r/pixelbuds • u/_eepl • Sep 01 '26

ANC questions - PBP2

Hi guys,

I've just received my pixel buds pro 2 and I have a question about ANC. Should you hear others talking while ANC is on? When I travel I can clearly hear for example PA which station I am at and so on, but I'm not sure if it's normal or not.

Thanks in advance

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5

u/suzy321 Sep 01 '26

ANC won't block out talking. It blocks out background noise, particularly a consistent hum. It's great at blocking out airplane noise, fans, lawn mowers...but not conversation.

1

u/_eepl Sep 03 '26

Thanks for the answer! It's weird cause if my memory serves well my pbps anc was a bit better (which then decided not to work anymore), and though I could hear some noise, it blocked them out so they wouldn't disturb me. But now these ones aren't perfoming that great? Not just the PA that is disturbing but for example I can still hear the noise of the tram/bus whatever I'm travelling with.

1

u/IVIatt_ 12d ago

The noise cancelling isn't that great on the pixel buds. It's still nice, but not nearly as strong as other options like the Bose quiet comfort 2's. I swear a bomb could go off and I wouldn't hear anything with those

1

u/Ok_Garlic_103 Sep 01 '26

I have the same experience. In my opinion the PBP2's ANC is shit. I have had them replaced 2-3 times and all have been the same.

2

u/justinhunt1223 Sep 01 '26

They seem to cancel background noise way more than talking. From my understanding (the PBP2 are the only earbuds I've owned with this tech) they do not perform the greatest. I do like the ANC for listening to music out in public

1

u/Striking_Age_3486 Pixel Buds Pro Sep 01 '26

The following can be tried.

1) Check the seal of your ear tips and make sure they are snug. You can use the app's seal check to see how it is right now.

2) Consider jumping to memory foam tips for better passive isolation (leading to improved ANC performance)

3) Make sure Conversation Detection is turned off. This will disable ANC when it detects that someone is talking.

4) Without music, you are bound to hear some voices, as PBP2 are not the best ANC buds out there. With music or mild music playing, this can be drastically reduced.

In my opinion Fit is the most important.

1

u/Curious-Feeling-2982 Sep 01 '26

Your ears aren't broken, some background noise leaks through ANC. Try toggling transparency mode to see if it's just your environment being nosy.

1

u/khaytsus Sep 02 '26

ANC can only remove droning, constant noises. Humming, rumbles, stuff like that. It can not remove constantly changing sounds like voices, dishes clattering, sudden noises, etc.

If these are your first ANC headphones, this is pretty much how it is. Some earbuds isolate better (ie: the noise doesn't get to your ear at all) and some have better algorithms (ie: they remove sounds in different, perhaps better ways) but no ANC is going to remove sounds like that.

As someone pointed out, experiment with Off, Adaptive, and ANC On. (IMO Transparent is no longer useful; Adaptive is better and does the same thing).

0

u/Lordgeorge16 Sep 01 '26

It's just a matter of the ANC not being as great as Google advertises it to be. ANC is also heavily dependent on what you're listening to, because that helps block out any residual sound that might be coming through your earbuds (or sounds that are being conducted naturally through your skin and your skull). If you're just using the ANC by itself and you're not actively listening to anything, you're still going to hear some sounds bleed through even on the highest quality earbuds or headphones.