These $69 buds made me question the AirPods Pro

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By Mariyan Slavov

Published: Apr 21, 2026, 2:41 AM

This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.

The AirPods Pro are quite expensive | Image by PhoneArena

Do you think that $250 for a pair of earbuds is just too much? Well, you're not alone. I'm with you on this one, and the latest pair of buds I had for review made me question the AirPods Pro.

Now, don't get me wrong, the AirPods sound great, and they have a lot of features, but the eye-watering price is something that's hard to swallow, especially after hearing these $69 buds I'm talking about.

Good pair of earbuds for $69? Turns out it's possible

The Honor Earbuds 4 - a pleasant surprise | Image by PhoneArena

Without clickbaiting further, I'll reveal the buds that surprised me in such a positive way. Those of you who read my review already know the answer. It's the Honor Earbuds 4.
You can check out the full review, but long story short, the model offers the best bang for the buck I've encountered in a pair of earbuds in a long, long time.

What makes these buds that good? Let's start with the most important things when it comes to headphones. First and foremost, it's the sound quality.

The Honor Earbuds 4 sound great with a caveat

These buds sound great and the fit is also awesome&nbsp; | Image by PhoneArena - These $69 buds made me question the AirPods Pro

These buds sound great and the fit is also awesome | Image by PhoneArena

I don't know how Honor did this, but the dual, titanium-coated drivers inside the Earbuds 4 sound great. These earbuds treat high and low frequencies separately, courtesy of the said dual drivers, and the result is a balanced, rich, and detailed sound.

The caveat is that in order to get the best sound, you need to keep the ANC at its most aggressive setting; otherwise, these buds can sound thin and unimpressive. Which brings us to the hybrid ANC.

Triple-mic ANC on a budget

It's not unheard of to get active noise cancellation on a pair of budget headphones, but here we have a triple-mic system that works quite well. Honor says it's up to a 50 dB reduction of unwanted noise.

I can't verify these numbers easily, but what I can say is that there is a perceivable difference between when the ANC is on and when the feature is turned off. Is the ANC AirPods Pro good? Probably not, but it's very close to my ears. And that has something to do with another very important area when it comes to in-ear headphones. The fit.

No way around the fact — these buds look like AirPods Pro

There are some similarities, one could say... | Image by PhoneArena

Well, you can call the design derivative or argue that the curvature is slightly different here and there or that the case is not the same. But the fact of the matter is that the Honor Earbuds 4 look very similar to a pair of AirPods Pro 3.

That's a plus, however, because they are extremely comfortable to wear and provide a good fit with a tight seal without hurting your ears.

Another positive of such a design choice is that most people who are used to wearing AirPods won't have any troubles switching to the Earbuds 4.

Rounding up the package

So, we've covered the most important things in a pair of buds — the sound quality and the comfort and fit. These two areas would've been enough to positively surprise me and draw the AirPods parallels, but there's more.

The Earbuds 4 also feature the aforementioned triple-mic ANC, they come with touch controls and gestures, and they can even be used for real-time AI translation by two people speaking different languages.

The battery life is solid, and overall you get a lot for your hard-earned $69. This doesn't mean that the AirPods Pro are bad or that the Honor Earbuds 4 are the best earbuds out there, but it shows one key thing.

Conclusion. Why the strong opinion?

$250 for a pair of earbuds is just too much | Image by PhoneArena

I've always thought popular earbud models are overpriced, but hearing the Earbuds 4 gave me the proof I needed. And that's the main reason I feel so strongly about the AirPods Pro and other popular earbuds. They are too pricey.

You can get good-sounding earbuds with a decent set of features for much cheaper if you're willing to put up with a couple of things.

In the case of the Earbuds 4, these include the specific requirements for the best possible sound — namely, the ANC must be on at all times for the buds to sound at their best. And the second one is the derivative design and everything that comes with it.

Getting a pair of earbuds that look like a very popular model out there and cost a fraction of the price can lead to people judging your choice. "You're using cheap AirPods Pro clones," some might start saying.

The key takeaway here is that all of the above applies to many models, not only the Honor Earbuds 4. You just need to focus on what's important to you in a pair of buds. If it's sound quality, ANC, and comfort, then you don't have to spend $250 to get these things.

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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.

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