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  • - Three years later and we finally have

  • the second generation of Apple's AirPods Pro.

  • They're $249, they have a better case,

  • improved battery life and an all new H2 chip

  • that Apple claims--

  • - Delivers advanced computational audio

  • previously unable to run on a device of this size.

  • - And that coupled with new vent placements

  • reportedly adds up to twice the amount of

  • active noise cancellation

  • over the previous AirPods Pro.

  • Thing about reviewing earbuds on video

  • is that features such as ANC are incredibly

  • hard to demonstrate.

  • So, I wanted to try something new.

  • This is Owen.

  • He set up a sort of blind active noise cancellation test

  • that's going to simulate common noises

  • that most folks who are wearing ANC buds wanna cancel out.

  • Every earbud fits every ear differently

  • and that is incredibly important to ANC performance

  • but I'm hoping that this test will give us a

  • general idea of how each of these earbuds perform.

  • I'm gonna be listening to the same song

  • on four pairs of wireless earbuds

  • that we, here at The Verge, think have

  • the best active noise cancellation in this price range.

  • If/when I hear a noise, I'll raise this sign

  • and then we'll move onto the next sound.

  • Okay, go.

  • (bell rings)

  • (machine clattering)

  • Yeah, is that a jackhammer?

  • (waves crashing)

  • Is that like white noise?

  • Yeah, that's like a low.

  • Oh God.

  • Whoa, is that like a helicopter?

  • It's deep, it's deep.

  • I can like feel it but I can't hear it.

  • All set?

  • - [Owen] Yeah.

  • - Wow.

  • Okay, so jackhammers.

  • - [Owen] Yeah.

  • - Okay.

  • No other pair of earbuds came close to canceling

  • as much noise as the Bose QuietComfort II's did.

  • It was almost scary how much I couldn't hear.

  • That being said, the AirPod Pros second gen

  • did cancel out a pretty good amount of noise

  • and definitely more than the previous version.

  • Now, they also have a feature called

  • active transparency mode,

  • which is when you're in transparency mode

  • meaning that you can hear the things around you.

  • If there's annoying sounds, it's supposed to take

  • those sounds down so you have a more pleasant

  • listening experience.

  • Now, I have had an incredibly hard time

  • getting those to trigger it.

  • In fact, I haven't been able to get it to trigger.

  • Even here in the studio, we played some jackhammer sounds

  • and I couldn't get it to take them down.

  • So, we'll have to use these headphones more

  • and see if we can get that feature to work at all.

  • (light music)

  • For folks coming from the original AirPods Pro,

  • the biggest changes you'll notice are actually in the case.

  • There's a lanyard loop on the side

  • and now the case can be charged via MagSafe

  • or on any Apple watch charger.

  • But more importantly, the case now makes sound.

  • (dinging)

  • (beeping)

  • The only visual difference to the buds themselves is

  • the vent is now located on the top of the bud

  • and there's an added extra small size ear tip option.

  • On the stem, there's also now the ability to swipe

  • up and down to adjust the earbuds volume.

  • I have thought that all earbuds should have

  • swiping volume controls.

  • So it's absolutely excellent to see that coming

  • to these earbuds.

  • Apple also claims that they have improved the

  • inward facing mics on these buds.

  • So we put them through the ultimate stress test.

  • (rumbling)

  • Okay, I've wanted to do this mic test for a very long time.

  • These are $249 2nd gen AirPod Pros

  • and we're on a boat.

  • The boat test is not just about wind.

  • It's also about background noise.

  • It's also about just wanting to talk on the phone

  • when you want to talk on the phone.

  • And these are the original AirPods Pro.

  • You can get them for like $179.

  • Ah man, speaking on waves, baby.

  • Definitely has some really nice windshield

  • technology on their earbuds,

  • but this is a lot of wind and a lot of background noise.

  • Okay, okay, but here's what they sound like

  • in a more controlled environment.

  • There's like a noisy fridge behind me but,

  • otherwise, we're in a quiet office.

  • I continue to be impressed with the mic

  • on the Sony LinkBuds.

  • I continue to be disappointed by the mic

  • on the Samsung Buds 2 Pro.

  • But to me, the 1st gen AirPods Pro

  • don't really sound all that different

  • from the 2nd generation of the AirPods Pro.

  • And well, nothing will ever come close

  • to the wired Apple headphones

  • that of course have incredible mic placement

  • and a solid wired connection.

  • But, how do the AirPod Pros sound?

  • (upbeat music)

  • The new AirPods Pro have a personalized

  • spacial audio feature that is created via

  • the true depth camera on the iPhone.

  • It always feels fun to go through a personalization setup

  • but rarely does it affect real life performance

  • and sadly, that is true here as well.

  • I did not notice any real change in

  • spacial audio performance post-personalization.

  • But that didn't make me any less in love

  • with head tracking which many folks would label

  • as a gimmick and I don't know,

  • it just hasn't gotten old for me yet

  • and I especially love making people use it who

  • have never tested it before.

  • It's really cool.

  • It's a great bar trick.

  • Bt more importantly, the 2nd generation AirPod Pros

  • have an improved H2 chip and new amps and drivers.

  • The company claims that this creates deeper bass

  • and crisper highs and yeah, it does.

  • These buds sound great and incredibly full

  • with a balanced amount of bass.

  • But if you're coming from the previous AirPod Pros,

  • I'm not sure there's like that much of a difference.

  • Those earbuds have great sound and these do too.

  • I made a playlist that I'll link down below

  • full of all the songs I've been listening to

  • while testing these buds.

  • They happen to be all these like full,

  • really punchy songs that have lots of highs and lows

  • and good bass.

  • I mean, these headphones, they really shine

  • when they can kinda separate all those sounds for you.

  • Now, something that previous owners of AirPod Pros

  • and new owners will notice is battery life.

  • The new buds have six hours of battery life

  • with ANC turned on

  • and four and a half hours of continuous talk time

  • from a single charge.

  • All of that means that during a work day,

  • I started at nine-thirty AM.

  • I was able to get around three PM

  • before the buds died.

  • It's definitely better and will feel amazing

  • if your 1st gen AirPod Pros batteries

  • have begun to fade.

  • So, the 2nd generation AirPods Pro,

  • they're not the stemless, earth-shattering earbuds

  • I was kind of hoping they would be.

  • But they're a solid upgrade to the previous version.

  • Apple took an already great product

  • and added some simple upgrades to battery life,

  • some minor case improvements, a bump in audio quality,

  • and a much bigger bump in ANC,

  • and added a few gimmicks like personalized spacial audio.

  • All of these things will make these AirPods Pro

  • feel new and special to owners of the previous

  • AirPods Pro, but I don't think there's enough there