Don’t let the generic look of Apple’s high-end, second-generation AirPods Pro fool you. The latest rendering of Apple’s glossy white, pipe-tipped premium bud is far better than its three-year-old predecessor, with much improved musical performance and superior active noise cancellation.
The core performance parameters of the second-gen AirPods Pro put Apple in the same ballpark with Bose, Jabra, JBL, and Sony. And to set its new earbuds apart from the pack, Apple has imbued the new AirPods Pro with a host of new and innovative features that clearly kept the brainstormers in Cupertino up at night.
What phones will the AirPods Pro worth with?
One critical Apple differentiator needs to be addressed right away. Unlike other brands of buds that perform agnostically with both iOS- and Android- based products, Apple’s AirPods only achieve their full potential within the Apple ecosystem. You can pair the AirPods Pro with any Bluetooth audio device, but to enjoy features such as personalized and head-tracked spatial audio, Apple’s ear tip test, and the new location-finding functionality built into the charging case, you’ll need to use the Pros with an Apple product.
By far the deepest set of control options are found on the iPhone, hiding out in the Settings menu under both the earbuds’ own tab (which only pops up at the top of the list when they’re actively connected) and farther down the menu in the Music menu. Additional AirPod monitoring and adjustment features are revealed in three windows of the pull-down Control Center.
How many pairs of ear tips do the AirPods Pro ship with?
Not everything about the AirPods Pro is complicated. Out of the box, new finessing to the bud design make the second gen Pros more flexible and pleasurable to use.
Silicone bud tips (only found on the Pros) now come in four size options instead of three (the “XS” tip is new), improving fit options. The bulbous top of the buds also seems slightly re-sculpted to (hopefully) hold them in place better, a concern raised often by athletes sporting these slippery things in their sweaty ears. As a long-distance stroller, I didn’t have any problems keeping the silicone bud tips in place.
On the operations front, a different sensing system–specified as “skin detecting” rather than optical–works more reliably to turn the AirPods on when placed in your ears and to pause your music when removed.
I’m mostly loving the new slide-your-finger volume control on the earbuds stems. A swipe up or down on the control adjusts the volume a single step, meaning you won’t accidentally blast the sound, and there’s no way to confuse the action with the click for playing/pausing tunes or fielding calls. You can also long-press a stem for switching between ANC and Transparency modes.
What’s new with the AirPods Pro charging case?
Significant refinements to the AirPod Pro’s carry/charge case are a big help when it’s time to put them away for the night or find the buds when they’ve gone missing.
With its new on-board speaker and U1 chip, the case sings out its location loud and clear when you ask Siri to “Find My AirPods.” And as with other Apple buds, an unsheathed, gone-missing bud can also be remotely triggered to chirp, albeit in a quieter fashion.
I’m happy to report that the Find My function shortened a panic attack after these pricey ($249) buds disappeared. My first thought was that they’d slipped out of my pocket; the case is just as shiny/slippery as the buds. But a “bleep, bleep” later, I realized they’d burrowed down into a dark, deep recess in my daypack.
Yeah, a non-slip, custom fitting rubber cover is recommended for the new AirPods case, and third parties are already selling them for as little as $10 on Amazon. The only downside is you’ll have to cover up the custom insignia or emoji which Apple is offering to carve into the case. Another option is to slip a lanyard into the charging case’s new lanyard loop.
The buds and case for the new AirPods Pro arrive with an IPX4 rating, denoting protection against splashing water in any direction. That means the AirPods Pro should survive a jog on a rainy day, but dropping them in a pool would be a no-no.
Do the AirPods Pro offer wireless charging?
Users should also get a charge out of the multiple ways this MagSafe-adept case and buds can regain their depleted power. (The MagSafe feature was unavailable when the first Pros came out, then was added in a model upgrade two years later.)
Just plop the second-gen Pro case down on a magnetized MagSafe pad, Qi-certified charger, or–new and currently exclusive to the Pro 2–on a magnetically connected Apple Watch puck charger.
Of course, recharging can also be managed the old-fashioned way with a plugged-in (and supplied) Lightning-to-USB cable.
(Cautionary note: If the AirPods case keeps blinking and beeping, you’re not making a proper connection with the magnetic charging base. Separate the two to avoid excessive case heating and potential battery damage.)
How much battery life do the second-gen AirPods Pro have?
Overall run time per charge has notched up a bit on the second-generation AirPods Pro, to six hours max of listening or 4.5 hours of talk time.
The new case stores enough backup battery juice to fully recharge the buds four times, up from three in the prior package.
Just five minutes of charge in the carry case gets these AirPods going again for an hour.
What hearing safety features do the second-gen AirPods Pro have?
Other features not found elsewhere in bud-land make the new AirPod Pros a more functional friend, likely to be employed in unconventional settings like restaurants and concert halls where wearing earbuds might seem antisocial, silly, or counterproductive.
Activate the Live Listen feature (accessible in the Ear tab) and the Pros can double as hearing aids, amplifying sounds picked up on your iPhone’s microphone.
Another feature aims to help music blasters avoid permanent hearing damage. An on-screen Sound Pressure meter can trigger alerts when you’ve cranked the AirPod Pro’s volume too loud or are lingering in a dangerously loud area, such as a construction zone. The meter shows up in the Ear window on the iPhone. Other notifications can be turned on in your iPhone’s Settings under Accessibility/A/V, and as an app (Noise) for the Apple Watch.
New and exclusive to the second gen AirPods Pro is an Adaptive Transparency option that can be layered atop the (previously available) Transparency mode. Normally the Transparency tool opens up the earbuds to receive outside sound blended with your music. But when Adaptive Transparency is engaged, it imposes a sound limiter/suppression feature that tamps down the volume of sound beaming through the ear bud microphones.
I tested the Adaptive Transparency tool at a medium-loud concert where the band was peaking at 106-110 dB (as measured by the dB Meter app on my iPhone 12 Pro), and I was pleasantly surprised by the effect.
The AirPods didn’t cut the volume level quite as much as did my standby Loop Experience Earplugs, which manage an 18 dB volume reduction. I’d guesstimate the AirPods shaved the volume by maybe 12 or 14 dB.
That said, the AirPods volume drop was even tempered, and it didn’t screw with the fidelity of the music. I could still fully enjoy the tonal and textural/dynamic mix, and I even heard some nuances previously buried in the louder (sans protection) sonic blast. The Loops (priced at $30) are better than most other earplugs in preserving sonic range, but they come up short in sharing “presence” compared to the AirPods Pro with Adaptive Transparency engaged.
