I found good wireless ANC headphones for under $70—and they're not even on sale yet

You can find wireless ANC headphones at all price points. From very cheap options to very expensive ones. However, not all headphones are created equal. After spending some time with the Soundpeats Cove Pro, I found these to be a worthy pair. They feature a mix of good sound quality and robust ANC performance at a reasonable price.

I tend to cover and review more expensive headphones. Both the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the Bose QC Ultra Headphones are among the best for active noise cancellation. Each of those has great audio quality for consumer-level wireless listening. But the Cove Pro have still impressed me in my initial hands-on time with them.

They retail for $69.99, but are at least as good as any wireless headphones costing $150, over twice their price. The Cove Pro could save you a lot of money and get you most of what you want in a pair of headphones.

The features of cheap wireless headphones

The standout feature of the Cove Pro is the adaptive ANC. Soundpeats says they can lower external noise by 56 decibels. That’s a lot. Based on my testing, that number seems generous. These aren’t better than Bose or Sony’s excellent, and costly, premium headphones. But the Cove Pro are effective and will quiet your surroundings.

I used them to help quiet household sounds like kids watching TV and robot vacuums running. Testing them against pre-recorded airplane cabin noise, the Cove Pro headphones were able to reduce that type of sound too. While I haven’t used them for air travel yet, I suspect they'll work well in that scenario.

The Soundpeats app offers the ability to alter the ANC level. If you are susceptible to an uneasy feeling with a heavy dose of noise-cancellation tech, then you can change it based on different presets, including adaptive, which will adjust to your environment.

I tested the Cove Pro in black. The design of the headphones is more plain than anything. I didn’t find them offputting but they also didn’t elicit a second thought. Their look can be described as inconspicuous. That’s fine that they aren’t as attractive as the Nothing Headphone (1), few devices are. Importantly, however, the Cove Pro are lightweight, around 250 grams, and comfortable to wear for long stretches.

The foam on the earcups and headband is squishy and responsive. I try a lot of headphones, and these rank well on the comfort scale. Again, these headphones are overly distinct or unique, but they do mostly disappear while wearing them. That’s what I’m looking for in terms of comfort.

Basic headphones can still sound good

The default, out-of-the-box sound of the Soundpeats Cove Pro is solid. There’s plenty of low-end bass, but it doesn’t overpower the other frequencies. The sound is full and fairly even across the spectrum. The mid-range isn’t as clear as some high-end headphones from companies like Sony, but it’s less obvious if you’re not directly comparing products back to back. The mid-range isn’t muddy or anything.

I had no qualms about the audio quality while streaming music from Spotify or Apple Music. If you want to pump up the bass or try to craft the audio to your preference, then you can use the Soundpeats mobile app to tweak the EQ.

Are the Soundpeats Cove Pro headphones worth spending money on?

The Soundpeats Cove Pro headphones strike a nice balance between solid, respectable sound and a value price. These are basic in a lot of ways, such as not coming with a case in the box, but the active noise cancellation is good enough to warrant skimping on some extras.

These would make great travel headphones for people prone to breaking or losing them. While $70 isn’t exactly dirt cheap, I wouldn’t lose sleep over these if something happened to them.

For wireless headphones that have all the basics in place, these are hard to beat. These probably won’t compete with headphones that retail for over $200, but if you’re thinking of spending between $100 and $200, then I would consider these first and save yourself some money without sacrificing ANC, comfort, and battery life.