Airpods
 

Right then business travellers, I’m tired of useless ear buds that don’t seem to block out ambient sound when I’m on calls/teams meeting on airport layovers, which of the AirPods are the best for this along with best fit. For me it looks like A2 are the best fit as they have the rubber “grip” type ends, the others don’t, are they best at noise isolation?

I have the latest generation AirPods Pro and really like them. They do come loose after wearing for a while but they block most of the ambient noise and have a conversation mode where if you start talking the noise cancellation automatically turns off which I find handy on flights.

the pro line and the newer generations have better active noise cancelling capability.
in addition, you want those rubber grips to provide noise blocking via mechanical seal. the pro model (and some non-pro model too?) have the rubber.

I had Airpods and I hated them. I traded up to Beats Fit Pro a couple of years ago and they are miles above. Apple owns Beats so the ios integration is seamless and the fit is perfect with different sized tips and a built in fit test. They are just great. Love them.

https://www.wired.com/review/beats-fit-pro/

Cheers all

I have both the AirPods Pro 2 and Beats Fit Pro. I love the fit of the Beats Fit Pro, they dont fall out and I dont feel the need to adjust them frequently. For noise reduction on planes, I tend to use my AirPods Pro 2. The noise cancellation for me is better and I love conversation mode where when I start talking the noise cancellation briefly pauses to hear another person talk.

You can get memory foam tips for the Airpod Pros that make the fit better and they fit in the case too. There are an array of them available on Amazon

The new iOS 18.2 Developer Beta introduces the hearing aide feature for the AirPods that works pretty well. I have been testing it, and at 77 years old, the built in hearing test says I have minor hearing loss. It compensates for the higher frequencies I have lost over the years. Just a heads up in case you may have similar hearing loss.

There are several reviews on line that detail the feature so that you might factor this into your decision about EarPods.

Apparently this was released with an earlier update than 18.2. I have been on Beta versions for a few years and was not aware of this.

Will they fit in the case with the memory foam tips?

Only available in the US though.

I recently picked up the latest generation (AirPods Pro 2) and the difference in how well the noise cancelling works surprised me. Almost as good on a plane as my Sony wh-1000xm5. People I've been talking to while walking around in the city have also been positively surprised (even with Apple's voice isolation mode turned off) at how well it removes that noise as well. So a strong recommendation from me.

I have severe hearing loss in one ear and good hearing in the other. Could I enable the hearing aid feature on just one side?

yes

The settings allow for balance control L/R so I believe so. I have experimented with a single ear use, and it seems to work. I was concerned that if you needed them for longer than the battery runtime, it would be a problem, but with single side use, you could alternate use. That wouldn’t help your use case however.

Sort of ... they adapt to your hearing test results. You either upload the audiogram from your audiologist and/or take a hearing test on your iPhone. Then enable the Hearing Assistance feature. Those settings can be tweaked. I had an audiogram and uploaded it, and then I also tried their hearing test and results were very similar.

As for the tips, I bought a set of foam masters after reading about them on reddit. They will refund, no questions asked, if not satisfied. In my case the tips I ordered weren't the right size, so they refunded them and I ordered another set.

-David