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There's a lot of choice in the wireless audio world.
Apple's AirPods may be the buds that forever altered the world of wireless audio, but they're far from the only option when it comes to small Bluetooth earphones. Whether you want to be different and stand out from the crowd or simply don't want to pay the pricey "Apple tax", there are loads of worthwhile dupes out there. To help you find the right ones, we've rounded up the best AirPods alternatives to buy right now.
The way we see it, the reason that AirPods are so popular (the tech giant shipped over 85 million of them in 2020) is that they tick a lot of the right boxes. They sound great, have an impressive battery life, and live in a small charging case that fits in your pocket. They're also a convenient and compact size that will fit in your ears without making you look like Lobot from Star Wars.
We've made sure the best AirPods alternatives on our list tick these same boxes, focusing on ones with a minimal design, tiny case and a decent battery. We also reckon anyone looking for AirPods substitutes will be after those models that cost less than Apple's while still packing in top specs. That's why the options on our list are all under £189 (so that they're all less pricey than the 1st generation AirPods Pro), and we've included some great cheap headphones that come in at under £40, too.
We test out the best AirPods alternatives by using them just as you would use your own earbuds. We connect them up to our phones and we listen to our podcasts and blast out music from a range of genres – including soundtracks, pop music, lo-fi beats and more – to check the sound quality. We also listen to test tones to evaluate the high and low-frequency response, and the dynamic range of the audio.
For the models on our list with noise-cancelling, we test these out by seeing how much noise they eliminate in a loud commuter train during rush hour. We also assessed the design and portability of each model, and our picks for the best AirPods alternatives below are a mix of our hands-on trials and expert recommendations from our rigorous research.