The Best Under-$50 In-Ear Headphones I Recommend Aren’t Bose or Sony

ZDNET Key Points

• The Baseus Bowie 30 In-Ear Headphones Now available on Amazon for $49.
• With solid, well-integrated sound, tight bass and clear highs, these earbuds are suitable for all genres of music.
• Squeezing controls can be a bit tricky while you’re working out, and you’ll have to download an app to customize them.

I never cease to be amazed at how good earbuds and headphones are, especially for the price. When I was younger, I would spend twice as much on headphones and be blown away by some of the cheapest earbuds on the market today.

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Thanks to a combination of software, materials, and design, you can now buy earbuds that sound much better than usual without spending a lot of money.

Take the Baseus Bowie 30 In-Ear Headphones They have rich sound, offering a great mix of bass, mids, and highs, and impressive noise cancellation. They even sound good on calls, but the most impressive thing is that you can buy them for under $50.

See on Amazon

Not only do they have a cool name, but they produce a sound that Bowie himself would have approved of. I’m not saying they’re audiophile quality, but for the average listener, these babies are fantastic. Let’s find out.

Baseus Bowie 30 Specifications

• 10mm composite driver
• Baseus AudioUp algorithm improves bass
• True wireless with Bluetooth 5.3 for stable, multi-point connection
• Active noise cancellation up to -50 dB
• Frequency Response: Up to 20KHz
• Six microphones
• 65 hours of music playback with the help of the case and 800mAh battery
• Low latency to avoid dropped or interrupted connections
• IPX4 sweat and water resistant
• EQ mode via app (available for Android And iOS) with the “Find my headphones” feature

My experience

When I first bought the Bowies, I didn’t install the Bassus app. Instead, my Pixel 8 Pro automatically detected the headphones, and from the “Connected Devices” settings window, I was able to toggle Spatial Audio, HD Audio, Phone Calls, and allow access to contacts and call history.

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I figured I’d probably need to install the Baseus app to get the best sound from the earbuds, but I held off because I wanted to see how they sounded out of the box. Surprisingly, these sub-$50 earbuds sound pretty good. I put them through my usual test of test tracks, starting with Rush’s “Signals” album. If I had to base this review on that album alone, I’d be happy to recommend these earbuds to anyone looking for well-balanced sound at a low price.

There’s plenty of bass (maybe more than you’d expect), mids that aren’t too bright, and highs that are clear but not harsh. On first listen, the Bowie 30 earbuds tick all the boxes.

Music

While they sounded great at the beginning, I got into more of the tracks, starting with Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, which was a particular favorite of mine (although the “Wedding March” was overused). I found the whole track to be a very enjoyable take on Bowie’s 30s.

A Little Chinese Prog Metal, in a Way UNIVERSITYand Bowie 30s really came alive. If you like this band, you’ll love how they sound on these earbuds. OU’s music can be a little confusing at times, but with Bowie 30s, you won’t miss a thing.

“Bloodletting” by Concrete Blonde, one of my favorite albums of all time, is amazing. I got lost in “Caroline“enough to send me back to graduate school in the 90s.

Controls

Unlike most earbuds, you don’t tap the sides to control music playback, turn on ANC, or answer calls. Instead, you squeeze the left or right stem. This is my only complaint about earbuds. The default actions assigned to each squeeze are as follows:

• L/R – squeeze for 1.5 seconds to turn on ANC
• Left/Right – double tap to pause or play audio
• L/R – triple tap to access mic
• Left/Right – double squeeze to answer/hang up calls
• L/R – swipe up or down to increase or decrease volume

Something seems to be missing here? There is no default action assigned to skip a track, which in my opinion is one of the most useful features you would want. To skip a track using a squeeze motion, you will have to download the app and then customize the controls yourself.

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Luckily, you can assign different functions to each earbud, so I left the double squeeze on the left earbud to pause/play and the double squeeze on the right to skip. However, the default controls could be better optimized.

Also, the squeezes themselves aren’t always the easiest to do. It’s pretty easy to do when you’re standing still or walking. Running, on the other hand, complicates the process, especially if you’re only used to light touches.

ZDNET Buying Advice

If you value sound quality over ease of control, Baseus Bowie 30 In-Ear Headphones are a bargain. For just $49 on Amazon, you get a pair of earbuds that are as comfortable as any I’ve ever used and sound as good as some I’ve reviewed for twice the price.

Additionally, the LED display that shows how much battery is left in the charging case is a great touch. You will never have to leave the house wondering how many charges your charging case has left.