What Are The Cheapest Bose Headphones You Can Buy In 2026?

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Who doesn't want to own a fantastic pair of headphones? Killer sound quality and features like active noise-canceling (ANC) are staples of over-ear, on-ear, and in-ear audio, and one brand that makes all three is Bose. Unfortunately, Bose cans and buds are some of the more expensive audio products on the market (the same goes for the brand's Bluetooth speakers). Unless you're buying a used or refurbished item, it'll be tough to find Bose headphones that cost less than $200.

Now, 'tough' doesn't translate to 'impossible', and as luck would have it, we actually found a sub-$200 pair of Bose earbuds that can be purchased brand-new. We're talking about the $180 Bose QuietComfort Earbuds, which hit the market in 2024. Believe it or not, we'd actually recommend these over the $300 QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen), Bose's in-ear flagship. Why, you may ask? For starters, the QC Earbuds beat the QC Ultra for battery life; the former delivers up to 8.5 hours on a full charge, while the latter is limited to 6 hours.

We also like the fact that the QC Earbuds have a dedicated 'Off' setting for ANC. With the Bose QC Ultra, you need to create a custom sound profile to turn ANC all the way down manually; there's no simple on/off toggle. We should also mention that the QC Earbuds are available in seven colors, whereas the QC Ultra is limited to five.

It's a little hard to get excited about calling a $180 pair of earbuds "cheap," but Bose products often come at a premium price. So, what exactly are you giving up by not going with the more expensive QC Ultra (2nd Gen)? One suite of features you'll miss out on is Bose Immersive Audio – a dashboard of spatial audio settings and customizations available for free in the Bose app. While the QC Earbuds do include Quiet and Aware presets (also in the Bose app), the multi-dimensional soundstage and head-tracking tech of Bose Immersive Audio isn't an option.

The Bose QC Ultra also supports Bose CustomTune, another in-app feature that calibrates audio and ANC in real time to deliver the best sound quality and noise isolation for your ear shape. Side-by-side, the QC Ultra offers improved noise-canceling, too, but probably not enough difference in attenuation to warrant spending another $120. Oddly enough, there was also a second generation of the Bose QC Earbuds, but they're not available to purchase brand-new (we're not exactly sure why).

As for actual over-ear and on-ear Bose headphones, the cheapest set of cans you can currently get your hands on is the Bose QuietComfort Headphones (1st Gen), usually found for around the $250 mark.