5 Cheaper Over-Ear Headphones You Should Try Instead Of The AirPods Max 2

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AirPods, as a headphone family, have absolutely dominated the market for years since their release. While the AirPods Max aren't fronting an entire true wireless product line like the smaller AirPods, they do offer a compelling option for those who wanted the over-ear experience. We reviewed the AirPods Max 2 and loved the features and sound quality on offer, but there's no getting around that these headphones are quite expensive. So if you want to save a few bucks, there are alternatives out there that still offer a compelling package.

The current retail price for a pair of AirPods Max 2 is $549 directly from the Apple Store. No matter what your experience is with consumer headphones, that's objectively a high premium to pay. Now, as our review covered, you get a lot for that price, like a great build quality, excellent adaptive audio features, and the design language Apple is known for. But if you want to save some money, we'll go through a few of our favorite choices from top competitive brands like Bose and Sony, as well as some more attainable names like Soundcore and even the Apple-owned Beats.

Frequently appearing at the top of tech reviewers' "best headphones" lists, the Sony WH line is a true competitor to Apple's AirPods Max offerings. Sony's focus is largely on its noise cancellation, which the company touts is "the best noise cancellation" available. While that can be subjective, well-respected tech reviewers and YouTube channels agree that the adaptive noise cancellation is truly impressive on the sixth generation of Sony's flagship headphones.

Underneath that noise cancellation conversation, the WH-1000XM6 offers excellent sound, including LDAC codecs and drivers tuned in partnership with professional mastering audio engineers. The goal here is "studio-quality" sound, which will always be a little different than Apple's more adaptive, proprietary sound molding. True, Apple's headphones also sound great according to reviews, but even though its marketing materials frequently refer to the audio as "studio-quality" sound, the polish and processing at work are decidedly Apple — for better or for worse. The WH-1000XM6 comes at a $450 price point, available for even less as models go on sale, which undercuts the AirPods Max 2 list price by around $100.

Sony and Bose are often-cited leaders in the premium, over-ear headphones space, and Bose's entry into the flagship market is its QuietComfort Ultra Headphones. In a similar fashion to Apple, Bose often uses fluffy language to describe its products' sound quality, giving features names like "CustomTune" and "immersive audio." While you can't look at these objectively on a spec sheet, Bose has a long track record of delivering impressive audio across speakers and headphones. The QC Ultra headphones deliver other value, like a premium build and design that are also quite classic, with some subtle metallic touches and a nice-feeling leather.

There are some downsides here, as expected. You save about $100 on the QC Ultra Headphones, but you'll have a decidedly more plastic-y texture to the build. The pairing experience, like with most non-Apple headphones, will feel clunky on an iPhone, requiring you to work through Bluetooth menus and actively connect using your device's software — however, the QC Ultra supports Google Fast Pair, so if you have an Android phone, the pairing process will be as seamless as pairing AirPods Max 2 with an iPhone. For travel, the QC Ultra headphones fold down into an included case, though they still take up more bag space than smaller, lighter options like the Beats Studio Pro (more on those cans below). If you do opt for these headphones, make sure to take a look at our roundup of audio features to get the most out of your Bose headphones.

If you're in the market for affordable headphones, then a good place to start is Soundcore — a budget-friendly brand affiliated with Anker. We recently covered how brands like Soundcore can make headphones so cheap. Soundcore has built a bit of a reputation on providing attainably priced headphones that still sound solid, and the Soundcore Space 2 is the "all-day" model that offers a similar feature set to the rest of the headphones on this list. First off, there's active noise canceling with a focus on low-end, multi-stage processing. This means that the headphones should be reasonably capable of blocking out quite a bit of the low rumbles you may hear on a commute or a flight.

Some of the true standouts here are sound quality, with support for both LDAC and Hi-Res Audio, as well as battery life. With up to 50 hours of playback with active noise cancellation on (and a borderline unbelievable 70 hours without ANC), these headphones will certainly not leave you wanting in the charge department. The build quality, as expected for the sub-$200 price point, will feel a little less well-rounded than the more premium offerings. The design — with its fully rounded circles and plastic accents — might also feel a little dated when going toe to toe with the refined look of the AirPods Max.

We recently talked about how Beats headphones are a pretty solid option these days, despite some unseemly chatter in years past. The current review landscape supports that Beats headphones offer a pretty solid price-to-performance promise. The Beats Studio Pro is the brand's true flagship model, with active noise canceling, refined audio, and some extra connectivity features on top of that.

The extra little cherry on top is that, because Beats is owned by Apple, it offers some enhanced Apple compatibility to get you a little closer to the AirPods Max experience. First there's the simple one-touch pairing that works similarly to the instant pairing any AirPods offer across your Apple devices — and like the Bose QC Ultra, they support Google Fast Pair for a similar experience with Android phones and Chromebooks. They are also compatible with Apple's Find My network and Google's Find Hub, ensuring you'll be able to locate the headphones if you lose them.

As is the case with many competitive products in this space, there are some trade-offs around build quality. The Beats Studio Pro feels a little cheap to the touch, and even though the ear cups are comfortable to wear, they aren't quite as thick and plush as AirPods Max. Of course, one nifty feature is that they fold all the way down in two directions to occupy a much smaller space in their little travel page.

Perhaps the most unique headphone option on this list is from the Nothing brand. Nothing is a manufacturer that takes a contradictory approach to designing peripherals, originally starting with smartphones that don't follow the same design parameters as all the other slab phones around. That same design approach is here in the Nothing Headphone (a). One look at the transparent enclosure features, the sharp, squared-off edges, and the unique color options, and it's clear that this is not a pair of headphones that's following the typical designs.

It's this design language that actually makes the headphones an interesting substitute for Apple AirPods Max. The Nothing Headphone (a) goes for around $200 at the time of this writing, and it offers most of the features you'd expect from premium headphones. That includes adaptive, active noise cancellation, solid 40-millimeter driver size for substantial audio, and a compelling 135 hours (yes, you read that right) of max battery life with ANC off. To be fair, there's nothing visually subtle about these headphones, and there isn't a whole lot of flashy processing and adaptive EQ features like on the AirPods Max. But with a unique look at a reasonable price, the Nothing Headphone (a) is a solid choice for the budget-conscious.

Choosing headphones in 2026 can feel like a head-spinning decision. With so many different brands out there offering similar looking (and sounding) products, it's hard to know what to go for. For this list, the obvious first parameter for us was to make sure that the headphones were cheaper than AirPods Max 2. Once they cleared that barrier, we also wanted to offer some that felt truly flagship and premium, and some that felt like a really good deal, to offer a range that covers a lot of budgets.

Beyond that, quality and feature set were paramount in our research. First the headphones had to have solid reviews from real people and publications, be widely available for purchase across sites, and offer some of the key flagship features of the AirPods Max. That means all of these headphones have active noise cancellation, decent sound quality, and solid battery life. Beyond that, we wanted to give a nice array of designs, styles, and color choices. Headphones do feel like a visual accessory to some, after all.