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46 T3 MARCH 2022The complete guide to...
an inverted version of the sound wave: by
playing the inverse wave at the same time as
the original, or as close as possible to it, it
would negate the sound altogether. It was,
and is, most effective with continuous, lower
frequency noises such as aircraft engines;
short, sharp or high-pitched sounds were
harder to catch and counteract.
The first commercial noise-cancelling
headphones were made for pilots too. Bose’s
1989 Series I Aviation Headset was the first
commercially available headset with active
noise reduction, and the technology was
made available to passengers – business class
and first class only – in 1999 before Bose
made its first QuietComfort headphones
available to buy in 2000.TAKE YOUR PICK
There are two kinds of noise reduction:
passive and active. Passive noise reduction is
when your headphones block out the outside
world simply by being there, so for example
a well-fitting pair of earbuds without active
noise cancellation will still reduce the
ambient audio, especially at higher
frequencies. But active noise cancellation,
ANC for short, is much smarter. Like its
aircraft engine-defying ancestors, it
analyses the sounds around you and creates
a negative waveform to silence them – and
digital technology enables it to do so much
more quickly and effectively. The result is
that you can hear what you want to hear
more clearly, and without having to turn
the volume up.
While the basic idea hasn’t changed much
since Bose’s first QuietComfort headphones
22 years ago, today’s ANC earbuds aren’t just
smaller. They’re much smarter too. Modern
ANC earbuds deliver spectacular audio
including surround sound, and in some
cases they support high-res audio too.3D audio, sometimes called Spatial Audio
or something manufacturer-specific such as
Sony’s 360 Reality Audio, is increasingly
common in higher-end earbuds. It creates a
sense of 3D space, and if your earbuds also
have head tracking then when you turn your
head towards a particular instrument you’ll
hear it more clearly. 3D audio is particularly
good for spacious music such as acoustic or
jazz, for live concerts and for listening to
movies too: provided the original audio
source was mastered for surround sound it’s
really rather impressive, although attempts
by earbuds to create spatial audio from
stereo-mastered sources are less convincing.
Where early earbuds used basic Bluetooth
streaming for their audio, more advanced
models now have much higher audio quality.
Bluetooth’s aptX HD has a bit rate of 576kbps,
almost twice that of the best quality MP3s,
and up to 24-bit audio compared to the 16 bits
of CD. There’s no need for it on cheaper
earbuds but on well-engineered headphones,
you’ll hear a distinct improvement over older
streaming standards – although Apple
reckons it’s not good enough and may use
a different streaming protocol for its
forthcoming AirPods Pro 2.
Many active noise-cancelling earbuds
also offer transparency modes (see p48) that
offer a middle ground between full noise
cancelling and no noise cancelling at all, soEARBUD
ACCESSORIES
Protect your pods and keep
the music going wherever
you may roam with these
useful earbud accessoriesSILICON CASE COVER FOR
QUIETCOMFORT
A case for a case? It isn’t as superfluous as it
sounds: while some case covers are purely
cosmetic, some – such as this one for Bose
QuietComfort earbuds – add a karabiner for
easy attachment to bags.
£6, joom.comBELKIN BOOST UP DUAL
WIRELESS CHARGER
There are many cheaper wireless charging
pads, but this one delivers its 15W charge
across two pads simultaneously – so you can
charge your earbuds and your compatible
phone at the same time.
£49, amazon.co.ukANKER POWERCORE SLIM
Many wireless earbuds come with a charging
case that will recharge them several times,
but how do you charge the charging
case when you’re out? Try this – it has
10,000mAh with Power Delivery so you can
use it to charge your phone too.
£32, amazon.co.uk3D audio is
particularly good for
live concerts and for
listening to movies