The New Apple AirPods Pro 2: A Significant Upgrade for Noise Canceling and Battery Life

It's clear that Apple has put a lot of thought into the new AirPods Pro 2, which would probably agree it's two times better than its predecessor. The new adaptive transparency mode is a game-changer, adjusting the level of outside sound you can hear to reduce loud noises but boost voices and conversations. This feature is exclusive to the new model and is perfect for those who work in loud environments or attend music gigs. It's also a welcome addition for those who don't like full noise canceling because it allows them to still be aware of their surroundings, without the risk of being run over by a bus.

In terms of battery life, Apple claims that the new AirPods Pro 2 will last up to an extra hour and a half or about a third longer than the original AirPod Pros. This is roughly consistent with the company's claims, which state that you can now expect around 80 hours of listening time on the Pro Twos, compared to 85 on the original AirPod Pros. The case itself holds an extra six hours of battery, giving you a total of 30 hours of listening time before you need to top it up.

Charging is also improved in the new model. You can still top it up with the lightning connector on the bottom, but now you can also use your Apple watch charger and Qi wireless charging. In terms of charging speeds, the AirPods Pro 2 uses the order of Magsafe > Lightning > Watch > Q. This is a significant upgrade from the original model, which used only the Lightning connector.

The new microphones in the AirPods Pro 2 are also worth noting. The mics themselves are the same as before, but Apple has moved their placement to reduce wind noise and improve sound quality. There's still room for improvement, however - I'm doing this review with a bit of breeze going on, so it'll be interesting to see how well the new model performs in real-world tests.

In terms of sound quality, I have to admit that I was surprised by just how much better the new AirPods Pro 2 are. The soundstage is wider, and the overall sound is richer - but again, this is a subjective experience, and it's hard to quantify exactly what's changed. As someone who enjoys listening to podcasts and music on these earbuds, I didn't notice as much of a difference between the two models. However, I do think that the new model sounds slightly better, particularly in terms of its ability to separate different instruments and voices.

One of the main reasons I would recommend upgrading to the AirPods Pro 2 is for their improved noise canceling. This feature is significantly better than the original model, and it's perfect for those who want to block out distractions while listening to music or podcasts. The new model also has a longer battery life, which makes it ideal for longer flights or journeys.

If you're not bothered with noise canceling, then the regular third-generation AirPods are still a great option - they offer many of the same features as the Pro 2s, but without the added expense. However, if you do want to upgrade and take advantage of Apple's ecosystem, then the new AirPods Pro 2 are definitely worth considering.

So, what do you think? Are these AirPods Pro 2 worth upgrading for? Let me know your experience in the comments below!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthank you hey guys Antonio Tech Chap and these are the new airpod Pros too and as someone who's been using these the original airpods since they came out back in 2019. I was really excited to test these new ones so are they a big upgrade and are they worth paying 250 pounds for well from the outside unless you look closely at the small text on the back of the box you'd be forgiven for not realizing these are the new ones it's all very familiar you've got your earphones in the magsafe charging case you've got your lightning charging cable and a selection of earbuds including this all new extra small which I know was a big deal for my friend iJustine who can now finally wear airpod Pros comfortably now Apple did send me this review sample but I also ordered my own pair with a little Tech chap engraving normally I don't bother with the engraving because I like to be able to resell my iPhones and iPads and things like that but for earphones I'm probably going to keep this as long as they last or until I lose them which hopefully won't be as often and we'll come to White in a second and also among all the other white airpods since you still cannot get any other color unless you go for some sort of case it makes it stand out a little bit now versus The Old airpod Pros these new second generation Pros get this lanyard Loop there's also a new speaker on the bottom which chirps out various connected charging and low power Chimes and best of all together with a new U1 chip they've added to the case if you lose it you can use the find my app to make it ping and you can track it as if it were an iPhone an iPad or an air tag now the earphones themselves feel exactly the same in your ears so if you didn't like the ones before then you're not gonna like these new ones either unless of course that new extra small ear tip Bud thing makes it more comfortable side by side you can see we've got this new acoustic mesh on the top of the earbuds which apparently helps to reduce wind noise for the mics there's also new touch volume controls on the stem and there's also a new Optical rather than IR skin detect sensor so it should be better at pausing if you take them out and put them in your pocket now I'll be honest in the process of this testing I have got these mixed up a couple of times I put them both in and I was like why is only one working and actually my iPhone popped up saying you've got missed match mismatch mismatched earbuds so actually it does know when you've done that because unless you do go for an engraving you do have to basically look for that lanyard Loop the speaker Grille or that top acoustic mesh otherwise you wouldn't really know the difference but on the inside it's all new we've got the new H2 chip which unlocks the new adaptive transparency mode it also Powers the new low Distortion drivers the new amp the new transducer and Apple are promising two times better noise cancellation better sound quality and also a longer battery life sounds good but let's put it to the test now the first thing you should do when you get a pair of these is jump into the new airpods menu within the settings on your iPhone and firstly go to if it test it plays a sound and then tells you if you've got a good seal with those ear tips in your ears now the skeptic in me thought is that just going to be the same result no matter what earphones ear tips you use is it just going to say good sealants or like a placebo thing well actually no so I've put the extra small ones on now look at that here we go adjust or try a different ear tip and I agree the mediums the default ones are a lot more comfortable so do the ear fit test after that head down to the personalized spatial audio tab now this is new for iOS 16 but works with both airpod Pros it's not exclusive to the new ones and it uses your phone's front camera to scan the shape of your head on your ears to give a more accurate spatial audio experience it's basically 3D sound and uses the 5.1 or 7.1 or Atmos signal from whatever you're watching or listening to then apply some fancy directional audio filters and adjust the frequencies for your ear and then tracking both your head movement and the position of your phone or your iPad or you might work you get this wonderful 3D audio effect right now they're afraid let's move on to noise canceling and while you could argue other earphones actually do it a bit better now I'm thinking of the new Bose qc2s very very good noise canceling the original airpod Pros are still some of the best and actually even sometimes I don't have anything playing I just put them in it cancels out a good amount of that background noise and I always thought it did a good job so I must admit I was a bit skeptical when Apple said these new ones cancel two times more of that background noise but how the heck do you quantify that I mean you can take my word for it because I think it's absolutely true but you can also look at my Apple watch and as I sit at this Cafe My Town Square wearing the Old airpod Pros with noise canceling on the noise app on my watch is telling me that I'm hearing around 60 decibels of background noise a normal conversation if you will but then switching to the pro twos it's roughly halved to the low and mid 30s now the equivalent of a whispered conversation I must look like a complete idiot changing my headphones every 30 seconds while I was testing these but I can tell you it is a big step up I would probably agree it's two times better we also get this new adaptive transparency mode which now adjusts the level of outside sound you can hear reducing loud noises but boosting voices and conversations so if you work in a loud environment like construction or you go to a lot of loud music gigs and don't want tinnitus I know a lot of people don't like full noise canceling because you can't really get your surroundings you might be run over by a bus or something so I think the new adaptive transparency mode is going to be very popular and that is exclusive to the new model but what about battery life well I can tell you after an hour of listening to a podcast I'm partial to a bit of stuff you should know and the vergecast the original airpod Pros are down to 80 versus 85 on the pro twos which does roughly tally with Apple's claims of an extra hour and a half or about a third longer battery and as well as that the case itself holds an extra six hours of battery so we get a total of 30 hours listening time before you need to top it up that's a pretty substantial upgrade now speaking of charging of course you can still top it up with the lightning connector on the bottom still no USBC but as well as magsafe charging you can now also use your Apple watch charger and also then there's Qi wireless charging as well and actually in terms of charging speeds it is that order lightning magsafe watch and then q but what about the microphones I'm actually recording this audio as a voice memo on my iPhone uh from the airpod pro gen 2s bit of a breeze going on people talking now the micro Ray itself the mics are the same as before but we have actually reject the placement and also we've got a new acoustic mesh which is supposed to reduce wind noise and there is a bit of a breeze so you guys have to let me know what you think in the comments below but let's do a quick side by side with your older versus the new so now I'm on the original Pros tell me what you think uh like And subscribe like And subscribe like And subscribe like And subscribe and then back to the new ones like And subscribe like And subscribe like And subscribe like And subscribe what do you think could you hear much difference it's funny we're this far through the review and I haven't even mentioned the sound quality yet which you could argue is like the most important aspect of an earphone now in my experience doing some a b tests and also I was doing it blind because these do feel the same in my ear I think the new ones do sound a little bit better I think there's a slightly wider Sound Stage a little bit richer but it's very subtle now I will admit I am not an audio file or an audio expert this is just my experience as someone who enjoys the original airpod pros and now testing the new ones but I think it's maybe five ten percent better hard to quantify impossible for me to show you on this YouTube video I appreciate there's a lot more going on we've got the new amp a new transducer and the H2 chip and so it is technically superior but at least in what I listen to podcasts and music and well I have quite an Eclectic mix of Music in my play list I couldn't hear that much difference so personally I wouldn't upgrade based on the sound quality alone I would upgrade though for that noise canceling it is significantly better and also the longer battery life is nice particularly on longer flights or Journeys you don't have to top it up as often for me because I use these every day I think it's probably worth the investment if you're not bothered bother don't like noise canceling then for the regular third generation airpods which are very much the same but without noise canceling and that will save you 70 pounds also being Apple these are very much geared towards you being in the Apple ecosystem if you have a Macbook an iPad an iPhone if you don't use those yes you can still use them as Bluetooth speakers it actually uses the new Bluetooth 5.3 standard you can use it with other devices but you do lose a lot of that functionality and it's just much better and nicer to use within the Apple family if you will so alternatively if you haven't fully turned to the dark side I would consider the new Bose qc2s or the Sony wh-1000xm5s but what do you think tempted to upgrade maybe you already have a pair and if you do let me know your experience in the comments below that is a bit windy how are these holding up if you do enjoy this video by the way and want to see more from me don't forget to hit that like And subscribe button below I'll see you next time right here on the tank chat\n"