This is my first time buying an earbud with Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) or Transparency Mode (TM). So this review is based on my first impressions about the earbud's features from the stand-point of a tech newbie.The ANC feature is neat and pretty good for the right situations. At first, I thought the ANC was just a placebo effect because I could still hear external sounds just as normally if I were to turn off the earbuds while I wore them; the snap of my finger or my TV at a normal volume sounded the same with the earbuds turned off or on. It wasn't until I got up closer to the TV that I noticed the sound coming into my ear remained at a constant low volume; or when I slammed my pantry door very hard, the sound was noticeably reduced while the ANC was on versus when I had the earbuds turned off. So in my short test, I found that the ANC actually does work, although it doesn't 100% eliminate sound, it works very well with reducing loud sounds. Probably like car horns, planes, etc.The TM feature is just great! It made me wonder why I never transitioned from my old normal earbuds a long time ago. I was practically deaf to others and my surroundings while I would listen to music. With TM, the external microphone is actively on to help feed in all the sounds around you; think of it like a hearing aid. I also noticed that while in TM, the earbuds will try to muffle loud noises so the sound that goes into your ear doesn't hurt you. I noticed this when I slammed my pantry door (sorry pantry door -_- ) while in TM. So in a way, TM has its own NC feature. The one minor downside while using this feature is that there's this constant, static, white noise in the background, which makes sense since the mic is always on. But this can be easily ignored when you're listening to music anyways.As for the bass and sound quality, it's okay. The sound seems to be a tad bit muffled compared to my old pair of earbuds, Lauseny T30V. The bass seemed to be a slight improvement, although not as bass-y as I was expecting. I think the ad praised their bass a little too highly of their bass that it didn't meet my expectations. It's still good, nonetheless.The only issue I have with these earbuds so far is using them while running or in a windy environment. Regardless while in ANC or TM, the microphone is actively on, so wind will always get into small in the microphone holes to make that "wooshing" sound. It kind of annoying and I would have to turn up the volume to mask it out, although, I can't completely. I kind of wish there was another mode where the earbuds can be used passively and just play music. To add to this, the earbuds are absolutely dependent of each other; the left strictly controls ANC and TM while the right controls the play and pause. So making sure to not lose such a small device is very important.I haven't really explored it's water resistant feature, since I don't plan to shower, or get any of my electronic devices wet; nor have I tested its calling features.Other than that, these earbuds are amazing! And for the price of just $48 ($60 with the 20% coupon), this is by far one of the best purchases I've made. I think it's a great introduction into the smart earbud world, and I would highly recommend this to others who are thinking about upgrading from their old basic earbuds. I'll edit this review if any noteworthy situations happen within the next year.