For many years now I’ve been buying my headphones on Black Friday: wired, wireless, in-ear and over-ear, whenever I need an upgrade or replacement or just want to treat myself, I’ve always found Black Friday deals on exactly the headphones I knew I needed. So if you’re in the market for a new set, now is a good time to start doing your pre-sale homework.
While many Black Friday headphone deals are impressive, they often involve some of the more expensive headphones. So while discounts on Bose or high-end Sonys can be eye-catching, they’re still quite expensive. If you’re looking to get the best bang for your Black Friday money, you can find some great options for a lot less.
These three sets of over-ear headphones impressed us at full price, and we expect to see deals during the Black Friday sales extravaganza. As we know from our in-depth reviews, some of the best headphones don’t cost a huge amount of money – and you can get surprisingly good headphones with active noise cancellation and even Hi-Res Audio support at very low prices.
1Plus Sonoflow Pro HQ51: The best value for money on-ear headphones you can buy?
In our 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 review, we said that they have established themselves as one of the best value for money over-ear headphones you can buy. They are strong in three key areas: they have a very satisfying sound that you can tweak to suit your own preferences; they have the most effective noise cancellation at this price; and they offer a fantastic battery life of 65 hours. All this for a modest list price of $89 / £89 / AU$130, and I’d expect a Black Friday deal imminent.
These are truly surprising headphones: at this price, you don’t expect high-end features like the high-resolution LDAC codec, and customizable EQ is still relatively rare in this price bracket. The 1More cans deliver both, and the sound quality is impressive for such an affordable set of over-ears. Bluetooth is 5.4 and the drivers are 40mm dynamic drivers.
My colleague Matt Bolton just did a large group test of noise-cancelling headphones and said that these block noise about as well as the Sony WH-1000XM4s – they beat their price by a wide margin.
And they won’t be uncomfortable even during long listening sessions: we found them to be generously padded and not too heavy.
Sony WH-CH720N: impressive and affordable with Sony Sonics
We really rate these affordable headphones: in our review of the Sony WH-C720N, we said they were excellent for the price – and we’re currently seeing discounts that make them an even better buy.
You know what you’re getting with Sony headphones: extremely balanced sound, beautiful clarity, effective noise cancellation and a simple, elegant design. The feature set is also solid, including multi-point pairing.
We felt that while you clearly won’t get audiophile-level sound at anywhere near this price, what Sony does is truly impressive: these headphones deliver finely balanced, detail-rich sound.
CMF Headphone Pro: spend your money for nothing
CMF is the most affordable sub-brand of Maverick Nothing phones and headphones, whose stylish products combine innovative engineering and interesting design. And these CMF headphones are pretty nice too, with an emphasis on touch controls over touch and the ability to swap out the ear cushions for more colorful options. There is also a button called “button”, which makes me smile.
The specs are impressive: 40mm nickel-plated diaphragms with 16.5mm copper voice coils, a “precision” bass driver, and a dual-chamber design to pack some serious punch. The headphones are Hi-Res Audio certified for wired and wireless listening, and they feature LDAC as well as the usual Bluetooth codecs. Battery life is 100 hours with ANC off and 50 hours with ANC on.
We have these headphones under review right now, and my colleague Becky Scarrott is impressed, telling me: “The circular earcups are extremely comfortable even with glasses, with ample padding on the headband and decent but not too tight clamping force.” True to Nothing’s strong sense of “go your own way” style, my pistachio green ensemble looks and feels a lot more expensive than it is too. The buttons on each ear (there’s a bass slider on the left and a volume wheel on the side). right) are easy to find and really fun to use. And at least initially there’s a good sense of separation and detail in the sound.”
These are already very affordable with a list price of $99 / £79 / AU$179, and yet we’re seeing immediate price reductions, so they look set to become a Black Friday bargain that will delight your ears and your bank balance.
More Black Friday deals in the US
- Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, air fryers and vacuum cleaners
- Apple: iPads, AirPods and MacBooks starting at $119
- Best buy: $1,000 Off TVs, Laptops, and Headphones
- Home deposit: 40% off appliances, furniture, grills and tools
- Lenovo: 45% off laptops and tablets
- Lowe: up to 30% off holiday appliances, decor and tools
- Target: 40% off Christmas decor, clothing and furniture
- Walmart: Cheap furniture, TVs and vacuum cleaners starting at $69
- Wayfair: 54% off Christmas, furniture and decor
