AirPods 5 review: Amazing open-style earbuds

There’s no other way to put it, but the regular AirPods just got more “pro” this year. That’s because the new AirPods 5 get a couple of features that were previously only available on the AirPods Pro. I’ll cover them in greater detail later, but the first thing you need to know about these new earbuds is that all versions of the AirPods 5 come with ANC (active noise cancellation), which also means all of Apple’s headphones now feature ANC.

Stellar ANC 

The design of the AirPods is unchanged. If the AirPods 4 fit you well, they’ll continue to do so. And if they didn’t, well, don’t expect any improvements. They fit me alright. I would certainly love for them to fit more snugly, but at least they stay in place even when I’m jogging. That said, they will come off if I brush against them accidentally, so in that sense they are certainly not as secure as the AirPods Pro, or indeed any other type of in-ear-style earbuds.

Unsurprisingly, then, passive isolation is merely okay at best. However, Apple has made some tweaks to the insides of the earbuds. This, coupled with new ANC algorithms, means that once you turn ANC on, the AirPods 5 become so quiet you cannot believe you are wearing open-style earbuds. I’d say they offer around 80% of the ANC performance of the AirPods Pro 3, and to my ears, don’t feel that far off from the ANC performance of in-ear earbuds like Sennheiser Momentum 5 or Technics EAH-AZ100. I recently used them on a flight and was amazed by how much it could cancel out the drone of the plane’s engines. Considering their open design, the ANC of these earbuds are astonishingly good. 

Of course, like all types of earbuds, how well you find the ANC is going to depend on how good a seal you can get. And in open-style earbuds, the level of variation could be even greater since there are no ear-tips to help.

Mic performance is alright. It does a good job of cutting out noise, but then you also end up sounding slightly muffled and soft.

How do they sound?

I thought the old AirPods 4 sounded good for open-style earbuds, but the AirPods 5 are discernibly better. The improvements are down to internal differences, because the drivers are unchanged. Tonally, you can hear the similarities between it and the AirPods Pro 3. The bass is elevated, the mids are quite full-sounding, and the treble is subdued in comparison.

The first thing most users will probably notice is the punchier bass response. This has long been a weakness of open-style earbuds, but the AirPods 5 manages to produce palpable low-end. The mid-range is noticeably meatier and fuller too. However, the treble could do with more spice, which could be a side effect of the less-than-ideal seal. 

It’s hard to tell how much of these improvements is down to the tuning or the significantly improved ANC – there’s less detectable background noise so you hear more clearly – but the perceivable improvements to the bass and mids should be considered a win. 

Happily, if the default tuning isn’t to your taste, iOS 27 will let you set a custom EQ. Sadly, the feature is decidedly basic because it’s only a 3-band EQ and Apple doesn’t indicate any frequency or decibel values, so you have no idea what specific frequency you are tweaking nor the amount of adjustment you are making. Even so, I found it to be adequate in getting the AirPods 5 to sound the way I want them to.

Where the AirPods 5 fall short is in their detail retrieval and resolution. There’s a slight haziness to the sound, and it’s missing texture. The soundstage is also quite closed in – though that improves when playing tracks that have been mastered in spatial audio. Apple’s implementation of spatial audio remains the best in the business, because it actually uses your facial data to generate a sound profile.

Other features

Like AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 5 also gain features like Transparency mode and Adaptive Audio. Predictably, given its open-style design, the AirPods 5 sounded natural in Transparency mode. Adaptive Audio is a mix of Transparency mode and ANC. It uses ANC to suppress loud and unwanted noises, but also lets you stay aware of your surroundings. I find this mode most useful when I’m walking outdoors. These modes were previously only available on the ANC version of the AirPods 4 – the non-ANC version did not have them.

The AirPods 5 also gets Live Translation, which continues to be quite patchy in its effectiveness. Compared to the time when it was launched a year ago, it translates noticeably quicker, but it can sometimes miss out on words if the party you are speaking to isn’t loud enough. It has potential and can be useful in some situations, but there are still kinks that need to be ironed out.  

Take note, there are still two versions

Apple still sells two versions of the AirPods 5. Both versions now have ANC, so the difference is that the pricier one comes with a wireless charging case, a slightly longer battery life, and volume controls on the earbuds’ stems. I can do without the wireless charging, but being able to adjust the volume simply by swiping up and down on the stems is a must-have. 

The longer battery life is useful too, because the standard AirPods 5 only last 4 hours on a single charge. The pricier ones can do up to 5 hours, which is still short by today’s standards. With the charging case, you should be able to get over 20 hours in total. During my time with the pricier version, I found them to be good for about two movies back to back, after which you’ll hear the low battery warning. And as for the charging case, I found that I had to recharge after three or four days at the office.

What’s most curious is that the price difference between the two AirPods 5 versions is just S$20. When even the cheaper one already costs S$199, why won’t you pay S$20 more for the better one? Speaking of which, keen readers will probably notice that the AirPods’ starting price hasn’t changed – it’s still S$199. However, the premium version is now just S$219. If you remember, the ANC version of the AirPods 4 was S$249.

Final thoughts and buying advice

What’s most impressive about the AirPods 5 is the margin by which they improve upon their predecessors. The AirPods 4 was already a remarkable achievement for open-style earbuds, but the AirPods 5 manages to improve upon them in very noticeable ways.

So if you already have AirPods 4 but feel like they are getting long in the tooth, or are suffering from battery issues because of extensive use, the AirPods 5 will be a very nice upgrade. For anyone else who prefers the comfort of open-style earbuds, the AirPods 5 are a great choice too.

That said, with prices starting at S$199, there are certainly more affordable open-style earbuds. But when you consider what the AirPods 5 offer, it’s hard to come away with any conclusion other than these are the best open-style earbuds you can buy if you are an iPhone user. 

Note: You can find the AirPods 5 on Lazada, Shopee, and the Apple Online Store.