I tried these $24 wireless earbuds — and guess what?

How good can $24 earbuds possibly be? You might be surprised.

The new EarFun Free Mini isn’t super-fancy, but it gets the job done.

I’ve long been a fan of EarFun’s earbuds, some of which are budget superstars. This is by far the company’s most affordable product, especially with this deal.

So what does $24 buy you? Noise-isolating earbuds with touch controls and an IPX7 waterproof rating. (That means you can sweat all you like on them and they won’t come to harm.)

Note that I said noise-isolating, not noise-canceling; the Free Mini does reduce outside sound, but only by virtue of the seal made by the silicone ear tips. There’s no active noise-canceling (ANC) technology at work here to really drown out your environment.

You also don’t get advanced features like in-ear detection or wireless case-charging. Those are desirable, yes, but hard to come by unless you spend around $50 or more.

The good news is that the EarFun Free Mini earbuds sound pretty good. I found the audio to be fairly well balanced overall, if a little brash at times, and just far better than I expected given the price point. For listening to music in the background while you work, podcasts while you walk the dog, meditations on the mat and so on, these are perfectly good.

I do have one complaint: It’s fairly difficult to get the earbuds out of the case. There’s no good spot to grip them, and the case lid doesn’t open far enough to really get your fingers around them.

That gripe aside, I’d call these a steal at $24.