The saddest sound coming from your wireless earbuds isn't Billie Eilish's song, What Was I Made For? It's the low-battery warning tone, especially when you've just sat down for your commute home. After a day of music, calls and the occasional TikTok video (on your break, ahem), can you reasonably expect to have some juice left for the ride home? The answer should be yes. Or it could be, depending on a few things.
Most active noise-canceling, or ANC, wireless earbud manufacturers publish battery life specs with varying degrees of specificity, ranging from basic playback time with and without ANC to a virtual dissertation on battery life using different codecs and features. Some also provide talk-time specifications, but none offer guidance on what to expect from mixed-use scenarios or using all the latest advanced features. So which of those features is depleting your battery the most?
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Real-world battery life
Most common battery drainers:
ANC and transparency modes
Listening volume
Hi-res audio streaming
Less common but potential battery drainers:
Distance between phone and earbuds
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