How does the sound quality of AirPods 4 compare to other Apple earbuds?

Question

I have a keen interest in the audio performance of AirPods 4. How does their sound quality compare with other Apple earphones in the category?

Answer 1

The sound performance of the AirPods 4 is quite satisfactory even though they do not have rubber or silicone tips. With respect to the AirPods 3, the Airpods 4 tend to have an increased focus on the lows which may be due to new or better fitting drivers. While they don’t beat the performance of the Airpods Pro 2 in the low end, there is a noticeable improvement from the Airpods 3. Of course, auditory perception is quite individual and is impacted by the customer fit into the ear canal.

Comments

I cant stop but think how good of a review this is, literally answered every question I had, like i hated the fit of 3rd gen but liked fit of 2nd. Compared ANC, compared mics, compared how good it is compared with pros, the difference with the cases. Literally everything that matters without any rambling about stuff no one cares about but youtubers. Its weird how some youtubers obcess about stuff that no one cares about, not dave. And its all one shot idk how he does that

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This is the type of review I expected from MKBHD. He didn’t really go in depth with audio he kind of just summarized the features which was meh. You did a fantastic job summarizing this product!!!❤ I purchased the AirPods 4 thanks to your in-depth review

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5:03 I don’t like how reviewers will tout how much something like bass is improved in a generation then trash it looking back in the next generation. Every reviewer was praising the enhanced bass of the 3’s and now we’re saying it wasn’t even there at all?

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I loved the way the 3s felt as far as fit. The bass on the 4s muffles the mids/treble unless you turn spacial audio on.

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Coming from the 2019 AirPods, these AirPods 4 are astonishingly good. Watching movies with these in sounds freakin crazy good

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You do a good job of comparing the AirPods. This is a good review. I like that you actually think about what people want to know instead of mindlessly recording a review that tells us nothing

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Compare them to the Galaxy buds 3. Same open ear design with ANC.

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Kudos man ! Watched almost most of the top YouTubers review and you are the only one who gave more importance for the music quality that the new AirPods produce. Good job ! A much needed one for me

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A quick way to test sound quality is to gently press each ear bud into your ears - enjoy the resulting solid sound.  Then let them go and wait for them to get naturally pushed slightly out of your ear as your ear canal relaxes. The sound quality drops off. How much it drops off depends how much they loosened up.  (This is not a terrible thing - even my silicone tipped earbuds need to be periodically set in my ear. The big question is whether the 4 ANC “equalize on the fly”.  The same on board sampling used for noise reduction can potentially be used for equalization as well. The flip side is that I think but cannot confirm that ANC flies out the window, as would any equalization, if the rigors of low latency are imposed. The sheer comfort of looser fitting hard shells in low latency mode makes them ideal for gaming.

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description is wrong : My review of Apple AirPods 4 versus AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

There is no pro 3

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great comparison, thanks for bringing back all those older products for those of us looking to upgrade

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Finally someone compared them to 2nd gen. Thank you

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Wow the sound difference with the airpods 4 is sooo good. I had ordered the airpods 4 with ANC so glad to see its really good mic quality.