The Best Prime Day Deals on Headphones

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Amazon Big Deal Days is coming October 7-8, and Lifehacker is sharing the best sales based on product reviews, comparisons, and price-tracking tools before it's over.

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Over the years, I've subjected my ears to more headphones and earbuds than I care to admit, and they're not all winners. But these are. In my opinion, here are the best deals on headphones right now.

The best Prime Day deals on headphones

Sony WH-1000XM4 Noise Canceling Wireless Headphones (Blue)

$188.00 at Amazon

$349.99 Save $161.99

Get Deal

Get Deal

$188.00 at Amazon

$349.99 Save $161.99

The Sony WH-1000XM4 is a pretty old headset at this point, but it's no less capable. It has some of the best noise canceling around, in a slick, minimalist design. Right now it's down to $188, which is a downright steal compared to the newer XM6, which—even at $20 off—is still north of $400.

Over in the Apple ecosystem, the Beats Studio Pro are down to $170 from their normal $350. These also have excellent noise cancellation, and include a built-in digital-to-analog converter (or DAC) over USB-C for when you want better audio quality than Bluetooth can provide.

There are also solid deals on the Soundcore Anker Life Q20 for $35, the Beats Solo 4 headphones for $130, and the Sennheiser Momentum 4 noise-cancelling headphones for $230.

The best Prime Day deals on gaming headsets

If you're looking for something a bit more gaming-focused, the HyperX Cloud Mix 2 ($140) is one of my favorites. It can get a whopping 110 hours of battery life in Bluetooth mode, has solid ANC in 2.4GHz mode, and comes with a handy slot inside the left ear cup to hold the low-profile USB-C adapter.

I still can't get over how the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless—now down to $143—get well over 300 hours of battery life on a single charge. I thought this claim was absurd until I tested it and it actually beat the estimate by multiple days. After a few years of using these, I can say the faux leather on the headband is coming apart a bit, but for battery life this headset just can't be beat.

There are also some great deals on SteelSeries' excellent DAC-powered Arctis Nova Pro for $264, the more budget-friendly Nova 7P for $120, and the stylish Razer Blackshark V2 Pro headphones for $130.

The best Prime Day earbud deals

Apple AirPods Pro 2 Noise Cancelling Wireless Earbuds

$169.99 at Amazon

$249.00 Save $79.01

Get Deal

Get Deal

$169.99 at Amazon

$249.00 Save $79.01

Almost every day, I use the SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds, but don't let the name fool you. They're not just for gaming. In fact, I can't recall the last time I used them for gaming, but if you want to, you can use them with any console. The Xbox version is $128, but even that's a misnomer. The Xbox version's USB-C dongle has a switch to enable Xbox compatibility, but in PC mode, it works with the PlayStation just fine. So save yourself some cash and get support for every platform.

For Apple users, both the AirPods Pro 2 ($170), and the AirPods 4 ($119) are on sale right now. The former has somewhat better active noise cancellation and longer battery life, but the latter is no slouch in either department. Both get up to 30 hours with the use of the charging case, though the Pro 2 can do that with ANC on, while you might need to keep a close eye on ANC usage with the Airpods 4 to get comparable battery life.

For the more budget-inclined, the Soundcore by Anker P20i earbuds are down to$18, and on the other end of the spectrum, the Beats Studio Buds+ are down to $150.

Looking for something else? Retailers like Walmart and Best Buy have Prime Day competition sales that are especially useful if you don’t have Amazon Prime.

• Walmart’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. ET through Oct. 12 and includes deals up to 50% off. It’s an especially good option if you have Walmart+.

• Best Buy’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Sept. 27 through Oct. 12, and has some of the best tech sales online. It’s an especially good option if you’re a My Best Buy “Plus” or “Total” member.

• Target’s Prime Day competition sale runs from Oct. 5 through Oct. 11, and it has deals going up to 50% off. You can become a Circle member for free.

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