The Google Pixel Buds A-Series came out a year ago as an affordable set of wireless
earbuds with a nice design at an affordable price.
And after using them for the past year, I'll walk you through how good they are and if
you should pick up a pair in 2022 and beyond, or if it's worth it to wait for the new Pixel
Buds Pro to come out later in 2022.
By far my favorite thing about the Series A over the past year other than their price
is their overall design.
I'm a big fan of the design decisions that Google made with these buds specifically,
I really like that very little of the bud itself actually goes into your ear canal.
This helps improve their comfort and helps improve the duration of time you're going
to be able to wear these buds without feeling any discomfort.
They also feature a stabilizer arc that helps keep them in place and snug in your ear.
Overall I’ve found that I can wear these buds for several hours without any type of
discomfort.
And another thing that I like that Google has improved with these buds is the stabilizer
arc.
It's a bit more comfortable than the one that came with the second generation Pixel Buds.
Google also took another design feature from their previous version of the Pixel Buds and
implemented a spatial vent in the design of the Series A so when the buds go in your ear
and create a seal, the spatial vent prevents your ears from feeling like they’re plugged.
Another thing that's been great with the Pixel Buds A-Series is their sound.
For the money, they actually sound pretty decent and because they help create a seal
in your ear with their ear tips, that allows them to generate a fuller sound and allows
you to experience a bit more bass.
Now I wouldn’t say their sound is better than the Sony Linkbuds S or the XM4s which
both have noise cancellation and we’ve done a review of the XM4s and have one upcoming
on the Linkbuds S, so make sure you're subscribed to the channel, to see those, but for $99
US dollars, the A-Series’ sound…
it's nice, clear, and overall fine.
Another popular feature included in the settings that you can enable is Adaptive Sound.
With this feature, as the environment around you suddenly changes and gets louder, the
earbuds will increase their volume.
But this isn't a feature that I've actually found particularly useful.
To me, the better way to cancel out surrounding noise= would be to have a design that has
foam tips like the Sony WXM4s, and the upcoming Pixel Buds Pro, and pair those foam tips with
noise cancellation.
Now something a lot of reviewers I don't think mention enough, and I myself have been guilty
of this as well, is that with earbuds specifically, there is a concern about them for hearing
loss and your overall hearing health because they are directing sound straight through
to your ear canal.
They're thought of as less desirable for your overall hearing health than something like
over the ear headphones.
So given that, you can see then why I think earbuds that just raise their volume when
everything else around you gets louder, they're not…that solution isn't really the best
solution to the problem when things around you are getting louder.
And that’s probably the biggest downside to going with the Pixel Buds A Series.
Because they don't have any noise cancellation, I find that their ability to just let in a
good bit of ambient noise, especially if you're going to walk and they’re cars around, things
like that…that definitely limits the use cases where I’ve found I'm picking up these
buds over something else, Though to be fair, at $99 US dollars, noise cancellation isn’t
a feature that you’d expect.
Another feature that you’ll love if you love bass and having a fuller sound with your
music is the Bass EQ and loudness compensation features found in the Pixel Buds app.
The Bass EQ setting allows you to adjust the bass of the Pixel Buds at all volume levels
And to me, I've had the best luck getting a better fuller sound by turning this setting
all the way up to the max.
Now, the bass that you get when you do that, it's not as tight as I would want.
And if you're an audiophile, you definitely notice that, but this feature does still make
the buds overall sound better.
Now loudness compensation will improve bass and treble at lover volumes and overall, I
think it loosens the bass a bit more and makes everything feel a bit more boomy.
But for me, it's just too loose, the bass, and I've kept this feature off.
Now if you own these buds or you've tried them out, let me know how you think they sound
and what features you've enabled for them in their settings by leaving a comment below.
I know sometimes how things sound can be a bit subjective, so I'm curious to see what
you think.
Another beneficial feature they have is the Find device feature which you can use if you
lose the buds around your house or misplace them at a different location, you’ll be
able to see your buds last known location & ring the right & left earbuds to help you
locate them.
Another thing Google did a great job with, with these buds, is the case design.
TThe Pixel Buds A Series case has a nice, smooth white matte finish and is in the shape
of a riverstone.
The open/close mechanism is solid, a great fidget device, and has held up over the past
year.
There’s a single LED on the case that’ll glow amber letting you know when you need
to charge the buds through the USB-C port on the bottom & you can always see the exact
battery level of the buds and case in the buds settings on your Android device.
The Pixel Buds A Series support quick connect on Android which has worked well for me over
the past year.
And they can also connect to an iPhone, tablet or computer by putting them into bluetooth
pairing mode which you do by keeping the buds in their case and pressing the button at the
back until the case’s status light blinks white.
But do keep in mind, these aren't designed to work just with an iPhone, you would need
an Android device in order to update the buds’ firmware and change any settings for them.
Another thing I really like about these buds are the multi-tap controls you get on each
earbud.
Tap once to play and pause, double tap to skip forward, and then triple tap to skip
backward.
And then tap and hold in order to trigger the Google Assistant, which by the way, is
very fast on these buds.
The only thing missing is the volume swipes from the Pixel Buds second generation.
The battery life on the Pixel Buds A-Series is pretty decent.
It's actually pretty average…like it's five hours for listening to something which that's
what they're rated for and that's kind of been my experience.
And then only 2.5 hours for calls when you're using their mics which is kind of just, okay,
but they're not going to be buds you're gonna want to use if you're on calls all day long.
Now, in terms of their mic quality, I actually think the mics on these is pretty decent but
don't just take my word for it.
Here's an example of how they sound compared to some other buds and headphones, All right?
And these are the Pixel Buds A-Series.
This is how they're mics sound.
And this is how you'd potentially sound if you were on an audio call or on a video call.
Now speaking of video, if you're wondering why this video quality right now looks so
bad, I'm using the studio display’s camera which is still just not great.
We're gonna do a video on why that is, and an overall review of the studio display.
So if you're interested in seeing that, make sure you're subscribed to the channel.
Alright, and these are the Sony linkbuds, This is how their mics sound.
These are actually designed to have very good mics.
So let me know what you think of the comments.
How do these sound compared to the Pixel Buds A-Series?
All right, and these are the Sony linkbuds S.
This is how their mics sound.
Alright, and these are the Sony WF1000 XM4s, terrible name.
We've already done a review of these buds, which you can get to in the description below.
This is how their mics sound.
All right, and these are the Pixel Buds A-Series.
This is how their mics sound.
So what are some other downsides of the Pixel Buds A-Series?
In general, the downsides of going with these buds involve more features you’re missing
out on versus anything inherently wrong with the A Series.
However, there is a potential for some long-term reliability issues in terms of the construction
of these buds, given my experience with the Pixel Buds second generation, which after
2 and a half years have had an issue where the white part of the bud has become unglued,
which makes me a bit concerned that this could happen with the A Series buds as well since
their design is so similar.
So after a year of use, what's my recommendation with the A-series?
Well for $99 US dollars, actually, I think these are a pretty good buy.
While there is a lot of competition out there in the earbuds space, to me Google nailed
the design, making a set of buds that are comfortable, sweat and water resistant, have
great touch controls, above average sound with some of the software EQ features you
can enable, and come in a fantastic case.
If you're an Android user that doesn't want to spend more than $100 US dollars on a pair
of wireless earbuds, I think these are a great choice for content consumption but if you
want use your buds primarily for audio calls, you might want to look elsewhere at something
like the Sony Linkbuds which retail for $179 US dollars but you can get refurbished pair
for around $70.
Now, if you want a pair of Google-made buds with more premium features like spatial audio
noise cancellation, better battery life, a case that has wireless charging and is water
resistant, and multipoint connectivity allowing you to switch the buds seamlessly between
Android and iOS devices.
You should probably wait for the Pixel Buds Pro, which come out in July 2022 and will
retail for $199 US dollars.
And we’ll be doing a long-term review of those buds.
So make sure you subscribe to the channel if you want to see that review.
Now, if you have any further questions about the Pixel Buds A-Series, leave them in a comment
below.
And while you're down there, hit that thumbs up button if you found this video helpful,
and you liked it.
And if you're looking for what to watch next, check out some of our other reviews of audio
devices like the Sony WF1000 XM4s terrible name, great set of earbuds or our review of
the Bose 700 over the ear headphones or our reviews of some speakers like the Sonos One,
Nest Audio and Nest Hub Max.
And you can get to all of those reviews by checking out the links in the description
below or by clicking on the playlist to the right.
For 6 Months Later, I'm Josh Teder.
Thanks for watching!