AirPods Pro — Tiny, but Massive
Review of the arguably best wireless headphones on the market
About a month ago, I made the leap of shelling out for a pair of brand new AirPods Pro. While it hurt to pay the hefty price of $249 for a pair of tiny in-ear headphones, they’ve lived up to each and every expectation I had of them. I used to use a pair of first-generation AirPods and a pair of Bose QC35II noise-canceling headphones, both of which the AirPods Pro have rendered useless.
I compared the AirPods Pro to the Bose QC35II’s (probably the most popular NC headphones on the market) in this article. If you’re interested in how they stack up against a headphone giant like the QC35II’s you should go ahead and read that too.
In this article, I’d like to talk about the features that make the AirPods Pro so great, as well as what the future holds for Apple’s flagship headphones. Enjoy!
Noise cancelling
The first two iterations of AirPods didn’t feature any noise-canceling whatsoever, which was part of the appeal when I bought the first generation AirPods back in October 2017. I liked being able to hear my surroundings, making them the perfect headphones to use in traffic, while biking, and being around the house. I eventually bought a pair of Bose QC35II’s for the noise-canceling and found them to be immensely useful for studying.
I used my AirPods for the transparency, and the QC35II’s for the NC.
Along came the AirPods Pro, and I have been incredibly impressed by the quality of which they provide both. The noise-canceling isn’t as good as on the QC35II’s, but it’s good enough. By far.
It cancels out most low- to mid-range noise very well and doesn’t give you the feeling of having blocked ears. I can comfortably focus on my music and podcasts without getting distracted by sounds around me, and still hear if someone is trying to get my attention.
The AirPods Pro have three modes; Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, and Off. You can switch between the first two modes by lightly squeezing the stem for about a second. To play/pause or activate Siri, quickly squeeze the stem.
Active Noise Cancellation works by listening to external and internal sounds and countering it with “anti-noise”. This article, originally published in 1992, explains how anti-noise works.
Sound quality
The sound quality of the AirPods Pro is superb. With a perfect mix of highs, mids, and lows, the Pro’s offer a fantastic listening experience. The AirPods Pro sound better than the previous generations of AirPods — partly due to the more snug fit and more bass.
The combination of great sound quality and noise cancellation makes for an immersive and captivating listening experience, whether it’s music, podcasts, or audiobooks.
There’s really not much else to say about the sound quality. You’ll have no complaints if you decide to pick up a pair of your own.
Practicality
The AirPods Pro shine when it comes to practicality. Great sound quality and good noise cancelling are things you can find in plenty other headphones. Practicality, however, is something few other headphones offer.
The AirPods Pro are small. Tiny, in fact. They’re smaller than their predecessors and most other noise cancelling headphones on the market. When not in your ears, they live in their charging case (this time in “landscape mode”, unlike generation one and two).
When you get your AirPods Pro for the first time, simply open the case near your iPhone and they’ll give you the option to pair immediately. When you’ve paired them, you’ll be able to quickly connect them to any device that is logged in with the same iCloud account.
All you need to do when you want to use them is to put them on, and they’ll pair automatically.
Unlike the previous generations of AirPods, the AirPods Pro use a rubber tip to better fit your ears, instead of the all-plastic casing. They come with medium tips preinstalled. You can use either the small or large tips that come in the box if you prefer either of those instead. In settings, you can test how well they fit for noise-canceling to work optimally.
Battery life
The battery life of the AirPods Pro themselves is fine. Compared to some of its competitors, it’s not fantastic. Apple says they’re supposed to last up to 4.5 hours on one charge, but I’ve found that to be true in few cases. I usually get up to 4 hours on one charge, with the rare exception of them lasting as long as Apple says they will.
But look, that’s the trade-off when they’re as small as they are. If you add the charging case to the equation, the battery life becomes great. With the charging case, I can go two-three days without having to charge the AirPods Pro.
The future of AirPods
At this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple announced the AirPods Pro and second-generation AirPods will be getting some interesting new features. Apple pushing to add new features to the AirPods is a great initiative and is a welcome surprise to a long time AirPods-fan like me.
Spatial audio
Spatial audio will give the listener a sense of awareness in space. Using audio filters and frequency adjustments, it’ll feel like sounds are coming from different directions. Sounds a bit… unclear? Don’t worry, I don’t really understand the applications for spatial audio either. But I could see how it could make watching movies and playing games even more immersive.
Automatic switching between devices
Say you’ve just finished listening to a song on your iPhone through your AirPods, and now want to watch a YouTube video on your Mac. With automatic switching, you’ll no longer have to manually switch the connectivity to your Mac — it’ll do it for you. When you open the YouTube video, the AirPods will automatically redirect sound to come from your Mac instead of your iPhone.
This will be a handy update for people with multiple Apple devices that consume multiple forms of media on different devices.
Summary
Even considering the hefty price, the AirPods Pro feel like an obvious choice if you’re looking for in-ear headphones with noise-canceling. The target consumers seem to be those with multiple Apple devices, but I think anyone looking for great headphones (who are willing to spend $249 on them) will find the AirPods Pro to be well worth the price.
I think the AirPods Pro beat many of its competitors in most areas, but if I had to give them flak for something it would be the slightly underwhelming battery life. 4 hours is quite low compared to the Beats Powerbeast Pro (9 hours) or the Samsung Galaxy Buds (up to 6 hours). But when you factor in the other features, the sound quality, and the coming updates, AirPods Pro still feel like the clear choice.
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