The new AirPods Pro sound better than the originals, and noise cancellation has seen a massive upgrade.
These might be a worthy successor to the original, but are theybetter than the competition?
Unlike other companies,Apple hasn’t opted for a radical redesign of the AirPods Pro.
Kris Wouk / How-To Geek
The company hasn’t even added another color, as it often does with iPhones.
A more substantive change is that the case is now IPX4 water-resistant, the same as the AirPods themselves.
Apple doesn’t even make a lanyard for the AirPods Pro case, though plenty ofthird-party lanyardsare already available.
Kris Wouk / How-To Geek
There is one exception, however.
Related:What Is Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)?
I found the medium tips worked perfectly for me, exactly the same as the original model.
Kris Wouk / How-To Geek
SBC is the fallback codec for Android and other devices.
Apple also takes a different approach to bouncing back and forth between its own devices.
Instead ofmultipoint Bluetooth, Apple uses iCloud to switch your AirPods from rig to rig.
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This is a capacitive touch strip that functions as the volume control.
There is no AirPods App to download, as you would find with most true wireless earbuds.
Instead, the software to control and customize the AirPods Pro is built directly into iOS and iPadOS.
Kris Wouk / How-To Geek
This is also where you could set up Personalized Spatial Audio.
Going through this process is similar tosetting up Face IDor customizing 360 Reality Audio on theSony WH-1000XM5 headphones.
Like the original AirPods Pro, the second generation uses Apple’sAdaptive EQ.
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I started with Outkast’s “Hey Ya!”
in normal stereo mode.
The acoustic guitar that carries the song sounds as wide as it would on over-ear headphones.
Kris Wouk / How-To Geek
The bass sounds low, in more ways than one.
Next up, I turned to The Bronx’s latest single, “Blowtorch.”
The song sounds as aggressive with the AirPods Pro as it does on other headphones.
Kris Wouk / How-To Geek
Interestingly enough, it never sounded fatiguing, even as I cranked the volume.
This is a fine song, but I wouldn’t call the original mix thrilling.
Turning on Spatial Audio, the song instantly sounded wider.
Kris Wouk / How-To Geek
The bass felt like it had a more concrete position in the stereo field.
Overall, with Spatial Audio enabled, the song sounded slightly brighter, but not harsher.
This isn’t specific to one song.
Instead, Spatial Audio in general sounds better than the original AirPods Pro.
Whether to enable head tracking is a matter of personal preference.
For music and movies that don’t have Dolby Atmos sound mixes, Apple offers the Spatialize Stereo option.
I was far less of a fan of this, and wouldn’t recommend it to most people.
On the second-generation AirPods Pro, noise cancellation has taken a massive leap forward.
Perhaps the ultimate test came on a sunny day when my neighbor was mowing their lawn.
Turning on the noise cancellation, both the lawnmower and the voices from the TV nearly disappeared.
I could hear them ever-so-slightly, but I also didn’t have music playing.
Playing music at even a moderate volume meant I couldn’t hear anything else in the world.
It isn’t just noise cancellation that has improved here, either.
While it was already great, the Transparency mode is better than ever.
Apple has also added a new feature to this mode in the form of Adaptive Transparency.
That said, the quality of audio on a phone call isn’t great in the first place.
The second-generation AirPods Pro do better withFaceTime.
It held up well enough, but nowhere as impressively as we’ve seen on headphones like theSony WH-1000XM5.
That speaker isn’t just for locating a lost case.
It also plays sounds when it begins charging, including wireless Qi charging.
Should You Buy the AirPods Pro 2?
The real deciding factor is the Apple ecosystem.
