IN- EAR STRENGTH

Doctors tell you never to put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear. All well and good, but that would rule out almost everything on this page…

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APPLE AIR PODS PRO

When you think of the AirPods, it feels like the Pros should be the ones we should’ve got right from the start.

Lightweight, active noise cancellation and instant pairing with iPhones – it’s a recipe that was bound for success from the start.

AirPods Pro look much neater and more discreet – or, less toothbrush head-y than the original AirPods. They’re so light too, to the point you really can’t feel them in your ear at all, so top marks for comfort.

That brings us onto the silicon tips, of which there are three sizes in the box. Not only does it make for a better fit, but it means audio quality won’t suffer as a result of poor fit.

With IPX4, they’re both sweat and water resistant, which are ideal for the gym. Not having a volume slider on the pods themselves is a tiny niggle, but not if you have an Apple Watch as you can control volume there, but many won’t have this luxury.

Part of the charm is the instant pairing when you flip open the case. In the case of the Pros, you also get controls to toggle between ANC on, off and Transparency mode, which lets more of the world in your ears.

Its ANC isn’t as aggressive as some on-ear headphones, but they’re tinier than a peanut so you can’t help but marvel at the internal packaging.

Two mics, one facing outward and one inward measure noise and create an anti-signal that cancels it out. All this happens 200 times a second so you can block out the nonsense.