Transcript
by Josh Teder
I’ve owned a pair of the AirPods Pro Gen 2 for well over 6 months, and now that the new AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation has been out for a bit, I’m going to take you through which one of these buds I think is the better buy.
Noise Cancellation Comparison
Let’s start with the AirPods Pro and its first advantage: noise cancellation. Even though, yes, the new AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation are pretty impressive with the amount of noise cancellation they get you (given their design without creating a seal in your ear), the AirPods Pro are still a good bit better. Though they’re not perfect either, the AirPods Pro’s silicone tips help create a seal within your ear canal, and that helps them block out a greater range of frequencies, especially lower frequencies like the rumble of a jet engine.
Real-World Performance
The ANC on the AirPods 4 is there so you can still hear your podcast or music while walking through a busy park or street, but on recent walks I’ve taken, these couldn’t block out sounds like kids screaming in the background or cars going by as well as the AirPods Pro. Also, when out and about, I notice way more wind noise with the AirPods 4 versus the Pros. That seal that the Pros create also helps give them better bass performance, but overall, it’s just easier to hear all of the detail in your music because of that noise cancellation, especially if you have a lot of background noise.
Sound Quality
The AirPods 4 have an excellent clear sound. In terms of bass, I’d say it’s probably a bit more punchy even than bass sounds on the AirPods Pro. You notice it more in the low to mids, but that’s also likely because these just cannot create the really low-frequency bass that the AirPods Pro can. The sound stage is also a bit less wide than the AirPods Pro, and overall, I prefer the sound signature of the Pros – it’s a bit richer and more balanced than the AirPods 4.
Battery Life
When it comes to battery life, there is a clear difference. The Pros give you up to 6 hours of listening time on a single charge with Active Noise Cancellation enabled. The AirPods 4 has up to 5 hours of listening time on a single charge and also have 30 hours of total listening time with their case.
Microphone Test
So how about their mics – how do they sound? Well, let’s do a quick mic test. “This is a mic test for the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. This is how their mics sound, and I do have a little bit of background noise as well. I’ve got my bathroom fan going after I took a shower, and I’ve got the hum of a hard drive on my desk here, so there’s a little bit of noise, but this is generally how they’re going to sound in this situation.”
Microphone Comparison
“And these are the AirPods Pro – this is how their mics sound. The background noise is the exact same as I had with the AirPods 4, and overall, when you listen to yourself talk while you’re recording something like this, to me they both sound similar – I can still hear my voice fine.”
When I listen back to the audio from both of these buds, overall I thought the AirPods Pro sounded a bit more clear, and their audio had less distortion than the AirPods 4. If you agreed with that or you heard something different, definitely let me know in the comments.
Exclusive Features of AirPods Pro
The AirPods Pro also have some exclusive features worth highlighting: you can adjust their volume by swiping up and down their stems, they can automatically reduce the intensity of sudden loud noises, boost conversations by amplifying the voice of the person directly in front of you, and play calming ambient sounds to block unwanted noises around you. They can even be used as a clinical-grade hearing aid. You can take a hearing test now on your iPhone, and depending on the results of that test, you can use these as hearing aids to amplify specific frequencies of sounds around you, and you can also do things like amplify voices so you can hear better.
AirPods 4 Advantages
Now let’s take a look at where the AirPods 4 stand out and their first advantage: their open-ear design. If you don’t like the feeling of having silicone tips in your ear canals, or you just generally don’t like the fit of the AirPods Pro, and you want something that fits more like the original AirPods or the wired earbuds that Apple still makes, these fit much more like those. I barely notice they’re in my ears – they don’t feel like I’m wearing anything at all, very similar to how the old original AirPods felt.
Price Comparison
Price is another advantage for the AirPods 4 – they start at $179 US for the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation versus $249 for the AirPods Pro Second Gen. However, you can often find the AirPods Pro Gen 2 on sale, sometimes within $10 to $20 of the price of the AirPods 4. To check and see if either pair of earbuds is on sale, check out the product cards below, which displays live prices, and links to multiple retailers for easy comparison shopping. Any time you want to see what’s on sale and search all of the tech we recommend, you can now do that at 6MonthsLater.net/shop.
Case Design
Another advantage the AirPods 4 have is their case – it’s notably smaller, roughly 177% narrower than the AirPods Pro case and about 36% lighter too, making it even more pocketable.
Common Drawbacks
Now, are there downsides to both models? Yes – the cases are slippery and quickly fall out of pockets, and they get scratched easily. They also only work well within Apple’s ecosystem. Apple doesn’t have a web app like the one Google made for the Pixel Buds that allows you to change their settings from a wide variety of devices. Neither pair has a customizable EQ, so you are stuck with the sound signature that Apple has tuned these to. For me, that has not been an issue at all – I think these have sounded great for the types of music that I listen to, and the genres I listen to most of the time are not very bass-heavy. If you like a lot of bass in the sound signature of your buds, you might not find the EQ here adequate for you.
Additional Considerations
Another downside I want to point out is, given how the AirPods 4 will sit in your ear, you’ll likely encounter some earwax buildup around and on the speaker grill part, which will be more of a pain to clean than the buildup you often see on the silicone tips of the AirPods Pro.
Shared Features
So those are the downsides. Now, are there some common features between these two buds that you should know about? Yes – both have cases that are capable of wireless charging. Now you’ll see in Apple’s comparison that the AirPods Pro Gen 2 specifically have what’s called a MagSafe charging case. All that means is they’ll magnetically attach to a MagSafe charger like the ones for the iPhone. However, the AirPods 4 case can charge via the larger MagSafe charger as well – it just won’t attach to it magnetically, and both will also work on your Apple Watch charger.
Audio Features
Both buds support Spatial Audio for playing stuff off an Apple TV, though the AirPods Pro are going to sound a lot better in that situation. Both buds also have automatic device switching and can trigger Apple’s assistant hands-free.
Final Recommendation
So which of these do I think you should get? If it were for me, I’d go for the AirPods Pro because of their better noise cancellation and sound, slightly better battery life, and because they have volume controls on the stems. The only people that I think should go for the AirPods 4 over the Pros are those who do not like the fit of the AirPods Pro, want AirPods, and are okay having a little bit of sound leak in with whatever they’re listening to.
Featured Products
If you buy something from a link, 6 Months Later may earn a commission. See our ethics policy.
