Why Apple's cheap AirPods 4 are the first ever AirPods I'd actually consider buying

(Image credit: Apple)

Tech lover, you can't have missed the news (although if you did, catch up with our Glowtime liveblog) – Apple's released not one, but two new AirPods 4 models at its hugely attended 'It's Glowtime' iPhone 16 event on September 9.

The AirPods 4 come in two new flavors too, with two refreshingly palatable price points. First, there's the wireless-charging, Adaptive Audio supporting, ANC, and Conversation Awareness toting 'AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation' for $179 / £179 / AU$299. These effectively replace the AirPods 3, boasting a reworked open-ear fit, upgraded acoustic architecture, and the first time Apple's brought noise-cancellation to non-Pro AirPods.

But those are not the pair that interest me. The set I'm signing up for contains the same H2 chip, the same upgraded headshell design (curated using "over 50 million individual data points", the same squeezy stems for playback control, hands gesture support for call-handling and Siri queries, and even Apple's Personalised Spatial Audio that scans your ears and soups up the company's head-tracked Spatial Audio once you've set it up.

Apple's ANC and me? We don't mix

There, I've said it. It's not easy for me to admit this, as an audio reviewer for well over five years. However, active noise cancellation anti-phase processing and I do not get along.

AirPods aren't alone in this, although I do find the issue more pressing when I wear Apple's in-ear AirPods. Full disclosure? I find quite a few ANC solutions, even those in some of the best noise-canceling headphones and best noise-canceling earbuds nauseating, but Apple's stands out. When I deploy it, I feel like I've either been sucked into a tunnel or I've lost my bearings and balance – and as an ex-professional dancer and aerialist, I'm all about balance! Why? Because balance comes from the inner ear and the vestibular system located therein.

It's not just Apple's in-ears that have me turning off the ANC profiles in my earbuds never to use them again. I often find transparency profiles and noise-nixing modes in many a set of cans make my music tinny or sweet, while noise-cancellation often affects my enjoyment of listening in other ways.

It has been suggested that perhaps I feel distanced from my immediate surroundings without the low background thrum of extraneous noise, so my hunter-gatherer, fight-or-flight instincts kick in. Is it that I feel distanced from the present – that I wouldn't hear a twig snapping in the woods and thus sense I was being pursued? No. When deploying ANC, I feel that I am hearing something else, because make no mistake, a sound wave to counteract that created by 'noise' is being piped into your listening gear when you hit that profile. And for me, it is rarely enjoyable, particularly if I'm commuting. It is wearying over time; my brain is having to work much harder.

So you see, a set of AirPods that are priced to reflect their lack of the very thing I don't want? Ideal. And unlike something even cheaper – Nothing Ear (a) I'm looking at you – these are still AirPods. They've still got the H2 chip, so they still include all the iOS, love-your-iPhone easy-pair perks.

Yes, well done Mr. Cook, those are for me.

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Becky became Audio Editor at TechRadar in 2024, but joined the team in 2022 as Senior Staff Writer, focusing on all things hi-fi. Before this, she spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing and reviewing everything from wallet-friendly wireless earbuds to huge high-end sound systems. Prior to gaining her MA in Journalism in 2018, Becky freelanced as an arts critic alongside a 22-year career as a professional dancer and aerialist – any love of dance starts with a love of music. Becky has previously contributed to Stuff, FourFourTwo and The Stage. When not writing, she can still be found throwing shapes in a dance studio, these days with varying degrees of success.