I tested the new AirPods 4 with noise cancellation for a week – the good, the bad and the ugly

Future and its syndication partners may earn commission when you buy through links in our articles.

Apple’s AirPods line has always had a special place in my heart. I adore AirPods Pro 2 and their stunning noise cancellation, as they’ve helped me on nearly every trip I’ve taken on the train. Mine AirPods Max I will forever remember the magic of connecting AirPods 2 to my iPhone for the first time.

My relationship with them wasn’t perfect – AirPods 3 It’s disappointing, and sometimes by the time I hit my 9th hour ride I wish my AirPods Pro 2 had lasted a little longer than 6 hours. But overall, my experience with Apple’s line of headphones and earbuds has been loving.

I was excited when Apple released AirPods 4 with ANC. I couldn’t wait to see what the latest version of the buds could bring, especially when I read the spec sheet. Open style headphones with noise canceling? It caught my attention. A new sound architecture? Sign me up. H2 chip from my beloved AirPods Pro 2? I’m addicted now.

But my experience was interesting and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about them. Do I like the list of new features, or do sonic issues keep me from recommending them wholeheartedly? Our reviewer, the always wonderful Kate Kazuch, absolutely loved her pair when she wrote to her Airpods 4 review. They even reached ours cheapest headphones list: So how did I find them?

Good

Let’s start with the good parts. I really like the design of the new AirPods 4. This little box is a masterful triumph of headphones that fits into even the tightest of pockets without any trouble. The buds built into it are tiny and perfectly shaped, and like all other AirPods models before them, they fit perfectly into their plastic housings. Apple says these are also more comfortable, but I’ll talk about that part and my ears later.

You’d think it would be easy to lose a small case like this – and yes, even though it’s easier to lose, active noise canceling model comes with My find function So I can track them around my house with a ping and even tell if I left them on my desk or a cafe table when I stand up. The cheap ones don’t have this feature, so you’ll want to be a little more careful when leaving them lying around; If they disappear over the edge of the sofa, gone.

I also like the active noise cancellation on board. No, of course it’s not as good as the noise canceling feature on the AirPods Pro 2, and the silicone passively covers the tips, but it does a relatively good job of keeping annoying noise out when I’m trying to work or listen to my favorite playlists. Other noise canceling modes are also good, including adaptive and adaptive modes. transparency mode – although I wish there was a way to toggle these with the power touch panels on the bodies.

I also find the touch panels useful, although they are more limited than those on the AirPods Pro 2. You can press once to play/pause, double squeeze to skip, triple squeeze to skip back a track, and press and hold to evoke. Siri. They are much better than traditional touch controls because they require some force to activate; There’s no need for accidental touches that skip tracks when you just want to adjust the fit of your ears. However, it would be nice to be able to activate noise cancellation with them and make it responsive or change the volume.

The new features offer a great value proposition when you look at their prices. The low-cost $129/£129 variant still packs those touch panels and Spatial Audio, and the $179/£179 model adds that nice ANC. These are also easy to find. You can get these from: Apple Store And Amazonamong other retailers.

Unfortunately, not everything is that simple with the AirPods 4.

Bad

While I hesitate to say that the AirPods 4 sound bad, there are definitely better-sounding options for the price. Let’s break this down and take a quick, deep sonic deep dive into the AirPods 4 to figure it out.

There is a huge emphasis on midrange frequencies, which becomes both a strength and a weakness. The buds for guitars and vocals are excellent, with clarity of sounds and depth of guitar parts. There’s also more bass extension, so you can hear the extra bits of low end in your tracks. Think of big bass drums in classical orchestras or drums in rock music.

Unfortunately, these bass notes have no punch, so they melt into the background as soon as the mids kick in. There are also some quirks in high-end music – cymbals on drum kits and high notes on pianos and trumpets are susceptible to unfortunate whistling, sometimes to the point of being painful.

For example, the timpani (the huge drums you see behind the orchestra) in Beethoven’s Ode to Joy are completely lost among the rest of the ensemble, causing the experience to feel flat. Miles Davis’s trumpet solo in Autumn Leaves stings as it dances on its scales, hissing as the cymbals decay. There are some issues here in terms of sound, and while it won’t be a big problem for most people, it’s worth highlighting that there is some work to be done here.

Then there is harmony. Now, I must admit that I’ve always had a hard time with Apple’s open AirPods, but I was hoping that would improve with the AirPods 4. better, but there is still a need to reinsert the AirPods into my ears when they feel loose – this happens more when I turn my head. This creates a new problem with noise cancellation; this now has to re-center itself to account for the bud’s new position in my ears. It’s remarkable how quickly he does this, but it’s still distracting.

Ugly

Unfortunately, I had some technical issues with my AirPods 4 copies, mostly when connecting them to my iPhone. I was absolutely amazed at the way previous AirPods connected to my iPhone; When I open their cases too soon they magically connect.

I’ve had issues with AirPods 4 (both ANC and non-ANC varieties I should add). Opening the boxes on the side of my phone did not immediately open the magic connection window, and when it finally appeared it was blank. In fact, there is nothing to cover it except a cross. Instead I have to hold down the capacitive pairing button on the front of the case and manually pair them in my iPhone’s settings.

This might be because I’m running the Beta version. iOS 18.1but even then you’d hope Apple’s otherwise excellent interoperability would remain relatively untouched. I was able to get them to work properly with my iPad instead, but I still had trouble getting them to appear on the screen when I frantically opened and closed the case and did a factory reset (which is more of a crapshoot). many times) thanks to their capacitive touch panels.

Multipoint connectivity was also unusually awkward; the buds seem to have a harder time recognizing that I’m using them on my device than my other AirPods iPhone 15 Pro Maxand when I want to use them on my iPad or MacBook Pro. It doesn’t happen all the time, although it doesn’t, as far as I can remember.

So what do I think?

I can’t tell you that the AirPods 4 are a bad pair of buds. If you like the way AirPods 2 and 3 fit, the new model will be a great thing to put in your ears and listen to music. The ANC is better than it should be, blocking out a lot of noise and making the commute a little more tolerable. The box is small and fits in almost any pair of pants, any bag, or anywhere else you might want to keep it. Our review is a great picture of what the buds have to offer, and Kate had a great time with her pair, as many users will probably too.

But I can’t help but feel there’s still room for improvement. The sound is below average, I’m not a big fan of the way it settles in my ears, and the technical issues have me shaking my head. I won’t say ‘Don’t buy AirPods 4’! – but I’ll tell you to check best wireless noise canceling headphonesand think really hard about whether you could be better off with something from the competition.

More from Tom’s Guide