The fourth generation AirPods, or the AirPods 4, continue the maxim of Apple’s product line pushing up against the next senior-most product in its realm. So for the AirPods 4, it is the AirPods Pro 2 which are darned hard to beat as they are basically class-leading TWS buds which are much loved by their audience. But Apple has done it again as I managed to try out the new AirPods 4 in the loud and packed Steve Jobs Theatre at Apple Park.
Firstly, the audio quality alone has taken a leap for the better because of the new acoustic chamber. Then there is the little addition of active noise cancellation on a design that doesn’t have ear tips. This combination is going to be loved by many because the bud-less design is the common lowest denominator in terms of fit for most people and non-intrusive as there are no ear tip poking into your ears.
The fact that Apple was able to pull off noise cancellation was alone an extreme feature of engineering, but then the fact it was able to drown out the sound of the loud crowd at the Steve Jobs Theatre demo zone was just exceptionally good. Apple says things would be even better with the AirPods Pro 2 thanks to the ear tips that add another layer of airtightness — but this is going to be good enough for most.
Even with ANC on, these TWS earphones sounded really nice with deep bass on the two songs I heard and crisp mids. In fact, it is the mid-range that Apple has focused on to drown out the noise which worked well at Apple Park. Apple has added the H2 chip here which enables the adaptive audio, the ingenious transparency mode, and conversational awareness, all features which make the AirPods 4 the smartest game in TWS town.
The fact that they added the H2 chip here and not added it on the AirPods Max USB Type C just befuddles me. It makes no sense.
The charging case is tiny and cute — seamlessly fitting in my pocket almost as discreetly as the Beats Buds. They also allow for decent battery life — 30 hours with the charging case that supports Type C charging and 5 hours with active noise cancellation and 6 hours without it.
And they come in twin flavors as they can be had just Rs 12,900 if you don’t want active noise cancellation, which will really ruin things for products like the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 since we are talking about the big daddy of all TWS’ and Rs 17,900 for the ones with active noise cancellation. Seriously, Apple has lowered the barrier so much to AirPods now that Android users will also be looking towards them because they are cool, functional, and even though they aren’t really optimized for the OS, they can do the job.
AirPods Pro 2 users will also get a huge update propelled by Apple’s advances in machine learning as it will be transformed into a hearing aid soon pending FDA approval, building on top of the gains it has made with the transparency mode and adaptive audio.
The AirPods Max, well, they just get pretty new colours and Type C connectivity, which also doesn’t add support for lossless audio, which is just plain strange and ridiculous considering they cost Rs 59,900.
But who knows, there may be an AirPods Pro Max on the way, which will have a new chip and all these new features.
