Apple AirPods 4 ANC review: Reliable convenience

There is a legitimately strong argument that for regular everyday earbuds, good audio quality is just one of many factors that recommend a pair of earbuds. This is where Apple made money with its very first AirPods: a pair of truly wireless earbuds, in 2016. Three years later, it also delivered commendable audio performance for regular earbuds with the first AirPods Pro. Earlier this month, the audio journey hit a sweet spot with the Apple AirPods 4, which now come with active noise cancellation (ANC).

From the start, the earbuds may seem too small to you. The wireless charging case, which houses the earbuds, is smaller than that of the AirPods 3, making it a super compact product that doesn’t strike you at first glance as just another gadget that needs to be handled with great care. Like all Apple products, they also connect and work seamlessly with other Apple devices.

These conveniences are underrated, but cannot be overstated. Once paired with an iPhone, the AirPods 4, like its predecessors, automatically switch active to the active phone, Mac or iPad – no separate pairing required.

Then there is the ANC. Until a decade ago, when consumer gadgets were just breaking through in India, noise cancellation was a feature reserved for only the most expensive gadgets. Nowadays, there are plenty of wireless ANC earbuds available in India for as low as Rs. ₹1,200. Should Apple be praised in such a market for finally introducing this feature in a range of earbuds that offer more than ₹10,000 – or criticized for taking so long?

De AirPods 4 ANC kost <span class= — The AirPods 4 ANC costs ₹17,900

While critics debate the correct answer, what matters to a buyer is that the feature is there. This means that if you’ve joined the Apple ecosystem, you don’t have to spend the biggest bucks ( ₹24,900 for AirPods Pro 2) if you just wanted good noise-canceling earbuds from the brand. But the AirPods 4 ANC costs ₹17,900 – which is still pretty lofty. Even without ANC, the basic version of AirPods costs 4 ₹12,900. For reference, the average retail price of earbuds in India is just over, according to market researcher International Data Corp ₹1,500.

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Nevertheless, for this price, ANC’s performance is reliable and stable. The AirPods 4 offer powerful enough noise cancellation so you can focus on your work amid the din of ambient office noise. Understandably, in noisier environments the ANC may seem less effective, but there are absolutely no ‘open’ earbuds that produce complete noise cancellation.

This is a good thing for daily use: the ‘open’ construction of the earbuds means that there are no silicone eartips on the AirPods 4 that completely close off your ear canals. Over time, more and more users have complained that fully sealed earbuds are more uncomfortable and claustrophobic for long-term use, and cause hearing disturbances. In that regard, the AirPods 4 get the fit just right, although you may need to keep adjusting the fit every now and then. The noise cancellation is sufficient for most real-world scenarios, and if you want to quickly hear what someone next to you is saying, a simple tap on the outside of the earbuds lets you enable ‘transparency mode’.

It is this seamless operation that makes the AirPods 4 great to use as a daily driver.

Finally, there’s audio performance. For those who care about music quality, the AirPods 4 are reliable enough. They apparently emphasize vocals and treble over bass, meaning you may need to set your music app’s equalizer setting to the bass-boosting ‘rock’ mode to get optimal sound balance. The audio output is ‘clean’, meaning you don’t feel like the sound is muffled – a factor that usually sets premium earbuds apart from cheap earbuds.

Yet there is an indispensable matter of sibilance. In the AirPods 4, the shrill high notes, or words that pronounce the letter ‘s’, sound a bit too tinny and hissing. This is a risk that the treble-oriented sound signature could be exposed to, and could annoy some people. Fortunately, reducing the treble in the audio balance and improving bass response with a touch makes the AirPods 4 sound better balanced than the stock configuration.

Despite the focus on high tones, the AirPods 4 sound warm enough. In audio lingo, “warmth” is generally associated with better bass response. In expensive custom audiophile speakers, this is achieved through the quality of the timbre used in their construction. Apple does a good enough job simulating this quality.

So the total package means that if you want a pair of great-sounding earbuds with active noise cancellation, you don’t have to look anywhere other than Apple.

The AirPods 4 are rivaled by brands like Bose Ultra Open, Marshall Motif II, and Sony LinkBuds S. If audio quality, and especially bass response in audio performance, is your priority, any of these brands will likely sound just as good as the AirPods 4 .AirPods4.

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But add in the seamless connectivity, hassle-free wireless charging, small case, and reliable noise cancellation, and the Apple AirPods 4 ANC are probably one of the most versatile earbuds on the market. ₹20,000 in India at present. It’s a no-brainer recommendation for those who already use Apple products; for Android users it is also among the best.