The new Airpods Pro from Apple everything you need to know coming up.
Welcome everyone I’m Tech Zilla, today I am going to be reviewing the Airpods Pro from
Apple. First things first I have no idea why these are called Pro, second of all I have
been using these for hours and hours in various scenarios to put them through the wringer.
So lets start off with the basics, what comes in the box, the charging case, the airpods
pro, the usb-c to lightning charging cable, several silicone ear tips and the usual booklets.
Moving on swiftly let’s start with a quick comparison to the standard Airpods from previous
years, The case is wider but shorter and still made of the same highly scratchable glossy
white plastic, its pocketable and has a small charging light on the front and wireless charging
is still present. The H1 chip still gives you a seamless connection to anything in the
Apple ecosystem, simply pulling these out of the case, takes around 2 seconds to reconnect
with my iPhone and it pairs with my iPhone very easily, without much effort from myself.
The Airpods Pro themselves are very different to the standard Airpods, the stem is shorter,
the top is bigger and can now take different sizes of silicone ear tips to accommodate
more consumers ears. I was one of the demographic that couldn’t really use the previous Airpods
because they would not stay in my ears so Apple thank you, finally something I can use
without fear of them falling out.
The fit is perfect for me now and they feel very comfortable and on top of this Apple
have included a feature which can tell you if you need to change the size of the tips
for a better seal. It does work pretty well but it is a set it and forget type feature,
meaning once you have used it no need to use it again. The Airpods Pro sound much better
than the standard Airpods too, that extra £50 gets you better bass, a richer sound,
a clearer and more balanced sound signature, better separation and sound stage, a lower
bass frequency, better fit, better noise isolation, active noise cancellation and subjectively
a better look. So if your question is should I get these instead of the standard Airpods
or should I upgrade from the previous Airpods then the answer is 100% yes definitely. The
battery life is still the same as the previous Airpods except when you use active noise cancelling,
then the battery life goes from 5hrs down to 4.5, but at least the case gives you another
24hrs of usage and in a pinch 5 minutes of charging will give you 1 hour of listening
time. In daily usage I found these figures to be fairly accurate however I did achieve
higher battery life than Apple states almost 5 hours using active noise cancelling.
The silicone ear tips also give a small amount of passive noise cancellation but according
to what Apple says, AirPods Pro are the only in-ear headphones with Active Noise Cancellation,
that continuously adapts to the geometry, of your ear and the fit of the ear tips. An
outward facing microphone detects external sound which AirPods Pro then counter with
an equal anti-noise algorithm, cancelling the external sound before you hear it.
An inward-facing microphone listens inside your ear for unwanted sound, which is also
eliminated with anti-noise. Noise cancellation is continuously adjusted at 200 times per
second for truly immersive sound, so you’re fully tuned in to your music, podcasts and
calls.
In reality don’t expect miracles, In day to day usage I found that the active noise
cancellation does work to a degree, but its not up to the levels you would find in over
ear headphones like the Bose 700. You need to be realistic here, these are in ear buds
so space is limited. The Airpods Pro tend to cancel out the lower drone types of sound
from your environment such as air conditioners the hum of an engine but not so much voices
or higher frequency sounds, but when listening to music my surroundings do become silenced.
I have tried these on public transport and they constantly adjust depending on the external
noise. Active noise cancelling can be switched off or you can use Transparency mode to let
the outside world back in to your ears, this works great, it sounds natural and very clear
unlike rivals which can sound very digitally enhanced.
Let’s move on to the controls, firstly Siri works excellently with these, I have had zero
miss’s when testing out Siri, so voice control is brilliant and being able to change tracks
and so on without touching my iPhone or the Airpods Pro is something I really appreciate.
Apple has also included something called a force sensor in both earbuds, this basically
allows you to control your music and calls and switch between active noise cancelling
and transparency mode. Personally, for me squeezing the stem to use the force sensor
involved a learning curve which I have now mastered. It felt unnatural to begin with
because I am used to tap and swipe type gestures on rival earbuds and also because of the way
the stems touch the outer part of my ears its sometimes difficult to get right but that’s
just in my case.
Now on to the sound quality possibly the most important part, lets get the basics cleared
up first. The mesh opening on the back of each pod allows airflow into your ear canals,
no I don’t mean wind blows in but more that it allows pressure out which results in no
uncomfortable feeling of having blocked ears. This also means that the Airpods pro give
you a really nice transparency to your music which is hard to achieve in something so small.
The sound stage is well balanced as is the frequency response as in my usage nothing
over powers anything else. Bass is clean and crisp and doesn’t add lower frequencies
where they don’t exist. The highs are very clean especially when it comes to vocals,
but at maximum volume the treble can almost become too sharp and almost uncomfortable
but that’s at extreme limits. The mids are a little bit recessed for my own personal
tastes and to me this results in a slight V shape to the sound signature. Overall I
am very pleased with the sound quality these produce, they may not have as much bass as
the Sennheiser momentum truly wireless buds or the fuller midrange of the B&O E8 2.0 but
I feel Apple have achieved something brilliant here. The call quality is the best in the
business, no other buds come close, when on a call to someone they sounded crystal clear
and they thought I was using my phone. Wind noise is also eliminated as is background
noise making it easier to have a phone call conversation with someone. When walking, eating
or generally moving around there is no feedback into your ear canals, such as hearing your
heartbeat, footsteps or chewing, this is because of the elimination of pressure when using
the AirPods Pro. When watching videos there is zero latency and because of the IPX4 sweat
and water resistance these can be used in the gym or in the rain which I have already
tried with no issues. I also achieved a clear line of sight of nearly 100 feet from my iPhone
which is plenty for me.
Overall being an audiophile I love my music and great sound quality and honestly the Airpods
pro do not disappoint. I feel its important at this stage for me to also mention that
I purchased these Airpods Pro with my own money and this video is not sponsored by Apple
in any way shape or form. So my views and experiences are my own, now I understand that
sound quality is totally subjective and I have tried my best to describe the sound signature
from my point of view. I feel Apple has compromised in the right areas with these, comfort, fit,
noise cancellation, ease of use, call quality, build, battery etc are all fantastic. I would
like to have heard a little more midrange and a tiny bit more low end but to be honest
the Airpods Pro are in an extremely saturated market place at this price point. Rivals include
Sennheiser, B&O, Bose, Sony and a few others and I have to say that Apple has done a fine
job with these and they deserve to be in such esteemed company. So the big question is,
are the Airpods Pro worth the money? £250 for these in my opinion worth every penny.
I hope you enjoyed my review, is you did hit that subscribe button and bell notification
icon, give me a thumbs and help me out by sharing this video on your social media, until
next time take care and peace.