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Anker's budget friendly noise-canceling headphones are down to $60 today

These headphones were a good deal at full price, but this $20 discount makes them a no-brainer.

David Carnoy Executive Editor / Reviews
Executive Editor David Carnoy has been a leading member of CNET's Reviews team since 2000. He covers the gamut of gadgets and is a notable reviewer of mobile accessories and portable audio products, including headphones and speakers. He's also an e-reader and e-publishing expert as well as the author of the novels Knife Music, The Big Exit and Lucidity. All the titles are available as Kindle, iBooks, Kobo e-books and audiobooks.
Expertise Headphones, Bluetooth speakers, mobile accessories, Apple, Sony, Bose, e-readers, Amazon, glasses, ski gear, iPhone cases, gaming accessories, sports tech, portable audio, interviews, audiophile gear, PC speakers Credentials
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David Carnoy
2 min read
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The Anker Soundcore Life Q30 in black.

David Carnoy/CNET

I'm not a fan of cheap noise-canceling headphones. I struggled to put together a list of best noise-canceling headphones under $100, because there are so few I'd recommend buying. But Anker's Soundcore Life Q30 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones are one of the exceptions. Normally around $80, today they're $20 off or $60 as an Amazon Deal of the Day. That's their lowest price to date by $5. 

The Soundcore Life Q35 are also available today for just $91, which is a savings of $31 and makes brings them to one of the lowest prices they've sold for to date. These are virtually identical to the Q30 but adds support for Sony's LDAC codec audio codec for high-resolution audio streaming with music services that support it.

ReadBest noise-canceling headphones under $100  

I do suspect that Anker will update the Q30 in the not-so-distant future, but it's still worth considering at $60. As far as sound, comfort level and build quality go, you'd be hard-pressed to do better than the Q30 for the money. It doesn't have quite the clarity or bass definition as some of the top premium models, but it's less than a third of the price and gets you about 75% of the way there in terms of sound. It's well balanced overall, with punchy bass, and there's an app that allows you to tweak the sound. Noise canceling is good for the price, though not up to the level of the Sony WH-1000XM4 or Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. Battery life is rated at an impressive 40 hours with USB-C charging.

The only area where the Q30 falls a little short is for voice calls. It picks up your voice fine in quieter environments but it just doesn't reduce background noise all that well. 

Compared to the Q20, the Q30 does offer improved sound (it's not a huge difference, but it definitely is a notch up) and a more premium design.

Read more: Best noise-canceling true wireless earbuds for 2021