Active noise cancelling headphones, or ANC headphones for short, work by electronically counteracting (or "canceling" out) external noise by generating a sound wave in your ear that is a mirror image.

Here's a look at some of the best cheap noise cancelling headphones I've tried, most of which cost less than $100 and a few even come in around $50.

Anker's Soundcore Life Q20 is arguably the best value in noise canceling headphones.

Not only do these over-ear headphones sound quite decent for their regular list price of $60 (they often sell for $10 less), but they're also comfortable to wear thanks to the secure ear cups.

No, the Life Q20 doesn't sound as good as premium Bluetooth headphones such as the Sony WH-1000XM3, but the audio quality pretty good, which is all you can ask for noise canceling headphones at this price.

Battery life is good at 40 hours.

You can find similar wireless headphones from other generic headphone companies on Amazon (Taotronics, for example, has a model with a similar design), but this over-ear headset does sound quite decent and its noise-canceling works pretty well and eliminates plenty of ambient noise and background noise.

Plus, it has a decent battery: Battery life is rated at 30 hours.

Mixcder has several sub-$100 wireless headphones, and the E10 is its current top-of-the-line model and has the best sound and build quality with the most comfortable fit with cushy ear cups

The noise-cancellation of these over-ear headphones is fairly effective (good, not great) and battery life is rated at around 30 hours with a quick charge feature that gives you 3 hours of battery life from an 8-minute charge.   

Battery life is rated at 24 hours of playback, and a 15-minute quick charge gives you 2.5 hours juice. 

I like these Taotronics headphones the best because they seem well-built, they're comfortable to wear and they have decent if unspectacular sound for their price of around $55 (some colors cost less)

It could use a touch more definition in the bass for music, but most people should think the audio quality is pretty good when listening to music thanks partly to decent noise reduction of ambient sound

Battery life is rated at up to 40 hours