All the New Features the H2 Chip Brings to the AirPods Pro 2

[anshuvorty]

No lossless support. No sale.

This is the same crazy wish people have with the Apple Watch - no blood glucose monitoring support, so no sale...

At some point, you have to think about physics folks: unless Apple switches from Bluetooth to AirPlay or some other proprietary wireless tech that allows for more bandwidth, you won't be wirelessly streaming lossless...

 

[anshuvorty]

Adaptive transparency mode seems to be a good addition.

The Sony WH-1000XM5 over-the ear headphones have this feature, and it is just damn annoying. I had to turn it off. Why? Everytime I was speaking, the adaptive transparency feature would kick in and I would not be able to hear what the other people on the other side of the call were saying.

I hope Apple's implementation is better...

 

[2Stepfan]

I love my AirPods Pro for their convenience and functionality, but when I compare their sound quality to sennheiser wired ear buds, Sony professional wired headphones, or AirPods max, they lack bass and there is a lot of distortion in the midrange and top end. Basically they sound awful for music. In contrast the APMs are just fantastic.

I’d like the new ones to offer much better sound quality for music.

 

[JDHiro]

Someone will mention lossless audio and that means they won't buy it. Ignore them, you can't hear the difference. You can't hear the difference on a £10,000 mastering studio setup with golden ears, it's been proven time and time again by the worlds best ears. No one here has the worlds best ears, despite what placebo they think - the upgrades to the drivers and processing are much much much more important and impactful.

If they tell you otherwise, they're wrong.

You're either trolling, deaf, or have not bothered to listen on high end (£10,000+) equipment.

The difference in quality is not even a debate.

On AirPods... ehhh, probably not so much. But on a proper floor standing system, it is night and day.

 

[ivaren]

Currently enjoying the AirPods 3. How much bigger is the case on the new pros compared to the case on the AirPods 3? I just don’t want it to be bigger.

 

[hiroi]

Having an Apple Watch makes all these things a breeze, for me it’s better than fiddling with an AirPod… 🤷

I stubbornly refuse to get an Apple Watch so I like the addition pf volume controls on the these.

However..., I was totally ready to buy them here in Japan but the almost ¥40000 price tag...ouch..! (was expecting about ¥30000 but the yen is really weak now)

 

[SFjohn]

I stubbornly refuse to get an Apple Watch so I like the addition pf volume controls on the these.

However..., I was totally ready to buy them here in Japan but the almost ¥40000 price tag...ouch..! (was expecting about ¥30000 but the yen is really weak now)

Yeah, many comments about prices much higher outside the USA. It’s quite common for people on vacation here to purchase Apple hardware that they take back to their homelands.

 

[Jeff Randall]

Someone will mention lossless audio and that means they won't buy it. Ignore them, you can't hear the difference. You can't hear the difference on a £10,000 mastering studio setup with golden ears, it's been proven time and time again by the worlds best ears. No one here has the worlds best ears, despite what placebo they think - the upgrades to the drivers and processing are much much much more important and impactful.

If they tell you otherwise, they're wrong.

Unless you are a Bat, they might be able to tell the difference but totally agree us mere Humans cant tell, its all marketing hype to sell more headphones.

 

[SoldOnApple]

I'll probably buy because my BeatsX battery isn't lasting as long as it used to. At least the charging case will let me charge these when they run flat while out. I'd need to carry a battery or iPad and the lightening cable to charge the BeatsX on the go.

 

[Bobs_ur_uncle]

Where are the Powerbeats Pro H2?

 

[Devin Breeding]

This is a major disappointment. Apple used to be on the cutting edge with hardware development, but now a competitor is going to beat Apple to market with headphones that take advantage of advancements in Bluetooth technology. Given the bandwidth Apple Music has devoted to making its library lossless, it’s a bit strange that the only piece of hardware that allows listeners to fully take advantage of this upgrade is the Apple TV.

Audio through a nicer car stereo that supports Carplay. They said the Pro 2s new chip supports more bandwidth. I wonder if a future update will add lossless audio like the beta they are testing with Airpod Max.

 

[TheMasterTerrarian]

Sounds like I’ll be sticking with the Sony Wf-1000xm4s. Im sure they will still be the earbud king of noise cancelling, battery life, and sound quality

 

[vroosh]

Considering my only complaint is that they fall out too easily, they haven't fixed that. I won't be getting this.

I had the same problem with both the base Airpods and the Airpod pro, but the pro let me buy these which are awesome and fixed the issue for cheap money Lanwow Premium Memory Foam Tips... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087NY9T66?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[Apple_Jacks]

The volume control is nice, but please apple add the forward and rewind + HOLD controls so we can better control where we are, such as if missed what a podcast said, rather than switching by sections. Sad the original wired earphones had this and the $250 pro AirPods still do not.

It's not ideal in a noisy environment, but Siri can rewind as much as you ask for. If I miss something I tell it to rewind 30 seconds.

 

[Banksy91]

Apple today introduced the second-generation AirPods Pro, which are equipped with an all-new H2 chip. The H2 is the successor to the H1, and it enables new features like improved noise cancellation, a new transparency mode, and better sound.

• Active Noise Cancellation - The H2 chip in the AirPods Pro 2 cancels twice as much noise compared to the original AirPods Pro.
  
• Adaptive Transparency Mode - The H2 chip allows for on-device processing that reduces loud environmental sounds like a siren, construction work, or loud speakers at a concert without silencing noise entirely.
  
• Improved Acoustics - Apple says the H2 chip provides an "exceptional acoustic experience" when paired with the new low-distortion audio driver and custom amplifier. The AirPods Pro offer richer bass and clearer sound across a wider range of frequencies.
  
• Personalized Spatial Audio - Apple touted personalized spatial audio as an AirPods Pro 2 highlight, with the feature being introduced in iOS 16. This isn't an AirPods 2 exclusive as it uses the TrueDepth camera on the iPhone, but it does work with the AirPods Pro 2.

Other AirPods Pro 2 features include touch controls for adjusting volume right on the AirPods themselves, an improved skin detect sensor that more accurately turns playback on and off, and an improved battery that lasts for a total of 6 hours, up 1.5 hours from the prior-generation model.

The AirPods Pro case also features IPX4 sweat and water resistance along with a lanyard loop, Memoji customization, Find My improvements, and a built-in speaker for locating the case should it be lost.

Notably, the AirPods Pro 2 do not feature support for lossless audio as was rumored because they still use Bluetooth functionality that does not offer the ability to play Apple Lossless Audio Codec files.

Article Link: All the New Features the H2 Chip Brings to the AirPods Pro 2

It is bizarre that Apple is still refusing to release AirPods in other colours besides white.

I have been in need of new ear buds for a while but have been holding off on getting new ones until the new Airpod pros came out today. I was really hoping they would finally release additional colours. But no, once again no other colours which means i will need to stick with Jabra.

Why? I cannot be the only business they are losing for sticking with this narrow product selection. I have all the apple products, including Airpod Maxs, but the airpods. I'm not a big fan of the stem either but would be willing to look past that if a darker colour other than white was available. I want something somewhat discrete in my ear, not this white behemoth.

Back to Jabra it is...get it together Apple as you are losing some biz with this inexplicable decision.

 

[talones]

Simple BLIND A/B testing with whatever device you want (I have Sennheiser HD800s and a £3000 Violetic headphone amp) will prove you'll never guess which is lossless and which isn't. You can verify you can't with this test http://abx.digitalfeed.net

This point is moot, we are talking about the possibility that the APP2 has the ability to go higher than 44.1khz 16bit audio that the current gen is locked to. If you went from 44.1 to 96k you will without a doubt hear a difference. Also having higher bandwidth would open up the ability to have more Atmos channels and metadata.

 

[mva68]

Someone will mention lossless audio and that means they won't buy it. Ignore them, you can't hear the difference. You can't hear the difference on a £10,000 mastering studio setup with golden ears, it's been proven time and time again by the worlds best ears. No one here has the worlds best ears, despite what placebo they think - the upgrades to the drivers and processing are much much much more important and impactful.

If they tell you otherwise, they're wrong.

So why would Apple move to Lossless for their library then? Just marketing? No, just because the clarity, positioning, frequency range, punch with Lossless sound is much better and closer to the original. You can measure it, A/B test it, it just is true. Of course, the rest of the system should support it (drivers, sound design) and that will be difficult in these small AirPods and they made the trade off not to offer it for now as well as that only the Iphone 14 series now supports Bluetooth v5.3. The advantage of V5.3 is that multiple frequency channels can be used at the same time, so much better throughput of data packets hence better audio quality. There is hope for a better sound experience with these AirPods at some point! (required use of lossless files of course)

 

[Parsec]

What I’m more interested in is how good phone calls will be for the other end. Normally I get complaints about a lot of noise from the person I’m calling with while driving. While when I call with my Sennheiser BT headset they hear no background noise at all. Now I understand that it was made for that purpose, but it should be easy for Apple to apply good mic noise cancellation since the normal AirPods seem to do a much better job at that

 

[Gobeatty]

Sliding volume control and longer battery life. Winners along with better sound quality. Apple will have no problem moving these.

 

[dannys1]

You can measure it, A/B test it, it just is true.

No you can't - and i'd give you a million pounds (and you'd be the best mastering engineer to ever exist) if you could pass a blind test which proved this. I'll wait.

 

[bry2k]

No you can't - and i'd give you a million pounds (and you'd be the best mastering engineer to ever exist) if you could pass a blind test which proved this. I'll wait.

Send me the million bucks. I already posted my A/B test results in this thread. You're being a troll. Knock it off.

 

[coherence]

Don't forget the mac!
It's a joy to listen to high quality lossless music on my mac, with my dac and wired headphones.

What kind of DAC/wired headphones are you using?

 

[deckard666]

Love my M15

m15-11_720x.jpg

Questyle M15

Questyle M15 was born: it distills all of Questyle’s expertise and technologies into an amazingly powerful compact mobile DAC & AMP. Two independent CMA SiP modules Four total amplification circuits Greater dynamics, Richer details Supports both 3.5mm and 4.4mm CNC machined aluminum housing...

questyleshop.com

Bit of a headphone nerd and had a few DACs over the years and this is my fave for below 500...

 

[JippaLippa]

What kind of DAC/wired headphones are you using?

Mac--->iFi Zen Dac--->iFi Zen Can (preamp)--->Sennheiser HD660s

 

[mva68]

Do these already contain a temperature sensor? Since there was a rumour Apple was planning for that >in-ear temperature sensing.