Apple AirPods Pro

[Tsepz_GP]

Consumer Reports: AirPods Pro pack ‘significant’ sound quality upgrades, but Galaxy Buds still best

AirPods Pro have earned widespread praise since their release last month thanks to sound quality improvements, noise cancellation, and more. Consumer Reports is now out with its full review of AirPods Pro, and those improvements seemingly aren’t enough to take the top-rated crown from Samsung.

In general, Consumer Reports has always said that if audio is an important factor for you, you “could do better than the Apple AirPods.” With the new AirPods Pro, the story shifts slightly. The review indicates that AirPods Pro “sound really good,” especially when you combine that sound quality with the other benefits of AirPods:

The AirPods Pro sound really good. Like a majority of Bluetooth headphones, the Pros still might not suit the most critical audiophiles. But the significant improvement in sound paired with the features consumers love from the older AirPods should make this model a serious contender if you’re in the market for a pair of true wireless earphones.

Consumer Reports also praises the new Transparency mode on AirPods Pro:

The insert tips may make your ears feel slightly plugged up, even with noise-canceling turned off. But the AirPods Pro also have a “transparency” mode, which uses built-in microphones to intentionally pipe in outside sound. Apple didn’t invent this feature, but on the Pros it works particularly well.

Overall, Consumer Reports rates AirPos Pro at a score of 75. That compares to Samsung’s Galaxy Buds at a score of 86, and Amazon’s Echo Buds at 65. So what benefit do the Samsung Galaxy Buds have over AirPods? According to the review, Galaxy Buds still offer notably better sound quality than AirPods Pro – even though they don’t include noise cancellation.

Consumer Reports: AirPods Pro pack ‘significant’ sound quality upgrades, but Galaxy Buds still best

AirPods Pro have earned widespread praise since their release last month thanks to sound quality improvements, noise cancellation, and more. Consumer Reports is now out with its full review of AirPods Pro, and those improvements seemingly aren’t enough to take the top-rated crown from Samsung...

9to5mac.com

Thanks a lot, still not quite convinced by these. Need to go and give them a proper go though.

Been a long time since I splashed out on some earphones, think the last time I did I bought a pair of Sennheisers, that was almost 10 years ago, I broke them 2 years in

 

[ActivateD]

Let me go to the Apple store and test them as they have a test pair here in Amsterdam. I want to get these but with so much mixed reviews on them I guess I will have to listen with my ears to see if they are worth getting.

 

[Shellyb1]

Ok.

Had mine for over a week now. Got nauseous the first day I used them but then got better after the second day.

I love how I can just insert them into my ear and the audio from the phone transfers automatically. It’s quick to pick up and sync, ugh faster than my previous range of Bluetooth earphones.

Feel weird walking around with them - more from the looks people give than anything else.

Sound quality is good for my taste. Haven’t had any high end earphones before so this is my first and quite like it.

The ANC is great. Drowned out the hum of the aircon immediately. My wife wanted to repossess them the moment she put them I her ears.

 

[OnlyOneKenobi]

I've had my AirPods Pro since end of Nov and I'm very impressed. The ANC is very effective - especially when listening to music or watching movies. With the OG Airpods, I always had to turn on closed captioning on Netflix when I was in a fairly noisy environment, like a coffee shop, because I would not be able to hear dialogue. With ANC and the AirPods pro, I don't need CC anymore and can hear everything clearly, even at less than 80% volume. Also, with the OG airpods I pretty much had to have my volume set to 80-100% to drown out ambient noise, but with these ones, the noise cancellation takes care of most noise - you can still hear voices, etc, but it's drastically lessened.

Transparency mode is useful when you need to hear your surroundings - ie, when working in an office and need to hear people around you, phone calls, etc, or when you're out walking or running and need to be able to hear cars, people, animals around you...