Best budget noise canceling headphones

You’ve probably seen a ton of very expensive headphones everywhere you go, but it’s 2026 — shouldn’t we have great ANC on the cheap by now? Well, yes and no. There are good ANC headphones for most budgets, but it’s difficult to navigate the tradeoffs each offers. This is especially true if you’re not some hyper-nerd who consumes tons of headphone articles daily; so let me help you out.

We’ve tested over 1,000 headphones, and using our data, we’ve determined the best noise canceling headphones under $100. You can afford decent-sounding headphones, and most ANC cans nowadays are at least passable when it comes to killing outside noise.

Who am I? Why you should listen to me

Hi, I’m Chris Thomas: Editor-at-large and former Executive Editor of SoundGuys. I’ve been covering audio for publications big and small for 15 years now, and have personally tested — and used — hundreds upon hundreds of headphones and earphones. At SoundGuys, I’m responsible for lab testing every product that comes through our office, as well as covering noise canceling headphones. While it’s likely there’s someone out there who’s reviewed more of these products than I have, it’s unlikely they have the equipment and experience I do.

I write articles, lists like this one, and explainers because I like helping people — and I take extreme issue with consumers getting taken advantage of. I collect and analyze huge amounts of data every day to help my readers navigate tariffs, legal issues, safety, contextualizing sound quality, and the history of the products we cover. Though I can’t know everything about you, I can do my best to share my experience and knowledge to benefit your search for the best budget noise canceling headphones.

The Quick Answer

For a quick guide to the best budget noise canceling headphones that suit your needs and wallet, check out our top picks below. Each has a link to our full review. Just be aware that what counts as “budget” may not be everyone’s idea of “cheap.” So you’ll have to pay attention to what each product is priced at any given moment to see if it aligns with your needs.

The best overall:

The best for battery life:

The best under $100:

Alternative under $100:

The best travel headphones:

The best value wireless earbuds:

The best futureproof headphones:

Best budget noise canceling headphones for most people: Sony ULT WEAR

These headphones may be a little on the older side nowadays, but the Sony ULT WEAR is a solid pick for most people. Offering solid ANC, a very straightforward app, and decent sound quality (after a little bit of exploration in the app), the headphones are built with many of the same things that made older WH-1000X-series headphones great. They’re light, they form a good seal on a wide range of heads, and they get better the more you tinker with them. That “ULT” button on the side allows you to swap between preset sound settings, so it’s easy to tweak what you want ahead of your commute.

Of particular interest, the ULT WEAR offers better ANC in the range where most annoying sounds live, as well as offers better comfort than our runner-up: the Nothing Headphone (a). Though a 35-hour battery life isn’t much to write home about, it’s still more than enough to handle commutes for a week without a recharge.

You may not want these if you need any sort of weather resistance, though. Additionally, now that these headphones are a few years old, you should be able to find them for a bit less than you might have only a year ago.

Read our full Sony ULT WEAR review

Best budget noise canceling headphones for battery life: Nothing Headphone (a)

If you absolutely need better battery life against all other considerations, the Nothing Headphone (a) is an outstanding pick — and a very strong alternative to our top pick. The main reasons why it wasn’t a slam-dunk is the poorer ANC in a critical band, and the question mark around future firmware updates. Should either change in the future, expect to see this model overtake the top spot.

The Nothing Headphone (a) is a solid set of budget ANC headphones, with a relatively low mass, strong app support, excellent connectivity options, and even light resistance to moisture. But the main selling point here is the battery. Though the cell itself is not quite fit for a smartphone, it’s large enough to power the headphones for over 75 hours with the ANC on — meaning you won’t have to recharge for longer periods of time. Fewer charging cycles means less wear on the battery, and these headphones should last you quite a bit longer than some of the other options on this list. Though it’s too early to declare this a “buy it for life” kind of purchase, on paper it looks a bit that way.

The only real drawbacks to these headphones are the company’s history with firmware updates, a somewhat odd sound that can be mostly rescued in the app, and slightly weaker ANC than other options. Given that Nothing did eventually fix their biggest firmware issues with the Headphone (1), and the fact that the app is quite good at enabling users to adjust their sound to taste — I’ll point out that these issues can be dealt with fairly well by most people. Moreso quibbles than dealbreakers.

However, some people find the minimal padding on the top of the band to be a bit uncomfortable over long periods of time, and if you have a large head: these may not be the headphones for you. For better or worse, these headphones are extremely similar to Nothing’s Headphone (1) in a surprising number of ways. If you like these headphones and don’t want to give up on them, you could always consider a padded wrap for the band to take pressure off your skull.

Read our full Nothing Headphone (a) review

Best budget noise canceling headphones under $100: JLab JBuds Lux ANC

Now that the category has had time to mature, there are a number of decent options below $100. The three that we’d suggest to most people are the JLab JBuds Lux ANC, Edifier W830NB, and EarFun Wave Pro. All three options are about $80, but can be found on sale for less occasionally.

The JLab JBuds Lux ANC are excellent headphones with decent ANC and the ability to listen to audio over USB as well as wirelessly. Battery life is solid at 44+ hours of listening time with ANC enabled, and should last you quite a while before needing a top-up. I’ve recommended these headphones to many in the last two years, and they still hold up today.

Read our full JLab JBuds Lux ANC review

Best alternative budget noise canceling headphones: Edifier W830NB

Very similar to the JBuds Lux ANC are the Edifier W830NB. Though they sound a bit different than the JLab headphones, their app is poorer, they have slightly worse ANC. However, they’re comfortable in ways that the others in this section are not, AND they allege slightly better battery life. Though to be honest, after 30 hours of battery life, it’s often tough to notice a meaningful difference from model to model. The inclusion of USB-C audio makes these competitive with the others in this segment.

Many like to offer this model as an alternative to the JLab headphones, and for good reason: they’re great. However, they’re slightly heavier, and it’s a bit more difficult to EQ away those peaks in the highs, so the W830NB loses out on this list.

Read our full Edifier W830NB review

Best travel budget noise canceling headphones: EarFun Wave Pro

Though the EarFun Wave Pro do not separate themselves from the pack here substantially (outside of sounding merely “okay” instead of “good”), they do offer better comfort to those who need bigger ear cups. These headphones tick a lot of boxes feature-wise, but aren’t going to make you forget about AirPods Max 2’s ANC or anything.

With these headphones, you get a substantial battery life (tested at over 52 hours in a single charge), and that’s extremely important if you travel. Sometimes you forget to pick up a converter, or need to go extended periods of time without a top-up, and a long battery life can help you avoid this.

Read our full EarFun Wave Pro review

Best value earbuds: Sony WF-C710N

Okay, this is a list of budget ANC headphones, but what if you want earphones? Of course, “value” is a bit of a moving target in the world of tariffs, inflation, and uncertainty so maybe you’re willing to spend about $100. In that case, give the Sony WF-C710N a listen. Though they’re not going to knock your socks off, they provide enough performance, comfort, and even look the part of more expensive earphones.

My time with the WF-C710 was mixed, but it’s hard to get too critical of earbuds that work as well as these do for the price. If you’re an Android user, these are an excellent buy if you’re looking to save money. The Sony WF-710N offer better ANC, battery life, and fewer frustrations than many of the top-of-the-line options out there — so it’s one of those models I like to recommend those who aren’t happy with how complicated things have gotten.

Read our full Sony WF-710N review

The OneOdio Focus A6 are ready for the future with Bluetooth 6.0

If you’re hunting for great noise canceling on a budget, the OneOdio Focus A6 are a top contender under $100. For just $69, they offer surprisingly effective ANC—reducing external noise by about 79% in our lab tests—along with support for Bluetooth 6.0 and LDAC. That means you get both solid noise reduction and high-resolution wireless audio, which is rare at this price. The companion app also gives you access to four ANC modes, including Wind Noise Reduction, plus a customizable EQ and handy extras like a Find My Headphones feature.

While the Focus A6 skip wired playback and don’t come with a travel case, they make up for it with long battery life (up to 40 hours with ANC on), lightweight comfort, and strong app-based controls. The plastic build isn’t the most durable, but if you want impressive ANC performance and a ton of features for less than $100, these are an easy recommendation.

Read our full OneOdio Focus A6 review

The best noise canceling headphones under $100: Notable mentions

•  Anker Soundcore Life Q35 $99.99 at Amazon: These share some of the features of the 1MORE SonoFlow, including ANC, a travel case, a foldable design, 50h+ battery life, a quick charge feature, and a supporting app for EQ customization.
• AKG N700NC M2: This is the successor to AKG’s original entry-level noise canceling headphones. Although it’s currently priced above $100, these cans are still worthy of your consideration thanks to their overall balanced sound signature and competitive noise canceling performance—all at a price tag that is still much lower than Sony or Bose’s offerings.
• AUKEY EP-N12: If your primary goal is super cheap ANC and you aren’t too fussed about perfect audio reproduction, the EP-N12 offers impressive noise cancelation for well under $100 and long battery life.
• Edifier W828NB: Don’t need to make any phone calls? That’s good. This headset has no onboard mic, but it does have a long battery life, comfortable ear cups, and aptX and aptX HD codecs for better-quality streaming. Older tech like micro-USB charging can annoy single cable users who have moved on to USB-C.
• Philips PH805: This headset has all of these bells and whistles of ice assistant integration, High-Res audio certification, touch controls, and active noise canceling. Plus, it’s extremely comfortable.
• Sennheiser HD 450BT (): This set of noise canceling headphones does an okay job of reducing background noise but doesn’t perform nearly as well as its big brother, the Sennheiser PXC 550-II.

What you should know about budget noise canceling headphones

Like any category of products you buy, there’s a number of things you should be aware of before you mash that “buy” button. If you’re worried about money, then you’re going to want to clearly identify what your needs are, and how well the models that you like line up with these realities.

Battery life is more important than it seems

Though it’s tempting to pick headphones based on battery life alone, there’s really not a huge difference between a model that can last 30 hours and another that can last 50. In reality, it mainly amounts to having to recharge one or two more times a month — not a huge deal. But what is a huge deal is how that larger cell enables better battery hygiene. By reducing the number of stressful charge cycles on your headphones’ battery, you can keep that battery out of the landfill for a few more years — thus making your purchase last much longer.

So the longer the battery life, the less annoyed you’ll be by charging only part-way. For models like the Nothing Headphone (a), even an 80% charge still grants you more listening time per charge than most of the top headphones on the market. That’s a great way to protect your investment!

Frequency response can tell you how something sounds (generally)

If you’re unclear on which models will sound good to you, I strongly suggest learning a bit about frequency response charts. Though not a complete substitute for actually listening to headphones yourself, learning a little bit about what those squiggles mean will pay dividends.

Of course, these are best treated as a guideline and not Gospel: not every wiggle will mean something bad — or good. Use these charts to make broad-strokes comparisons between headphones you know, and headphones you are thinking about buying to learn a few things about how they sound before you try them on. Just remember that our preference curve — while independently validated to sound decent to over-ear and in-ear listeners — isn’t the end word on good sound either. It’s included on the chart as context for people looking to make comparisons; nothing more.

You can see how well something cancels noise with an attenuation plot

In our reviews, you can get a feel for how well a set of headphones either physically blocks outside noise from reaching your ear, as well as how well it cancels noise. We call these attenuation plots, and they function a bit like frequency response plots. The higher the line goes, the more noise is blocked or canceled. Of course, some parts of the chart are more important than others: between 100Hz and 3kHz are the most important areas on that chart, for example. This is where the majority of the most annoying sounds live, so you’ll be more sensitive to performance swings here.

In the above example, the AirPods Max 2 do a far better job of getting rid of junk noise than the Sennheiser HDB 630, even if both models get rid of a high amount of outside noise. In particular, the HDB 630 is noticeably worse at getting rid of noise in the area I mentioned earlier — so even though it gets rid of only a few percentage points less junk sound, it will seem much worse at the task than the AirPods Max 2.

How I test budget noise canceling headphones

If you’re wondering how we even get this information in the first place, we publish our testing methods publicly so you can learn more about the process. We like to objectively test the products that come through our labs because it’s very hard to find good information out there — and we don’t want you to feel like you have to trust our word for something. Here’s what I do:

1. I test the headphones’ performance using a state-of-the-art test head with realistic ears.
2. I test the isolation and noise cancelation of the headphones with that same head.
3. I test the battery of the headphones by level-matching them to a pre-set loudness, and playing a test track on repeat until the battery gives out.
4. Our reviewers actually listen to the headphones for several days.
5. While using the headphones, we note any issues with build, performance, comfort, and anything that doesn’t show up on a chart.
6. We test the microphones by playing a set of Harvard phrases through five different controlled situations (office, street noise, wind, reverberant space, and ideal conditions).

After we gather data and experience the products for ourselves, we pick our candidates for our list.

How I chose the best cheap noise canceling headphones

After testing the headphones and comparing the test results, we’re able to proceed with our choices. But of course, some things matter more than others. For my choices, any headphones on this list must:

1. Cancel or attenuate at least 70% of outside noise by perceived loudness.
2. Be priced under $300.
3. Sound decently good — not audiophile-level, but good enough.
4. Be absent of extreme issues with comfort, safety, or build quality.

While that list doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s more than enough to sift through the available products on the market.

Why you should trust SoundGuys

SoundGuys is an independent media outlet staffed by journalists, audiophiles, musicians, and… well… sound guys. We do what we do because we want people to have all the information they need to buy headphones without having to trudge through marketing hogwash. Our writers are paid by salary, and not by how much anyone clicks links. Though we do get a small commission from anyone buying headphones through the links in the site, the terms of our referral partnerships mean that we don’t see anything unless you don’t return them. So, it’s in our best interest if you actually like what you get. If you’d like to know more about this, you can always peruse our ethics policy.

Frequently asked questions about the best budget noise canceling headphones