There are usually two factors that can either make or break your music listening experience — sound quality and isolation. The former mostly depends on the size of the drivers, frequency response, impedance, and the overall build quality of the headphones. When it comes to isolating outside noise, however, there are largely two solutions headphone manufacturers opt for — active and passive noise cancellation.
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Passive noise cancellation simply leverages the snug fit and closed-back construction of headphones to prevent outside noise from leaking into your ears. This is why you typically experience a fuller sound stage with earphones like the AirPods Pro that have silicone tips to completely seal your ear canal, versus something like regular AirPods that loosely sit in your ear.
You’ll often notice the letters ANC — for active noise cancellation — sprinkled throughout a headphone’s marketing material, and especially if you look at the premium end of the range. However, with so many good headphones that support noise cancellation, options appear at nearly every price point now. Nonetheless, what exactly is ANC, and is it worth paying a little higher for?
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