**Amazon Echo Buds vs Apple AirPods: Which Wireless Earbuds Reign Supreme?**

In today's market, wireless earbuds have become an essential accessory for many music lovers and tech enthusiasts. Two of the most popular options are Amazon Echo Buds and Apple AirPods. Both offer excellent sound quality, convenience, and compatibility with various devices. However, which one is better? Let's dive into a detailed comparison to find out.

**Amazon Echo Buds: A Solid Alternative to Apple AirPods**

If you're already invested in the Amazon ecosystem, Amazon Echo Buds are an excellent choice. These earbuds come with Amazon's assistant built-in, allowing you to control your playback and access various features like setting timers, playing music, or even making phone calls. You can also use one of three customizable gestures to do different things, such as switch modes, toggle Amazon mute, or perform other actions.

The Echo Buds also boast excellent sound quality, with a fuller and richer sound than regular AirPods. They have better water resistance and a more secure fit, making them ideal for exercise or everyday use. Additionally, they undercut the price of AirPods Pro, coming in at around $120 compared to AirPods Pro's $250.

However, if you're looking for Apple's signature seamless integration with other devices, you might want to consider the AirPods. The Echo Buds do have Siri built-in, but it's not as hands-free as Apple's implementation.

**Apple AirPods: The Gold Standard of Wireless Earbuds**

On the other hand, if you're looking for the ultimate wireless earbud experience, Apple AirPods Pro are still the best option. They offer a superior sound quality with 3D audio and seamless integration with Apple devices like iPhones, Macs, and iPads.

AirPods Pro also come with spatial audio, which creates a more immersive listening experience by simulating the way sound behaves in the real world. You can control your music playback, receive notifications, or even make phone calls with just your voice using Siri. The AirPods also effortlessly pair with other Apple devices, making them a great choice for those already invested in the Apple ecosystem.

However, if you're looking to save some money and still want excellent sound quality, the Echo Buds are an excellent alternative. They may not have all the bells and whistles of AirPods Pro, but they offer similar performance at a lower price point.

**Hands-Free Listening: A Key Consideration**

One feature that sets Apple AirPods apart from Amazon Echo Buds is hands-free listening. With AirPods, you can simply say "Hey Siri" to access various features like playing music or setting reminders. The Echo Buds also have this feature, but it's not as seamless.

To trigger the assistant on Echo Buds, you need to say a keyword ("Alexa") followed by your request. This may take some getting used to, especially if you're already accustomed to Apple's hands-free listening experience.

**Audio Quality: A Key Factor**

In terms of audio quality, both earbuds hold their own against each other. However, the Echo Buds have a slight edge in this department. They produce a fuller and richer sound than regular AirPods, making them ideal for music lovers who want to immerse themselves in their favorite tunes.

**A Final Verdict: Which Wireless Earbuds Reign Supreme?**

So, which wireless earbuds reign supreme? If you're looking for the ultimate experience with seamless integration, superior sound quality, and a wealth of features like spatial audio and hands-free listening, Apple AirPods Pro are still the best choice. However, if you're on a budget or already invested in the Amazon ecosystem, the Echo Buds offer an excellent alternative at a lower price point.

Ultimately, the decision comes down to your personal preferences and needs. Do you want the ultimate wireless earbud experience with all the bells and whistles? Or do you want a more affordable option that still offers excellent sound quality?

Let us know what you think! Head over to Twitter @Andrew_Osu and share your thoughts on which wireless earbuds reign supreme in your book.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome everybody to apple insider it is andrew here and you can find me on twitter at andrew underscore osu and in this video i'm going to be talking to you about boom these guys right here just launched the second generation echo buds from amazon these guys i got them a few days ago and i've been testing them out i wanted to give them a good thorough testing before doing this comparison so i'm going to walk you through some of the features of these guys and we're going to compare them to apples of course apple's airpods but i also want to throw in a few references to airpods pro but considering the price point we're gonna really focus on the airpods here but yeah comparing the second gen echo buds versus apple's uh airpods little airpods pro let's go ahead and dive into this so let's nail down some of the basics first echo buds these guys come in two different configurations and there's both a white and a black version of each so the white version and the black one they start off at 119.99 120 bucks but if you want the wireless charging case which i would generally recommend you're bumping up to i believe 160 159.99 for the wireless charging enabled case the thing with the wireless charging is i think it makes it extremely convenient because you just set these things down and don't worry about them you don't have to plug them in to the usb-c port on the back you set them down and you're good to go it makes it a lot easier to keep them charged because i find myself walking in setting stuff down and then going on about my day when i have to plug things in it's a super minor thing but it's just the habit of setting down like keys and headphones and moving on but when i have to get out of court and plug it in and do stuff like that i do it every few days and i think it's better to keep these topped off as much as possible so i really think it's worth getting the wireless charging case whether you're looking at the galaxy buds or the apple air pods air pods also come with a regular version for 160 159 but 200 bucks if you want the wireless charging case so apple's doing the same thing here just a basic version without wireless charging and then a slightly higher price tag for the one with a wireless charging case so keep that in mind as you're shopping for either of these sets of earbuds so the echo buds second generation a pretty standard with a lot of the things so they come with a usbc cable in the box and they charge the usbc unless of course you got that wireless charging case they come with several sets of replaceable silicone ear tips and i like that they actually make them color coded on the inside so it makes it easy to understand which one you're looking at from the outside they all look the same but if you look at the backs they are color coded so you're making sure you're matching the sizes together unless of course you get two different sized ears and you can pick and choose but it does make it easy to make sure you're picking out the same size silicone ear tips for each of your earbuds they fit into the case very easily so they charge up in the case there is a slight amazon logo on the outside like the amazon smile logo i don't love it i don't like a lot of branding on things and uh they at least put the branding on the bottom of the case so you don't see it there but it is white like a light gray on the white of the earbuds and the black is very something like a dark black on like the gray kind of look it's not terrible but you still have an amazon logo on your ear they come with ipx4 water resistance so that is the same as apple's airpods pro these also have the ipx4 water resistance rating which is not a ton it's not a lot of sweat proofing or waterproofing or anything like that so i wouldn't really recommend working out with either of these guys they'd probably withstand it but i'd go something a little bit more protective if you are regularly working out with either of these apple of course has the beats line the powerbeats pro and all that that are more geared towards the sweat and the resistance side of things even the rumored new uh power beats buds so a lot of stuff there to to kind of consider if you're looking for a workout friendly set of earbuds but the regular airpods these don't have the ipx4 rating so these are even less resistant than the gal the echo buds are so battery life echo buds they are promising five hours with anc on and up to six and a half hours with a and c off now if you look at the airpods airpods are saying about five hours on a single charge if you look at the cumulative time of the earbuds themselves plus the battery in the case you're looking at about 19 and a half hours from the echo buds and airpods these guys boast over 24 hours including what is in the case so apple is definitely winning here in total cumulative battery life for their headphones and they're pretty similar when it comes to what you're getting um with them just in your ears about five or so hours for each of them though these go a little bit longer if you're turning that anc off so the biggest difference between the echo buds and the air pods is going to be noise cancellation and the style of budget they are and how they fit in your ear so air pods you guys have seen these you know how they look they know how to fit your ear they basically go into your ear like backwards here and they drop down like this this is the look that you've got with air pods on it's not a super tight fit in general like it's a little bit airy and because of that you're going to have issues with sound quality it's not terrible these do sound good but it's not a tight seal on your ear for better or for worse when you look at the echo buds these are more of a traditional earbud style they go into your ear more you know typically they're kind of like a rounded drum and they fit into your ear like this so it's more it's smaller has a smaller profile on the outside it doesn't stick out all too much but that's the kind of look that we're going for with the echo buds they do create a better seal in your ear which i think actually improves the audio quality in general just by blocking out more outside noise for regular airpods apple offers no anc whatsoever so they just you know regular earbuds whereas these guys for 120 dollars have some pretty outstanding anc the active noise cancellation here is really good especially for the price point i'm like shocked how good it is so they're undercutting airpods and price and offering active noise cancellation there's also a pass through audio mode which worked as well so you can hear more ambient noise around you which is helpful if you're walking in the city and you want to make sure you're aware of your surroundings and you don't want anc on all time and then get hit by a bus or something something terrible like that so they do have that transparency mode or pass through audio mode on here just to make sure you can hear what's going on around you as far as controls go so apple controls airpods with tapping gestures so you can put them in your ear and you can tap and tap to skip songs and stuff like that if you're looking at airpods pro they have the four stems that you can squeeze to control playback or audio anything like that so that is how airpods are controlled whereas the echo buds these guys instead use tapping gestures or long holds on the outside so you can use that to control your playback as well as one customizable gesture that you can use to do different things like switch modes uh toggle amazon mute anything like that now speaking of amazon and its famed assistant i'm gonna try to avoid saying amazon assistant's name here but these do have you know amazon's assistant built in and if you are a fan of amazon's assistant then these really may be the choice for you because wherever you are when you're not in your home or even in your home you can do anything with um so i mean amazon gives you a few different examples but anything so playing music starting a workout uh calling people uh anything like that but you can also control your smart home devices set timers anything that you can do with amazon's assistant you can now do through your earbuds so it's a really handy ability if you're already baked into the amazon ecosystem you have a bunch of echo devices through your home for people who don't like amazon's assistant you don't have to use her it you can completely disable it or just you know leave it muted that's always a possibility as well if you just prefer the anc and the the sound quality of the butts themselves for what it's worth for privacy reasons amazon's assistant is never listening to you until you hear it here's the keyword its name and when it does hear that phrase then you'll hear a tone audibly letting you know that it's actually listening to you and carrying something out so you won't have it listening to you in the case or other than that keyword so you do get an audio tone to let you know when it's microphones are engaged and actively listening to you but still you have to trust amazon they're not trying to do anything fishy uh by listening to you all the time with a set of earbuds in terms of audio quality looking at the echo buds and the apple airpods echo buds win by a landslide it is not even comparable for 120 these have no business sounding as good as they do now they're not as good as you know we're being really uh cumulative here or being fair they're not nearly as good as airpods pro airpods pro are still on top but these also cost what 250 260 dollars for airpods pro versus the you know down to a 120 for the echo buds so for 120 bucks these sound amazing they definitely sound better than regular airpods they have a better seal they have better water resistance they have the um you know assistant built in though these do have siri built in so but these don't have the hands-free you still have to say it with near your phone and stuff like that but regardless these hold their own exceptionally well compared to apple's own earbuds they undercut on price and they sound better they're fuller richer they block out more outside noise as well as having a and c in there uh if you're just looking for the best set between these two hey i almost hate to say it but the echo buds second generation win by a landslide it is not comparable at all these do have a lot of apple magic in which i think is what a lot of people are looking for so airpods you have all the apple magic that you'd expect so you've got things like spatial audio uh coming to apple music soon those are gonna work with regular airpods that 3d sound that completely goes around you these are going to work with that while the echo buds may not so that's a big difference i think people are going to care about these also have just the easy effortless pairing they sync with all your apple devices you can control via control center there's audio sharing to go to uh two sets of these guys at the same time uh they can effortlessly go up to your apple tv just a lot of benefits like that with apple's airpods that you wouldn't get with a third-party solution so it depends on what you're looking for if you want the apple magic you know the the status that comes with airpods or if you just want a better sounding one for a little less money these are definitely a solid option to consider so the wireless earbud market has continued to grow you've got a lot of option now which one is best it's really hard to say i would say airpods pro still the best the most expensive the echo buds i think beat the regular airpods for the price and the features but i want to know what you guys think let me know over on twitter at andrew underscore osu what you think about all three of these headphones and which one you would pick if you were choosing you know for the first time or again right now let me know at andrew underscore osu and i'll catch all of you guys in the next video you\n"