Apple Finally Gets Into The ANC Game With The AirPods Pro

Written by Cheryl Tan

Credit: Apple

Granted, there aren’t that many true wireless earbuds in the market with active noise cancellation (ANC), but Apple has finally got one foot into the market now with their new AirPods Pro.

That’s not all that’s new though, Apple has finally changed the design of the earbuds and users will now be able to choose between different sizes of silicone tips to ensure a better fit. This not only helps with the fit but will also determine how well the earbuds passively isolate external noise.

There’s also Transparency mode which will allow the user to listen to their music while piping in external noise, which is extremely useful for staying aware of traffic or other obstacles while out and about, on a run for example.

The ANC uses two microphones, one outward-facing and one inward-facing, to determine and cancel out environmental noise. This noise cancellation is apparently adjusted 200 times per second, and I’m definitely excited to try these out to see how they stand up to other ANC earbuds.

Credit: Apple

The AirPods Pro claim up to 4.5 hours of listening time with ANC on and 5 hours with ANC off, which isn’t fantastic but is almost comparable with Sony’s WF-1000XM3. With additional charges from the charging case, the AirPods Pro come up to around 24 hours of listening time.

We’ll be testing these in a more comprehensive review when we get our hands on them, but for now, the AirPods Pro can be purchased on Apple’s website or in Apple stores.