Currently have the OG AirPods and am likely going to pick these up. I loved them but using them outside at all I had to put the volume up pretty high to drown out the noise. Ambient noise always seemed like the biggest downfall. Also, over the last few months for whatever reason my left one has crapped out. I can still hear sound but it’s very faint. I’ve cleaned it off tons but I’m guessing some moisture got in and ruined it. I do use mine outside working out, cutting grass pretty often. I hope the new ones are really moisture resistant as they say.
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AirPods Pro - Pictures and first impressions
- Thread starter Boardiesboi
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One subway ride so far. I stand by my initial impressions - they're about 80% as good as QC35II and about 70% as good as QC20. It's important to note that to my ears, the QC20s had the absolute best ANC of any consumer headphones; even Bose's own products that came later, QC30 and QC35 were slightly inferior. But I think this is because of the big battery pack and wired connection you get with the QC20.
On the subway, the noise cancellation of the APP was certainly noticeable but I could hear things such as other folks talking and the rumble of the train tracks lounder than with the QC35II. It's hard to explain in writing. At one point, the sound of us passing a train going the other way startled me while wearing the APP. Obviously this happens often on a subway, but the QC35IIs attenuate the noise of passing another train so much that I don't even notice it.
That said, I was able to listen to a podcast at ~60% volume with the IPP the entire time and was never temped to increase the volume. With the og AP, I wouldn't even be able to hear the podcast at 100% volume. So the attenuation of the APP is significant, just not as high as Bose.
The overall attenuation, ANC and passive, is not superior to your QC20. I guess that isn't surprising, considering the QC20 have a much much larger battery and no bluetooth. But these are truly wireless earbuds that get 70-80% of the way there, which I consider pretty damn good.
I agree. For truly wireless buds, the noise cancelling is excellent. Is your subway ride local or express? I ride express a lot more than local so the sound is louder because the train moves faster. The APP definitely blocks about 80% of the noise out. It's like I still hear the tracks, but it's more muffled now comapred to the regular airpods.
having both Sony’s I can fully agree about the difference in sound stage and ANC performance.
I don’t own the APP yet but the one advantage Sony’s have is the continuously adapting ANC level (Transit, Plane, seated, walking or running) which I really enjoy. You need the iOS app to enable this and I’m VERY happpy with the manual activation of temporary transparency.
I ride the MBTA red line, which is not express but the MBTA is notorious for being quite loud because of how old it is. One section between two stops is a long straight line, so it goes pretty fast there.
I talked about not hearing my TV but didnt mention that was with the music on along with ANC. Without music, just ANC, as you said, drowns out low intensity noise... things like a humming fan, cars driving by (from in the house with windows open), the dryer in the other room, etc.
Just got mine here in Tokyo.
The first thing I did was load up my "Bass Test" playlist in Apple Music. A big caveat here - I'm coming from Sony WF-1000XM3 and WH-1000XM3, with the Clear Bass turned up to 8 - I like bass, particularly in the 20-80Hz range. I've found quite a few songs over the years with beats or bass lines in that range, and I always test new headphones by listening to those tracks. For example, Bambro Koyo Ganda by Bonobo - that's an Apple Music link, btw - at about 1:41 this wicked sub-bass line kicks in, and on good headphones it's amazing. Cheap headphones/speakers? You can't even hear it. Another sort of asterisk - I have a cold ATM, which is probably affecting my hearing a little.
The good news is, the AirPods Pro can handle the bass, BUT it's far more 'polite' than I'm used to. The bass is there, but it's a lot more subdued, compared to the Sonys. Again, the Sony WF-1000XM3 and WH-1000XM3 can be adjusted to be very bass-heavy - still clean, and not overpowering, but yeah - they can be tailored to fit the sound you're looking for. Their bass, when EQ'd, is definitely much stronger than the AirPod Pro. The soundstage on these AirPods is fairly wide, for earbuds, and the highs are clear and smooth. The mids are a bit more forward than I'm used to, but that might just be because I'm running on flat EQ whereas my WF-1000XM3s are on a custom EQ.
ANC is good, not quite as effective as Sony's implementation but still pretty good. Traffic noise is basically non-existent with ANC enabled and music playing, and train noise is gone, too. I can still hear the occasional outside sound (the woman sitting next to me on the train just turned the pages of a magazine and I heard it, a bit, but then I didn't hear it at all when she put the magazine in her bag before getting off the train) but it's FAR better than the original AirPods - I stopped using the AirPods (still have the 2nd gens in my bag) because I was so tired of all the ambient noise coming through. The AirPods Pro definitely take care of that.
If anyone has any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
edit: here's a link to my bass test playlist on Apple Music, if anyone wants to give it a spin. All different genres, but most of the songs have a solid <100Hz bass line or occasional beat, that makes them good for testing headphones and speakers. Even Triste by Elis Regina - that one's Bossa Nova and just has an acoustic bass, but it thumps.
edit2: I've managed to get a bit more bass out of the AirPods Pro by changing the EQ from Off to Latin. That preset seems to boost the low end, drop the mids a bit (takes care of them being a little too forward) and leaves the high end intact, or slightly increased. Sort of a shallow "V" shaped EQ, to my ears. I then reduced my Sony WF-1000XM3 bass boost from 8 to 3, to compensate, and both headphones sound good now. The AirPods Pro still lack the punch of the Sonys in the <100Hz range, but it's better than before. ?
THANK YOU!!!
finally a proper review and comparison from someone that’s is using the leader of the current products of ANC!
I also have both the WH/WF-1000XM3s (I've included specifications for anyone that would like to know) and I value your comparison. I don't yet own the APPs but I plan to ... especially if ColorWare can do a custom colour in BLACK.
I’m the leaked threads I’ve specifically stated that theWF-1000XM3s will BE THE comparison Apple will have to beat or come VERY close to and you’ve validated this.
I have some questions (sry if asked I have 12 pages to catch up on - some of us work crazy hard during the day no time for personal reading research during work).
Could you please listing to the following tracks to compare please?
1. Dr Feelgood - Motley Crue
2. Not Real Anymore (feat. Robot Koch & Fiora) by Dreaming Of Ghosts
3. Flip Ya Lid by Nightmars On Wax (oldie classic for my ears, great club bass bin bass frequency test)
4. House Transitions - Jesus Nava 2:14 to 2:50 (drop is somewhere in there)
5. How You Like Me Now? (Raffertie Remix) ; as featured in Suits TV show
6. Icon by Jaden Smith
7. Angel by Massive Attack ! Proppa Bass!!
8. Bitches Brew by Miles Davis
9. Know The Ledge - Eric B. & Rakim (the high-hats, Base guitar riff, scratching and lyrics should not overwhelm one another but be crisp).
10. Mirrors by Justin Timberlake (4:39 onward to for prepping ears 5:30 to 6:21; should hear full range of vocals).
Much appreciated. no I don't listen to these as a playlist. will check yours later this week.
In particular you've mentioned ... " Traffic noise is basically non-existent with ANC enabled and music playing, and train noise is gone, too" is this when walking in heavy rush hour traffic? Something I love with the WF-1000XM3s is the adaptive ANC to Transperency based on detected surroundings since I don't drive I find these VERY helpful.
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I've been using them for a couple of hours now and am quite happy with them. I really like the regular Airpods (had the originals and version 2), the only problem was that they are almost unusable on airplanes and in other noisy environments due to lack of isolation. The Pros handle this very nicely. I've been using them in a (rather noisy) open office area, and I also walked into one of our server rooms (which has fan noise that easily matches airplane levels), and the noise cancellation blocks out most of it. I can easily listen to music or spoken word without having to crank up the volume much, or just use them without music to quiet things down. 
The sound quality is subjectively about the same as in other "good" in-ear models I have used, such as the Powerbeats Pro or the old wired Apple in-ear buds. If anything they sound a bit more "forward".
In terms of comfort, I prefer the old Airpods though. I'm one of the people for whom they fit perfectly (hardly feel them and they never fell out) and being an open design they feel really, uhm, airy. The Pros, being in-ear models, produce a slight feeling of pressure in my ears. It's not unpleasant, but also not quite as nice as the regular Airpods.
I'll keep both and will probably continue to use my Airpods 2 in quiet environments or when walking in traffic (where I want to hear things around me), and switch to the Pros when it's noisy.
The sound quality is subjectively about the same as in other "good" in-ear models I have used, such as the Powerbeats Pro or the old wired Apple in-ear buds. If anything they sound a bit more "forward".
In terms of comfort, I prefer the old Airpods though. I'm one of the people for whom they fit perfectly (hardly feel them and they never fell out) and being an open design they feel really, uhm, airy.
The Pros, being in-ear models, produce a slight feeling of pressure in my ears. It's not unpleasant, but also not quite as nice as the regular Airpods.I'll keep both and will probably continue to use my Airpods 2 in quiet environments or when walking in traffic (where I want to hear things around me), and switch to the Pros when it's noisy.
Now that I've listened a bit more, the difference in ANC compared to Sony WF-1000XM3 is in the high trebles. Think clacking of keyboard, and some speech. There is a fan on the subway that I pass under everyday. It makes some kind of clicking noise (not a droning noise) that is more easily removed by the Sony than the Airpods.
I think bass and droning type noises are very effectively removed by Airpods.
I think bass and droning type noises are very effectively removed by Airpods.
So after comparing them to my Bose QC35s, I can definitely say that both ANC and sound quality are poorer on the AirPods Pro. That’s not surprising I guess, but it means I’ll be keeping both.
But the sound quality is definitely better than OG AirPods, and I think the ANC will come in handy, so I will be keeping the Pros. If they were even better I’d sell the Bose and keep the Pros as my only headphones but I’m afraid that won’t be possible.
But the sound quality is definitely better than OG AirPods, and I think the ANC will come in handy, so I will be keeping the Pros. If they were even better I’d sell the Bose and keep the Pros as my only headphones but I’m afraid that won’t be possible.
If you can drop those tracks into a playlist and share it with me, I'd be happy to do an A/B test this weekend.
As for the traffic, I'm in the suburbs of Tokyo but even traffic on busy streets is almost entirely attenuated (when music is playing at 60% I can't really hear the traffic at all). One very cool thing I just discovered though, is that Siri can enable the three ANC levels - so you can turn on Transparency, for example, without having to touch the AirPods Pro or your phone at all. Very cool.
Another thing - this head cold is indeed affecting my perception of the bass. This morning I was pleasantly surprised when I put the AirPods Pro on and started listening to the same tracks again. Plenty of bass! Not as much as the Sonys but still satisfying.
It’s not quite as good as Bose QC35s, but those are over-ear so they’re bound to block more sound.
So I love the AirPods Pro but is anyone else having the issue where the bluetooth will constantly disconnect. I can go into the airplay/bluetooth or whatever this icon is and select the AirPods again but it is constantly getting disconnected. This happened with my gen 1 AirPods too but I assumed it was because my AirPods are almost 3 years old, don't know why this is still happening. I have an iPhone 11 Pro Max.
I'm VERY WARY about this because I do NOT experience this with either the Sony WH-1000XM3's or the WF-1000XM3's yet I did last year when I owned the Beats Studio 3's with ANC.
Um ... I'll take your opinion with a grain of salt, since not a specific model compared vs just a brand ... you NEED to work for Phil Schiller in marketing
That's not a bad compliment actually. One thing I'll be considering heavily since Winter here in Canada is approaching ... is how will these APP's handle -20 Celsius vs my WF-1000XM3's ... today was a LOT of rain this afternoon into early evening in Toronto and wearing only a cap, my Sony's performed without a hitch. Yet I so BADLY want to check out these APP's!
I just realised stupidly i should of been using the large cups as the AP2 were loose especially in my left air. I was using small.
WOW what a difference, more comfy, NC is way way better and the sound so much better lol. Seal setup was perfect straight away. Amazing the difference it made.
Such a dill nearly returned them haha.
WOW what a difference, more comfy, NC is way way better and the sound so much better lol. Seal setup was perfect straight away. Amazing the difference it made.
Such a dill nearly returned them haha.
I'll compare these to the WF-1000XM3 since that seems to be the best comparison and I own and have used both.
The Sony headphones have better sound. Period. There's no way around that and it isn't by a small margin it's pretty obvious. The Sony app also has a ton of options when it comes to how much ambient sound you want to allow in as well as being able to quickly switch between EQ options. Another thing that the Sony headphones do that is great is the ability to hold your finger on the left earbud to temporarily quiet the music and allow ambient sound in which is nice if you want to be able to quickly talk to someone or something then release your finger and go back to your music or podcast or whatever.
The AirPods Pro have the advantage of being better integrated into iOS. This means much faster pairing as well as the ability to quickly see the battery life of the ear buds and case in the widget screen. The case is also much much nicer and smaller. The Sony case is massive in comparison and sort of a pain to carry around. However on this note: the Sony charging case is USB-C which is wonderful and I really cannot wait until Apple ditches lightning and dives fully into USB-C. I also found that the AirPods Pro "transparency" mode is better than Sony and it really feels like you're not wearing the AirPods at all and it's a weird experience it's almost as if you're listening to the audio out of a speaker or something in the room but only you can hear it.
The ANC is comparable between the two and are both great but I haven't been able to test the AirPods Pro extensively in different scenarios as I just got them today. ANC is for public transport and blocking out noise like fans, trains, planes things like that.
The most important point in my opinion is that I have found the AirPods Pro to be far more comfortable than the Sony pair. I tried every tip that Sony includes and none of them were nearly as comfortable. They all felt like they were pushing my ear apart from the inside or about to fall out.
The trade offs in sound and comfort have me leaning towards the AirPods Pro being my preferred choice but it isn't an obvious choice and as Snazzy said if we could somehow combine these two products it would be the perfect product. If sound quality is the most important thing to you then the Sony headphones are the way to go in my opinion but for me the convenience and comfort have me choosing the AirPods.
The Sony headphones have better sound. Period. There's no way around that and it isn't by a small margin it's pretty obvious. The Sony app also has a ton of options when it comes to how much ambient sound you want to allow in as well as being able to quickly switch between EQ options. Another thing that the Sony headphones do that is great is the ability to hold your finger on the left earbud to temporarily quiet the music and allow ambient sound in which is nice if you want to be able to quickly talk to someone or something then release your finger and go back to your music or podcast or whatever.
The AirPods Pro have the advantage of being better integrated into iOS. This means much faster pairing as well as the ability to quickly see the battery life of the ear buds and case in the widget screen. The case is also much much nicer and smaller. The Sony case is massive in comparison and sort of a pain to carry around. However on this note: the Sony charging case is USB-C which is wonderful and I really cannot wait until Apple ditches lightning and dives fully into USB-C. I also found that the AirPods Pro "transparency" mode is better than Sony and it really feels like you're not wearing the AirPods at all and it's a weird experience it's almost as if you're listening to the audio out of a speaker or something in the room but only you can hear it.
The ANC is comparable between the two and are both great but I haven't been able to test the AirPods Pro extensively in different scenarios as I just got them today. ANC is for public transport and blocking out noise like fans, trains, planes things like that.
The most important point in my opinion is that I have found the AirPods Pro to be far more comfortable than the Sony pair. I tried every tip that Sony includes and none of them were nearly as comfortable. They all felt like they were pushing my ear apart from the inside or about to fall out.
The trade offs in sound and comfort have me leaning towards the AirPods Pro being my preferred choice but it isn't an obvious choice and as Snazzy said if we could somehow combine these two products it would be the perfect product. If sound quality is the most important thing to you then the Sony headphones are the way to go in my opinion but for me the convenience and comfort have me choosing the AirPods.
EverythingApplePro did a vid where they both cut out at the same spot. ?
These should be much better for the receiver during calls, as background noise would be obliterated right?
Is it possible that apple prioritized certain frequencies for the ANC? Seems to do an amazing job with stuff like white noise, but almost seems to let voices in a bit on purpose? I'm new to ANC so I don't know how they try to tune it, but seems like it could possibly be a choice they made to focus on certain areas.
No they let in way more background noise.
Don't know, i could be wrong but i am getting further, does it matter what you are streaming maybe, they are both better than Bose QC3511 for range.
Thank you so much for the detailed comparison to the QC20s! Yeah I guess it's not really a fair comparison, that big battery and space for lots of electronics gives the Bose quite an advantage. It seems like having both is probably the optimum solution. The battery life on the APPs is too short for flight use anyway, so I'd be keeping my QC20 for those situations, and, well, all those other situations where having a 3.5mm jack is important (e.g. gaming and Skype use). The appeal of wireless is strong though, my QC20 wires are always getting tangled on my coat or caught on equipment at the gym, so for now, maybe I will buy the APPs, and hope the ANC improves enough in future to sell my QC20s.