best cheap earbuds 2025

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reddit.com › r/earbuds › ranking the best earbuds to buy at every budget

r/Earbuds on Reddit: Ranking the best Earbuds to buy at every budget

November 10, 2025 -

A few months ago I saw a post here with recommendations for every budget (which got removed for some reason?), so I decided to remake it and add some of my own personal favourites. This ranking will include different factors like sound quality, comfort and best value.

Budget option ($20 - $40):

Skullcandy Dime 3 - $20 - recently discounted, impressive bass and sound for the price. No active noise cancelling and not so good isolation.
JBL Vibe Buds - $34 - the overall best pick if you can get them under $40, balanced sound, very good eq and 8 hour battery. No active noise cancelling, but great isolation.
TOZO NC9 [ANC] - $39 - the best noise cancelling you can get for under 50 bucks with 1 unfortunate detail - you can lower it but you can't fully turn it off. Sound is also pretty good.
CMF Buds 2 [ANC] - $49 - a great option for sound quality, rivals even the Nothing Ear (a) which is almost double their price.

Honorable mention:

Beats Flex Wireless - $30 - the most compatible iOS/iPhone earbuds, very long battery life of ~11 hours, but they don't have ANC. Consider them a cheap alternative to the Airpods Pro 2.

Mid-tier option (up to $100):

Anker Liberty 4 NC [ANC] - $56 - absolute classic in this sub and a great all-rounder pick.
EarFun Air Pro 4 [ANC] - $55 - support for both LDAC and Lossless aptX, good battery at 10 hours with ANC off and 7 with ANC on. Balanced sound all around, customizable controls, one of the best sub-100 choices overall. This sub also recommends them a lot.
Anker Space A40 [ANC] - $44 - great overall performance, 8 hours battery life, currently on an AMAZING discount. You can get them for $49 on amazon, because there's currently a discount.
Skullcandy Method 360 [ANC] - $89 - the best option for gym and sports. 11 hours of battery and amazing bass. They're basically cheaper Bose earbuds.
Nothing Ear (a) [ANC] - $89 - top choice if sound quality is all that matters. Battery life is rather short though, sitting at just about 5 hours of continuous usage.

High-tier option (up to $200):

Sony WF‑1000XM5 [ANC] - $199 - those are the best all around higher end option. Great for all kinds of activities (sports, work, etc), amazing ANC and isolation. Very good build quality and sound. The only downside (at least for me) is that they have foam eartips which may not be comfortable for everyone.
Technics EAH‑AZ80 [ANC] - $154 - slightly cheaper solid alternative to the Sony WF-1000XM5 in terms of ANC. The battery life is up to 10 hours, great all around sound. I've also seen these being recommended here a lot.
Nothing Ear [ANC] - $109 - great budget high-tier option. Wide range of supported high-res codecs, good for both Android and iPhone. In comparison to the AZ80 buds, ANC is slightly weaker, but the sound clarity is a little better.
OnePlus Buds 4 [ANC] - $109 - relatively new model, very good value earbuds for the price and basically an upgrade over the OnePlus Buds 3 (which were already pretty good).

Honorable mention:

Apple AirPods Pro 3 [ANC] - $149 - best value if you have an iPhone. They have good ANC and sound quality. I personally have these and use them in the gym regularly.

Highly priced options ($200+):

At this point, there are very minor differences in terms of sound quality or ANC. I also personally wouldn't really spend more than 200 bucks on earbuds. However, if you're fine with that, you can look at:

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 ($199)
Bose QuietComfort Ultra ($249)

LMK if you got any other recommendations, I'd be happy to add them to the list!

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