I Tested 4 ANC Headphones on the Chicago 'L' Train. Here's the Honest Audit.

The Bottom Line

I've spent the last six months commuting on the Chicago Blue Line with four different ANC headphones on my ears. Not in a sound booth. Not in a quiet office. On a metal tube full of brake squeal, platform announcements, and the guy three seats over whose music bleeds through his earbuds at 8am. That's the test. That's the only test that matters. And most of these headphones fail it in ways the review sites won't tell you.

Disclosure: All four units purchased at retail, tested with my own money. No review units. No affiliate deals on this post.

Why Every ANC Review You've Read Is Wrong

The typical ANC headphone "review" involves a professional plugging them into a signal generator in a quiet room and measuring dB reduction at specific frequencies. That's useful data. It's also completely disconnected from your morning commute.

Real-world ANC performance lives in the messy overlap of three variables: the specific frequencies of your noise environment, how well the headphones actually seal to your head, and—here's the part nobody talks about—The Friction Factor. That's my measure of how much a device's controls get in the way of actually using it. A headphone with mediocre ANC but physical buttons you can operate with gloves on in a Chicago January is worth more to me than the "technically superior" option that requires you to swipe, tap-and-hold, and navigate a companion app to change the noise cancellation mode.

The PR fan-fiction on most ANC headphone spec sheets reads like this: "Up to 40 hours battery life, industry-leading noise cancellation, seamless companion app experience." My field audit says something different.

The Four Candidates (And My Methodology)

I tested four headphones across a 90-day stretch of daily Blue Line commutes, both directions, AM and PM rush:

  • Sony WH-1000XM5 — The category benchmark. $350 retail, frequently on sale for $279.
  • Bose QuietComfort 45 — The Bose faithful's choice. $329 retail, often $249 on sale.
  • Apple AirPods Max (USB-C, 2023) — $550. Testing this so you don't have to consider it.
  • Anker Soundcore Q45 — $50–$60. The honest budget pick.

Each one got a minimum of 30 commute sessions. I clocked actual battery depletion (not marketing claims), counted the number of physical interactions required to change core settings, and verified weight against my digital scale. I also checked iFixit repairability scores before any of this, because if I can't service it myself, I'm just renting it with extra steps.

The Scale Doesn't Lie

Weight matters more than reviewers admit—you're wearing this thing for 45 minutes minimum. Marketing specs vs. my digital scale:

  • Sony WH-1000XM5: Claims 250g. My scale: 253g. Close enough.
  • Bose QC45: Claims 238g. My scale: 241g. Fine.
  • Apple AirPods Max: Claims 385g. My scale: 386g. At least they're honest about the neck-strain tax.
  • Anker Q45: Claims 252g. My scale: 248g. Anker, as usual, sandbagging their own specs.

The AirPods Max are 135 grams heavier than the Bose. That's the weight of a full cup of coffee, strapped to your head, for your entire commute. Their "premium" build quality is mostly aluminum, which is great if you're buying architecture and less great if you're buying a commuter tool.

The ANC Reality Check

Blue Line-specific noise profile: constant 65–75dB background rumble, irregular spikes to 90–95dB on metal wheels taking curves, and punctuated announcements through tinny overhead speakers. This is midrange and high-frequency noise, not the deep bass hum that most ANC systems are optimized to cancel.

Here's what actually happened in field conditions:

Sony WH-1000XM5: The benchmark earns its spot. The XM5 handles the midrange grind of the Blue Line better than anything else I tested—there's a noticeable pressure sensation as the adaptive noise cancellation does its work, and the result is a genuine reduction in listening fatigue over a full commute. Battery claim: 30 hours. My average with ANC on, Bluetooth active: 22.5 hours. That's a 25% shortfall from the box claim, but it still lasts a full work week of commutes without charging. That's the honest number.

Bose QuietComfort 45: A different character than the Sony. The Bose doesn't cancel as aggressively, but it also doesn't produce that pressure sensation some people find uncomfortable. If you have ANC fatigue—and some people genuinely do—the QC45 is more comfortable over 8-hour travel days. Battery claim: 24 hours. My field average: 18 hours. That's a 25% shortfall. If you're a road warrior, plan your charging schedule accordingly.

Apple AirPods Max: The ANC itself is technically impressive. On paper, a win. In practice, the Friction Factor is catastrophic. To switch between ANC modes, you spin a physical crown—that part's fine. But to access anything beyond the basics, you need an iPhone, connected to that iPhone, navigating the Bluetooth settings menu. There's no meaningful companion app for non-Apple hardware. If you use a Windows machine at work—and a lot of people do—your $550 headphones are second-class citizens for 8 hours a day. Battery claim: 20 hours. My field average: 14.5 hours. And they don't fold flat. At $550, you're paying for precision engineering and an ecosystem lock-in tax. Most people should skip this entirely.

Anker Soundcore Q45: Listen. I know what you're thinking. Fifty-dollar headphones against a $350 Sony? Here's the thing: the Anker does something the others don't. It has four physical, tactile buttons. Volume up. Volume down. Power. ANC toggle. In a Chicago winter, with gloves on, I can change every core setting without looking down. The Bose requires gesture controls I can't reliably execute through gloves. The Sony's touchpad is simply unusable with gloves—I've accidentally skipped three songs trying to pause. The Anker's ANC quality is not in the same league as the Sony. But it reduces the Blue Line to background noise well enough to focus, the battery claim of 50 hours is the one spec in this roundup that's not PR fan-fiction (my test: 43 hours with ANC on), and if it dies in a year, I bought two of them for the price of one Sony on sale.

The Friction Factor Breakdown

Number of physical actions required to toggle between ANC-on and transparency mode:

  • Anker Q45: 1 button press.
  • Sony WH-1000XM5: 1 button press (dedicated physical NC/Ambient button).
  • Bose QC45: 1 button press.
  • Apple AirPods Max: 1 crown press—until you want Adaptive Transparency or any personalized settings. Then: unlock iPhone → Settings → Bluetooth → tap headphones → adjust. Friction Failure.

The AirPods Max aren't bad headphones in isolation. They're bad headphones for people who don't want a full-time Apple ecosystem dependency. That's a lot of people.

The iFixit Reality

Before I spend real money on a headphone, I check repairability. You should too.

  • Sony WH-1000XM5 — 6/10: Ear pad replacement is non-destructive. Battery replacement requires disassembly but is documented and doable. Replacement parts exist. Acceptable.
  • Bose QC45 — 5/10: Ear cushions are replaceable. Battery replacement is involved but documented. Decent.
  • Apple AirPods Max — No formal score: Teardowns show heavy adhesive throughout, limited part availability outside the Apple ecosystem, no user-serviceable path. At $550, you are buying disposable hardware with a premium finish.
  • Anker Q45 — No formal score: Plastic construction, standard screws, user-replaceable cable. If something fails, you can probably fix it on a workbench. For $50, your risk is fundamentally lower anyway.

The Old Version Test

The Sony WH-1000XM4 is still available on the used and refurbished market for $160–$200. The XM5 runs $279 on a good sale. The core ANC performance difference between the two? Real, but not $120 real for most commuters. The XM4 folds flat, which the XM5 does not—a genuine regression that Sony made for "premium build" reasons that primarily benefited their industrial design team, not you. If you don't need the absolute best midrange ANC and you're comfortable buying refurbished from a reputable seller, the XM4 passes the Old Version Test. Keep the $120.

Who Should Skip This Entirely

If your commute is ten feet from bedroom to desk, none of these headphones make sense at full retail. A decent pair of wired headphones with passive isolation—the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x runs $149—will outlast any Bluetooth headphone in this roundup by five years and never need a charge. The ANC is mostly solving a problem you manufactured by buying wireless in the first place.

The Verdict

Buy the Sony XM5 if you're a serious daily commuter and you want the best real-world ANC money can actually justify. Wait for a sale. Don't pay full retail.

Buy the Bose QC45 if ANC-induced pressure headaches are a genuine issue for you, or you do long-haul travel where comfort over 8+ hours matters more than maximum noise isolation.

Buy the Anker Q45 if you wear gloves for four months of the year, you're not confident you won't lose them on the train, or you're buying for a teenager. The ANC is adequate. The physical controls are better than headphones that cost five times as much.

Skip the AirPods Max if you own any non-Apple device at any point in your daily workflow. The ANC isn't worth the ecosystem fine print or the neck compression.

The bottom line on ANC headphones is the same as everything else I audit: the marketing claims will exceed real-world performance, the physical controls matter more than the spec sheet, and the most expensive option is rarely the right call for actual commuters. Buy the tool. Not the brochure.