Creative releases new noise-canceling earbuds that you don’t have to take out your ears to have a conversation

The new Sensemore Air earbuds are designed for you to keep them in your ears for both music and the outside world.

Typically wireless earbuds with noise cancellation want to separate you from the outside world, immersing you in a vivid soundstage that brings audio to life; that’s not quite the case for Creative’s latest pair of buds.

The aptly named Sensemore Air true wireless earbuds do still feature active noise cancellation (ANC) that works exactly like the tech in the best noise-canceling earbuds out there to block out outside distractions. But when you need better situational awareness, or want to have a conversation without needing to take the buds out, you can turn to its Sensemore Mode.

Sensemore Mode is similar to the Ambient Mode that many noise-cancelling headphones and earbuds have started to employ. However, rather than just turning ANC off and turning your music down, Sensemore Mode amplifies external audio, to help users pick up quieter sounds that they may have missed with a regular Ambient Mode.

If you’re looking for a pair of buds for your commute these could be just what you need, as they’ll let you unwind with your favorite tracks, but also allow you to stay aware of your surroundings as you take the train, catch a bus, or walk home.

This useful-looking feature aside, the Sensmore Air buds look like a pretty typical pair of wireless earbuds. They come with a charging case that can restore up to two hours of charge to the buds in 10 minutes, and help extend their roughly 10-hour battery life to a max of around 35 hours (though using features like Sensmore Mode and ANC will likely reduce these times).

They’re IPX5 certified, which means they’re sweatproof – making them a handy partner for your next workout, and possibly even one of the best workout headphones. However, if your fitness regime includes a dip in the pool you’ll want to take the Sensemorer Air buds out first.

They also feature touch controls that you can customize in the Creative app, where you can also make tweaks to the equalizer to create a soundstage to suit your tastes. That being said, as with even the best wireless earbuds we expect the bass performance will be a little lacking, no matter how much you tweak it – the smaller speakers in earbuds often can’t provide the oomph that’s required for truly chest-pounding audio.

The Sensemore Air buds are fairly budget-friendly, coming in at $79.99.