Apple AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case review

When Apple added active noise cancellation to its eartip-less AirPods 4, it worked so well that both new-generation AirPods 5 models have active noise cancelling as standard now.

The new Apple AirPods 5 also promise 50 per cent improved ANC and better sound than before, a new custom EQ, all while retaining a familiar design and many of the features that made these wireless earbuds so popular.

It’s certainly more a case of evolution than completely rehauling a tried-and-tested design, but are the new AirPods 5 still competitive in today’s growing open earbuds market?

Price

As before, there are two AirPods 5 variants, but the delineation between them is now less clear-cut. In the AirPods 4, the pricier model had ANC, the cheaper model didn’t – simple, right?

In the AirPods 5, the differences come down to on-stem volume control, a wireless charging case, and an extra hour of battery life. We’re not sure if these are crucial enough differences for buyers to make a clear choice, and we wonder why Apple didn’t just make a single version of AirPods 5 that had all the complete features.

The base model of the AirPods 5 cost £119 / $129 / AU$219, while the step-up version with the wireless charging case – which is the sample we are reviewing here – is yours for £139 / $149 / AU$249. There’s less of a price gap between the two than in previous generations, and it once again makes us question why Apple felt the need to make two versions. We fully expect the cheaper model to go down in price for the holiday season to make it a more attractive proposition.

On the plus side, the AirPods 5 are less expensive than the previous generation: the ANC model launched at £179 / $179 / AU$299 in 2024, while UK buyers can save a whole tenner on the standard AirPods 4’s original price (£129 / $129 / AU$219).

Build & design

Place the two generations of AirPods side by side, and you’ll find them to be identical in design. The AirPods 5 have the same ‘semi-open’ design as the AirPods 4 so you are aware of your surroundings when wearing them, with no silicone eartips to create an acoustic or ANC seal.

How comfortable and effective the design is proves, as before, to be entirely dependent on the shape of your ears – they either don’t sit securely for some members of the What Hi-Fi? review team, while others found wearing them perfectly comfortable.

Getting the ‘nozzle’ of the buds pointing towards your ear canal at all times without being dislodged is the tricky bit, especially if you want the best sound quality. Apple’s always-on Adaptive EQ aims to keep the sound consistent to account for different ear shapes, although this doesn’t help if the buds don’t stay in your ears.

Those who don’t like the feeling of eartips burrowing in will appreciate the less-intrusive design, though, and the buds are small and lightweight enough to wear for long hours. They also have an improved IP57 rating for water and sweat resistance, which is ideal for those who wear these buds while commuting, running or exercising.

The base model features force-sensitive controls, where you pinch the stems to control music playback, change noise modes and accept calls, while gesture controls – a nod or a shake of the head – can be activated to accept or reject incoming calls.

The pricier AirPods 5 model features all of the above and adds the swipable volume controls from its Pro sibling, meaning you can swipe up and down on the buds’ stems to change volume. As we found with AirPods Pro 2 and Pro 3, it’s swift and intuitive in use.

Both charging cases look identical from the outside: small, pocketable, with a USB-C charging connection. The pricier model (clumsily called AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case) has wireless charging capabilities, working with Qi-compatible and Apple Watch chargers, and the case emits a sound to indicate low battery status or when you’re trying to locate it using Find My. The standard model can only be charged with a USB-C cable, which neither model provides in the box.

Features

The AirPods 4 were already so stacked with features we’re not sure how they have space for more, with Apple continuously bringing flagship-level features down to its standard line with every iOS update. The AirPods 5 and Pro 3 models are almost identical in features these days thanks to sharing the same H2 headphone chip, with only the hearing aid, hearing test and heart rate sensors now reserved for the flagship.

The cheaper AirPods 5 model gets the bigger upgrade here, with it now having pretty much the same features as its bigger brothers: with ANC ability comes adaptive audio and transparency modes, the conversation awareness mode that lowers media volume when it detects you’re speaking, and all AirPods running on the H2 chip (the 4, 5 and Pro models) now feature live translation.

The AirPods 5 continue to support personalised spatial audio with dynamic head tracking and other iOS-centric features such as easy switching between connected iOS devices and compatibility with the updated Siri AI. These are all useful to varying degrees and work as well as expected.

We would recommend downloading the latest version of iOS 27 when using the AirPods 5 for the best performance, as we initially found a few instances of lag in our review sample. We’re talking mere milliseconds here, but it’s noticeable when we’re used to a seamless, intuitive feedback with Apple products – although these issues ironed themselves out after the software update.

The iOS 27 update also brings with it a more orderly AirPods settings interface, adjustable adaptive audio, and a three-band custom EQ. Available in the Audio & Routing section in the AirPods’ settings, you can adjust the low, mid and high frequencies to customise the sound when music is playing.

The adjustments are subtle, and it’s a nice feature to have, but you can’t save multiple presets; alternatively, you can simply leave it on Apple’s recommended default EQ.

The most disappointing part of the AirPods 5 experience is battery life. The AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case offer just five hours on a single charge, with 22 hours in total with the charging case. It’s worse on the base AirPods 5 model, with a measly four hours unchanged from the previous generation.

A five-minute charge in the case does give you an hour, but dipping into the case continuously for extra juice means you’ll be needing to charge the ’Pods more regularly overall. With the AirPods 5’s ANC powers and feature set matching those of traditional premium wireless earbuds, they’re lagging behind the eight hours quoted on the AirPods 3 and Sony WF-1000XM6. Even cheaper ANC buds such as the Sony WF-C710N offer 8.5 hours on a single charge.

We know the demands of these extra features and improved ANC performance put additional pressure on the battery life, especially in a more open design, but we would hope that Apple would counteract those power-hungry updates with a larger battery capacity.

ANC & call quality

It’s taken us long enough to get to the real heart of the AirPods 5 design: improved ANC. We were impressed with how effective the noise-cancelling was when we reviewed the AirPods with ANC, and the same is true in the AirPods 5.

For a design without any eartip seal, the full noise-cancelling mode does a great job at quietening the sound of traffic, train engines and general hubbub around you. Higher frequency noises will be heard clearly, as is expected for this kind of earbud design, and we find the lower frequencies are suppressed even more on the AirPods 5 than on the AirPods 4 with ANC.

It’s a more obviously powerful effect too. If you want a more natural blend of environmental awareness and your music, the adaptive audio mode does a fine job of automatically adjusting the ANC levels according to the noise around you. You can now fine-tune the level of adaptive audio; move the slider left or right depending on whether you want more transparency or more noise-cancelling. It’s a subtle but useful addition to have.

Call quality is another high point, with our voices sounding clear and detailed, with only a slight hardness around the edges. What’s impressive is how the AirPods 5 don’t transmit any surrounding noises to the caller. We were on a very busy road with rush hour traffic when testing voice calls, and the other person on the line couldn’t hear any hint of cars passing.

The AirPods 4 with ANC have a similar silencing effect, although voices sound a little thinner and sibilant compared with the more solid sound of the AirPods 5. For their noise-cancelling prowess and excellent call quality, the AirPods 5 are highly recommended if these are your priorities.

Sound

We’ve been fans of Apple’s recent sonic balance: detailed, agile, natural, open. With every generation, the standard AirPods have had a knack for knitting music together in a way that sounds immediately enjoyable, even if they don’t necessarily trouble the class leaders when it comes to absolute clarity, dynamism or insight.

The AirPods 5 exhibit many of the same sonic characteristics of the older AirPods 4, and it doesn’t take us long to enjoy our Tidal and Apple Music playlists in the earbuds’ airy soundscape.

Apple doesn’t give specifics, but it has updated the innards of the AirPods 5 by way of a new “multiport acoustic architecture”, and the result is a sound that has greater extension and weight in the lower frequencies. For such an open design, the amount of power and heft to the sound is quite impressive.

The outside world will intrude upon your music or podcast listening if you don’t have any kind of noise-cancelling turned on, but even still, we find ourselves enjoying the amount of detail and spaciousness you get with the AirPods 5.

The enhanced bass power comes to the fore when listening to the taut, fast bassline in Ice T’s Addicted To Danger, which sounds more menacing and muscular than before; while Max Richter’s The City Was A Chaos instrumental is admirably delivered with deep punchiness and increasing scale and intensity. Highs have plenty of headroom to soar too, with no hint of sharpness or brightness to disturb our listening.

Dynamically, there is enough variety to hold our attention, although the AirPods 5’s open design still doesn’t hold a candle to their eartip-equipped sealed counterparts when it comes to outright punch and dynamic contrast.

With certain songs, we find the AirPods 5’s newfound weighty balance can overpower more delicate, subtler moments at times. The finer details and nuances of The Unthanks’ singing in Here’s The Tender Coming are a little subdued. Voices are less prominent in the mix than before and as a result don’t sound quite as clear; we find the leaner sound of the older AirPods 4 with ANC delivers a sweeter and more agile presentation.

Many will find the older AirPods 4 to have a lightweight sound in comparison to the AirPods’ more full-bodied presentation, and it simply depends on which balance you prefer.

Verdict

An open design will always have its compromises when it comes to outright dynamic punch and clarity, but the AirPods 5’s more powerful and weightier sound does a fine job of keeping the music front and centre even as you’re constantly aware of your surroundings.

This fifth-generation model is a fairly gentle evolution that aims to bring wider iOS ecosystem features to all price points, while those using older generations of AirPods will find it a much bigger and more satisfying update. The AirPods 5’s highly effective ANC performance in this kind of open earbud design is the biggest draw here, and we’ve yet to encounter an open alternative that sounds this good.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Features 4
• Build 4

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