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There\u2019s no other way to put it, but the regular AirPods just got more \u201cpro\u201d this year. That\u2019s because the new AirPods 5 get a couple of features that were previously only available on the AirPods Pro. I\u2019ll 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\u2019s headphones now feature ANC.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nArticle jumplist<\/p>\n
<\/default:svg><\/button><\/p>\n\n1. Stellar ANC\u00a0<\/li>\n 2. How do they sound?<\/li>\n 3. Other features<\/li>\n 4. Take note, there are still two versions<\/li>\n 5. Final thoughts and buying advice<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/section>\nStellar ANC\u00a0<\/h2>\n\nThe shape of the earbuds is unchanged.<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The design of the AirPods is unchanged. If the AirPods 4 fit you well, they\u2019ll continue to do so. And if they didn\u2019t, well, don\u2019t 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\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n
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<\/b>. I\u2019d say they offer around 80% of the ANC performance of the AirPods Pro 3, and to my ears, don\u2019t 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\u2019s engines. Considering their open design, the ANC of these earbuds are astonishingly good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mic performance is alright. It does a good job of cutting out noise, but then you also end up sounding slightly muffled and soft.<\/p>\n
How do they sound?<\/h2>\n\nThe driver is the same, but Apple has made changes to the housing to improve the frequency response.<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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<\/b>. The bass is elevated, the mids are quite full-sounding, and the treble is subdued in comparison.<\/p>\n
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<\/b>. 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to tell how much of these improvements is down to the tuning or the significantly improved ANC \u2013 there\u2019s less detectable background noise so you hear more clearly \u2013 but the perceivable improvements to the bass and mids should be considered a win.\u00a0<\/p>\n\niOS 27 will finally let users apply a custom EQ to their AirPods.<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Happily, if the default tuning isn\u2019t to your taste,\u00a0iOS 27 will let you set a custom EQ<\/b>. Sadly, the feature is decidedly basic because it\u2019s only a 3-band EQ and Apple doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Where the AirPods 5 fall short is in their detail retrieval and resolution. There\u2019s a slight haziness to the sound, and it\u2019s missing texture. The soundstage is also quite closed in \u2013 though that improves when playing tracks that have been mastered in spatial audio. Apple\u2019s implementation of spatial audio remains the best in the business, because it actually uses your facial data to generate a sound profile.<\/p>\n