The AirPods Pro 2, not only did Apple already internally pack these with some decently sized upgrades last year when they launched, but in Apple’s recent September 2024 keynote, they announced some incredible new features coming soon via software updates.
The Design — Is It the Same?
From a glance, it doesn’t look like much has changed on the buds themselves between the first-gen and second-gen. They both rock that iconic in-ear design with the silicone tips and sleek, lightweight stems. But it’s the internals of these and the case that has got a nice little upgrade.
The AirPods Pro 2 case now comes with a speaker at the bottom and a lanyard loop on the side.
Well, if you’re anything like me and constantly misplace your stuff, the speaker works by notifying you when the battery is low, pairing is complete and for Find My notifications, by playing a sound, making it so much easier to locate your case when it’s lost. This little tweak is more useful than you’d think. Previously it was just the buds that were Find My compatible, now if you misplace any component of your AirPods, you’ll be able to find them.
The case is now IP54 dust, sweat and water resistant for non water sports and exercise. So, you don’t have to panic if it gets a little damp, something the first-gen AirPods Pro case didn’t offer.
What I’ve always missed on these types of earphones is the ability to change the volume. We’ve had play, pause, next track, previous track, holding to change between listening modes, for what seems like forever, with these wireless earphones, but no option to change the volume without reaching for your phone and manually doing it there. Now swiping up and down on the touch control within the stem, allow you to adjust the volume. Thanks Apple, for finally adding this feature.
Sound Quality — A Game-Changer?
The AirPods Pro 2 brings H2 chip power to the table, and that translates into some good improvements in audio quality.
The sound is clearer, richer, and with a better bass punch compared to the first-gen. I’m no audiophile, but apart from the obvious lack of bass in the 1st gen AirPods Pro, I’d always thought the sound quality was always pretty good although a little flat, but in the second-gen AirPods Pro, these feel more like a live performance in your ears. Instruments feel separated, vocals are sharper, it’s just a whole new level of immersive audio.
You’ll especially notice the difference with spatial audio, and if you use Apple Music’s Dolby Atmos tracks, get ready to feel surrounded by sound!
For that further personalisation, personalised spatial audio returns features on these too, adapting sound to the unique shape of your ears using the iPhone camera’s scan. Which if you can get the scanning feature does work nicely across all of your Apple devices that you choose to listen to audio on via the AirPods Pro 2, but just how many people just it, only time will tell.
If you’re one of the few people with an Apple Vision Pro, then you’ll be able to pair these to the Vision Pro for lossless audio with ultra low latency. I would have shown you this feature but the Vision Pro is just too expensive.
Noise Cancellation & Adaptive Transparency — Next-Level Stuff
One of the biggest improvements with the AirPods Pro 2 is the Active Noise Cancellation. Apple claims it’s twice as good as the original AirPods Pro, and I have to say, it really delivers. In noisy places, the difference is instantly noticeable.
But what really blew me away is the Transparency Mode, you stay aware of your surroundings without getting blasted by unexpected sounds. I’ve always been impressed by the transparency mode in the first gen because it sounded so natural, as if I wasn’t even wearing these, and the second gen adds to that, making it even better.
I’m a big advocate of being safe while your out exercising, or in my case, while running and recently I’d transitioned from using AirPods to the Shokz OpenMove bone conduction headphones, purely on the basis of safety. Recently, I thought I’d try the AirPods again, in transparency mode and, for me personally, I could hear every car going past and people coming up behind me.
On the basis of audio alone I’d happily go back to using AirPods Pro again for running, though my only issue is that sometimes they fall out.
One of the new features I was a little skeptical about when Apple announced it at their keynote, was the conversation awareness, how good was this going to be, how aware is it to be at detecting when I’m having a conversation with someone else, and to be honest, it’s pretty good, one moment I’ll be listening to music or a podcast quite loudly and, once I start talking to someone else, the audio quietens down, to become a background track to your conversation.
The only issue I have with it is that if you are having a conversation with someone and there’s a period of time, during that conversation, where you’re not talking, but listening, the audio level goes back up and all of a sudden you can’t hear what the other person is saying. So maybe, a bit of contextual machine learning needs to be adopted that understands and adopts to both sides of the conversation.
The conversations you have during phone calls will improve too with improved voice isolation especially in noisy conditions, allowing the person you’re speaking to, to be able to hear and understand you clearly.
One feature that I’d almost forgotten about until I was presented it by Siri. Siri interactions where Siri will give you a choice, yes or no, as to whether you want to answer a call, be read out of message or manage a notification, perfect for those occasions where a simply yes or no just isn’t appropriate. I received a breaking news alert from the BBC News app and Siri said, would you like to hear the notification, I instinctively nodded and Siri read the notification. Alternatively, if you don’t want to take the call, have the message read out and just simply dismiss the notification, you can just shake your head.
Battery Life — A Nice Boost!
Apple has boosted the playback time to 6 hours on a single charge, with active noise cancellation enabled, that’s an hour more than the first-gen. So if you’re someone who travels a lot, say on short haul flights, that’s enough time to get to the airport, pop on of short 2 hour or so flight and get out of the airport at the over end and you’ve still got a bit of battery life remaining.
With the MagSafe charging case, you get up to 30 hours of total listening time, following numerous recharges, which is a solid upgrade and gives you more time between charges, especially on those longer commutes or flights.
It works with MagSafe, Qi chargers (which the previous one did too) and even your Apple Watch charger now! Super convenient if you’re already in the Apple ecosystem.
Thanks to the magnets in the back of the AirPods Pro case, no more fumbling around trying to find the right place to initiate the charge, because once the magnets align in both the case and the charger, you’ll feel that secure connection and the case will make a sound.
Let’s not forget, USB-C, if you’re transitioning over from the lightning cable, then this is another Apple product that has also made that transition.
New Health Features — Hearing Health
Health features are where things get really interesting. During the September 2024 keynote, Apple announced that the AirPods Pro 2 will soon get more clinically focused Hearing Health monitoring, which will lead into potentially giving you a Transformational Hearing Health Experience.
With this update, the AirPods Pro 2 will help you focus more on your hearing health by analysing the environmental sounds around you and using machine learning and AI, actively reducing harmful sounds, tracking the loudness of your environment to reduce those louder harmful sounds over time and boosting more vital sounds like voices, and together with the features already available, Apple aim to make the AirPods more of a permanent health item rather than a fashion piece of convenience used solely for listening to your favourite music, podcasts and chatting on the phone.
A clinically approved Hearing test coming soon to the AirPods Pro 2, will allow you to be aware of your own hearing loss and the ability for these to be used as a Hearing Aid to boost those sounds that you struggle with, based on your own personalised sound profile from the hearing test.
Plus enhanced real-time insights into how loud your headphones are playing, helping you stay mindful of your audio exposure. Apple’s really pushing toward using the AirPods Pro not just as earphones but as health companions too.
Comparing the 1st Gen vs. 2nd Gen — Worth the Upgrade?
Okay, so the BIG question: Should you upgrade from the first-gen AirPods Pro to the second-gen AirPods Pro? Here’s the breakdown!
What’s better with the AirPods Pro 2?
For me, there’s definitely a better Sound Quality thanks to the H2 chip, the improved Noise Cancellation and Adaptive Transparency Mode make wearing these much more immersive and if in the transparency mode, a much safer pair of earphones to wear.
Battery life is generally a make or break for some, so that longer Battery Life, 6 hours per charge vs. 5 hours, maybe important to you. For me, with an aging AirPods Pro first gen, I’d be lucky to get 4 hours playing time, so now having 6 hours will make a difference, and the USB-C charging means I can now, if I don’t have a wireless charger, can use one cable to charge both my iPhone 15 Pro and the AirPods Pro 2 Case.
The new Find My capabilities in the case together with the built in speaker and that lanyard loop means that it’s going to be less easy to lose this case.
Those Hearing Health features coming soon with a software update, as I mentioned before will turn this from an item of convenience and something that is actually beneficial to your health.
But, if your first-gen AirPods Pro are still holding up well and you don’t care about the newer features like Adaptive Transparency or Health tracking, you should probably wait. However, if battery life has started becoming an issue on your first-gen, like it was for me, the AirPods Pro 2 are an easy win.
For me, as soon as upgraded I noticed the difference immediately, especially in sound quality and noise cancellation areas, but this alone may not be enough for you to upgrade, especially considering the gen 1’s already sound pretty good, those software features are generally available on both of these, except the newest hearing aid features and cost wise, it’s potentially a lot of money to upgrade for those overall small improvement.
Are the AirPods Pro 2 the Best All round Earbuds?
For me, the AirPods Pro 2 are some of the best earbuds you can get. They take everything that was great about the first-gen and make it even better, and with the new health features coming soon, they’re way more than just a music accessory.
If you’re deep in the Apple ecosystem, getting these over anything, probably except Beats earphones, are a no-brainer upgrade.
Yes, I no, you can get earphones and headphones where the audio quality sounds better, probably for cheaper then the retail price of these, but just remember the package that you also get with these, the ecosystem, noice cancellation, transparency mode, find my capabilities, to name but a few.
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