WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.360 When I started here at Linus Media Group, Linus made sure that I was given a pair of 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:10.720 AirPods Pro. They are admittedly the first pair of AirPods I have ever used, and after hearing all the 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:15.280 hype over the years, it was exciting to be able to try them myself. 00:00:15.280 --> 00:00:19.900 The pairing is great. The connection to my M1 Max? 00:00:19.900 --> 00:00:29.320 Not so great. The transparency, for me at least, is essential, and the sound is fine. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:34.160 I still don't feel like they helped me fully appreciate the hype, but I like using them. 00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:38.160 Now though, there's a second generation of AirPods Pro, and they appear to offer some 00:00:38.160 --> 00:00:41.360 sizable improvements over the ones I've been using for the past two years. 00:00:41.360 --> 00:00:52.360 So are they worthy of the upgrade for $250? 00:00:52.360 --> 00:00:56.760 At first glance, there's little difference between the new and old AirPods Pro. 00:00:56.760 --> 00:01:00.560 They have the same basic tips, shape, and case. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:06.920 But look closer, the case now has four holes and a lanyard strap loop. 00:01:06.920 --> 00:01:11.720 And on the buds themselves, the placement of the grills is completely different. 00:01:11.720 --> 00:01:17.400 Even the tips. Yes, the Gen 1 tips will fit, but look at how loose that mesh is. 00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:24.280 Why settle? There are also brand new extra small tips available, which is a big boon for people like Nicole, 00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:27.800 who were previously having trouble getting a comfortable seal. 00:01:27.800 --> 00:01:30.920 If these extra small ones fit, that's a game changer. 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:36.800 That changes everything. That's pretty amazing. And there's a new vent system for pressure equalization to help active noise-canceling 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:41.720 comfort. 00:01:41.720 --> 00:01:46.960 Most important with headphones is the sound, and under the mesh is a new speaker driver 00:01:46.960 --> 00:01:52.760 and H2 chip. Altogether, these should make everything sound better no matter what's going on around 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:55.840 you. And they do sound better. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:59.720 I'm no sound expert by a long shot, but I can definitely tell the difference between 00:01:59.720 --> 00:02:04.760 these and my old first generation pair. A little bit more bass, a lot fuller. 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:10.120 Now to verify my credibility, we headed to headphones.com to test the AirPods Pro in 00:02:10.120 --> 00:02:16.040 their lab. And yep, it appears that the second gen AirPods Pro do in fact have more bass. 00:02:16.040 --> 00:02:20.320 What's more, despite not advertising the feature, our tests confirmed that Apple added 00:02:20.320 --> 00:02:23.680 a volume-dependent EQ to the new buds. 00:02:23.680 --> 00:02:27.400 This adjusts the level of certain frequencies at different volumes. 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:31.600 It's great for when you want to still hear some bass with the volume down. 00:02:31.600 --> 00:02:36.280 So if you're an audio-obsessed AirPods Pro user, you will definitely notice and appreciate 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:42.120 the differences. And if you're a normal AirPods Pro user just listening to music off the phone, well, you 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:49.160 can probably still wait for your pair to die. Because while the sound improvements are amazing, it's not worth the upgrade alone. 00:02:49.160 --> 00:02:52.800 They still sound really good. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:58.360 I tried these against a bunch of similarly priced Bluetooth headphones and I have to 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:02.400 say they all kind of sound so similar to each other. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:05.400 It's Bluetooth compression in small earbud drivers. 00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:10.160 I mean, if I got any of these, I'd probably be perfectly happy with the sound. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:31.760 Compared to other Bluetooth headphones, when you consider the adaptive noise-cancelling 00:03:31.760 --> 00:03:35.680 and transparency modes, the differences do reveal themselves. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:40.160 As I mentioned before, I'm one of those people who doesn't like living in ANC. 00:03:40.160 --> 00:03:45.200 For instance, when I tried the Pixel Buds Pro in ANC, I found them to be almost too effective. 00:03:45.200 --> 00:03:49.760 I could barely hear myself breathe. It was exhausting and felt suffocating. 00:03:49.760 --> 00:03:56.560 You, however, might like that. On the other hand, the Sennheiser True Wireless 3 offers a bit more flexibility, allowing 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:00.960 you to dial in your transparency in ANC on a slider, as opposed to trusting Apple's 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:04.600 automated systems. But I do trust Apple. 00:04:04.600 --> 00:04:10.040 These new AirPods Pro sounded better and were more comfortable than any of the other headphones 00:04:10.040 --> 00:04:16.840 I tried. And even though the previous AirPods Pro already had great ANC and transparency, these are 00:04:16.840 --> 00:04:24.160 noticeably better. If you're a frequent flyer or you take lots of walks in a loud city, then you'll definitely 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:29.680 appreciate the improvements. The usability has improved a lot too. 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:33.800 For instance, you can now adjust the volume of these AirPods on the Buds themselves just 00:04:33.800 --> 00:04:40.500 by swiping up or down. It's not fast by any means, but it works well every time I use it. 00:04:40.500 --> 00:04:45.640 Not all wireless headphones have onboard volume control, and most split the controls between 00:04:45.640 --> 00:04:52.480 the headphones. In these Sennheisers, for instance, long pressing the right Bud raises the volume, and the left 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:57.080 lowers it. Having it all on one Bud is much simpler. 00:04:57.080 --> 00:05:00.880 I love the new case. 00:05:00.880 --> 00:05:06.720 Where is it? If you misplace it, it's much easier to find thanks to the addition of the U1 chip. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:10.040 And when you're trying to figure out what couch cushion it's under, there's now a 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:19.240 speaker that can get pretty loud. It also plays fun sound effects when you charge, which you can now do with an Apple Watch charger. 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:23.360 And the U1 chip also makes it clearer when you need to charge. 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:26.920 If you want to know how much battery your case has with the older AirPods, you have 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:31.760 to put at least one Bud in the case and then open it near your phone to get the reading. 00:05:31.760 --> 00:05:36.000 Now though, the case's connection to the phone is direct, so the battery level is always 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:55.040 there. It's really nice. Apple's really committed to spatial audio. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:59.960 Using crazy audio processing, spatial audio can simulate sounds floating around you. 00:05:59.960 --> 00:06:05.400 It's very weird using spatial audio headtracked with noise cancellation on at the beach because 00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:09.280 it's like, oh, I'm in a different place. 00:06:09.280 --> 00:06:14.000 It's neat technology that as of last year I discovered, I'm not that into, especially 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:20.880 for music. And with the latest iOS update, Apple added personalized spatial audio, which is actually 00:06:20.880 --> 00:06:24.760 available to all AirPods introduced after 2019. 00:06:24.760 --> 00:06:30.120 Using the Face ID camera system, your iPhone can make a map of your ear to tailor the spatial 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:36.680 audio to your ear shape. Your brain is tuned to a particular ear shape, which affects how sound bounces into the canal 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:41.600 from the space around you. It's part of how you can tell where sound is coming from. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:46.200 Using the ear map, personalized spatial audio should make surround sound and Dolby Atmos 00:06:46.200 --> 00:06:49.560 content come to life for you. 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:56.480 It's so much boomier. And I don't know, I mean, to my ears, I don't think I'll use it. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:02.640 SM, our headphones guy here at LMG, describes increasing the trebles and the bass in audio 00:07:02.640 --> 00:07:11.000 as hyping. And sure enough, when I did the hear ID hearing tests with the Soundcore Liberty 3 Pros, hyped 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:16.840 was the result. And that hyped kind of sound is what I hear when personalized spatial audio is on. 00:07:16.840 --> 00:07:20.280 The difference is very apparent when you turn it off. 00:07:20.280 --> 00:07:26.320 I don't know. I think I prefer it unpersonalized and I'm only really going to use spatial audio anyway 00:07:26.320 --> 00:07:30.000 when I'm listening to video content mixed for surround. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.280 With music, plain old stereo is much better to me. 00:07:34.280 --> 00:07:39.320 Oh wait, turning it back on requires doing the whole scan again? 00:07:39.320 --> 00:07:45.640 Oh, and another annoying glitch is that the audio still cuts out if I have too many Bluetooth 00:07:45.640 --> 00:07:49.760 devices connected to my M1 iMac. I thought this was fixed. 00:07:49.760 --> 00:07:53.040 It's cutting out. It's cutting out. 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:56.920 Spatial audio support is strange on the Mac 2. It really depends on the app. 00:07:56.920 --> 00:08:01.400 Say if I'm watching a video on Firefox, there's no option to turn it on or off until I open 00:08:01.400 --> 00:08:07.840 an app that does support it, like music. I've even had head tracking anchored to an iPad on my desk and not the iMac that the 00:08:07.840 --> 00:08:14.400 audio is coming from. Also, the menu bar icon doesn't show a set of AirPods, but the old ones do. 00:08:14.400 --> 00:08:22.240 I miss that. When it comes to upgrading, if I had bought a pair of AirPods Pro in the last year, I'd 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:26.520 be annoyed about all the great features I'm missing with this new model. 00:08:26.520 --> 00:08:31.680 For the uninflated $250 price tag, it's hard to do better. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:34.920 Especially because of this case, I believe in the magic now. 00:08:34.920 --> 00:08:39.960 The second generation AirPods Pro are a super easy way to get great sound out of your Apple 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:45.480 devices. As for me, I still have the first generation AirPods Pro that work well. 00:08:45.480 --> 00:08:49.360 I want to see how long they last, and I want to keep them at the landfill, so I'm going 00:08:49.360 --> 00:08:54.040 to keep using them. I know what I'm missing out on, and it hurts a little bit. 00:08:57.040 --> 00:09:01.240 But what if I didn't own any AirPods? What would I spend my own money on? 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:08.640 Well, not these. I still can't get over the isolation of silicone tips that are so penetrative and uncomfortable. 00:09:08.640 --> 00:09:15.400 So I remain ever so drawn to the third generation AirPods, which are the ones I get. 00:09:15.400 --> 00:09:19.680 Thanks for making this Mac Address easier to find, which you can do by liking and subscribing. 00:09:19.680 --> 00:09:24.960 I'm curious in the comments below, if you're the type of person who for sound quality improvements 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:29.320 alone would actually upgrade a perfectly good set of Bluetooth headphones, like who would 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:32.320 do that? You wouldn't do that. I would. 00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:35.320 You would? Yep. Yep.