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Hands-On With the New AirPods Pro

Christian 5G said:
Please share your experiences! Really on the edge right now to buy them. Thank you!
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Currently I have the Jabra Elite 65t.

Just got these, initial feedback is I don’t find it as comfortable as the Jabra. Sound wise, it’s... fine. Not great or special, maybe a bit more clarity than my Jabra but I don’t think my music sounds as exciting? In some ways kind of disappointed I guess.

Noise cancellation seems alright but haven’t tested on train or otherwise. Transport mode is better than the version in the Jabra for sure.

Considering £100 price premium over my Jabra, not sure it’s a winner for me. I’ll test it a few more days to decide if I keep it.
 
I'm not sure the noise cancellation is working on my pair. Can anyone who has a pair that notices their noise cancellation try snapping their fingers about a foot from one ear and tell me what they hear with moderate sounding music playing? With mine, I hear the snap with no problem. I can also hear the click sounds from my Apple Magic Keyboard while music is playing.
 
I am really picky with earphones (I regularly switch between Audeze iSine 20, Beyerdynamic Xelento, and RHA CL2 for my general purpose listening needs), but I really am impressed with the Airpods Pro. I always carry a set of AirPods for taking phone calls when I don’t have better headphones in, and these beat the AirPods in every possible way. The passive isolation isn’t nearly as good as I had hoped, but the ANC is surprisingly excellent, and it doesn’t bother me like some ANC algorithms do. Music quality is okay — it’s really good on some songs, a little lifeless or congested on others.
 
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forrie said:
I received mine this morning. The pairing is much better than the original AirPods (hmm) which have been super cranky with iOS 13. Honestly, these are over priced. The "noise cancelling" capability is barely noticeable. It hasn't been responding to "taps" to enable/disable "noise cancelling" mode, but there are controls under the iOS bluetooth settings. They do fit well, however. I'll keep them, but don't expect any meaningful "noise cancelling" -- I'm sticking with my bulky Sony headphones for that. Yes, I understand there is a difference in compute and features and size, but I don't appreciate the selling of a feature that really isn't much of a feature.
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I have found the ANC to be excellent. Maybe you need to adjust the pod tips and fitting in the ear?
 
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RLRabb said:
I'm not sure the noise cancellation is working on my pair. Can anyone who has a pair that notices their noise cancellation try snapping their fingers about a foot from one ear and tell me what they hear with moderate sounding music playing? With mine, I hear the snap with no problem. I can also hear the click sounds from my Apple Magic Keyboard while music is playing.
Click to expand...

Strangely, I do find that the ANC isn’t great with snaps or with typing sounds (which are two of my usual test cases). It was only after I took the AirPods out and realized how much of the other ambient sounds they were getting rid of that I understood how well it was working.
 
I’ve never been interested in AirPods previously due to the design -
I’ve never liked the earbuds which came with iPods and iPhones and so I didn’t dive in. The fit was awful and sound not that great. However - now that we get interchangeable tips and noise cancelling etc, mine were delivered today. Setup was a breeze and man, am I impressed. I can hardly feel them in, the sound quality is superb. The cancelling is very noticeable and the range is gorgeous. Sure there’s a high price point but as someone who’s been very happy with his Powerbeats3 for some time, this feels like money well spent.
 
RLRabb said:
I'm not sure the noise cancellation is working on my pair. Can anyone who has a pair that notices their noise cancellation try snapping their fingers about a foot from one ear and tell me what they hear with moderate sounding music playing? With mine, I hear the snap with no problem. I can also hear the click sounds from my Apple Magic Keyboard while music is playing.
Click to expand...

You will hear both those sharp noises with noise cancelling on any headphone.

Noise cancelling removes the other ambient sounds (like droning Airplane engine, computer fans, A/C units, wind). Noise cancelling has a hard time removing singular human voices, but a bunch of voices in a crowd, it will remove or dissipate.

If you're at a gym, noise-cancelling will remove the hum from the heaters or A/C units, radio, treadmills, cycles, people talking in a distance. It will not remove something like someone dropping a weight with a loud thud.
 
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RLRabb said:
I'm not sure the noise cancellation is working on my pair. Can anyone who has a pair that notices their noise cancellation try snapping their fingers about a foot from one ear and tell me what they hear with moderate sounding music playing? With mine, I hear the snap with no problem. I can also hear the click sounds from my Apple Magic Keyboard while music is playing.
Click to expand...

Have you had ANC headphones before? ANC isn't meant to make those things totally silent, but rather much quieter and easily drowned-out by music.

Instead, try changing the setting from "Noise Cancellation" to "off" and back. Do this while playing music, and ideally while standing on a busy street (or playing the sounds of a busy street on your computer through speakers). You should notice a material difference in how much outside noise you hear with ANC on compared to off.
 
forrie said:
I received mine this morning. The pairing is much better than the original AirPods (hmm) which have been super cranky with iOS 13. Honestly, these are over priced. The "noise cancelling" capability is barely noticeable. It hasn't been responding to "taps" to enable/disable "noise cancelling" mode, but there are controls under the iOS bluetooth settings. They do fit well, however. I'll keep them, but don't expect any meaningful "noise cancelling" -- I'm sticking with my bulky Sony headphones for that. Yes, I understand there is a difference in compute and features and size, but I don't appreciate the selling of a feature that really isn't much of a feature.
Click to expand...
Are your bulky Sony headphones on/over the ear? Are you comparing the noise cancellation on buds to those?
Villarrealadrian said:
I like the design and the technology but I would love to see they are a bit more repairable
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Trager said:
I am really picky with earphones (I regularly switch between Audeze iSine 20, Beyerdynamic Xelento, and RHA CL2 for my general purpose listening needs), but I really am impressed with the Airpods Pro. I always carry a set of AirPods for taking phone calls when I don’t have better headphones in, and these beat the AirPods in every possible way. The passive isolation isn’t nearly as good as I had hoped, but the ANC is surprisingly excellent, and it doesn’t bother me like some ANC algorithms do. Music quality is okay — it’s really good on some songs, a little lifeless or congested on others.
Click to expand...

ooh, another sine owner. Happy to hear about your experience. Thanks. Getting mine tomorrow
 
ANC isn't an absolute. It will always work better with more physical material. As sound is effectively a pressure wave, of course a gigantic Bose cup over your ears is going to fundamentally be better than tiny little airpods, simply because the physical mass over your ears is already adding benefit. By way of comparison, ANC devices out in the open - basically white noise devices - work marginally at best, and to most are barely noticeable. But it's subjective to be sure. The ultimate point is that with a good seal and ANC enabled, these do work as designed, and I'm impressed. The key point is to check between "off" and "ANC"... you should see a definite drop in outside noise between those two. I just checked in a quiet room with music playing, in a doctor waiting room, and outside and could easily tell it was functional. if it's not, there is probably something awry with the seal.

I can appreciate that Bose cans might be better for planes, but I'm damn interested if these at least provide good ANC for flights. Airpods 2 did not, but I have high hopes with these. I carry Bose ANC headphones primarily for flights for that purpose, but if these can fit the bill, I'll be over the moon happy.
 
As someone who could never get the Apple wired ear buds or the AirPods to fit, I’m happy that these do fit a lot better.

One thing that would be nice, since Siri is always listening, would be to have the option to say, “hey Siri, turn [on/off] transparency mode”. As of now, (sorry, but) “you’ll have to unlock your iPhone first” (huh??)

EDIT: apparently that function does work as I hoped. I’ll just go ahead and blame Siri
 
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For anyone who has the Power Beats Pro these AirPods pro are comparable. NC is nice but it’s not a game changer on these small headphones. I think clarity is a tad better on the Power Beats Pro because of the lack of audio processing with NC. If anyone has the older AirPods and jump to the AirPod Pro’s I think it’s a no brainer. If anyone has the Powerbeats pro I think it’ll be more of a fit choice. AirPods Pro fit a little better and the smaller case is nice but other than that no need to upgrade. I’m contemplating going whether to keep the AirPod Pro’s are not.
 
Am prepared to read a whole lot of compared to my Seinheiser mumbo jumbos these AirPods suck, wish it could be cheaper, blah blah, as usual with any apple new product.
 
umh...my friend got a pair...can't get them to fit well, regardless of tips used...any advice? asking for a friend...
 
cylack said:
Am prepared to read a whole lot of compared to my Seinheiser mumbo jumbos these AirPods suck, wish it could be cheaper, blah blah, as usual with any apple new product.
Click to expand...

Pricing is a fair critique, especially as these are essentially “use them for three years and throw them out” products.
 
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