Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 are some of the best wireless earbuds out there. Small and lightweight, these earbuds include quality audio and voice-call features, while fitting perfectly snug in your ear. But let’s be honest — they’re expensive. Apple rarely drops the prices of its products, and when it does, there’s always an updated model you could go for instead. However, there are more wallet-friendly alternatives available. You might ask yourself, “Is it possible to spend less than $100 on a pair of earbuds that compare to the AirPods Pro?” At this time of the year, the answer is a resounding yes.
You won’t get some of the AirPods Pro’s bonus features, like hands-free Siri or Apple’s spatial audio virtual surround mode for watching movies and TV shows, but the alternatives listed below deliver on core performance attributes such as sound and voice calling. They also feature decent active noise canceling, are well designed and fit comfortably. Note that all these picks work with both iOS and Android devices and aren’t Apple-centric like the AirPods Pro.
I’ll be updating this list as new models arrive, but here are the best “cheap” noise-canceling, true-wireless earbuds I’m impressed with right now.
Read more: Best Cheap True-Wireless Earbuds Under $100 for 2023
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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 new-for-2023 Earfun Air Pro 3 earbuds feature the latest Qualcomm QCC3071 system-on-a-chip with aptX Adaptive for Android and other devices that support the new LE 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 the Earfun 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.
Note that after you activate the instant 10%-off coupon at Amazon, adding the code EAP3CNET at checkout gives you an additional 20% off, bringing the buds’ price down to $56.
Read our Earfun Air Pro 3 review.
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Battery Life
Rated up to 10 hours
Noise Canceling
Yes (Adaptive)
Multipoint
Yes
Headphone Type
Wireless earbuds
Water-Resistant
Yes (IPX5 — protection against low-pressure water streams)
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 seven hours, while the Live Pro 2 is rated for 10 hours. The Live Pro 2 is available in four color options.
Read our JBL Live Pro 2 first take.
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Anker
While their sound isn’t quite up to the level of higher-end buds like Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 and the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 that cost significantly more, the Soundcore by Anker Liberty 4 earbuds have a strong set of features, including a spatial audio mode with head tracking, multipoint Bluetooth pairing, up to nine hours of battery life, wireless charging and support for Sony’s LDAC audio codec that can offer sound improvements if you have the right setup.
Compared to top-sounding buds I’ve reviewed, they lack a bit of overall clarity, accuracy and bass definition. But most people will think they sound quite good — they play plenty loud and deliver strong bass — and you can tweak their sound profile in the app or create a personal HearID Sound profile (it’s also for noise canceling).
Read our Soundcore by Anker Liberty 4 review.
Earfun
Battery Life
Rated up to 6 hours
Noise Canceling
Yes (ANC)
Multipoint
Yes
Headphone Type
Wireless earbuds
Water-Resistant
Yes (IPX5 — protection against low-pressure water streams)
In the past, we’ve recommended Earfun’s AirPro SV and Air Pro 2 as excellent budget noise-canceling earbuds choices (they’re still good values). But the Earfun Air S, which was released in the second half of 2022, is arguably a step up from those models and just slightly behind the new-for-2023 Earfun Air Pro 3. Equipped with a Qualcomm QCC3046 chip, the Air S buds have multipoint Bluetooth pairing and support the aptX audio codec for Android and other devices that support it. They have the same 10mm wool drivers as the AirPro SV and feature surprisingly impressive sound for their modest price. They also work well (but exceptionally well) as a headset for making calls with decent background noise reduction. The buds have an IPX5 water-resistance rating, which means they’re splashproof and can withstand a sustained spray of water.
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Battery Life
Rated up to 6 hours
Noise Canceling
Yes (ANC)
Multipoint
No
Headphone Type
Wireless earbuds
Water-Resistant
Yes (IPX4 — splash-proof)
The Soundpeats Air Pro 3 are lightweight buds that sound quite good and offer decent noise canceling for their modest price point. They use Qualcomm’s latest QCC3046 chipset (Bluetooth 5.2) with aptX Adaptive Bluetooth audio streaming that’s supported by many Android smartphones. IPX4 splash-proof, they have a battery life rating of six hours, with an additional three charges in their compact charging case, which is around the same size as the AirPods Pro’s case.
While the buds’ biggest strengths are their lightweight design, sound quality (you get big, bold sound with strong bass that only lacks that extra bit of clarity and definition that higher-end buds offer), the only downside is the voice-calling performance is only so-so — callers said the microphone pick up and voice clarity just wasn’t as good as some earbuds we’ve tested and reduction of background noise was not great either. In other words, don’t buy these if voice-calling is a priority.
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The Earfun Air Pro SV have a few things going for them. First, they sound shockingly good for a set of earbuds in this price range. They feature big, open sound with well-defined bass and good clarity. They’re also lightweight and comfortable to wear, their noise canceling is effective and they have a fairly natural-sounding transparency mode that allows ambient sound in if you want to hear the outside world around you for safety reasons.
Earfun is highlighting how you can see the buds’ squared-off stems through the case — there’s a little window — but aside from the stems, the buds themselves have a similar shape and design to the AirPods Pro. While the case offers wireless charging, the buds are missing a sensor that pauses your music when you take them out of your ears (you can use a single bud if you want) and resumes playback when you put them back in. Their touch controls work reasonably well. They’re IPX5 splash-proof, and battery life is rated at six hours with noise canceling turned on. There’s also a low-latency gaming mode and you can upgrade the buds’ firmware and tweak sound settings in a companion app for iOS and Android.
Earfun talks about them having “six professional mics for a stunning call experience” — and they do work decently enough for calls — but I was slightly disappointed with the noise reduction while using them in the streets of New York. Aside from that small gripe, they’re a very good value, particularly now that Earfun is offering them for $54 when you input the code BFH306 (40% off) at checkout on its site.
Read our Earfun Air Pro SV first take.
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Battery Life
Rated up to 8 hours
Noise Canceling
Yes (ANC)
Multipoint
No
Headphone Type
Wireless earbuds
Water-Resistant
Yes (IPX4 — splash-proof)
TCL is best known for its high-quality, high-value Roku-powered TVs, but it’s moved into the headphones arena in the last few years. I wasn’t too impressed with its earlier models, but its latest Moveaudio S600 delivers excellent sound and good active noise canceling along with decent battery life (up to 6.2 hours with noise canceling on and eight hours with it off, with three extra charges from the charging case). I found that headset performance for voice calls is decent, but not quite up to the level of the AirPods Pro. The charging case does offer wireless charging.
These are slightly more geared toward Android users — TCL makes budget Android phones, after all — and feature Google Fast Pair. That said, they work fine with iPhones and TCL’s companion app is available for iOS and Android (you can customize the sound and touch controls in the app). The earbuds support the AAC audio codec, but not aptX.
These automatically pause your music when you pull the earbuds out of your ears and they’re IP54 splash- and dust-proof. The stems are a little long, but the earbuds fit me comfortably and I got a tight seal using the largest ear tips. The S600 is available in three color options and is currently on sale for $60 when you apply the instant $40-off coupon on Amazon (make sure to check the box on the product page to get 40% off).
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