[SilverEars]

CNET reviewer says Airpods Pro sounds and has noise cancellation as good as the Sony WF-1000 xm3 and has much better bass than the previous airpods

I don't think they were lie'in when they said better bass. I think the bass is good for TW. Bass definately seems an improvement over the WFXM3 which I thought wasn't well controlled and got a bit flabby in response. I will have to test out the ANC in more extreme noisy spots to figure out how well it performs, but so far it work, that's all I can say.

Being Apple they had to provide a cable with a connector that doesn't plug into a typical charger?! That really pissed me off! It's like they want me to buy an adapter, and I now believe they do this crap on purpose because in other areas you can tell they are thinking about customer experience. Thankfully I had a wireless charger on me.

In regards to Apple customer experience I am impressed in how they package the products and how easy it is to unwrap the products. They put a tab so that you can easily tear the plastic packing. Nice touch.

I do like that finally they decided to add some seal to the airpods, which improves the low-end significantly. I have no issue with fit and doesn't feel bulky or anything like the WFXM3 which has most weight being suspended, whereas the airpods have narrow area that suspends and most of the bulk of the weight is cupped on the concha.

I am using and Android device with the airpods and I got to say the signal quality is quite good with AAC. I had no signal disconnects with these. Also, AAC bitrate isn't difficult to keep the signal stable I believe. Streaming Tidal through USB Audio Player Pro (awsome app!).

So far, I'm quite fond of these.

 

[bobeau]

Bass definately seems an improvement over the WFXM3 which I thought wasn't well controlled and got a bit flabby in response.

You and I are definitely of the same mind on these - the uncontrolled bass in ANC mode on the M3s was my main issue. It seems quite a bit better w/ the Pros, almost perhaps a bit more subdued and evened out (again in ANC mode).

Being Apple they had to provide a cable with a connector that doesn't plug into a typical charger?!

The reason is because they now are using USB-C chargers on the iPhone as well as the Mac.

 

[SilverEars]

You and I are definitely of the same mind on these - the uncontrolled bass in ANC mode on the M3s was my main issue. It seems quite a bit better w/ the Pros, almost perhaps a bit more subdued and evened out (again in ANC mode).

I don't think it's easy to get really high quality bass with TW. I think it's the amping limitation, but it seems the airpod pro amp the driver pretty well (for a TW). I think it's also related to codec if amped sufficiently. I can't speak in relative to the top performers out there because I only tried a handful, as there are alot of TW iems out in the market.

I do like the direction Apple is going with these. As a company with money to push research, I hope for more improvements in audio fidelity with their products.

 

[joshurar]

I don't mean to be adversarial here, but calling airpods ANC better than Bose's finest doesn't make any sense to me. I don't have perfect instrumentation to measure this but I do have a dB meter. I set up an 85 dB airplane cabin and turned on ANC on the Bose QC35 and the Airpods Pro. This is a perceptual and subjective, but I then took off each pair of headphones, reduced volume in the cabin to match perceived volume at 85 dB with ANC on. I estimate around 20 dB reduction with Airpods Pro at best and 25 dB reduction with QC35, and that's being slightly generous to the Airpods. Obviously this is not an exact science. Among other things, ANC on each results in different frequencies getting through more than others. Ultimately, they aren't that close and QC35 ANC is a lot better. Airpods Pro are still doing a great job for what they are.

 

[monsieurguzel]

I agree that the WF-1000xm3 with ANC on does have flabby bass, but with ANC off the earbuds sound pretty darn great, especially with some slight EQ tweaks in the Sony app. I typically rarely use ANC while listening to music since with the compy tips, very little noise makes it in while playing music. Another underated feature of the Sony earbuds is the adaptive ANC, which which can swap ANC settings based on what you’re doing. I typically have it on full transparency mode while in the car, wind reduction while walking around the streets, and ANC off when at my desk and i’m listening to music more critically.

On a side note i find it interesting that the Airpods Pro sound better with ANC on while the majority of other earbuds with ANC sound worse with that feature on.

 

[SilverEars]

I agree that the WF-1000xm3 with ANC on does have flabby bass, but with ANC off the earbuds sound pretty darn great, especially with some slight EQ tweaks in the Sony app. I typically rarely use ANC while listening to music since with the compy tips, very little noise makes it in while playing music. Another underated feature of the Sony earbuds is the adaptive ANC, which which can swap ANC settings based on what you’re doing. I typically have it on full transparency mode while in the car, wind reduction while walking around the streets, and ANC off when at my desk and i’m listening to music more critically.

On a side note i find it interesting that the Airpods Pro sound better with ANC on while the majority of other earbuds with ANC sound worse with that feature on.

Is it only with ANC on? I don't recall checking how it sounded without ANC on, or at least the effect on bass.

When I first put on the airpods it was apparent ANC was active even with only one earpiece on my ear. And after I put both pieces on, I notice good silence although it was not in extreme noise situations in vehicles with loud engines. I got a feeling it's pretty good, but no proof of that yet. With the WFXM3 I felt let down with it's under performance, but not sure if it was lower performance. I know it's possible to have good ANC on earphones because Bose did it with QC20. QC20 is a bit older and it had a large circuitboard exterior to the earphone. Apple squeezed in a miniaturized circuit board in these small earphone housings. It's actually a significant feat, given it's size. Apple can pull off stuff like this. If they focus on sound, they can do significant stuff.

With my Android phone I noticed something odd. When I first open up the airpod casing (which I really like due to it's compact form factor, and even from when the first airpods came out, I was impressed with the size), airpods connect to bluetooth, but the volume is low. I have to disconnect and reconnect to get proper volume. If you use Android phone and notice the volume is too low, check this.

I'm wondering in the future we will be in extreme noise situations with earpieces on and communicate with nearby people with ambient noise filtering?

 

[bobeau]

On a side note i find it interesting that the Airpods Pro sound better with ANC on while the majority of other earbuds with ANC sound worse with that feature on.

I think the reason is there is an active EQ that actually measures the frequency response against the interaction with your ear.

There is a bit of a mid reduction w/ elevated bass, but it's probably half the degree I recall hearing w/ the Sonys, and not any upper end glare that I recall happened w/ the ANC. I liked the Sonys quite a bit with ANC off, it's probably the best overall sound between the two units, but I feel the Airpods makes a nice compromise (ie. I listened for a couple hours today and didn't feel the need to pick them apart much).

 

[Hanesu]

I must confess, though high quality sound of course still is my preference, I am getting more and more jealous on the features, convenience and usability that true wireless earphones offer. I still don`t get why audiophile companies don`t try harder to get their feet in the door. Only a few half-hearted products that are mostly even not made by themselves (they just put their branding on it) and not any better than the standard true wireless earbuds. To me, it is obvious this is going to be the future of all portable audio and cables will be obsolete. Apple is headding towards the right direction here imo.
I feel us audiophiles are a bit like the ones that said only some years ago that digital photography is never going to reach the level of analog photography. But where are we now?

 

[wackoip]

I too have the Sony XM3 and while the Sony has a slightly better sound quality (bass mainly) I think the ANC is better on the Airpods pro.

I tried to figure out why and then I realised when I listen carefully The ANC on the airpods seems to focus on filtering out white noises whereas the Sony one is filtering generally on all noises and to the extent that the ANC IS affecting the mid and treble a bit.

They are both excellent true wireless earphones and I think both have their fortes. For example support of LDAC on sony but none on airpods. Tel. conversations is better on the airpods. On dropout rates the airpods have ZERO dropouts where Sony have one or two in heavy traffic especially with lots of traffic lights.

 

[pieman3141]

My main concern will always be the disposability of the product. The battery will eventually give out, probably in 2-3 years - that is the nature of how batteries operate over time. Will Apple have a decently inexpensive battery replacement program, or will they simply just shrug their shoulders and leave customers out in the cold? They've been getting better regarding battery replacements and keyboard replacements with their higher-end products, so that might hint at Airpods Pros getting similar treatment. No guarantee, though.

 

[sandy1010]

My main concern will always be the disposability of the product. The battery will eventually give out, probably in 2-3 years - that is the nature of how batteries operate over time. Will Apple have a decently inexpensive battery replacement program, or will they simply just shrug their shoulders and leave customers out in the cold? They've been getting better regarding battery replacements and keyboard replacements with their higher-end products, so that might hint at Airpods Pros getting similar treatment. No guarantee, though.

The batteries in the AirPods can’t be replaced, but they do offer a replacement for the whole AirPod for $49usd each. Pro will be more obviously.

 

[aaf evo]

AppleCare is a worthy investment on AirPods. 2 years coverage for $29.

 

[raypin]

I must confess, though high quality sound of course still is my preference, I am getting more and more jealous on the features, convenience and usability that true wireless earphones offer. I still don`t get why audiophile companies don`t try harder to get their feet in the door. Only a few half-hearted products that are mostly even not made by the companies themselves (they just put their branding on it) and not any better than the standard true wireless earbuds. To me, it is obvious this is going to be the future of all portable audio in near future and cables will be obsolete. Apple is headding towards the right direction here.
I feel us audiophiles are a bit like the ones that said only some years ago that digital photography is never going to reach the level of analog photography and professionals will always have a usage for analog. But where are we now?

mmm...just say NO. The day wireless toys can compete with wired sets will be when hell freezes over.

 

[Hanesu]

mmm...just say NO. The day wireless toys can compete with wired sets will be when hell freezes over.

Hehe...we will talk again in 10 years!

 

[ubs28]

So are these an upgrade over the Sony WF-1000XM3? What I don't like about the Sony is:
- too bulky to carry around
- uneven treble (not a huge surprise since even their $2000 Z1R has a treble that sucks)
- doesn't fit my ears properly
- not as comfortable as my other IEM's
- controls suck

I am willing to trade in sound quality if it fixes all these issues of the Sony.

Also how much worse do these sound then the Sony?