Best Noise Cancelling Earbuds of 2023 — Audiophile ON

Noise Cancelling Technology Explained (FAQ)

Noise-Cancelling Earbuds vs. Noise-Cancelling Headphones

I won’t beat around the bush.  When you put these two categories of headphones against each other, I will always advise you to go for the full-size headphone if your priority is the absolute strongest noise cancelation. 

There is more space in full-size headphones where manufacturers can fit all the required technology to make a great-sounding set of cans.  ANC headphones still strongly outperform earphones, earphones are good now, but there is a limit to how effective they can be.

With that said, the gap is getting closer, and for many people, a set of full-size headphones is not always practical for their usage. These tend to be big and bulky, and even the new Bose 700 and Sony WH-1000XM5 are far more cumbersome to use and carry compared to a nice small set of earbuds.

Earbuds and earphones offer the convenience of being ultra-portable and are also far more discrete. They are also much better suited if you are active or into sports. It’s easy to run and be active with a set of earbuds in, and they tend to be less likely to get in the way when working out.

Feature-wise, it’s surprisingly becoming very competitive between these headphones and earphones. Both can feature touch controls, call microphones, and dedicated buttons for digital assistants like Siri or Google. Both can also come with partner applications from the Apple or Play stores, giving even more control over the functionality.

What are noise-canceling earbuds, and how do they work?

Noise-canceling earbuds are very different from noise-isolating earphones.  Many people get confused about this, so let’s take a little time to explain the differences.

Noise-Isolating uses nothing other than isolating the physical materials and design to set the user apart from a noisy environment.

Let’s look at earbuds vs. earphones to illustrate this point further.

Noise-isolating / Noise-canceling.

If we take the original Apple Airpods as an example, you will notice that these sit in your outer ear. There are no ear tips, and nothing is inserted into your ear canal. It is very poor at isolating you from your environment because the sound can easily get past the earbuds and get directly to your eardrum.

Noise isolating earphones

Now compare that to the next step up. The earphone is noise-isolating. The terms earphone and earbud are now often interchangeable, but in the traditional sense, it was considered that the earphone would have silicone or foam tips that you inserted deep into your ear canal to create a seal.

This did two things. Firstly it helped correctly pressurize the ear and improved sound quality. Secondly, it created a barrier to sound wanting to enter the inner ear. It didn’t completely remove the outside noise but effectively reduced it.

Full Noise Canceling earbuds

Noise-canceling Earbuds take a completely different approach to reducing external noise and employ active noise cancelation technology (ANC), which effectively “cancels out” external noise.  This, combined with good sound-isolating base construction, can be potent and great for use when outside noise can be bothersome.  

So what is ANC (Active Noise Cancelation)?

The process of how noise cancelation works is simple in theory but complicated in practice. If interested, read our more advanced article on how noise-canceling headphones work. But if you want to get the gist of science, here is a simple explanation.

Your earphones record the sound in the environment through the microphones mounted on the unit and playback the same sound out through your earphones but in an inverted waveform that will counter the original signal. 

I’m sure you learned about waves canceling each other out at school. If not, imagine drawing a wavy line on a piece of paper.  Then draw that same line while using a mirror as a reference.  These waves have the same shape but are opposite, where up is down and down is up. 

When these two are played simultaneously, they cancel each other out and create a flat line. Sound is waves (i.e., sound waves) that play two exactly opposing waves the same, and they also cancel each other out and thus leaving you with the beautiful sound of silence.

What sound will ANC Earbuds cancel out?

When buying noise-canceling headphones or earphones, my biggest complaint is that people still hear external noise. Yes, that is very much true; even the best noise-canceling earbuds cannot cancel out all external noise. 

The sound being canceled usually needs to be a constant tone or at least one that is less spontaneous. The great thing about this is that you can still hear someone yet shout or a car horn going off when you cross the road at the wrong time, but you won’t hear the constant drone of the traffic. 

Generally speaking, earbuds work best when flying or commuting on public transportation as the low-level hum of engines is effectively canceled by ANC. It can also be very effective in offices and open spaces where there is a level of persistent background noise.

Where is the best place to use noise-canceling earbuds?

To get the most out of noise-canceling earphones, you will have to use them in the right scenario.  Getting a set of ANC earphones is pointless if you intend to sit in a quiet room and listen to your music. For that, I could name you 1000 times better-sounding earphones for a fraction of the price. 

To get the benefits of noise cancellation, you will want to use them when there is a lot of external background noise. 

Situations where they work great are flying on an airplane (cancels the engine noise), commuting (will dampen rail noise), and office spaces (will greatly reduce or eliminate the volume of others working around you. 

Noise-Cancelling Earphones vs. Regular Earphones

This is perhaps the biggest question on everyone’s mind.  Is it worth it? 

I will be straight up with you and say that it is worth it but only in scenarios where you need noise cancellation as a priority. 

In almost every other scenario, i.e., Sound Quality, Build, Comfort, and price, there will always be better regular earphones.  That said, I love my noise-canceling earphones, and when out of the house, it’s a no-brainer to have them with me, especially when flying.

If you do a lot of travel, I recommend using noise-canceling earbuds. I always feel less tired when I use them on the go.