For many years now I’ve bought my headphones on Black Friday: wired, wireless, in-ear and over-ear, when I’ve needed an upgrade or replacement or just wanted 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, this is a good time to start doing your pre-sale homework.
While many Black Friday headphone deals are impressive, they’re often on some of the pricier headphones – so while discounts on Bose or the high-end Sonys might be eye-catching, they’re still pretty expensive. If you’re looking to get the most bang for your Black Friday buck, you can find some really 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 huge sums – and you can get surprisingly good headphones with active noise cancellation and even Hi-Res Audio support for very low prices.
1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51: the best earrings you can buy?
In our 1More Sonoflow Pro HQ51 review, we said they had established themselves as some of the best over-ear headphones you can buy. They are strong in three key areas: they have a very satisfying sound that you can adjust to suit your own preferences; they have the most effective noise reduction at this price; and they deliver an amazing 65 hours of battery life. All this for a modest $89 / £89 / AU$130 list price, and I expect a Black Friday deal soon.
These are truly surprising headphones: at this price, you don’t expect advanced features such as the high-resolution LDAC codec, and customizable EQ is still relatively rare in this price range. The 1More cans deliver on 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 canceling headphones and said that these block out noise pretty much as well as the Sony WH-1000XM4 – they beat way above their price tag.
And they don’t become uncomfortable during even long listening sessions: we found them 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 good for the price – and we’re currently seeing discounts that make them an even better buy.
You know what you get with Sony headphones: extremely well-balanced sound, great clarity, effective noise reduction and simple, stylish design. The feature set is also solid, including multi-point pairing.
We felt that while you’re clearly not going to get audiophile-level sound at anywhere near this price, what Sony is doing is truly impressive: these headphones deliver finely balanced sound that’s full of detail.
CMF Headphone Pro: Spend your money on nothing
CMF is the more affordable sub-brand of phone and headphone maverick Nothing, whose stylish products combine innovative engineering with interesting design. And these CMF headphones are pretty cool too, with a focus on tactile controls rather than touch and the ability to swap out the ear pads for more colorful options. There is also a button called “button” which makes me smile.
The specification is impressive: 40mm nickel-plated diaphragms with 16.5mm copper coils, a “precision” bass channel and a dual-chamber design to deliver serious mood. The headphones are Hi-Res Audio certified for both wired and wireless listening, and they have 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 for review right now, and my colleague Becky Scarrott is impressed, telling me: “The circular ear cups are extremely comfortable even with glasses on, with ample padding on the headband and a decent but not too tight clamping force. True to Nothing’s strong sense of ‘go your own way’ style, it’s way more expensive than it’s green, and my Pistachio is too expensive than it is. each ear (there’s a bass slider on the left and a volume wheel on the right) are easy to find and really fun to use, and there’s at least a good sense of separation and detail in the sound.
These are already super-affordable at a list price of $99 / £79 / AU$179, and yet we’re seeing some immediate price cuts so they look set to be a Black Friday bargain that will please your ears and your bank balance.
More Black Friday deals in the US
- Amazon: 45% off TVs, AirPods, deep fryers and vacuum cleaners
- Apple: iPads, AirPods and MacBooks from $119
- Best Buy: $1,000 off TVs, laptops and headphones
- Home Depot: 40% discount on white goods, furniture, barbecue and tools
- Lenovo: 45% off laptops and tablets
- Lowes: up to 30% discount on white goods, holiday decor and tools
- Goal: 40% discount on Christmas decorations, clothes and furniture
- Walmart: furniture, cheap TVs and vacuums from $69
- Wayfair: 54% discount on Christmas, furniture and decor
