AirPods Pro vs. the competition: $30 to $150 challengers

I love my Apple AirPods Pro 2. Between walking my dogs, running, going to the gym, and editing

videos, I would say I wear them about three hours every weekday and I have no complaints

Look at how beat up they are. I've dropped these guys so many times and yet they continue to work

I have been considering upgrading to the AirPods Pro 3 because these things are starting to show

their age a little bit. But before I spent $250 on a pair of AirPods Pro 3, I thought maybe their

could be some similar earbuds that are just as good for my use case but for a fraction of the

cost. Here I have the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 Pro, the Nothing Ear A's, and the Soundpeats C30s

All of these have a similar stem design with silicone ear tips and are all trying to compete

with AirPods, and most importantly they're all a fraction of the price. Over the past few weeks I've

been testing all of these earbuds out in my day-to-day life to see if any are good enough to

make me reconsider buying the AirPods Pro 3. I'm going to start with the most expensive and work my

way down to the least expensive. These are the Anker Soundcore Liberty 4 Pros. I've used quite a

few Anker products in the past and they've been really solid for the price and spoiler alert

these are no exception. Specs-wise, there's virtually nothing that these don't have. There

are two sets of sound drivers. It has an IPX5 water resistance rating. It has adaptive noise

cancellation and fast charging. After wearing the Liberty 4 Pros for several days, I think that for

music, the audio quality is actually noticeably better than the AirPods Pro 2. Songs just sound

a bit punchier with a bit more depth. For some songs, I noticed a few little musical details I

missed in the past, which is pretty cool. For podcasts and books, I thought they sounded kind

of bad at first, but that was just because I was using the wrong equalizer setting. The Anchor

mobile app has 22 different built-in EQ options, plus the option to create a custom one. The custom

EQ option is a guided experience where the app will play a song for you and you choose between

two options on which sounds better to you, almost like a vision test. Noise canceling on these is also very good, and it's also a bit more precise than the AirPods

On the AirPods Pro 2, I have access to three different settings. You have just the default setting with nothing going on, and you have transparency mode and

noise cancellation. But the anchors give you a sliding scale from 1 to 10, ranging from neutral at 5, to transparency

mode, to full noise cancellation, so you can really pick your flavor. My main test for noise cancellation is using my mechanical keyboard, which has a very tactile

clicking sound and listening for how much the earbuds remove the noise and at level 10 i could

barely hear it the anchors even have a noise cancellation setting specific to air travel which

i did not get the chance to test but next time i fly i'm definitely going to bring these for

running the fit felt very secure even with the default ear tips and i think it even more secure than the airpods when i run long distance with the airpods sometimes even up to four hours I will periodically have to adjust them as I go because I get the sensation

that they're starting to fall out, but I did not experience that with the anchors

However, the comfort level is just not quite the same and my ears feel a bit more fatigued

wearing them for long periods of time compared to the AirPods. I noticed a design choice on all of these other earbuds

that I tested that Apple does a bit differently and I'll get into that later

and I think it might account for this. The battery life on this thing is excellent

You get up to 50 hours on a single charge of the case, which is way more time than the AirPods Pro 2

which gives you up to 30 hours. Consequently, the case is a bit bigger and bulkier

It also feels a little bit flimsy. Instead of opening on a hinge, the top slides open like this

which is kind of fun to play with, but also I feel like I could easily break it if I wanted to

The case itself does have some cool features though. There is a battery percentage indicator

on the bottom for both earbuds, and there is a slider control that lets you change the ANC level directly from the case

And probably the best part is is that you're getting arguably better performance at only 150 bucks

As of recording, these are actually on sale for $100, so you could get one set for yourself

and gift another pair and have 50 bucks left over for the same price as the AirPods Pro 3

Now let's move on to the nothing ear A's. I love the sleekness of this charging case

It's low profile and it's roughly the same size as the case of the AirPods Pro, which I value because sometimes I'll take the case

with me on a long run. Like the Anchors, the Nothing Ears have a mobile app you can download to adjust the level of noise

cancellation, adjust the equalizer settings, and customize the remote functions. The first thing I

tried doing with the Nothing Ears was listen to a podcast while walking my dogs. I put the EQ in

voice mode with no noise canceling because that is a bit of a safety issue and they sounded great

I was listening to this narrative history podcast that incorporates a lot of music, sound effects

and archival sounds, and everything felt really balanced. I noticed hearing more of the soundscape

the designers of the show put in. And I thought it was just because I was testing these

and really trying to listen more. But going back to the AirPods later and listening to the same show

those elements were just a little bit harder to hear. So I think that's a pretty big win for the nothing ears

The audio quality for music is just as good as for podcasts. And I think it also beats the AirPods Pro 2

The app has a bass enhancement slider that goes from one to five. And that paired with the treble boost EQ setting

sounded great to me. The comfort is excellent and the fit felt secure on runs

but again, like the Ankers, it's just not quite the same as the AirPods in that respect

I do find them more comfortable than the Ankers by a hair, and I think that's because they're

lighter. The AirPods Pro 2 are 5.3 grams per bud, the Ankers are 5.5 grams, and the Nothing

Year A are 4 grams Obviously that only grams but that is about 13 lighter The only thing I actually dislike about these is that it does not have slide or swipe controls for the volume It only has pinch controls for answering and declining calls cycling through noise cancellation settings and pausing and playing your audio I can still use

Siri to adjust the volume without touching my phone, but the slide controls are something I

use a lot while running because I often put my phone in a harder-to-access pocket. The battery

life also beats the AirPods at 42.5 hours in roughly the same size case. Also, the nothing

year A's normally only cost $100, but right now you can pick them up for $80, which I think is

pretty much a steal. But what if you're looking for some wireless earbuds on a very strict budget

The anchors in the nothing ears are much more affordable than the AirPods Pro, but they're not

that cheap. Enter the Soundpeats C30s. These range from $30 to $40 on Amazon and on Soundpeats

website. Either way, you can get six pairs of these for the cost of one set of AirPods

Pairing these things was a bit of a hassle because the Soundpeats mobile app is not the best. It has

a very low rating on the app store and I can see why. When I hit pair, it would set me to the wrong

place on my phone and I had to create an account, which was kind of frustrating. But once I got past

the initial pairing process, the app functioned well enough. And like the others, it has functions

for adjusting the EQ, the noise cancellation, and customizing the remote functions. Compared to all

the other earbuds, there is a noticeable drop in audio quality as you'd expect given the price

but it's really not bad at all. I wouldn't describe the music as sounding too tinny

which is common for very cheap headphones. It still sounds good, just not as good as the more expensive ones

All right, so I'm wearing the SoundPeats D30s, walking the dogs right now, testing out the transparency mode

It does let in some outside noise, but not as much as the others I've tested

which is kind of a shame because it is a bit of a safety hazard to be walking around with both earbuds in

when there's cars around, especially with the dogs. But the fact that you even have a noise cancellation

and transparency mode, I think it's pretty impressive. It's just not nearly as good. Also of these four sets of earbuds

the Soundpeats C30s actually have the most battery life at up to 52 hours on a single charge of the case

I also like the remote system on these more than the nothing ears. Instead of pinching or swiping at the stems

you can tap the buds themselves and you can easily adjust the volume that way. It's not quite as precise

but having the option to adjust the volume without having to touch my phone is pretty great for me

So after testing these three sets of cheaper earbuds out, I've actually been really impressed

with pretty much every single one. Even the ultra affordable Soundpeats provide enough comfort and audio quality

at a shockingly low price. Of these three though, the Nothing Ear A's are my personal favorite

I think they sound the best overall. I think they're the most comfortable and I love the design of the charging case

But is it enough to make me reconsider upgrading to the AirPods Pro 3

Not really. And there's one big reason for that. Well, one big one and a few small ones

Let me tell you a story of something that happened to me the other day I didn have the wherewithal to film this in the moment so this dramatic reenactment will have to do I biked home from work after a long day at the office and I roll up into my backyard to take inventory of all my stuff keys wallet phone and AirPods and I

discover my AirPods are gone. I opened the Find My app on my phone, and it says they were last seen

on the street two miles away. They fell out of my pocket while I was riding, and I didn't notice

So I hop back on the bike, and I rush over to the spot on the map as fast as I can

and I'm miraculously able to find the case and each butt on the ground inches away from getting run over by cars

I wiped the gunk off and put them in my ears to see if they still worked and they connected to my phone and all was well

I have a tendency to lose stuff. I always buy cheap sunglasses because I cannot be trusted to not lose an expensive pair

The other earbuds I tested do have a Find My feature in their respective apps

but those just play sound to help locate them. Don't get me wrong, that's a super useful feature

I use it on my AirPods all the time, but in that scenario, I just described every other set of earbuds would be nearly impossible to find

There are other small quality of life details for the AirPods that give them the edge for me

I love how the charging case is designed because you drop the AirPods into the case vertically

and the others I tested, you have to set them in horizontally. I also love the fact that the AirPods Pro case is MagSafe compatible

I have a charging station on my desk with a MagSafe charging pad on the front that I use to charge my phone and my AirPods while I work or overnight

I love how the AirPods switch between my iPhone and my MacBook seamlessly

And back to the comfort thing I teased earlier, the way Apple designed the eartips I think is really clever

On all the others, the silicone eartips are covering a small plastic tip that houses the speakers

On the AirPods, the speaker is flat, and the eartip itself is the only thing entering your ear c

This is the difference of a couple of millimeters, but for me, I think it made an impact on the comfort wearing them hours a day

Most of the reasons I've just described for sticking with Apple is because I use Apple devices

If you're a Windows or Android user, these reasons don't really apply. And again, I think the nothing ear A's are the winner, and the anchors come in a close second

And if you are a user of Samsung phones, you're probably going to want to get one of their sets of earbuds

because those things have a ton of features. If you are an Apple user like me, you can get most of the features I just described on the base model AirPods

I just happen to find those to be not comfortable at all, and they fall out of my ears if I try and run with them

Main thing I learned testing all these earbuds out is that you can find solid audio quality, comfort, and noise cancellation even for $30 in 2026

But there are more factors to consider when choosing earbuds and how they integrate into your existing devices is huge

Apple's done an incredible job of making all of its products work well together, and for me, that is enough to keep me sticking around

But what do you think? If you tried any of these earbuds or any others I didn't talk about that you love or hate, let us know in the comments, and I'll see you in the next one