We asked, you told us: Here’s when headphones count as ‘cheap’

When a friend told me that $75 headphones were too expensive, it sparked a question: At what price do headphones actually count as cheap?

So, I ran a poll and gathered more than a thousand responses across different platforms. For context, most people assumed these were wireless headphones with at least some noise canceling — nothing high-end, just functional.

The poll choices were:

• Under $100
• Under $75
• Under $50
• Under $25

The verdict: “Cheap” means under $100

Across all responses, the majority agreed that headphones under $100 qualify as cheap.

The other categories split fairly evenly, though very few thought under $25 was realistic. At that price point, expectations are so low that “cheap” starts to blur with “disposable.”

One interesting takeaway: many people seem to conflate cheap with budget. “Cheap” usually implies minimal cost with minimal expectations, while “budget” suggests stretching your money for the best value possible. That nuance might explain the spread of votes across the lower tiers.

We plan to revisit this poll in the future to see how perceptions shift. For now, the consensus is clear: if headphones cost more than $100, most people won’t call them “cheap.”