Field note 04
Over-ear and in-ear ANC with manufacturer battery hours and list prices — no invented isolation scores.
Method on this page. Editors’ shortlist — published battery life (ANC on/off when stated) + weight + official list or clearly marked sale band.
Cabin noise is a physics problem. Brands publish battery hours and grams; they do not publish a universal “quietness” number you should trust without a lab.
We log Sony WH-1000XM5, Bose QuietComfort Ultra, Apple AirPods Pro 2, and Sony WF-1000XM5 using official spec pages. We omit star averages and “beats Bose” slogans. If a battery figure is “up to,” we keep the “up to.”
In-ear ANC with USB-C case on current U.S. pages. Apple publishes listening-hours figures and a $249 list.
Bose’s current over-ear QC Ultra line. Official pages list battery life and Immersive Audio features — copy hours from the live spec sheet when you update.
Bose’s QC Ultra in-ears. Official pages list case+bud hours and a flagship list price.
Sony’s WF-1000XM5 in-ears. Official spec pages list earbud weight and ANC-on playback hours.
Over-ear ANC. Sony lists approx. 250 g, up to 30 hours playback with NC on (40 hours NC off), and a $399.99 MSRP.