ANC wireless earbuds

After four solid generations before them, Soundcore Liberty 5 wireless noise-canceling earbuds are compact audio powerhouses. My Soundcore Liberty 5 earbuds review finds they challenge premium noise-canceling earbuds like AirPods Pro 2 for about half the price. In fact, Liberty 5’s price ($130) went down from Liberty 4’s starting price by $20.

While Apple, Sony and Bose dominate the high-end market, Soundcore steadily refined their Liberty series to deliver impressive sound quality without the premium price tag. During my testing, the earbuds demonstrated remarkable performance in a variety of ways, along with a limitation or two.

Newly updated Soundcore Liberty 5 noise-canceling wireless earbuds pack enhanced voice reduction, more-adaptive active noise cancellation (ANC) and improved Dolby immersive audio, the Anker Innovations brand said Wednesday.

And did we mention the price dropped by $20 since Liberty 4? So now they’re even less expensive than Apple’s various AirPods Pro 2, at $129.

The sleek new Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds designed to stay on during workouts of any intensity only came out in February 2025. But you can already get a 20% discount. That brings down the list price from $249.99 to $199.99, a savings of $50. And that applies to all four color choices!

So maybe you buy these and that becomes your motivation to get back to the gym. Everybody wins.

Need great wireless earbuds but not into spending hundred of dollars? Amazon is currently selling Beats Studio Buds for the uncommonly low price of $149.95 $99.95, or 33% off. And, even more impressively, you can get the upgraded Beats Studio Buds+ for $169.95 $99.95, or 41% off, if you prefer. See below.

Apple’s audio lineup recently expanded with the arrival of Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds, creating an interesting competition with the established AirPods Pro 2. Both high-end wireless earbuds share Apple’s technology backbone but target different segments of the market. So in a Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 vs. AirPods Pro 2 comparison, which should you choose?

Let’s compare these premium options across design, features, performance and value to help you determine which is right for your lifestyle.

The redesigned Powerbeats Pro 2 unveiled Tuesday are Apple’s first earbuds to feature built-in heart rate monitoring. The fitness-oriented wireless earbuds feature ear hooks for a secure fit during workouts. Plus, they come with Apple’s H2 chip and bring adaptive EQ, Spatial Audio and improved active noise cancellation with Transparency Mode.

Apple calls the new Powerbeats Pro 2 “the most advanced product we’ve ever developed.”

The new flagship EarFun Air Pro 4+ noise-canceling earbuds feature AI-powered language translation. EarFun also will roll out other new products this week at CES, the big consumer electronics show in Las Vegas. The lineup includes clip-on earbuds and hook-on open-ear earbuds for workouts, affordable noise-canceling over-ear headphones, and an Auracast USB-C dongle that can enable lossless audio for devices. If you’re looking for a comparison with AirPods Mac, check out how they stack up against these new releases.

Over about a week of testing for this Status Audio Between 3ANC earbuds review, I found the distinctive buds to be a product of intriguing contrasts — ambitious in some areas while falling short in others.  Currently priced at $179 (recently reduced from $199 and $249 before that), the earbuds try to compete with industry leaders like AirPods Pro 2 through a unique triple-driver design and striking looks. In fact, these earbuds even claim in ads to have a “subwoofer” for the low end. But while Between 3ANC buds boast good sound, I found overall performance results somewhat mixed.

After testing Creative Aurvana Ace 2 earbuds, I’ve found them to be a fascinating glimpse into the future of portable audio technology — albeit with some growing pains at this early stage. The $149.99 buds — often discounted — represent one of the first consumer implementations of xMEMS solid-state driver technology. But the impressive audio quality doesn’t make these earbuds as great as they could be because of other shortcomings.

Aurvana Ace 2 came out about a year ago, but this marks my first time experiencing xMEMS Labs micro speakers I’ve written about several times, so I was happy to try them out.

The new Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro wireless noise-canceling earbuds are the flagship of Anker’s Soundcore earbuds lineup, promising and delivering great sound and high-end features at a more accessible price point than some competitors, like AirPods Pro 2. After putting the Liberty Pro buds through their paces in various scenarios, I’m happy to recommend them for most users in this Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro earbuds review.

And that nifty new charging case with display screen and touch bar is pretty cool. But it’s a bit of a gimmick because it doesn’t do anything you can’t do with the app or touch controls. That said, most earbuds charging cases don’t have those features at all (yet).

Soundcore’s new flagship Liberty 4 Pro earbuds boast the company’s most sophisticated active noise cancellation (ANC) yet, plus a cool new charging case with a screen and touchbar that let you view and adjust settings on the buds, the company said Thursday.

The new Bowers & Wilkins Pi6 and Pi8 wireless, active noise canceling (ANC) earbuds aim to redefine the premium earbud market with upgraded features, impeccable design and stellar sound quality, the venerable brand said Wednesday. The new buds come from the same team behind the company’s acclaimed Px7 S2e and Px8 headphones.

“I’m thrilled that the Bowers & Wilkins team has once again been able to raise the bar for premium design, performance and quality in the headphone category,” said Giles Pocock, vice president of Brand Marketing at Bowers & Wilkins, founded way back in 1966. “Our new Pi6 and Pi8 earbuds are truly special — I’m certain they will be just as successful as our Px7 S2e and Px8 headphones have been.”

EarFun launched its new flagship Air Pro 4 active noise-canceling (ANC) wireless earbuds Monday, calling them “the world’s first Auracast-supported earbuds under $100.” And the new buds run true to form for EarFun. They’re great-sounding, well-equipped earbuds that present an excellent value at a list price of $90. And EarFun Air Pro 4 present an even better value with the launch discount (see below).

Creative Technology’s new Creative Zen Hybrid SXFI over-hear headphones and Creative Zen Air SXFI true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds offer an immersive, three-dimensional soundscape through Super X-Fi technology, the company said.

That’s another way of saying “spatial audio.” And both noise-canceling devices are affordable. Now available for preorder, the cans list for $99.99 and the buds go for $79.99.

The sleek new Sennheiser Accentum True Wireless noise-canceling earbuds seem destined to compete with top buds like AirPods Pro 2 and the best from the likes of Sony and Bose. Yet they cost just under $200, the German audio brand said Monday, opening preorders with shipping to commence May 21.

So what else sets the buds apart, other than moderate pricing? Accentum earbuds feature Sennheiser’s TrueResponse wavefront sculpting, which analyzes the unique anatomy of your outer ears to create a precise sound projection tailored to you.

The affordable and popular Baseus Bowie MA10 wireless noise-canceling earbuds just got a big upgrade with spatial audio, alongside a more compact design and a digital display for battery life on the case, the company said Tuesday. The new ones are called Baseus Bowie MA10s.

Baseus called the previous version its best-selling product on Amazon last year and said the buds “have been recommended by Oscar-class composers to ensure a quality sound experience.” And you can get them for a lot less than buds like AirPods Pro 2 — just $40.

If you love a good set of earbuds but you don’t want to spend a ton on Apple’s AirPods or Beats products, EarFun is worth a look. And on Sunday the company runs its first EarFun headphones and earbud deals through Amazon’s Deal of the Day.

Those special prices combined with coupons give you ridiculously low prices on these solid products. See below.

A systems engineer who works for a software developer showed off today’s M1 Pro MacBook Pro setup, which features unusual audio. Razer Nommo Chroma gaming speakers rarely come up in setups despite their high coolness factor. They look a bit like highway patrol speed guns. And the noise-canceling wireless earbuds are a favorite — Soundcore Space A40. 

It’s that time of year again, when Amazon puts on its Big Spring Sale. And this year’s edition gets you between 20% and 51% off a great selection of 22 Soundcore headphones and earbuds. That’s up to about half off Soundcore headphones and earbuds.

It’ll be tough to find better deals on the Anker subsidiary’s excellent audio products, which are packed with value even at regular prices.

Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds with improved noise-masking, longer battery life and soft ear tips are coming to help you sleep through all the racket, parent company Anker said Friday — aka World Sleep Day.

You can sign up now for Super Early Bird pricing at $60 off in the Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the Sleep A20 earbuds, which launches April 16.

Released Monday, EarFun’s new Air 2 wireless earbuds are damned good for $50, even without noise cancellation. It’s a testament to how far earbuds have come that you can get Hi-Res Audio-certified wireless buds for so little money.

That said, I wouldn’t throw away your AirPods Pro 2 buds just yet.

Noble Audio’s new Falcon Max true wireless stereo earbuds are the company’s first to integrate advanced all-silicon solid-state MEMS-based drivers from xMEMS Labs, the company said Tuesday.

Release of the new earbuds with a hybrid-driver setup follows recent news that xMEMS plans to offer its first full-spectrum Cypress MEMS “ultrasonic” speaker in 2024. That should enable solid-state earbuds with remarkable full-spectrum audio quality.

xMEMS Labs is bringing what it calls breakthrough technology to the wireless earbuds market late next year after a CES 2024 debut — the Cypress ultrasonic speaker. It turns ultrasonic waves we normally can’t even hear into full-frequency, hi-res audio with remarkable detail, the California-based semiconductor company said Tuesday.

The solid-state microspeaker, which will find its way into various companies’ earbuds and headphones — hello, AirPods? — generates low-frequency sound pressure for a full bass response, according to xMEMS Labs.

That makes the ultrasonic speaker a true replacement for legacy speaker technology that has only been refined, not replaced, since your great-grandparents rocked the Victrola.

Don’t want to spend hundreds on great-sounding earbuds? Affordable earbud and speaker maker EarFun unveiled its updated stemless earbuds Monday, EarFun Free Pro 3. They check a lot of quality boxes at a low regular price of $80, or $60 with current discounts (see below).

Like previous EarFun releases, the new buds nail high-quality sound and offer an array of premium features. But in this case, I found the active noise cancellation (ANC) unimpressive — that is, until EarFun sent out firmware update VO.2.1 in early November, and it improved noticeably. 

Jabra just rolled out its new flagship wireless active noise-canceling earbuds, Jabra Elite 10, alongside its rugged Jabra Elite 8 Active buds.

Elite 10 features 10mm drivers, comfortable open-ear construction and, in a first for Jabra, Dolby Atmos spatial audio with head tracking.