These are the best over-ear headphones under £100 for 2024 (2024)

Noise cancelling: Yes | Battery life: 50 hours | Weight: 250g

For its low price, the 1More SonoFlow offers great value and makes the fewest compromises of any pair of headphones we’ve tested under £100. Typically, we find that cans in these price ranges can make slight sacrifices when it comes to comfort, build, sound quality, battery life or features but there just aren’t that many downsides to these.

They have an excellent 50-hour battery life (70 hours with the ANC off), excellent noise-cancelling, multipoint connectivity, a design that’s lightweight, comfortable and sturdy, reliable button controls, fast charging, support for wireless and wired listening modes and rich and detailed sound quality.

We don’t think budget-focused audiophiles will be disappointed with these at all, and in our tests, we find the quality of the audio to be dynamic, balanced and entertaining. They work well for all our playlists and have a customisable sound that you can tweak to your liking with equaliser presets in the companion app. For most people though, with think the default approach is the right one, and it’s not overwhelmingly bassy-heavy or too piercing at the high end.

The noise-cancelling is more than good enough to silence low-frequency rumbles like trains, engines and fan sounds, while the only small downsides might be that the app design feels unfinished and that they don’t have wear sensors. These are minor drawbacks though, and we like how these also have a minimal look that means they won’t feel like an affordable model, and how they come with a convenient travel pouch.

Noise cancelling: n/a | Battery life: n/a | Weight: 209g

You’ll recognise these Audio-Technica cans if you’ve watched music producers, podcasters or video editors at work, as they’ll often go with a reliable model like the ATH-M50x, ATH-M70x or these affordable ATH-M20x headphones for professional mixing and recording in the studio.

They’re wired with a fixed cable, so they’re not going to be what you want if you’re after a wireless pair. However, a wired connection will bring you zero lag (something we can’t say for Bluetooth) in addition to higher sound quality and no more worrying about battery life.

If you’re on a tight budget, we don’t think you can go wrong with these. They deliver a tremendous performance when it comes to relatively neutral sound reproduction, although they do still have boosted bass to make them a non-fatiguing listen.

We find them comfortable to wear for long sessions and reckon they’re a terrific option for those of us who want to hear more of the nuances and layers in our music. Of course, you can get much better studio headphones if you’re prepared to pay more, but you’ll find it hard to find a better value entryway into over-ear wired sound quality.

Noise cancelling: Yes | Battery life: 40 hours | Weight: 245g

If you’ve been hunting for bargain noise-cancelling headphones, we’re sure you’ve found out that ANC doesn’t tend to be a feature you can find in models under £50. While it’s rare, though, it’s not impossible to find it in an affordable design. The basic pair we’d pick is the Soundcore Q20i.

They're a bit of a revamp of the older Q20 but we wouldn’t go with the Q20 as it’s the same price but has an outdated Micro USB connector for charging, no transparency mode and no app support for updating firmware and tweaking the equaliser. The Q20 also has a slightly bigger battery and is faster to recharge, so it’s overall the better option.

By default, they’re a bass-heavy pair of headphones, but this signature can be altered via the in-app equaliser. They’re on the bass boost mode straight out of the box, but sound much better once they’re on the “Soundcore Signature” setting. It won’t dazzle audiophiles, but it’s reliable and works well for pop music and podcasts.

What about the ANC? It’s surprisingly capable, especially for the types of low-frequency noise that most people want to silence. It’s good for cars, trains, plane engines and other consistent rumbling sounds, but it won’t be quite as good at reducing the volume in coffee shops or offices where there’s a mix of noises and high-frequency sounds too. We like how they also have transparency to help with awareness of your surroundings when walking outside.

Overall, though, these are a competitive pair with a lightweight and comfy design, loads of battery, great sound and reliable ANC.

Noise cancelling: Yes | Battery life: 45 hours | Weight: 243g

After far better sound quality than you’d expect at the sub-£100 price? We think the Final UX2000 is well worth considering if you’re a budding audiophile but keen to have a wireless pair of headphones.

These deliver an impressive 45 hours of battery life (and can go even longer with noise-cancelling off), a comfortable design and an impressive performance when it comes to getting the details and depth out of your playlists. There are a couple of caveats, though. You won’t get any app support with these, we’ve heard much better ANC and to get a rich sound quality requires turning up the volume a bit more than we’d like.

However, if you’re happy using these at around 70% of the way to maximum volume, you will be very impressed. They have a wider soundstage than you’d normally get at this price tier and our music sounds enveloping. We love all the little details too – you can use them wired via a 3.5mm jack, they’ve got nice clicky buttons and a smooth finish as well as a soft headband.

While they’re a terrific option, though, we’d maybe recommend saving just a smidge more for the brilliant Final UX3000 which sounds even better, cancels more noise, has a more premium feel to it and comes with a carrying pouch. It’s only £119 and it’s one of our absolute favourites.

Noise cancelling: Yes | Battery life: 50 hours | Weight: 240g

We already consider the 1More SonoFlow to be an excellent pair of headphones, so we’re impressed to see that it’s possible to offer more value in the cheaper sibling SE model.

Stepping down to the SonoFlow SE means giving up on the carrying case, the LDAC codec support, the wired connectivity options and the colour range, as these only come in black. When we think about it, that’s not much to sacrifice when what you’re gaining is a lighter weight and a much lower price. These start at £54.99 rather than £89.99, making them a far better value option.

Will you miss the features that these don’t have? We’re not sure you will. Unless you play music from a high-res service on an Android device, you won’t miss LDAC and you may not even notice the difference. And we don’t find ourselves missing the wired mode either, especially if you mostly use them connected to your phone.

The sound quality and noise-cancelling are just as impressive in the more affordable pair and they still have the same long battery life and handy quick charge functionality. You may miss the carrying case but they still fold and would fit into any cheap headphone pouch you could grab online.

Noise cancelling: Yes | Battery life: 40 hours | Weight: 272g

If you're looking for an overall headphone upgrade from the Soundcore Life Q20i that delivers newer features, this is the one to go for. The Soundcore Life Q30 still goes for well under £100 while offering improved charging, better mic quality, app support for customisation and upgraded ANC over the more affordable pair. We find these exceptionally comfortable, with some of the roomiest earcups of any model on our list, and they have great ANC that works great in trains and buses.

We’re fans of the compatibility with the excellent companion app and think it’s a worthwhile reason to go for these over older Soundcore pairs that don’t feature on our list. Through this app, you’ll find 22 equaliser customisation presets, different noise cancellation modes for indoors, outdoors and transport, and 11 white noise sounds for relaxation – it’s also necessary for firmware updates that’ll help keep the headphones functioning and bug-free.

The smarter hybrid noise-cancellation on the 1More models is better overall, but we don’t think the multi-mode version available here is too much of a major downside. In general, it works great for the low-frequency rumbles that we need to cancel out most of the time. Soundcore does make a Space One pair of headphones for better ANC, but in our testing, we find they’re not quite as comfortable as the similarly priced Q30.

Is it worth getting over-ear headphones, and why are over-ear headphones so expensive?

Yes, it’s worth getting over-ear headphones. As much as we like our true wireless earbuds, they’re just not as comfortable to wear for a long time and many of us just don’t like the feeling of jamming AirPods into our earholes.

With their larger speaker drivers, over-ear headphones can often deliver a better sound quality experience, and it should feel more encompassing and immersive when compared to what’s possible from earbuds.

Of course, improvements have narrowed the gap, but we’ll tend to reach for an over-ear pair for watching films or settling in to listen for a long time, like when we’re checking out a new album. Over-ears will often create a better seal around your ears too, providing better isolation from your environment and more capable active noise-cancellation on the models that have the feature.

When it comes to why certain pairs are more expensive, it tends to be a matter of materials and features. Many of the commuter-focused over-ear headphones that you’ll see most often – like the flagship Sony, Bose and Apple models – are designed to deliver best-in-class noise-cancelling, durability to withstand daily use, app-based special features and long battery life.

However, as this roundup shows, much of what’s so impressive about expensive cans is now available at lower prices. You can get long battery life, great app support, high-quality sound and noise-cancelling in pairs under £100. We’re not saying anything here beats the Sony WH-1000XM5, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra or AirPods Max, but they can come surprisingly close.

What is better, over-ear or on-ear headphones?

This is a matter of preference, and which of these you pick depends a lot on how you plan to use your headphones. Over-ear models sit around your ears, providing much more passive isolation and, let’s be honest, just acting as better ear warmers when it gets cold.

On the other hand, you’ll find an on-ear option is much lighter, more portable and can be much more comfortable if you wear glasses. That’s because, as the name suggests, they just sit directly on your ears rather than enclosing them.

One important thing to keep in mind is that because on-ear models don’t cover your whole ear, they don’t tend to offer active noise-cancelling and they may “leak” sound a little more to the outside world, meaning you’ll have less isolation from the environment around you, and your fellow commuters may be able to hear the songs on your playlists.

How to pick the best over-ear headphones

Before you start shopping around or spending big on over-ear headphones, it’s worth knowing your way around the spec sheet and having a general idea of which features are priorities for you.

Unless you’re deep into the audiophile world, you don’t need to get lost in frequency response graphs or worry about sensitivity (which, in case it matters, indicates how much power you’d need to achieve a given volume level) or impedance (how much power headphones need to operate). To help with the jargon that you’ll actually care about, we’ve included an explanation of what matters most to us here:

Sound quality

If you’ve watched a few YouTube videos, you might start to think that getting your head around sound quality requires you to know a lot about different driver sizes or being able to read graphs. While knowing more about headphone tech can help, we think it’s most useful to get a sense of certain key terms about a headphone’s performance and descriptions of the default sound signature can help.

If you see something described as “balanced” or “neutral”, it’ll be designed to work for a wide variety of genres and audio content. “Bass-heavy” will mean that the emphasis is on lower frequency, and this sound will have a lot of thump for electronic and pop music.

What about “V-shaped”? This indicates a boost in both the bass and treble regions, resulting in an energetic sound. “Warm” is a term used to describe a rich sound with a lower midrange emphasis, while you’ll see “bright” describing a signature with more focus on the higher frequencies. This may sound more crisp and detailed but can be tiring for a long listening session.

These sound signatures aren't the only way to assess quality. There's also instrumental separation, a headphone's ability to place musical elements in space (also referred to as imaging or soundstage) and the amount of subtlety and clarity they provide.

We’d look out for an app-based equaliser if you’re interested in tweaking the sound. Much like how a DJ has a bunch of knobs and sliders, an equaliser allows you to amend the sound of certain frequencies.

The low frequencies or bass will target the low-end thump, the midrange sliders affect vocals and guitars while the treble or high frequencies are those sparkling sounds like certain vocalists and instruments like cymbals. Playing around with an equaliser can have a big effect on how your headphones sound and many companion apps include presets to make the process easier.

Comfort, fit and weight

All the over-ear headphones included here have adjustable headbands and cushioned ear cups, but the level of cushioning can differ between models, as can the size of the space around your ears. It’s also worth looking out for user feedback on the clamping force, which can help you understand how much pressure the headphones exert on your head – it’s important for making them feel secure, but too much can also be uncomfortable.

We’ve included the weight for all of the headphones in our list, as this can have a big impact on how long you can wear them without severe discomfort.

Most of the models you’ll find are in the 200-300g range, but it’s possible to find headphones that increase the weight a little too much. For example, Apple's AirPods Max weighs ​​385g. They’re quality cans but trust us, it’s an amount of weight you’ll feel after some time. We prefer models around 250g.

Noise cancellation

None of us likes annoying outside sounds, whether that’s an office full of people talking loudly, the roar of a jet engine or just the screech of the train during your morning commute. Active noise cancellation (or ANC) is an essential feature to fight this irritation.

How does it work? Essentially, there are tiny microphones in your headphones listening out for sounds around you. They then create sound waves to oppose the external noise, cancelling out the bothersome din.

Sometimes, this can result in a sensation of pressure, but most ANC is pretty impressive these days. It’s also worth noting that it will require extra processing and it will have an effect on your battery life (more on that below).

Connectivity

Most of the headphones in our roundup are wireless models. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for the good old-fashioned headphone jack anymore – we still think it’s the most reliable way to get quality sound out of several devices and there are good reasons why audio experts still prefer wired connections a 3.5mm jack. However, it can be much more convenient to have a wireless model that’ll connect to your smartphone, laptop or tablet over Bluetooth.

These wireless models used to be able to connect to only one device at a time, but Bluetooth “multipoint” is becoming much more available. This feature enables your headphones to maintain a simultaneous connection to two devices at once, and they’ll automatically switch to the one playing audio.

It’s especially handy if you want to have your headphones hooked up to your laptop and phone at the same time, playing music from one but ready to hop onto a call without fussing around with disconnecting and reconnecting.

Battery life

With today’s over-ear headphones, you’re going to struggle to get them to run out of battery. Over 30 hours is now typical, whereas 20 hours used to be more of an average expectation.

The models on our list get well over 40 hours with active noise-cancelling switched on – in reality, this means you’re not going to need to worry about your headphones losing juice.

We checked and our everyday headphone listening is somewhere between four and six hours daily – at this rate, we’d have to listen to the same cans every single day and we’d still get through well over a week or even two weeks of use out of them.

The amount of battery life increases if you turn off ANC too. Because it requires additional power to analyse and counteract external noise, you may get up to 70 or 80 hours of battery life out of your headphones when it’s off.

It’s worth keeping an eye out for a quick charging feature too. In the rare event that your headphones surprise you with a dead battery, cans with quick charge can restore several hours of playback time in a few minutes. It’ll vary depending on the model, but, typically, you’ll find a five-minute charge can give you four to five hours of life.