Apple AirPods 4: ANC Review Edition ANC Visits Apple's Less Expensive Earbuds

I love, love, love the Apple AirPods 4 with ANC. These provide many of the same capabilities in a less obtrusive style if you have had trouble with the Pro model’s in-ear design.

Contents

Important Elements Introduction Design Features Sound Quality

The battery life is decent, yet the casing is absurdly small. Along with helpful new additions like USB-C, you get all the standard AirPods benefits, such quick connection with numerous devices.

Important Elements

H2 Chip: New chip with ANC support

Revised caseThere is now a speaker and USB-C on the little casing.

Introduction

The most recent version of Apple’s AirPods, the AirPods 4 and Apple AirPods 4 with ANC, are now available for purchase.

For more than two weeks, I have been trying the latter to determine whether or not these are the best AirPods or if it would be better to spend a little more money and get the AirPods Pro 2. I have done this by testing the new ANC capabilities on land, water, and in the air.

You could nearly mistake them for an Apple AirPods 4 Light or an AirPods 4 Plus, despite the somewhat awkward name.

In addition to having additional charging choices and a smarter casing than the basic Apple AirPods 4, they also have active noise cancellation. With an additional £50 / $50, it looks like a clear option.

Design

tiny case
Enhancements in comfort
It is possible that not everyone fits into one size.

The Apple AirPods 4 with ANC rest just inside your ear, exactly like earlier versions of the “regular” device, rather than sinking into your ear canal like the Pro model did.

I know many of folks that just can not handle the Pros in-ear design, even though many others find it tolerable. Because it is much less obtrusive, this type of earphone will be highly recommended by many, especially since it also has ANC.

The design of the Apple AirPods 4 is mostly consistent with that of the previous model, albeit the case being somewhat more portable and weighing 34g instead of 37g. In addition, the buds have a little different form, and overall, I believe they are more pleasant.

A sensor included into each bud—dubbed a Force Sensor by Apple—may be touched to pause music or held down to switch between ANC settings. You cannot slide down on the bud to adjust the volume, in contrast to the AirPods Pro.

Since they are plastic buds without silicone tips, there is no way to adjust the fit if they do not fit comfortably in your ears. Very much a one size fits all situation. Fortunately, they fit; I can run without them falling out, shake my head and they stay in position, and so on. Not everybody will have such fortunate.

A few additional features from the AirPods Pro have been added to the case, such as a speaker for Find My audio notifications and a USB-C socket (instead of Lightning) for charging. However, the standard Apple AirPods 4 do not have a lanyard loop, and in order to use the speaker, you must select the particular ANC-toting model.

Features

Transparency mode on ANC

Geographical Audio

Speedy synchronization

The main new feature here is active noise cancellation, or ANC, which Apple has only previously included in the AirPods Pro. Despite its less than stellar performance, it is nevertheless a pleasant addition.

ANC is often found on earbuds that sit in your ear canal, such as the AirPods Pro, as opposed to earbuds that rest in your ears like these. We have examined a few comparable devices; the Huawei FreeBuds 5 comes to mind, for example, but the ANC performance has always been so bad that it is hardly worth it.

This is a different tale. This version of the Apple AirPods 4 is the greatest choice if you genuinely can not stand the sensation of the earbuds sliding down your ear canal. I have used these earbuds on three flights, many excursions on the London Tube, a Eurostar to Belgium, and in a crowded office, and every time, the advantages of ANC have been evident.

Let me be clear: the greater ANC of the AirPods Pro remains. Rather than totally canceling out sound, the Apple AirPods 4 with ANC typically attenuate it. It does a great job at canceling out unpleasant office conversations and some rail rattling, but it has trouble canceling out the loud noise of an airplane engine.

Some of the lesser rattles have been eliminated, but the high-frequency vibrations are still audible on the London Tube. The same thing happens while you are crossing a major road: loud machinery noises continue to be audible, and passing cars are muffled.

Nevertheless, it is helpful in situations when the old Apple AirPods 4 would have been nearly worthless. For example, I could now wear AirPods on flights when I was previously unable to. There are those few situations where the ANC blocks out enough, but not enough.

Although the Apple AirPods 4 ANC’s intensity is automatically adjusted by an Adaptive option, you may still adjust it manually. For situations where you need to hear things, you can activate a Transparency mode that lets sounds through. Once again, Apple has created an excellent Transparency mode that is compatible with all of their audio equipment. Holding down the bud makes it easy to activate and allows voices to come through organically without any robotic tones.

The Apple AirPods 4 Transparency mode is meant to activate automatically when a voice is detected thanks to a setting called Conversation Awareness, however I have not had much experience with it frequently mistaking coughs and sneezes for voices. Ultimately, I simply turned it off.

Although many of the greatest features are only available on Apple’s ecosystem of devices, AirPods may be connected over Bluetooth to any device. For example, to use Spatial Audio, you need Apple Music and an iPhone, iPad, or Mac that is compatible. If you use an Android device, you are unable to adjust any of the parameters.

You may view the Apple AirPods 4 same movie on an iPad with two people by sharing the audio from one pair ofApple AirPods 4 with the other. It is a really nice addition that functions properly. It is also rather simple to pair AirPods with an iPhone, and once they are linked to a device that uses your Apple ID, they appear everywhere.

While not the finest on the market, battery life is decent. My experiments seem to support Apple’s statements that the buds may last four hours with ANC turned on and five hours without it. In fact, I would think the ANC figures are closer to five hours if you keep the level down. Depending on your settings, the case will then give you four or five further charges.

Apple has abandoned the Lightning connector from another device in favor of USB-C. While people with older hardware may need to utilize two wires, this is beneficial for those with current iPhone models. It is still wireless charging, and it is a nice touch that you can charge these with an Apple Watch charger as well.

Sound Quality

Bluetooth version 5.3

Fuelled by the H2 microchip

Sound may seep out.

The audio quality of the Apple AirPods 4 has never been particularly impressive; instead, they provide a sound that is largely standard and works well with a variety of musical styles. These are earbuds for everyone, not just those who can ignore other features in favor of a pure audio experience.

Nevertheless, these have the greatest sounding AirPods to yet and are quite similar to the AirPods Pro 2.

The good news is that the Apple AirPods 4 perform well whether you are listening to London Grammar’s more vocally-focused tracks or Charli XCX’s bass-heavy party hits.

Guess by Charli XCX has a vibrant vitality to its fast beats, and the vocals manage to stand out within the dense background music. These guys do a great job of conveying that this song is also incredibly bass-heavy.

Something more somber, like Fontaines DC’s In The Modern World, with distinct instruments and quieter voices, also sounds fantastic. A large soundstage and a fair amount of atmosphere are produced. Although the AirPods Pro offer some more clarity, it is still an upgrade over the Apple AirPods 4.

I have also had trouble being completely enthralled with Apple Music Atmos mixes of songs that are playing in spatial audio. Compared to the bigger AirPods, there is less immersion here, and you have to be listening to a really strong mix to notice any differences. Both Oasis’ Supersonic and Jamie XX’s “In Waves” sound almost exactly the same whether played with or without Atmos.

Because of the open design of the buds, I have discovered that listening to audio in a quiet area or with the ANC on is optimal. An excessive amount of distracting noise can muffle things in noisier settings. I frequently observed that I had to turn up the volume when listening to podcasts and audiobooks. Additionally, sound often seeps out, which might irritate others seated next to you. With in-ear headphones, you do not get this as much.