The additional segmentation of the regular AirPods is kind of confusing. Conceptually I know they sit between the base AirPods and the Pros, but am I paying more just for ANC?
That was my first thought. I've used AirPod Pros and an expensive over-ear headset, and the headset was actually worse for ANC because of my sideburns/beard and glasses. Plane rides especially highlighted this, as the low-droning engine noise penetrated the weak ear seal easier. Perhaps the fancy acoustic feedback and ear topology modeling are going to alleviate this issue, but I'm not sure that it's going to resonate with consumers because it requires product knowledge. Give me decent ANC in the base model, and very good ANC in the Pros and it's immediately understandable what I am getting.
