We need to talk about Airpods Pro… again
It is time to complain about these earbuds more, because the first time was not enough
You might wonder what else there is to talk about. Joseph Curran already wrote a wonderful article that dove into the heated debate around Apple downgrading the active noise cancellation, one of the main selling points for this product. You should give it a read if you haven’t. But we are here to discuss a much bigger issue.
A company has to provide a good user experience to ask $249 for a pair of earbuds. The Airpods Pro delivered that. Their fully wireless design, comfortable fit (with some exceptions), iOS integration, and innovative listening modes made them an instant hit. Transparency mode and Noise cancellation are the star of the show here. One allows the user to hear the world as if they aren’t wearing anything, the other blocks out most sound and almost always guarantees a quiet listening experience. Even when the noise cancellation wasn’t enough, you could remedy that by hitting the volume up button a couple of times.
These listening modes rely on microphones. Transparency mode uses them to playback exactly what they hear, creating the illusion that you don’t have a piece of plastic and silicone blocking your ear. It works amazingly well. Noise cancellation takes what the…