Sony WF-C510: Two-minute review

Sony is one of the biggest players in the audio market but its focus has always seemed to lean towards the elite, top-quality premium earbuds or over-ears market. The Japanese tech giant doesn’t need to break a sweat to keep on top of the best budget earbuds market though, if the new Sony WF-C510 are anything to go by.

The company’s follow-up to 2021’s Sony WF-C500, and a newer and more affordable alterative to the top-rated WF-C700N, these new earbuds come at a time when there’s more and more competition at the low-end of the market. I’d name some competitors but I don’t really need to – not when Sony’s offerings are this good.

In fact, I think the WF-C510 could draw some fans away from the top-end Sony WF-1000XM5 and the new sans-ANC entry-level AirPods 4. Who needs to pay double, triple or even quadruple the price when cheap and cheery gets you this far?

I really liked the sound of the new Sonys; I prefer sound that prioritizes clean treble over thumping bass, and so the Sony WF-C510 tick all my boxes and then some. Home-brewed Sony algorithms and a reasonably responsive equalizer just add to my enjoyment of the audio.

The design is stellar too – the buds stuck in my ears like the Abba songs they played stayed stuck in my head. Thanks to the nice grippy material used for the tips, and each earpiece weighing less than 5g, never once did a bud fall from my ears. I even cycled confidently with them and completed a full workout at the gym without gravity doing its thing to them.

This lightweight design extends to the case too, which is tiny and can easily disappear into a pocket. Unfortunately this does contribute to one of my gripes: the case only offers 11 hours of extra listening time, which is much less than basically any rival on the market.

That’s extra listening time over what the buds offer by default, but contrarily you can go 11 hours with these without needing to return them to the case. This is a fantastic amount of listening time, and the WF-C510 would be my first port of call over pricier rivals for long trips.

Part of the reason for this long battery life is that the Sonys don’t have ANC (Active Noise Cancellation), which is something I can’t knock the buds for as it’s a feature that’s never guaranteed at this price. Instead, they have an ambient mode which is pretty commonplace in wireless earbuds, but it’s only useful in certain situations so I didn’t use it much.

Noise cancellation isn’t the only feature that the WF-C510s lack: wear detection, low-latency mode, 'find my' locaters and a few other more premium perks don’t rear their heads here. Again, the price justifies this, but it’s something I’d be remiss not to flag – if you’ve got a certain mode or feature you love to use, you’d better check that the Sonys offer it.

Given that this is a two-minute review, I probably don’t have time to go into lots of detail about the other great parts of the Sony WF-C510, but between the responsive and easy-to-use touch buttons, the useful eartip fit test, the range of color options and the audio avoiding all the pitfalls I usually see in budget earbuds, I feel comfortable recommending these over some of the much pricier competitors I’ve tested this year.

Sony WF-C510 review: Price and release date

• Released in September 2024
• Cost $59.99 / £54.99 / AU$109

The Sony WF-C510 were released in September 2024 as the new entries in Sony’s WF-C line of low-cost earbuds.

You can pick them up for $59.99 / £54.99 / AU$109, and at that price point they’re in contention with our list of the best cheap earbuds. In fact, as of their launch, they’re Sony’s cheapest true wireless earbuds, drastically undercutting the $119 / £89 / AU$199 WF-C700N (which we gave five stars to in our review). The WF-C500 aren’t officially ranged by Sony any more, but they launched for $99 / £89 / AU$149 three years ago, and have seen price cuts from third-party retailers since.

The cheap earbuds market is a competitive one, with fresh competitors hitting the market all the time; in the months before this Sony proposition I've also tested the likes of the Earfun Air Pro 4 and CMF Buds Pro 2 for the same price. And the WF-C510 is my pick of the bunch. 

Sony WF-C510 review: Specs

Sony WF-C510 review: Features

• In-bud battery life is great – but the case less so
• No ANC, but there is 'sound control'
• Headphones app brings some extra features

Something I both love and hate about the Sony WF-C510 is the battery life. 

The buds themselves have a fantastic battery life: 8 hours with sound control on, and 11 hours with it off, makes these Sonys some of the longest-lasting earbuds I’ve tested recently. However, the case itself only offers one extra charge-up, while basically all others on the market give you at least two extra charges. As a result, these buds gave me more battery anxiety on trips than most others I’ve tested.

That 11-hour figure is Sony's. In my testing, with sound control turned off, the right bud lasted for 10 hours and 42 minutes, while the left one was still somehow blasting out music 40 minutes later when my phone ran out of charge. Gaping inconsistency aside, that averages over 11 hours, so I'll concur with Sony's estimate.

Audio fans might be wondering why I’ve referred to ‘sound control’ and not active noise cancellation – this is because the Sonys don’t have ANC, but do offer noise cancellation in the form of an ‘Ambient Sound Control’ mode. This amplifies sounds around you, so you can be aware of what’s going on regardless of how much noise would otherwise be drowned out by your music. It’s a fine mode, with results that are more subtle and nuanced than the similar equivalent that many rival earbuds have, but ambient modes are generally quite situational so I didn’t find myself using it a whole lot.

Of course, ambient noise control isn’t the same as noise cancellation – it’s ANC you may want at home – but the passive noise cancellation offered by the ear-tips was enough to make me happy.

For the rest of the feature set we’re going to have to boot up Sony’s Headphones app, which, while a great addition at this level, has a logo so generic that I kept losing it on my phone’s menu.

Using said Headphones app, you can see the battery life of the earbuds, arrange which devices they’re connected to (up to two – yes, there's multi-point), toggle ambient mode off or on to a variety of intensities, play with an equalizer (including a test to find the best preset for you, and another to detect which eartips are best for you), set up 360 Reality Audio (Sony’s version of spatial audio), change what the buttons do, and enable Spotify Tap which basically makes Spotify play by default.

The equalizer gives you quite a few presets, with the ability to modify them too, and lots of the rest is par for the course. However, I found the EQ test quite confusing – unlike Nothing Ear’s fantastic automatic detection test, you basically have to ‘blind test’ some presets to see which you prefer. I found the difference between many of them inaudible, and sometimes I liked two equally. Ultimately, the mode is fine for people who know the sound they want (or the parts of recordings they usually augment), but for everyone else it’s perhaps not worth bothering with, although it does add value at this level.

Beyond ANC, there are a few features not present in the WF-C510 that some might miss, although I can’t hold these cheap buds to blame given the price. The major one is wear detection, so you have to pause music manually when you remove the buds. There’s also no low-latency mode which is quite common even amongst cheap buds, or any kind of ‘find my buds’ feature.

Another thing I should note, which is a problem I’ve had with other Sony audio products too, is that by default the volume sounds incredibly low – even when it shouldn’t. It’s because there’s a volume slider in the app, separate to your phone’s one, which I’d recommend you immediately raise to near-full intensity and rely on your phone’s volume rocker for control. The first time I used Sony headphones I thought they were incredibly quiet until I noticed this feature – what I should also note is that the in-app volume resets to 50% if you pair the earphones to a different device and then back to your phone, so you’ll need to rectify it manually. This is an irksome feature for people who are unaware, but even for those of us who’ve been using them for years, it’s an unnecessary extra step that most other earbuds don’t require.

• Features score: 3.5/5

Sony WF-C510 review: Design

• Incredibly lightweight case
• Buds fit nice and snug – and don't budge
• Convenient-to-use physical button

The Sony WF-C510 charging case is lovely and svelte – it’s one of my favorite cases for slipping into my pocket or bag. 

A lozenge-shaped slither of plastic, it measures about 6.8 x 2.7 x 3.1 cm (all my measurements – I couldn’t find any on the Sony website) and weighs “approx” 31g (that’s Sony’s exact wording). Vague measurements aside, it’s really slender, with basically enough space for the buds and not much excess (which is probably why it doesn’t provide much charge!). Main points to note here are the USB-C port for charging, a small button for pairing and an LED status indicator. All par for the course, really.

I liked the textured plastic case, but I can see some finding it a bit cheap-feeling, and it does creak a little if you put pressure on it. That’s the trade-off with its light build.

The buds are equally light, weighing 4.6g each. At least Sony has an exact measurement for that! They’re in-ear buds so this particular figure is really important, as heavy in-ear buds (or those that aren't shaped carefully to distribute said weight) sometimes have trouble staying in the ear.

No issue for the Sonys though: they always felt rigid in my testing, never once falling out or even feeling loose. The box includes larger and smaller alternatives, with the app having an ear fit test, if the default tips don’t fit. 

The fact that they fit and stay securely in my ears sounds simple enough, but so many competing options at double the price can't seem to do it. If you want cheap earbuds that don't budge and sound good, the Sony WF-C510 are it. 

There are a few color options for the aspiring fashionistas out there: black and white are pretty standard, but there’s also light blue and light yellow. The latter hue is modelled by me in the pictures.

One feature of note on the WF-C510s is a button on each bud – it’s quite big, and takes up most of the body of each. It’s a physical button, meaning you have to actually depress it to trigger it, but I found it sensitive enough that it was easy to use. The size also ensures that you don’t have to keep jabbing at the bud, and shoving it into your ear, to trigger the function (which is customizable in the app).

In terms of waterproofing, the buds are IPX4 resistant to water, which means they’ll survive splashes from any angle, but not jets. That’s what the rating stands for but in real life the difference between ‘splashes’ and ‘jets’ isn’t always apparent so I’d recommend doing your best to keep these away from anything wetter than rain or sweat.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Sony WF-C510 review: Sound quality

• Bright sound; some might miss bass
• High-quality given price
• DSEE improves compressed music

I really like the sound of the Sony WF-C510s – obviously you have to set your expectations to a certain level with low-cost earbuds, but I found the audio high-quality and also certainly distinct in that Sony, "have this sound, and have it good and clear" way.

This is possibly thanks, at least in part, to Sony’s DSEE, which stands for digital sound enhancement engine – basically it’s tech that restores the range of the compressed audio tracks you’re playing from your chosen streaming service. It gives Sony earbuds, including the WF-C510, an edge over similar alternatives, as long as you remember to turn it on via the app.

The driver itself is a 6mm unit, so not necessarily as big as some similar-priced alternatives, but bigger than the more expensive WF-C700N.

The Sony WF-C510s have a slightly forward sound profile (and I say this as a compliment rather than a shortfall), offering clear and pronounced treble sounds like your guitars, vocals and piano parts. This is great for some genres of music, and I enjoyed listening to songs with prominent and distinct vocal lines that were beamed into my ears.

The flip side is that you can’t feel the bass quite as much in certain genres of music, which might be an issue for people who like their bass thumping to their back teeth. You can rectify it to a degree using the in-app equalizer, but not quite enough to please bass-heads.

I was surprised by the lack of peaking or distortion at normal listening volumes, and I had to really push the buds to a painfully-loud volume to hear any crackling, muddying or artefacts.

• Sound quality: 4.5/5

Sony WF-C510 review: Value

• Look at the price
• Seriously, look at it

I’d consider the Sony WF-C510 great value for money even if the audio was only ‘fine’. It’s not, though, and fans of Sony's typical sound profile (that's most of us) will really love what they’re getting here.

If you’re being offered the Sonys as a gift or bundled with another Sony product, you might think you’re just getting some cheap buds thrown in to sweeten the deal, but trust me when I say these are better than their lowly price suggests.

• Value: 5/5

Should I buy the Sony WF-C510?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Sony WF-C510 review: Also consider

How I tested the Sony WF-C510

• Tested for two weeks
• Tested at home, in the office and on trips

The Sony WF-C510 enjoyed two weeks of listening time for this review, and as mentioned earlier I've tested a string of their closest rivals recently, which helped with the comparisons.

I tested the buds while they were paired to my Android smartphone, and I connected them to a different mobile to test multi-point pairing. Mostly I listened to music with Spotify but to fully test the buds I also tried other apps including games and streaming services. Testing was done at home, in the office and on various trips around my city, including walks in the park and gym excursions.

I've been testing gadgets at TechRadar for over five years now, and in that time have used plenty of budget earbuds and other Sony products. Outside of reviewing headphones, my trusty Sony WH-1000XM3 are my go-to headphones so I'm well versed in Sony's audio products and software.

• First reviewed in September 2024

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation: Two-Minute Review

When they're in the ear, at first glance the Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation might not look much different to the third-generation AirPods. However, the design has been streamlined for a better fit, while the internal hardware has been upgraded, with many of the best features of AirPods Pro 2 trickling down to Apple's new entry-level earbuds, making them a tempting option among the best AirPods.

For one, both styles of AirPods 4 – these and the standard version, which don’t offer noise cancellation – are powered by the Apple-made H2 chip that stretches the battery life, delivers excellent audio playback, and provides enough horsepower for Apple to offer Adaptive Audio on the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. 

While it doesn't entirely block out the world around you in the way that the best noise cancelling earbuds do – remember these are open-ear earbuds – when paired with music, it can reduce loud rumbles, like a jet engine, down to a drastically reduced sound. 

I think folks who desire the ability to block out the world around them without fully sealing off the ear will find a nice middle ground here. The Transparency mode, as well as how these pick up the user's voice, is very well done and sounds incredibly natural.

You'll also be able to answer or decline calls with a shake of your head and press the stems for easy control, other than for adjusting the volume. Sadly, the ability to swipe to change the volume didn't trickle down from AirPods Pro 2. However, excellent audio quality with a wide soundstage did, and that's paired with support for Personalized Spatial Audio. 

Overall, the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation make a bit more sense over the entry-level for the price and provide some future-proofing, but they also make an impact as powerful open-ear earbuds.

Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation review: Pricing and Availability

The Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation are priced at $179 / £179 / AU$299. They're available from September 20th, 2024, though are available to order already. 

The $129 / £129 / AU$219 entry-level AirPods 4 do not offer noise cancellation, or, as their pricier siblings do, a Find My-enabled case and a couple of other features, but they still offer excellent audio quality and spatial audio support.

Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation review: Specs

Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation review: Features

Much like the AirPods Pro 2nd Generation, AirPods Max, or even the third-generation model that they replace, the AirPods 4 – with or without active noise cancellation – offer several useful features, which make them an excellent choice for anyone with an iPhone, or who’s otherwise invested in Apple’s device ecosystem.

After unboxing, you need to flip the lid open and hold the AirPods 4 near your iPhone to start the pairing process. You’ll see a prompt appear on the bottom half of your screen and can click ‘Connect’ to pair the AirPods 4 with your iPhone and your iCloud account for easy syncing between devices. I found that this process took just a few seconds to complete. 

Fast-pairing and quick switching between devices have long been staples of AirPods, with the former dating back to the first generation, and they perform well here. Right after pairing, I was able to begin listening on my iPhone, and I could quickly switch to listening to audio on a 14-inch MacBook Pro or an iPad. Apple’s various platforms will even automatically switch your AirPods between devices based on what you’re actively using or playing audio on,, but I found this to be a little less helpful. 

One very helpful feature here, though, is the arrival of gesture controls. First announced as an upgrade for the AirPods Pro 2nd Generation at Apple’s WWDC in June, these head gestures launch on day one with AirPods 4, allowing you to easily answer or dismiss a call with a simple head shake. Just in my few days of using the AirPods 4 this has come in handy several times, especially when my hands are full or I’m walking around town. It works for phone calls, FaceTime, and other calling apps that use Apple’s APIs.

Aside from nodding your head or saying “yes” or “no”, you can also press the stems, or press and hold, to trigger a few actions. A single press lets you play or pause, while a long press lets you select listening modes. While these open-ear earbuds won’t fully isolate you from your surroundings, the AirPods 4 offer active noise cancellation, transparency, and Adaptive Audio (blending those two) modes. You cannot, however, swipe or down on the stem to adjust the volume – the ability to do this on the AirPods Pro is super-handy, but seemingly, Apple wants to keep that feature for its flagship earbuds.

Apple’s H2 chip – the same chip found in AirPods Pro – powers all of these features, as well as the microphones, custom algorithms, and sensors. As I wrote in my hands-on review, after I tried the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation right after the launch event to quiet down a noisy space, they offer seriously impressive noise cancellation for open-ear earbuds or buds that don’t fully seal off the ear. In that space, with ANC engaged, the sound of the crowded space was muffled, and when music playback began, it was mostly quieted down.

On an airplane, it was much the same experience – you can get some peace and quiet with them, but they won't fully drown out the environmental noise as the AirPods Pro can. Part of this might be due to the fact that your body is feeling vibrations and wants to match them with sound, but I think another factor is that without the full seal and as you move your head, ambient sound has more opportunity to enter your ear. The result is that AirPods 4 block out most sound, but on an airplane – or a train – you’ll still hear the engine roar and even some cabin noise. Still, though, these effectively block out a lot of noise.

I’ve long thought that the AirPods Pro offered the best transparency mode, in which they intelligently let environmental sounds in and lower the decibels so as not to harm your ears. I think the AirPods 4 outpace those, though – with transparency mode enabled here, any sense of roboticness or noise being piped in is pretty much removed; with Conversation Awareness turned on, you can also effectively have conversations with folks quite naturally, at times even forgetting these are in your ears. Your own voice, or in this case my voice, sounds a bit more natural and less processed as well.

Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation review: Design

The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation don’t stray too far from the working formula of Apple’s other true-wireless earbuds. They opt for short stems like the AirPods Pro or the AirPods 3rd Generation that these directly replace. The curved portion of hard plastic that sits in your ear has been slightly redesigned and is now more curved, to provide a better fit in the ear.

I found the AirPods 4 to be pretty cozy in my ears. I comfortably wore them for over four and a half hours while on a flight and for countless hours with intermittent usage while working. They still just kind of plop in your ear and rest there. I didn’t have them fall out on any occasion, whether on a turbulent flight, while working out, or while walking indoors and outside in a bustling city. 

The case is downright tiny given the smaller footprint that the left and right AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation take up. It’s much smaller than the AirPods Pro 2nd Generation case, and even the case for the cheaper AirPods 4, and is shorter than the AirPods 2nd Generation’s case. You still flip it open to take out or put back your AirPods 4, and there’s a multi-purpose indicator light on the front.

There’s no back button on the back case for easy pairing, though. Instead, you’ll double-press the back to trigger pairing for other devices, including non-Apple ones. It’s an easter egg that Apple needs to publicize a bit more.

To charge the AirPods 4, you can plug them in via USB-C, though there’s no longer a charger in the box. If you get the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, you can also place them on any Qi-wireless charger or Apple Watch charging puck.

In my testing, I found that with active noise cancellation, transparent, or Adaptive Audio enabled, you’ll get around four hours and 15 to 20 minutes of usage. That’s beyond Apple’s promised four hours of playback with a listening mode enabled. With no mode on, you can get about five to five-and-a-half hours of playback, depending on the volume you’re listening at. A quick five minutes of charging in the case also provides at least an hour of listening.

Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation review: Sound Quality

To sum up, the AirPods 4 essentially sound as good as AirPods Pro 2nd Generation, and, as with their predecessors, that’s without the buds providing a true seal of the ear. There’s a clear and rich audio mix with a fairly wide sound stage, but the real chef’s kiss here would be the Spatial Audio support.

Powering the audio experience is Adaptive EQ via the H2 chip, and pushing out sound is a custom high-excursion drive and a high-dynamic range amplifier. It’s also worth noting that there’s a single H2 chip in each bud, with audio sent over Bluetooth 5.3 from the connected device. 

This all comes together to give you a balanced representation of the track you’re listening to, but if you’re listening to something that bops with more oomph the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation won’t shy away from raising the lower-end or really offering a surprising amount of bass for earbuds of this size. For instance, with Burnin’ Train by Bruce Springsteen, the track starts off with a rising guitar riff that’s quickly joined by drums, piano, and vocals all across the sound spectrum – it sounds sonically here and in lossless via Apple Music I didn’t notice any distortion or dropouts. 

With a pop/EDM track like Apple by Charli XCX, you can see how the AirPods 4 handle layering of sound, with a surprisingly sharp bass track that doesn’t distort with the singer’s vocals on top at higher frequencies, with various electrical beats in between. The AirPods 4 tend to handle almost all genres well, and even without a full seal, deliver a great balanced mix, although at higher volumes you will have some sound leakage. 

Spatial Audio here essentially gets rid of stereo’s left and right channels, with various elements of a track flowing around you. It’s a more immersive listening experience, and Apple’s implementation here is excellent. I particularly like spinning it with a live track, but I think the album version of Down On The Corner by Creedence Clearwater Revival is one of the best examples. Not to mention, it also works with some movies and TV shows to put you right in the middle of the action.

Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation review: Value

At $179 / £169 / AU$279 with active noise cancellation or $129 without, AirPods 4 offers a variety of features previously found only on Apple’s most high-end earbuds. The new design language streamlines the AirPods' appearance, as they all look similar. 

If you’re sold on open-ear earbuds or ones that lack silicone tips, AirPods 4 are likely your best bet if you want to be within Apple’s ecosystem. The higher price might only be $70 away from AirPods Pro, but you still get a lot of value for the price: three listening modes, a comfortable open-ear design that doesn’t fall out, solid battery life, and a findable case should they go missing. 

The $129 / £129 edition of AirPods 4 will lose the listening modes and the Find My enabled case, but it still offers a rich, crisp audio experience, all of the handy Apple ecosystem features, and support for Spatial Audio. 

Should I Buy Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation?

Buy them if...

Don't buy them if...

How I tested Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation

For the past several days, I've been living with and using Apple's AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation with an iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad Mini, iPad Pro, 14-inch MacBook Pro, Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple TV 4K. 

I tested audio playback, standard, and Spatial Audio tracks in various locations to gauge and track performance and see if there was sound leakage since these are open-ear earbuds. I threw various tracks across genres at AirPods 4, streamed from Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Nugs.net. 

I used active noise cancellation, transparency, and "Adaptive Audio" listening modes in various locations, including at home, in an office environment, while walking around a city, on a train, in a car, and on a plane. I tracked and measured how long the battery lasted with these modes on and off and the charging time. 

• First reviewed September 2024. 

Hands-on AirPods 4 review: Two-minute preview

AirPods fans take notice: You no longer need to go Pro to get active noise cancellation. Furthermore, Apple has answered the call if you have a distaste for ear tips or simply don’t want your ears sealed off.

AirPods 4 are now official and come in two flavors: just AirPods 4 at $129 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation at $179. After spending some time with the iPhone 16 and Apple Watch Series X, I dashed over to the AirPods 4 on display. I got the chance to briefly test the higher-end option – including putting the noise cancelation to the test in a noisy, loud, and crowded hands-on area. 

For one, the case is very compact and tiny, appearing smaller than the AirPods Pro or even the third-generation AirPods. In fact, it’s kind of like a shorter AirPods second-generation carrying case in terms of width across. You should have no issue bringing these with you and fitting them within most pockets.

AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation also trickles down some of my favorite features of the AirPods Pro case. Bluetooth Low-Energy is inside and a speaker, making the case here findable within Find My. So, if you lose it, you can ping it from another Apple device to help you find it. There is also a USB-C port for charging, and a cable comes in the box, but the rear here also supports recharging with an Apple Watch charger or a standard Qi charger. 

Flip open the lid, and you’ll find the left and right AirPods 4, which Apple dubs the “best-fitting AirPods ever.” I’ll need to spend more time with them, but they’re very compact, with short stems containing the force sensor for intuitive controls. However, the overall look is similar to that of AirPods' third generation. 

Apple has redesigned the fit here to better stay in the ear, be comfortable for an extended period, and for the best acoustic performance. I found them comfortable during my brief demo, and even with a few headshakes, I couldn’t get them to fall out. However, I haven’t had that issue with previous open-ear style AirPods like the first-, second-, or third-generation models. 

With their lack of silicone ear tips, AirPods 4 rest in your ear and won’t fully seal it off from the world around you. With no audio playing and no listening mode on, you will still hear a good bit of the world around you. With the H2 onboard here and the higher price, these feature listening modes, though.

These seriously impressed me in my brief demo – I started with Transparency mode engaged and 1901 by Phoenix playing in the background at a low volume. I could hear the track playing and the noisy crowd of folks demoing other gadgets around me, albeit at a slightly lower volume. The overall audio mix was vibrant and crisp. I couldn't test out "Personalized Spatial Audio" in this space, but AirPods 4 does support it.

When I engaged the AirPods 4's Active Noise Cancellation feature and had the track playing, it pretty much lowered the volume of the crowd completely – this was with audio at about 60-70%. At a lower volume, that crowd roar can still be there a bit, but considering the open style of AirPods 4, these performed way better than I had initially anticipated. I’m curious how these might perform with blocking out noise in other situations, be it a plane or a place with a roaring HVAC system. I didn’t get the chance to try Adaptive Audio here, but I look forward to testing that and seeing how it handles blending transparency and active noise cancellation together.

That about sums up my first impressions of AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. For one, they make noise cancellation more affordable within the AirPods lineup – though $179 is still not the cheapest – and also deliver a potentially more comfortable fit for folks who don’t like ear tips. I especially like that it ushers in some of the nicer-to-have features of AirPods Pro, like Find My for the case and the H2 chip, which should deliver great sound playback. AirPods 4 will also feature gesture controls like nodding your head up or down to answer a call or left and right to ignore it. 

You can also use “Hey Siri” hands-free for things like sending a message or asking a topical question. Apple promises five hours of playback on a full charge and 30 hours with recharges in the case. If you engage Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency, or Adaptive Audio, that will drop to 20 hours with recharges.

Of course, if you don’t need noise cancellation and can live without wirelessly charging the AirPods case, the $129 AirPods 4 might be a better fit – pun intended – and won’t be as big of a hit on your wallet. These have the same fit from the redesign and have the H2 chip inside.

@techradar

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CMF Buds Pro 2: Two-minute review

British tech brand Nothing has, in just a few short years, become a popular name for tech fans with its smartphones and earbuds proving you don’t need to spend a lot to get decent quality. It’s recent CMF by Nothing sub-brand pushes that idea to its extreme, but it doesn’t always work.

The CMF Buds Pro 2 are a good example of that: if you’re used to getting a lot more than you pay for with Nothing products, you’ll be surprised to find that these CMF earbuds give you exactly what you pay for. Nothing more, nothing less.

These are really budget earbuds too; you won’t find worthwhile products for less, and they’re among the cream of the bargain bin… if not the crop. At $59 / £59 / AU$99, your wallet will thank you.

Your ears might thank you too, because the CMF Buds Pro 2 sound good compared to same-price rivals, likely thanks to the union of a bass driver and a tweeter. Bass is the focus of music for sure but treble isn't lost, and the equaliser gives you some customization over your sound. I've certainly tested worse earbuds, including some that cost more.

The noise cancellation is a feature that doesn’t really impress, sadly. I found that it didn’t really compare to most of the CMF Buds’ rivals, even similarly-priced ones, and the Transparency mode was particularly poor. Still, any level of ANC is nothing to get snobby about, given that many rivals in this super-affordable category lack it.

What could have been the redeeming feature of the Buds Pro 2 is a returning feature from other CMF earbuds: the case has a swivel dial which you can use to control your music, rotating it to alter volume or pressing it for play/pause, and this partly replaces on-bud controls that most headphones have. 

In practice, though, the implementation of this feature is poor. The dial is prone to accidental turns or presses in your pocket, the notification sound to tell you that a function has been triggered is startlingly loud, and there’s a significant delay between using the dial and hearing its result. 

Lots of these issues can be overlooked if you consider the low price, but I’d recommend putting a little extra aside beyond the Buds 2 Pro’s asking price: the in-box ear tips are made from a material that isn’t very grippy, and they didn’t reliably stick in my ears. I’d recommend you look to third-party ear tips if you’re considering the CMFs.

There are some parts of the CMF Buds that I liked. The case-buds combo comes in four colors, including a distinctive orange (pictured) and a suave navy blue, so you have more options than for many other buds you may be considering. Plus a few Nothing-exclusive features like its bass boost mode and ChatGPT integration (as long as you’re using a Nothing phone) return, even if the overall feature set is nothing impressive.

It’s easy to look at any super-cheap earbuds and hand-wave any issues as being a symptom of the price, and that’s true with the CMF Buds Pro 2 as well – they’re basically what you’d expect for buds costing this much. However the budget bud market is competitive and a few rivals get you better value for money – more on them in the 'Also consider' section below.

CMF Buds Pro 2 review: Price and release date

• Unveiled in July 2024
• Costs you $59 / £59 / AU$99

The CMF Buds Pro 2 were but on sale in July 2024, just a short time after two other pairs of earbuds from Nothing: the Nothing Ear and Nothing Ear (a). This won’t be the last time you hear about these rivals in this review.

You can pick up the Buds Pro 2 for $59 / £59 / AU$99, so they’re not just cheap earbuds, but they’re cheap earbuds. That’s a $10 / £10 / AU$10 price increase over the original Buds Pro, and I can’t compare the price to a non-Pro CMF Buds 2 because, at the time of writing, no such model exists.

This area of the market is incredibly competitive, with Nothing itself offering some tempting entries into the sub-$100 / £100 / AU$200 price bracket, and so a low price alone isn’t enough for the CMFs to get winning grades.

CMF Buds Pro 2 review: Specs

CMF Buds Pro 2 review: Features

• 11-hour buds battery, 43-hour with case
• Limited features in app, including spatial audio
• Mediocre ANC

The CMF Buds Pro 2 uses Nothing’s smartphone tie-in app, called Nothing X, and as a result it borrows a few Nothing features.

Using Nothing X you can fiddle with an equalizer, change the case control scheme, toggle Spatial Audio, change between a few ANC modes and turn on ‘Ultra Bass’ which does what it says on the tin. Hidden in a menu are toggles for wear detection, high-latency mode, a default to LDAC audio, a find-my-buds feature, and an ear tip fit test. Good for the money, eh? Well, on paper, yes. 

I'm going to get into the equaliser in the sound section, so stay tuned for that. The noise cancellation in the app is similar, in theory, to other Nothing earbuds: you can change between it being off, in Transparency mode (which belts surrounding sounds into your ears so loud that you can barely hear your music) and between four ANC intensities: low, mid, high and adaptive. 

I’d recommend sticking with high ANC mode; the Buds Pro 2’s noise cancellation isn’t very strong, and you’ll want to make the most of it when you can. In testing it struggled to do anything about surrounding chatter, air conditioning unit hums, microwaves and other similar noises. Saying that, ANC is far from a given in buds this cheap and so knocking what there is here, rudimentary though it is, feels a little churlish.

Features like Spatial Audio, in-ear detection and an ear tip fit test are useful, but there are a few far more basic features lacking, that many of similar-priced rivals have. The lack of touch controls is something I’ve mentioned before, but many rivals have a full equalizer experience, not truncated ones like this. I also miss Nothing’s much more effective custom listening profile detector from the Nothing Ear.

In terms of battery life, the CMF Buds Pro 2 hit that ‘bang-average’ button: the buds will get you roughly six and a half hours of listening if you’ve got ANC turned on, and 11 if you’ve got it turned off. Those figures are pretty standard for wireless earbuds.

By using the case you can dial those figures up to 26 or 43 hours respectively, the latter of which is actually rather respectable, but remember, the ANC isn't amazing. 

• Features score: 3/5

CMF Buds Pro 2 review: Design

• Novel dial-toting case has issues
• Earbuds don't stick in ear well
• Buds and case are light and protected

Perhaps the most unique part of the CMF Buds Pro 2 is the case design. 

It starts with the color: no boring black or white here but dark gray, light gray (okay, those two are a bit boring), navy blue and bright orange. You can tell which one I tested – ‘bright’ is an understatement – and it’s nice to see earbuds with a range of colors.

The next special feature is the dial, which can be turned left or right or pressed in. This lets you change the volume or pause/play songs easily. 

In theory this is a novel concept, and I did find it really easy to pause music when the case was within reach, but changing volume definitely wasn’t as convenient as bud touch controls tend to be, and I found a range of inconveniences with the buds over the testing period. In fact, I ended up turning off the controls by the latter half of my testing time.

Firstly, rotating the dial resulted in a deafening beep to indicate that the volume was changing. I can see what Nothing was going for here, but the beep didn’t correspond with the new volume; the noise could be painfully loud at times. That became especially annoying bearing in mind that the dial didn’t adjust music much, and I’d need to turn it through endless resolutions to get the same effect as one simple press on my phone’s volume rocker. Oh, and there was a delay between using the dial and seeing an effect which effectively ruled out swiveling the dial loads to bump up the sound, as I’d only find out too late if I’d turned it far too loud.

However, the most annoying aspect for me was that the dial could be quite sensitive in my pocket; I was subjected to endless accidental presses. On one journey in a closely-packed bus, people walking past me would nudge the case in my jacket pocket, pausing my music. When I wore certain pairs of trousers, the constricting and flexing of my pockets when I walked would sometimes press the pause button. And sometimes when I put the case loose in my bad, its companion items would jostle against it and press the button. In the end these everyday annoyances pushed me to turn off the controls, despite my best attempts to like the controls.

Looking at the case itself, it measures 53.4 x 53.4 x 23mm and weighs 46g (not including the buds). Beyond the dial it only has a small button to enable pairing, and a USB-C port for charging.

The earbuds themselves match whichever color of case you opt for. They’re lightweight stem-toting buds weighing 4.9g each. Despite what you'd think given the presence of the dial, the buds also do have touch controls, but I found them quite sensitive and would often accidentally press them when trying to re-align the buds in my ear every time they slipped (for reasons you'll learn in just a moment). As a result I turned them off pretty quickly.

The buds have an IP55 rating against dust ingress and showers of water, though the case has no official rating.

While these buds are light enough to sit comfortably in your ear, they’re also light enough that you might not notice if they fall out of your ear (well, other than your music stopping). And fall they will: Nothing has seemingly opted to use soap for its ear tip material given how slippery they are, and during testing they just wouldn’t stay in my ears reliably, even when I tried different tip sizes. I put this down to the material, which doesn’t seem to have as much friction as the usual silicon tips you see in earbuds. 

It’s fairly easy to remove the Buds 2 Pro ear tips and I’d recommend you try out some third-party ones if you can, because the in-box ones just weren’t reliable for me. Worst of all, they kept sliding just far enough out of my ear for wear detection to think I wasn’t wearing them any more, so it kept pausing my music, and as a result I had to turn that feature off too.

Side-note: if you turn off wear detection, the buds don't even pause your music when you return them to the case, unlike basically every other earbud I've tested. Remember to turn your tunes off yourself!

• Design score: 2.5/5

CMF Buds Pro 2 review: Sound quality

• Heavy bass focus, but treble isn't lost
• Limited sound stage
• Equaliser brings some benefits

As in many other Nothing-built earbuds, bass is the focus of the CMF Buds Pro 2. Whatever genre of music I listened to, the bass was the most palpable part of any song.  

That might put some people off, but it's a staple feature of cheap and cheery earbuds like this. Treble and especially upper mids do suffer a little, but much less than in some other buds I've tested at this price.

That's possibly thanks to the fact that the 11mm bass driver is joined by a 6mm tweeter to carry the flag for higher-pitched lines.

I did miss the sense of soundstage that some other buds offer: the CMF seem to present all elements of a song in one solid block rather than spread out, and it meant that some instruments disappeared behind the omnipresent bass.

The Nothing X app offers the ability to add even more bass to its buds, and I've enjoyed this feature in other propositions from the company. However I couldn't hear much of a bass boost in the CMF Buds Pro 2, even when ratcheting it up to full power.

The equalizer in the app also lets you tweak your music, to a degree. For those of you who’ve cut your teeth on earbud app equalizers, this isn’t quite as in-depth; you can change the prominence of bass, mid and treble, to +/- 6 points. There are also six presets: pop, rock, classic, electronic, vocal enhancement or something called Dirac Opteo which apparently changes the EQ based on your music, but to my ears had little effect.

This EQ isn't hugely powerful, but it's a lot simpler to use than some others, and I did manage to rescue the treble somewhat from songs.

• Sound quality: 4/5

CMF Buds Pro 2 review: Value

• The incredibly low price means they offer value for money
• Definitely consider buying extra eartips though

I've been quite critical of the CMF Buds Pro 2 throughout this review, and that's because the design and feature set don't quite work for me. That said, the price makes the setbacks all-too-easy to overlook.

For just $59 / £59 / AU$99, these are some of the cheapest buds you can find from a reputable company, and while it's a very low benchmark, these buds do offer you reasonable value for money.

That's because you can de-activate the annoying features, leaving a case with an ornamental wheel, earbuds that sound decent for your price, and maybe a slight extra bill for when you buy third-party ear tips.

• Value: 3.5/5

Should I buy the CMF Buds Pro 2?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

CMF Buds Pro 2 review: Also consider

How I tested the CMF Buds Pro 2

• Tested for 3 weeks
• Tested at home, in the office and on walks

I tested the CMF Buds Pro 2 for over three weeks, and that review time saw them paired with both my Android smartphone and Windows laptop. I didn't test them alongside a Nothing phone.

To test the buds I listened to music on Spotify, watched TV shows on Netflix and Prime Video, partook in voice and video calls and played games on my phone. Most of this was done at home or in the office but I used the buds on several long journeys on trains and buses.

I've been testing gadgets for TechRadar for over five years, and in that time I've reviewed many budget headphones, as well as phones, tablets, watches and electric scooters.

• First reviewed in August 2024

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

Google first introduced the inaugural Pixel Buds Pro back in 2022, so it’s about time we had a new model, and the technology giant has unveiled just that, alongside the third-generation Pixel Watch and four phones under the Pixel 9 umbrella. 

Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 might look a bit similar to their older siblings, but the portion that rests in your ear is slimmer and delivers a more comfortable fit, at least from my first impressions. Under the hood, these are the first earbuds with a Google Tensor chip to power some Pixel Buds-only features like ‘Clear Calling’ and promise improvements to both noise cancellation and battery life.

Now, ahead of a full-fat review, I’m sharing my very early first impressions. How early are we talking? I got to wear them in my ears with a medium-sized ear tip, but I didn’t get to listen to music or test out the new features. So I’ll share my opinions on fit and also run through the latest promised enhancements. And of course, I'll go hands-on as soon as possible and fully test them for a review as well.

Pricing and availability

Regardless of which color you choose, Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 will cost $229.99 / £219 / around AU$379. You can pick between Hazel, Porcelain, Wintergreen, or Peony – and having seen 'em all, those last two are my favorite and the most fun.

If you’re already sold, preorders are open. However, Google isn’t shipping the Pixel Buds Pro 2 until September 26, 2024, so you’ll have to wait a bit – in fact, that’s after the Pixel 9 family, including Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, and Pixel Watch 3. 

The wait to jam might very well be worth it, though.

@techradar

♬ original sound - TechRadar

Much lighter and way more cozy

The earbuds still have a friendly circle that sticks out of your ear to the world with a “G” Google logo and capacitive touch controls, but it’s no longer attached to a longer, ovular piece that goes in the ear and attached to the ear tip. 

It’s now a molded, black, circular piece of plastic with an ear tip attached to the end. You’ll still get several sizes in the box, but the real significance is that each Pixel Bud Pro 2 weighs in at just 4.7 grams, which is 27% lighter than the original.

In my short first impressions, I slid the Pixel Buds Pro 2 into my ears and immediately noticed a more nestled, cozy fit that didn’t weigh down my ears as much. They also protrude far less and have a new twist-to-adjust stabilizer, which is not a wing tip but, like Studio Buds Plus from Beats, kind of like a corkscrew that you can turn to the left or right to stabilize these in your ear.

It aims to ensure the Pixel Buds Pro 2 won’t fall out, but the added bonus is a better seal in your ear. This way, whatever you’re listening to sounds better, and you can passively block out environmental sounds around you. This refreshed design and the onboard Google-made Tensor A1 chip also promises up to two times more effective active noise cancellation. Google is calling this Silent Seal 2.0, and I’m really keen to try it out, especially considering how good of a passive seal these provide. 

Much like AirPods Pro 2, Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 have a conversation detection feature that allows you to have a conversation with someone without removing the earbuds. The device switches into a listening mode that lets environmental sound in.

Powering the audio in each Pixel Buds Pro 2 will be a new 11-millimeter driver with a high-frequency chamber that works with the Tensor A1 chip for audio processing. These also still offer support for ‘Spatial Audio with Head Tracking’ with the right tracks.

Aside from music playback and noise cancellation, like other listening modes, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 will also pair and connect seamlessly between other Pixel devices –be it a Pixel phone, Tablet, or Watch. Similar to how Google Gemini is unashamedly front-and-center within its latest phones, you will be able to use Gemini on Pixel Buds Pro 2, and it will effectively be the smart assistant here. I hope it yields some improvements with the live translation features of the past.

Regarding battery life, Google says that Pixel Buds Pro 2 can last for up to 12 hours with active noise cancellation off or 8 hours with that listening mode enabled. That’s pretty much in line with other similarly priced earbuds, and I’m eager to see how this claim runs in our testing. When you factor in recharges in the case, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 should last for up to 30 hours. Here's the rub: the older set will serve up to 11 hours from the buds, or up to 31 hours total listening time with the wireless charging case… so a minor downgrade there. 

As I was hoping to see, just like the AirPods Pro 2, Google added a speaker to the Pixel Buds case. This means that when you misplace the Pro 2, you can still see the location but can also ping the case, and make it emit a sound so you can hear it. 

Considering the improved design – and the lovely shades of Peony and Wintergreen – plus the more comfortable design, I have high hopes for the audio playback and noise cancellation chops here. 

Most importantly, though they stick out less and aren’t as cumbersome. So, let’s just hope the other aspects live up to the hype.

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