On the lookout for your next pair of earbuds? Now’s a great time to upgrade to Apple’s fourth-generation AirPods as Amazon has dropped the price for both versions, that with active noise cancellation and that without. Each of the Apple AirPods 4 are 23% off. That takes the price down from $129 to just $100 for the standard set, while the set with noise cancelling support has dropped from $179 to just $149. You’ll be saving as much as 23% for a limited time.
Now that we are four generations into Apple’s flagship wireless earbuds, the improvements are more subtle but still can make a significant difference to the user.
In terms of appearance, the Apple AirPods 4 don’t look especially all that different from its predecessor model. If you put them side by side with the AirPods 3, you’ll notice the new version has a shorter stem than previously. The aim of this change is to give them better balance of weight distribution in order to keep them more securely in place when worn. They also look a fair bit sleeker, but that is a matter of opinion I suppose. The new stem is still equipped with all the touch functionality for pausing, playing, or skipping a song as it had before on the last pair of AirPods.
Improved Sound and Vocal Clarity
Under the hood, the old chip has been replaced with the all new H2 processor. Because of this upgrade, you can expect the AirPods 4 to be able to produce better sound quality whether you’re listening to a favorite, song, podcast, audiobook, or your friend or colleague’s voice over a phone call taken with the earbuds. The new chipset is attuned at removing distracting background noises from phone calls in order to isolate your voice from the sounds of nearby traffic, chatter, or wind. This way anyone on the other end of your phone call will be able to hear you and only you.
On the music-listening side of things, the H2 processor is able to help produce fuller sound with better performance thanks to an all-new acoustic architecture. You’ll get better clarity out of the higher frequencies and bass alike when compared with the predecessor model.
Siri has gotten an upgrade. Apple’s voice assistant still does everything it could before but now it also supports a series of gesture-based controls. If Siri asks you a question that demands a response, you don’t have to speak your answer. The Apple AirPods 4 can detect if you are shaking your head, “no,” or nodding it, “yes,” to respond.