Digit Zero1 Awards and Digit Best Buy Awards 2022: Best Budget Wireless Earphones

Wireless earphones or neckband-style earphones nestle between wired and truly wireless earphones and are wildly popular as well. These buds offer the convenience of cord-free connectivity while still being less easy to misplace than TWS earphones. Additionally, neckband-style wireless earphones are generally preferred over their TWS counterparts when exercising since they are more likely to stay on put during rigorous workouts. A lot of technological innovations that are seen in TWS earphones also trickle down to this category. In 2022, these included long battery life, supporting apps, Active Noise Cancellation, and more. However, in the budget wireless earphones category features such as ANC usually don’t make their way onto the device. What you do get though, is a wide net of other features including water resistance, voice assistant support, and more. This year, we even saw a bunch of budget wireless earphones come with over 100 hours of battery life! While high-end launches in this segment have dried up a bit, budget launches are still rampant. In this category, all the nominees are priced below ₹3,000. 

We thoroughly tested all the contenders and scored them for various metrics and we’ve nailed down the winner of the Digit Zero1 Award with the best performance in this category. This year, we also awarded a Digit Best Buy Award for the product in this category that offered the best value proposition.

Digit Zero1 Award 2022 Winner: Sony WI-C100 (Buy here)

Price: ₹1,699

The Sony WI-C100 is a solid neckband-style wireless pair of earphones with a lot on offer despite its inexpensive price point. Packing 9 mm drivers, the Sony WI-C100 comes with the company’s DSEE (Digital Sound Enhancement Engine) that digitally upscales compressed audio files. Turn this mode on in Sony’s Headphone Connect app since it makes a considerable difference in the sound fidelity, especially if you listen to music on streaming platforms such as Spotify, YouTube Music, and others. The sound quality is well-balanced; the bass response packs a punch without sounding boomy, the mids are detailed, and the highs aren’t tinny at all, which is a plus point. What’s even more impressive is that the app has a customisable EQ which is almost unheard of in other neckbands at this price point. You can really play with the sound signature and tweak it as per your preferences or make it sound more neutral. Additionally, you also get solid battery life. We recorded about 25 hours of playback time in our testing, which is enough to last most users a few days with ease. The microphone is also pretty good and can be used indoors without any issues, but if you’re travelling, a bit of ambient noise is picked up which can cause some issues with call clarity. Overall though, these are a versatile pair of wireless earphones with fantastic sound quality for the price.

Runner-up and Digit Best Buy Award 2022: Noise Xtreme (Buy here)

Price: ₹1,599

The Noise Xtreme surprised us. We are used to Noise earphones having an overwhelmingly bass-boosted sound profile that can sometimes sour the listening experience, but the Xtreme convinced us that there are some gems in Noise’s portfolio too. These earphones, while they are still bass-biassed, have a very enjoyable sound profile with lots of drive, energy and good fidelity. The bass response is punchy and dynamic but the mids are overemphasised too which means they don’t get too shrouded by the relatively heavy bass response. The vocals come through nicely with a lot of detail and timbre. The highs are sparkly as well and instruments such as cymbals and hi-hats in rock tracks sound good, however, there is a sharp dip-off point which can be slightly jarring. The microphone quality is decent and you can take calls with these earphones in an indoor setting. Moving on to possibly the most impressive feature of the Noise Xtreme – its battery life. The earphones come with a rated battery life of over 100 hours! Through our testing, we can confirm that this is the longest-lasting pair of wireless earphones we’ve ever tested. They’re the ‘charge them and forget them’ kind where one charge will easily last users over a week’s worth of usage. When you do need to charge these buds, a mere 10-minute charge will get you a whopping 20 hours’ worth of playback time. So, whether you’re a casual user, an avid traveller, or a fitness enthusiast, the Noise Xtreme definitely has you covered when it comes to battery life. The earphones also come with an array of other features such as Dual Pairing, IPX5 water and sweat resistance, Low Latency mode, and more, making it a worthy runner-up and Best Buy winner. 

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Dhriti Datta

Perpetually sporting a death stare, this one can be seen tinkering around with her smartphone which she holds more dear than life itself and stuffing her face with copious amounts of bacon. View Full Profile