You Don’t Actually Always Need It
Noise cancelling has become one of those features people expect to have in headphones.
“If a pair of earbuds has ANC, then it must be better.”
And if it doesn’t, it feels like something is missing. That’s how noise cancelling is marketed, and most people don’t question it.
But once you actually look at what noise cancelling does, especially in the context of gaming and sound quality, the benefits of noise cancelling starts to fall apart.
The 2 Types
There are two types of noise cancelling that people usually lump together: ANC and ENC. Their function is the same but they solve completely different problems.
Active Noise Cancellation, or ANC, is for what you hear. It uses microphones to pick up external noise, then generates an opposing signal layer to cancel it out, and applies it over what you’re listening to. You don’t actually hear it and it’s constantly working in the background; always adjusting in real time.
Environmental Noise Cancellation, or ENC, works on your microphone instead. It filters out background noise from your voice so other people hear you more clearly during calls or the voice chats. ENC is super helpful since nobody needs to hear your fan in the background, or you gulping down Coke Zeros.
This distinction matters, because one improves communication, while the other fundamentally changes your listening experience – and not for the better!
Wait, ANC is “Bad”?
Okay, it’s not fully “bad”, per se. The issue with ANC is that it doesn’t just remove noise. It alters your sound quality.
To cancel external noise, ANC introduces counter-waves into the signal. So you’re no longer hearing just the original audio as it was intended, but you’re hearing a processed version of it. On top of the game audio, the music, or the YouTube video you’re watching, there’s a layer of that counter-wave of the background noise that’s applied on top of it.
Technically speaking, you shouldn’t be able to hear it but sometimes that shows up as a slight pressure feeling. Other times it comes through as a change in tonality or clarity. The sound can feel less natural, less clean, or just slightly off in a way that’s hard to describe until you notice it.
TL;DR it changes your sound quality. And when that processing alters your ability to perceive the game world through sound, say, through spatial audio, that’s when ANC starts to take more than it gives.
A properly fitting pair of in-ear earbuds already blocks a significant amount of external noise in most gaming environments. And that passive isolation doesn’t rely on any additional processing to begin with. Because it physically reduces what you hear in the first place, there’s very little, if any, that ends up needing to be cancelled!
If your seal is good, you’re already cutting out a large portion of background noise. At that point, adding ANC on top becomes less about necessity and more about stacking features – which is just marketing hype at that point.
Why Sound Quality Matters
In gaming, this sound quality matters more than people think. You don’t want just music to sound better, like how audiophiles chase sound quality. You want clear, accurate audio that gives precise directional cues, and give off subtle details that give the enemy away, or give you a heads-up if you need to bail.
All that is dependent on excellent sound separation, which in turn is reliant on the audio signal and quality staying intact. Once you start layering processing on top, even if it’s only subtle, you risk losing some of that precision, and your team the match entirely.
For most players, especially those gaming indoors, passive isolation is more than enough. You’re not dealing with airplane engines or constant street noise. You’re in a relatively controlled environment. The problem ANC is designed to solve just isn’t that relevant.
Where noise cancelling actually proves its value is on the microphone side.
The “Good” Noise Cancelling
ENC on the other hand, directly improves how you communicate to other people by making you easier to be understood. It reduces background noise from your environment. So whether that’s a fan, keyboard, or general room noise, your teammates don’t need to hear any of that.
In multiplayer games, that’s not a minor upgrade. It’s the difference between being clearly understood and being the person everyone asks to mute. Plus, your keyboard and mouse sounds can give off your movement cues too, giving your enemy the advantage.
ENC is where noise cancelling starts actually being practical in gaming. You hearing slightly less background noise is nice. But your teammates hearing you clearly and understanding you immediately, without delays, is what’s most critical.
The Verdict
ANC gives you a quieter but more processed listening experience – but you don’t exactly need it when a good physical seal not only gives you a cleaner, more natural sound quality …that also does not ruin your ability to take advantage of spatial audio. ENC, on the other hand, solves a real communication problem, without compromising what you hear.
And all of this is why if you’re serious about your gaming experience (which doesn’t necessarily need to be about being competitive), you need good quality equipment that’s built for gaming. Features like ANC can be good for your general purpose Apple AirPods, but as we’ve learned, noise cancelling just isn’t a feature that’s actually needed in gaming earbuds or headphones.
If you want to see the earbuds that we do classify as good gaming earbuds, check out our top recommendations here.
