Why I like them

Anker makes so many value earbuds that it’s hard to keep track of all of them. Released in early 2024, its Soundcore P40i buds are arguably the company’s best budget earbuds, with a comfortable fit (they come with six sizes of ear tips) and very solid performance for around $50 when it’s on sale. Not only do they have decent active noise canceling as well as a transparency mode, but they also offer multipoint Bluetooth connectivity and respectable voice-calling capabilities. As far as sound goes, they’re billed as “bass-heavy” earbuds, and indeed, they deliver pretty powerful bass, though it’s not boomy or muddy, and there is ample detail. They just lean a little warm. You can tweak the sound a bit in the sound profile, but I mainly stuck to the earbuds’ “signature sound,” which I thought worked well with a wide variety of music genres. Worth noting: They have a reasonably wide sound stage and low-latency modes for movie watching and gaming.

Reasons to buy

The buds are a solid value, and have a bonus feature some people may find useful: The earbuds’ charging case converts into a stand for your smartphone when watching a video. That’s a feature more earbuds cases should have.

Reasons to skip/keep looking

Anker has released the P41i, which, along with the built-in phone stand, have a built-in power bank to charge your phone (to about 50%). So, you may want to check that model out along with the step-down P30i, which can be had for less than $30.