Apple AirPods aren’t on offer for Black Friday, but these wireless buds are better

If you were in the hunt for some Apple AirPods this Black Friday, you’ll be left empty handed. But don’t put your wallet away just yet: there are some excellent alternatives available that offer the convenience and form factor of Apple’s wireless earbuds, and often offering superior sound quality to boot.

I asked our resident audiophile Chris Minasians to assess the AirPod-like buds, and these were his suggestions, ranked by sound quality:

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 – £208

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay E8 Premium Truly Wireless Bluetooth Earphones – Black

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I’ll let our review do the talking here. “If you’re dead set on eliminating ALL the cables, then there’s nothing that quite matches the sonic and design characteristics of the B&O Beoplay E8. They’re great.“

RHA TrueConnect True Wireless Earbuds – £149.95

RHA Trueconnect – Carbon Black: True Wireless Earbuds with Bluetooth 5 & Sweatproof for Sport Activity

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We haven’t reviewed these, but Chris assures me these are a close second behind the Beoplay E8s, and they retail for a fair bit cheaper too. Offering five hours’ playback from a single charge and an extra 20 hours’ battery life in the case, these are a truly excellent pair of AirPod alternatives.

Mobvoi TicPods – £119.99

From the company that brought us cheap Wear OS smartwatches (the TicWatch) comes cheap AirPod-alikes. With four hours’ battery life and four charges from the case, you’re looking at a long-lasting set of earphones with solid sound quality at an appealing price.

Soul ST-XS sports earphones – £91.02

Soul Electronics ST-XS Superior High Performance True Wireless Earphones, Bluetooth Earbuds w/ Charging Box, with Microphone for Android, Samsung & iPhone (Pink)

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These ones made our best Bluetooth headphones list thanks to their impressive sound quality and keen price. As we said in the piece: “Throughout the frequency range, these impress – the bass is deep and pronounced, the treble is non-recessed and forward-sounding and the highs are clear with a good extension at the top-end. They don’t sound congested either, with a detailed soundstage that’s both wide and deep-sounding.”

Motorola Stream True Wireless – £49.99

These also made our best wireless headphones list, though with a £50 RRP they obviously don’t sound quite as good as their rivals. Still, they’re good enough – the main drawback is the small battery capacity, with the buds only lasting for a couple of hours before requiring a recharge from the bundled case.

Written by

Alan Martin

Alan Martin is a freelance writer with more than a decade’s worth of experience, mainly in the technology space, with bylines at The Evening Standard, Tom's Guide, The i and many others. His main focus at Expert Reviews is ensuring that your next pick of phone or wearable is the right choice for you and represents the best possible value for money. In the past he’s covered a broad range of games, dental apparel and pet accessories and, on one memorable occasion, had to strip off to retrieve a rogue drone from a lake – such is his dedication to reviews.

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