Technologies

7 Great AirPods Pro Alternatives That Cost a Lot Less

Don’t want to spend $200 on Apple’s AirPods Pro? Here are some affordable — and in some cases downright cheap — true-wireless earbuds with active noise canceling, great sound and voice-calling capabilities.

Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 are the best true-wireless earbuds out there. They’re small, lightweight and fit snugly, in addition to their impressive features and audio quality. But you do have to loosen the purse strings when buying them. Apple rarely drops the prices of its products, and when it does, there’s always a more expensive model you could go for instead. But there’s a better option than waiting for that perfect price. You might ask yourself, «Is it possible to spend less than $100 on a pair of earbuds that compare to the AirPods Pro?» At this time of the year, the answer is a resounding yes.

You won’t get some of the AirPods Pro’s bonus features, like hands-free Siri or Apple’s spatial audio virtual surround mode for watching movies and TV shows, but the alternatives listed below deliver on core performance attributes such as sound and voice calling. They also feature decent active noise canceling, are well designed and fit comfortably. Note that all these picks work with both iOS and Android devices and aren’t Apple-centric like the AirPods Pro.

I’ll be updating this list as new models arrive, but here are the best «cheap» noise-canceling, true-wireless earbuds I’m impressed with right now.

More headphone recommendations

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AI-Voiced Darth Vader Can Swear, Say ‘Skibidi Toilet’ in Fortnite: How to Find It

Expletives are apparently not off the table as a foul-mouthed AI Darth Vader is added to Fortnite.

It didn’t take long after Epic Games unleashed famous Star Wars Sith lord Darth Vader into the game Fortnite — complete with the AI-enabled voice of late actor James Earl Jones for conversations with players — for Vader to drop the F-bomb.

As seen on multiple social-media videos, Vader can be prompted to say lots of things you wouldn’t find in a Star Wars script, such as curse words, «Skibidi toilet» and to share his thoughts on breasts.

A representative from Epic Games pointed to a post on X saying that the company has already addressed the apparent lack of language filtering. The post reads, «We pushed a hotfix immediately and this shouldn’t happen again.»

But gamers were apparently able to capture footage of inappropriate banter from Vader in the time before the fix was issue. Epic is asking gamers to report any additional problems.

Safety filters to stop the swearing

A representative for Epic Games told CNET on Friday that there are three layers of safety filters built into the feature to prevent this from happening again.

Also, parents must enable the option to «allow voice and written communication with AI features» for kid accounts to speak with Vader.

And even the Dark Lord of the Sith can still get kicked out of the game.

«If a player is repeatedly attempting to get Darth Vader to violate our settings and instructions, he will eventually leave the squad, and the player will be unable to recruit him again in that gameplay session,» the representative said. «If we become aware or receive a bug report that Darth Vader in Fortnite responded in a way he shouldn’t, we investigate it and if needed, make adjustments to avoid similar responses in the future.»

Where is this F-bomb dropping Vader?

It’s likely you’ve missed the window to have an R-rated conversation with Luke Skywalker’s father — although you can find clips that others have saved and posted on social media.

But Vader can still be found in Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode in the Samurai’s Solitude area in the southwest of the map. Your party can recruit the new Vader, who replaced Samurai Vader, and have an AI chatbot conversation with him. Epic used Google’s Gemini 2.0 Flash model for the responses.

The family of Jones, who voiced the character since the first Star Wars movie, gave Epic permission to use his voice with AI models.

«James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it,» the family said in a statement. «We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.»