sony’s LDAC audio codec.
These are a nice bargain at $123, which is the WH-XB910N’s lowest price to date.
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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.
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Sony has released its new WH-1000XM5 but the WH-1000XM4 remains on sale. While I prefer the WH-1000XM5 — it’s a little more comfortable, has improved noise canceling, more refined sound and significantly better voice-calling performance — the WH-1000XM4 is still a great headphone and some people may prefer its slightly more energetic sound and how it folds up into a smaller case than that of the WH-1000M5. It also costs less and we should see some nice discounts on it going forward.
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While the Beats Fit Pro ($200) technically aren’t AirPods, they’re built on the same tech platform as the AirPods Pro (yes, Apple owns Beats). Unlike Beats’ earlier and less expensive Studio Buds, the Beats Fit Pro include Apple’s H1 chip and have most of the AirPods Pro’s features, including active noise canceling, spatial audio and Adaptive EQ. They’re also splash-proof with an IPX4 water-resistance rating. I’d venture to call them the sports AirPods you’ve always wanted. And for some people, they might just be better than the AirPods Pro.
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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.
The Live Pro 2 and Live Free 2 are equipped with the same 11mm drivers, six microphones, oval tubes and oval silicon tips. Aside from the design, the biggest difference between the two buds is battery life; the stemless Live Free 2 is rated for up to 7 hours, while the Live Pro 2 is rated for 10 hours. The Live Pro 2 is available in four color options.
Jabra
This is essentially an upgraded version of the Elite 75t Active and includes Jabra’s new ShakeGrip coating technology that’s “designed to give the ultimate fit while moving around and to stay put when you sweat.”
This model has adjustable active noise canceling, Jabra’s HearThrough transparency mode and four built-in microphones for “clear call quality,” with two additional microphones for “personalization.”
While this model is missing the step-up Elite 7 Pro’s MultiSensor Voice technology, Jabra says it delivers the same “premium experience” as the Elite 7 Pro with many of the same specs, including IP57 water- and dust-resistance, and 9 hours of battery life with noise canceling on.
Don’t expect the Elite 7 Active to deliver quite the same voice-calling performance as the Elite 7 Pro, but it should offer the same sound and fit, albeit just a little grippier in your ear. You can also use either bud independently in a mono mode.
The Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 have been out a while but are still one of the best over-ear noise canceling headphones, with excellent sound, noise cancellation and top-notch headset performance for voice calls. Bose’s newer QuietComfort 45 headphones probably have the slight edge in terms of comfort and offer a tad better noise canceling, but the Headphones 700 arguably sound a little better with slightly more refined sound. $269 is their lowest price to date.
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