The Anker Soundcore Space A40 tops our guide to the best budget wireless earbuds, and right now Amazon has the noise-canceling pair on sale for a new low of $49. That’s a buck less than the previous low we saw around the holidays last year. Anker sells the earbuds for $100, though they’re often available for less than that; for the last two months, they’ve typically gone for $59 on Amazon. This offer is sold by Anker directly and comes a couple days ahead of Amazon’s wider “Big Spring Sale” sales event.
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
This is the lowest price to date for Anker’s wallet-friendly wireless earbuds.
We like the Space A40 for blending pleasant sound with strong active noise cancellation (ANC) and most of the features you’d find on more expensive earbuds. That ANC isn’t quite as powerful as higher-end pairs like Sony’s WF-1000XM5, especially when it comes to muting voices and other treble-range sounds, but it still punches well above its price range. It’ll automatically adapt to the noise level of your surroundings by default, though you can manually set it to different intensity levels as well.
While this isn’t the most detailed-sounding set of earbuds you can buy, it’s a more pleasant listen than most budget-level options we’ve tested. It boosts the upper-bass range out of the box, but it doesn’t come off as bloated or sloppy. If you don’t like the default sound profile, you can pick from one of several EQ presets or customize the EQ curve yourself through Anker’s companion app.
The actual earpieces are light and comfortable, with an IPX4 water-resistance rating that’s enough to survive most workouts. They last around eight hours per charge, with another 40-ish hours available through a compact case that supports wireless charging. They can also connect to two devices at once. There are still some trade-offs: The mics are mediocre for phone calls; the touch-based controls are a little limited; and there’s no wear detection, so your music won’t pause automatically when you take out an earbud. But at this price, the pros should outweigh the cons.
This discount comes as part of a wider sale on Anker headphones that includes the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC, the runner up in our guide, on sale for $80. That’s a $20 discount. The Space A40 is a better value, but that pair offers most of the same benefits for those who prefer a more AirPods-style design. Other in-ear and over-ear models are also discounted.
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