Best Audio for Under £400
What Under £400 actually buys you in Audio, and the specific model we would choose at that budget.
Last revised
What you can expect to get for Under £400 in Audio, and which specific model we would buy at that budget.
What this budget buys you
This is where the value sits. Most of what a flagship does, without the halo features, and frequently with better battery life.
Our recommendation
Sony WH-1000XM6 — £399. The strongest noise cancellation on low-frequency rumble, and it suits frequent flyers and commuters.
Everything in this bracket
| Model | Price | Score | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X | £259 | 4 / 5 | Anyone monitoring or editing audio rather than commuting |
| Sony WH-1000XM6 | £399 | 5 / 5 | Frequent flyers and commuters |
| Bose QuietComfort Ultra | £379 | 4 / 5 | People who wear headphones for four hours or more at a stretch |
| Sennheiser Momentum 4 | £299 | 4 / 5 | Listeners who value neutrality and hate charging things |
| AirPods Pro 3 | £229 | 4 / 5 | IPhone owners, and nobody else |
| Nothing Ear (3) | £129 | 4 / 5 | Buyers who want most of the flagship experience for a third of the price |
What to compromise on
Compromise on telephoto lenses, wireless charging and peak performance. These are rarely felt day to day.
Before you order
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Support window | Counted from launch, not from your purchase. At this budget it is the specification most likely to end the device’s life. |
| Street price versus list | List prices in this bracket drift within weeks. Paying list on a model that has been out six months is the most common overspend. |
| What is in the box | Charger and cable are routinely omitted at every price point now. Budget for them separately or the bracket is not the bracket. |
| Return window | Two weeks is roughly how long it takes to find out whether the compromise at this budget is one you can live with. |
| Repairability | A cheap device with an expensive screen repair is not cheap. Check the part cost before you commit, not after. |
How to shop this bracket
Budget brackets are set by marketing, not by capability, and the boundaries move every year. The practical approach is to fix your number first, then buy the highest-scoring device at or below it rather than stretching for the one just above — the step up is almost never proportionate to the extra spend at this level. The exception is when the cheaper option fails on something you have already identified as non-negotiable, in which case it is not cheaper, it is simply wrong.
What spending more would buy you
The next step up is the Sonos Era 300 at £449, which scores 4 out of 5 and adds genuinely convincing spatial audio from one box. Worth it only if that sentence describes something you do rather than something you might.
What spending less would cost you
Nothing we have tested sits below this bracket. Going cheaper means leaving the range of hardware we are willing to recommend at all, which is a different decision from saving money.
What not to compromise on
Software support length is the one specification that does not improve with time. A cheaper device with two years of updates costs more per usable year than a dearer one with seven.
Behind this page
This reference page is written from the same testing notes as the reviews it supports, and it is revised whenever the hardware or the software underneath it changes. Where a figure appears here it has been measured rather than quoted from a specification sheet.
If something on this page no longer matches what you are seeing, it is out of date rather than disputed — tell us and it gets checked again.
Related reading
The reviews this page supports go into the measurements behind these figures, and the knowledge base collects every reference page we keep.
Elsewhere in buying guides: Best Audio for Under £700, Best Cameras for Over £1,000 and Best Cameras for Under £1,000.