At IFA 2025, I checked out Belkin’s SoundForm ANC, and the earbuds garnered a lot of attention when I showed them off in a social media post a few months later. Followers were interested in the proposition of active noise cancellation without charging a battery. But there’s also been a renewed interest in not having to deal with dead batteries or fiddling with Bluetooth connections.
Since many modern devices have removed the 3.5mm headphone jack, the connector for wired audio needs to be USB-C. But do you really need to spend hundreds on these devices? I went looking for a good pair of wired USB-C earbuds under $30. Options were slim, but I tested several different models from reputable brands to save you the trouble.
The bad news is that most of these products didn’t fare well. Still, there was one that stuck out if you have a practical need for old-school wired earbuds that won’t break the bank.
The Best Wireless Earbuds of 2025
Amazon Basics
(Credit: Tyler Hayes)
The Amazon Basics USB-C earbuds are among the cheapest options, retailing at or under $10. The sound quality, however, was the worst of all the earbuds I tried. It made them largely unusable, even as a backup pair or for taking calls.
These earbuds do have an in-line pause/play button, but there isn’t any volume control or noise canceling. You get three pairs of rubber ear tips, with one size pre-installed out of the box. The fit was okay for my ears, but the buds themselves are on the small side, so they could work for kids. Because of the small size and lightweight plastic, I didn’t have any discomfort wearing them for extended periods, but I didn’t want to because the audio quality was so poor.
Amazon Basics Wired Earbuds
Widely compatible wired earphones for phones, laptops, tablet PCs, and other USB-C devices
Skullcandy Jib
(Credit: Tyler Hayes)
The Skullcandy Jib wired USB-C earbuds range between $10 and $20, depending on which color you select. The sound quality is trebly and thin. Vocals cut through and are audible with music, but the low-end is almost completely missing. The Jib earbuds might be a good choice for watching videos, instead of listening to music, but it’s a thumbs down on sound.
While the in-line remote looks like it might handle volume control, it does not. It can pause and play or skip tracks. There is a microphone for calls, but the quality was mediocre. The volume of the mic was also low, which might make it hard for the person on the other end to hear you well.
The bullet-style design fit fine in my ears. Their small size and light plastic housing made them workable for several hours. But again, the sound quality made these earbuds hard to use for too long. My 13-year-old daughter said these and the Amazon Basics were the most comfortable for her smaller ears. But she also agreed that both of them sounded terrible.
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Belkin SoundForm ANC
(Credit: Tyler Hayes)
The Belkin SoundForm ANC earbuds aren’t the best-sounding earbuds on this list, but they do exhibit some bass and have a decent midrange for guitars and vocals to cut through. Just don’t expect studio sound.
In terms of the ANC performance, the noise blocking is minimal. The SoundForm ANC can take the edge off of loud environments, but they won’t heavily dampen airplane cabins. Instead, they’re more sufficient for obscuring distant annoyances like a leaf blower across the street or a co-worker unevenly pecking out an email on their desktop keyboard. The in-line remote has an ANC button to toggle between transparency, ANC off, and ANC on.
The Belkin SoundForm ANC earbuds are comfortable to wear. They have a contoured design, so I didn’t feel any sharp pain points. However, I did have a problem keeping the earbuds in my ears because the silicone tips would cause them to slide…