The Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend is upon us and we’re seeing plenty of great Black Friday deals on headphones and earbuds — most at their lowest prices to date. While we may see deeper discounters on a few items on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, most of the Black Friday deals tend to run for several days during the last two weeks of November and even into December.
The best Black Friday 2023 deals
Don’t miss some of the best sales and deals of the year. Nearly every retailer is offering deep discounts on a wide variety of merchandise. See the best Black Friday deals, and keep up with all the latest deals with our full Black Friday live blog coverage.
Deals are coming from everywhere, including Amazon, Walmart and even Apple, so you can take advantage of any memberships or cards you might have with them. Be sure to check back regularly as we find more deals and retailers.
The AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) are at their lowest price to date — $60 off their list price. Now would be a good time to nab them if you had your eye on a new pair.
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Read our AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) review.
Apple’s entry-level AirPods 2 are near their all-time low price. Yes, Apple’s AirPods 3 have better quality sound and spatial audio, but a lot of people still like the fit (and price) of the AirPods 2, which are slightly smaller than the AirPods 3 and have longer stems.
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Read our Apple AirPods 2019 review.
Sony’s budget on-ear CH-520 headphones are down to $38, matching their low price to date. They lack noise canceling and are pretty no-frills, but they feature good sound for their price, are lightweight and pretty comfortable for on-ear headphones, and also have excellent battery life (they’re rated for up to 50 hours at moderate volume levels). Additionally, they have multipoint Bluetooth pairing, so you can pair them with two devices simultaneously, such as a smartphone and computer, and switch audio. Voice-calling performance is decent, though not up to the level of what you get with the over-ear CH-720N.
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What makes these Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS buds special is that they sound surprisingly good for open earbuds — they’re pretty close to what you get from Apple’s AirPods 3 for sound. On top of that, they support Sony’s LDAC audio codec for devices that offer it. Not too many cheap open earbuds have good sound but these Soundpeats have decent bass response and clarity. They’re also good for making calls and have a low-latency gaming mode. Battery life is rated at 5 hours at moderate volume levels, and these are IPX4 splash-proof. Clip the 8% off instant coupon and apply the code DCCNETSP at checkout to get the price down to $33.49 before tax, their lowest price to date.
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Beats’ new Studio Pro headphones may not be worth $350, but they’re certainly worth considering at $170, which matches their low price to date. We’re tempted to describe them as more affordable plastic versions of the AirPods Max. That’s not quite accurate, due to a choice in chipsets and one notable missing feature, but read our full Beats Studio Pro review to find out what makes these very good headphones — with some caveats.
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The top-rated Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones are discounted by $72, matching their lowest price to date. We awarded them an Editors’ Choice in 2022.
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Read our Sony WH-1000XM5 review.
Edifier makes some good-sounding PC speakers and true-wireless earbuds, and it’s done a nice job with its W820NB noise-canceling headphones, now on their second-gen version, the Edifier W820NB Plus. While they don’t have a cord for wired listening, they’re among the best-sounding budget noise-canceling headphones and they’re also comfortable to wear.
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Sony’s entry-level noise-canceling headphones are $52 off, matching their lowest price to date. They have a bit of a plasticky budget vibe, but they’re lightweight and very comfortable. We were pleasantly surprised by their sound. No, they don’t sound as good as the WH-1000XM5s, but they sound more premium than they look (and feel), and their performance overall is a significant step up from their predecessor, the CH-710Ns.
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Most cheap noise-canceling headphones aren’t great, but Anker’s Soundcore Life Q20i are an exception. They’re quite decent for their regular list price of $70, but you can get them for just $40 at Best Buy.
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The Beats Solo3 have been out for several years but they remain very popular as on-ear headphones. On sale for $100, they’re near their low price.
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Bose/Apple/JLab/Beats/Sennheiser/CNET
Should you buy headphones on Black Friday?
Black Friday is usually one of the best times of the year for electronics deals, and that includes things like headphones and earbuds. While there are some deals that happen throughout the year, such as Prime Day, these are few and far between, and we’ve already passed both Prime Day events for this year. As such, this is probably the best time to buy headphones until next summer.
Where is the best place for Black Friday headphone deals?
The big retailers — like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and Target — often have the biggest deals. That said, a lot of the brands offer deals on their own websites as well, so you might want to take a look at the websites of Samsung, Sennheiser, JBL and, potentially, Apple, although they rarely offer deals.
What makes a good Black Friday headphone deal?
One thing to keep in mind is that the list price of a product doesn’t always tell you the real value, especially as retailers have started offering Day 1 deals on products. Often the list price is artificially inflated to make the deal look more attractive, so you’ll want to check around and see what is the true value or “street price” of a product. There are handy historical price-checking sites out there that can help you check if the deal is actually notable or if it’s been discounted to the price regularly. You might also want to install CNET’s Shopping plug-in to give you a bit of help with all of that.
More Black Friday deals from CNET