Budget wireless earbuds
Wireless earbuds can cost up to £200, but you can get decent audio and stylish design for less than half that.
Do you have to spend £200 on a pair of earbuds to enjoy the best audio quality on a personal level? Absolutely not. There are hundreds of cheap wireless earphones out there that sound just as good as more expensive options, but their price sounds a million times better.
But buying cheap earbuds can be a minefield, because you never really know what you’re going to get – especially if it’s from a Chinese brand you’ve never heard of. You could argue that you get what you pay for, except that really isn’t the case, and we’ve found some amazing products at significantly lower prices.
To save you the headache of finding a pair of Bluetooth earphones that impress on more than just price, we’ve rounded up some of our favourite wireless buds. Our expert team have tested all these options, so you can be sure that you’re getting a truly great deal.
1. TAOTRONICS SOUNDLIBERTY 79
Price: £39 from fave.co/32xlvyD If TaoTronics is a brand that’s unfamiliar to you, well it might be time to start paying attention. We recently reviewed its SoundLiberty 53 wireless earphones and found them to be a good choice for those who don’t want to spend Apple prices for everyday Bluetooth earbuds.
Now, the company has updated its line-up to include a new design, extra features, all while holding to an affordable price. We see if the SoundLiberty 79 can take TaoTronics to the next level.
Design
TaoTronic has left behind the AirPod inspired design that featured on the SoundLiberty 53 by removing the dangling stems, going instead for a shape that emulates the curvature of the inner ear. This allows the SoundLiberty 79s to sit comfortably for extended listening sessions and not have weird looking things sticking out of your ears in the process.
The main chassis has a depth of around 20mm, so these might sit slightly tall for some people, but the choice of buds that come in the pack mean you should at least be assured of a snug fit. The short stems are angled so that they allow for a secure seating in the ear canal, bringing with it a good deal of noise isolation.
Controls are touch-sensitive rather that button-based, with the main part of the chassis sensing taps and acting accordingly. Connection is via Bluetooth 5.0 and the design also features an IPX7 waterproof rating, so you can go running
in the rain or even venture into the shower with these buds.
The pill-shaped carry-case for the TaoTronics SoundLiberty 79 also doubles as a charger that can hold around five full recharges for the buds. A USB-C slot on the rear is how to power the box itself, while four lights on the front show you the current level of charge.
Audio quality
The SoundLiberty 79 earbuds deliver a very decent range of frequencies, making them a fine companion for a wide variety of music. Bass is strong but not overbearing, all the mids you need are there, and treble performance is also well balanced.
The bud design also does an effective job of shutting out most surrounding noise, although if you want to be aware of your immediate environment then these might do too good a job.
Pairing is a breeze, with the buds being recognized by any device we tried and happy to instantly connect. The Bluetooth 5.0 tech inside means that we also experienced a very stable signal throughout listening sessions, making the SoundLiberty 79 a simple, reliable pair of wireless earbuds, which is all we really ask.
If there is an area that we’d like to see improvement, it’s the touch-sensitive controls. For the most part they are fast and responsive, but we did have a few instances when the double-tap the play/pause didn’t work.
Well, that’s not entirely fair, the buds did increase and decrease volume (triggered by single taps on the right or left bud respectively) or skip a track (triple tap), so it could have been that we weren’t getting our timing quite right for when the sensors were measuring the contact. It’s not a big deal, as on the whole we were happy with how the commands were executed.
Call quality is good, with those on the other end not noticing that we were using earbuds rather than our regular
phones. This could be due to the Smart Noise Reduction Technology that TaoTronics says it employs with these earbuds.
It should be noted though that while the descriptions of the SoundLiberty 79 note noise cancelling as a feature, it only applies to phone calls and not for when you’re listening to audio.
TaoTronics says the SoundLiberty 79 can last for eight hours on a single charge. While this seems like a tall ask, we found that after five hours of continuous use they had only reduced to 50 per cent, which is very impressive.
Verdict
When you consider that the SoundLiberty 79 wireless earbuds cost just shy of £40, which is less than a third of what some premium brands charge, it’s hard to see where all that additional money goes.
These sound great, look smart, have a solid connection thanks to Bluetooth 5.0 and deliver incredible battery life. All of which is what most of us demand from this kind of product.
Give the TaoTronic SoundLiberty 79 a serious look and we’re sure you’ll be impressed, plus you could save yourself a tidy bit of cash.
Specifications
• Bluetooth 5.0
• IPX7 waterproof rating
• Audio Codex: SBC, AAC
• Touch-sensitive controls
• Noise reduction technology for phone calls
• Charging case with USB-C port (holds five charges)
• Microphones
• 66x40x28mm
2. HUAWEI FREEBUDS 3I
Price: £89 from fave.co/3lyV2th Huawei’s Freebuds 3 were impressive when I reviewed them last year. For the price, they offered great sound quality and battery life. And, unusually, they had active noise cancellation (ANC)
despite being an open-fit design. It wasn’t perfect, but worked well in indoor environments such as an office or your home. Now, Huawei has launched the Freebuds 3i, a more affordable option with ANC and a closed-fit design. That sounds like a recipe for success, but the 3i’s battery life isn’t quite as good as some of its rivals.
Design
If you’re already familiar with the FreeBuds 3, then you might think the 3i sports a new design. But it’s very similar to the original FreeBuds from 2018.
The case is compact and the buds themselves are slimmer than the AirPods Pro. The glossy white finish is a similarity, as is the active noise cancellation.
Software, though, is where the FreeBuds really copy the AirPods: when you open the case, a graphic appears on your (Huawei) phone which looks exactly like the one you see with AirPods on an iPhone.
There were a few teething problems getting the FreeBuds to pair with a P30 Pro, but I’m told this is unusual and after resetting the buds and updating the AI Life app, I had no further problems.
You need the app to change settings such as the gesture controls and update the firmware. By default, double-tapping the right bud pauses or plays the current song, but you can choose another function such as calling the Google Assistant or – on recent Huawei phones – Celia.
The list of options is short: next song, previous song, voice assistant and play/ pause. A double-tap will also answer and hang up phone calls.
Touching and holding the bud toggles through the noise control modes: ANC, Off, Awareness. The latter uses the built-in mics so you can hear your surroundings. And you can pick which of these three are included in the modes to cycle through. You have to hold for what seems an unnecessarily long time (about two seconds), which
is frustrating. There’s also wear detection, which you can disable. It automatically pauses the audio when you remove a bud, and continues to play when you replace it in your ear. But it works only if you have a Huawei / Honor phone running EMUI 10 or later.
If the fitted silicone tips don’t fit your ears snugly, there are three more pairs to choose between in the box.
Performance
In terms of sound quality, there’s a lot to like for the price. Optimized for music, they’re loud and there’s loads of bass. So the FreeBuds 3i will suit anyone who loves the low frequencies to dominate their music.
It gets even heavier if you enable Dolby Atmos or the Huawei sound effects, but you can of course adjust the equalizer (using the controls your phone or music app offers) to adjust the sound.
Mids and highs are well represented and the overall sound isn’t harsh. With smaller drivers than the FreeBuds 3, it’s quite a different sound overall.
It’s not the absolute best you can get at this level, but you’re not going to find a better-sounding pair with ANC for less.
In terms of noise cancellation, I was very happy with the 3i. The closed-fit
design already does a good job of noise isolation, but there is a noticeable difference when you enable ANC. It removes the kind of white noise you get from air conditioning and computer fans.
It does a decent job of dulling conversations and the click-clack of office typing, and a better job than the FreeBuds 3 when it’s really noisy – but that’s mainly due to the sealed design.
Call quality is good – so the recipient of my test call told me. Noise cancelling works for phone calls too, but struggles when you’re outside and it’s windy.
Battery life
This is what could be the deal-breaker with the FreeBuds 3i. You get up to 3.5 hours per charge, but it’s more like 2-2.5 hours with ANC enabled. The case offers 11 hours of further playback – time enough power to recharge both buds around three times.
Verdict
The FreeBuds 3i sound good and the active noise cancelling works well, so long as it’s not too noisy around you.
They would be ideal for use on long flights if it weren’t for the short battery life: you’ll get around 2-2.5 hours between charges when using ANC. Remember that FreeBuds work best with Huawei and Honor phones: they do work on other Android phones, but you don’t get the AirPods-style pairing feature.
Specifications
• Up to 3.5 hours playback on 1 charge; 14.5 hours playback with charging case
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 10mm dynamic driver
• IPX4 water resistant
• 5.5g (per earbud); 51g (charging case)
• 41.8x23.7x19.8mm (per earbud); 80.7x35.4x29.2mm (charging case)
3. CREATIVE OUTLIER AIR
Price: £59 from fave.co/32wJ1f3 Creative has diversified its product range since the days when it was best known for PC sound cards (which it still makes, oddly enough), and it now produces a selection of headphones for various needs and budgets.
The Outlier Air is a set of true wireless earbuds, and represents Creative’s first foray into this fashionable arena. And by all accounts, it’s a successful one.
Design
You can have the Outlier Air in any colour you like, so long as it’s black. This keeps things simple, and also no doubt helps to keep the price down.
The buds have an offset design: their tips fit into your ear canal, and you rotate the body slightly backwards until
it fits snugly into position in your outer ear. Unlike most rivals, Creative doesn’t include a range of tips in the box. The shallow silicone tips are designed to fit all ears, and surprisingly they do seem to. You get a spare pair in the box the same size as those fitted to the Outlier Air buds.
Each bud has a button and an LED ring which tells you its status. The buttons have too much resistance to comfortably press while in your ear, and this is pretty much the only criticism we can level at the Outlier Air.
Fortunately, you shouldn’t really need to use the buttons as you can control volume from your phone, and they turn on and off automatically when you remove and replace them in the case.
A single, short press plays or pauses the current song or video, and a doublepress goes to the next or previous track, depending upon which bud you press (right is forward, left is back).
Similarly, hold down the right bud’s button to increase volume and the left one to turn it down. A double-press on the ‘main’ unit calls up the Google Assistant or Siri, dependent upon which phone you have. Both buds have a microphone, and unlike many true wireless sets, both are used for phone calls, not just the right-hand one. A single press on either button answers a call, and holding one for two seconds hangs up the call.
Charging case
The first bud you remove from the charging case becomes the ‘main’ unit and is the one you pair with your phone (or other Bluetooth device). The other bud then pairs automatically with the main unit, and shouldn’t be paired with the phone too.
Removing a bud from the case causes it to turn on and connect to your phone (or the other bud). And replacing it causes it to turn off and charge, if there’s
power remaining in the case’s 380mAh battery. They snap into place with magnets, and it’s impossible to put them in the wrong side.
Tiny LEDs on the end of the case indicate whether the case has more or less than 30 per cent of power remaining, and if the buds inside are being charged or not. When fully charged, the buds can last 10 hours, but the case can recharge them fully twice, giving a total of 30 hours. And that beats most rivals.
The case is charged via USB-C, and a cable is included. At approximately 75x50x30mm, it’s a bit chunky to keep in your pocket, but it’s very lightweight even with the earbuds in it.
Performance
Thanks to support for aptX and AAC, along with some decent quality drivers you can expect fantastic sound from the Outlier Air. Obviously, you’ll need a phone or device that can supply audio via AAC or aptX to get the best sound, otherwise you’ll end up with the inferior SBC, so check if you’re unsure what your phone supports.
So long as the silicone tips form a good enough seal in your ear, bass is very good, with deep, powerful low frequencies. This is clearly designed for music lovers who like extra bass, and offer thumping kicks in dance, trance and deep house music, but luckily it’s
kept in check and doesn’t swamp mids, including vocals.
If your musical tastes are a little more varied, no problem: the buds also do a great job with pop, rock, jazz and most other genres. There’s always noticeable stereo separation and while we didn’t find the sound stage was as clearly defined as with RockJaw’s similarly priced T5 Ultraconnect, the overall sound is clear and pleasing.
Treble is never harsh, and we found the Outlier Air comfortable to wear for longer sessions. Isolation isn’t amazing, but this can work in your favour if you still want to be able to hear what’s going on around you.
We never felt like they were going to fall out of our ears and they remained firmly in place even when jogging. The IPX5 rating means they won’t be damaged by sweat or a bit of rain, either.
Connectivity is very reliable and in the month of testing we only had one occasional problem where audio from our Huawei P30 Pro had a much lower pitch than it should have – it was being played too slowly and out of sync with video. But this was always quickly resolved by toggling Bluetooth off and back on again on the phone.
Only on rare occasions did the buds suffer from drop-outs, but this appeared to be caused by interference as it only ever happened on packed commuter trains where no doubt there were plenty of other Bluetooth headphones in the vicinity.
Verdict
If you’ve been tempted by true wireless earbuds but didn’t want to pay Apple, Samsung or RHA prices, then the Outlier Air is the set to buy. It isn’t just cheap: sound quality is great and battery life beats virtually all rivals including the Galaxy Buds.
Specifications
• 5.6mm neodymium with graphene diaphragm driver
• Bluetooth 5.0, aptX, AAC, SBC
• 10m (33ft) unobstructed range
• 10 hours, plus 20 hours by recharging in case
• IPX5 splash resistance
• 100Hz-10kHz frequency response
4. LYPERTEK TEVI
Price: £99 from fave.co/3lz1gcD Premium wireless earbuds can often cost you the best part of £200 or more. If this feels like too much to pay for the pleasure of listening to Spotify without having wires hanging out of your ears, newcomer Lypertek is offering its TEVI buds for a more reasonable £100. We spend some time finding out if this is money well spent.
Design
There’s an old adage that states ‘the first bite is with the eye’, and in the case of the TEVI this is one that make you hungry for more. The charging case in which they arrive is in the shape of a large pill and covered on the top and bottom with a grey fabric that includes a subtle check in the pattern.
A plastic ring goes around the centre and includes the hinge, a USB-C charging port, and four LEDs that let you know how much charge remains. This is augmented with a real leather strap attached to the right-hand side and an understated Lypertek logo on the upper part of the case. It’s a smart, refined aesthetic that gives you confidence for what lies within.
Flipping open the case reveals two buds, sunk into their relevant chambers and secured via a pair of magnets. Removing them is easy, thanks mainly due to the fact that they’re both a little taller than many of the other wireless earbuds we’ve reviewed. With bodies measuring 24mm in height, they do stick out somewhat when in the ear, but the light weight and angled construction mean they are comfortable, and you soon forget you’re wearing them.
This size is likely due to the large battery and sound module that Lypertek
uses for the TEVI, with the latter including a DAC, amp, Qualcomm 32-bit Tri-Core processor, Kalimba DSP and a graphene driver. As you can see there’s plenty to pack into the chassis.
On the top of each bud you’ll find buttons for controlling playback, volume, and calls. There are also LEDs to indicate the current mode, plus microphones with Qualcomm cVc 8.0 noise cancelling technology for calls and voice commands when using digital assistants. IPX7 waterproofing is a nice bonus, as it means you can be out in the rain without having to cover the earbuds. Lypertek even states you can wear the TEVI in the shower.
Audio quality
Listening to music on the TEVI earbuds is a very pleasing experience. The breadth of frequencies means there is space for all instruments, with even the subtle impression of the air moving from amp speakers in recordings being audible at times. The top end remains clean and clear, while bass is solid if not exactly overwhelming.
Spoken word content is also very good, with a fine balance of tones delivered through the TEVI buds. At times it feels as if the low-end has dropped out, but this was usually down to the bud actually slipping slightly out of the ear canal. Pressing it back in immediately restores the full audio quality.
There isn’t active noise cancellation, but the TEVI snugly fit into the ear and do an excellent job of blocking out surrounding distractions. Riding on the packed London tube at rush hour became far more tolerable thanks to still being able to clearly hear the music and podcasts from a smartphone.
Pairing the TEVI can be a little confusing at first, due to both the left and right buds appearing in the Bluetooth section on the device to which you’re trying to connect them. This is resolved by selecting one first and waiting for it to connect, making it the
master, then selecting the other which pairs up as the slave.
You don’t notice these hierarchical roles until you need to launch the digital assistant on your device, as only the master can trigger it by holding down its button for a second or so.
For the vast majority of time, the connection to our smartphone, tablet or PC is solid and reliable. There were times though, usually when walking with the connected phone in our pocket, when we experienced flickering audio and some stuttering. This usually corrected itself within seconds but was a little disappointing.
The multi-function buttons on the top of the buds allow a variety of controls. Clicking once will play or pause audio, while clicking three times on the left skips back a track and doing the same on the right bud skips forward.
Volume is a similar method, with two clicks on the right raising the level and two on the left lowering it. Should a phone call come in, you press once on either bud to answer or a long press on either to reject it. Due to the height of the bud’s chassis, you can grip its side as you click the buttons, preventing them being pushed further into your ears and adding discomfort.
Microphone quality is good, with our callers reporting clear audio on our part without echoing or much in the way of muffling our voice. Battery life is frankly ridiculous. Lypertek claims a maximum of ten hours from a single charge if you keep them at 50 per cent volume.
This is pretty much the case, with ours lasting all day when running at around 65 per cent. Popping them back in the case when exhausted returns two hours-worth of charge in about 20 minutes, making it easy to get back into our John Mayer marathon with hardly a gap. This lifespan is bolstered significantly by the case which can hold enough power for seven complete recharges.
Verdict
With many higher-end wireless earbuds costing upwards of £150 or sometimes lots more, it’s refreshing to find Lypertek offering an excellent product for a good deal less. The TEVI deliver fantastic audio, offer a good level of control options through their buttons, and have exemplary battery life.
The occasional flickering connection does take the brightest sheen off of performance, but during our time with the TEVI we found them to be reliable, robust, and easy to recommend.
Specifications
• Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX
• 6mm Graphene drivers
• Qualcomm 32-bit Tri-Core processor
• Kalimba DSP
• IPX7 waterproofing
• 10-hour battery life
• Charging case (up to 7 recharges for TEVI)
• 24x28x22mm
5. XIAOMI REDMI AIRDOTS
Price: £17.50 from fave.co/2QxPUqS Wireless earbuds are incredibly useful as they allow you to listen to music, audiobooks, podcasts and other content without having a lead dangling out of your ears that can get caught on your jacket or passing cyclists. Apple may be leading the way at the moment with its ubiquitous AirPods, but not everyone wants to spend the best part of £200 just to hear the latest episode of Stuff You Should Know.
Design
Considering the budget nature of the AirDots, initial impressions are very good thanks to the classy pill-box case that protects and recharges the earbuds when not in use. Opening the hinged lid allows access to the buds, which are held in place by small magnets.
The AirDots have a curved rectangle design with the in-ear stalks jutting out at a 45-degree angle. This means that when they are in your ear, they sit snugly in the hollow next to your ear canal, which we’ve now learned is called the Concha. Isn’t anatomy fascinating?
Controls are kept to a bare minimum, with both buds having solitary buttons housed in the top of the chassis. This make them easy to find and press (as they are the whole outer section) but doing so does push the buds deeper into your ear. Each bud also has an LED under the surface too, which display red when charging and flash white when ready to pair.
As you’d expect at this price, the AirDots are made from plastic. The good
side of this is that they are lightweight, while the down side is that they do feel a bit hollow and cheap, plus there’s little waterproofing, with an IPX4 rating only covering splashing rather than immersion. But we’re nit-picking a bit here as the general build and experience when in-use is impressive at this price.
Audio quality
Thanks to the in-ear nature of the design, we were pleased with the bass response and wider range of frequencies on offer. You do have to make sure that the buds are firmly in your ear though, as on occasion they would loosen slightly, resulting in a significant drop-off of low-end tones. The buds do come with three sizes of ear caps and changing them for a larger one seemed to solve this minor gripe.
Pairing was straightforward, thanks to the Bluetooth 5.0 technology inside the buds, with all of our devices recognising the AirDots without issue and connecting in a few seconds. For the most part this was also true when returning to a previously paired device, as the AirDots automatically reconnect when they are removed from the charging case.
We did have a few instances where the AirDots needed to be encouraged to connect but holding down the button for a second or so usually kick-started
the process once more. While your smartphone is likely to be close to you most of the time, we did experiment with leaving ours on a table and moving away while listening to audio on the AirDots. With a clear line of sight we had no drop-offs at around 25-30 feet (10 metres in new money), but moving to a different room did see the signal disappear almost immediately.
Microphones in each bud allow you to make and receive calls while wearing them. In our tests the person at the other end of the line reported that the audio was a little like we were in a big room, but otherwise clear and easy to understand.
The control buttons serve a few different purposes, with a single click to answer an incoming call or to hang up at the end, while a longer press will reject the call. Clicking once at any other time will play or pause audio and clicking twice launches the preferred voice assistant on your device.
We managed to get around four and half hours of listening time out of a single charge and returning them to the charging case saw a full replenishment in around an hour. The case itself takes a couple of hours to get up to maximum power, but after that it can recharge the buds up to three times before needing some juice for itself.
Verdict
The Redmi Airdots offer great performance and aesthetics at a fantastic price point. Sound quality is good, connectivity was mainly pain-free, and the four-plus hours of use per-charge means they can accompany you on your daily commute, gym session, or even long-haul flight. It’s true that they don’t offer a huge amount of controls, and the lack of volume buttons is a shame, but by keeping things simple the AirDots deliver where it counts. Xiaomi has been building a reputation recently for excellent products at affordable prices and the AirDots definitely continue that trend.
Specifications
• 7.1mm dynamic drive audio unit
• DSP intelligent environment noise reduction
• Bluetooth 5.0
• IPX4 waterproofing
• Google Assistant and Siri compatible
• Dual microphones
• Play/pause controls
• Included charging case,
• Earbuds, 26.65×16.4×21.6mm; charging case, 62×40×27.2mm