I Tried Apple's AirPods 4 and the Noise Canceling Is Better Than I Expected

Over the last several months, there’s been a lot chatter about Apple releasing two — and possibly even three — new AirPods models alongside the new iPhone 16 series at its annual fall iPhone event. Well, now it’s official: Apple has unveiled two AirPods 4, both of which feature an open design and are the successor to the AirPods 3. The step-up model has active noise canceling, a feature not typically found in open earbuds.

The AirPods 4 are available for preorder now for $129 (£129, AU$219) and $179 (£179, AU$299), respectively, and ship on Sept 20.

Looking to preorder the latest Apple devices? We’re rounding up the best iPhone 16, Apple Watch Series 10 and AirPods 4 deals at launch.

apple-airpods-4-wearing — Trying out the AirPods 4’s noise canceling feature in the noisy demo room at the Apple iPhone 16 event.

David Carnoy/CNET

The AirPods 4 have been slightly redesigned to fit more ears securely. They’re slightly smaller than the AiPods 3 but slightly bigger than the AirPods 2 — they fit my ears well, but I didn’t get a chance to do anything active with them in my ears. The case is also slightly smaller than the AirPods 3’s case.

They’re equipped with USB-C charging and Apple’s more advanced H2 chip. That same chip powers the AirPods Pro 2 and enables such features as Conversation Awareness 2, Siri Interactions, Adaptive Audio, Head Gestures and Voice Isolation that are coming with iOS 18. However, only the higher-end AirPods 4 with noise canceling will support Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness because noise canceling and transparency modes are required to support those features. It’s also worth noting that the higher-end AirPods 4 have the same microphones as the AirPods Pro 2.

apple-airpods-pro-4-features — David Carnoy/CNET

Another small but notable difference between the two AirPods 4 models: The step-up model has a speaker in its case like the AirPods Pro 2 and supports charging with a Qi charging pad and the Apple Watch charging puck. The entry-level AirPods 4 don’t have wireless charging.

With both models, Apple says the sound quality has improved, thanks to a new acoustic architecture along with the more powerful digital processing capabilities of the H2 chip. I briefly listened to some music, but Apple’s demo space at the event is very noisy, and I wasn’t able to go back and forth between my AirPods 3 and the AirPods 4 to make a comparison.

Watch this: Apple Announces AirPods 4 and New AirPods Max

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I did get a chance to demo the AirPods 4’s noise canceling feature at the Apple event and was pleasantly surprised by its capabilities. It’s not on par with the noise canceling on the AirPods Pro 2, but it did noticeably muffle the sound around me and did a decent job with low frequencies. It’s certainly the best noise canceling I’ve experienced with a set of open earbuds and is better than what I heard with Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 open buds, which also feature active noise canceling.

The last few years, rumor had it that Apple was planning on releasing less expensive noise-canceling earbuds. But the AirPods 4 with active noise canceling were not what we were expecting — because noise canceling typically doesn’t work with open ear buds.

You can watch Apple’s annual event here, or follow along for updates on CNET’s live blog.