I got my AirPods pro last week and have been testing them over the past few days.
Some background:
Coming from my Jabra 65T's the main thing I wanted to test was the new noise cancellation. The Jabra's have decent sound, are very pocketable, fit my ears really well, have almost instantaneous pairing with the iPhone and a good microphone for calls. Have used them daily for almost 2 years since they were released. The one thing they were missing was any ANC which made them useless for travel (flights, trains etc..), so I was quite excited about the new AirPods. I actually have a pair of original AirPods but barely use them because of the complete lack of isolation and poor fit in my ears.
I have a pair of Bose QC30's which I use exclusively for travelling as they have excellent ANC but are not really pocketable and have the worst microphone for phone calls I have ever used in my life. I also have a pair of on-ear B&O H8's which sound great but have average ANC and are definitely not pocketable and need me to take a bag for daily use.
So onto the ANC test:
I played aircraft noise from YouTube through my surround sound system (Sony amp, Wharfedale Diamond speakers and a Yamaha sub). I slowly increased the volume by one notch till I could just hear the sound.
All done these with my eyes open and closed but most fair test would have been someone else increasing the volume at random intervals.
Results..
B&O H8: Could hear airplane sound at level 5
Bose QC30: Could hear sound at level 10 but pretty low until 15
And the AirPod Pros: Surprisingly almost the same: Could hear sound at level 10 but pretty low until 15
Now what surprised me the most was when I notch the sound up to 25-30. At this point everything becomes a lot more subjective but I actually thought the AirPods Pro cut out more of the sound!! That even surprised me.
I'm looking forward to rtings.com testing these to see what their tests show.
A few general points:
1. if anyone wants to know about the microphone on the AirPods Pro, I have made many phone calls including a conference call whilst walking around the streets of London and no one has complained about either my voice or background noise.
2. I am not commenting on sound quality as this is so subjective and I always find when I cycle through multiple earphones, particularly wireless ones, over a short period of time its actually quite hard to determine sound quality over the change in natural EQ and subtle changes in volume.
3. I am struggling with fit slightly. They fit fine and I have used them in the gym and there was no movement but as per point 2 I am struggling to decide if they sound better with the medium or large buds attached. The medium seem slightly small for me and the large are probably slightly big.
4. Need a bit more time with them but I think they are about to replace both my Jabra's and Bose for general use and travel (I generally only take short haul flights so battery life is not an issue). I will keep the B&O H8's for home use.
Some background:
Coming from my Jabra 65T's the main thing I wanted to test was the new noise cancellation. The Jabra's have decent sound, are very pocketable, fit my ears really well, have almost instantaneous pairing with the iPhone and a good microphone for calls. Have used them daily for almost 2 years since they were released. The one thing they were missing was any ANC which made them useless for travel (flights, trains etc..), so I was quite excited about the new AirPods. I actually have a pair of original AirPods but barely use them because of the complete lack of isolation and poor fit in my ears.
I have a pair of Bose QC30's which I use exclusively for travelling as they have excellent ANC but are not really pocketable and have the worst microphone for phone calls I have ever used in my life. I also have a pair of on-ear B&O H8's which sound great but have average ANC and are definitely not pocketable and need me to take a bag for daily use.
So onto the ANC test:
I played aircraft noise from YouTube through my surround sound system (Sony amp, Wharfedale Diamond speakers and a Yamaha sub). I slowly increased the volume by one notch till I could just hear the sound.
All done these with my eyes open and closed but most fair test would have been someone else increasing the volume at random intervals.
Results..
B&O H8: Could hear airplane sound at level 5
Bose QC30: Could hear sound at level 10 but pretty low until 15
And the AirPod Pros: Surprisingly almost the same: Could hear sound at level 10 but pretty low until 15
Now what surprised me the most was when I notch the sound up to 25-30. At this point everything becomes a lot more subjective but I actually thought the AirPods Pro cut out more of the sound!! That even surprised me.
I'm looking forward to rtings.com testing these to see what their tests show.
A few general points:
1. if anyone wants to know about the microphone on the AirPods Pro, I have made many phone calls including a conference call whilst walking around the streets of London and no one has complained about either my voice or background noise.
2. I am not commenting on sound quality as this is so subjective and I always find when I cycle through multiple earphones, particularly wireless ones, over a short period of time its actually quite hard to determine sound quality over the change in natural EQ and subtle changes in volume.
3. I am struggling with fit slightly. They fit fine and I have used them in the gym and there was no movement but as per point 2 I am struggling to decide if they sound better with the medium or large buds attached. The medium seem slightly small for me and the large are probably slightly big.
4. Need a bit more time with them but I think they are about to replace both my Jabra's and Bose for general use and travel (I generally only take short haul flights so battery life is not an issue). I will keep the B&O H8's for home use.
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