New Apple Airpods Pro and The State of Bluetooth Sound

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They'd be good for my hairy ears!

 

I got some for my running routine, however I've enjoyed them the most during work travel. There is no cord, they stay in my ear and never get in the way of anything. The airpods 2 sound quality is not even close to my B&W P3s but they win for convenience, especially when I listen to mainly podcasts instead of music while sitting at an airport. Really interested in seeing if the pro version is much better so I can give my airpods 2 to my son.

Anybody have any thoughts on the B&W PX model?

 

So, I got gifted a pair of the new ones from an agency I was doing some work for. I'm about to relocate to a much more walking/transit-friendly city for a new job, so I'm like what the hell, I'll give 'em a shot and if they suck that bad, I'll just sell them.

I wanted to hate them...regular Apple earbuds are complete garbage, and I expected these to be the same, just with bluetooth and an Apple Tax price.

And it turns out...they're actually pretty decent for what they are and what their purpose is. They integrate insanely well with iOS devices, obviously, they charge really fast in the case (assuming the case has a charge), and the noise cancelling/ear seal works pretty well for me (the medium ear tips already mounted worked just fine).

Would I use these for at-home, comfy-recliner-and-whiskey listening? Of course not. They're not as good as any decent over the ear cans, and probably not as good as some other earbuds in that price range. If 95% of your listening is done at home, or at your desk, then you don't need these. But if you travel regularly, or live in a place where walking is a way you get places, they're pretty solid.

Like, I'm going around the house madly cleaning/packing/organizing/trashing everything, listening to the new Downes-Braide Association live album, a pretty nice sounding record, and honestly these sound better than my wired UE 900S's through that stupid lightning cable adapter, honestly. (And the Airpods stay fixed in my ears better than the UE's as well)

I have a pair of HE-560's at home, and another pair of headphones I'm going to keep at my desk when I start my new job, but I'm pretty satisfied with the new airpods as a solution for listening when I'm away from those two wired places. And I'm as surprised as anyone that I reached that conclusion.

 

I could substitute BeatsX for AirPods and write the exact same review, especially where I purchased them primarily for use in hands free calls while at work.

 

I want these so I can listen to music as I get ready for work. My students seem to love them

 

Picked up a pair last week, mainly for the noise cancelling function. Work well on the tube and while the ANC are not as good as Sony and Bose overhead headphones they are extremely portable and convenient.

The noise cancelling function I would say is more as nose reduction than cancellation, but if you have a noisy commuter that make a hell of a difference. If they were £100 cheaper I'd have no hesitation recommending them but they are expensive and your value for money will depend of how tied into the apple ecosystem you are and how often you'd use them.

Sound wise they are adequate. Can you get wired headphones that sound better? of course you can, but these pair effortless with your phone and are great for using at the gym/out running.

 

I heard, from fussy audio critics I respect, that the sound was inoffensive and “decent” - not just for an Apple product, but for true wireless earphones period. I wouldn’t be using them for critical music listening, so I thought, “Why not?”

They arrived today.

I haven’t spent much time with them yet, but they were insanely easy to pair with my phone. I fiddled with the ANC on/off and Transparency mode. I did the seal test. So easy! I definitely notice the difference between ANC on/off and transparency. I’ll try transparency when I go running, and ANC while on my Concept 2 rower.

I’ll try making some calls when appropriate, and I’ll listen to music with them tonight. I think it will be tough to beat these for my everyday go-to-work earphones.

Now, if anyone would please recommend a decent pair of wired IEMs for someone looking for an accurate frequency response, I’d appreciate it. I would like something to use when I’m really paying attention to the music.

 

So, even though everything on my iPhone is Apple Lossless, I’m getting 256 kbps?!

 

I don’t know if tests exist to confirm the actual bitrate of the AAC audio being passed to the headphones, but it is indeed being transcoded rather than sending the raw AAC/ALAC stream.

Theoretically, the Apple H1 chip can receive and decode the raw AAC stream, but currently all Apple hardware transcodes the audio instead. It would be nice if Apple would provide a “direct audio” mode.

I also have all my music in lossless. I used to transcode it to 256k AAC to conserve storage space on my phone, and 256k variable AAC is supposedly “transparent”. However, after extensive testing, I noticed an ever so slight sound quality difference. I figured I may as well get the best sound, so when I bought a new phone, I just opted for more storage.

 

I thought the Air Pods ran on Airplay rather than Bluetooth, not that I’ve researched this.

 

The new version of AirPods and all “Pro” Apple/Beats products use the Apple H1 wireless chip which is Bluetooth 5.0.

Airplay, which is used for outputting to home audio and video, is lossless. It requires wifi, which consumes far more power than Bluetooth 5, so I doubt we will see it in any headphones.

Apple has an upcoming (unannounced) “studio pro” headset that might feature something better than AAC via Bluetooth.

 

Definitely Bluetooth. Just given a set of AirPods Pro as a gift. I have (see profile) a few sets of headphones including three with active noise cancelling (I may not have listed some old AT in ear buds with ANC).

My initial verdict is pretty positive. A good seal is a must and I can get that with the standard tips. Noise cancelling is pretty impressive but not as good as Bose QC15 or B&W PX. Sound quality pretty good, again the B&W PX are better, though the SQ beats the old Bose QC15.

I am relieved and unsurprised that my best cans (Oppo PM3 and Sennheiser HD600) driven by an external headphone amp are massively better.

None of the above is me being negative, by the way. The AirPods are now pretty much with me all the time due to their small size and nice charging case and stand to get more use on convenience grounds than any of my other cans.

I am very intrigued by the proposed pseudo surround sound feature revealed this week by Apple at the WWDC. I’ll see what it can make if the various surround files I have ripped over the years.

 

It wouldn’t surprise me if the surround feature is video centric for movies and the like.

 

Yes, that is the impression I got, though it was said that it would work with content encoded in 5.1, 7.1 or Atmos. Once it becomes clear what formats are supported I will see if there is any way of importing a 5.1 music file, even if I have to convert the format first. Might sound awful, but I like experimenting with such things.

 

I tried newest Bluetooth from computer to DAC. No thanks. The USB from computer to DAC is so very much better it's not close.

 

True. Based on tests I have seen, even AptX is relatively poor. AAC is ubiquitous and roughly equal to “iTunes plus” (theoretically transparent). The only wireless that is up to snuff for most users here would be Sony’s LDAC, which is proprietary and not in widespread use.

 

AptX HD’s not bad at all [Sony NWA45 to B&W PX using FLAC CD rips as a source, or via a Bluetooth receiver to the optical in of a Meridian F80].

 

Bluetooth is fine.....until or unless you've listened to a good vinyl album played on good equipment, a CD, or hifi streaming via USB. Bluetooth is just not in same league, but you don't know that if you've never A-B them or all you know is a pair of Blu earbuds streaming from your computer. Yuck.

 

None of which addresses the convenience and portability (for running, biking, hiking, etc) with very reasonable sound quality (best with noise cancellation on) that is provided by the Airpods Pro, plus the advantages (and disadvantages) of access to your phone. How much those things matter is clearly an individual decision, and it is certainly true that from a sound quality standpoint they are not competitive with even a modest home, wired headphone system

 

So, I’m about 3 weeks in with my new AirPods Pro and I still like them - a lot. They stay solidly in my ears during a workout. Rather than rehash you can read my earlier comments here: Due diligence on earbuds

The ANC feature requires a good fit / seal to be most effective but it works very well and I still think the killer feature are the 3 different noise modes. In the last few days Apple pushed a new firmware update but I haven’t noticed any difference.

At WWDC this week Apple announced some new features for AirPods that will roll out with iOS 14 that includes “spatial audio” support for 5.1, 7.1, and ATMOS. There is a good write-up on Forbes that details the new features.

 

Any feedback from owners on max volume? (You can go ahead and save the lecture on not playing music too loud.)

 

Plenty loud on 2/3 volume slider for my ears.

 

No complaints.

 

Update for anyone interested: I’ve done some more listening and the 2D27 firmware update made significant changes, for me, to the Transparency Mode. The HF is less hyped and the background noises sound more natural. This removes some annoying things like hearing my keys jingle as I jog but also deemphasizes some things like tire noise in passing traffic. The music sounds more equal between the two modes now. It seems a nice balance.

 

Wish someone had given me the lecture on not playing music too loud...

Volume wise I have no issues, with a tight seal I don’t feel the need to have them too loud.