Noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds use analogue and electronic methods to block out the environmental sound around you, allowing you to listen to your music in peace without distraction. There are two different types of noise cancellation to consider: active noise cancellation and passive noise cancellation.
Active noise cancellation: all the earbuds in this guide come with active noise cancellation, which is also known as ANC. This method uses inbuilt microphones to analyze environmental noise and create 'anti-noise' frequencies that are mixed in with your music playback. This effectively cancels out the sound of your surroundings using analogue or digital filters.
Passive noise cancellation: this is when the headphones physically block outside sound from reaching your ears, and this can be achieved in a number of ways. Noise-cancelling over-ear headphones typically have heavily padded earcups to achieve this, while in-ear headphones need to fit snugly in your ear to create a tight seal, stopping environmental sounds from entering.
Active noise cancellation is usually more effective than passive, but the best noise-cancelling earbuds and headphones use both methods to really shut out the world around you.