AirPods Pro 2: After 2 Months, They're Still Great
Headphones
Speaker 1: After spending two months with the AirPods Pro two, I'm really surprised at how much I like these wireless EarPods from the improvements to sound quality over the originals to longer lasting battery life and an even better fit than before. It all adds up to a great all round experience. Now, they're not perfect, but I think for many people they're gonna come pretty darn close. In this video, we're gonna explore what they're like to use every day, and I'll share some tips and tricks that I found to get the [00:00:30] most out of these wireless earbuds. So whether you've also been using them for the same amount of time as me, or you've been wanting to find out more about how they hold up, well, let's dive in. For my fellow small ear brigade, the AirPods Proi fit so much better than the first generation. Okay, so the physical design hasn't really changed, but the difference is there's now an extra small ear tip size, which quite frankly has been a game changer for me in terms of getting these to fit really [00:01:00] well.
Speaker 1: Finally, they stay in my ears even when I'm working out without needing to reposition them constantly and push them in throughout the day. So on the first generation AirPods Pro, I would always need to use third party phone tips. Now, don't get me wrong, these are absolutely great and incredibly functional, so I could always get a really secure fit, but it is an extra cost on top of the earbuds themselves. And of course there is a little bit more effort required to sort of pinch and insert those [00:01:30] memory foam tips rather than just popping them in with the default silicon tips. And sometimes, depending on the size and design of the tips, they do need a little bit more adjusting to get them to sit in the charging case properly. Now, I got my wish for extra small ear tips, but I just hope that there is an option for Apple to add an extra large ear tips size as I know that there are many people on the other end of the ear Canal spectrum who also need a different fit from those included four sizes.
Speaker 1: Now, if you're on the fence about upgrading from the original AirPods Pro [00:02:00] and you also have small ears, well, you don't necessarily have to spend big just to get that better fit because the good news is I found those extra small second generation tips actually fit on the first generation AirPods Pro, and they cost $8 from Apple directly for two sets. Many AirPods users, myself included, have been asking for volume controls on the stem, and Apple has delivered with the second generation. But I do find the precise finger placement is key, and for me, it's taken a little bit more time [00:02:30] to get used to this than I would've liked. Look, maybe it's a fat fingers issue, but even after two months, I still don't get it right all the time, and I accidentally end up going for the stem itself rather than where you should be swiping on, which is the force sensor.
Speaker 1: So I do actually find it a little bit easier to make kind of a rest for the bottom of the stem with my thumb and then swipe with my index finger up and down. And this really helps so I'm not accidentally dislodging it from my ear as I'm trying trying to find that sweet [00:03:00] spot. Again, I'd expect everyone's experience with this is going to be slightly different depending on how they fit in the ear. I'm really glad that the STEM controls are now present, but more often than not over the past few months, I've definitely found myself still in the habit of adjusting the volume on my phone or if I'm wearing an Apple watch with the digital crown. And also it's the little things, but I really appreciate how these no longer have that kind of high pitched squeal noise that you might have experienced on the originals when you have noise canceling on and you [00:03:30] accidentally cover the grill with your hand.
Speaker 1: Or in some cases it would happen with my longer hair, or for those of you who like to sleep with earbuds on, I know there are some of you out there. It could sometimes happen when you rest your head against the pillow. So my eardrums, thank you for alleviating that on the newer version. Apple. Thank you. No earbud video is complete without talking about the sound. And of course this is very subjective, but for me, the Airbus Pro two have really filled [00:04:00] in the picture compared to the first generation. Now, if you're coming to them for the first time without having dipped into the Apple earbud system before, they are definitely the best sounding and the most rounded of all the options that you can choose from right now, including for me, the AirPods are third generation. So for my ears, the sound profile definitely has more emphasis on the base than any other Apple earbud that I've tested, but it is balanced in such a way.
Speaker 1: So I don't feel like I need to constantly crank [00:04:30] the volume to also hear that definition in the mids and the troubles like I do on some other wireless earbuds. Still, I am craving a user adjustable equalizer from the settings app rather than relying on the adaptive equalizer all the time. As great as it is, even when I'm switching between musical genres, I just like extra customization. The active noise canceling also gets a boost that I wasn't expecting to make as much difference as it actually does. My colleague David Carnoy review, which is great, and I highly recommend [00:05:00] you give it a watch right up here, goes into detail about how the ANC is improved across the range of frequencies, and he does a great job of explaining this even further. But to cut a long story short, in all the situations that I've used, the noise cancellation, so even when I'm trying to mute out the sounds of the waves of the beach when I'm on a phone call, it's been noticeably improved over the first generation.
Speaker 1: Adaptive transparency mode still continues to surprise me, and two months in, [00:05:30] I still go kind of a bit of a shock when it does kick in sometimes. Now, this helps to lower the volume of external sounds that are above an 85 decibel threshold. And for me, I found it most helpful on walks. That's usually when I rely on transparency mode to keep an ear out for my surroundings. But say a loud rumbling truck goes past and the intensity is muted a lot more than it would be if I didn't have this mode on. But I do feel the effect could be a little bit more subtle or gradual. Sometimes when it does kick in, I [00:06:00] feel it goes from full ambient transparency mode and then feeling like somehow I've suddenly turned on active noise cancellation when I wasn't looking and live. Listen, it's still my favorite secret spying tool.
Speaker 1: No, just kidding. I would never use my earbuds for nefarious purposes. So if you're not familiar with live listen, it's basically letting you use your iPhone as a microphone to pick up audio while you are wearing the AirPods and echoing them to your ears. Now, this is not new on the Airports Pro two, but [00:06:30] I'm still actually surprised at how many people don't know this exists. So definitely try it out and it is great for accessibility. Now, on a more serious note, the other accessibility options on the AirPods proi are really thorough, whether that's adjusting the click stem speed or adjusting how exactly that transparency mode works to having things like background sounds. And I unexpectedly really love background sounds, again, not new to the AirPods Pro too, but sometimes [00:07:00] I do leave these in my ears even when I'm not on a call or listening to music.
Speaker 1: And then through the accessibility menu, you can toggle on soothing background. Sounds like the ocean or something like rain battery life is better than the original AirPods Pro. In terms of overall listening time, I'm generally averaging between five and a half to six hours with moderate volume using transparency mode. Now, using active noise cancellation does drop that a little bit further, but I do find, [00:07:30] actually anecdotally, I feel like I am charging the case itself a little bit more than I did with the originals. So what's next? Well, I really hope that there's gonna be some sort of high resolution audio playback support in the future. Yes, obviously Bluetooth does have its limitations, but maybe there's something extra that can be unlocked in a future update, especially given that Apple Music now supports Lossless audio. Apple's done something similar before with the first generation AirPods Pro.
Speaker 1: If [00:08:00] you do remember back in 2020, they suddenly got this spatial audio feature when the software support unlocked the capabilities of the built-in gyroscope and accelerometer a year after they were originally launched. So I'm still holding out hope. True multi-point connectivity is still one of those features that I do miss the most when I come from some other wireless ear wordss. And while Apple's quick switching between devices signed into the same Apple ID does offer some relief and it does work really well. It doesn't quite go all the way for me and [00:08:30] my particular use case. If I'm switching, say between my work MacBook and an iPhone, well obviously I'm not gonna sign into my personal Apple ID and my work computer because maybe that's a niche, really niche example, but I'm sure you could also be in the same situation as me. Now, having true multi-point here would be a really nice option to be able to connect two devices at the same time without manually needing to toggle on or just rely that it's gonna pick up when I'm switching between them.
Speaker 1: Now, the other part of [00:09:00] the equation that's left out is how these actually fair with an Android phone. Now, I haven't spent enough time with them on Android as I usually tend to gravitate to another set of earbuds like the Sony XM four s when I am using an Android phone. But I'm always interested to hear of your experience, and if you are interested in a breakout video about AirPods and Android, let me know. I will get testing. So in some the AirPods Pro too, not perfect, but they have almost everything I wanted in the original AirPods [00:09:30] Pro, and I really enjoy using these EarPods. But what have they been like for you? I'm curious to know how they're holding up and what your experience has been like. As always, the comments are open and you can find me on your favorite social media platform, like subscribe, and all that jazz. I'll see you later.
