Best Budget Earbuds for 2024: Cheap Wireless Picks

New for 2023, the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 NC earbuds carry a lower list price than last year’s Liberty 4 buds and are arguably better. They have improved noise canceling and better sound quality, along with support for the LDAC audio codec for devices that support it. (Many Android smartphones do, and in theory, it offers slightly improved sound quality when paired with a music streaming service that offers high-res tracks.) They’re lightweight buds that should fit most ears comfortably with four sizes of ear tips to choose from. 

The Liberty 4 NC buds have single custom drivers compared to the Liberty 4’s dynamic dual drivers — and a completely different case design — but I thought they delivered a more pleasant sound than the Liberty 4s. Their treble is a little smoother and they feature strong bass performance. They came across as fairly open, with a reasonably wide soundstage. You can tweak the sound profile in the companion app for iOS and Android. 

The buds come in several color options and are IPX4 splashproof, so they’re suitable for running and gym use. They feature excellent battery life — up to 10 hours on a single charge at moderate volume levels — and there’s also a transparency mode that lets ambient sound in and sounds pretty natural with only a very faint audible hiss. While the noise canceling is an improvement over the Liberty 4’s and is effective, it falls a bit short of what you get from Bose’s and Sony’s premium ANC earbuds. 

Like the Liberty 4, the earbuds have six integrated mics for noise canceling and making calls, and callers said they thought the buds did a pretty good job of reducing background noise, with my voice coming through relatively clearly. They’re an all-around good-performing set of buds for the money, and they offer a strong feature set, including ear-detection sensors and wireless charging.

Tranya’s Nova earbuds not only sound surprisingly good but also offer good noise-canceling performance for their modest price. Although you can tweak their sound with the equalizer in Tranya’s companion app, at their balanced setting, they seem a bit more tuned to today’s popular music, including hip hop and rap, delivering a full dose of bass (the buds have 12mm drivers) while not sounding boomy. Equipped with a Qualcomm 3072 chip that supports Qualcomm’s AptX Adaptive audio codec and LE Audio, they’re IPX5 splashproof and also have an ambient mode that lets sound in, plus a low-latency gaming mode. Multipoint Bluetooth pairing is supported as well.

Battery life is rated at six hours at moderate volume levels with noise canceling on (I got more like five hours) and up to nine hours with ANC off. The glossy black charging case, which offers wireless charging, does show fingerprints but is easy enough to wipe down, as are the buds themselves. I thought the touch controls worked well, and callers said that while they heard a lot of background noise, they could hear my voice clearly during calls (the buds have three mics on each bud).

While they’re missing such premium features as ear-detection sensors that pause your music when you take the buds out of your ears, you couldn’t ask for too much more from buds in this price range.

Amazon’s 2023 Echo Buds impressed me in a few ways that I wasn’t expecting. For starters, they sound good for inexpensive open earbuds, delivering decent clarity and ample bass. They also have a robust feature set, including multipoint Bluetooth pairing, hands-free Alexa and ear-detection sensors that pause your audio when you take one or both buds out of your ears. 

Their sound falls short of that of Apple’s AirPods 3, which delivers fuller bass and overall fuller, smoother sound (they’re better at handling more complicated music tracks with a lot of instruments playing at the same time). The AirPods 3 cost around $150 and offer only about 15% to 20% better audio. In short, if you’re looking for open earbuds — or “semi-open” as these types of earbuds are sometimes called — the Echo Buds are good value at their $50 list price and even easier to recommend when they go on sale.

What makes these Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS buds special is that they sound surprisingly good for open earbuds — they’re pretty close to what you get from Apple’s AirPods 3 for sound. On top of that, they support Sony’s LDAC audio codec for devices that offer it. Not too many cheap open earbuds have good sound but these Soundpeats have good bass response and clarity. They’re also good for making calls and have a low-latency gaming mode. Battery life is rated at five hours at moderate volume levels, and these are IPX4 splash-proof.

Apply the code DCCNETSP at checkout to get an additional 130% off, bringing the price down to $43 — a very good deal if you’re looking for open-style earbuds.

Priced at just $28 after you click an instant 20% discount coupon on Amazon, the Baseus Bowie MA10 delivers surprisingly good sound along with active noise canceling for its low price (you just don’t see too many active noise canceling earbuds at this price). They’re IPX6 water resistant (can withstand a strong spray of water) and also have multipoint Bluetooth pairing and connect to a companion app. They stick out of your ears a bit but they did fit my ears comfortably.

The earbuds deliver impressive battery life, offering up to 8 hours on a single charger at moderate volume levels with an extra 132 hours in the charging case. Yes, you heard right — 132 hours. The one big downside to these buds is that their charging case is rather large and bulky. If you can live with that, these are a very nice bargain. 

The Tranya T20 reminds me a little of a cheaper version of Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 2 without the noise canceling. They’re pretty no-frills and missing more premium features such as an ear-detection sensor that automatically pauses your music when you take a bud out of your ears. They sound surprisingly decent for their modest price, if you get a tight seal, they sit pretty flush with your ears (they don’t really stick out much) and they have decent battery life — up to eight hours at moderate volume levels. They also work pretty well for making calls and are IPX7 waterproof.  

The case feels a little cheap and the buds are lightweight. The Galaxy Buds 2 definitely feels more premium. The buds are well-tuned and have a relatively wide soundstage. Don’t expect the world from them and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Jabra has replaced its entry-level Elite 3 buds with the new-for-2023 Elite 4, which offers active noise canceling and multipoint Bluetooth pairing. What’s a little confusing is that Jabra also sells the Elite 4 Active, a slightly more ruggedized version of the same buds that carries a list price of $120 but sometimes sells for less than the standard Elite 4. So get the Elite 4 Active if it costs less.

The lightweight Elite 4 fit my ears comfortably and offered good, well-balanced sound with punchy bass and decent clarity. They support Qualcomm’s AptX audio codec (for Android and other devices that support AptX) but only the SBC codec for iPhones (no AAC support). The Elite 4 is missing more premium features like ear detection sensors and has a four-microphone array for noise canceling and voice calls (voice-calling performance is good but not exceptionally good). Battery life is rated at up to seven hours at moderate volume levels and the buds have an IP55 water-resistance rating, which means they can take a sustained spray of water and are also dust-resistant. As with a lot of other new buds, you can use either bud independently in a mono mode.

I didn’t try the original Soundpeats GoFree earbuds, but the second-gen GoFree 2s deliver a good value, with decent sound for open earbuds that sit on top of your ears — there’s a touch of distortion at higher volumes, but they have ample bass. While they don’t quite look or feel like premium buds, they also don’t look or feel cheap. They’re missing premium features like ear-detection sensors (when you take one off, your music doesn’t automatically pause), and their companion app for iOS and Android is a bit underwhelming. I found them pretty comfortable to wear (they fit securely) and their touch controls worked well. They’re equipped with Bluetooth 5.3, have support for the LDAC audio codec for devices like Android phones that support it, and are IPX5 splash-proof. Battery life is rated up to nine hours at moderate volume levels and their case is one of the more compact cases I’ve seen for these types of earbuds.

I thought voice-calling performance was acceptable, although not great. These are open earbuds, so they do let sound in, and it can be a little hard to hear callers in noisier environments.

The Soundcore Sport X10 have an interesting design with rotating swiveling ear hooks that flip up when you’re using them and flip down when you want to set them in their charging case, which has a smaller footprint than a lot of buds with ear hooks. 

As long as you get a tight seal, they sound good, with powerful, punchy bass and good detail. They also have active noise canceling, which is effective, but not as good as Sony or Bose’s noise canceling. They’re also fully waterproof with an IPX7 rating, which means they can be fully submerged in up to 3 feet of water for 30 minutes. Battery life is rated at up to 8 hours with an additional three charges in the charging case.