BERIBES WH202A

The BERIBES WH202A nails comfort and battery life at a budget price, though it's not quite the steal it once was. Sound quality is shockingly good for the money, but the mic is terrible and noise cancellation is barely present. Buy it for music, not for calls.

Our database ranks the sound quality in the 97th percentile, which is absurd for this price bracket. The dual 40mm drivers produce clear, lively audio with good separation, and flipping through the EQ modes actually makes an audible difference, bass heads can punch up the low end nicely. Comfort is best-in-class too, thanks to the lightweight build and soft ear pads. But the mic is a weak spot, callers reported muffled voices and background noise bleeding through easily. The power button is also frustratingly small and hard to locate by feel, and there's no auto-shutoff, so you might drain the battery by accident.

Stacked against the TOZO HT3, the BERIBES matches comfort but loses hard on active noise cancellation and microphone clarity. The JBL Live 770NC offers far better call performance and real ANC, though it costs significantly more. New heavy hitters like the Sennheiser MOMENTUM 4 and Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 sit in a different league entirely on sound and build, but they're also 10x the price. The Sony ULT WEAR brings thumping bass and solid ANC if you can stretch your budget. For music-only listeners on a strict budget, the WH202A holds its own, but any calling needs push you straight to those competitors.

The $29 street price still makes these a solid deal, though the jump from $20 stings a little. You're still getting top-tier comfort, battery life that lasts days, and sound that rivals cans costing twice as much. We saw a bizarre $713 listing somewhere, but that's clearly an error, grab them from Amazon where they're consistently affordable and feel like a smart buy, not quite the steal it was, but still good.

The BERIBES WH202A is one of those rare budget finds that actually delivers where it counts. At 172 grams with plush memory protein ear pads, it's the most comfortable headphone we've tested for under $30, and the 65-hour battery means you can forget to charge it for a full work week and still have juice. The 6 EQ modes let you tweak the sound from extra bass to mid-treble enhancement, and Bluetooth 6.0 pairs to two devices in seconds.

But there's a catch. The microphone quality is genuinely bad, scoring a miserable 43.2 out of 100 in our call tests. And while it's advertised with noise cancellation, it's really just passive isolation from the cushions, so don't expect it to hush the office. Still, for the price, it's a music-first marvel.

If you need clear call quality or actual noise cancellation, skip these. The TOZO HT3 or Soundcore Life Q20 offer far better mics and real ANC for only a few dollars more. And if you plan to work out in them, don't, they aren't sweat-proof and the tight neck fit will annoy you.

The BERIBES WH202A is for anyone who wants a cheap, crazy-comfortable set of over-ears for music, podcasts, or video streaming. The battery life and sound quality are genuinely impressive at this price, and it makes a perfect backup pair. Just don't buy it expecting to take calls or block out background noise, and know that the price has crept up a bit.