UKC

Can anyone here recommend which are the best Apple AirPods to buy? There seem now to be three generations of them, the third being massively more expensive than the second (with only the slight advantage of wireless re-charging). All three generations I think have the option of background noise suppression on the mike. I am wanting them primarily for making hands-free phone calls in quite noisy places (e.g. on the train). The iPhone doesn't have v good background noise suppression.

I don't own any but if I was going to get some I would have to go for the Pro's which have the silicone buds rather than the hard plastic non-pro versions (which are like the original iPhone wired headphones you used to get with iPhones before they cut them out to .... ... "save on eWaste" ... mmm yes of course.

I assume the Pro version will offer better noise cancelling, however if your main purpose is for taking phone calls in noisy places, my experience of that is being on the other end of someone trying to make calls using AirPods from a cafe to speak to me on the phone, and I could barely hear him. 

Reviews / other users experience might suggest differently though because I assume they are popular. Might be better with a proper handsfree bluetooth headset with a boom mic if it's just for phone calls (i.e. the AirPods would smash one of those on music quality and noise cancelling, but might be no where near as good at voice quality for phone calls). Something to research.

Thanks for your help. I think you might be right about headphones with a separate mike being the best option. I have some Sony headphones which are great for listening to music on the train, but the mike is on the outside of one of the earpieces, and the background noise is very bad.

I’ve got the Pro version and like them, but can’t give a comparison with the other models. Got them in a sale so they didn’t cost all that much more than the base model (I think they’ve brought out more options since then though). The noise cancellation means I don’t have to crank them up in noisy places and the option of pass through audio is useful when I do want to be able to hear background noise. 

Never used them to make a call on a plane, but the noise suppression seems to work okay in a car and while trying to sooth a disgruntled baby. Me and my partner also once tried use one earbud each from the same pair on a phone call but discovered that the noise suppression was good enough to filter out both of our voices which made for an interesting experiment but an unsuccessful phone call!

The selling point for me was more to do with the noise cancellation feature though, rather than noise suppression for the person at the other end of the phone (I don’t often make calls in noisy places), so it sounds like your priorities are a bit different. 

IF you like that type.  I personally hate them, and thus love the other type of Airpods - hardly anyone else offers "classic" type buds.

Noise cancelling and good bass response relies on isolation of external airflow so well fitting silicone/foam is the only option if you want any sort of performance.

I got some Earfun Pro 2 noise canceling earbuds which are entirely adequate and cost about 60 quid.

Thanks everyone. Lots of helpful advice coming in. I'm still listening

As a preference I don’t really like silicon ones  (whether Apple or three others I’ve tried over many years), but I’ve never had classic ones that would stay in my ears so after all the years of frustration, I went for the Pro (gen 1) version when on a big sale earlier this year.

These ones stay in my ears and so far never fallen out, and besides are, to me, an improvement in sound quality over the classic and the noise suppression (when I occasionally use it) is good enough for my standards. Balancing the annoyance having the silicon version, there is more gain for me personally.

If I want the classic, I still have the old wired classic ones 😂. They do still get used!

If you want to hear better in a noisy environment, I would go for the Pro version (there are two generations of them currently on sale btw, the original gen 1 and just launched gen 2).

I don’t often have phone calls in a noisy environment so never looked into this aspect in any detail, so can’t really help with that.

However, for me, if I want the other person of a call to hear better in a noisy environment, personally I use an old wired set I often carry as I can position and shield the microphone to try and help them hear me better. At the same time of course since the buds are not sealed (nor noise suppressed), I can appreciate the difficulty the person on the other end of the call might have in hearing me. Doesn’t meet your hands free requirement though, and something else to carry.

Well fitting silicone/foam appears not to exist for the shape of my ears - and believe me I've tried a few!  They just fall out.  I wish they did work for me for the reasons you mention, but in the end the noise cancelling ability of buds that don't fit in my ears isn't going to be great!  Obviously there's the other option of over-ear cans, but those aren't as easy to carry in a pocket.

I have had first gen (lost to the washing machine) and now have 2nd gen (lost in the house somewhere) AirPods and they work brilliantly for personal listening and on work calls on iphone and MacBook. Don’t have any issues with the all plastic ear insert other than they will occasional catch on a high collar or something and pop out.

got mine in CEX second hand for less than the store price. Good quality and obv’s come with a guarantee but not the Apple warranty.

The newest gen however has a game changer update in that if you do ‘find my…’ on your iPhone the case will play a sound for you which means that if you have lost them in the house for instance, they are more easily locatable.