If you need new headphones, you can find some great discounts right now on earbuds and over-ear models from top brands like Sony, Bose, and Google.With no major sales going on, your options may be more limited than if you were shopping during a holiday or other savings event, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend an arm and a leg to get a decent pair.
To help you get the best headphones at the best price, we take into account the discounts as well as Consumer Reports’ test results. Check outCR’s Deals hubfor discounts onTVsandother tech,home and kitchenproducts, and plenty more.
You might think of the Pixel Buds Pro as Google’s answer to Apple’s AirPods Pro. These noise-canceling in-ear headphones are designed to work best with the company’s Pixel phones and smartwatches and Google Assistant, although you can certainly use them with any phone. Our testers report that Pixel Buds sound a bit bassy but are otherwise satisfying. At this very nice price, the Pixel Buds Pro are worth looking into.
These earbuds were selling for $120 throughout the holidays, so now you’re not getting the best price we’ve seen, but this is still a nice discount compared with the full price.
Thesesuperb-sounding noise-canceling earbudsare just $10 more than the best price we’ve seen. They’re a worthy successor to Sony’s popular WF-1000XM4s. They’re smaller, lighter, and sleeker, and come packed with plenty of features, including variable noise cancellation, an ambient sound mode to actively pipe in audio from your surroundings, and Speak-to-Chat, which can automatically pause your music when you start talking. But most importantly, the sound quality of the XM5 is state-of-the-art for an earbud and the noise cancellation is top notch.
These deliver excellent active noise reduction and very good sound quality. They will provide some muffling and electronic canceling of external noises and also reduce the amount of sound that escapes from the headphones. As such, they are best for those who want headphones that reduce the amount of noise they hear from their surroundings or don’t want the sound from the headphones to disturb others, and who are comfortable with the size of a home/studio style model.
Shopping fornoise-canceling headphones on a budgetdoesn’t mean you have to sacrifice performance. Case in point? TheSoundCore Life Q20s, which are back to their best price. These over-ear headphones have great sound quality and outstanding noise cancellation. They don’t sound quite as good as top-rated models, and you won’t get sought-after features like adjustable levels of noise cancellation. But at this price, those may be sacrifices worth making.
These headphones have some appealing perks, too, such as the ability to work over either Bluetooth or an audio cable, and a free app that adds features, including a bass boost EQ setting. According to the manufacturer, Anker, the headphones have a generous 40-hour battery life when Bluetooth and noise cancellation are both turned on.
The good news is that the top-performing Bose Noise Cancelling 700 headphones are now significantly discounted, just $20 more than their lowest sale price. The bad news? The reason they’re on sale is because the 700s are being discontinued. And our testers found that the Bose model that replaces them—the Quiet Comfort Ultra headphone—doesn’t perform nearly as well. They reported that the Ultras lacked the clarity and detail of the 700s. Or to put it another way, the new models sounded a bit like the older ones—if you put a layer of cheesecloth over them. The Ultras don’t sound exactly bad, but they do sound dull.
The Bose Noise Cancelling 700, on the other hand, sounds splendid and earns top ratings across the board for sound quality, noise cancellation, and predicted reliability. It’s also loaded with features like an integrated microphone and touch-sensitive controls on the ear cups for volume, track selection, and call functionality. And if you wait and buy the Quiet Comfort Ultras, you’re likely to spend more and get less performance.
This is the latest and best incarnation of the company’s top noise-canceling true wireless earbuds. The AirPods Pro include a transparency mode that can pipe in outside sound when you want to hear what’s going on around you. (The adaptive transparency mode, designed to reduce loud outside noises, is less impressive, though.) And the new USB-C charging case lets you refuel the battery using the same cables you’d use for a Mac laptop or the iPhone 15. Note that the Target deal is available only through online purchase.
The Audio-Technica ATH-SQ1TW earbuds provide nice audio quality at a very attractive price. While this model doesn’t have active noise cancellation, the silicone ear tips deliver quite a lot of passive isolation, and there’s an ambient sound mode for when you want to keep an ear on your environment. They also offer convenient USB-C charging and easy-to-use touch controls for volume and playback and skipping tracks.
TheJBL Tune 510BTis a no-brainer. This Bluetooth model delivers very good sound quality—in the ballpark of far more expensive headphones—and it has a 40-hour advertised battery life. The 510BT sits on the ears, which some people find more comfortable than being engulfed by the more common over-ear style. As an extra perk, you can use the headphones with a cable if you forget to charge them. These aren’t noise-canceling headphones, but for the price, they might be exactly the right fit.
The Shure Aonic 40 is a solid-performing noise-canceling headphone that offers much of the performance of the more expensive Aonic 50. It becomes a much more attractive buy with this steep discount. Our testers report that the 40s are good-sounding, with a lively personality but a bit of tubbiness in the bass. Users with a large head or large ears will want to try them on right away to make sure they fit right.
TheSony WH-1000XM4smay have been replaced by the newer and sleeker XM5s, but our testers report that the models perform very similarly. The Sony XM4s are close to the top of our ratings in sound quality, their noise cancellation gets top marks, and there’s a nice array of features.
During the recent holiday shopping season, these headphones were selling for around $230. So you’re not getting quite as good a deal now, but it’s still a nice discount if these are the headphones you’ve wanted.
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Samantha B. Gordon
Samantha B. Gordon is the deals editor at Consumer Reports. She has been covering the online marketplace for CR since 2019, helping readers save money and find the best prices on high-quality products. Previously, Samantha was the managing editor of the e-commerce team at Reviewed. In her free time, Samantha can be found crafting and playing her guitar. Follow her on Twitter @sam_the_editor.
Allen St. John
Allen St. John is a senior tech editor at Consumer Reports. He has been with CR since 2016, focusing on digital privacy and covering smartwatches, wireless speakers, and headphones. Previously, Allen was a senior editor at Condé Nast and a contributing editor at publications ranging from Road & Track to the Village Voice, and his work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, and other national outlets. He is a New York Times bestselling author, and lives in Montclair, N.J., with his wife and his dog, Rugby.
