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Big-name brands like Apple, Sony, and Bose tend to dominate the headlines when it comes to wireless earbuds, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend a ton to get something good. It’s more than possible to find a pair with clean sound, strong noise cancellation and a rich set of features for less than $100. That said, there’s still plenty of junk in the bargain bin, so you need to be careful.

If you’re looking to make an audio upgrade on the cheap, we’ve read countless reviews, compared specs and tested a few dozen models ourselves to find the best budget wireless earbuds you can buy. This is a busy market with new options releasing all the time, but you can find our current favorites below.

Table of contents

• Best budget wireless earbuds for 2025

• Other budget wireless earbuds we tested

• Best cheap wireless earbuds: FAQs

• Recent updates

Best budget wireless earbuds for 2025

Other budget wireless earbuds we tested The Skullcandy Method 360 ANC. Jeff Dunn for Engadget

Note: This is a selection of noteworthy earbuds we’ve put through their paces, not a comprehensive list of everything we’ve ever tried.

Skullcandy Method 360 ANC

The Skullcandy Method 360 ANC is often available for $100, and at that price it’s worth considering over our picks above. These earphones have an extremely V-shaped sound signature with thunderous bass and noticeably clearer highs than the Soundcore Space A40, along with decent ANC and a bulky yet comfortable design that takes after Bose’s old QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. They technically have a list price of $130, however, which puts them over the $100 limit we have for picks in this guide. Their enormous case and lack of wireless charging don’t help either. You can read our review for a full breakdown.

Beats Solo Buds

The $80 Beats Solo Buds are comfortable and long-lasting, with an impressive 18 hours of battery life. But they sound a bit flat and are severely lacking in features. There’s no ANC, wear detection or official water-resistance rating, and the included case can’t wirelessly charge the earbuds on its own. You can read our full review for more details.

JLab Go Pop ANC

The $30 JLab Go Pop ANC is worth a look if you just want a competent pair of wireless earphones for as little money as possible. It’s the cheapest set we’ve tested with active noise cancellation and transparency mode, though neither feature is all that effective. Like the Go Sport+, it also relies on a short USB-C cable tethered to its case to charge. But it actually sounds OK for the price: not particularly wide or detailed, but not harsh either, with decent energy and bass punch. The tiny earpieces fit snugly and isolate a good chunk of background noise passively. They’re also IP55-rated, while the case is similarly compact. There’s no auto-pausing, but you can connect to two devices at once, the touch controls work well and JLab’s app makes it easy to adjust settings. Battery life is alright at six to seven hours, too, though this is another one that’ll get wrecked by the wind if you take a call outside.

The JLab Go Pop+ is another option here. It gives up the ANC, IP55 rating and multipoint connectivity, but it costs $5 less and has longer battery life.

EarFun Air Pro 4

We liked what we heard from the EarFun Air Pro 4 for about a day or so — then one earbud broke, apparently deciding that it would only play at an extremely low volume from that point on. We’ve seen a few users report the same issue, while others have noted problems with crackling sounds coming out of single earpieces. This pair has received heaps of praise from other outlets, and we generally liked its predecessor, so it may well work for you. But we can’t recommend something that died before we could finish testing it.

The Beats Solo Buds. Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget EarFun Free Pro 3

The EarFun Free Pro 3 are totally solid, but the Space A40 gets you superior ANC, longer battery life and a more comfortable design for a lower price these days.

EarFun Air 2

Along those lines, the EarFun Air 2 are a good alternative to EarFun’s Free 2S if you’re partial an AirPods-style stem design, but they cost $10 more and aren’t significantly better.

Baseus Bowie MA10

The Baseus Bowie MA10 are saddled with a ginormous charging case, a sloppy app and bulky earpieces that we found uncomfortable to wear over time.

Baseus Eli Sport 1

The Baseus Eli Sport 1 have a fully open design that wraps around the ear and rests outside of your ear canal entirely. That’s nice for staying alert to the outside world, but it’s less so for getting the most detail out of your music. This is another pair with an oversized case, too.

OnePlus Buds 3

The OnePlus Buds 3 have an excited sound and a stylish design in the same vein as the Soundcore Liberty 4 NC, and their mic is a bit clearer for phone calls. They fall short of Anker’s pair when it comes to noise cancellation and battery life, however.

Skullcandy Dime 3

The Skullcandy Dime 3 deliver a surprisingly neutral sound profile for their dirt-cheap price, so they’re worth considering over the JLab Go Pop ANC if you see them in the $25 range. Like that pair, they can also connect to two devices simultaneously. But their overall battery life is a bit shorter, their call quality is poor and their physical controls are both unintuitive and uncomfortable, since they lead you to push the buds deeper into your ear canals.

Skullcandy Smokin' Buds

The Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds are another ultra-budget option with a sick name, bro, but they sound harsher in the treble than the JLab Go Pop ANC and offer worse battery life through their charging case. This pair does use tap-based controls, but they can be finicky, and they still aren’t the most straightforward things to operate.

Best cheap wireless earbuds: FAQs The JLab Go Pop ANC (left) and EarFun Air Pro 4. Jeff Dunn for Engadget What are the biggest differences between cheaper earbuds and more premium models?

A higher price does not guarantee higher quality. We'd take a pair like the Anker Soundcore Space A40 over many alternatives priced well over $100. Broadly speaking, though, the pricier components used by the best wireless earbuds let them put out a more detailed and versatile sound, more powerful active noise cancellation and a more complete list of features like multipoint connectivity, faster pairing, wear detection or wireless charging. They generally feel less flimsy in the hand, and their companion software tends to be less buggy. Battery life may be longer as well. But you have to look at these things on a case-by-case basis: Some earbuds justify their cost, others very much do not. 

Can you improve the sound of cheap wireless earbuds?

Evaluating audio quality is always subjective to some extent — what I find "bloated," you may consider "fun" or "lively." In general, if a set of earbuds is tuned poorly or built with cheap materials, you can't magically fix that. However, most new pairs allow you to adjust their EQ curve through software, so you can sculpt the frequency ranges in a way that better suits your tastes, at least somewhat. Also, remember that fit is king: If your in-ear headphones aren't sealed tight enough, they'll inevitably sound less detailed, with weaker bass response and worse isolation from outside noise. Consider trying different ear tips in that case.

Can cheap earbuds sound as good as AirPods?

A few can, sure! I'd take the top-end AirPods Pro 3 over any of the top picks in this guide, but they are far from unassailable. Meanwhile, the AirPods 4's unsealed design prevents them from pumping out truly deep bass, and I find them to sound a bit veiled in the treble. (They're still a level above the open-back Amazon Echo Buds, though.) The big appeal with AirPods is how tightly they integrate with other Apple devices: You open them with an iPhone and they just work. No other earbuds can replicate that, cheap or otherwise, because Apple uses proprietary tech that prevents competitors from offering the same features. Again, price and advertising budget has little to do with how good a set of earbuds is. (This is a silly question, but we know some casual buyers will inevitably ask it.)

Recent updates

October 2025: We’ve made a few light edits to ensure our recommendations are still up-to-date.

June 2025: We’ve ensured our picks are still accurate and added testing notes on Skullcandy’s Method 360 ANC.

April 2025: The JLab Go Sport+ replaces the older JLab Go Air Sport as our “best for workouts” pick. We’ve also added testing notes on the EarFun Air Pro 4 and JLab Go Pop ANC, removing our blurbs for their predecessors along the way.

December 2024: We’ve lightly edited this guide for clarity and moved the aging JLab Go Air Pop and EarFun Air Pro 3 from honorable mentions to our “others we tested” section.

September 2024: We’ve added notes on a handful of other budget wireless earbuds that we’ve tested but fall short of our top picks, which remain unchanged. 

June 2024: We’ve checked this guide to ensure that all of our picks are still in stock. Accordingly, we’ve removed the Nothing Ear Stick as an honorable mention, as it no longer appears to be available — though it remains a decent option if you do see it and want an unsealed alternative to the Amazon Echo Buds. We’re also still in the process of testing several other sub-$100 Bluetooth earbuds for a future update.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-budget-wireless-earbuds-130028735.html?src=rss

Samsung is back with another event this fall, which it has dubbed Worlds Wide Open. The company said that it will use this opportunity to officially unveil its Android XR headset, internally known as Project Moohan. The livestreamed event will take place on Tuesday, October 21 at 10PM ET and you can watch either on Samsung's website or on its YouTube channel. 

It's possible that Samsung always anticipated having an event next week, but it's also possible that the company's hand was forced after a big leak last week disclosed several notable details about Project Moohan. According to the leaks, the headset's official name will be Samsung Galaxy XR and it is the first commercial product to leverage the Android XR platform for augmented reality. We knew Samsung was aiming to release this headset sometime this year, so it's very likely we'll learn both the release date and the price during Worlds Wide Open. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-will-introduce-its-android-xr-headset-at-a-galaxy-event-on-october-21-230000605.html?src=rss

DirecTV will begin replacing your TV's screensaver with AI-generated ads thanks to a new partnership. The entertainment brand is working with Glance, an AI company that has received backing from Google and developed an on-device AI tool alongside the tech giant. The new AI-powered screensavers will begin rolling out to DirecTV Gemini devices early next year.

Glance's press release about the deal presents the tech's capability in lofty language: "Shop smarter by discovering and engaging with products and brands in an AI-led virtual and visually immersive shopping experience that feels native to TV." In practice, however, it sounds like a viewer can use the Glance mobile app to do things like insert themselves or other people into AI-generated videos appearing on their televisions. Then they can use the voice remote to alter the person's wardrobe and then buy items similar to the AI-generated images from your phone.

"We are making television a lean-in experience versus lean back," Rajat Wanchoo, Glance's group vice president of commercial partnerships, told The Verge, which initially picked up news of the partnership. "We want to give users a chance to use the advancements that have happened in generative AI to create a ChatGPT moment for themselves, but on TV."

It's unclear how many DirecTV customers want to have a ChatGPT moment for themselves, but questions about whether people want or need a feature hasn't stopped most AI companies from pushing ahead with business plans. The press release doesn't note whether viewers will be able to turn off this screensaver feature once it's live.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/directv-will-start-replacing-screensavers-with-ai-generated-ads-next-year-224436035.html?src=rss

Gregg Mayles, the director of Sea of Thieves and designer on Donkey Kong Country, has announced that he's left Rare. News of Mayles' exit was first reported in July 2025 during a rash of layoffs and game cancellations across Xbox Games Studios, but the short poem he shared on X today makes it official.

With a 36-year tenure at the studio, Mayles saw its transition from an exclusive Nintendo partner to a Microsoft subsidiary. He helped design games like Battletoads, created Banjo-Kazooie and when studio founders Tim and Chris Stamper left in 2007, stepped up and became Rare's creative director. Mayles also led the team behind Sea of Thieves, one of Rare's modern successes.

Today was my last day at @RareLtd. Thanks to everyone who played and enjoyed any of the games I helped create while I was there. Also thanks to all the people that worked on the games alongside me. It seemed fitting that I should say farewell with one final rhyme! pic.twitter.com/X54u8Bc2oI

— Gregg Mayles (@Ghoulyboy) October 14, 2025

The studio has been supporting Sea of Thieves with new content since it was released in 2018, but was also working on a new project, Everwild, that was announced in 2019. The game went through a troubled development process over the last few years, and Rare reportedly started from scratch in 2021 with Mayles taking over as director. Microsoft's decision to cancel the game and layoff staff at the studio this summer is likely one of the reasons he left.

Losing Mayles is just one example of Microsoft's self-inflicted wounds from 2025. The company not only made cuts at Halo Studios and Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10, it also increased the prices of both Xbox consoles and Game Pass Ultimate. All of these changes are seemingly in service of shifting the Xbox business into something that's more focused on subscriptions and game publishing, but the transition definitely seems like a painful one.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/banjo-kazooie-director-gregg-mayles-confirms-hes-left-rare-220828667.html?src=rss

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that the Department of Justice contacted Facebook in order to have a group removed that she claimed "was being used to dox and target" US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operating in Chicago. We reached out to Meta for confirmation and a representative said, "This Group was removed for violating our policies against coordinated harm," however they did not confirm the name of the group or whether the DOJ was involved in the action. 

Officers for the immigration agency have reportedly been moving through Chicago with facial coverings, no name tags and sometimes in vehicles with no license plates, although a US District Judge ruled that all ICE agents who are not undercover are required to display visible identification while operating in the Chicagoland area. 

The Department of Justice has demanded that other tech companies remove content the current administration has deemed critical of its immigration policies and practices. At the start of the month, Apple removed ICEBlock, an app for tracking the movements of immigration agents, from the App Store following similar pressure from Bondi. "Capitulating to an authoritarian regime is never the right move," ICEBlock developer Joshua Aaron said in an interview following the action. "Our mission has always been to protect our neighbors from the terror this administration continues to reign down on the people of this nation."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-removes-facebook-group-for-tracking-ice-agents-after-doj-pressure-203429574.html?src=rss

In order to avoid paying billions of dollars in fines for violating the European Union's Digital Markets Act, Google is considering changing how search results are displayed, Reuters reports. EU regulators first took issue with Google's Search and Play Store businesses in March 2025, claiming it favored its own services in search results over third-party options and prevented developers from informing customers of alternative ways of accessing apps.

One of regulators main issues with Google Search was that Google appeared to favor results from services like Google Flights or Google Hotels over ones from "vertical search services," providers that specialize in displaying search results from a specific industry, like Expedia or Hotels.com. To avoid fines, Google now wants Search to give VSS businesses equal treatment in results.

"We will create the opportunity for each VSS to show its own box on Search. A VSS box will be populated with results from that VSS inventory," Google said in a proposal viewed by Reuters. Results from Google's own services will exist with the same formatting alongside, and the winning VSS box will be displayed in search results based on "objective and non-discriminatory criteria." Importantly, search results from actual airlines and car rental companies won't be excluded, they'll also appear in a box "above or below the VSS box depending on the relevance to the user's query."

Engadget has asked Google to comment on Reuters' report and to confirm the details of its proposed changes to Google Search. We'll update this article if we hear back.

Like Apple, Google faces significant scrutiny from the EU because of its monopolistic control over its various platforms and services. The threat of fines from the DMA has forced Apple to open up its products to third-party app stores, among a host of other changes. Clearly, Google is willing to tweak what once seemed like untouchable pillars of its business to avoid fines, too. Whether these proposed changes will be enough for the regulators remains to be seen, though.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-reportedly-offers-to-tweak-search-results-to-avoid-eu-fine-193940005.html?src=rss

Customer service support company 5CA has released a statement contradicting claims by Discord that it was the victim of a hack last month. On October 3, Discord disclosed a data breach that the company says included a “small number” of government IDs like driver’s licenses and passports, which some users had submitted to verify their ages. Days later the company updated its statement to name 5CA as the target of the hack, which Discord contracts as part of its customer service efforts. It also disclosed that the "small number" of government IDs encompasses roughly 70,000 users.

"We are aware of media reports naming 5CA as the cause of a data breach involving one of our clients. Contrary to these reports, we can confirm that none of 5CA’s systems were involved, and 5CA has not handled any government-issued IDs for this client. All our platforms and systems remain secure, and client data continues to be protected under strict data protection and security controls," the company’s statement reads in part. The company goes on to explicitly state "the incident occurred outside of our systems and that 5CA was not hacked."

5CA says that a preliminary investigation showed that the incident may have been the result of "human error," though it offers no details as to what exactly that implies. In a recent interview with BleepingComputer, the hackers who claimed responsibility for the breach said they had access to Discord's Zendesk account for 58 hours on September 20. The group claims they gained entry through compromised login credentials belonging to a support agent employed by a third-party company. Discord has not yet responded to the company’s claims.

Update 2:58 PM ET: Added more context about the breach. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/the-company-discord-blamed-for-its-recent-breach-says-it-wasnt-hacked-175536278.html?src=rss

Kobo is making a remote control for its line of ereaders. The appropriately-named Kobo Remote costs $30 and will be available to purchase on November 4.

A remote control for an ereader may seem silly to some, but avid readers will likely appreciate this accessory. It's basically a wireless page turner, so users can lay in bed and read all day without having to physically hold the device or prop a hand up to push a button every 30 seconds. Kobo is calling it "the ideal reading companion."

It has been custom-built for Kobo products and will be available in both black and white, which matches the company's other products. It can integrate with any Kobo ereader with Bluetooth functionality, which includes the Libra 2 and the well-reviewed Clara Colour.

“In a Canadian winter, we know that sometimes maximum reading comfort means burrowing down in the blankets, tucking yourself in and not emerging until spring,” said Rakuten Kobo CEO Michael Tamblyn. “The Kobo Remote is the perfect accessory for peak immersive reading; it’s an invitation to lounge deeper, multitask smarter and simply enjoy reading without limits, no matter whether your environment is beach or blankets."

The remote will be available in multiple regions, including the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, Singapore, Japan and many others. The company says it'll be sharing more details about the remote soon, but we aren't sure what details could be left to share. It's a remote control for an ereader. Maybe it can do one or two unexpected things.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/tablets/kobo-made-a-remote-control-for-its-ereaders-185010955.html?src=rss

OpenAI announced today that it is creating an advisory council centered on its users' mental and emotional wellness. The Expert Council on Well-being and AI comprises eight researchers and experts on the intersection of technology and mental health. Some of the members were experts that OpenAI consulted as it developed parental controls. Topics of safety and protecting younger users have become more of a talking point for all artificial intelligence companies, including OpenAI, after lawsuits questioned their complicity in multiple cases where teenagers committed suicide after sharing their plans with AI chatbots.

This move sounds like a wise addition, but the effectiveness of any advisor hinges on listening to their insights. We've seen other tech companies establish and then utterly ignore their advisory councils; Meta is one of the notable recent examples. And the announcement from OpenAI even acknowledges that its new council has no real power to guide its operations: "We remain responsible for the decisions we make, but we’ll continue learning from this council, the Global Physician Network, policymakers, and more, as we build advanced AI systems in ways that support people’s well-being." It may become clearer how seriously OpenAI is taking this effort when it starts to disagree with the council, whether the company is genuinely committed to mitigating the serious risks of AI or whether this is a smoke and mirrors attempt to paper over its issues.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openai-forms-advisory-council-on-wellbeing-and-ai-183815365.html?src=rss

OpenAI plans to open the floodgates to more adult uses of ChatGPT starting in December, according to a new post from CEO Sam Altman. The company announced that it would add parental controls and automatic age detection features in September, and it seems like a benefit of sorting out children from adults is an ability to offer more freedom in what ChatGPT can show users.

"In December, as we roll out age-gating more fully and as part of our 'treat adult users like adults' principle, we will allow even more, like erotica for verified adults," Altman says. Some avid ChatGPT users already regularly manipulate the chatbot to engage in NSFW conversations, but Altman's announcement sounds more like tacit approval from OpenAI that those use-cases are okay.

We made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make sure we were being careful with mental health issues. We realize this made it less useful/enjoyable to many users who had no mental health problems, but given the seriousness of the issue we wanted to get this right.

Now that we have…

— Sam Altman (@sama) October 14, 2025

The company signaled something similar during its DevDay 2025 announcements, when its new guidelines for developers creating apps for ChatGPT shared that "support for mature (18+) experiences will arrive once appropriate age verification and controls are in place." After December, it sounds like adult interactions with ChatGPT or apps the chatbot can access are fair game.

All of these changes are being made in the shadow of disturbing stories of the seemingly negative influence ChatGPT can have on users, including the death of 16-year old Adam Raine, who allegedly used ChatGPT to plan his own suicide.

Reducing the chatbot's sycophantic qualities with the release of GPT-5 was one of the ways OpenAI tried to address the mental health impacts of ChatGPT, along with built-in notifications to remind users to take breaks. It's hard to definitively say whether these tweaks have made a difference, but combined with age-gating, it's clear OpenAI feels comfortable giving its chatbot a longer leash.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-will-let-adults-use-chatgpt-for-erotica-starting-in-december-182417583.html?src=rss

Spotify is taking the video versions of some of its podcasts to another platform entirely: Netflix. Starting in the US in early 2026 (with more markets and shows to follow), Netflix will start offering sports, culture, lifestyle and true crime podcasts that Spotify Studios and The Ringer produce.

Nine sports podcasts will be available at the jump, including The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Zach Lowe Show, Fairway Rollin’ and The Ringer’s F1, fantasy football, NFL and NBA shows. Other video podcasts that are coming to Netflix include The Rewatchables, The Recipe Club, Dissect, Conspiracy Theories and Serial Killers.

Netflix sees these podcasts as complementary to its current offerings (The Ringer F1 Show, for instance, will sit neatly alongside Drive to Survive). Of course, for Spotify, this is a way to get more eyeballs and eardrums on its original programming.

With TV viewing becoming a bigger priority for YouTube over the last few years, this seems like a way for Netflix to bite back in the battle for consumer attention, given the prevalence of video podcasts on Google’s platform. Many people use streaming services for background comfort sound, and turning to podcasts or talk-radio style formats (something Disney+ also offers with The Rich Eisen Show on weekdays) may be a way for them to do that after pulling the plug on cable and broadcast TV.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/some-spotify-video-podcasts-are-coming-to-netflix-180000074.html?src=rss

YouTube is bringing a wave of quality of life improvements to its platform. These visual updates and new features will roll out globally starting this week.

The main update to YouTube is a redesigned video player that has made the icons and UI elements to obscure less content. This new player design will appear on mobile, web and TV devices. Some users have had access to this feature for about a month, so it may not be brand new to everyone. The seek feature where a viewer can double-tap to skip has also been updated in a way that YouTube says is "more modern and less intrusive" and transitions between tabs have also been upgraded on mobile.

For those of you who spend a lot of time in the comments, you'll see a new threaded approach to replies. This update aims "to provide a more focused reading experience within the replies panel." The process of adding videos to playlists and the Watch Later queue has also been simplified and adjusted to be a "smoother and more visual" experience. Finally, some content will start displaying little animations when you hit the like button. The blog post gives music videos and sports videos as examples of where users may start seeing the flashier visual.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/youtube/youtube-rolls-out-its-redesigned-video-player-globally-174609883.html?src=rss

X has long been a hotbed for fake accounts, bots and other scammy behavior. Many of those dynamics have been exacerbated by the rise of paid verification, which boosts the visibility of anyone who pays for a subscription. Now, the company is running a small experiment that could help users better identify potentially suspicious accounts.

The service is starting to test a new "about this account" feature that will provide details about when an account joined the platform, where the person running it is based, how many times the username has been changed and how the account is connected to X. The feature is a lot like the "page transparency" information on Facebook, which provides similar details about when a given page was created and where the people running it are based. 

"When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity," X's head of product, Nikita Bier, shared in a post about the change. "This is critical to getting a pulse on important issues happening in the world." 

If fully rolled out, this type of feature could help people on X understand a lot of common scams and other deceptive behavior on the platform. For example, scammers often change the handle of a recently compromised account in order to trick an account's existing followers. And understanding the location of an account could help users root out people lying about their identity. 

However, it sounds like it could be some time before the feature is implemented in a way that could be broadly useful. Bier said that initially X will show this info on "a handful of profiles of X team members" — most of whom already have an official "X" badge on their profiles — in order to get feedback on the change.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/x-experiments-with-showing-more-information-about-profiles-to-fight-inauthentic-engagement-172500501.html?src=rss

SteelSeries just released a refresh of its popular Arctis Nova 7 midrange gaming headset. The Nova 7 Gen 2 offers significantly improved battery life, with an increase of around 40 percent when compared to the original version. This translates to 54 hours of use per charge, which is a mighty fine metric. There's quick-charging that can provide six more hours of use in 15 minutes at the outlet. 

It charges via USB-C and can simultaneously play audio from both a 2.4GHz wireless connection and Bluetooth audio. This means that users can mix and match audio sources, which comes in handy when gaming. The headset connects wirelessly to all major gaming consoles, in addition to PCs and phones.

The Arctis Nova 7 Gen 2 integrates with the company's mobile app. This offers more than 200 presets for specific games, all of which adjust the EQ to match what's being played. On PC, the presets will automatically adjust depending on the game.

These are headphones intended for gaming, so they also include a noise-cancelling microphone. This little boom mic can be hidden within the headset and disabled when using a standalone microphone.

As for aesthetics, the Nova 7 looks a lot like the company's high-end headsets. It's available in three colors, including black, white and magenta. The headset is available to purchase right now and costs $200. It does lack a few features included with its higher-priced cousins, like the swappable battery system and active noise cancellation.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/steelseries-updated-nova-7-gaming-headset-offers-much-better-battery-life-171435527.html?src=rss

Spotify has introduced a new "managed accounts" feature aimed at younger listeners. Initially piloted last year and launching in seven new markets, including the US, today, it allows parents and guardians with a Spotify Premium Family plan to allocate their children a dedicated profile with their own personalized recommendations and custom playlists.

The idea is that the adults can filter out explicit content, limit the playback of certain artists and hide video playback features, including Canvas, should they want to. Users on this profile can’t use interactivity features like Messages either. 

Perhaps most importantly of all for some, a managed account also ensures that your personal Wrapped results at the end of the year aren’t dominated by whatever TikTok-viral songs the kids have been obsessively playing on repeat for months — and they won't mess with your Discover Weekly algorithm either. Spotify's 'Exclude from your Taste Profile' feature already offers a way of keeping the nonsense your kids might be listening to away from your own recommended content, but this feels like a cleaner option for families.

Standard Spotify Premium features like daylist and the aforementioned Discover Weekly remain available to someone using a managed account, making it a better option for kids becoming interested in music (they may even have gotten hooked on a band you’ve been listening to in the car) than the Spotify Kids app, which is very much designed for the 'Baby Shark' devotees. It’s probably helpful to think of a managed account as a bridge between that and an unrestricted Premium account where all the music in the world is at your fingertips.

To set up a managed account, the plan owner has to go into their account settings within the Spotify app and select "Add a Member," followed by selecting "Add a listener aged under 13." The app will provide further instructions from there. As a reminder, a Spotify Premium Family plan is required to set up a managed account. This currently costs $20 per month.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/spotifys-managed-accounts-will-help-keep-your-kids-from-wrecking-your-music-taste-profile-154406843.html?src=rss

SpaceX's second-generation Starship vehicle has just made a graceful exit. The company achieved every major objective it set for the super-heavy lift vehicle's 11th flight test, the second-gen Starship's final flight, which launched from Starbase in Texas on October 13. It followed another successful test in August, which saw Starship deploy its payload for the first time ever. Before those two most recent flights, SpaceX suffered a series of failures: Starship exploded during its ascent stage in the company's seventh and eighth tests, and it failed to deploy its payload during its ninth test. Another Starship vehicle blew up on the ground during a routine test while SpaceX was preparing for its 10th flight. 

All of the vehicle's 33 Raptor engines ignited upon launch, and the stage separation and first-stage ascent went smoothly. The Super Heavy booster splashed down into the ocean as planned, while Starship was able to deploy all its Starlink simulators before re-entering the atmosphere. During its reentry burn, SpaceX intentionally stressed the vehicle to determine the capabilities of its heatshield. And with just a few minutes left to the flight, the vehicle executed a banking maneuver to "mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly."

The company says it will now focus on developing the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy. It has multiple versions of the vehicle and the booster being prepared for tests at the moment, and it expects them to be used for the first Starship orbital flights and operational payload missions. 

Watch Starship's eleventh flight test → https://t.co/YmvmGZTV8o
https://t.co/zIRMX5mh9K

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 29, 2025

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/spacex-is-preparing-the-next-gen-starship-after-a-successful-flight-test-130027382.html?src=rss

It's safe to say the Nintendo Switch 2 is the game console to get this year, and if you already got your hands on one, you've probably loaded it up with all your old Switch games and new Switch 2 games. If you haven't thought about adding more storage to the console, now's the time to do so. The Switch 2, unfortunately and inconveniently, cannot work with just any old microSD card — it only works with newer microSD Express cards. But now you can actually pick up one of these new cards on sale. This 128GB PNY microSD Express card is 15 percent off and down to $38.

Engadget's Jeff Dunn has been testing microSD Express cards since the Switch 2 launched. The best microSD Express card for Switch 2 at the moment is really the one you can most easily afford. While the cards he's tried out so far didn't perform identically in our benchmark tests, the differences in overall performance and load times will be tough for most people to notice. Thankfully, the ones he's tested so far have been good — there isn't a bad one in the bunch, and while the most consistent performer was the SanDisk microSD Express card, you won't really sacrifice by getting a different one. In fact, at least in the case of this deal, you'll be gaining by saving some cash.

PNY's card in particular was actually slightly faster than SanDisk's in our testing when it came to moving games from the card back to the Switch 2's internal storage. However, it was a bit slower in writing games to the card itself. That just means you may wait a few extra minutes before you can open Mario Kart World and get to racing, but for most people, the difference will be negligible.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/pick-up-this-nintendo-switch-2-compatible-microsd-express-card-for-less-than-40-134147278.html?src=rss

Therabody just revealed a bunch of new products, including the TheraFace Mask Glo. This MF Doom-looking full-face mask offers quite a different experience from the pre-existing TheraFace Pro. The Pro is essentially a face massager, but the Mask Glo is a giant mask that uses LED lights to "reduce fine lines and wrinkles, firm and tighten skin and even tone and texture."

The company promises results in "as little as eight weeks" with daily 12-minute sessions. The mask has been cleared by the FDA and includes 504 medical-grade LEDs to deliver "an effective, full-face treatment." It also doubles as a Halloween mask if you are so inclined. Tis the season. The TheraFace Mask Glo is available to order today and costs $380.

The Theragun Mini Plus is a portable version of its popular massage gun, but with one feature missing from the original Mini. This one has heat. It combines "percussive massage with consistent, rapid heat." Therabody says this results in a "benefits 3x faster than percussive massage alone."

Therabody

It features three massage speeds, three heat levels and app-guided routines to target specific muscle groups. The gun is TSA-approved, so bring it on a plane. The Theragun Mini Plus is available today and costs $280.

The company also released a new version of the Theragun Prime massage gun, which costs $330, and the Theragun Sense massage gun. That last one features an LCD screen and real-time pressure feedback to make sure people are using it right. It costs $300.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/therabody-just-introduced-the-theraface-mask-glo-which-uses-leds-to-reduce-wrinkles-123044315.html?src=rss

TiVo has confirmed that it has stopped selling its DVR set-top boxes, marking the end of an era that changed how we watch television forever. As first reported earlier this month by Cord Cutters News, TiVo Corporation quietly pulled its once-groundbreaking digital video recorder from its website. Holding company Xperi later confirmed that the listing was removed on October 1.

“I can confirm that as of October 1, 2025, TiVo stopped selling physical DVR products, including hardware and accessories, both online and through agents,” a TiVo spokesperson confirmed to PCMag. “TiVo no longer manufactures hardware, and our remaining inventory is now depleted, though we will continue to offer support for the products going forward.”

The TiVo box revolutionized television upon its launch in 1999, allowing viewers to pause, rewind and record live television. There was a time when you would just miss the start of a show if you weren’t punctual, and you’d have to sync grabbing a snack with a commercial during the big game. You also had to actually watch the commercials, something that is unfortunately making a comeback with an increase in ad-supported streaming.

The DVR pioneer is now a software company. It has been producing TiVo OS almost exclusively in the European market since 2022, though the smart TV OS premiered in the US this year via Sharp. “The Sharp Smart TV Powered by TiVo” launched as a 55-inch QLED display with 4K resolution and HDR support. TiVo OS functions like many other television operating systems, aggregating streaming services and offering its own library of free and paid content.

TiVo will still offer customer support for its now-discontinued boxes, which bodes well for customers who have purchased a lifetime plan.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/tivo-has-discontinued-its-dvr-boxes-123037999.html?src=rss

NVIDIA's DGX Spark AI computer revealed earlier this year goes on sale today for $3,999, the company announced. Though relatively tiny, it hosts the the company's entire AI platform including GPUs and CPUs, along with NVIDIA's AI software stack "into a system small enough for a lab or an office," NVIDIA said. 

The Spark isn't something you'd buy to play Baldur's Gate 3, though. It's designed to give developers, researchers and data scientists enough computer power to run complex AI models. Early recipients of the PCs include Anaconda, Google, Hugging Face, Meta and Microsoft. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang even hand-delivered a unit to Elon Musk at SpaceX's headquarter in Starbase, Texas. 

The DGX has plenty of power on offer despite its diminutive 2.6 pound size. It boasts NVIDIA's GB10 super system-on-chip that weds a 20-core ARM CPU with a Blackwell GPU powered by the same number of cores as an RTX 5070 GPU. It's outfitted with 128GB of LPDDR5x RAM shared between the CPU and GPU and includes 4TB of NVMe storage, along with four USB-C ports, Wi-Fi 7 and an HDMI connector. NVDIA calls it "the world’s smallest AI supercomputer."

The DGX Spark runs Nvidia's DGX OS, a custom version of Ubuntu Linux that's configured with AI software. With that, developers can access NVIDIA AI models, libraries and microservices in order to do chores like refining image generation or creating AI chatbots.  

The DGX Spark is also an entry point for similar machines. Other vendors like Dell, HP, Lenovo and ASUS showed off similar AI-oriented mini PC's at Computex this year using the same GB10 chip, with Acer's Veriton GN100 being one example. 

The DGX Spark mini PC is now on sale for $3,999 through NVIDIA and its partners. While not cheap, it's a drop in the bucket for AI developers and all of the companies listed above, and considering the hardware inside, the price doesn't seem unreasonable. NVIDIA is also working on the DGX Station that will feature GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip, with 20 petaflops of performance and 784GB of unified system memory. A price has yet to be announced for that model

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/nvidia-starts-selling-its-3999-dgx-spark-ai-developer-pc-120034479.html?src=rss