Bose, Beats and Amazon headphones make Top 100 Prime Day deals – but I'd buy these instead

Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT over-ear headphones

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I've covered 11 Prime Days in my time at What Hi-Fi?, and if there is one thing I've learned spending days trawling through sales online it is that the very biggest discounts rarely represent the very best deals. The best buys are, in my experience, markdowns on the gear that performs best and is the most recommendable regardless of discounts.

This year, Amazon has helpfully curated a Top 100 deals section (alongside Lightning Deals and Deals under £50, for example) and in it are three pairs of popular, heavily discounted headphones. All are attractively priced, yes, but none is the best you can buy at its price. Below I have found you better alternatives for each.

3 Amazon Top 100 headphones deals

In my mind, the best Amazon Top 100 headphones deal is the Bose QuietComfort SC for £170.05. These are modest updates to the four-star QuietComfort 45 wireless noise-cancelling over-ears and what I would call good value at their current 47 per cent discount.

Next up is another pair of wireless noise-cancellers, the Beats Studio3 at £139. Now, admittedly I haven't reviewed these, but I haven't heard a pair of Beats over-ears I've loved in my 11 years of testing headphones, and the 2017-released Studio3 are now showing their age with only a 22-hour battery life and Micro USB charging port. Even with their 60 per cent discount, I strongly believe you can do better.

Lastly, we have, perhaps unsurprisingly, Amazon's own Echo Buds (2nd Gen) for £45 courtesy of a 65 per cent discount. The original noise-cancelling earbuds were hugely disappointing, predominantly for their uncompetitive sound quality. Honestly, that didn't inspire me to test their sequels, but it is unlikely they will have improved enough to gain five-star status considering Amazon's primary focus was seemingly on improving their noise-cancellation and fit (both of which I did like).

Ultimately, I wouldn't recommend any of these three as your number one choice, but would instead urge you to consider these discounted, similarly priced class-leading alternatives instead:

3 better alternatives

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Becky is the managing editor of What Hi-Fi? and, since her recent move to Melbourne, also the editor of the brand's sister magazines Down Under – Australian Hi-Fi and Audio Esoterica. During her 11+ years in the hi-fi industry, she has reviewed all manner of audio gear, from budget amplifiers to high-end speakers, and particularly specialises in headphones and head-fi devices. In her spare time, Becky can often be found running, watching Liverpool FC and horror movies, and hunting for gluten-free cake.