Then came the Apple AirPods 4 adding ANC for the very first time. This made it a key jump in bridging the divide between standard AirPods and the AirPods Pro. It brings advanced capabilities such as Siri interaction and Voice Isolation with the H2 chip, however, ANC is the most important of all those features.
ANC was impressed by this noisy demo at Apple Park. Sure, the design is open, but the noise cancellation worked nearly perfectly. This was one of those ANC demos that squashed background noises, making things nearly silent. With the help of ANC and transparency modes, users will be well looked after, though transparency wasn’t as clear as the Pro version had been.
The new design of AirPods 4 provides an improved fit. According to Apple, they are the best-fitting AirPods to date. This new shape, combined with improvements made in software, allows for better passive noise isolation. The user can enjoy an open fit without sacrificing audio quality or comfort.
ANC performance on the AirPods 4 shows the power of Apple’s H2 chip. Again, not sealing the ears at all, the performance of active noise cancellation is impressive, to say the least. This model will change the game for those fond of open-type earbuds.
But the transparency mode on these AirPods 4 feels less organic like something is missing from the Pro model. It doesn’t filter in quite as much ambient, particularly one’s voice. The feature works, but it feels a little less refined than AirPods Pro.
