Google's new cheap earbuds are its best in years — though it must be said, the bar wasn't especially high

Google Pixel Buds 2a: Two-minute review

Google’s audio department has had something of a tough go of it – our list of the best earbuds seems far, far out of reach, with buds (or Buds) after buds that fail to impress. After the brand netted only three stars in our Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 review, and again only three stars from the Google Pixel Buds A, it’s finally managed to release a pair of true wireless earbuds that aren’t disappointing… if only because our expectations were quite low.

The Google Pixel Buds 2a are a more affordable alternative to the Pro 2, and a significant upgrade on the original A-series buds, bringing features which – if we’re being honest – the previous buds really should already have offered. However, though Google has managed to make a pair of earbuds that are finally pretty OK, the company hasn't managed to make buds that are especially competitive in the grand scheme of things.

Let’s start with a positive: like the past Pixel Buds, these are nice lightweight earbuds that don’t weigh your ears or your pocket down. The fit isn’t reliable though, partly because stem-less earbuds don’t lend themselves well to stability, partly because the tip material doesn’t offer much friction and partly because Google’s eartip fit test invariably failed to work.

Upgrades over the Pixel Buds A bring the 2a up to speed with industry trends: they have noise cancellation finally, and a greatly-improved battery life than the 1a’s embarrassing figure. But the feature list is still svelte: the EQ doesn’t offer much control over your sound, you can’t control your music from the buds, and the ANC is very light-touch.

The sound quality is, for lack of a better word, sloppy. The tuning is just all over the place, with audio parts tripping over themselves and frequent peaking. Individual lines can be detailed and clear but they don’t sit together well at all; an orchestra of the world’s best musicians can still sound poor if led by a hapless conductor.

I’m used to mid-range earbuds sounding cheap and cheerful, sometimes sacrificing audio precision and clarity for a fun, energetic or distinguished sound. Google has seemingly decided to go the other way, and has in doing so, learnt why none of the other manufacturers did so.

At the end of the day, myriad tweaks and improvements over Google’s lackluster previous offerings make these slightly easier to recommend, but they still pale in comparison to many other options available. That’s still true, just to a lesser degree, if you manage to pick them up for a discounted price. All that being said, if you’re offered them as a pre-order or bundle package with a Google Pixel phone, you could do worse.

Google Pixel Buds 2a review: Price and release date

• Announced and released on August 20, 2025
• Launched for $129.99 / £129 / AU$239
• Seen discounts since release

The Google Pixel Buds 2a were announced on August 20, 2025, almost two years to the day after the release of the Buds Pro 2.

You can buy the buds for $129.99 / £129 / AU$239, although they’re the kind of buds that you’re just as likely to receive as a bundle or pre-order gift for something like the Google Pixel 10.

That’s a mid-range price, higher than the $99 / £99.99 (around AU$130) first-gen A-series buds, but more affordable than the $229 / £219 / AU$379 original asking price of the Buds Pro 2 (in theory – they’ve dropped in price quite a bit since their 2024 launch).

It’s also, unfortunately for Google, a cost which puts the buds slap-bang in the middle of a really competitive price point. The buds don’t have much to endear them against the competition… except perhaps price cuts, as I easily found them for $99 / £99 / AU$198 just months after testing (no, not on Black Friday, during a period devoid of sales).

Google Pixel Buds 2a review: Specs

Google Pixel Buds 2a review: Features

• ANC is here, but it's subtle
• 7/20 hour battery life (ANC on)
• Not all of the features work well

A new addition Google has granted the Pixel Buds 2a, over their predecessors at least, is the introduction of Active Noise Cancellation or ANC. Now, your buds will detect sounds around you and strip them out as much as possible. Better late than never, I suppose.

The ANC here is nothing to write home about. It’s present, removing some of the major annoyances from environmental or nearby sounds, but there are plenty of other earbuds (even at this price point) that do a better job of keeping things quiet. The ambient mode is a little better; this feature allows select noises to bypass ANC, so you can hear people talking to you or important beepings (time to unpack the dishwasher). This mode tends to be hit-or-miss at what it allows through, but I found few faults when testing the Buds 2a.

In terms of battery life, the buds hit the average I expect from in-ear buds: 7 hours of listening with ANC on or 10 hours with it turned off, with my own listening matching Google’s predictions. That’s fine, but a nice upgrade from previous Google buds with their lacklustre lives. The charging case brings the total to 20 or 27 hours respectively, which is perhaps a little lower than on most rival buds I’ve tested, but enough for several full recharges.

Like all good earbuds (read: all earbuds), there’s a phone app you can use to get some extra functionality. It’s called Pixel Buds, although you don’t need it to listen to music if you don’t want it. I wouldn’t blame you either; I spent the first week of my testing time without it, and when I eventually installed it, it didn’t really change the experience.

You can use the app to toggle ANC mode, turn touch controls on or off (but not change what they do; toggling ANC or awakening Gemini are the only two options), find your buds if you’ve lost them, update the buds’ firmware, set up multi-point connection and turn in-ear play detection on and off. So far, the standard array of features.

Pixel Buds offers an equalizer, with a five-band custom mode or a small range of presets. It’s some degree of control over your sound, but not a nuanced one. This option also offers an eartip seal check, so you can figure out which size of eartip to use, but I tried this about 10 times over the course of a week and not once did it work successfully. Every single time, it told me it failed, and that I needed to be somewhere quiet – even if I was home alone in the middle of the night. One time, in the wee hours, I even held my breath so my breathing wouldn’t disrupt it. It still failed.

There’s one feature I do like: there’s a hearing wellness test, which is useful for people who worry they’re listening to music too loud, as it tells you your music volume in dB. Even if you don’t think about that kind of thing, it’s useful to know, just in case you are damaging your ears unknowingly.

• Features score: 3.5/5

Google Pixel Buds 2a review: Design

• Lightweight buds
• Problems with fit
• Two color options, IP54

The Google Pixel Buds 2a are some of the smallest earbuds I’ve ever tested. They’re in-ear buds with no stem, weighing 4.7g each, and it’s easy to forget they’re in your ear when you’re listening to music.

That is, when they stay in. Despite the small fin to help the buds wedge in your ear, I found the fit a little unreliable, and they’d sometimes slip when I was walking or running. In theory the earbud fit test should help me ensure that isn’t the case, but you’ve already read about how well it worked out.

There are touch controls if you press and hold the buds, and they’re easy enough to trigger, but they can only be mapped to toggle ANC or enable your smart assistant. You can’t play or pause your music, toggle the volume or, from what Google’s app suggests, answer a call. These are all fundamental functions of other buds’ gesture controls, and I simply can’t understand why they’re not in place here.

The pebble-shaped case is small and light too, weighing 47.6g. It’s a no-fuss case and it’s easy to remove the buds, though returning them isn’t always as simple: it’s fairly easy to put the wrong bud in each ingress, and only realise your mistake when the case doesn’t shut fully.

You can pick up the buds in two colors: Iris or Hazel, as Google calls them, or violet or black as they actually are. The color choice affects the buds and inner section of the case, though the outer shell itself will always be a white cream. The case picks up scuffs easily, and I was constantly wiping marks off the case after a brief stint in my pocket.

The buds have an IP54 protection against dust ingress and splashes of water, and the case has an IPX4 rating. According to Google, the buds were made with “at least” 41% recycled materials, including the entirety of the buds and charging case magnets, solder paste and battery.

• Design score: 4/5

Google Pixel Buds 2a review: Sound quality

• 11mm driver
• No Bluetooth codec supported
• Sound lacks sparkle

Google has packed custom-made 11mm drivers into the Pixel Buds 2a; it hasn’t confirmed if these are the exact same drivers as in the Buds Pro 2, but the size is the same. I did most of my listening on the default EQ mode, simply because the presets didn’t seem to actually change the sound all that much.

On first listening, it sounds like the Pixel Buds 2a have it all: clear treble, solid bass and hearty mids. But the more I used the buds, the more I got the impression that something about the tuning was a little off. The elements don’t sit alongside each other well, and there’s an inconsistency to the sound.

In Seventeen Going Under by Sam Fender, as soon as the bass comes in it drowns out the acoustic guitar accompaniment; it’s not very well-defined or handled bass either, sounding too rumbly. Some parts of songs lack energy; the hook that begins Spector’s Chevy Thunder is too shrill and frail, while the guitar accompaniment is bounced down into a distorted mush; somehow in this song, the bass is barely audible.

There are times when the audio quality was enjoyable, especially when there was only one musical line, but that didn’t stay true when more instruments came in. In Vampire Weekend’s A-Punk, the introduction offers clear and detailed music but as more instruments come in, the overall package sounds worse. I also noticed consistent peaking and distorting, for certain instruments (I barely remember what a hi-hat is supposed to sound like after testing the 2a) and when the timbre became too complex.

So it sounds like the issue is with tuning across the frequencies, and not the technical specs, with audio sounding relatively detailed. There’s Bluetooth 5.4 for connectivity, but Google’s online specs sheet makes no mention of support for any advanced Bluetooth codecs.

• Sound quality: 3.5/5

Google Pixel Buds 2a review: Value

• Decent value at full price
• Better value on sale
• Great value as bundled gift

At their standard price, the Google Pixel Buds 2a are decent value: you get what you pay for, with a nice small body and fine audio quality for a mid-range price.

They’re not fantastic value though, and other buds for the same price can offer you more energetic audio, a fuller complement of features and a more reliable fit.

However, if you buy the Pixel Buds at the reduced cost, that changes… a little bit. They’re still not the most competitive buds even at the lower price, but they’re definitely better value for money.

• Value: 3.5/5

Should I buy the Google Pixel Buds 2a?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Google Pixel Buds 2a review: Also consider

How I tested the Google Pixel Buds 2a

• Tested for one month
• Tested at home, at the gym, on runs and on walks

I tested the Google Pixel Buds 2a for just shy of four weeks, before submitting this review.

The earbuds were paired to my Android phone for the duration of the testing period, and I used them for a variety of tasks including streaming music, watching videos, gaming and taking calls.

I used the buds when at home, when going for walks or using public transport, when at the gym and while on runs.

I've been testing audio products for TechRadar for many years now, including a variety of other mid-range earbuds.

• First reviewed in December 2025

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