Apple Airpods Pro: Vastly Superior To Standard Airpods

Apple isn’t the first company to make true wireless earphones, but there’s no denying it’s the company that popularized them with its seemingly ubiquitous AirPods.

- Tim Gideon

Despite their popularity, we weren’t big fans of the first two models, so it comes as a surprise how much we like the new AirPods Pro. For $249, these are actual earphones that seal off your ear canal, as opposed to resting against it like regular AirPods. This makes for a tremendous improvement in fit as well as audio performance, with rich bass depth and crisp high-mid presence. The AirPods Pro also delivers strong active noise cancellation (ANC) in a certified splash-proof build. They’re easily worth the premium over the standard model and earn our Editors’ Choice.

DESIGN AND CONTROLS

The glossy-white design of the Apple AirPods Pro has a pretty similar look to that of the regular model, but it has some new twists. For starters, the outer panels for the ANC/ambient mics now have black grilles, and you’ll find a control panel strip on the front of each earpiece’s “stem.”

An IPX4 rating also means the earpieces are safe from splashes. This rating isn’t as strong as the IPX7 rating we see on some gym-friendly, waterproof models but is a marked improvement over the standard AirPods, which carry no official rating. That said, don’t expose them to real water pressure or submerge them, and don’t get the case wet, as the IPX4 rating applies to the earpieces only.

The AirPods Pro ship with three pairs of silicone ear tips in small, medium, and large sizes, all of which are slightly oval rather than perfectly circular. The in-ear fit is ideal—these should stay in place and actually seal off the ear canal, unlike the regular AirPods.