104 MACWORLD SEPTEMBER 2020
long as I kept it in my bag—but
unfortunately, the buds themselves are
pretty hefty, too. They look a lot like
Apple’s first-generation AirPods aside from
the black body and the wood running
down the stem, but they’re also noticeably
thicker. And that’s without the three
different sizes of rubber ear tips they come
with to help with the ANC, as well as a pair
of wraparound ear fins that help keep
them in place. I’ve always worried about
my AirPods falling out even during a brief
jog, but to my surprise, the Redemption
buds stayed in even during a brief run
down the block. They also have a water
resistance rating of IPX4, so they’ll shrug
off sweat from a workout but not a
downpour on a
rainy day. Still,
they’re quite big.
You’re never
going to forget
they’re in your
ears.
Like the
AirPods, you
control the
Redemption ANC
through a series
of taps on the
stems. Two taps
on the right stem
plays or pauses
your music, two
taps also allows you to answer or end a
call, and three taps let you skip to the next
track on your music. (Sorry, you can’t use
them to repeat a track.) On the left bud,
two taps activate voice assistants like Siri
or Google Assistant (depending on your
phone), and two taps also let you decline a
call. If you tap three times, you can turn on
the active noise canceling, turn on the
ambient mode, or turn both features off.
Want to pause without pausing them? Just
pull one of the buds out of your ears.
Whew.
That’s a lot of info to digest, and a lot of
it didn’t click until I went online and
watched one of House of Marley’s
instructional videos (go.macworld.com/The Redemption ANC next to Apple’s regular AirPods for comparison.
The Redemption case is also considerably thicker than the AirPods case.
PLAYLIST REVIEW: HOUSE OF MARLEY REDEMPTION ANC EARBUDS