AirPods 5 First Launch Experience: Starting at 999 Yuan, the most cost-effective Apple noise cancelling headset.

After staying up late to watch Apple's launch event, the intern colleague next to me couldn't help but sigh:

The only product worth buying this year is AirPods...

Though it sounds like a joke, against the backdrop of price hikes across the entire iPhone line and the unaffordable price of Duo, the AirPods 5 that "offers more features without raising the price" is really a remarkably cost-effective option.

After we got hands-on experience with it, coupled with its starting price of 999 yuan, I would call it the most worthy-to-buy product among Apple's new fall releases this year.

Classic Appearance, Upgraded Noise Cancellation

Noise Cancellation:

If you only look at the appearance, there is no difference from previous regular upgrades. It still has the familiar charging case shape and the familiar semi-in-ear design. When you put it in your ears, you won't feel like you are using a brand new pair of earbuds.

The most important change of this generation is that active noise cancellation is further extended to entry-level models. The semi-in-ear earbuds in the AirPods product line finally deliver a fairly usable active noise cancellation experience, with the entry price kept below 1,000 yuan.

In the past, many users chose AirPods Pro mainly for its "noise cancellation" function. But for people who are not used to silicone ear tips, or who easily feel ear soreness when wearing in-ear earbuds, they could only choose between comfort and noise cancellation.

This generation of AirPods may no longer require you to make such a trade-off.

According to Apple, the noise cancellation capability of this generation of AirPods is about 1.5 times higher than that of the previous generation. In our actual listening test, the improvement in noise cancellation is indeed very noticeable. By analogy, the performance of AirPods 5 is already very close to the level of the previous AirPods Pro 2.

In environments with continuous low-frequency noise such as airplanes and subways, it can indeed filter out a considerable part of the background noise. After turning on noise cancellation, you can basically listen to music, podcasts or videos normally with the headphone volume turned up to about half, without needing to raise the volume further to overpower the ambient sound.

We cannot compare its noise cancellation effect head-on with that of AirPods Pro. Compared with the almost "one-click mute" effect of AirPods Pro, it is still somewhat inferior, after all, the in-ear design blocks a lot of noise in terms of acoustic structure.

In actual use, you can still vaguely hear the low-frequency sound of the engine on the plane, and the noise in the subway car cannot be completely eliminated. But measured by the standard of open-ear earbuds, these noises are already within my acceptable range. When commuting and listening to music, these tiny background sounds can even be ignored, which is completely sufficient for daily use.

Besides, as someone who usually wears AirPods Pro, I often feel a little uncomfortable due to the ear pressure caused by noise cancellation. The advantage of open-ear earbuds is that they provide more comfortable ear pressure control.

At the same time, the new chip, acoustic structure and algorithm will continuously adjust according to the surrounding environment. Even if noise cancellation is turned on for a long time, your ears will not feel a strong sense of stuffiness.

This generation also allows you to adjust the noise cancellation intensity continuously. In our actual test, AirPods can perform stepless adjustment in the "Adaptive" gear, which can be biased towards transparency mode or noise cancellation mode, equivalent to at least 7 levels of noise cancellation adjustment. Compared with the one-size-fits-all design that only provides "On" and "Off", this adjustability can adapt to more different life scenarios and is more practical.

Whether you are taking the subway, taking a plane, or walking in places where you need to pay attention to the surrounding sounds, you can adjust it according to the actual situation to find a proper balance between isolation, environmental perception and comfort.

Battery Life:

The battery life is at a usable level. After turning on active noise cancellation, it can be used for about 4 to 5 hours on a single charge, and the charging case can provide multiple top-ups. According to the normal rhythm of commuting and traveling, there is basically no pressure for intermittent use during the day.

Sound Quality:

We often joke that the sound signature of AirPods is like "plain boiled water".

From AirPods 4 to this generation, you can tell that Apple is gradually changing the previous overly plain sound signature. The overall tuning is still balanced, but the low-frequency volume and dynamics have been enhanced, and the sound is more three-dimensional. When listening to pop music, the drum beats and low frequencies are more prominent. When switching to podcasts or vocal content, the vocal processing is more forward, making it sound clearer.

The new generation of Adaptive EQ also improves the stability of sound performance. It can automatically correct the sound effect according to the shape of the auricle and the actual wearing situation.

During our actual wearing process, although the perception of this function is not very strong, the sound remains stable throughout the whole music track. Even if the wearing position changes slightly, the sound performance will not fluctuate significantly.

If you still want to adjust the sound according to your own preference, the new 3-band EQ added in iOS 27 allows you to manually adjust the low, medium and high frequencies. The default tuning of AirPods 5 is still restrained, and it will not grab attention with exaggerated low frequencies. Compared with the style of the previous standard AirPods that "can play everything but everything sounds plain", this generation does have more distinct characteristics.

Left | Custom EQ Right | Personalized Audio

After the whole experience, what impresses me is not only the very obvious and perceptible upgrades such as active noise cancellation, but also the improvements in sound quality, interaction and other aspects. More importantly, the distinct experience gap between the standard version and the Pro version is constantly narrowing, and the experience boundary between the two is further blurred.

If in the past choosing standard AirPods more or less meant giving up part of the sound and noise cancellation experience for wearing comfort, then this generation has greatly reduced this compromise. For people who do not like in-ear earbuds, it may be the most noteworthy model in this generation of AirPods product line.

Left | Press Control Right | Camera Remote Control

How to Choose the New AirPods

After talking about the experience, let's finally talk about the price.

The official Chinese price of the basic version of AirPods 5 is still 999 yuan, which is consistent with the launch price of the basic version of the previous generation AirPods 4. This time Apple is really unusually generous, integrating active noise cancellation, transparency mode, adaptive audio and conversation awareness into the basic version.

The basic version of the previous generation AirPods 4 did not have active noise cancellation. To get this function, you had to spend an extra 400 yuan to buy the active noise cancellation model. If you further choose AirPods Pro, the price has reached 1899 yuan.

Now for the same 999 yuan, AirPods 5 already offers the core functions that you had to pay extra for in the past. Judging from the price alone, this time it can be described as "offering more features at a lower price".

Therefore, if you have never bought AirPods before, especially if you have long been eager for Apple's noise cancellation and transparency mode, but find the 1899 yuan Pro version too expensive, then this generation must be the most suitable AirPods for you to get started.

As mentioned above, the form of active noise cancellation + open-ear earbuds will surely attract a group of users who do not like in-ear earbuds but want active noise cancellation. Especially if you are not very interested in many "Pro-level" functions and only need active noise cancellation, you can also give priority to this generation of standard version.

For users of AirPods 3 and earlier models, I also think this is a good time to upgrade their earbuds. Earbuds are usually not replaced every year. After several generations of upgrades, the changes brought by sound quality, chip and battery life will be more easily perceived.

Finally, let's look at the two versions of AirPods 5.

The 999 yuan version and the 1149 yuan version use the same chip, and the core experiences such as sound quality, active noise cancellation, transparency mode and adaptive audio are basically the same.

The extra 150 yuan is mainly for four upgrades, which are mostly focused on improving the convenience of use:

You can swipe up and down the earbud stem to adjust the volume;

The single-charge battery life of the earbuds themselves is improved;

The total battery life with the charging case is improved;

And the charging case supports wireless charging, and adds a speaker for the "Find My" function.

So if you want to use this pair of earbuds for a longer time, or you care a lot about the using experience, I personally highly recommend spending the extra 150 yuan to directly get the 1149 yuan version.

Especially the function of sliding the earbud stem to adjust the volume is really very convenient in daily use.

Moreover, if you plan to use this pair of earbuds for three or four years, the 150 yuan price difference is actually negligible when spread over the entire usage cycle.

Of course, if these functions are dispensable to you, there is no need to hesitate, just buy the 999 yuan basic version directly.

Back to the joke at the beginning, among Apple's new products this year, AirPods 5 is indeed the one with the lowest purchase threshold and the easiest to feel the upgrade.

It is certainly not a cheap version of AirPods Pro, but for most users, 999 yuan can already get the most core and most commonly used experience.

So if you can only choose one most worthy-to-buy product among Apple's new products this year, I will cast my vote for AirPods 5.

This article is from the WeChat official account "ifanr" (ID: ifanr), written by Fang Junming, edited by Xiao Qinpeng, and published by 36Kr with authorization.