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Nov 11, 2024

Black Friday earbuds deals 2024: the best early offers live now – including AirPods | TechRadar

Black Friday earbuds deals are starting to gain momentum… When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Looking for the best Black Friday

Black Friday earbuds deals are starting to gain momentum…

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Looking for the best Black Friday earbuds deals? Good call: the cash-conscious buyer (good work on that, by the way) knows that gift-giving season is fast approaching. What we all chiefly need is a few choice Black Friday deals to put us ahead of the game and ready for the festivities.

First up, a timeline: Black Friday itself isn't until November 29th 2024 – but that's only half the story, as you'll probably know. Plenty of deals are already available at Amazon; check the 'today’s deals' pages at Amazon US and Amazon UK for starters.

If you reside in the US, Best Buy's Black Friday sale kicks off on November 8, with new deals every week, with Walmart's sale is hot on its heels on November 11 – and the company's Black Friday ad is live now!

Across the pond in the UK, the Argos sale is now live – with price promises through to Dec 3, as are sales at Currys (who will match/refund any lower prices through December 2) Very, John Lewis and Boots.

Below, you'll find a quick list of the early earbuds deals to check out ahead of Black Friday. This list will grow and expand as we get closer to the end of November, so save this page for quick reference.

I predict Apple's all-new AirPods 4 will be a hot item during this year's Black Friday sales, and you can already grab a first-time discount at Amazon. The AirPods 4 feature a new design for all-day comfort and pack Apple's H2 chip, which supports personalized spatial audio and voice isolation. You're also getting a redesigned case with 30 hours of battery life and supports USB-C for wireless charging.You can also get the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation on sale for $169 (originally $179).

★★★★ rating! Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are back to their lowest-seen price yet – hurrah! The star of these September 2023-release Bose QuietComfort earbuds is the all-new Immersive Audio feature (for various head-tracked spatial audio profiles) and Snapdragon Sound certification, the latest standard in Bluetooth connectivity. In short, these are Bose's most advanced noise-cancelling earbuds you can buy, provided you can live without multi-point connectivity or wireless charging (you have to buy a cover for the case to get that).

★★★★½ rating! The AirPods Pro 2 are the best-selling earbuds on the planet for a reason, and although they have dipped to $168 before now, this is still a great deal, making them great value for iPhone and Apple tech owners. They sound excellent, the noise cancellation is top tier, Dolby Atmos spatial audio is amazing for movies, and they even have an unloseable case, thanks to tech that literally points you to where it's hiding (and a speaker to help, too). They's also very small and light, so are great for comfort. Our AirPods Pro 2 review digs into all the extra features they have for Apple users – Android users should look to the Bose buds on this page instead.

★★★★½ rating! If anyone asks us for a great pair of really cheap 2024-release earbuds and they don't care about ANC, the Sony WF-C510 is usually our go-to answer. They're light and comfortable, provide excellent sound quality for the cost, and have a battery life of up to 20 hours. We awarded them 4.5/5 and called them 'great value for money' in our Sony WF-C500 review. And this is a return to their lowest price ever – a steal.

This is actually a fairly typical price for these earbuds these days, so we wouldn't say it's much of a deal really – but if you want the cheapest AirPods available, here you go. They've actually been on sale for as little as $69.99 before now too, so while a sub-$90 fee may be tempting, it's not the cheapest they've been. They don't have the more advanced features of newer models, but they do feature fast pairing, auto-switching between Apple devices, and Find My support.

★★★★★ rating! TechRadar's Audio Editor, Becky Scarrott, adores these 2021-release super-cool earbuds and her five star review proves it. Look, they're not the youngest around any more and you won't get app support or ANC. But the sound is excellent and the design is really quite beautiful. A steal at the price – even though they briefly dipped to $5 less than this once before.

The AirPods Pro 2 are the best-selling earbuds on the planet for a reason, and this is a whole £4 cheaper than we've ever seen them until now. What will you get? Superb sound quality, top-tier noise cancellation, excellent spatial audio, auto-switching between different Apple devices, gesture control and more. Could the AirPods Pro 3 be on the horizon for 2025? Yes, but you get the new hearing-aid-features update in this set. Highly recommended for this money.

★★★★ rating! Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are back down to their lowest-seen price yet for Prime Day in the UK too. The star here is Bose's all-new proprietary Immersive Audio feature for several head-tracked spatial audio profiles) and Snapdragon Sound certification. In short, these are the most advanced noise-canceling Bose earbuds you can buy, now back down to their lowest-ever price – but we don't know how long it'll last!

★★★★★ rating! The latest Nothing Ear (a) Wireless Earbuds offer exceptional bass along with powerful active noise cancellation, so they’re immediately off to a good start. Their talented 11mm drivers are bigger than the norm and there’s 42.5 hours of battery life via the charging case, multi-point connectivity, and even ChatGPT support via the pinch stems if you're using a Nothing phone. This 22% discount makes them a whole 42p more than their lowest ever price… so, you know, that's very good.

★★★★★ rating! The WF-C700N ripped our notions on what is achievable at this entry level to smithereens when they burst onto the scene in April 2023. The Nothing Ear (a) have since surpassed them at this price level for us (especially since they're even cheaper), but if you prefer Sony's style, these are the buds to go for. Our Sony WF-C700N review describes their fantastically rich sound and impressive extra features, including good noise cancellation.

As with most Beats audio tech, the Beats Studio Buds Plus look good and offer a bass-heavy experience. You get rich and immersive sound supported by active noise cancellation which blocks out unwelcome sounds around you. There’s also one-touch pairing and the earbuds come with four pairs of silicone tips to help you get the right fit. These are the capable and affordable earbuds to throw in your gym bag or take on a long run – they have dipped as low as £95 before today though…

Sony's flagship wireless ANC earbuds are now greatly reduced – in fact, this deal makes them only £6 more than they've ever been (having briefly dropped to £189 in early September). Built-in Alexa functionality makes them a joy to use and the fit is good for smaller ears. The AI-based noise reduction algorithm and bone conduction sensor might not be as effective at blocking noise as the very best in the business (read more in our Sony WF-1000XM5 review), but they still deliver great results.

I've reviewed over 150 audio products since becoming a tech journalist, ranging from super-budget earbuds to high-end Hi-Res Audio music players. Before joining TechRadar, I spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing everything the world of audio had to offer; before that, I was a professional dancer. This is my fifth Black Friday covering earbuds, so between my experience of previous years and of the buds themselves, I know the real deals.

Short answer: Black Friday has started! And the sales will run on, after the big day proper, into early December (Cyber Monday is another sales event worth noting, and that falls on the Monday after Black Friday). Again, Black Friday itself is November 29th, but prices start crashing way ahead of the calendar date as retailers go early to attract your custom first – that's why we're informing you about it now, and keeping on top of the deals.

The thing is, your TechRadar team's been in this game longer than we'd care to admit – which means we're not easily fooled: 'Black Friday' branded deals are not created equal, so we'll tell you which are actually worthy of your attention, and which to ignore for the time-being.

Interestingly, Amazon held a 'Big Deals Day' sale in October of this year, which was both unusually late and basically Amazon Prime Day Part Deux. Several retailers launched mini sales events in retaliation, but the point is that we're into 'deals season' right now and will be until the new year. We're be keeping our ears to the ground for the best earbuds deals, which we'll put right here, on this page. The deals will be ramping up from the beginning of November – but again, competing retailers will likely go early to beat each other to the punch.

A resounding yes. While we can't promise you unequivocally there's no better time to buy your particular next set of buds, Black Friday is one of the best times of the year to buy anything you've got your heart set on – it is the biggest sale of the year. And you needn't simply take our word for it either; Adobe Analytics data clearly shows the biggest electronics discounts happened during the peak of last year's Black Friday sales.

So, if you've had your eye on an upgrade to the best wireless earbuds, want to bag yourself a set that supports next-gen audio, or just need an extra pair for the gym, you'll almost certainly find some of the lowest prices ever on earbuds throughout November. Discounts could be especially good this year given that some older models (such as the Sony WF-1000XM4) have gone off-sale, meaning that other buds – such as Sony's own WF-1000XM5 – are falling in price to fill that gap. That's alongside the release of some excellent high-end competitors from Technics, Bose and Bowers & Wilkins, and some amazing budget buds from Sony and Nothing.

AirPods will surely be huge this Black Friday, as they have been regularly. The introduction of two AirPods 4 models in September means that any remaining stock of the two older iterations they supersede will likely be heavily discounted to fully clear. Those would be the AirPods 3 which support Apple's own Spatial Audio, and AirPods 2019, which don't. Discounts here could be huge and unprecedented, but we'll be telling you all about them if and when they land – and whether they're really the best use of your cash compared to other options.

The Cupertino giant also updated it's inaugural AirPods Max over-ears to use USB-C in September, which means you may well see big discounts on the older stock that uses the Lightning port. Last year, AirPods Max dipped as low as $395 / £399 in the UK, both at Amazon, so we might look for prices to even dip a touch lower.

As sure as eggs is eggs, AirPods Pro 2 will be a most-wanted item over Black Friday. Prices have gone as low as $169 or £179 prior to now, and that was before Apple brought hearing aid features to these second-gen (and still current) Pro-suffixed AirPods. Expect discounts for sure, and if you see these prices again, jump in.

Elsewhere, we recently saw discounts on Sony's WF-1000XM5, which have sold for as little as $228 in the US (albeit very briefly, during Prime Day), which is an incredible deal. In the UK? Well, their lowest-ever price in this region is £189, which happened in September of this year. Our advice? For that money, they're more than worth it.

Other notable releases this year include the excellent Nothing Ear (a), which were recently discounted to as low as $79 or £77, and the Sony WF-C520, which are both very new and incredibly reasonable already – might we still see a minor saving there?

Finally, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds have been seen for as little as $229 or £212 in the UK. If you see these figures on one of our deals posts (or even a touch lower), it's a superb deal. If you want the best noise cancellation around, you won't regret it.

As always, we'll be working some serious overtime on this and when we see the deals, you'll be the first to know.

Let me introduce myself! I'm your friendly audio editor and writer of this missive. I've personally covered Black Friday for five years, first as Staff Writer at What Hi-Fi?, then as Senior Staff Writer and now Audio editor on TechRadar. I was on the first Black Friday deals team in 2019 for our friends at What Hi-Fi? – and I've seen how much things have changed in just a few years.

I regularly hunt down the best prices on headphones and earbuds all year, not just during big sales events. Also, we now have dedicated deals teams in the US and the UK and (it's impossible to write this without sounding just a little full of ourselves, for which I apologise) we know what we're doing: we emphatically know a deal worth shouting about when we see it.

I also lean on the expertise of the wider TechRadar team – we've got decades of experience between us, and the site has been running for over 16 years. We've spent years testing and reviewing all of the latest noise-cancelling earbuds, budget buys and more. We know the brands that are worth spending money on, and we've reviewed over 2,400 audio products in our time. The ones we really rate are the Black Friday earbuds deals I'll focus on here. My aim? To get you a deal on a set of earbuds that checks all your boxes but doesn't blow your budget.

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Becky became Audio Editor at TechRadar in 2024, but joined the team in 2022 as Senior Staff Writer, focusing on all things hi-fi. Before this, she spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing and reviewing everything from wallet-friendly wireless earbuds to huge high-end sound systems. Prior to gaining her MA in Journalism in 2018, Becky freelanced as an arts critic alongside a 22-year career as a professional dancer and aerialist – any love of dance starts with a love of music. Becky has previously contributed to Stuff, FourFourTwo and The Stage. When not writing, she can still be found throwing shapes in a dance studio, these days with varying degrees of success.

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