The Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) are the future of wireless earbuds. With the Apple-designed H2 chip, the audio performance is enhanced for smarter noise cancellation, providing crisp and clear high notes as well as deep, rich bass. Adaptive transparency adjusts for intense noise in real-time, giving you up to 2x more Active Noise Cancellation than the prior AirPods Pro.
Customizable fit and all-day comfort are the standard with four pairs of silicone tips (XS, S, M, L) to choose from. The personalized spatial audio allows you to deeply immerse yourself in music and movies as dynamic head tracking tunes the sound just for you. You can switch between modes and control volume, answer calls, and more with a quick swipe or press of the stem.
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Ayan –
I have been a huge fan of the AirPods Pro since their release in 2019. After these were announced last month, I was very excited to pre-order them as I have been looking to upgrade my first gens. After using them for a day, I can safely say that these are well worth the upgrade. All the nitpicks that I had with the AirPods Pro 1st gen were fixed by Apple for this release.Pros- A much punchier and refined sound- Spatial Audio is incredible- Transparency mode is untouchable- Amazing NC for earbuds- Battery life improvements- Better mic quality- Trackable case and speaker for Find MyCons- Can’t adjust the noise cancellation (I feel like it’s a bit too strong for some situations)Honestly, if you are in the market for new earbuds, heavy into the Apple ecosystem or want to upgrade from the first gen Pros, these are well worth it. Cheer!
John Cuyle –
My use case for these is as daily wear headphones, particularly while working in an office. I have AirPods Gen 1 and I’m quite fond of them, but I’m also a fan of active noise cancelation. I am a pilot and I’ve used headsets with active noise cancelation (mostly Lightspeeds) for about 15 years now (I was an early adopter) and I also use electronic hearing protection while shooting. The AirPods Pro 2 are significantly cheaper than aviation headsets but roughly in the price range of shooting headsets so I thought I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into with these – i.e. ear buds that offered an active noise cancelation that was not necessarily useful for hearing protection (they have no rating) but offered something like the active noise cancelation I’m used to from my Lightspeed aviation headset (in noise canceling mode) and something like the noise reduction with voice passthrough that I’m used to from my Sordin shooting headset when in transparent mode.Noise reduction mode delivers shockingly well. It does a very good job of shutting out ambient noise. Someone watching TV in the background? Significantly muted. HVAC/fan/PC noise? Gone. They’re good enough that I’m probably going to wear them in my car since my Apple Watch informs me that my car is a loud enough environment that I’m vulnerable to long term hearing damage (it’s a convertible, the exhaust is quiet but there’s a lot of wind noise and the top doesn’t do much to quiet other people’s exhausts) and despite lacking a rating the rubber earpieces offer some passive noise reduction and the active may well be enough to take the edge off the poorly muffled motorcycles that seem to love to pace me right next to my left ear for miles on end.Update: Not sure whether they’ve quietly updated their algorithms or just adjusted the default tuning in the background, but transparency mode is now usable. It still ought to support volume control, like active electronic hearing protection does. /UpdateTransparency mode, on the other hand, is a massive disappointment. The idea behind transparency mode is, essentially, a not-rated-for-hearing-protection version of what you get with a pair of Sordins except instead of passive noise reduction with ambient noise passthrough (with processing to filter out sharp sounds, normalization, and clipping and filtering of loud sounds) and a volume control, so that ambient non-noise sound can be anywhere from significantly muted to amplified enough to cut through a pair of passive ear plugs worn under the electronic muffs. You sort of get a version of that. The AirPods Pro 2 add active noise reduction on top of it. Unfortunately, it’s tuned very poorly. The default transparency mode plus “active transparency” perform something like what a pair of Sordins does in terms of clipping maximum volume but there’s no volume control. You get a volume level that is basically slightly louder than ambient but with maybe some reduction of low range sounds and, crucially, a significant boost to mid and particularly high range sounds. HVAC noise is actually worse in transparency than it is when you’re not wearing the AirPods at all. It also has an extremely unfortunate effect on keyboard sounds. A typical keypress is sort of a dull, low, clack. The default transparency settings turn it into a louder, shriller, sharper click. My keyboard, which I never really thought about before, is actually quite unpleasant in transparency mode. In general, the default transparency mode is probably something one would only use for very short periods such as a temporary interaction with someone (e.g. long enough to order coffee). For longer term use it’s unpleasant enough that you would simply pull the AirPod out rather than switch modes. This is unfortunate as it largely undermines the entire sales pitch for the AirPods Pro. They aren’t something you could put in and leave in with transparency enabled while on a walk with a friend and carry on a conversation with someone while preventing your ears from being hurt by a passing vehicle that’s had its exhaust system compromised or wear in the office listening to music and switch to transparency mode to have a conversation with some coworkers. It amplifies background noise (again, keyboards become particularly unpleasant) enough that you’re much better off simply taking them out, exactly as you would have with the old first gen airpods.There are custom adjustments for transparency (inexplicably buried a couple layers deep in accessibility settings rather than in the AirPod configuration menus) and they… help. Sort of. It’s possible, with some fiddling (the best settings I found were maximum ambient noise reduction, zero amplification, and darkest sound settings, conversation boost disabled) to configure transparency such that it actually does a much better job of muting unwanted ambient sounds (you can get rid of the HVAC again) and retaining clear voice passthrough and even acceptable music passthrough, but even after spending an hour or so playing with all of the available configuration options I cannot find one that allows me to leave transparency enabled while typing. It just makes keypresses to shrill, sharp, and loud. There’s a pretty significant amount of processing power built into these for their tiny size, though, so hopefully Apple will be able to update their algorithm such that you can wear them while using a computer. Honestly, given that Apple sells computers, it’s kind of shocking that they were released in this state, but here we are. (It’s worth noting that part of my disappointment comes from the Sordins I have being totally usable in similar situations (but lacking bluetooth and also obviously being industrial hearing protection) and I also have a set of Walker’s digital hearing protection that does have Bluetooth and is much better at ambient sound passthrough (at half the price) but having disappointing sound if you want to listen to music on them.tl;dr Buy them if you have an iPhone and want good active noise cancelation in a very compact package with good battery life, and decent sound for music. If you’re buying them as something you could wear to get, essentially, some background noise reduction and loud noise reduction in an office setting while still being able to talk to coworkers with them in – their weird tendency to actually amplify certain unpleasant frequency ranges in transparency mode makes them poorly suited for this application.Update: See Above
Schmittenloff –
If you are part of the Apple ecosystem, this product is fantastic. With so many unique under-the-hood features, top-notch noise cancellation as well as transparency (which to me is why this is the ultimate earbud), there is simply no match. If you are not on iPhone you lose out on some of the most unique features like Personalized Spatial Audio, but all the core features are there. Every feature can be controlled on the pods using the unique Force Sensor setup they have. The case is small form factor and charges the buds greatly over a short time.
Annie K –
Do you have an iPhone? Do you listen to music? This is all you need.Upgrading from a pair of first gen AirPods, the AirPods Pro are a massive upgrade if you listen to music a lot on the go.First to mention of course is their seamless integration into the Apple ecosystem, as soon as you open the box you’re ready to listen. The different modes – noise cancellation and transparency mode, can be controlled from a dedicated option in your settings or from the action center. These modes can also be controlled through the stem, which I find become quite intuitive and easy to use.The features continue as you get access to a spatial audio setup which scans your ears to create a personal profile. Personally I don’t use this as I find it compromises the sound, but it feels quite immersive.Noise cancelling works great, it’s perfect for transit or working out. Transparency mode is also very useful if you still want to be able to hear your surroundings or other people, but I think its level of volume might take getting used to.Sound quality is very good, the little bit of extra bass makes the AirPods so much fun to use, and instrument separation is much improved. Treble and highs have good clarity, but could use a bit more.TLDR: Great noise cancellation, comfortable, easy to use and a ton of fun. I have these in my ears literally all day.
Jack Anderson –
After watching many reviews and waiting for sales, I finally decided it was time to buy some AirPods Pro (2nd generation) for myself. I am not disappointed, the pairing experience was seamless out of the box with my iPhone, and the sound quality is excellent. Noise cancellation is very good, perfectly eliminating any engine noise or humming, and heavily muffling voices. It clearly does a better job at eliminating the low end, as most leaking noise is more higher-pitched. With music at any volume, this does not matter, as all sound is drowned out. Transparency mode is impressive, very natural feeling. I always have it on when I’m not using noise cancelling-even with one bud in-it feels more natural, my ears feel less plugged and I keep the outside world tuned in. Battery life is also exceptional, the buds have yet to fully die, they charge fast in the case, and both have significant battery life.I do recommend spending the extra 40 dollars on Apple Care +, whether or not I’ll use it, for devices so small and fragile I’ve already learned this is more than a good idea.Finally, some nitpicks, not enough to deduct stars, but enough to note:1. The case lid can slightly shift side to side with little force, although the hinge and assembly are very high quality and have no signs of wear or weak points, this is notable.2. The firmware/AirPods settings interface is pretty buggy at times, the case chimes toggle is sometimes inaccessible, and the whole submenu of iOS Settings dedicated to AirPods management is a bit jankier and less smooth than the rest of the experience. In addition to this, the Batteries widget also is slightly jankier than expected, only showing full stats when both buds are in.3. This is surely the least important, but occasionally there’ll be a noticeable (5 second +) delay between inserting the buds, and the in-ear sound playing, or audio going from mono to stereo.In conclusion, they’re well worth it, I purchased them on sale at 299.99, and buying Apple Care + basically brought it back to MSRP.
Christian –
The design is very similar to the 1st Gen but the audio quality… Oof I much prefer this one a little more than original AirPods Pros. High quality and bass audio quality at that. I mostly listen to Drum and Bass, electronic, etc. and with these I can finally turn off the EQ so it doesn’t sound flat. Excellent! ?? Sounds great watching movies and video games as well. Noise cancellation is better than the 1st Gen. And the battery life is excellent. No complains so far.
John Cuyle –
My use case for these is as daily wear headphones, particularly while working in an office. I have AirPods Gen 1 and I’m quite fond of them, but I’m also a fan of active noise cancelation. I am a pilot and I’ve used headsets with active noise cancelation (mostly Lightspeeds) for about 15 years now (I was an early adopter) and I also use electronic hearing protection while shooting. The AirPods Pro 2 are significantly cheaper than aviation headsets but roughly in the price range of shooting headsets so I thought I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into with these – i.e. ear buds that offered an active noise cancelation that was not necessarily useful for hearing protection (they have no rating) but offered something like the active noise cancelation I’m used to from my Lightspeed aviation headset (in noise canceling mode) and something like the noise reduction with voice passthrough that I’m used to from my Sordin shooting headset when in transparent mode.Noise reduction mode delivers shockingly well. It does a very good job of shutting out ambient noise. Someone watching TV in the background? Significantly muted. HVAC/fan/PC noise? Gone. They’re good enough that I’m probably going to wear them in my car since my Apple Watch informs me that my car is a loud enough environment that I’m vulnerable to long term hearing damage (it’s a convertible, the exhaust is quiet but there’s a lot of wind noise and the top doesn’t do much to quiet other people’s exhausts) and despite lacking a rating the rubber earpieces offer some passive noise reduction and the active may well be enough to take the edge off the poorly muffled motorcycles that seem to love to pace me right next to my left ear for miles on end.Update: Not sure whether they’ve quietly updated their algorithms or just adjusted the default tuning in the background, but transparency mode is now usable. It still ought to support volume control, like active electronic hearing protection does. /UpdateTransparency mode, on the other hand, is a massive disappointment. The idea behind transparency mode is, essentially, a not-rated-for-hearing-protection version of what you get with a pair of Sordins except instead of passive noise reduction with ambient noise passthrough (with processing to filter out sharp sounds, normalization, and clipping and filtering of loud sounds) and a volume control, so that ambient non-noise sound can be anywhere from significantly muted to amplified enough to cut through a pair of passive ear plugs worn under the electronic muffs. You sort of get a version of that. The AirPods Pro 2 add active noise reduction on top of it. Unfortunately, it’s tuned very poorly. The default transparency mode plus “active transparency” perform something like what a pair of Sordins does in terms of clipping maximum volume but there’s no volume control. You get a volume level that is basically slightly louder than ambient but with maybe some reduction of low range sounds and, crucially, a significant boost to mid and particularly high range sounds. HVAC noise is actually worse in transparency than it is when you’re not wearing the AirPods at all. It also has an extremely unfortunate effect on keyboard sounds. A typical keypress is sort of a dull, low, clack. The default transparency settings turn it into a louder, shriller, sharper click. My keyboard, which I never really thought about before, is actually quite unpleasant in transparency mode. In general, the default transparency mode is probably something one would only use for very short periods such as a temporary interaction with someone (e.g. long enough to order coffee). For longer term use it’s unpleasant enough that you would simply pull the AirPod out rather than switch modes. This is unfortunate as it largely undermines the entire sales pitch for the AirPods Pro. They aren’t something you could put in and leave in with transparency enabled while on a walk with a friend and carry on a conversation with someone while preventing your ears from being hurt by a passing vehicle that’s had its exhaust system compromised or wear in the office listening to music and switch to transparency mode to have a conversation with some coworkers. It amplifies background noise (again, keyboards become particularly unpleasant) enough that you’re much better off simply taking them out, exactly as you would have with the old first gen airpods.There are custom adjustments for transparency (inexplicably buried a couple layers deep in accessibility settings rather than in the AirPod configuration menus) and they… help. Sort of. It’s possible, with some fiddling (the best settings I found were maximum ambient noise reduction, zero amplification, and darkest sound settings, conversation boost disabled) to configure transparency such that it actually does a much better job of muting unwanted ambient sounds (you can get rid of the HVAC again) and retaining clear voice passthrough and even acceptable music passthrough, but even after spending an hour or so playing with all of the available configuration options I cannot find one that allows me to leave transparency enabled while typing. It just makes keypresses to shrill, sharp, and loud. There’s a pretty significant amount of processing power built into these for their tiny size, though, so hopefully Apple will be able to update their algorithm such that you can wear them while using a computer. Honestly, given that Apple sells computers, it’s kind of shocking that they were released in this state, but here we are. (It’s worth noting that part of my disappointment comes from the Sordins I have being totally usable in similar situations (but lacking bluetooth and also obviously being industrial hearing protection) and I also have a set of Walker’s digital hearing protection that does have Bluetooth and is much better at ambient sound passthrough (at half the price) but having disappointing sound if you want to listen to music on them.tl;dr Buy them if you have an iPhone and want good active noise cancelation in a very compact package with good battery life, and decent sound for music. If you’re buying them as something you could wear to get, essentially, some background noise reduction and loud noise reduction in an office setting while still being able to talk to coworkers with them in – their weird tendency to actually amplify certain unpleasant frequency ranges in transparency mode makes them poorly suited for this application.Update: See Above
Christian –
The design is very similar to the 1st Gen but the audio quality… Oof I much prefer this one a little more than original AirPods Pros. High quality and bass audio quality at that. I mostly listen to Drum and Bass, electronic, etc. and with these I can finally turn off the EQ so it doesn’t sound flat. Excellent! 👍🏼 Sounds great watching movies and video games as well. Noise cancellation is better than the 1st Gen. And the battery life is excellent. No complains so far.
Liam smith –
I am writing a 5 star review because I believe these are absolutely fantastic headphones. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way a little was the fact that many people made these seem like a huge upgrade from the original AirPod pros – they are not – they are a small upgrade with a few great features. The updated case with the tracking and speaker is honestly an absolute lifesaver for everytime I place these down and have no idea where I left them. The headphones however are very much the same… You will definitely notice an improvement in the lower end, but that is about it sound quality wise. The noise cancellation is also impressive but if you have the original pros you wont be noticing a major upgrade. Long story short, these are absolutely incredible headphones and I recommend them to anyone thats in the market for some, except for those who already have the first generation…
Sir Orick Von Lichtenstein –
Touch controls a bit finnicky. Audio quality is good. I tell my kids to put these on while engaging in loud activities with my SO and they can’t hear a thing.
Seth –
A while back I was looking for a set of noise cancelling headphones because I was going to take an international flight. I bought a couple pairs, including the 1st generation Airpods Pro. The second generation came out at almost the same time so I returned the 1st gen and spent the extra money to get these.And wow, what a difference. They fit great, these are the only earbuds that ever have fit me (including the 1st generation airpods pro). They come with multiple ear tips too, and I’ve been able to find a combination that suits me.The gimmicky features aren’t that interesting to me, like the spatial audio and taking a scan of your ear or whatever. These are also supposed to auto switch between devices, that’s never worked right (but really I prefer to switch manually anyway). I don’t have a device with a u1 “find stuff” chip, so I haven’t tried that. Fortunately I haven’t needed to either.What I like is the sound quality, which is very good, it has a rich range of highs and even somehow manages to get some pretty good bass in the lows. I also like the portability, and (compared to the first gen) I love the silly lanyard hole so I can put a strap on the case so I don’t drop it.But what really shines is the noise canceling. I find better than all of the over the ear ANC headphones I’ve tried, including some of the very expensive Bose and Sony headphones. And even in the case where it might not be quite as good, the fact that they are tiny and portable makes the utility so much higher. I’ve used these when using power tools, on airplanes, on trains, the freeway, or sometimes when my kids are talking (kidding (sort of)). The noise canceling is actually good enough that if someone is standing right in front of you and talking at a normal level, you almost can’t hear them at all. And in extremely loud environments like airplanes, these cut the noise down better than some of the noise-cancelling headsets made for pilots and crew that I’ve used.The transparency mode is also extremely good, way better than the first gen. And, it’s a great deal more comfortable wearing these with transparency mode on (it makes my ears feel less “plugged”).Making calls is good too. Other people say that they didn’t know that I was on headphones.These also don’t get “warm” in my ears either, something that I’ve noticed with other earbuds and over-the-ear cans.The battery life is also fine. The specs say 4-5 hours or something, but that’s plenty. Even on a long flight I usually won’t be wearing them the for more than a couple hours at a time.Tip: If you have an Apple Watch, you can charge the Airpods’ case using the Apple Watch charger. I recently discovered this by accident.If I had a complaint, it’s that sometimes I’d prefer that they had a physical connection to a wire that was around my neck, so I could take them out for a sec without worrying about dropping them. That and they are quite expensive if all you want to do is listen to music. But if you don’t mind the price tag and want an extremely nice set of earbuds, these are it.
Ayan –
I have been a huge fan of the AirPods Pro since their release in 2019. After these were announced last month, I was very excited to pre-order them as I have been looking to upgrade my first gens. After using them for a day, I can safely say that these are well worth the upgrade. All the nitpicks that I had with the AirPods Pro 1st gen were fixed by Apple for this release.Pros- A much punchier and refined sound- Spatial Audio is incredible- Transparency mode is untouchable- Amazing NC for earbuds- Battery life improvements- Better mic quality- Trackable case and speaker for Find MyCons- Can’t adjust the noise cancellation (I feel like it’s a bit too strong for some situations)Honestly, if you are in the market for new earbuds, heavy into the Apple ecosystem or want to upgrade from the first gen Pros, these are well worth it. Cheer!
oopsie no bueno –
Okay, so I did put my Sony WFs to work for a year or two, but wow, I really wish I had made this switch sooner.First, the Airpod Pros fit soooo much nicer and weigh so much less. I was CONSTANTLY pushing the Sonys back into my ears and tried about 3 different ear tips to make it work better, but it was just impossible due to the design and weight. The Airpods feel so secure and much more comfortable.Second, utility. With the Airpods I can do volume, siri, noise cancelling and control music playback (skip, play/pause, reverse). On the WFs you can only choose 2 options at a time! Just why? So if I wanted noise cancelling controls, then my only other option was volume or playback controls, which meant I had to constantly go back to my phone and do things. Now with the Airpods I can do it all from the very easy to use earbuds sticks, which are also much easier to control than the smacking of your ear Sony WF approach.Update 1: Also, the spatial audio is great and seems to lift music and makes a bad podcast or YouTube video sound much more professional sounding. However, I do feel that some of the EQ is lost doing this and Apple doesn’t give you a customized EQ experience like Sony Headphones app to make up for this. So while I feel the soundscape is much better, it loses some audio detail at the same time, though the pros outweigh the cons for me here.OH also really appreciate that the case has a physical pairing button. Sony does not do this for any of their earbuds as far as I know, and since I only pair a new device every month or so it’s a pain to remember what kind of random motion I need to doGreat job Apple, I witch I had gotten these so much soonerUpdate 2: While I still enjoy the Airpods A LOT over the WF’s I’m not sure why Apple provides nearly zero EQ customization. I have to admit, the Sony Headphones app provided very nice EQ settings that allowed for tailored listening experiences and thus much nicer listening generally in terms of quality audio. At the moment on my Airpods, I am able to boost the brightness a smidge (or you can choose general or vocal boost, which imo both sound terrible and produce a very compressed sound) but I also want to boost the bass just a smidge but this is impossible — it’s one or the other apparently. Without boosting the highs, you can just barely hear the cymbals in any song. I would like to hear the bass AND the cymbals, and it seems like a simple fix that Sony has already implemented years ago! Also, Apple has a pre-made EQ genre list under Music settings and they are much worse, and some how even more compressed sounding. Disappointing, but still better than the WFs.