Section
Headphones, earbuds, speakers and soundbars — launches, prices and firmware updates.
Last year's Samsung flagship system is already half price and Sonos cuts its whole range every November. Here are the prices to judge the 2026 deals against, and which bars to buy.
Black Friday 2026 headphones and earbuds deals: the prices Tom's Guide recorded last Black Friday for AirPods, Sony WH-1000XM6, Bose QuietComfort Ultra and more, the first early deal of 2026, and which to buy.
A Tom's Guide review pits the JBL Bar 1300X MK2 against Samsung's Q990H soundbar across three movies, finding the JBL's Dolby Atmos imaging narrowly superior despite the Samsung's lower discounted price.
SoundGuys compared the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) against the standard QuietComfort Headphones (2nd Gen) and found the cheaper model gives up little in sound quality or noise cancellation for $90 less.
Oppo's Enco X4 earbuds arrive in India at Rs 19,999 on October 29, bringing a dual-driver setup tuned with Dynaudio, LHDC Lossless audio and a 6nm ANC chip, according to an early Smartprix review.
Qualcomm has introduced Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2, a chipset platform that can scale audio quality between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, potentially narrowing the gap between wireless and wired headphones for open-back designs like Audio-Technica's and Grado's.
Oppo's Enco X4 true wireless earbuds land in India at Rs 19,999, bringing dual drivers, dual DACs, Dynaudio tuning, lossless LHDC audio and upgraded ANC. Sales begin October 29 through online and offline retailers.
Apple AirPods Pro 3 are $50 off at $199 on Amazon — the best current US price, shipped, no Prime required. No Indian pricing, no AirPods 4 speculation, no review comparisons. Just a live deal, confirmed by 9to5Mac.
Sony WH-CH730N headphones are available now: $99 in the U.K., $179 in the U.S. Tom’s Guide calls them excellent — but says the U.S. price makes them hard to recommend.
EQSweep is a free, beta Android app that lets users fine-tune their headphones—including Google Pixel Buds—by listening to real-time frequency sweeps instead of guessing with sliders or presets.
Sonos Arc Ultra leads our roundup of the soundbars that 5 review outlets recommend, with what each says and who each suits.
Sonic Lamb's new Beyond headphones add an Impulse Driver that vibrates against your skin in sync with bass, alongside LDAC, aptX Lossless and a 40-hour battery, priced at $249 and landing in the US in November.
Apple has raised the price of the HomePod mini 2 to $149 in the US — up from $99 for the original — and bumped the Apple TV 4K to $299, up from $129 for the entry-level model just four months ago.
Southwest Airlines will equip all 810 of its Boeing 737s with Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi by fall 2027 — making it the first major U.S. airline to complete a full fleetwide rollout of SpaceX’s low-Earth-orbit broadband service.
Apple has introduced a festive edition of the AirPods 5 in India priced at Rs 17,900, adding a custom rangoli pattern to the wireless charging case ahead of Diwali celebrations.
The original HomePod mini will not support Siri AI. Only the HomePod mini 2, with its S10 chip, qualifies. CNET walked back its earlier claim; Apple’s documentation confirms the split.
Apple AirPods Pro 3 leads our roundup of the wireless earbuds that 4 review outlets recommend, with what each says and who each suits.
Fairphone has unveiled the Fairbuds 2, bringing user-swappable batteries, LDAC audio, and Bluetooth 6.0 for $119 in the US and £99 in the UK, alongside a smaller case design.
PCMag has named the Samsung HW-Q990H, a $1,999.99 soundbar system with 23 drivers, its new Editors' Choice, praising its sound and connectivity while flagging the price as the only real drawback.
The HomePod mini 2 can now pipe Mac system sounds — notifications, alerts, UI feedback — directly through the speaker. It requires a Wi-Fi 6E Mac (2023 or newer) and a future macOS Golden Gate update.
Naim has revealed the Mu-so Utopia, a $5500 all-in-one sound system boasting 720 watts of power across 15 drivers, Focal tweeter technology, HDMI eARC, and Dolby Atmos audio.
Dedicated audio testing shows compact in-ear monitors matching traditional gaming headsets across competitive shooters, dialogue-heavy titles, and cinematic blockbusters without the skull fatigue of over-ear bands.
Apple has launched the HomePod mini 2 at $149 in the US and Rs 12,990 in India — a $20 jump over the current $129 model, and $50 more than the original $99 launch price. Pre-orders open today; units ship Friday, October 30.
JBL Charge 6 leads our roundup of the portable Bluetooth speakers that 7 review outlets recommend, with what each says and who each suits.
Sony WH-CH530 launch at $70 with Bluetooth 6.0, LC3, Auracast and 55-hour battery — $10 more than the WH-CH520’s original $59, but $34 is still the going rate for the older model in sales.
Apple has launched a Pokémon edition of the Beats Pill speaker with Pikachu and Mimikyu artwork. It costs $149.99 and goes on sale October 15 in the US, UK, and China.
Apple has pushed beta firmware build 9B5043a to AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4, AirPods 5, and AirPods Max 2 — confirming the AirPods Pro 3 is already in active circulation among testers ahead of any official launch announcement.
Dali, PMC, and Wharfedale grabbed key honours in What Hi-Fi's annual stereo speaker awards, with winners spanning budget bookshelf pairs up to multi-thousand-pound floorstanders.
Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) leads our roundup of the noise-cancelling headphones (over-ear or on-ear, not earbuds) that 4 review outlets recommend, with what each says and who each suits.
Bose has begun emailing preorder customers in the US and Canada to warn that its new $99 Noise Canceling Wired Earbuds will not arrive on time.