I would love the airpods if they weren't a) so uncomfortable (hard plastic), b) isolated sound even a small amount, c) were able to be used for travel (sound isolation), d) sounded 50% as good as the Beats X.
A: my ears love earpods, and airpods. They feel great to wear, and they fit rather well too. They're the most comfortable and best-fitting rigid (Sony fontopia or similar type) earbud I personally have ever used.
B: I rather prefer they leak when I'm out and about amongst people and traffic - I tend to get very bubblified and distracted by headphones that isolate well. Once I was rather close to getting run over by a tram because the music distracted me when the tight-fitting silicone tip buds I wore cut off basically all surrounding sound.
C: yeah well, travelling is a bit hit and miss. Airpods do function well enough on some public transport lines in the city where I live, especially the hybrid buses where even the diesel engine is soundproofed very well. I don't travel very often by airplane (flied twice in 11 years), so that's not much of an issue to me. If airpods had active noise cancellation they would likely chew battery like no tomorrow. One active noise cancelling wireless earbuds model (I forget which one) runs for a whopping two hours per charge...
If you think the Airpods sound as good as the Beats you simply don't have the Beats fit properly. Get a tight seal on the Beats (I recommend comply 400s or 500s) and it isn't close.
Ear/airpods also sound rather good if your ears conform to their shape. While there is no genuine seal, you can just pop them in easily and effortlessly. I've yet to find a set of silicone-tipped buds where I could do that without tugging on my ear with one hand and wiggling and mashing the bud into place with the other. Also, silicone-tip buds get very grimy very quickly...
Everything has pros and cons. For convenience I find airpods scoring very high, and for sound quality they're more than acceptable. But that's not going to be true for everyone of course. YMMV.
