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Best Cheap Earbuds: The best affordable picks
In This Article
If you need a pair of budget wireless earbuds, we’ve put together this list to help narrow down your choices to the best cheap earbuds available in 2024.
The true wireless buds that have made it onto this are pairs that cost less than $100 / £100. Every pair has been examined in-depth with regards to design, sound quality and Bluetooth performance. We’ll also test out companion apps, noise cancellation, as well as ease of use.
If you’re looking for a higher level of performance, we’d recommend heading over to ourbest wireless earbudsandbest noise-cancelling earbudsguides for a wider selection of midrange and high-end options.
Keep reading to learn more about our best cheap earbuds with summaries of each pair of earbuds, along with links to our in-depth reviews.
Best cheap earbuds at a glance
How we test
Not just anybody can review a pair of headphones. You don’t need superhuman hearing to tell what’s good, but you do need to know what to listen out for.Our headphone tests are done by some of the best and most prolific reviewers in the industry, with years of experience listening to everything from the plasticky freebie earbuds that come with your smartphone, to five-figure beasts of glass and marble. We love music and we want your tunes to sound good, too.So we listen to every pair of headphones we can get on or in our ears. We use a variety of sources, from basic MP3s playing on a laptop to high-quality tracks on dedicated hi-res audio players.Our test tracks are wide-ranging to give headphones a thorough challenge. They’re also familiar, so we know every track backwards, and we know which bits might trouble the lesser performers.We listen again and again, and we do that for weeks in case the sound changes – because it usually does. Then we’ll listen to similarly priced rivals and come up with a verdict that reflects the performance and features for the money.
Sony WF-C500
Best value true wireless
TheWF-C500are one of Sony’s cheapest true wireless and they offer exceptional for the money.
They’re not as featured-packed as the Soundcore and Earfun buds on this list but for around £50, they offer a solid list of features. Battery life is 10 hours from a charge and 20 hours with the charging case, with fast-charging support included. There’s no ANC support on these earphones, which means that external sounds filter through.
Bluetooth 5covers SBC and AAC streaming, so these headphones lack the wireless Hi-Res Audio support that the Earfun and Soundcore offer.
However, we’d say that the performance of the driver has more of an impact than the wireless codec, and with the WF-C500 they boast a clear and lively sound with plenty of detail in the mid- to high-frequency range. They’re a very good listen whether you’re listening to music, podcasts, movie soundtracks et all
Where they struggle is with their bass performance, with low frequencies often falling flat. The Soundcore and Earfun offer bigger, warmer bass performance but they don’t sound as clear or as entertaining as the Sony do.
The build quality is what you’d expect from a cheap true wireless, which means a preponderance of plastic and basic materials, but we found them comfortable enough to wear. AnIPX4 ratingmeans they’re protected against some sweat and water, so you could take these for a run or wear them to the gym.
The WF-C500 are cheap, cheerful, and offer exceptional sound for the money. If you can accept the lack of ANC (which is a guarantee at this price), the WF-C500 are one the best budget buds currently available.
Reviewer:Henry St LegerFull Review:Sony WF-C500
Anker Liberty 4 NC
Best cheap earbud
Our pick for the best affordable earbuds of 2024 is theSoundcore Liberty 4 NC, a budget true wireless pair that has the type of features you’d expect from a flagship earbud.
That said, it wouldn’t be right to expect a flagship level of performance from these earbuds, but they do extract an impressive performance for the price, boasting strong noise-cancellation, good audio quality, and a varied set of features that can be customised and personalised to your liking.
The design is nothing new for a true wireless bud, though the Liberty 4 NC are a little looser in terms of their fit. So while they’re not the most snug pair, they are comfortable. Controls are responsive, and the buds could be used for workouts and gym work with theirIPX4rating, with a charging case that’s compact enough to slot into a pocket without trouble.
Battery life isn’t quite as strong as the stated number, with the Liberty 4 NC falling short of its claims in our tests. But it’s still good enough to get you through a couple of days of listening before they completely run out of battery. There’s support for LDAC, which allows for higher-quality audio streaming over Bluetooth, as well as multipoint support for listening to two devices at the same time.
The wireless performance is solid, holding on in busy areas. The noise-cancellation is strong, reducing traffic, people’s voices, and ambient noise on public transport like on the Underground well, though we’d rate theEarFun Air Pro 3as the more convincing of the two. The transparency mode is clear, with a selection of modes to choose from to lock onto people’s voices, but again, we find the EarFun better in this department.
Where the EarFun isn’t as good as the Soundcore is with its audio performance. The Liberty 4 NC is the clearer, more detailed, and more openly expressive pair of the two earbuds with a clearer midrange performance, more detailed treble, and a more balanced bass performance. They are a satisfying, all-round pair of cheap earbuds, hence their position at the top of this list.
Reviewer:Kob MonneyFull Review:Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC
Earfun Air Pro 3
Best cheap noise-cancelling earbuds
If you’re primarily looking for a noise-cancelling pair of earbuds, thenEarFun Air Pro 3would be our first recommendation.
They offer one of the best noise-cancelling performance for the money, thinning out people’s voices, reducing traffic and large crowds as well as ambient sounds. The transparency mode offers good clarity and creates a greater sense of awareness when engaged. Compared to the similarly pricedSoundcore Liberty 4 NC, they’re the more convincing option.
Like the Anker effort, they come with a wealth of features that includes Bluetooth multipoint,aptX Adaptive Bluetoothand a claimed seven hours of battery life, though much like the Liberty 4 NC, we found that its stamina was closer to five. For customisation and personalisation there is an app for checking battery life, tweaking the EQ, and a game mode switch for improved latency. It’s not often you get this level of customisation for an earphone as affordable as this one is.
The audio quality isn’t as good as the Liberty 4 NC, which is our favourite cheap earbud. Its profile is warm, with a thick, rich bass performance and a smooth sense of detail across the frequency range. Its smoothness means it’s not the sharpest, clearest, or most defined performance; but it does extract enough detail from music to make for an entertaining listen, and avoid sibilance with vocals.
Nevertheless, these are wireless earbuds that can do a little bit of everything. and if you’re in the market for a cheap noise-cancelling pair then these come highly recommended. If sound is more of a priority, check out theSony WF-C500.
Reviewer:Kob MonneyFull Review:EarFun Air Pro 3
Majority Tru Bio
Best true wireless earbud under £40
TheMajority Tru Bioaren’t as feature-packed as the other entries on this list. There is no app, no advanced Bluetooth codecs or evennoise-cancellation, but if you’re in the market for a pair of buds that are simple to use and very cheap, the Tru Bio are among the stronger options we’ve come across.
They are made from plastic but they’re made from 100% compostable plastic (the case, the drivers, the earbuds), which would put the Tru Bio towards the positive end of the headphone scale in terms of sustainable practices. Their ergonomic shape helps produce a tight and snug fit, while the use of physical buttons also means they’re easier to use than some touch control options, even though the controls themselves feel fairly stiff.
Battery life is long, with our tests indicating you could get up to 10 hours of battery life at default volume. There’s no wireless charging support, and fast charging is on the slow side, so if you’re looking for a quick top-up to get you on your way, at 30 minutes for two more hours of playback, the Tru Bio aren’t the speediest. Call quality is average, fine in quiet places but we wouldn’t recommend using them in noisy areas as it can be hard for the person on the other end of the line to hear what’s being said.
In terms of audio, Tru Bio’s performance is one we would describe as solid. The midrange is clear and detailed, better than the EarFun Air Pro 3, and the bass is described with punchiness. The treble performance is fine, but the Tru Bio plays it safe, lacking sharpness and brightness. Still, a solid performance for a true wireless pair that keeps things simple. If you’re willing to pay around £20 more, theSony WF-C500are a bargain for the price.
Reviewer:Kob MonneyFull Review:Majority Tru Bio
Nothing Ear (a)
Best looking cheap earbuds
If you’re looking for a great-looking pair of wireless earbuds that don’t cost the earth, the Nothing Ear (a) are a solid choice. Sporting Nothing’s distinctive transparent design and available in shades of black, white and yellow, the Ear (a)’s clear plastic case and stems give the buds a rather unique, almost retro, look. We also liked just how compact the transparent case is, easy enough to slip into a pocket when not in use.
What impressed us more was the sheer amount of features on offer considering its budget focus. Features like adjustable ANC, LDAC support for high-quality streaming on Android, in-ear detection and even a low latency mode for gaming are all present and accounted for.
The ANC performance was pretty solid too; it successfully muted everyday background noise, though it did struggle in exceptionally loud environments like the Tube. The buds also deliver impressive audio performance for the price point, with an expansive soundstage, detailed vocals and punchy bass that didn’t leave our reviewer wanting for more.
Reviewer:Max ParkerFull Review:Nothing Ear (a)
We also considered…
Urbanears’ first ANC true wireless gets plenty right
An affordable true wireless stacked with features
Bassy earphones with good noise cancellation
We’ve reviewed
FAQs
Bluetooth multipoint is a feature of the Bluetooth 5 standard, and it allows for a headphone to be connected to two (or three) devices simultaneously. You can swap between one device and another and still be connected to both.
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Comparison specs
Kob began his career at What Hi-Fi?, starting in the dusty stockroom before rising up the ranks to join the editorial and production team as the Buyer’s Guide editor. Experienced in both magazine and …
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Why trust our journalism?
Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.
Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
