What is ANC?
Active Noise Cancellation uses microphones on the outside of the earbud to capture ambient sound, then generates an inverse sound wave that cancels the noise before it reaches your ears. The result is that you hear music, podcasts, or silence — but not the airplane engine, traffic noise, or office air conditioning system around you. ANC affects what you hear.
What is ENC?
Environmental Noise Cancellation is a microphone technology designed to improve the clarity of your voice during calls. ENC uses multiple microphones and signal processing algorithms to isolate your voice and eliminate background noise from what the other person on the call hears. ENC affects what others hear when you speak — it does not affect your listening experience at all.
The Key Difference
ANC and ENC solve completely different problems. ANC is for your listening comfort. ENC is for call quality. They are not interchangeable terms for the same feature, though marketing materials sometimes treat them as if they are.
Which Do You Need?
If you commute, travel frequently, work in open-plan offices, or want to focus in noisy environments: you need earbuds with effective ANC. If you take many calls from noisy locations such as coffee shops, streets, or public transport: you need earbuds with strong ENC microphone performance — which is a separate specification worth checking in reviews.
Do Premium Earbuds Have Both?
Most premium earbuds priced above $150 include both effective ANC and strong ENC. The Sony WF-1000XM6, Apple AirPods Pro 2, and Bose QuietComfort Ultra all deliver excellent performance on both. Budget earbuds under $50 typically offer mediocre performance on both. The $80 to $150 range is where both technologies become genuinely useful. Read our Sony WF-1000XM6 review for a real-world ANC test.
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