Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsMajor level-up for the Airpods Pro!
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2023
I've had two sets of Gen1 Pros, have previously reviewed the Airpods MAX under the Blue ones, and I'll say that as expensive (and nice) as the MAX headphones are, Apple better have an upgrade path where swapping the internal logic for the H2 chip that's in the Gen2 Airpods Pro is an option (the rest of the MAX is perfectly fine the way it is), 'cause I'm not re-buying them. I'd like to, because the overall experience with the Gen2 Pros are so good with the packaging and driver diameter I'd be fascinated in what it can do with a real driver and closed-back design. But I digress; here's the breakdown for the Gen2 Airpods Pro:
Sound Quality: It's hard to overstate (maybe not that hard) the degree to which sound is improved on the new earbuds. Previously they lacked real punch to the bass, and while midrange was okay, the treble ranges were much less responsive. You could really tell that Apple had given them a light Beats treatment to improve response at the bottom end. On the iPhone and iPad this was somewhat correctable with the Audio Accessibility settings, but not completely. It's not necessary with these; they have good response through the range, and have a similar roll-off up top to the Maxes and my Sony MDR-V6 wired cans, so at this point I'd have to say they fixed it. Again, the computational wizardry in these is stunning, and they can actually reproduce the final bass hit in my test track, something few buds can manage (I'm actually looking at you, Sennheiser, why can't you do this?). Suitably impressive for a driver so small that it makes me wonder what's done to achieve it. Magic gnomes, possibly.
ANC: Noise Cancellation was one of the bigger features initially, but was rapidly caught by the rest of the direct competitors, and this once again puts Apple out front. Seriously improved: The H1 only sampled 200 times per second, while these sample 48,000 times per second, fast enough to compensate for frequencies all the way up the range. Previous work required good passive dampening for higher frequencies (not hard to do, but it's only passive) and the thin silicone of the tips didn't always meet that need especially if sealing was poor. I have one ear that the Large tips can't seal for, and even without it I didn't feel like the ANC was any less from one ear to the other. I even swapped to a pair of Foam Masters memory-foam tips, and while there may have been better sealing, they didn't seem to make a large difference in dampening, the ANC here is that good.
Transparency: This. This is the feature of Apple's ANC headphones that absolutely destroys any and every single competitor in the space that's tried it. On all others it sounds thin and tinny, like you're listening to a phone call. Not here. The Gen1's (and MAX) versions prior had this feature (the MAX was especially impressive) and the Gen2 only improves on it. One, Transparency now works as well on the Pros as it does on the Gen1 MAX, and two (this is the best) they can actually live-cancel loud outside noises that would exceed the dB limit set by the device to which they're paired. I've tested this; first by clanking dishes and glasses together while putting them away, and second by walking up to a car wash vacuum head that ran the row of hoses. The first is loud enough usually I can tell it's above the limit, and the second might as well be an idling passenger jet engine, clearly operating in the "damage" range. In both cases, the Gen2 Pros were able to reduce those sounds so they never exceeded an apparent 85dB. You could probably wear these to a concert in Transparency and get the full experience without the hearing damage, and still hear clearly as well. Remember that 48,000 samples per second? Well, when your audio logic is this fast, you can do things like the Transparency mode here.
Finally, the Apple Ecosystem: Apple's had for a while a feature for their devices called Handoff. It lets you share media and functionality between and across multiple devices. With the Beats and Airpods lines, it allows for seamless device-switching depending on use, listen to music on the Mac, and if you get a call, they'll switch to the phone once you answer. When done, they'll go back to the Mac once it restarts the audio stream. A useful feature, but the H1-driven devices were always a little slow to migrate, and sometimes just wouldn't. The improved performance of the H2 controller in the Gen2 Pros solves this. I've not once in two weeks of use had a situation where they failed to start and join upon being removed from the case, nor have they failed to switch to the phone. They boot fast. They join fast. They know what the goal is and will consistently pair with the intended target device. They really can just Do What I Mean. It's pretty much eliminated the biggest frustration I had with the Gen1 buds. Now they sound great, kill sound great (ha), and deliver on the promises made with prior versions of cross-device support.
So that's pretty much it. Battery life is improved and I can confirm that Apple's sandbagging when they say "six hours of listening" as it's closer to seven, and seems likely to hit 10 if you turn of ANC and Transparency, as like all previous Airpods they include an "Off" setting that only outputs and relies on passive dampening only. Calls sound good and you'll sound better when using them, and reasonably get nearly three hours of talk on a single charge when new; past that and you'll have to do some ear-juggling to keep going. An absolute home run!
