For many years now I have been buying headphones from Black Friday: wired, wireless, in-ear and on-ear, whenever I needed an upgrade or replacement or just wanted to treat myself, I always found Black Friday Deals on exactly the headphones I knew I needed. So if you're looking for a new set, now is the time to start pre-sale preparations.
While many Black Friday headphone deals are impressive, they're often sold on more expensive headphones – so while discounts on Bose or high-end Sony headphones may be attractive, they're still quite expensive. If you're looking to get the most audio bang for your buck this Black Friday, you can find some really good options for a lot less money.
These three sets of in-ear headphones impressed us at full price, and we expect to see deals during the Black Friday sales extravaganza. As we know from our detailed reviews, some of best headphones doesn't cost a fortune – and you can get surprisingly good headphones with active noise cancellation and even Hi-Res Audio support for a very low price.
1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51: the best on-ear headphones you can buy?
In our 1More review of Sonoflow Pro HQ51 we said they've proven themselves to be some of the best over-ear headphones you can buy. They are strong in three key areas: they have a very pleasant sound that you can customize to suit your preferences; they have the most effective noise cancellation for this price; and they provide a fantastic 65 hours of battery life. All this for a modest list price of $89/£89/AU$130, and I'd expect a Black Friday deal to happen soon.
These are truly amazing headphones: at this price, you don't expect higher-end features like the high-resolution LDAC codec, and a custom EQ is still relatively rare at this price point. The 1More cans provide both, and the sound quality is impressive for such an affordable set of headphones. Bluetooth is 5.4, and the drivers are dynamic 40 mm.
My colleague Matt Bolton just did a large group test of noise-canceling headphones and said they blocked out noise almost as well as similar headphones. Sony WH-1000XM4 – These far exceed their price.
And they won't feel uncomfortable even after prolonged listening: we found them soft and not too heavy.
Sony WH-CH720N: impressive and affordable with Sony speakers
We really rate these affordable headphones: in our Sony WH-C720N review We said they're great for the price, and we're currently seeing discounts that make them an even better buy.
You know what you're getting with Sony headphones: extremely balanced sound, pleasing clarity, effective noise cancellation and a simple, stylish design. The feature set is also solid, including multipoint pairing.
We felt that while you obviously won't get audiophile-grade sound at this price, what Sony does is truly impressive: these headphones deliver finely balanced sound that's filled with detail.
CMF Headphone Pro: waste your money on nothing
CMF is a more affordable sub-brand of Nothing phones and headphones, whose stylish products combine innovative developments and interesting designs. And these CMF headphones are pretty amazing too, with an emphasis on haptic rather than touch controls and the ability to swap out the ear pads for more colorful options. There is also a button called “button” that makes me smile.
The specs are impressive: 40mm nickel-plated diaphragms with 16.5mm copper voice coils, a “precision” bass channel and a dual-chamber design that delivers serious sound. The headphones are Hi-Res Audio certified for wired and wireless listening and feature LDAC as well as regular Bluetooth codecs. Battery life is 100 hours with ANC off and 50 hours with ANC on.
We're currently reviewing these headphones and my colleague Becky Scarrott is impressed and told me: “The round ear cups are extremely comfortable even with glasses on, with plenty of padding on the headband and a decent but not too tight clamping force. True to the strong “go your own way” style, my pistachio green set looks and feels much more expensive than it actually is. The buttons on each ear (there's a bass slider on the left and a volume wheel on the right) are easy to find and very pleasant to use, and, at least initially, there's a good sense of separation and detail in the sound.”
They're already super affordable at a list price of $99 / £79 / AU$179, and yet we're seeing some immediate price drops, so they look set to be a Black Friday deal that will please your ears and your bank balance.
Even More Black Friday Deals in the US
- Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, air fryers and vacuum cleaners.
- Apple: iPad, AirPods and MacBook from $119
- Best Buy: $1,000 Off TVs, Laptops and Headphones
- Home Depot: 40% discount on appliances, furniture, grills and tools.
- Lenovo: 45% discount on laptops and tablets
- Lowe: Up to 30% off household appliances, holiday decor and tools
- Target: 40% discount on Christmas decor, clothing and furniture.
- Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs and vacuum cleaners from $69.
- Wayfair: 54% off Christmas, furniture and decor.
