I just got out of the Apple event where Apple introduced two new AirPods for earbuds, along with some cosmetic enhancements to the AirPods Max. I'm going to concentrate on those AirPods 4 models, one of which has active noise cancelling. I did get a chance to try that active noise cancelling out. Let's go do this. All right, so there's a little bit of confusion about the two AirPods 4 models because they both have the new H2 chip, and they both have the same design. They're a little bit smaller than AirPods 3. They also have a slightly smaller case. They cost $129 for the entry-level model and $179 for the model with active noise cancelling. Now, the way to look at the AirPods 4 with active noise cancelling is to look at them as the AirPods Pro 2 with an open ear design. So, the AirPods 4 with active noise cancelling, for instance, because it has noise cancelling, it can do that conversation awareness.

mode it kicks in a transparency mode. Um, and it also has adaptive audio. Now, the entry-level AirPods 4 don't have those features. The other feature that the AirPods 4 with active noise cancelling has is a little bit better case. The case has a speaker in it, um, that emits a noise, uh, so that if you lose the case, it can emit the noise and make it easier to find. The other feature the case has is that not only does it have wireless charging with uh, chi pads, but it also can be charged with the Apple Watch charging pad. Now, of course, both AirPods 4 cases do have USBC charging instead of lightning charging. That's a feature that's going to be in all new AirPods going forward. In terms of the design of the AirPods, they, as I said, they're a little bit smaller, so they're kind of in between the AirPods 2 and the AirPods 3, and that means, in theory, that they'll fit probably more ears better. A lot of

people uh didn't like the AirPods 3 because they just couldn't fit smaller ears. I'll finish by talking about active noise cancelling in those AirPods 4 with active noise cancelling. I did get a chance to try it on the floor, and I was pretty impressed because I've never heard open earbuds actually able to do active noise cancelling. All right, so we've engaged in noise cancelling here, obviously a very noisy room, and it definitely does work. Um, it's better at canceling out lower frequencies. I still hear the music, and it's not going to be quite as good as the AirPods Pro 2, but it's impressive that it can tamp down the for an open earbud. That it's a rare thing. It does a decent job with lower frequency, so not the frequency range that the AirPods Pro 2 can do with noise cancelling. Not quite as strong. The idea is that you'd have some, you know, an air conditioning unit in the background or some low um drone noise in the

background and the buds would tamp that noise down. As for battery life, both AirPods 4 models have up to 5 hours of battery life with noise cancelling off. Obviously, the entry-level model doesn't have noise cancelling, but the AirPods 4 with noise cancelling would get up to 4 hours with noise cancelling on. So, Apple hasn't really improved the battery life performance on these compared to the previous model. Now, if you're wondering whether it's worth buying the entry-level model versus the high-end model, it's obviously a $50 difference. See how that all shakes out for street prices, but I do think for a lot of people, it will be worth getting the noise cancelling feature. Unfortunately, the new AirPods Max are not the AirPods Max 2 that we were hoping for. They might have the H2 chip in it and some other new features. These new AirPods Max just have USBC charging and some new color options, a new blue color for instance, kind of a peach color that

I liked, but nothing new from a features and performance standpoint. They're really just cosmetic changes. So, I'm here with the new color options for the AirPods Max. As I said before, there's really only USB-C been added instead of lightning. No new H2 chip. They're still $549. But check out these new colors. I'm David Conor for cnet.com. Thanks for watching.

AirPods 4 and AirPods Max: Hands-On

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