My experience with earbuds (not headphones) that were “noise cancelling” before active noise cancelling was a thing was never all that great. The seal is too difficult to design in the same way over the ear headphones can be for passive noise cancelling. This is probably due to ear size differences and all that, so ymmv on whether or not passives work. Obviously, passive noise cancelling over-the-ears are going to be better, but that’s basically always going to be true for any debate of Headphones vs Earbuds IMO.

I think there’s a confusion caused by mixing up headphones and earbuds, which I think are for two very different markets. Earbuds have always been for the more casual audience.

My experience with battery life has been pretty much non-perceptual, but I did make note that I’m not sure how long the batteries in these devices can even really last. I agree that the disposable nature of battery-based headphones are a bit disconcerting.