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Whether you’re all about that bass or prefer to play podcasts, the latest noise-cancelling earbuds are ideal for every kind of audio – and active noise cancelling is just one of their many talents
With things getting back to something approaching normality and the good weather hopefully on its way, we’re all starting to do the things we haven’t been doing for such a long time. We’re pounding pavements, going back to the gym, commuting or exploring by bus, tube or train and maybe even travelling by aeroplane to faraway destinations.
And all of those things have a soundtrack: traffic, people, engines and other potential irritants. If you’d rather listen to your podcast than the person puffing away on the machine next to you, or hear your favourite music without a rumbling engine accompanying it, active noise cancelling earbuds can make your world sound a lot less stressful.
Noise-cancelling earbuds are a must-have unless you only listen to music or podcasts at home, and even then they’re worth having: thanks to ours we haven’t heard a peep from the kids in days. But noise-cancelling headphones aren’t all made equally. Some prioritise isolation over sound quality; others sound spectacular but don’t deliver great battery life; and some are designed to work not just with one of your devices, but all of them: Apple’s AirPods connect instantly and switch seamlessly between Apple devices, while Fast Pair on Android offers single-tap connections.
Noise-cancelling earbuds have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years, and the intense competition between manufacturers mean prices are keener than ever: at the time of writing you can get a pair of Apple-made Beats Studio Buds for £105 or a pair of Jabra Elite 75t earbuds for under £70. That’s great news for anyone on a budget: you don’t need to wade into the murky waters of no-name knock-offs to get the features you need for the price you want to pay. Even high-end headphones are more affordable than ever: Bose’s QuietComfort are often discounted below their usual £249 RRP, and Sony’s superb WF-1000XM4 earbuds can often be found for under £200.
There’s more to buying noisecancelling headphones than simply picking the most expensive pair you can afford, however. If you stick to the well-known brands it’s pretty much impossible to buy a bad pair, but it’s important to know what additional features are available and which ones will have a positive effect on your audio experience.
But first, let’s travel back in time. Noise-cancelling headphones were invented in the 1950s by Dr Lawrence Jerome Fogel, who designed systems to help pilots communicate more easily above the noise of their aircraft’s engines. The headphones incorporated a microphone to listen to the ambient sound and a small amplifier to create an inv
