Are AirPod Pros Worth It

AirPod Pros are valued for money when it comes to the Apple ecosystem and more control on your earbuds. And there’s more than what meets the eye.

AirPods Pro produces a very rich sound quality. The minor variations in the sound are felt and with the spatial audio, you will hear sounds coming from all around you.

With AirPods pro, you can mute your environment. You just activate ANC mode and most noises from the environment will be silenced. You can as well listen to your surroundings. With the transparency mode enabled, you won’t have to remove the AirPods to pay attention to other conversations.

AirPods Pro received quite a reception since being launched in 2019. Millions of people have made their purchase which brings the question, should you also buy them when you already have AirPods?

Well, if you want to fully control the playback through the AirPods better upgrade to AirPods Pro. I think AirPod Pros are worth it.

Find out are AirPods worth it here.

Are AirPod Max Worth It

With AirPods Pro, though your surroundings should be silenced, you’ll still hear it, especially when in noisy places like in an airplane. Here is where AirPods Max comes into play. They have 8 microphones that cut off voices from the surroundings.

If you are tired of ear tips in your ears, you can as well switch to AirPods max, they have canopy-like cushions that comfortably fit over your ears.

With AirPods max, there is no need to charge the AirPods every now and then. When fully charged, they will last 20 listening or talking hours.

The max also has more control features. You can not only control your audio but phone calls. Siri in AirPods max can also do more tasks like getting directions.

Do you know how long do AirPods last? Here’s my answer.

AirPods Vs. AirPod Pros Vs. AirPods Max

Feature	AirPods	AirPod Pros	AirPods Max
Active Noise Cancellation mode and Transparency mode	They do not have active noise cancellation. They also lack the transparency mode but they will offer passive noise isolation.	They have active noise cancellation. Most voices from your surroundings will be cut off when ANC mode is on They also have a transparency mode. You can hear the surroundings with the AirPods Pro on when transparency mode is switched on.	They have the best active noise cancellation. With noise cancellation on, you'll not hear your surroundings. They have transparency mode which enables one to listen to surrounding voices without removing the headphones.
Battery life	Listening time of up to 5 hours. Talk time of up to 3 hours. A 15-minutes charge will last for 3 hours of listening time or 2 hours of talk time. With the charging case, you'll get up to 24 hours of listening time or 18 talk time hours. They have wireless charging, charged in their casings.	When fully charged and ANC mode turned on, the battery will last for around 4.5 hours of listening time or 3.5 hours of Talktime. With ANC off, they will last for five listening hours or 4 hours Talktime A 5-minutes charge will give you an hour of listening time. The charge casing holds multiple charges to last more than 24 hours of listening time or 18 hours of talk time. They have wireless charging. Also charged in their casings. They support optimized battery charging.	Whether ANC mode is turned on or off, AirPods max will last for 20 hours listening or Talktime. You'll need 2 hours to fully charge it. A 5 minutes charge will last for 1.5 hours of listening time. They automatically initiate low power mode when not being used for 5 minutes. They have wired charging using the lightning cable.
Hey Siri	Supports Hey Siri.	Supports Hey Siri.	You can do more with Hey Siri, like get the direction or the temperature.
Audio controls	Besides answering incoming calls, double-tapping on the stem of the AirPods 2 or 1 can only perform one task. You can set it to do any of these tasks; Pause and play audio. Play next track Play previous track Activate Siri. Say 'Hey Siri' to activate Siri.	Press the force sensor found on the side of the stem to answer a call, or to play or pause audio; double press it to play next; triple press it for the previous track; or deep press it to activate Hey Siri. Saying 'Hey Siri' will also activate Siri.	Clicking on the digital crowns will either; Play audio Pause audio Receive incoming calls End phone calls Put the current call on hold and receive a second one Double press on the same to play the next track. Double pressing will reject an incoming call or end a current call to receive the second incoming call. Deep Press it to decline a second incoming call. Triple press on it to play the previous track. Turn the digital crown to increase or reduce the volume. They have a noise control button. To switch between ANC or transparency modes. Saying 'Hey Siri' will also activate Siri.
Sweat and water resistance	AirPods 1 and 2 are not resistant to sweat or water.	Are sweat and water-resistant with an IP of IPX4 (can withstand water droplets but are not dust resistant).	Are not water-resistant.
Automatic Ear Detectors	Yes, They will automatically connect and play audio when you put them on and disconnect when you remove them.	They also have automatic ear detectors.	They have automatic head detectors; they will automatically.
Ear tips	They come with a single flexible silicone ear tip.	They come in 3 different sizes of flexible silicone ear tips (small, medium, and large).	They have ear cushions that are magnetically attached to the AirPods. You can remove the cushions to clean them or to replace the cushions when they wear out.
Color Options	Comes in white only.	Comes in white only.	5 different colors to choose from; Silver Space gray Pink Sky blue Green.
Seamless connection	Automatic switching between your devices.	Automatic switching between your devices.	Automatic switching between your devices.
Charging	Have a charging case for wireless charging. In this case, you can have up to 24 hours of listening time. The casing is charged with the lightning cable	Has a MagSafe charging case that holds power to last 24 hours of listening time. The earbuds of the AirPods have a magnet that attaches to the steel in the MagSafe case for safety during charging. To charge the casing, connect the lightning cable.	Has a smart case that does not charge the AirPods. The case helps in conserving the power by keeping them in ultra-low-power mode. To charge AirPods max, you'll need to directly connect it to the lightning cable.
Connection	Hold the AirPods near your iPhone and wait for the notification to connect. They have the H1 chip which will automatically connect to your devices. They support wireless connection only.	Hold the AirPods Pro near your iPhone and wait for the notification to connect. They have an H1 chip for automatic connection. They support wireless connection only.	Hold the AirPods max near your iPhone and wait for the notification to connect. They have an H1 chip for automatic connection. They support both wireless and wired connections.
Microphones	Each earbud has one microphone (2 earbuds= dual beamforming microphones).	Also has dual beamforming microphones, but they are designed to face your ears.	They have nine microphones of which eight are for active noise cancellation.
Adaptive EQ	They lack adaptive EQ.	They have adaptive EQ (can adapt to the frequency to different frequencies of audio and direct them to your ear).	They have adaptive EQ.
Weight	4 grams (0.14 ounce).	5.4 grams(0.19 ounce).	384.8 grams (13.6 ounces).
Price	$129	$249	$549

How Does The Apple AirPods Pro Compare To Other True Wireless Earbuds?

Let’s compare apple AirPods Pro with other True Wireless Earbuds and find out the differences:

Price

The price of true Wireless earbuds ranges from as low as $20 to $400+. With as low as $50, you will get multiple earbud choices to choose from and they will do the job just fine. Some like EarFun free pro have ANC mode. Though not as good as AirPods Pro, they will do the job just fine.

AirPods Pro costs $249 on Amazon. With some digging, you can buy them for as low as $179 from other stores like Walmart when they are on offer.

If you think AirPods Pro is expensive, I don’t know what you’ll say of Bower and Wilkins PI7. You’ll spend a whopping $360 just to get these earbuds on amazon.

Considering the advanced features that AirPods pro has, I think they are fairly priced.

Battery life

One thing that Apple needs to work on is the battery life of the AirPods Pro. After a full charge, the AirPods Pro will take you for only 4.5 hours and the battery will die. Though they may claim that ANC mode drains some power, there are other earbuds with longer-lasting batteries with ANC mode enabled.

Sony’s WF-1000XM4 lasts for almost 8 full hours with ANC mode. Almost doubling AirPods Pro’s. Monoprice Monolith M-TWE will last up to 10 good hours, though the ANC is not up to the Pro’s standard.

When we talk of battery life, AirPods pro is nowhere near the best. Apple needs to up its game in this regard.

Sweat and water resistance

AirPods Pro can withstand drops of water and sweat without being damaged. With an IP value of IPX4, the manufacturer (Apple) says that you can have them on even in the rain. They are good enough for you to have them on even during workouts.

However, you will need to be careful of the amount of water that your AirPods are exposed to as we have discovered that their resistance to water decreases with time.

If your profession involves being around water, like Swimmers, AirPods may not be the best option. Go for those with higher IP ratings like Jabra Elite Active 75t with IP57.

However, AirPods beats most earbuds by working fine underwater droplets or heavy sweating. To top it off, most earbuds do not have Water resistance.

Active noise cancellation

AirPods Pro was the best true wireless earbuds until Bose QuietComfort and Sony WF-1000XM4 came up. These three now rule in Noise cancellation though AirPods Pro is the oldest.

Most earbuds lack the Active Noise cancellation feature, they offer noise isolation instead.

Among the earbuds with ANC mode, there are those that cost even less than a hundred bucks( EarFun free pro goes for $50) whereas others like Bang and Olufsen BeoPlay EQ goes for as high as $367 and some even more.

With this in mind, we think AirPods offers the best Active Noise Cancellation at a standardized price.

Ease of use

AirPods Pro has simple shortcuts to play next/previous track, to pause/play, or to answer any incoming calls and messages. All it takes is to press on the stem of the buds to execute any of these commands. Besides, you can activate Siri and do any of these commands.

While other EarBuds may not support Siri, there’s Alexa (Sony WX1000XM4, Bixby (Galaxy Buds, and google assistance which functions just like Siri.

Apple’s AirPods are the easiest to establish a connection with other devices. Besides, they allow audio sharing.

Here are the reasons and solution for why does one AirPod die faster.

Should You Upgrade From AirPods pro To AirPods 3?

When compared, AirPods 3 seems to counter AirPods pro very well. The main difference between the two is the active noise cancellation mode, transparency mode, and battery life.

AirPods Pro has both ANC and transparency modes but a shorter battery life while AirPods 3 has a longer battery life but lacks ANC and transparency modes. AirPods 3 also costs lower.

You can go for AirPods 3 if you need a longer-lasting battery but have no need for ANC and transparency modes and would like to save some bucks.

But if you already have AirPods Pro, they should suffice, besides, you can use one earbud while charging the other.

FAQ

How does the AirPods pro sound?

AirPods Pro produces spatial audio, (the sound seems to be originating from all around you instead of one single point.) They also have dynamic head tracking which can detect movement in your head and produce the sound mimicking those movements. With AirPods Pro, there is a clear distinction of bass, be it of low frequency, medium, or high.

How long does the battery last on the AirPods pro?

The AirPods Pro battery will last for about 4.5 hours of listening time and 3.5 hours of talk time when ANC or transparency mode is on. With ANC mode off, they should last for 5 listening hours. A five-minute charge can last for an hour.

My AirPods pro started to crackle when I listen to it, now what?

When AirPods start to crackle, they may not necessarily be the problem, maybe your iPhone (or that other device) needs updating of the drivers. But if you’ve established the problem to be with the AirPods, you can take them to an Apple store or any other Apple-authorized dealer and have the problem fixed.

When using the AirPods pro, can you be on the phone with just one earbud on?

Yes. AirPods, unlike the AirPods max, will allow you to use a single earbud even while on a call. Each earbud has ear detectors and can connect independently to your phone even during a call.

The answer to your question are AirPod Pros worth it is a big yes if you want to enjoy the crystal clear sound and one of the best active noise canceling earbuds which works seamlessly with the Apple ecosystem and performs better than AirPod 1, 2, 3.

Are AirPod Pros Worth It – Why Did I Upgrade?