I just tested the Honor Earbuds 4 — and for just £59, they boast surprisingly powerful sound and long battery life

You don’t need to break the bank to get good sound quality. If you’ve got £59 to spare, the Honor Earbuds 4 are a fine choice. Packing dual titanium-coated drivers, the Honor Earbuds 4 boast impressive audio performance with powerful bass — though the treble can sound tinny at times. With long battery life, a user-friendly companion app, and a comfortable fit, you wouldn’t think these buds cost under £60.

But what does remind you that these are budget earbuds is the lack of LDAC support, cheap-looking design, and equalizer that can’t be customized. If none of those things matter to you and you want a cheap pair of earbuds for casual listening, then these are worth considering.

To find out if these are the best cheap wireless earbuds for you, read my full Honor Earbuds 4 review.

Latest Videos From

Watch full video here:

Honor Earbuds 4 review: Specs

Honor Earbuds 4 review: Price & availability

The Honor Earbuds 4 were first revealed in October 2025 and became available in select global markets in April 2026. With a retail price of £59, they can be bought directly from Honor’s U.K. website.

These are great wireless earbuds for budget-conscious buyers. The Honor Earbuds 4 are priced similarly to the CMF Buds 2 Plus (£49), the JLab JBuds Pods ANC (£59) and the CMF by Nothing Buds Pro 2 (£49). They’re also cheaper than the EarFun Air Pro 4+ (£89) and the EarFun Air Pro 4 (£99). Though they face fierce competition from the aforementioned rivals, the Honor Earbuds 4 are up to the challenge as they boast surprisingly impressive sound quality and long battery life.

Honor Earbuds 4 review: Design

The Honor Earbuds 4 come in either Black or White, and I tested the former. They sport a drop-stem design, similar to the EarFun Air Pro 4+, and just like the Air Pro 4+, the Honor Earbuds 4 look… fine? They won’t win any awards for their design, that’s for certain, as the glossy finish looks and feels a little cheap, and both the earbuds and the case feel a bit too plasticky. These are sub-£60 earbuds, though, so you shouldn’t expect world-class looks anyway.

Weather-proofing

The Honor Earbuds 4 are IP54-rated which isn’t uncommon in this price range. This means they’re protected against dust and can be used in the light rain and during workouts without risk. The CMF by Nothing Buds Pro 2 and the CMF Buds 2 Plus are both IP55-rated, as are the pricier EarFun Air Pro 4+. The core difference between IP54 and IP55 is water resistance. IP54 offers basic protection against splashes, and IP55 offers more robust protection and can even withstand low-pressure hosing — though I doubt you’d be washing down your earbuds that way.

Comfort

The Honor Earbuds 4 are extremely comfortable for all-day wear. Each bud weighs just 0.18oz, similar to most other earbuds I’ve tested. In my testing, I barely felt them in my ears, and I didn’t feel any discomfort even after wearing them for six straight hours. Just because they’re that light doesn’t mean that they fall out of your ears either.

Controls

These earbuds feature touch controls located on the buds’ stems. By utilizing a combination of pinching and swiping, you can play/pause music, change tracks, adjust the volume, cycle through ANC modes, and answer or reject calls. The controls can be remapped and customized via the companion app (more on that shortly). I found the controls responsive during my testing as all my commands were registered instantaneously.

Connectivity

As is the nature of wireless earbuds, the Honor Earbuds utilize Bluetooth 5.3 and feature multi-point connectivity to connect to two audio sources simultaneously. They worked like a charm with my MacBook Air M2 and Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. The earbuds support SBC and AAC codecs but there’s no LDAC or LC3 (Android only), so you can’t stream hi-res audio. This is a little disappointing given that both the CMF by Nothing Buds Pro 2 and the CMF Buds 2 Plus pack LDAC.

The Honor Earbuds 4 feature highly effective wear detection too, where playback automatically pauses when you remove an earbud and resumes when you put it back in. It worked as intended in my testing.

Honor Earbuds 4 review: Sound quality

The Honor Earbuds 4 are dual 11mm and 6mm titanium-coated drivers which cover a frequency response range of 10Hz to 20KHz — so the entirety of the average human hearing spectrum. I’ve been thoroughly impressed with the Honor Earbuds 4’s performance, for the most part. I listened to my usual array of testing songs on Qobuz, the best music streaming service for hi-res audio.

Punchy bass with plenty of low-end impact is the Honor Earbuds 4’s speciality, and I couldn’t help but bob my head to the bassline in ‘Baby Driver’ by 070 Shake. The distorted bassline landed with plenty of oomph, lending a meaty backbone to Shake’s ethereal vocals. Full-bodied without becoming bloated, every kick drum had a satisfying sense of weight. The Honor Earbuds 4 maintained good control especially as the beat dropped towards the end of the track, and the layered bass response made the song feel more immersive than ever.

I then listened to ‘Afterthought’ by Tame Impala to test the Honor Earbuds 4’s dynamics. The opening felt intimate, and the earbuds ensured that the restrained percussion and soft synth textures sounded spacious, and there was plenty of room for all the instruments to breathe. The bass, again, felt controlled but powerful, while Kevin Parker’s primary vocals stayed front and centre, and backing vocals swirled around my head.

While the Honor Earbuds 4 sound mostly great, ‘Three Drums’ by Four Tet revealed discrepancies in the treble performance. I felt like the earbuds’ treble tuning occasionally leaned toward the overly bright side, where the cymbals’ textures and upper harmonics started to sound tinny. Some of the hi-hats felt like they were piercing through the rest of the soundstage too. Though not overwhelming, it was noticeable enough for me to skip to the next track.

Overall, the Honor Earbuds 4 boast superb sound for a pair of £59 earbuds — and as long as you don’t mind the treble being a bit overzealous every now and then, you’ll be happy with them.

Listen along to my review with the Honor Earbuds 4 testing playlist:

Honor Earbuds 4 review: App

If you want to customize the Honor Earbuds 4, you’ll need to download the user-friendly Honor AI Space app on either iOS or Android. Once you’ve either logged in or created a new account, you’ll be able to choose one of four EQ presets, remap the touch controls, adjust ANC modes, and even ring your earbuds if you’ve lost them.

While it’s nice to have EQ presets to choose from (Bass Boost, Treble Boost, etc.), you can’t customize your own EQ, which is a little disappointing given that similarly priced buds, like the JLab JBuds Pods ANC and the CMF by Nothing Buds Pro 2, offer custom EQ.

What you do get, though, is access to AI Translation — Honor’s taken a leaf out of Apple’s book here. There’s a Chat mode as well as an Interpreter Mode. Chat Mode is useful for face-to-face conversations where both you and the other person wear an earbud each, and the app translates your conversation into one of 11 languages.

Interpreter mode, on the other hand, is like Live Translation on the Apple AirPods Pro 3 ($249), where the earbuds translate spoken words directly into your ears — handy for when you’re traveling to a foreign country. I found the AI translation to be quick and mostly accurate in my testing. This is a great feature to have on such a cheap pair of earbuds.

Honor Earbuds 4 review: ANC

Honor says that its Earbuds 4 are capable of canceling out up to 50dB of sound — and the buds’ active noise cancelation (ANC) is certainly effective. Indoors, I couldn’t hear myself or my coworkers typing away on their mechanical keyboards, or the kettle boiling when I was standing right next to it. My boss had to wave at me a few times because I simply couldn’t hear him.

But outdoors, even with the ANC set to Ultra, I could still hear cars zooming past me, and sounds from the construction site too. I wasn’t expecting much from these sub-£60 buds, though, and they feature good ANC for the most part. If you want even better ANC, I’d recommend the CMF Buds Pro 2 which my colleague was extremely impressed with.

The Honor Earbuds 4’s ANC can be set to Cozy, Moderate and Ultra, but to be honest, the level of the ANC remains pretty much the same. There’s also an Awareness mode for when you want to be able to hear your surroundings. It works well and doesn’t impact the sound quality negatively.

Honor Earbuds 4 review: Call quality

Mic and call quality on the Honor Earbuds 4 is good, and I tested it by calling my partner. She said I sounded clear and that my words didn’t feel like they were bleeding into one another. I then spoke to her in a crowded parking lot to test the AI Call Noise Cancelation. She noted that my voice sounded slightly metallic, which it usually doesn’t when I’m using my Marshall Monitor III ($379), but it didn’t negatively affect the overall call quality.

Honor Earbuds 4 review: Battery life

If it’s long battery life you’re after, the Honor Earbuds 4 should be your port of call. With ANC off, the earbuds are rated for nine hours or a total of 46 hours with the case. The earbuds’ battery drops to five hours with ANC enabled.

In my testing, it took the Honor Earbuds 4 just under nine hours to run out of charge — living up to Honor’s claims. This testing was done with ANC disabled and music playing at approximately 50% volume.

The Honor Earbuds 4’s battery life is similar to that of its competitors. The CMF by Nothing Buds Pro 2 are rated for 11 hours (43 hours with case) while the JLab JBuds Pods ANC can last up to 10 hours (56 hours with case). Meanwhile, the CMF Buds 2 Plus are rated for a whopping 14 hours (61.5 hours with case). Honor’s offering even trumps big-name buds, like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds Gen 2 ($299) which are rated for a measly six hours. Nice one, Honor.

Honor Earbuds 4 review: Verdict

There’s a lot to love about the Honor Earbuds 4. The comfortable, all-day fit, powerful bass, user-friendly companion app, and AI live translation features make the Honor Earbuds 4 worthy of a recommendation. I’ve been extremely impressed with its soundstage… for the most part, as the tinny treble leaves you wanting more. In addition to all those goodies, you get long battery life too.

But the Honor Earbuds 4 aren’t perfect. Unfortunately, the EQ isn’t customizable and there’s no LDAC support — both of which are offered by the CMF Buds 2 Plus and the CMF by Nothing Buds Pro 2. Oh, and the Honor Earbuds 4 look quite cheap too.

If those are compromises you don’t mind making, and all you want is meaty bass response and a pair of earbuds that you can wear all day, then the Honor Earbuds 4 will serve you well. They cost just £59 — less than the average weekly shop for someone in the U.K.!