The Second-Generation Apple AirPods Pro: A Game-Changing Upgrade in Noise Cancellation and Sound Quality

I recently had the opportunity to put the second-generation Apple AirPods Pro through their paces, testing their noise cancellation capabilities against some of the most advanced earbuds on the market. I was excited to see how these new and improved earbuds would stack up against their predecessor, particularly in terms of noise cancellation and sound quality.

One of the first things that struck me about the second-generation AirPods Pro was their ability to quiet down conversations even when there's nobody else in the space. The boisterous Baristas at my local coffee shop were making plenty of conversational noise, but the AirPods Pro quickly and quietly muted it all out. I also tested them with a white noise pattern playing on some speakers, and it was clear that they did an even better job cutting down on high frequencies in this scenario.

For the ultimate test, I compared the AirPods Pro to the Sony WH-1000XM5 over-ear headphones. While the XM5's ANC performance was slightly more effective at cutting out noise, I was pleasantly surprised by how close the AirPods Pro came. This is a testament to Apple's ongoing investment in noise cancellation technology and their commitment to making these earbuds some of the best in the business.

In terms of sound quality, I started listening to certain tracks that I always use when testing audio gear. Initially, I found it difficult to hear the differences between the second-generation AirPods Pro and their predecessor, mainly because I was getting distracted by how the differences in sound quality varied as I tried to get the volume or technical loudness equalized between the two. However, once I realized that Apple's adaptive EQ was playing a key role, I noticed that the second-generation AirPods Pro sounded fuller and more even-tempered than before.

One of the most significant changes in sound quality is the way the new AirPods Pro handle bass response. While it still has a reasonable amount of punch and depth, the overall bass response seems similar to that of the original AirPods Pro. However, where they truly shine is in their high-frequency performance – particularly when it comes to reproducing the overtones of symbols, guitar strings, brass instruments, acoustic piano, and acoustic drums and percussion. The sound is organic and engaging, with a clarity and precision that's hard to match.

I also want to emphasize that the second-generation AirPods Pro have their own unique sound signature, one that I think most people will love. They're not trying to replicate some other earbuds; they're forging their own path, creating a distinct sonic identity that sets them apart from the competition. And if you're an Apple user, there's no doubt that these earbuds are worth considering – they make perfect sense.

Overall, I'm thoroughly impressed with the second-generation Apple AirPods Pro. They're not just practical; they're a treat to use, offering top-notch noise cancellation, excellent sound quality, and a convenient design that fits seamlessly into any lifestyle. Whether you're an Apple aficionado or simply looking for a reliable pair of earbuds, these are definitely worth considering – and I'm excited to take them on a flight soon to put their performance in the real world.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe new Apple airpods Pro Gen 2 of arguably the most popular wireless earbuds available Apple claims they're even better than before but how are they better what's new what's been improved and by how much most importantly should you buy them you've got questions I've got answers welcome back everyone I'm Caleb Dennison and this is my review of the second generation Apple airpods Pro I've been looking forward to these coming out for well over a year now why because for all of the excellent wireless earbuds and headphones I get to test all of which spend at least some time in my backpack the Apple airpods Pro have assumed permanent residency in my bag they go everywhere with me so a new and improved version of my go-to buds yes please so whether you already own airpods Pro and an upgrade is a foregone conclusion or you never jumped on the airpods pro bandwagon and you're wondering if the hype is real and if they're worth the premium price or you just want to see if the airpods pro really are all that I think you're gonna love this video and if you do let me know by slapping it with a like subscribe if you want to see more okay let's dive in so when I started in on this review I told myself I was not going to constantly compare the New Gen 2 airpods Pro to the Gen 1 version then as I started testing them I realized that was not only unavoidable but but probably the best way to talk about the New Gen 2 version so let's start with the case it is indistinguishable in size and shape from the OG and although the scale says it's got a few more grams on it I can't tell what is meaningfully different is that you can now charge the airpods pro using an Apple Watch charger and that's in addition to the Qi wireless charging and of course the lightning cable option there's also a hole for a lanyard here and apple will gladly sell you one for 13 bucks sorry you don't get one in the box but my favorite part is the built-in speaker not only does it chime when you start charging the case or the buds but it will help you find the case if you misplace it which honestly I've done more often than I'd like to admit the case holds about the same amount of charge as before but the second gen airpods Pro buds themselves I'm happy to report do indeed last a little bit longer with ANC turned on I got them to last for about 6 hours and 12 minutes before they died on me the case will recharge them four more times so you're looking at a little over 30 hours of use before you will have to charge the case now that's not industry leading battery life but I think it's plenty practical and besides I'm less fixated on that battery number than I am on the overall performance of the earbuds which I'm about to dig into oh one more thing about the case it is now ipx4 rated just like the airpods themselves in the box you'll get one more size of ear tips for a total of four options including the tips that come pre-installed it's those extra small tips that personally I think matter most but that's because I know someone who has a hard time finding in-ear buds that will work with their tiny ears and the airpods pro are now perfect for them to make sure you get the best seal which I cannot stress enough is absolutely essential toward getting the best sound quality the best passive noise isolation and the best active noise canceling Apple has built this trick little test into the airpods pro Settings app I tested it and it actually works the default ear tips have always worked best for me but I tried them all and the test let me know when I had a size too large or small for my ears guiding me right back to the Goldilocks tips that were on the earbuds in the first place now taking a closer look at the earbuds themselves Apple has improved its in-use detector with skin detection which is great because now they won't activate and waste battery if you stuff them in your pocket or handbag or whatever it knows the difference between your jeans and your skin now part of the redesign that Apple didn't mention during their announcement is that they work to improve wind noise abatement there have been subtle changes in the stem here so that the microphones are less susceptible to wind interference in the first place then of course you have apple wind noise reduction built into the H2 chip as well which I'll get into momentarily so with a quick Refresh on some of the new stuff you can see let's get to the stuff that really matters right that's call Quality ANC and transparency mode quality and of course sound quality let's start with call Quality and for that I'm going to step outside welcome to a bustling thoroughfare in downtown Portland Oregon this is a place where you might have buses going by a light rail train honking its horn Fatboy motorcycles and super impressive with Mufflers that aren't designed to muffle Jack Squat and of course you've got emergency vehicles and their sirens sounds that on their own are already kind of noisy but when they all happen together can really cause some troubles in fact they're the source of many frustrated lost takes in our studio at times now on their own these sounds are already kind of annoying but you don't want them bleeding through on a business call if you're walking around taking a business call you don't want people necessarily aware that you're out and about on a busy City street and the airpods pro do an exemplary job of just knocking that noise out now the voice Clarity itself isn't perfect even in a completely silent environment like our studio here you can tell I'm on wireless headphones as opposed to speaking on my actual phone but when it comes to call Quality short of using a wired microphone and a silent office it just doesn't get much better than the airpods pro and that was already true now with the second gen it's just a little bit better background noises are squashed from a hush to a whisper okay now to talk about noise canceling and transparency mode so first off it's called adaptive transparency mode now and that adaptive part I love it so if you've seen my reviews of the original airpods Pro or the airpods max then you know I consider Apple's transparency mode to be the best in the business I've described it as the next best thing to not having headphones on at all because it's pretty realistic well now I actually feel like in some cases adaptive transparency mode can sound better than real life the Adaptive part basically means that if a ridiculously loud noise happens while you're in transparency mode then the airpods pro are going to stomp down on that a little bit they won't cancel it out or anything I mean if someone honks their car horn at you because they're about to cream you as you cut them off on your bike then you need to hear that horn what you don't need is for the sudden insanely loud car or truck horn to be Amplified by your headphones all but guaranteeing a heart attack from the scare Apple's example of a jackhammer is probably better but you get it right you can enjoy transparency mode without having Extremely Loud Noises piped in and harshing your Chill Vibes on the other end of the spectrum is noise canceling which Apple's somewhat dubiously claims is twice as effective as the original airpods Pro does that mean that everything is twice as quiet are we talking about half the decibels of noise making it through or that they can handle noises that are twice as loud no none of those things are true look I'm no math wizard but I know that Apple has many math Wizards on staff and I'm sure that it's on solid legal footing when it makes that claim as much as I'd like to go on a rant here let's not get hung up on that statistic though the bottom line is that the new airpods Pro have more effective noise canceling but really in what way is it more effective well to be sure Apple's claim that it more effectively cancels high frequency noise is absolutely true I went to the coffee shop in my building where I can always count on boisterous Baristas to make plenty of conversational noise even if there's nobody else in the space and sure enough the second gen airpods Pro quieted down people's voices more effectively and this is without any music or podcast audio going just a and C on its own I also tested them with a white noise pattern playing on some speakers and it was clear that more high frequencies were cut there as well and for the ultimate test I compared the airpods pro to the Sony wh-1000xm5 over ear headphones and while I feel like the xm5 cut noise out slightly more than the airpods pro I was really surprised at how close it was I can't wait to take the airpods pro on a flight next week for the ultimate test so I'll say this the second gen airpods Pro so have better ANC and I'd argue some of the best ANC out there period if you want to use them just to quiet the world down they'll do that without the aid of music or any other audio but once you start playing music movies or podcasts that's it the world around you is gone in the world of earbuds I think only the Bose qc2 can hold a candle to the airpods pro now let's talk about sound quality and in order to make this meaningful for you I need to take you through the experience I had testing and comparing so I started out like I always do listening to certain tracks I always use when testing audio gear at first just listening to the new airpods Pro then later going back and forth between the new 2nd gen and the first gen and I was having a tough time hearing the differences but not because they weren't there to hear I was getting distracted by how the differences in sound quality varied as I tried to get the volume or technically the loudness equalized between the two see it seemed like I needed to turn turn the Gen 1 up to match the volume of the Gen 2 but then I realized the Gen 1 were actually too loud when I did that but when I was sure I had the overall volume as balanced as I could get it I noticed that the Gen 2 seemed like they had a fuller more even tempered sound and that's when I realized that it was actually Apple's adaptive EQ that was coming into play and then it was working way better on the second gen airpods Pro when you're listening at lower volumes the Gen 2 airpods Pro Sound full and well balanced they almost don't seem as quiet even at those lower levels though the average decibel level was clearly brought down and at higher volumes the second gen hold together better there's less Distortion and better overall balance now I don't know how much of the difference I'm hearing is due to the new driver how much is due to the new amplification and how much is the new H2 chip processing and honestly I don't care the second gen airpods PRO Sound sound better the overall bass response seems similar it's got a little punch a reasonable amount of depth it's never bloated or flabby the mid-range is open and uncolored but it's the high frequencies especially that enjoy the most audible Improvement the transit response of symbols and guitar strings the overtones of brass instruments and acoustic piano the organic sound of acoustic drums and percussion all of it just sounds great like with the original airpods Pro I said they sounded more than good enough for most folks but with the second gen airpods Pro I think they're worth taking a really close listen to they definitely have their own sound signature and I think it's one that most folks will love not just like but actually love people are gonna eat these up no doubt the airpods pro will be going where I go they're staying in the bag I mean I use an iPhone an Apple Watch and iPad and lately I've been using an Apple TV more often still haven't switched to Mac don't know if that will ever happen but the airpods pro make a lot of sense anyway since I use a fair number of Apple products thing is the new airpods Pro are more than just practical they're a treat to use the ANC is Top Notch the transparency mode can't be beat the case is easy to find they fit well and they sound really good even if you aren't an Apple user I think you have to admit these are just a remarkably solid set of earbuds and if you are an Apple user well I say run don't walk and get yourself a set you'll be thrilled you did thanks as always for watching everyone as earbuds go what's your all-time favorite set let me know down in the comments don't forget to like And subscribe and here's two other videos I think you might likethe new Apple airpods Pro Gen 2 of arguably the most popular wireless earbuds available Apple claims they're even better than before but how are they better what's new what's been improved and by how much most importantly should you buy them you've got questions I've got answers welcome back everyone I'm Caleb Dennison and this is my review of the second generation Apple airpods Pro I've been looking forward to these coming out for well over a year now why because for all of the excellent wireless earbuds and headphones I get to test all of which spend at least some time in my backpack the Apple airpods Pro have assumed permanent residency in my bag they go everywhere with me so a new and improved version of my go-to buds yes please so whether you already own airpods Pro and an upgrade is a foregone conclusion or you never jumped on the airpods pro bandwagon and you're wondering if the hype is real and if they're worth the premium price or you just want to see if the airpods pro really are all that I think you're gonna love this video and if you do let me know by slapping it with a like subscribe if you want to see more okay let's dive in so when I started in on this review I told myself I was not going to constantly compare the New Gen 2 airpods Pro to the Gen 1 version then as I started testing them I realized that was not only unavoidable but but probably the best way to talk about the New Gen 2 version so let's start with the case it is indistinguishable in size and shape from the OG and although the scale says it's got a few more grams on it I can't tell what is meaningfully different is that you can now charge the airpods pro using an Apple Watch charger and that's in addition to the Qi wireless charging and of course the lightning cable option there's also a hole for a lanyard here and apple will gladly sell you one for 13 bucks sorry you don't get one in the box but my favorite part is the built-in speaker not only does it chime when you start charging the case or the buds but it will help you find the case if you misplace it which honestly I've done more often than I'd like to admit the case holds about the same amount of charge as before but the second gen airpods Pro buds themselves I'm happy to report do indeed last a little bit longer with ANC turned on I got them to last for about 6 hours and 12 minutes before they died on me the case will recharge them four more times so you're looking at a little over 30 hours of use before you will have to charge the case now that's not industry leading battery life but I think it's plenty practical and besides I'm less fixated on that battery number than I am on the overall performance of the earbuds which I'm about to dig into oh one more thing about the case it is now ipx4 rated just like the airpods themselves in the box you'll get one more size of ear tips for a total of four options including the tips that come pre-installed it's those extra small tips that personally I think matter most but that's because I know someone who has a hard time finding in-ear buds that will work with their tiny ears and the airpods pro are now perfect for them to make sure you get the best seal which I cannot stress enough is absolutely essential toward getting the best sound quality the best passive noise isolation and the best active noise canceling Apple has built this trick little test into the airpods pro Settings app I tested it and it actually works the default ear tips have always worked best for me but I tried them all and the test let me know when I had a size too large or small for my ears guiding me right back to the Goldilocks tips that were on the earbuds in the first place now taking a closer look at the earbuds themselves Apple has improved its in-use detector with skin detection which is great because now they won't activate and waste battery if you stuff them in your pocket or handbag or whatever it knows the difference between your jeans and your skin now part of the redesign that Apple didn't mention during their announcement is that they work to improve wind noise abatement there have been subtle changes in the stem here so that the microphones are less susceptible to wind interference in the first place then of course you have apple wind noise reduction built into the H2 chip as well which I'll get into momentarily so with a quick Refresh on some of the new stuff you can see let's get to the stuff that really matters right that's call Quality ANC and transparency mode quality and of course sound quality let's start with call Quality and for that I'm going to step outside welcome to a bustling thoroughfare in downtown Portland Oregon this is a place where you might have buses going by a light rail train honking its horn Fatboy motorcycles and super impressive with Mufflers that aren't designed to muffle Jack Squat and of course you've got emergency vehicles and their sirens sounds that on their own are already kind of noisy but when they all happen together can really cause some troubles in fact they're the source of many frustrated lost takes in our studio at times now on their own these sounds are already kind of annoying but you don't want them bleeding through on a business call if you're walking around taking a business call you don't want people necessarily aware that you're out and about on a busy City street and the airpods pro do an exemplary job of just knocking that noise out now the voice Clarity itself isn't perfect even in a completely silent environment like our studio here you can tell I'm on wireless headphones as opposed to speaking on my actual phone but when it comes to call Quality short of using a wired microphone and a silent office it just doesn't get much better than the airpods pro and that was already true now with the second gen it's just a little bit better background noises are squashed from a hush to a whisper okay now to talk about noise canceling and transparency mode so first off it's called adaptive transparency mode now and that adaptive part I love it so if you've seen my reviews of the original airpods Pro or the airpods max then you know I consider Apple's transparency mode to be the best in the business I've described it as the next best thing to not having headphones on at all because it's pretty realistic well now I actually feel like in some cases adaptive transparency mode can sound better than real life the Adaptive part basically means that if a ridiculously loud noise happens while you're in transparency mode then the airpods pro are going to stomp down on that a little bit they won't cancel it out or anything I mean if someone honks their car horn at you because they're about to cream you as you cut them off on your bike then you need to hear that horn what you don't need is for the sudden insanely loud car or truck horn to be Amplified by your headphones all but guaranteeing a heart attack from the scare Apple's example of a jackhammer is probably better but you get it right you can enjoy transparency mode without having Extremely Loud Noises piped in and harshing your Chill Vibes on the other end of the spectrum is noise canceling which Apple's somewhat dubiously claims is twice as effective as the original airpods Pro does that mean that everything is twice as quiet are we talking about half the decibels of noise making it through or that they can handle noises that are twice as loud no none of those things are true look I'm no math wizard but I know that Apple has many math Wizards on staff and I'm sure that it's on solid legal footing when it makes that claim as much as I'd like to go on a rant here let's not get hung up on that statistic though the bottom line is that the new airpods Pro have more effective noise canceling but really in what way is it more effective well to be sure Apple's claim that it more effectively cancels high frequency noise is absolutely true I went to the coffee shop in my building where I can always count on boisterous Baristas to make plenty of conversational noise even if there's nobody else in the space and sure enough the second gen airpods Pro quieted down people's voices more effectively and this is without any music or podcast audio going just a and C on its own I also tested them with a white noise pattern playing on some speakers and it was clear that more high frequencies were cut there as well and for the ultimate test I compared the airpods pro to the Sony wh-1000xm5 over ear headphones and while I feel like the xm5 cut noise out slightly more than the airpods pro I was really surprised at how close it was I can't wait to take the airpods pro on a flight next week for the ultimate test so I'll say this the second gen airpods Pro so have better ANC and I'd argue some of the best ANC out there period if you want to use them just to quiet the world down they'll do that without the aid of music or any other audio but once you start playing music movies or podcasts that's it the world around you is gone in the world of earbuds I think only the Bose qc2 can hold a candle to the airpods pro now let's talk about sound quality and in order to make this meaningful for you I need to take you through the experience I had testing and comparing so I started out like I always do listening to certain tracks I always use when testing audio gear at first just listening to the new airpods Pro then later going back and forth between the new 2nd gen and the first gen and I was having a tough time hearing the differences but not because they weren't there to hear I was getting distracted by how the differences in sound quality varied as I tried to get the volume or technically the loudness equalized between the two see it seemed like I needed to turn turn the Gen 1 up to match the volume of the Gen 2 but then I realized the Gen 1 were actually too loud when I did that but when I was sure I had the overall volume as balanced as I could get it I noticed that the Gen 2 seemed like they had a fuller more even tempered sound and that's when I realized that it was actually Apple's adaptive EQ that was coming into play and then it was working way better on the second gen airpods Pro when you're listening at lower volumes the Gen 2 airpods Pro Sound full and well balanced they almost don't seem as quiet even at those lower levels though the average decibel level was clearly brought down and at higher volumes the second gen hold together better there's less Distortion and better overall balance now I don't know how much of the difference I'm hearing is due to the new driver how much is due to the new amplification and how much is the new H2 chip processing and honestly I don't care the second gen airpods PRO Sound sound better the overall bass response seems similar it's got a little punch a reasonable amount of depth it's never bloated or flabby the mid-range is open and uncolored but it's the high frequencies especially that enjoy the most audible Improvement the transit response of symbols and guitar strings the overtones of brass instruments and acoustic piano the organic sound of acoustic drums and percussion all of it just sounds great like with the original airpods Pro I said they sounded more than good enough for most folks but with the second gen airpods Pro I think they're worth taking a really close listen to they definitely have their own sound signature and I think it's one that most folks will love not just like but actually love people are gonna eat these up no doubt the airpods pro will be going where I go they're staying in the bag I mean I use an iPhone an Apple Watch and iPad and lately I've been using an Apple TV more often still haven't switched to Mac don't know if that will ever happen but the airpods pro make a lot of sense anyway since I use a fair number of Apple products thing is the new airpods Pro are more than just practical they're a treat to use the ANC is Top Notch the transparency mode can't be beat the case is easy to find they fit well and they sound really good even if you aren't an Apple user I think you have to admit these are just a remarkably solid set of earbuds and if you are an Apple user well I say run don't walk and get yourself a set you'll be thrilled you did thanks as always for watching everyone as earbuds go what's your all-time favorite set let me know down in the comments don't forget to like And subscribe and here's two other videos I think you might like\n"