AirPods 4 Review: Noise Cancelling Changes the Game
Hey folks, I've been testing out the ipod for, for the last few days and I'm ready to tell you what I think about both the entry level model and the step up noise canceling version. So let's go review these guys. Now, most of you probably know this already. But the airpods four are the fourth generation of Apple's original true wireless earbuds that have an open design, which means no silicon ear tips and no noise isolating design like the airpods Pro two, there are still a lot of people out there that don't like having ear tips in their ears and find open earbuds more comfortable and the airpods four are made for the anti ear tips crowd starting at 129 for the entry level model and 179 for the A NC model. The airpods four replace both the airpods two and airpod three in Apple's airpods lineup. And in terms of their design, there's sort of a cross between the airpods two and the airpods three. By that, I mean, they're slightly smaller than the airpods three, but also slightly larger than the airpods two. Apple is hoping the new design is a better fit for a wider range of ears and yet they did fit my ears slightly better than the airpods three though, I sometimes had to adjust the angle of the buds to feel like they were really secure in my ears. Everybody's ears are different, of course. And sometimes your left ear is a little different from your right. So I'm gonna get reactions from a few of my colleagues a little later in this video. But before I do that, I'm going to go through the similarities and differences between the two models as well as what upgrades you're getting from the airpods three to be clear. Both new airpods four have the same design, same sound quality and same voice calling performance. And they both have Apple's H two chip with Bluetooth 5.3. That's the same chip found in the airpods pro two, Apple has upgraded both buds with the new acoustic architecture and slightly change the angle of how the drivers are pointed into your ears, which is supposed to improve sound quality. And yeah, thanks to the combination of those new drivers and the upgraded digital processing power, the H two chip for Apple's adaptive EQ feature for optimizing sound quality. The airpods four sound better than the airpods three and needless to say because these are open earbuds, the sound does have an open quality to it. Overall, the sound is a little cleaner and you get a little more base So there's a little bit more depth, the richest to the sound and just a little bit overall fuller sound. The sound isn't quite as good as the airpod Pro Twos, but it's not that far off and these are easily among the best sounding open earbuds out there. You're still not gonna get as much bass as you do with the airpods Pro Two, but the gap has narrowed and I didn't feel as if I was making that big a sacrifice in terms of sound quality with these compared to the airpods Pro two. Of course, if you're in a noisy environment, these buds still do let sound in your ears which impacts sound quality. But things get interesting with the addition of noise canceling. So let's get into that key difference between the two models and what you get with the entry level airpods four versus the airpods four A NC. First, I should note that you're paying $50 more for not only noise canceling but a few other small extras, for instance, while the charging cases are the same size and look nearly identical, the step up A NC models case has a speaker integrated into it. Like the case for the airpods Pro two, that speaker omits a chirp when you use the find my feature with proximity finding, making it easier to locate the case if it gets hidden behind something or stuck in your couch cushions. Also the entry level models case doesn't have wireless charging. While the A NC models case does note that neither model has the more advanced precision finding of the airpods Pro two, which have a U one chip. In their case, the Airpod Four's charging case is a little bit smaller than the airpods three's charging case. There's one other difference, there's no longer a physical button on the airpod four's charging case for activating Bluetooth and pairing the buds with non Apple devices. Instead you double tap on the case to initiate pairing and double tap three times to initiate reset. Both the buds themselves. In the case, have an IP 54 rating which means they're splash proof, dust, proof and sweat resistant. All right, I'm in the streets of New York City here testing the noise canceling. I have the transparency mode on. I'm gonna now click on the noise canceling by pinching in the ear bud. I just kicked in and you really do notice a difference. It's not as good as the airpods Pro Two's noise canceling, but it cuts out maybe 50% to 40% of what the airpods Pro do. I can still hear the cars going by, still hear beeps horns, the subway down below here. The reality is that it's not that great compared to what you get with the Earpods Pro two and top noise canceling earbuds like the Bose quiet comfort, ultra earbuds or the Sony WF 1000 X mark five earbuds. But that it works at all and is reasonably effective is kind of wild because noise canceling and open ear buds usually aren't a good mix. For instance, Samsung says its Galaxy Buzz three have noise canceling, but I just couldn't really hear a difference when I turn the noise canceling on. Well, with these, you really hear the difference, you feel a kick on and there is a certain degree of muffling of ambient sound that lets you hear your music better in noisy environments. The airpods fours noise canceling is more adept at tamping down low frequencies and was able to cut down the end to noise level by about 40% when I wore them on a plane. And they were also somewhat effective when I wore them in the streets of New York City and on the subway, I'd say the noise canceling is a little less than half as good as what you get with the airpods Pro Two, which also provides some passive noise isolation with their ear tips. But again that the noise canceling worked as well as it did. Seems like a pretty big technological, not even Bos tried it with its ultra open earbuds. But let's see what some of my colleagues thought about both the fit of the buds and the noise canceling. All right. So I've got both the airpods three and the New airpods four here and we're just gonna do a little fit test because the airpods four a little bit smaller than airpods. Three. Let's try on this old tech. Ok. They're in, they're definitely not secure but they're in, it's like the first time you run with, like, uh, ear buds and you think, like, you're getting comfortable with them and you think, oh, they're gonna fall out but you just gotta trust the process that they don't, these won't, they're a little loose. Yeah, they're like, they're like, too big that they'll fall out if they're not falling out. It's just that, just that fear because you feel it's kind of, kind of large ish. Are you sure they're in? But, ok, they do feel kind of loose for me. The other one I could take out really easily but this one was a little more of a struggle. Is it noise canceling? I could feel something just changed a little bit. This feels better. Are they bigger? Small? They're smaller? But, oh, yes, obviously a lot more fitting to my tiny ears. See, see, I'm still a little paranoid but maybe that's just, maybe I gotta get over my fears and give it a try. But, uh, it's not falling. We got some kind of airplane noise going in the background. Yeah. That did a lot like it is very muted. Oh, that's like a stark difference before it was a, and now it's like a, yeah, totally muffled it. I mean, I still know that there is sound in the room and then hearing yourself talk feels weird because you guys are all canceled a little bit if I take them off, clear as day. But if I take them off, it's like, yeah. Wow. But how does it do with, uh, noise cancellation of, uh, kids playing really loudly in the living room while you're trying to work? Is that a thing? Something a little stronger for that? Ok. I just have a few more things to talk about. I do want to clarify what features the level model has and doesn't have because Apple's introduced some new features with I OS 18. A bit of confusion about which model has what both models have personalized spatial audio, quick pairing and auto switching for Apple devices as well as always on Siri. So you just have to say the wake word to issue voice commands and both models have the same four sensors in the stems with pint controls to control playback and last but not least the H two chip allows for Siri interactions which are gesture controls that allow you to nod or shake your head to dismiss or answer calls or engage with or dismiss notifications and messages. The two features you get with the noise canceling airpods, four are conversation awareness and adaptive audio because those features require noise handling and transparency modes to work. The airpods four A and C have the airpod Pro two's extra microphones to enable those modes when conversation awareness is activated as soon as you speak, your music pauses and transparency mode kicks in. So you can have a conversation. Sunny pioneered the feature with its speak to chat option. And now Apple has it with the airpods Pro two and the airpods four A and C. Apple is also touting a new voice isolation feature that's part of I OS 18 and helps with call quality. Both buds have the feature and so do the airpods Pro Two. It basically helps callers hear your voice better while reducing background noise. I did some test calls and callers so they could hear my voice well, with almost no background noise, which was impressive. The airpods have always delivered one of the best voice calling experiences and the airpods for. Don't disappoint. Here's a sample of a call I made with a fellow editor. All right, I'm in the streets of New York City doing a test call uh with my video editor, New Me, new Me. I've got a lot of stuff going on in the background here. I've got uh cars going by kids talking. Uh How do I sound overall? You sound super clear and it doesn't, I don't hear any of the outside noise whatsoever. I do hear some other people talking, which is interesting that may have been passing you. But yeah. Yeah. All right. I'll finish up with something that's a tad disappointing apple wasn't able to prove on the battery length numbers for these earbuds and it's actually slightly worse than what you get with the airpods three, you can get up to five hours of battery life with noise canceling off and four hours with it on the case gives you an additional 25 hours with a NC off and 16 hours with it on in the end. The way to look at these two earbuds is that the standard airpods four are slightly smaller versions of the airpods three with better sound quality and the benefits of the more powerful H two chip going forward. The airpods four with active noise canceling are essentially airpods pro two with an open ear bud design. However, only airpods pro two, not the airpods four are getting Apple's hearing aid feature. If you're looking for basic airpods, the standard airpods four certainly have their appeal and should cost closer to $100 during flash sales, especially around the holidays. They may not be quite as cheap or as small as the airpods two, but they sound a lot better and have a lot more features. All that said the airpods four NC are simply more special as I said, they're the first open buds that I've tried that have active noise handling that actually works. And that makes them the first noise handling earbuds for people who don't like having ear tips jammed in their ears, that's pretty cool and probably worth the extra $50 if you can afford it. But I want to know what you think about the two airpods. Four models. Give me your two cents in the comments section below. I'm David Connor for cnet.com. Thanks for watching.