Product test
Apple AirPods Pro 3: new features, new look, new bass
by Florian Bodoky
The new Apple AirPods Pro pass the test in this review
23.9.2022
Pictures: Christian Walker
Apple has changed a few things with the new AirPods Pro. From the outside, the second version looks like the spitting image of its predecessor. The most exciting updates include new controls, the ear photo-capture feature and in-built speakers in the case. It’s time to put these headphones to the test.
I open the case, confirm connection with my iPhone and what do you know? The 2nd generation AirPods Pro are already good to go. I don’t need to download an app, create login details or any malarkey like that. At this point in time, no one other than Apple has managed to make pairing this straightforward and fast.
But Apple’s made up for it by implementing some changes on the inside. Here are the most important new features:
I put these new features through their paces for a week to see how they fared in day-to-day life. Let’s start with the controls.
Controls: quick, practical and functional
One of the most obvious changes about the AirPods is the extra feature with touch controls. Now you can adjust the volume on both earbuds. A subtle sweep downwards or upwards allows you to alter it gradually.
What’s more, on a lot of true wireless headphones, the controls are slow or impractical because of time delays. This isn’t the case with Apple’s product, where everything works as it should, and speedily, without mistakes. If you’ve ever had earbuds with faulty controls, you’ll know how annoying that can be.
Apple has kept the rest of the controls the same as on the predecessor. To pause or skip to the previous or next song, you press the stems together slightly and at varying frequency. To change ambient noise mode, you have to tap the headphones for longer. It all works great. That being said, if you’re used to the buds style of headphones, it can feel strange to press the stems with your forefinger and thumb, as buds only need one finger.
However, compared with buds, the AirPods design is more practical if you need to adjust the headphones in your ear or push them in more. With buds, you always trigger the controls and end up selecting absolutely everything – inadvertently calling your boss three times and your gran once. As the controls on the AirPods are on a scale, that can’t happen.
Active Noise Cancelling: good, but how good?
Apple wasn’t shy in announcing its Active Noise Cancelling (ANC): «With up to double the noise-cancelling power of their predecessor […]» Even the previous gen noise-cancelling was more than respectable.
Adaptable Transparency mode
Transparency mode is the opposite of Active Noise Cancelling. In this mode, the AirPods Pro let all ambient sounds through. And Apple has recently made this feature adaptive. That means unpleasant noises such as sirens or building site noise should be fainter, while the sound of voices is raised so you can better hear them. It used to be that certain sounds – especially loud clicks – were very loud in Transparency mode.
The first test I did for this was also in the office. With the AirPods Pro, I hear a conversation about the latest Star Wars spin-off with more clarity than I’d like to. On my way home, I go past a building site and notice that the AirPods Pro dumb down the sound of the pneumatic hammer slightly. But I can still hear the drilling very clearly. And yet, I’m still impressed that the AirPods recognise that the frequency is unpleasant and something they have to react to.
Transparency mode also works very well when I’m cycling. The headphones make an excellent job of filtering out the sound of the wind, and the traffic I hear is almost unadulterated.
3D sound and personalised ear photography feature
3D audio has been around before the latest AirPods Pro. If you activate the feature and listen to a song on Apple Music or watch Apple TV, you feel like the sound is coming at you in all directions. In the Apple app, it’s sometimes called Spatial Audio, other times Dolby Atmos. Three names and broadly speaking, they describe the same feature: surround sound and personalised head recognition for better sound.
In-ears: comfortable as always and with a new sensor
Even when I have the AirPods in my ears for ages, I hardly notice them and they don’t press on me anywhere. That must surely also have something to do with their weight, coming in as they do at a mere 5.3 grammes. And not even all of that is actually sitting in your ear.
The re-engineered case: hangable and findable
Additionally, there’s a small visual difference on the bottom of the case, where Apple has included four tiny speakers. These can play a sound that’s intended to be used with the Find My search feature. Thanks to the beeps, it’s meant to be easier to find your case again if you ever mislay it.
That being said, I wasn’t able to locate the case when the headphones weren’t in it. Instead, the Find My feature selected both earbuds and made them beep dutifully. Meanwhile, the empty case wasn’t even shown in the list. So, you can only lose the case when the AirPods are in it – when they’re separate, you can’t locate the case.
As before, you can get a fix on the individual headphones in the app and ping them so that they play a sound. If you don’t lose the case but instead it gets caught in a storm, it’s not so bad. As with the headphones, it’s IPX4-certified, which means it’s protected from splashes of water on all sides. In terms of power, you charge the case using Apple’s standard Lightning cable or via an Apple Watch charging device.
Battery and connections
The improved battery capacity is an invisible but important change. Now with Active Noise Cancelling activated, the AirPods have a runtime of six hours rather than the 4.5 it used to be. Compared with the competition, this is safely in the middle of the range.
The case can charge the new AirPods Pro five times, giving an operating life in ANC mode of 30 hours on one charge. Before, you were looking at 24 hours on one charge.
Voice quality on phone calls
Voice quality on true-wireless headphones is always a talking point as, in many cases, it’s not very good. However, given that quality in calls is also dependent on other factors, such as reception and the person on the other end of the phone, I decided to test voice quality locally.
You can check out the results for yourself.
As you can hear, voice quality is good and I sound clear and not tinny. But at the start of the video, my hand catches my chair and you can hear that clearly. All that to say that the AirPods Pro can’t completely filter out loud and sudden background noises.
Verdict: THE thing for Apple users
The new AirPods Pro look like the old ones. And yet, they’re different. Apple has developed a few obvious features, such as the controls and improved some important technical intricacies. In particular, the sound quality stands out. Then, there’s the effective Active Noise Cancelling, the adaptive Transparency mode and the longer battery life.
The predecessor model was good in itself. Now the AirPods Pro are even better and are THE headphones to pick from in Apple’s true-wireless collection. That’s why I can safely say the AirPods Pro are worth buying if you’re an Apple user who doesn’t yet have any in-ears.
Testing devices and gadgets is my thing. Some experiments lead to interesting insights, others to demolished phones. I’m hooked on series and can’t imagine life without Netflix. In summer, you’ll find me soaking up the sun by the lake or at a music festival.
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