Are these the best-sounding $50 earbuds I've tried? My answer was clear within minutes

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The QCY Melobuds N70 earbuds are disposable connected Amazon for $50.
• These budget-friendly earbuds present affluent bass, creaseless mids, and crisp highs.
• While not precisely audiophile-grade audio, they're immoderate of the best-sounding $50 earbuds I've ever tried.

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You mightiness not person heard of QCY, but the institution precocious sent maine its newest offering, the MeloBuds N70, and there's thing mellow astir them. These earbuds rock.

For those who don't know, QCY is an audio institution from China that focuses connected performance-oriented products astatine budget-friendly prices. QCY was founded successful 2003 and is focused connected optimizing the accumulation of its earplugs.

Those optimizations person paid off. The MeloBuds N70 are connected merchantability for $50 connected Amazon, and I tin attest that they dependable arsenic bully arsenic earbuds doubly the price. 

Also: The champion earbuds you tin buy

Of course, successful this modern epoch of truthful galore earbuds and headphones, that assertion tin beryllium applied to truthful galore devices. However, galore of those devices trust connected mobile apps to fine-tune the dependable to a listener's preference. I similar to justice a brace of earbuds by however they dependable retired of the box, without adjusting EQ, enabling ANC, oregon immoderate different customizations.

Let's spot however the N70 earbuds fared.

My experience

After connecting the N70 earbuds to my Pixel 9 Pro, I opened Spotify and decided to spell close to the charming (but rocking) group, Band Maid. I played the opus "YOLO" and was instantly amazed astatine however good the N70 earbuds performed. There was plentifulness of bass, the highs were crisp, the mids were refined, and the soundstage was bully and wide.

Wow.

Okay, let's effort thing else. I went with Cluppo (aka Miku Kubato) and her opus "With You." 

Oh, yeah, that's immoderate saccharine music.

Also: Earbuds vs headphones: Which 1 is close for you?

I was truly taken aback by however progressive and dynamic the dependable was. Miku's dependable was crystal clear, the guitar present, the drums punchy, and the bass added a coagulated foundation.

Let's support the enactment going.

These earbuds besides hap to enactment successful spot and are precise comfortable.

Jack Wallen/ZDNET

One of the songs I similar to play that truly punishes earbuds is "Ligature Marks," by Meshuggah. A batch of times, this opus tin get truly muddy due to the fact that the guitars are tuned down truthful overmuch that they astir interfere with the bass. 

The N70 earbuds didn't bat an oculus astatine the monstrously dense chugging of this song. They were perfectly susceptible of handling the song, which is impressive, fixed the past fewer earbuds and speakers I've tested coiled up shivering successful a corner, aft having to play Ligarture Marks.

Keep going.

What I see to beryllium 1 of the top songs ever recorded is "Tom Sawyer." Every enactment of that signaling is truthful crisp and well-mastered that it's hard to ideate ever proceeding a opus to lucifer that level of brilliance. It came arsenic nary astonishment that the MeloBuds N70 earbuds had maine precocious connected Rush's sound. 

Also: I'm an audiophile, and these $150 wireless earbuds for gaming had maine fooled

Speaking of which, "Analog Kid" is my go-to and, wow, it sounded glorious done the N70s. The full clip I was listening to that song, I had to support reminding myself that these earbuds are lone $50.

Okay, I recognize I'm sounding arsenic if QCY is paying maine to glorify the headphones with a litany of hyperbole, but I'm being honest. Although the N70 earbuds aren't rather audiophile quality, they volition easy stroke distant anyone looking for a brace of earbuds that won't interruption the bank.

Also: I've yet to find a brace of Bluetooth earbuds that nails comfort, audio, and terms similar this one

And I didn't adjacent fuss utilizing the QCY mobile app to personalize the sound; I was perfectly contented with what I heard retired of the box. What was adjacent amended astir these earbuds is that the louder you play your music, the amended they sound. At astir 75% volume, the bass truly becomes prominent, and the mids/highs bash not ruin the balance.

ZDNET's buying advice

Although the QCY MeloBuds N70 earbuds whitethorn not look similar thing special, their dependable definite is. These earbuds volition delight anyone connected your vacation buying database who wants their euphony arsenic wide and dynamic arsenic $50 volition buy. 

As acold arsenic low-end earbuds are concerned, conscionable skip the contention and bargain these. You won't regret it.

QCY MeloBuds N70 tech specs

• Dual Driver (Dynamic + MEMS Tweeter)
• Hi-Res Audio support, LDAC/AAC/SBC codecs.
• Up to 56dB Adaptive Hybrid ANC, Transparency Mode, Wind Noise Reduction.
• Bluetooth 6.0, 10m range, Multipoint Pairing (connect to 2 devices).
• Battery: ~10h earbuds (ANC off), ~7h earbuds (ANC on); ~50h full with lawsuit (ANC off).
• Charging: USB-C & Wireless Charging, 10 min accelerated complaint for 2h play.
• Water Resistance: IPX5 (sweat/splash proof).
• Controls: Customizable Touch Controls, Auto Play/Pause (wear detection).
• Microphones: 3 mics per earbud with AI for wide calls.
• App Features: EQ, ANC modes, Game Mode, Fit Test, Find Device, LDAC toggle