Stop buying AirPods—my favorite earbuds cost less than $25

Stop buying AirPods—my favorite earbuds cost less than $25 — here is a clear breakdown of what happened and why it matters right now.

The details below put the news in context: the key points first, the background after.

Apple AirPods have become so ubiquitous, people use them with their Android phones and Windows PCs. There’s no denying that the buds are good, but there is increasingly little reason to spend that much money if all you need are a decent pair of buds.

Apple AirPods have a starting price of $130 and max out at $250—enough to buy a budget Samsung phone. The sound quality and mics are good, but that’s not the sole reason people buy AirPods. They pair quickly to Apple devices, switch seamlessly between MacBooks and iPads, and support features like Apple Find My. Newer models can double as hearing aids. These perks make AirPods the default choice if you already own an iPhone or are picking up a MacBook Neo.

Other companies have emulated Apple’s model. I loved using my Galaxy Buds FE with my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, and the Galaxy Buds 4 were the only product announced at this year’s Galaxy Unpacked that I actually wanted. Still, I could not justify the $250 asking price for the pro model, and the $180 base model wasn’t much less.

If you buy a Pixel, you get Pixel Buds. Picking up a Nothing Phone, a Moto phone, or even a Fairphone? Each of these devices has its own branded buds. Yet it wasn’t that long ago that the earbud market was dominated by companies that specialize in audio, like Sony and JBL. Earbuds didn’t cost this much, either. Fortunately, if you aren’t seeking out the most high-end models, they still don’t.

I’ve reviewed quite a few earbuds for How-To Geek, and that puts me in a position to leave earbuds lying around in whichever places I find convenient. I keep the JLab GO Pods ANC in my Nintendo Switch 2 case. The CMF Buds 2 tend to hover around the desk in my home office. The JLab Epic Open Sport spends much of its time in a travel bag.

It was this degree of convenience that I came to appreciate more than the sound quality or feature set of any particular set of buds. Perks of being a product reviewer aside, having my preferred buds lying around like this isn’t viable if I’m paying $100 or more for each pair. I also prefer wingtip or stemless buds, and that’s a design nearly all the phone companion earbuds have walked away from. That’s the reason I still often reached for the Galaxy Buds FE I purchased over the buds I linked to above.

This led me to seek out a new pair of buds rather than push myself to stick with the review units I have lying around. I had a positive experience with every JLab bud I reviewed, even if I didn’t give options like the JLab JBuds Pods ANC particularly stellar marks. My colleagues have also had positive things to say about older options like the JLab GO POP ANC and the JLab JBuds Mini. So when I saw the JLab GO POP+ (regularly priced at just $25) on sale for $20, I placed an order for two.

The JLab GO POP+ earbuds offer a slim case, 35+ hours of battery life, an integrated USB-C charging cable, and support for both Google Fast Pair and Find My Device. The buds come in over a dozen colors.

Let’s cut to the chase — I love these buds. The sound quality is such that I hardly notice when I switch between these and buds or headphones that cost ten times as much. The case is small and round, so it’s easy not to notice it in my pocket. There is also an integrated charging cable that makes these buds easy to top up at my USB-C charging station or via a phone power bank (which we keep all over the house). These are quality buds with app integration and customizable touch controls, but they’re priced low enough to compete with the no-name options at a Family Dollar store.

My new buds do not have all the features that some of my others do. Most notably, they lack ANC and Multipoint Bluetooth. But I have to ask myself—are these features I’m willing to pay several times as much for? How much do I even notice their absence?

Personally, I have never been impressed by the quality of ANC in Bluetooth earbuds, and I find a snug fit makes as much of a difference, if not more so. And as nice as it is to have one pair of buds that switches between all of my devices, it’s actually cheaper to just get a dedicated pair of buds for the devices that matter most. These affordable buds even support Google’s Find My Device, though at just $25, leaving them behind on a trip isn’t nearly as painful.

There are certain situations where it’s worth putting down more money for expensive buds. If your work life consists of taking calls or giving presentations, you want the buds with the best mics and background noise cancelation you can buy. Cheap buds aren’t that. But if, like me, you just want to listen to some background music, podcasts, or audiobooks throughout the day with buds good enough to also handle the occasional phone call, AirPods and their copycats may just be a bigger hit to your budget than you need to make.