Product test
The new Apple AirPods Pro pass the test in this review
by Livia Gamper
Apple AirPods Pro: the double review
7.11.2019
The new AirPods Pro by Apple have arrived. How good are they? Aurel and Livia tested them – one with the iPhone, the other with an Android smartphone.
Apple has finally equipped the AirPods Pro with active noise cancelling. And they’re no longer earbuds, but in-ear models. And there’s a new transparency mode. Aurel and Livia put the AirPods Pro to a test – Aurel used them with the iPhone 11 Pro; Livia with the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro.
Setting them up
Aurel: What is there to say? As an iPhone user, you can't get the setup wrong.
- Step 1: switch on Bluetooth.
- Step 2: open the AirPods Pro case next to the iPhone.
.. click «Connect» on your iPhone. That's it. It couldn't be easier. Good job, Apple.
Livia: Just like any other Bluetooth device, the AirPods connect to an Android phone, too. However, there are a few points you should keep in mind – otherwise it will drive you up the walls. This is how it will work:
Now you can listen to music with the AirPods. However, just as their predecessors, the AirPods Pro produce much lower sound levels with an Android device than with the iPhone. If you want more volume, that's what you need to do:
Comfort
Aurel: In my opinion, the greatest advantage of the AirPods Pro is how comfortable they are. They're light as a feather (5.4 g) and come with three different sized tips, giving them a good fit. After the AKG 701, the AirPods are the second earphones that were so comfortable I forgot I was wearing them after a while. This is an incredibly important with headphones – and I'm amazed it's possible with in-ears.
The AirPods come with three silicone tips. The middle one fits me perfectly. That’s lucky, because if none of these tips fits, you've got a problem. Buying your own and attaching them isn’t an option – Apple's tips are proprietary and no others than these three fit on the AirPods.
What about sound quality?
Aurel: I bought the first generation AirPods and I was very happy with them. I was excited about this product from the very start: it's a perfect match for the Apple ecosystem and it's very well thought out. Their sound was and still is good, very good even. I wrote that in my review a few years ago. And I got a real roasting for saying that.
The point is: I know you can get more sound for less money. No in-ear headphones and certainly no earbuds stand a chance against good over-ear headphones in the same price range. Especially not against models with cables. Creating good wireless in-ear headphones is a much more difficult technical task. And Apple has solved it well.
The AirPods Pro are no longer earbuds but in-ears and sound even better in direct comparison with their predecessor. They sound great. There’s nothing more to say. To find out if you like the sound, ask someone who owns them if you may give them a try.
To verify this, I tested the AirPods with an iPhone, too, and they sounded slightly better. But they can't compete with Sony’s WF-1000XM3.
Is the noise cancelling any good?
Aurel: The AirPods Pro noise cancelling is easy to understand, as there are only three modes: on, off, transparency mode. The modes are changed by squeezing the indented force sensor area of each earbud or in the iOS Settings, Control Center. You’ll find more details on this in the paragraph «Handling».
I made a mistake in the article I wrote about the AirPods: I described the transparency mode as airport or railway station mode, as known from other headphones. That's not correct. The transparency mode isn't intended for such noisy environments, but is designed for quiet situations. Otherwise, it's enough for me to simply turn off the noise cancelling.
The transparency mode is brilliant for me when I've put the kids to bed and am watching a movie or listening to music on the sofa. Nobody hears my headphones, but I hear every sound the kids make.
When I'm in a train station and don't want to miss any announcements, I deactivate noise cancelling. The in-eats reduce ambient noise a tiny bit, but I can still hear loud loudspeaker announcements.
What about active noise cancelling? It really knocked my socks off; it's really good. In public transport, the noise level is reduced considerably and I can enjoy my music much more. As a pleasant side effect, I lowered the volume automatically, making the hair cells in my inner ear happy and prolonging their life by years.
The active noise cancelling isn't bad – it reduced background noise pretty well. However, I'm not satisfied with its ability to reduce loud background noises such as the rattling of a mechanical keyboard in the office. But this is also due to the design of in-ear headphones: of course, these little buds can't compete with the noise cancelling of over-ear headphones.
What about handling?
Aurel: The AirPods Pro are simple to use. The old tap gestures of the AirBuds have been replaced by squeezing the force sensor on the lower part of the buds. It doesn't matter if you press the left or the right earbud.
- a quick squeeze: play/pause
- squeeze twice: skip a track
- squeeze three times: go back
- hold down: switch between noise cancellation and transparency modes. You can select which modes you want to switch between in the settings on your iPhone.
Unfortunately, there’s no gesture control for the volume. The volume is either adjusted Siri voice commands («Siri, volume to 50 percent») or as usual on your phone. If you have an Apple Watch, that’s also a way to adjust the volume.
In my opinion, Apple missed an opportunity: I would have found it much more useful if the left and right buds were configured differently. This would have allowed Apple to integrate a simple volume control directly on the AirPods, as Sennheiser did with the Momentum True Wireless.
Livia: The handling is similar with Android as it is with an iPhone. Squeezing the earbuds works well to transmit your commands to an Android phone. The only thing that doesn't work with Android is that the music doesn't pause when you remove an earbud from your ear. This works well with an iPhone, but with an Android device, your music just keeps playing.
If you want to change the operation; to define a different noise cancelling mode, for example, you first need to configure this on an iOS device.
To see the battery status of the AirPods, I downloaded the App MaterialPods.
Our verdict
What’s a shame is that Apple didn’t manage to improve the battery life. The runtime of up to five hours without and about 4.5 hours with noise cancelling isn’t great. Given the low weight, I accept the compromise. Especially as charging the AirPods Pro for five minutes gives you an hour of battery life.
A great product. Would I recommend it to iPhone owners? Absolutely!
Livia: Using the AirPods Pro with an Android phone works surprisingly well. But some important features, the automatic pausing, for instance, don’t work. That’s a real shame. The sound quality of the AirPods Pro isn't great, the noise cancelling not better than the competition and for their price, they offer a rather low battery life.
For iPhone users, these flaws are concealed or even eliminated by how convenient the AirPods Pro are: they’re comfortable, simple and convenient to use. With Android, all you get is comfortable in-ear headphones. Using other true wireless headphones such as the Sony WF-1000XM3 is easier and you'll have more features.
Compared to their predecessor model, the AirPods Pro have improved a lot – but they're not worth buying if you have an Android phone.
The specs
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
