I kept hearing so much praise over the AirPods Pro the past few months. I know there are folks that will hype up Apple no matter what they come out with, but I had to ultimately hear them for myself. Luckily, I got a pair for Xmas thanks to Verizon, unboxed them, popped them in my ears and I was set up for a pleasant surprise.
Style
AirPods Pro don’t look too different from its non-Pro AirPods counterpart. They are all white and have the same pipe styling that AirPods have been known for and other companies have looked to mimic. You would think with a Pro line you get more colors but its still just basic white. Things start to change when you look at the aesthetics of the Pro. Their stems are shorter, and they have interchangeable silicone tips. Or rather they have tips as the AirPods lacked any of that. The silicone tips wrap more about the Pros making them rather comfortable going into the ear. They surprisingly stay in my ear which is a feat themselves.
The case for the Pros looks to be a bit wider but shorter in height. It does support wireless charging like its 2nd gen counterpart and uses lightning cables if you want to charge wired. Case will give you 24hrs of battery or 4.5 per charge on each pod. A 5min quick charge will get one hour of life if needed.
AirPods Pro are IPX4 which means they are sweat / water resistant. Meaning you can take a run in them, hit the gym and or catch a splash on them slightly.
AirPods Pro come with charging case, additional silicone ear tips and lightning to USB-C cable
Features
Like the 2nd gen AirPods, the Pros also utilize Apple’s H1 chip. Frankly this means lower latency, better connection and better battery life. Bluetooth 5.0 is also being supported on these earbuds. These buds connect fast like as soon as you flip the lid fast. Its more so with Apple products but I have seen it wasn’t bad either with my Android device. If you are using Android as expected you won’t be able to take advantage of “Hey Siri” features or reprogram it for Google functions. Taking one or both out the ears that auto pauses and resumes upon re-entry is a iOS only feature as well.
The AirPod Pros do have “clickable” buttons on each stem. They have the usual controls such as one tap for play/pause, two to fast forward, and three to skip back. Its pretty fluid and responsive doing these commands and you will get audible clicks to let you know they are working. Besides using these buttons for play controls, they are also used to swap between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode.
ANC is killer on the AirPods Pro. This is saying a lot for one that praised Sony’s WF1000XM3. These earbuds knock out your surroundings with ease. Frankly a bit too good. You will notice it soon as you put them in your ears, throw on a track and you are tuning out the world around you. Now if you need to hear some things, you can hold either button to swap into Transparency Mode in a pinch. It makes having convos with people easier and not having to take one or both out your ears to listen.
Sound
Like most Apple products the AirPods Pro support just AAC codecs. For the audiophiles you may be slightly disappointed in this. But for the average listener they will be content. Nothing special in the audio department. Sound is clear which is good. Just enough bass but nothing compared to other earbuds I have used. Also, since there are no adjustable EQ settings you are stuck with whatever you hear. Bass isn’t earth shattering but will give you a bit of thump.
Experience
Since using these over the past month I have jumped from using it either mainly with my iPhone 11 Pro or OnePlus 7T. Funny enough I found myself using it on Android more than on iOS. It seemingly worked just as good not encountering much or any cutouts and syncing up with content without issue.
Once again going back to the noise cancelling on the AirPods Pro, I was impressed. Doing everything from walking the streets, daily train routes, and even fly across the country from Vegas to NYC after CES. Rocking them on my flight and not really hearing anything made them an instant winner in the ANC department for me.
Wearing these pods for long periods of time, I’m talking about hours they didn’t seem to provide any discomfort. Also, they are feather thin, so you won’t realize they are in your ears at time.
Verdict
So, after giving these a lengthy test over the few months I have to say the AirPods Pro are winners in my book. Comfortable fit, excellent noise cancelling and great battery life. While catered to iOS they work just as good on Android. I only wish they supported more codecs and had an adjustable EQ as seen on many other headphones out there. They are also some of the priciest truly wireless earbuds on the markets coming at a wallet stretching $249.99.
