Black Friday may be bringing tons of deals on phones, tablets, and Chromebooks, but the most fun category this holiday shopping season is something nearer and dearer to our hearts — and our ears. A good set of active noise-canceling earbuds can outlive your phone, and you can use it with everything from your phone to your smart TV to your watch. Earbuds are also an insanely competitive market, so deals are plentiful.
Whether you just need a spare set of affordable backup earbuds to keep in the car, are after some premium headphones for when you need to savor every note of that new EP, or want a cute little speaker for your shower sing-alongs, there’s a deal out here for you. We’ll be keeping these deals updated through Black Friday and clear into Cyber Monday, so if today’s deals don’t strike your fancy (you snob) check back tomorrow and see what new sales we’ve sought out.
Almost all of these audio deals expire tonight, November 13, at either midnight ET or midnight PT. This means that if you want these buds, grab them tonight, as we have no idea what deals might arrive tomorrow.
Best Black Friday wireless earbuds deals you can buy right now
Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro
Anker’s premium buds offer supreme comfort and impressive ANC at their normal price, but right now you can get them for almost 50% off. With four sets of tips and wingtips, you’ll be able to achieve your perfect fit and wear them for hours to block out the noise of the airport or the awkward silence at grandma’s house after Thanksgiving dinner goes off the rails.
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live
Samsung’s iconic bean-shaped buds may not be the shiny new kid on the Galaxy Buds block anymore, but they still sound great. Because they don’t use a sealing design, it’s more comfortable to wear for long periods, and while you’ll be able to block out most noise, you’ll still be able to hear that car honking at you to get back on the sidewalk.
Best Black Friday Bluetooth headphones deals
Anker Soundcore Life Q30
These headphones are already pretty affordable for their sound quality and dependability, and Anker’s taking an extra 10% off right now if you simply can’t wait for Black Friday to arrive and need some ANC headphones right now.
Best Black Friday Sony audio deals
Sony Linkbuds S
Source: Sony
The more affordable doppelganger of Sony’s amazing WF-1000XM4 earbuds still offer some pretty decent sound, though the active noise canceling isn’t quite as skilled. They’re $50 off at Best Buy and other major retailers, but we’re unsure just how much lower they might drop a week or two from now.
Sony WF-1000XM4
Source: Sony
The best wireless earbuds on the market have been bounding between $30-$50 discounts, but there have been brief, hours-long flash deals where it’s fallen to $179, its lowest price ever. It’s a mild deal right now, but it’ll be a great deal once it drops below $200 again.
Sony’s been cycling its deals off and on, and right now its deals on its most popular headphones and earbuds are all off, unfortunately. But they’ve at least given us a glimpse of what we’ll see over the next few weeks. The latest gen WH-1000XM5 headphones have only been discounted $50 to $349 so far, but its predecessor the WH-1000XM4 has come down to $225, which is a solid discount on some very solid cans.
Our favorite wireless earbuds, the Sony WF-1000XM4, have mostly seen $50 discounts but it fell to $178 for a few brief days before turning back into a pumpkin. Hopefully, it’ll return soon, as these are the buds I wear myself, and I’ll tell you: its sound quality and ANC combine into an unparalleled. I wear them in theme parks, I wear them on (small to medium) roller coasters, and they fit great and do a great job blocking out the overstimulating cacophony of crowds and deafening lift hills quite well.
Sony was also running preview deals on a number of its Bluetooth and connected 360-degree speakers, most notably a $200 discount on its “Reality Audio” speakers. That put the SRS-RA3000 down to half price at $200, which is a good deal for an impressive-sounding speaker that can work with Bluetooth, Chromecast Audio, or Alexa (though you need an Echo device in your home for the speaker to connect with). I regularly use its big brother, the SRS-RA5000, but even at $600, it’s overkill for most of you.
The other Sony speaker deal to watch hasn’t popped up yet — and likely won’t until Black Friday itself if it follows the pattern established during Prime Day and Prime Early Access. It’s a darling little speaker and it’s my trusted shower companion after I bought it for myself on Prime Day. It’s the Sony SRS-XB13 Extra BASS Bluetooth Speaker.
It retails for $60, can regularly be found for $48, and dropped to $38 on both Prime Day and Prime Early Access. The controls are consistent, the sound is great for the baseball-ish size, and it charges via USB-C Power Delivery, so you can use the same charger as your phone.
Best Black Friday Samsung audio deals
Samsung Galaxy Buds Live
Samsung’s iconic bean-shaped buds may not be the shiny new kid on the Galaxy Buds block anymore, but they still sound great. Because they don’t use a sealing design, it’s more comfortable to wear for long periods, and while you’ll be able to block out most noise, you’ll still be able to hear that car honking at you to get back on the sidewalk.
Samsung has had almost a rotating door of Galaxy Buds deals from discounts on the first-gen Galaxy Buds Pro and the Galaxy Buds 2. However, Samsung’s teasing that its best Black Friday deals will come to those who sign up ahead of time with a name and email address — the same way you’d reserve a pre-order bonus before a Samsung Unpacked event.
When it comes to judging deals on Galaxy Buds, there are a few things to keep in mind beyond prices: age and design. The Galaxy Buds Live may be from 2020, but their unique bean-like design and open fit feel more comfortable for some users, especially those who prefer to hear their environment. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Buds Pro are technically older, heavier, and a tiny bit bigger, but they pack 90% of the sound and 85% of the same features while snagging deeper discounts.
Best Black Friday Bose audio deals
Bose is the top brand when it comes to active noise canceling, especially in its QuietComfort headphones. We’ve seen the Bose QC 45 drop to $250 for a few days, and maybe it might drop a little lower closer to Black Friday itself. The QuietComfort Earbuds II haven’t seen any discounts yet — they launched in September, after all — but we’re confident we’ll see some sort of deal this month.
Best Black Friday Jabra audio deals
Jabra has run the same discounts on its Elite earbuds and headbands for Prime Day and Prime Early Access, and it ran the first round of early Black Friday deals around Halloween. Its expired for now, but we have no reason not to expect them to turn back on between now and Black Friday. It knocked $20-40 off the more affordable Jabra Elite 3 and Jabra 4 Active, while the newer Elite 7 Active and Elite 7 saw discounts in the $50-90 range.
The Elite headphone deals are a bit fewer and further between, but we’re hopeful the Elite 85h will see another discount. The only one we’ve seen this season was shallow and short-lived.
Best Black Friday Anker Soundcore audio deals
Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro
Anker’s premium buds offer supreme comfort and impressive ANC at their normal price, but right now you can get them for almost 50% off. With four sets of tips and wingtips, you’ll be able to achieve your perfect fit and wear them for hours to block out the noise of the airport or the awkward silence at grandma’s house after Thanksgiving dinner goes off the rails.
Anker is a brand known quite well for the frequency and generosity of its deals, but its audio brand Soundcore’s discounts tend to last longer and be more selective. For instance, the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro — among the best wireless earbuds on the market — have been on sale basically since the beginning of October. The price will ebb and flow from $130 to $118 and down to $100, and I have a feeling it’ll dip a little further once we get to Thanksgiving.
Some small coupon codes have rotated in and out for Anker’s Life headphones, but we’re hoping for better deals on the Space series like the Space Q45. It’s only got a $20 discount so far, and we need more when brands like Sony and Bose are discounting their premium cans, too.
