6 Best Headphones With Transparency Mode

Over the years, noise-canceling headphones and earbuds have become essential gadgets for traveling. The loud whirring noise of airplane engines, loud traffic, and all other such noises get drowned out so that I can listen to music in peace. However, sometimes noise canceling works too well. With noise-canceling earbuds, the problem is enhanced since they make a tighter leakproof seal with soft ear tips. 

A few years ago you could either keep the noise-canceling feature turned on or off. There was no middle ground. With it turned on, I missed people warning me about my dropped wallet, and with it turned off I had to listen to the loud honks, curses, and everything else going around me. Thankfully, now we have transparency mode to fix this issue. Before we dive deep into it, check out some of the best headphones with transparency mode:

Headphones	Sony WH-1000XM4	Apple AirPods Max	Bose NC  700	Apple AirPods Pro	Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2	Jabra Elite Active 75t
Price	Check price on Amazon	Check price on Amazon	Check price on Amazon	Check price on Amazon	Check price on Amazon	Check price on Amazon
Form factor	Over-ear Headphones	Over-ear Headphones	Over-ear Headphones	True Wireless Earbuds	True Wireless Earbuds	True Wireless Earbuds
Weight	9 ounces	13.6 ounces	8.8 ounces	0.38 ounces	0.42 ounces	0.38 ounces
Frequency Response	4Hz – 40kHz	20Hz – 20kHz	20Hz – 20kHz	20Hz – 20kHz	5Hz – 21kHz	20Hz – 20kHz
Battery Life	30 Hours with ANC	20 Hours with ANC	20 Hours with ANC	More than 24 hours with ANC	24 Hours with ANC	24 Hours with ANC
Waterproof	IPX4 equivalent	Not water resistant	Not water resistant	IPX4	IPX4	IP57
Microphones	5 Mics	9 Mics	8 Mics	2 Mics on each bud	2 Mics on each bud	4 Mics

What is Transparency Mode?

With transparency mode, some of the external noise is picked up by the external microphones on the headphone and sent to your ear along with the music. It’s a feature that makes sense and is only available for Active Noise Canceling headphones. 

This technology allows me to be more aware of my surroundings and the individuals around me. It’s similar to a person listening to music via speakers in their room while talking to a person next to them. Noise-canceling headphones have signal processing chips that can carefully filter out most of the noise from the physical world and allow in what I want to hear. 

While Apple made this term more renowned with the AirPods Pro, you may know it by a different name for different manufacturers. For instance, Jabra calls it the HearThrough feature while Sony calls it Ambient Sound Mode. Irrespective of the name, all of them work the same way. Let’s check out some of the best headphones with transparency mode.   

1. Sony WH-1000XM4 (Best ANC)

The Sony WH-1000XM4 is a worthy successor to the Sony WH-1000XM3 since it does everything better than its predecessor and has plenty of extra features to boot. When it comes to the look and style they look almost identical to the XM3s with a slightly matte finish and more padding on the headband as well as the ear cushions. The build quality is also very impressive. The headphones look very durable and the yolk turned out to be quite flexible in my tests. 

The headphones are also great for comfort. They weigh just around 9 ounces and have a clamping force of 1 pound. The ear cushions also have the right amount of firmness. All those things allow me to wear these headphones throughout the day at home or while commuting for several hours without any issue. However, I wouldn’t recommend them for exercising since they don’t have an official IP rating and can trap heat around the ears very quickly. 

The XM4s also have stellar sound quality just like the XM3s. I don’t like the out-of-the-box bass-heavy sound profile with intense rumble and thumps. Thankfully, I could easily change it from the Sony companion app on my phone with its graphic EQ. After tweaking the headphones to my liking, they sound amazing and have a pretty accurate frequency response and imaging. 

While the sound is great and the headphones are comfy, they truly shine with their extensive features. The headphones have a wear sensor that pauses the music when I take my headphones off and plays it back when I wear my headphones. The noise-canceling is also excellent with a 5-microphone array. They are a significant improvement over the XM3s. I could drown out everything from crying babies to sirens, honks, and more.  

https://youtu.be/bInJjmH31Hk

The XM3s had a dorky feature where I had to hover my hand over the right earcup with ANC on and the headphones would allow in external noise so that I could listen to the person next to me. Now there’s a speak-to-chat feature that can be enabled from the app. When I start talking to someone, the headphones automatically pipe in external noise and when I’m done with the conversation ANC turns back on. 

The transparency feature is also excellent. Sony calls it Ambient Sound Control. You can find this feature in the Sony companion app and it lets you adjust the ANC level to let in ambient noise. Depending on your activity the headphones can also change the Ambient Sound Mode automatically. It’s a very convenient feature that works well. 

2. Apple AirPods Max (Best Transparency Mode)

Apple wanted a piece of the luxury listening market and that’s why they came up with the AirPods Max to compete with Bose and Sony. Right off the bat these headphones differentiate themselves with style and build quality. Like all Apple products, they look and feel very premium with a satin finish on the aluminum cans, a telescopic stainless steel headband, power-up, and a nice button with a digital crown at the top.      

Unlike most other headphones in this segment, this one is almost completely made out of metal. While that makes them more durable and premium, it also makes them heavy. I feel the weight as long as I nod and shake my head or look around. That means they aren’t great for commuting or exercise and that may be the reason why Apple didn’t add water resistance to them. 

When it comes to comfort, the headphones have a clamping force of 1.2 pounds, and the mesh ear cups don’t trap heat like leather. The earcups are also magnetic and easily removable. For controls, this headphone has a pairing button and a digital crown from the Apple Watch. It works remarkably well as a volume knob and for music playback control.  

https://youtu.be/Gvvo6vUpJRc

Unlike most other headphones in this segment, the AirPods Max has a neutral sound signature with a slightly warm tone. That makes the headphones great for a variety of audio content. The 40mm drivers do a great job at accurately reproducing the rumbles and thumps for hip hop and EDM fans. However, the vocals and lead instruments could be clearer. 

The active noise canceling on these headphones is also pretty good. With nine microphones, they do an excellent job at muting out all the consistent noise around me. Everything from vacuum cleaners and airplanes to traffic and even random chatter. However, the headphones stand out with the transparency mode.

Apple did some great software and hardware tweaks to not just let in ambient sound when you want to hear them but also let you know exactly where the sound is coming from. I can accurately pinpoint whether the ambient sound is coming from my left, right, from behind me, or in front of me. Other headphones can’t do that. However, with nine microphones, I expected the call quality to be better.

3. Bose NC 700 (Best in Comfort)

Bose has moved on from QuietComfort headphones when they designed the Bose NC 700. It looks much more modern with a distinctively shaped headband that blends into the ear cups without any hinges to show. The headband also looks very modern with a silicon touch feel instead of the familiar mesh. Combine that with the well-padded ear cushions, lightweight design, and one pound of clamping force and you get one of the most comfortable over-ear ANC headphones.

The Bose also has very convenient controls. With a single tap on the power button, they turn on and quickly connect to the last connected device. Pairing and switching with multiple devices is also easy. When the headphones power up they also tell me how much playtime I have left. With other headphones, I have to rely on the Bluetooth interface of my phone or computer to know the battery level. Even then it doesn’t tell me anything about remaining playtime. 

However, Bose didn’t score any points on the physical control gestures. The touch-sensitive area is very small and that affects accuracy when I’m trying to turn up the volume, play or pause music. There’s also no haptic feedback to make the experience smoother. That’s why I find myself relying more on my phone or the half-baked companion app to control the music and other features of these headphones. 

https://youtu.be/4R60vq9mcpQ

When it comes to the sound profile, the Bose headphones have a slightly bass-emphasized, warm signature. Out-of-the-box they will please any bass-heavy hip-hop or EDM fan. They don’t disappoint with the midrange either. It’s balanced and makes vocals and podcasts pop. however, I had to tune the graphic EQ to get more out of the lead instruments at the high frequencies. After that, the imaging on these headphones was decent enough. 

The Bose are also absolute rock stars when it comes to ANC and calling quality. Even in windy and noisy environments, I wasn’t distracted by the surroundings since the 8 microphones do a great job at eliminating them. During calls, my voice was transmitted to the other end with minimal distortion even when I had a loud fan right next to my ear. Maybe that’s because Bose also does a great job at noise isolation even without ANC turned on. 

Bose doesn’t have a special name for their transparency mode. It simply allows you to change the noise-canceling levels and pipe in ambient noise. Whenever I power on the headphones they are set to full ANC mode. However, I can customize the ANC level in the companion app and can also set up three ANC profiles for different levels of ambient noise. The headphones also have a button to cycle through these ANC profiles.   

4. Apple AirPods Pro (Most Convenient)   

The AirPods Pro was a welcome upgrade over the 2nd generation AirPods and even after the launch of the 3rd generation AirPods, I preferred to stick to the Pros. If you have owned any of the AirPods you know how small they are and Apple hasn’t changed anything about that. They are small, lightweight, and incredibly convenient. The Magsafe charging case is one of the smallest TWS charging cases in the market and truly pocketable. 

Unlike the regular AirPods, the Pros now have a force sensor instead of a touch sensor. It was annoying at first, but I got used to the squeeze controls. However, I detest the lack of volume control on these earbuds. I genuinely don’t want to summon Siri every time I need to change the volume. The AirPods Pro comes with silicon tips and is a major design upgrade over the regular AirPods. It makes the slip out less and makes a tighter and comfier seal on my ears. 

The Pros are also waterproof with an IPX4 rating and that makes them perfect for gym workouts. Even with just one mic on the outside and another one on the inside, it has an impressive ANC for its size. I don’t have to put up with traffic noise or the loud exaggerated grunts of gym bros when I’m working out. After a while, I forget they are even in my ears until I’m reminded of low battery by that sad-sounding chime. 

https://youtu.be/-g0H5HibVKA

When it comes to the battery life, AirPods Pro may seem unimpressive with 4.5 hours of ANC use. However, combined with the case it gives me over 24 hours of music playback with ANC. Even when I run out of charge on the buds, putting them back in the case for a few minutes gives me hours of playtime. The sound is also very impressive for anything made by Apple in this size. However, other true wireless earbuds from rivals do a better job here.   

When it comes to transparency mode, Apple takes the win again with the AirPods Pro. they have almost perfected this technology and implemented them flawlessly in both the AirPods Max and the AirPods Pro. The ambient sound with these earbuds sounds much more natural than any other TWS earbuds I’ve used. 

5. Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 (Best Sounding TWS)

The Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 2 had a tough job impressing me given the horrible experience I had with its predecessor. Seems like Sennheiser made the right improvements and brought decent truly wireless earbuds that can compete with the likes of Apple, Sony, Bose, Jabra, and more. Let’s address the elephant in the room. The previous generation of these earbuds had a terrible battery issue. 

The advertised battery life wasn’t just significantly lower than the competition, but it also had a battery draining issue that caused the battery to drain out even while I wasn’t using them. While the case and the buds themselves look and feel very premium, they are very bulky. After a while, I feel the buds on my ears and I prefer to put the charging case in my backpack instead of the pockets on my pants. 

The size of the earbuds isn’t an issue on light jogs but becomes a problem while weight lifting. At least I don’t have to worry about them while sweating in the gym since they are water-resistant. I think these earbuds outshine the rest in two departments – sound quality and touch controls. 

https://youtu.be/exLR56NY7O0

The touch controls are highly responsive and even customizable through the app. I wasn’t stuck to the manufacturer’s default for changing tracks or controlling volume. Sennheiser also slays the competition with its fantastic sound. The rest of the earbuds priced even higher can’t compare. While the treble response was a bit disappointing on the default profile, a quick level boost on the graphic EQ fixed that issue. 

The ANC on these headphones is just okay. They don’t blow me away. Maybe it’s due to the excellent noise isolation, but there wasn’t a big difference after turning ANC on or off. While these earbuds have a transparency mode that can be controlled through the companion app, it sounds a bit unnatural. I wouldn’t have been disappointed with the ANC and transparency mode if these earbuds didn’t come with a premium price tag.   

6. Jabra Elite Active 75t (Best in Budget)

Jabra has upped their game with the Jabra Elite Active 75T and that may not be very apparent if you’re already familiar with the regular Elite 75T. Both of these earbuds have virtually no difference when it comes to the look and design. However, the Active has an ANC with advanced features. They are also compact and lightweight. In some ways, they are even smaller than AirPods Pro and the charging case is pocketable as well. 

The Active model also feels more premium due to its rubberized coating on the plastic shell. This also makes it more comfortable on my ears and makes them a better fit. The Jabra also takes all the points on water and dust resistance. With their IP57 rating, I’m confident to take them on a jog even when it’s raining. 

The Jabra also has aggressive pricing. It costs half the price of most decent ANC earbuds in the market. It also features very sensitive controls. Holding the earbuds with a finger allows me to control the volume while single, double, and triple taps allow me to control music playback, calls, and transparency mode. Jabra calls their transparency mode HearThrough feature and it works as well as the earbuds cost.  

https://youtu.be/_umeIkde6RM

While the ANC is decent, the HearThrough feature is terrific. I was able to control the HearThrough feature with Jabra’s companion app by moving the slider. There’s also a toggle to completely turn off the HearThrough feature. The earbuds don’t disappoint with Bluetooth connections either. It can pair to multiple devices and allows easy switching between two. 

The sound quality on the Actives is manageable for the low price. However, there is a loss of detail in the midrange and the highs may sound a bit inaccurate. Expect muted vocals with these earbuds. However, they would be the perfect choice for working out to bass-heavy tracks. I also like how they pause the music when I take them out of my ears.    

Conclusion

Transparency mode will become an essential and necessary feature as ANC headphones and earbuds become better and more common. Without transparency mode, I lose one of my senses while traveling or commuting. Depending on your preference you can always find a headphone with transparency mode from the above-mentioned list that suits your preference.