Apple AirPods 4 review – Noise-cancelling upgrade impresses

I have stuck to the original hard-plastic AirPods from Apple for a variety of reasons. The shape worked for my ears, and I liked how they worked with Apple products. I have been a dutiful—and happy—user of Apple’s AirPods since generation one and was thrilled when the new AirPods 4 had an upgrade to active noise-cancellation (ANC).

I also liked them – this will sound foolish, I know – but they are more compact than the AirPods Pro range. I fall asleep listening to Audible, so I prefer the smallest earbuds. I used Sony’s excellent (and flat) Linkbuds for years until one tragically broke. 

I’ve been a fanatical user of noise-cancelling headphones for about two decades and prefer the over-ear cans for travelling on a plane. Last year I foolishly left my over-ear Sennheiser at home for an overnight trip to Durban. Never again, I swore. 

Drowning out the voices

I have never considered noise cancellation to be a day-to-day necessity, perhaps because I associate it so closely with aeroplanes and the cacophony of white noise that comes with flying at 35,000 feet. Or just walking through an airport. When I put both of the AirPods 4s into my ears, I was blown away by the noise-cancelling. “Wow,” I felt myself say, but couldn’t hear it.

Obviously, this isn’t my first ANC rodeo, having tested many over the years. Jabra was always my favourite – and having silicon sleeves always seemed like a requirement. This tight fit in your ears because the silicon is what’s often called passive noise-cancellation. It just blocks the noise, which has been more than enough for me when I’ve found myself at too-loud events or children’s birthday parties. Just dampening the sound seemed sufficient.

Until I tried Apple AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation. I was immediately hooked and sold.

The noise cancellation is impressive. I may not be used to this feature in earbuds, but I am a noise-cancelling power user in general, it’s safe to say after two decades of using over-ear cans. This is especially because it’s done without the silicon tips in most ANC earbuds, which create a sound-proof fit in your ear.

Walking around the neighbourhood Spar or sitting on the couch while my son watched Grizzy and the Lemmings was suddenly silent. For R4,000 earbuds, I was very impressed at the quality of the sound dampening.

Like the AirPods Pro 2, the AirPods 4 uses the H2 chip that lets you nod or shake your head for Siri instructions as well as better background noise reduction. This has always been problematic on AirPods. With my previous model, I often had to take the AirPods out for conference calls because people complained about the overload of background noise. The new voice-isolation functionality is therefore well received.

The overall voice and sound quality is much improved.

Battery life has improved to four hours and the case (itself 10% smaller) will give you another five charges. The case now also has a tiny speaker to alert you to its whereabouts, a feature that seems ridiculous to have taken so long to have become standard given how easily losable earbuds are. This will be particularly useful in winter when jacket swapping is more rampant. 

Apple AirPods 4 verdict

The AirPods 4 are a significant upgrade from the previous model, especially if you can nab the pricier noise-cancelling model. At R4,000, they are arguably the best value for money for active noise-cancelling earbuds – especially if you are an iPhone user. The new H2 chip improves the pairing between different Apple devices (although it often randomly chooses my MacBook Air when I am still using it on my iPhone).

The audio quality is excellent, and the new noise-cancelling feature is impressively good, especially given they don’t have silicon tips.