Trying to decide whether to get second-generation AirPods Pro or not

TidBITS Talk
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I’ve never used Airpods but my wife and kids do and swear by them. Being cheap by nature, I use an old MPow X3 pair - Wireless Earbuds, Bluetooth 5.3 Headphones 50H Playtime with LED Digit – MPOW They’re cheap as chips ($55 vs $399 for AirPods Pro), work great, noise cancelling is good, have lasted several years and the sound is more than adequate. The only issue I have is when I get very sweaty the left one sometimes slips a bit and pushing it back in with sweaty hands isn’t great.

The Beats with the little ‘ear lock’ look good and I might splash out when these ones die.

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AirPods Pro are $249. Max are $549. I don’t know what Apple earphones are $399.

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I’ve not had any problem with them falling out, although they’ve tried to “sneak out” once or twice on a long call.

As far as most comments above, ditto ditto ditto. Noise cancelation is awesome, sound quality for Zoom is excellent, and I’ve not had the issue I experienced with other Bluetooth headsets where Apple Music is suddenly and inexplicably triggered during a call. Ick.

Battery endurance can sometimes be an issue. I’ve learned on long calls (I have some 5 hour meetings on occasion!!) that taking advantage of breaks to throw them back in the case gets a quick if incomplete charging top off. And I know that once the batteries reach the end of their life, so do the AirPods.

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In Australia, AirPod Pros are $399 and Max are $899 AirPods Pro (2nd generation) with MagSafe Case (USB‑C) - Apple (AU)

It makes $55 for the MPow look great :)

After seeing Matt’s comment above it reminds me in the time I’ve had my MPows, my wife and both kids have needed to replace their Airpods due to battery EOL. Granted I don’t use them as much, but Airpods in this household have never lasted more than a couple of years - they’re essentially a disposable purchase.

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I have never tested myself, but my understanding is that noise cancelation was slightly improved with AirPods Pro v2 over the V1. Beats Fit Pro, as I said, are clones of AirPods Pro v1.

I’ve used them on planes several times in almost two years. They work just as well for noise cancellation on flights as my Bose Quiet Comfort wired earbuds, which I still have, actually.

Fine. Nobody has ever said anything to me one way or the other. I also use them always for Zoom conferences. Again - no complaints.

It’s a setting. One or the other. Either you long-press to change modes, or you long- press to change volume. It can’t be both.

Beats are Apple products. They are in Apple Stores. I’m thinking that they will let you try them as well if they let you try AirPods.

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You might want to go back to wired earphones for the flight and plug your phone into a power outlet (hopefully the plane will have an AC power outlet or a USB port at your seat).

When I fly, I use my iPod Touch (which has an analog headphone jack) and connect its USB port to power if the flight is too long for its battery. I’ve got a (fairly old now) Sennheiser HD203 headset I use when traveling and I’ve been very happy with it. That model is no longer made, but the HD200 Pro is sold for about the same price I paid for my 203 (about $80). No active noise cancellation, but the closed-back design and foam padding does tend to block outside noise pretty well (they say about 32 dB).

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I have an ancient wired headset I got from somebody once. I’m charging it now with a USB-microUSB cable. If it’s wired, I don’t know why it needs charging though. Maybe it had BlueTooth? I’ll see after I charge it up.

It has a 3.5mm audio cable (both sides) so it can be connected to my Mac. But not my iPhone without an adapter or some kind I think.

Then there is one more cable in the pouch, with USB on one end and this on the other end. I don’t remember what that is. Anybody know?

Still trying to decide what to do. I went for a morning walk with my Shokz Aeropex bone conducting headset. The music plays just fine. It’s just the mic that isn’t working well.

Or did you mean by wired earphones the standard earbuds that come with the iPhone?

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They are SoundPeats A1 pro (Review: SoundPEATS A1 Pro - Wireless On-Ear Headphones - Will Stocks).

It was released in 2018, and is Bluetooth 4.1. So it should work also, and be better than no noise cancelation at all. Maybe I’ll try that. And it has a regular audio jack so I think it should plug into the airline system. The micro-USB to USB will also connect, but I think that’s just for charging. Not sure.

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I was referring to traditional analog wired headphones. But you’re right that if you want to use them with a modern iPhone, you will need an adapter. Apple sells these for $9 each: Lightning adapter and USB-C adapter. There are also third-party adapters, with varying prices and levels of quality.

I already saw your followup, so I know that these are BT headphones with wired capabilities. But before I read that I was going to mention that there are wired headphones with active noise cancellation. These need a power source, and will therefore either need you to install batteries or charge them.

That’s a USB 3 version of the standard “micro-B” connector. (See also Wikipedia). I usually see this on things like portable hard drives and other devices that require a SuperSpeed USB connection. I’m kind of surprised a headphone set would use this if it’s just for charging, but maybe the connector does other things that might benefit from fast data transfer.

But are you sure that cable is for those headphones? I couldn’t find the manual on-line, but I found an unboxing video that showed a USB 2 micro-B cable for charging. If the cable you showed works, then I wonder what the connector on the headphones looks like, because a USB-3 micro-B connector won’t typically fit in a USB-2 micro-B jack.

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FWIW there are third-party tips, especially the Comply memory-foam tips, which both by virtue of the expansion and the more sweat-resistant foam tend to be less easily dislodged. However, while I really enjoyed using these, the problem I had was that they’d block the charging case from charging the pods properly. Maybe they’ve fixed that in a subsequent generation, but I went back to the stock large tips and now just wipe them off every now and then throughout the day.

Also, I’d forgotten to say but, yes, the Apple Watch chargers will charge the AirPods Pro cases; I do this sometimes in a pinch.

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The answer is no, I’m not sure. I have so many cables here I could open a flea market. It just happened to be inside the pouch with the headphones, the audio plug cable, and the micro-usb to USB charging cable.

I did charge it yesterday, and it paired just fine with my iPhone. The music sounds “ok.” I haven’t tested it with a call yet. It’s nice to have as backup I suppose, but despite the complete over the ear padded headset there is zero outside noise elimination. I can even hear my heater humming while it’s on. So it would be of no use for that. But it’s ok as a backup for something I suppose.

After wearing them a bit yesterday I see why I stopped wearing them. They are just uncomfortable on my head. I wouldn’t want to take walks with them.

Also, after thinking about it some more I am not really thrilled about the idea of “in ear” tips getting stuffed in. So I’ve put the idea of either the Airpods Pro 2 or the suggested Beats on hold for just a bit and I ordered this from Amazon yesterday, arriving today. No noise cancelation though. GoFree2 Open-ear Earbuds for Optimal Fit – SOUNDPEATS

But it’s open air rather than “in your ear” so I thought I’d try it as a substitute for my Shokz Aeropex at least, so I could make calls. It has multiple mics. And multi device connectivity. And lasts 9 hours on a charge (35 hrs for the case).

I guess worth a try. There is still time to try it, return it if I don’t like it, and maybe try the Beats or the Air Pods Pro 2 later or… I don’t know.

With these I’d still need some extra device to connect to a plane entertainment system I guess.

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They are really good at getting people to walk around advertising their brand. :slight_smile:

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The SoundPeats GoFree2 arrived yesterday. Returning them today. Glad it’s so easy to return stuff from Amazon.

(1) The sound quality was poor - worse than my included standard earbuds;

(2) the mic quality was apparently not bad as 2 friends I tested with said my voice sounded “cloudy”;

(3) I couldn’t get outgoing calls to work well, though incoming ones did.

And they weren’t very comfortable. Not sure what to try next. Trip on April 3rd.

This apparently fit the same way the Beats do. I wonder if the Beats are more comfortable. And the Beats do have some noise cancelation.

I was hoping these would have been nice when just walking around.

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I’m sure everybody is at the edge of their seats wondering what I decided to do. :slight_smile:

I decided to give the Airpods Pro a go. I talked to Apple Support honestly and openly about it and they were very cooperative and said it was perfectly fine for me to do this:

  • Order it now and get it tomorrow.
  • If I like it return it and order one with my name engraved (seems like a good idea to have that), which takes 5 days to arrive.
  • If I don’t like it just return it.

So I’ll decide within the 14 day return period if it’s for me or not. I have a 60-40 feeling I’ll find problems (falling out in the wind, etc.). But if I end up loving it I’ll get an engraved one and keep that one.

It should be a fun experiment either way.

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I had problems with mine falling out, so I replaced the ear tips with these (which use memory foam for the seal). They work very well (and I haven’t had one fall out since):

Comply Foam Ear Tips for Apple AirPods Pro Generation 1 & 2, Ultimate Comfort| Unshakeable Fit| Medium, Black, 3 Pairs
https://a.co/d/5tc5QKd

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Good for you. As I mentioned above, Apple is very good about returns. No reason not to take them up on what is a just a very customer friendly policy.

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Does the sizing match the Apple ear tips?

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Doug you’re going to love the Pros2. Hope you’ve had a great flight!

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I can only speak for medium, and the answer is “Yes.” I had good ear-fit (per the test you can run from Settings) with the Apple ones, so I got the medium size, and they also pass the test. As for the other sizes, one has to assume that the manufacturer would have the best success if they followed Apple’s lead — but that’s no guarantee.

When I got my Gen 1 AirPods, with medium, they never felt secure (and I had one drop out once), which is when I started with the foam ones (I’ve tried a few). The ones I use now (linked above) are notable since you get a “six pack” of the same size (vs. a “two pack” of a size that works bundled with a “four pack” of can’t-use tips). And they stay in pretty much all day (on weekends, I rarely remove them).

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Doug’s earbud/headphone obsession - final episode…

I was going to write up a long, probably boring, blog post about everything I tried and returned and what I settled on, but I decided to just “sum up” quickly. Though it looks like I did get a bit longwinded - but at least I’ll spare my blog readers.

  1. I did try the AirPods Pro 2. I can see why they might good be for some people, but they weren’t for me. They just weren’t comfortable, or stable.

Plus they were like “everything, everywhere, happening all at once.” The nice sound bar in the control center that should show the different noise cancelling modes stopped working. I would tap on one stem and instead of playing from my iPhone it would start playing a YouTube video that was in one of my Chrome tabs on my Mac. It was just crazy. Yes, there must be some way to set all that. But I really wanted something that “just works” and Apple missed the boat here. I found them frustrating. So I returned them.

  1. At one-seventh the cost (!) of the AirPods Pro 2 (7,200 yen = $48) I tried the Soundpeats Air4 Pro. I have to say they were quite nice. Just as comfortable at the AirPods Pro. Also with multipoint connectivity. Simple tapping controls. Longer battery life. Lighter weight. More mics. I’m sure true audiophiles will find the music quality lacking, but they sounded great to me. But at the end of the day I just find things stuck in my ear uncomfortable. I was all set to wear them outside on a walk this morning and put them on and no. They aren’t comfortable. I just don’t like things sticking into my ears like that. So back it went to Amazon.

The woman at the post office was laughing already at the number of returns. But with Amazon it’s so simple! You get a QR code and the label is printed out right there and you send it back for free.

Note about AirPods Pro and AppleCare+ vs the Soundpeats Air4 Pro: If you have AppleCare+ for $29 and lose a bud you can replace it for $89. In other words, for twice the price of a completely new Soundpeats Air4 Pro you can replace a missing bud! The price difference is substantial.

Another note: I know a lot of people obviously love the AirPods Pro. I gave a pair to my partner for Christmas and he loves them and uses them daily. Other friends also love them. And just walking around you can look at people and see how popular they are. But I couldn’t get used to them in my ears.

  1. I tried a handful of other items as well (I won’t list them all) including partially in-ear, partially in-ear but on an ear hook so they won’t fall out and none of them really fit the bill. So back they went to Amazon.

I did find one set of over-the-ear headphones that are perfect for long air travel: the Soundpeats Space.

(Note: Soundpeats have really friendly support!) They are just 6,282 yen = $42! But they are lightweight, super comfortable, have 123 hours of playback time (!), the mic works well (tested with voicemail), the controls are obvious, Siri works fine, the noise cancelation is as good or better than the Airpods Pro 2 I think. Music sounds great. It also supports multipoint connectivity. Plus it comes with a 3.5 mm cable, so I can directly plug it into the airplane entertainment system. So for the price, I’m keeping them.

I do think they are a bit too bulky for just walking around and listening to music though. I really like my Shokz Aeropex for that. Those are bone conducting so they aren’t in your ear at all. The music sounds great. The controls are simple. And it’s very lightweight. It’s too bad the mic went “noisy.” Shokz is offering me 20% off on an updated pair - the Shokz OpenRun. I listed to mic tests at review sites and they sounds fine. So I might get those for 14,400 yen = about $100 for daily use. Or considering how rare it is for me to get phone calls while on walks I might just continue to use my otherwise perfectly good Aeropex.

Anyway, I’m fine with the Soundpeats Sound plus either my current bone conducting Shokz or an update one.

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