Amazon’s Big Spring Sale on Earbuds and Headphones: Save on Sony, Bose, Beats and More

Priced at just $17.50 after you redeem a 30% discount code 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 ANC earbuds at this price. They’re IPX6 water-resistant (meaning they 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 charge at moderate volume levels with an extra 132 hours in the charging case. Yes, you read 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 nice bargain.

The Anker Soundcore Life P2 Mini have been out for some time but remain a good set of budget earbuds. Available in several colors (navy is shown here), they’re compact and lightweight and offer decent sound with three EQ modes to choose from. While these don’t have active noise canceling, their battery life is very good at up to 8 hours at moderate volume levels. The P2 Minis are IPX5 splash-proof and perform well, but not exceptionally well, as a headset for making calls.

I also like Anker’s Soundcore Life P3i buds, which retail for around $50 and do have active noise canceling. They’re slightly superior to these buds but tend to cost about $10 more, though they’re also on sale.

with a list price of $100, Samsung’s new-for-2023 Galaxy Buds FE feature a single driver (Samsung isn’t saying what size it is), three mics on each earbud and active noise canceling. They charge in a case that’s the same size and shape as what you currently get with all of Samsung’s latest Galaxy Buds, including the Galaxy Buds 2 and Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. And they look a lot like an updated version of Samsung’s discontinued Galaxy Buds Plus earbuds, which also came with a set of swappable fins that helped create a secure, comfortable fit. Like those buds, the Galaxy Buds FE are sweat-resistant with an IPX2 water-resistance rating that protects against splashes. 

They don’t sound quite as rich as the Galaxy Buds Pro, and their voice-calling performance isn’t up to the Buds Pro’s level (it’s decent, not great). But they do offer respectable sound quality (it’s certainly as good as the Galaxy Buds 2’s) and decent noise canceling. I also found them to be lightweight and comfortable to wear. While they may not measure up to more premium earbuds, including the Buds Pro, they deliver good bang for the buck. The Galaxy Buds FE are rated for up to 6 hours of battery life with noise canceling on and 8.5 hours with it off.

Available in three colors, the Soundcore Space One are Anker’s latest noise-canceling headphones. They’re a good value for around $100, offering a strong feature set along with good sound quality and performance. They can’t quite compete sound-wise with many of the premium noise-canceling models, but you don’t feel like you’re giving up that much on the sound front to save a good deal of money. They lack a bit of that natural, refined quality you look for in a great set of cans, but the Space One sound respectable, with decent clarity and bass definition and measure up well to the more expensive Soundcore Space 45.

Noise-canceling and voice-calling performance are also good for headphones in this price range, though the transparency mode is only OK. Anker has developed a version of Sony’s Speak-to-Chat feature — Anker calls it Easy Chat — that automatically pauses your music and enters a transparency mode when you walk up to someone and start a conversation. The headphones are equipped with wear-detection sensors, a feature not usually found at this price, and include a carrying pouch. LDAC audio codec support is available for Android users.

I found them comfortable to wear, but they do look a bit bulky compared to more premium models.

The Anker Soundcore AeroFit Pro are among the best open-ear “air conduction” earbuds, with a premium look and feel, and are comfortable to wear. (I had no problem keeping them on my ears while running or working out.) On the downside, they’re expensive, but they do feature strong audio quality for these types of earbuds, with ample bass and volume, plus decent clarity. They’re good for making calls (they do a pretty good job reducing background noise reduction) and also offer strong battery life — up to 14 hours at moderate volume levels.

While they don’t have ear-detection sensors, I liked that they have physical buttons to control playback and also come with a cord, should you want to turn them into neckband-style wireless headphones. It’s also worth noting that they have a spatial audio feature and offer the LDAC audio codec for devices like Android smartphones that support it for Bluetooth streaming.

Anker’s standard AeroFit fit model ($130) has smaller drivers (14mm versus 16.2mm for the Pro), so it doesn’t sound quite as good, and also has a battery life rating of 11 hours. However, those buds are fully waterproof with an IPX7 rating, while these are splash-proof with an IPX5 rating.

You can shop discounts on several pairs of Samsung Galaxy earbuds right now, including the Galaxy Buds 2, which I tend to like the best of the current crop of Galaxy Buds. Right now, Amazon has them on sale for just $100, which saves you $50 compared to their list price. Read our Galaxy Buds 2 review.

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 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 have a strong feature set, including ear-detection sensors and wireless charging.

If you can’t afford Sony’s WH-1000XM5 or Bose’s QC45, the Anker Soundcore Space Q45 (yes, there’s a bit of copying going on here) are a good alternative for $150, and we should see occasional discounts on them. While they may not fit some smaller heads, they’re comfortable to wear, with nicely padded ear cups and a dual-hinge folding design. Sound quality is very good and the headphones offer better noise canceling than the step-down Q35, as well as multipoint Bluetooth pairing (these are equipped with Bluetooth 5.3) and support for the LDAC audio codec for streaming high-resolution music tracks over Bluetooth, if you have a device that supports LDAC. Many Android phones do, although Samsung’s Galaxy phones don’t. 

Battery life is very good at up to 50 hours with noise canceling on at moderate volume levels and the headphones come with a hard carrying case for travel.

If you can’t quite afford the AirPods Pro 2, the Edifier NeoBuds Pro 2 may be a good alternative. They aren’t a huge upgrade over the original NeoBuds Pro, but their list price is around $50 less and they have a lightweight premium design, good sound for their price, effective noise cancellation and come with seven sets of ear tips to help you get a good fit. They also have ear-detection sensors and spatial audio with head tracking.

With support for the LDAC, LHDC, and AAC audio codecs, they’re good for both iPhone and Android users (many Android devices support LDAC audio streaming). Equipped with four microphones in each bud, they worked well for voice calls, though not quite as well as the AirPods Pro 2, which are little better overall. While I was slightly disappointed with the limited touch control and thought the spatial audio and battery life could be a little better (they’re rated for around 4 hours with noise canceling on and 5.5 hours with it off), the NeoBuds Pro 2 offer a good combination of mostly impressive performance in a nice design. You can tweak their sound in their companion app for iOS and Android.