The title may be a bit cliche, but it's true. These are the best in-ear headphones that I have ever used, and I have used quite a few in-ear headphones. These AirPods are small, light, and sound decent, but most importantly, they fit my ears! I apparently have such a unique ear shape that no other in-ear headphone I've ever tried fit well. I've tried the Apple AirPod Pros, the samsung buds pro, the sony xm something or others, the sennheiser buds, the anker soundcores, the JBLs, and a plethora of other in-ear headphones, but the AirPods 4 are the only set I've tried (aside the AirPods 2 that these are replacing) that actually fit and stay in my ear no matter what I'm doing. So that alone already makes them well worth the $210 that I paid, as I elected to also add the AppleCare+ to the headphones.

In addition, these headphones have some other nice features aside from being literally the only pair I'm able to use. Features like the in-ear detection (excellent), mic for calls (one of the best on the market; I'm able to be heard clearly no matter how windy it is), automatic switching between Apple Devices (a really neat party trick for my android family), Find My WITH speaker on the case (an actual lifesaver), wireless charging (surprisingly rare on other headphone models), and ANC! WOW! I was not expecting the noise cancelling to work at all, considering that these headphones do not make any kind of seal in my ear but I was so wrong! These headphones reliably cancel out fan/appliance droning, and reliably quiet down loud noises. It's not quite as good as the AirPod Pro 2's that I exchanged for this model, but it is so, SO much better than I was expecting for the design of the headphone.

The only complaint that I have with these headphones is that they only last about 4 hours, depending on the sound mode. That's not a lot of time, especially as the battery ages, hence why I got AppleCare+ on these headphones. My AirPods 2 (which these are replacing) can barely make it an hour now, even though they had a similar runtime when new. I'd highly recommend that you buy AppleCare+ with these headphones.

I highly HIGHLY recommend these headphones for anyone, but especially for other people with weird shaped ears like me. As far as I'm concerned, these are the only headphones on the market.

performance much better than I anticipated. I've owned several series of AirPods in the past, including the first and second iterations, and was all in on the AirPod Pros for their noise cancelling properties, which worked fantastic....until they didn't. Turns out, something with the AirPod Pros triggered severe allergic reactions in my ears which meant it was a a no go on any in-ear noise cancelling solution....which stinks as the over ear brands, while performing spectacularly, tend to take up more space in a back pack and can get uncomfortable when wearing glasses at the same time. So, when I head about the AirPod 4's with ANC and WITHOUT the silicone ear tips, I was cautiously optimistic. I've tried the Samsung ANC beans before and those left a ton to be desired in the ANC performance (I returned them), so i was skeptical that the AirPod 4 would be able to achieve any level of usable ANC. I have to say, I was way wrong. These things perform amazingly well in a variety of environments and do a more than adequate job of blocking outside noise, from a running vacuum around the house, to flying....the AirPods 4 hold up amazingly well and hold their own. I've tested several noisy environments with the AirPods 4 and my AirPod Max on ANC and while there is a difference in the performance between the two (as their should be), it is not in my estimation significantly appreciable of a difference. The biggest difference I'm noticed between the two is the battery life while using ANC. The Max will last through two full cross county flights, the AirPods, not so much...maybe one cross country flight. But nevertheless, color me impressed. Sound quality is an improvement over prior versions and I really like the ability to charge these wirelessly. My one complaint, and it applies to all versions of AirPods, when will we have the ability to paint them to more than one device at a time

Not particularly blown away by these, but they do the job required enough to keep them. Overall they’re pretty good, comfortable with short term use, charge quickly and are very easy to use but personally don’t think noise cancellation is good enough to warrant the extra cost vs. the standard 4th gen.

More detail:
Noise cancellation is fairly good for in ears but I’ve noticed it doesn’t fully work if it’s blocking noise from one side. It self adjusts to more or less noise in the environment but if there’s more of one sound on your left it won’t filter it out as much - if at all.

Battery life isn’t as good as my first gen AirPods, I could be out for 8 hours before needing to charge them in the case whereas these only last 4-5. To be fair I knew this from reading product info so wasn’t taken by surprise.

The size of them is a bit frustrating. Larger than my old AirPods, they feel like they’re just perched on my ears instead of securely slotting in but as of yet they haven’t fallen out. Their size is problematic though as they somehow begin to leave painful sores in my ears if I wear them for too long. Which is frustrating as my main intended use for them was as a sleep aid, but I can’t do that without waking up to pain in my ears. I’ve read that this has been an issue with all previous generations of AirPods except the first (which I also never had any issues with), so I don’t get why that hasn’t been fixed. I can only use them for max 3 hours at a time without pain so I wouldn’t recommend them if you’re someone who needs to use earphones for long hours.

My full on detailed review after 3 days of use.

Okay, first things first, ANC is solid for what the buds are and without the eartip. It has no issues knocking an aircon out of the room or the buzzing of a refrigerator.

Positives:
This may be apples SMALLEST available package of any electronics.
The case itself is probably the smallest case ever released onto the open market, which makes it easily portably in a bag, a pocket, or a purse. This is also in my opinion, the BEST case on the market for these reasons.
These buds are COMFORTABLE so long as they fit. I had my girlfriend try these and she said they weren’t great, but I can happily wear these for their entire battery life with no ear fatigue.
Finally, these have the best transparency mode of any buds I’ve ever tried (I’ve owned 8 or 9 wireless buds at this point in my life) and it honestly feels like I’m not wearing anything.

Negatives:
For what these buds are, they’re overpriced for sure. These should be about $150 max.
The buds themselves only have 4 hour battery lives, which means if you’re someone who wears buds at work or some other public environment, you’re gonna have to charge em at some point.
ANC isn’t great, if you’re in a noisy area, you’re gonna have to turn your music or media up quite a lot to actually drown the noise out. This IS to be expected but it’s still a bit of a downside (still the best “open ear” ANC on the market though).

Overall I’d give these an 8/10. They sound pretty good as all airpods have, they’re well built, and they provide a strong package.
Personally, I like them more than the AirPods Pro 2 but these are overpriced. If you’re debating on these or the pros 2 and don’t care about price, get the Pros 2, but if you’re looking for a good set of buds WITH AN APPLE DEVICE while also trying to save a buck, these are a great choice. (Pics below conpared to Airpods Pro 2 and Samsung Buds Pro 2)