The Mpow X3 is one of the best budget wireless headphones.
David Carnoy / CNET
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The Mpow X3 genuine wireless earphones sound shockingly good for the price. They have good cleanliness and powerful bass – they play loudly – and even have active noise reduction, which is quite effective. (No, it’s not as good as the AirPods Pro, but it’s not bad either.) They’re included in the best cheap genuine wireless earphones for a while. Now there’s a new white version that costs more than black and is actually updated significantly. The new X3 has better battery life, a new transparency mode and better connectivity. Controls have also improved.
Amazon Prime members can get it for $ 52.79, the lowest price ever. It usually ranges around $ 56, while the black version is $ 50. You can compare the “old” black version with the new white version by scrolling back and forth between their product pages on Amazon. Presumably, the updated version will eventually be available in black, but only in white for now.
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The earplugs fit me comfortably and securely, and I got a tight seal from one of the XL earplugs. Fully waterproof (IPX8) and up to 10 hours of battery life (approx. 7 or 8 ANC on) at moderate volume with USB-C charging. (The charger case looks like the fat version of a standard AirPods case.) Call quality is good – they have a side-sound feature that allows you to hear your voice in the buds – but I’ve used other models with better noise reduction. calls. I also noticed a slight lack of sound when streaming a YouTube video, but there was no problem streaming iTunes movies.
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