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These earbuds offer best-in-class active noise cancellation and incredible sound quality, plus long battery life too.
The budget wireless earbuds market is more popular than ever.
Youre looking at two excellent low-cost options, but only one is considered the better buy.
Scroll down to find out which one it is.
Currently, the AirPods 4 are on sale for as low as$148 on Amazon.
There are no discounts or promotions for the QC Earbuds.
If this MSRP is too steep, we recommend looking at some of thebest cheap wireless earbudsunder $100.
They provide pleasant comfort and take up far less ear real estate.
Boses stability bands form a tight fit to ensure the buds dont fall out.
Each colorway is attractive.
Furthermore, the charging case is about 60% smaller than the previous version.
Only the buds are IPX4 sweat and water-resistant.
The AirPods 4 look no different than theAirPods 3.
Each bud has the same fragile plastic frame with slim stem, force feed sensor, and mic grilles.
Apple made the charging case smaller and added a built-in speaker with Find My integration.
This feature is only available on the AirPods 4 with ANC.
Comfort and fit havent changed: The open-ear design feels nice, but it doesnt provide much stability.
Both the buds and charging case have IP54 dust/water protection.
Everything works exceptionally well across Apples ecosystem of products.
Bose improved its controls to enhance usability on the QC Earbuds.
Touch gestures and voice assistance (Google Assistant, Siri) are responsive.
The mic array demonstrates remarkable speech recognition.
Boses 10mm dynamic drivers pump out crisp, warm sonics.
Bass is punchy, while mids and highs remain steady for well-balanced frequency range.
The open-ear design doesnt allow for full audio consumption, but what you hear is still impressive.
No, but theyre engineered to outperform many of thebest noise-cancelling earbuds.
Quiet Mode blocks out 90% of unwanted fracas and silences most sounds across the frequency spectrum.
Aware mode is perfect for hearing conversations and surroundings clearly.
Noise cancellation on the AirPods 4 is better than anyone could have anticipated.
Their open-ear design naturally lets in external sounds, but turning on ANC mode helps suppress some background interference.
Youre still going to hear mid- and high-frequency noises when listening to music indoors or outdoors.
Transparency Mode is terrific for increasing situational awareness.
Overall, though, Bose has the edge here in ANC.
AirPods 4 vs. Bose QuietComfort Earbuds: Special features
Features are more abundant on the AirPods 4.
Want a whole guide?
Heres a list of10 hidden AirPods 4 features you should be using.
The QC Earbuds have their own set of unique tricks.
This is sufficient for the price, but not best-in-class.
However, the QC Earbuds have the company trending upward.
Voices sound loud and clear on both ends, and ANC performs well for distraction-free voice and video chats.
The AirPods 4 are a serviceable calling headset.
Vocal clarity is solid, but mostly when talking in quiet configs.
Apples open-ear design lets in a lot of ambient noise.
Turning on ANC doesnt help much.
A full charge is rated at 8.5 hours.
Its really 7.5 hours with ANC off and 7 hours with ANC on.
You get an extra 31.5 hours from the charging case.
Would you believe the AirPods 4 have less playtime than the AirPods 3?
A full charge generates 5 hours of usage.
ANC use drops it down to 4 hours.
Facetiming and spatial audio can suck up another 1 to 2 hours.
The charging case maxes out at 30 hours.
Most of the AirPods Pros bells and whistles are accounted for as well.
Its just unfortunate that the AirPods 4s battery life is a category worst.
The redesign is sleek and keeps these buds locked onto your ears.
