[Ultrainferno]

The Apple AirPods Pro. Hype or serious audiophile sound? We find out today

https://www.headfonia.com/apple-airpods-pro-review/

 

[angelom]

The Apple AirPods Pro. Hype or serious audiophile sound? We find out today

https://www.headfonia.com/apple-airpods-pro-review/

Thank you for the review. I think it's covering different aspects of this iem very well and is sufficiently objective.

 

[maratus]

n/t

 

[maratus]

Here's my quick summary on Sony WF-1000XM3 vs. Apple Airpods Pro:

Fit and comfort:

1. Sony provides better passive sealing with stock tips and sits tighter in ears, while stock Airpods Pro tips aren't very tight in comparison - but less in-ear skin irritation.

2. Despite that, Airpods stay in ears well thanks to their shape and lower weight, while Sony will bump up and down a bit more if you're running.

3. With 3rd party memory foam tips Airpods are superior in fit, tightness, passive noise isolation, comfort and ANC performance for all frequencies. It's a game changer for APP, at least for me. And still more comfortable - I think Sony caused slight skin irritation due to micromovements inside the ears due to being heavier and longer.

Controls:

1. You actually can set-up Sony to adjust volume up with a tap and down with a hold, but you have to sacrifice play/stop or mode switching for that. So I ended up not doing it.
I wish there was another option for it, like a swipe along stem gesture.

2. Sony voice announcements when connecting, disconnecting and changing modes are long and annoying, and you don't know which mode you're in after disabling them. Sometimes it's not easy to distinguish between certain modes depending on the environment. APP has different short chimes for everything.

3. Double tap and triple tap gestures on Sony don't work 100% of the time.

4. Apple wins with overall control convenience and reliability.

Quality:

1. Music quality is similar, and both are very good. I'm picky when it comes to SQ, but not an audiophile, and I'm happy with both.

2. Transparent mode is better on Airpods. Sony has different frequency response and doesn't feel natural.

3. Call quality on Sony is absolutely horrendous and is a massive dealbreaker for me. Not only the mic is almost unusable - this is a well known issue even with over-ears WH-1000XM3 - you also hear voice distortion during calls. Checked with multiple devices. Whenever the mic is used, you lose most of the ANC performance and headphones go into forced transparency mode. In most cases, it's letting more outside noise than with passive isolation only making calls harder.

4. APP call quality is probably the best outside of dedicated conference headsets.

Usability issues:

1. Sony is prone to serious BT connection issues. One earpiece randomly disconnecting, issues with connecting to another device, etc.

2. APP don't go as loud on my Note 5 (Android) as on other devices when playing music and it can't be fixed with developer options like "disable absolute volume". Calls are loud though.

3. You need a device with recent iOS to enable 3rd mode on APP (when both ANC and transparency are off), otherwise you can use them with Android phone out of the box.

4. I noticed rare micro-stutters on Airpods Pro + Note 5 during music playback which seems to be caused by BT connection stability, same for two pairs of Airpods on 2B588 fw. It's like a few clicks for a fraction of a second that sound like static noise. Happens once every 10 minutes or so. No issues with iPhone / iPad / Win10 laptop / Macbook Pro, so I think it's my phone's problem mainly. I might not be hearing it on Sony due to a larger buffer.

5. Proprietary tips are a pain, but my 3rd party memory foam tips for APP turned out to be normal tips with plastic adapters that work with other tips. Problem solved!

6. Battery case for APP is so much smaller. But also more slippery.

7. Sony can be disassembled and re-assembled by end user for battery replacement. Not easy, but possible.

 

[Blanchot]

Here's my quick summary on Sony WF-1000XM3 vs. Apple Airpods Pro:

Fit and comfort:

1. Sony provides better passive sealing with stock tips and sits tighter in ears, while stock Airpods Pro tips aren't very tight in comparison - but less in-ear skin irritation.

2. Despite that, Airpods stay in ears well thanks to their shape and lower weight, while Sony will bump up and down a bit more if you're running.

3. With 3rd party memory foam tips Airpods are superior in fit, tightness, passive noise isolation, comfort and ANC performance for all frequencies. It's a game changer for APP, at least for me. And still more comfortable - I think Sony caused slight skin irritation due to micromovements inside the ears due to being heavier and longer.

Controls:

1. You actually can set-up Sony to adjust volume up with a tap and down with a hold, but you have to sacrifice play/stop or mode switching for that. So I ended up not doing it.
I wish there was another option for it, like a swipe along stem gesture.

2. Sony voice announcements when connecting, disconnecting and changing modes are long and annoying, and you don't know which mode you're in after disabling them. Sometimes it's not easy to distinguish between certain modes depending on the environment. APP has different short chimes for everything.

3. Double tap and triple tap gestures on Sony don't work 100% of the time.

4. Apple wins with overall control convenience and reliability.

Quality:

1. Music quality is similar, and both are very good. I'm picky when it comes to SQ, but not an audiophile, and I'm happy with both.

2. Transparent mode is better on Airpods. Sony has different frequency response and doesn't feel natural.

3. Call quality on Sony is absolutely horrendous and is a massive dealbreaker for me. Not only the mic is almost unusable - this is a well known issue even with over-ears WH-1000XM3 - you also hear voice distortion during calls. Checked with multiple devices. Whenever the mic is used, you lose most of the ANC performance and headphones go into forced transparency mode. In most cases, it's letting more outside noise than with passive isolation only making calls harder.

4. APP call quality is probably the best outside of dedicated conference headsets.

Usability issues:

1. Sony is prone to serious BT connection issues. One earpiece randomly disconnecting, issues with connecting to another device, etc.

2. APP don't go as loud on my Note 5 (Android) as on other devices when playing music and it can't be fixed with developer options like "disable absolute volume". Calls are loud though.

3. You need a device with recent iOS to enable 3rd mode on APP (when both ANC and transparency are off), otherwise you can use them with Android phone out of the box.

4. I noticed rare micro-stutters on Airpods Pro + Note 5 during music playback which seems to be caused by BT connection stability, same for two pairs of Airpods on 2B588 fw. It's like a few clicks for a fraction of a second that sound like static noise. Happens once every 10 minutes or so. No issues with iPhone / iPad / Win10 laptop / Macbook Pro, so I think it's my phone's problem mainly. I might not be hearing it on Sony due to a larger buffer.

5. Proprietary tips are a pain, but my 3rd party memory foam tips for APP turned out to be normal tips with plastic adapters that work with other tips. Problem solved!

6. Battery case for APP is so much smaller. But also more slippery.

7. Sony can be disassembled and re-assembled by end user for battery replacement. Not easy, but possible.

What foam tips are you using with your APP?

 

[maratus]

What foam tips are you using with your APP?

Dubea tips with dust screen from Amazon. I use L size and the case closes fine.

 

[maratus]

So after a few days the tips began to disintegrate. Inner rubber rings simply detached from the foam making them useless. I'll try to glue them back on, but for the price it's just ridiculous. The SQ, fit and isolation was great though

 

[bobeau]

1. Sony provides better passive sealing with stock tips and sits tighter in ears, while stock Airpods Pro tips aren't very tight in comparison - but less in-ear skin irritation.

FWIW, Airpods are vented to relieve ear pressure, so they're not really meant to naturally have passive iso.

 

[nanaholic]

FWIW, Airpods are vented to relieve ear pressure, so they're not really meant to naturally have passive iso.

Which is irrelevant as the Sony's are vented as well, which is why they were not rated for water resistance.

So apples to apples, the Sony simply has better passive isolation plus a better selection of eartips included in the box than the AirPods Pro, and a lot of that has to do with how the Sony were designed to be more deeply inserted into the ear canal than the AirPods Pro as well.

 

[bobeau]

Which is irrelevant as the Sony's are vented as well, which is why they were not rated for water resistance.

Source? I searched and found no reference to this, and having owned both, there is def more pressure/seal between the two. They're not rated for water resistance because they're not sealed in a way that allows it.

 

[nanaholic]

Source? I searched and found no reference to this, and having owned both, there is def more pressure/seal between the two. They're not rated for water resistance because they're not sealed in a way that allows it.

The massive hole next to the Sony logo on the outside is the opening for the ANC microphone - which is exactly the same design as the AirPod Pro's black grill on the outside as you need a opening for an external microphone to pick up environmental noise to get ANC to work in the first place. That's where the ventilation also goes and why you don't get a perfect seal for water resistance as the earbud is not designed with separate water tight chambers, pushing the Sony in will have to lead to air escape from those vents just by pure gas mechanics alone because the entire device is not sealed - however as the foam in the sound nozzle in the Sony is quite dense, it may just trap more gas and create a tighter seal than the Airpods Pros which are very lose with its (in comparison) very large opening metal grills both on the unit itself and the silicon eartips.

You can see the blow out construction of the Sony here: https://www.phileweb.com/news/d-av/image.php?id=47836&row=8

Having owned both before it's obvious the Sony's are just designed to be deep inserted and to have a better seal (not full seal as it is vented) whereas the Airpod Pros are designed to be just hanging more on the outside, that's the main reason for the difference in comfort in wearing.

 

[bobeau]

Yes, there is a grill on the Sony's, but I'm not seeing anything in that blowup that shows a physical passthrough. The grill appears to only be there for ANC mic.

The Airpod Pros literally have a pressure relieve valve, it's in the design and is noted by Apple and in various reviews.

https://www.apple.com/airpods-pro/specs/

"Vent system for pressure equalization"

IOW, the APs literally leak outside noise in regardless of quality of seal. They're designed to be used w/ ANC on if you need any meaningful sound iso.

 

[nanaholic]

It just means Apple is better with its PR wordings.

Again, the blow out shows the Sony design is not water and air chambered as all the components just sits in a single piece housing - so by its very nature the device is vented when you have a giant hole on the outside that is directly connected to the sound nozzle in the inside and the internals are not sealed for complete vacuum or for water resistance. Sony just don't make a big deal out of something that is obvious.

 

[bobeau]

There absolutely is no evidence that the outside vent physically passes air through the inside chamber and lack of water resistance only indicates the electronics are not sealed, nothing more. You can choose to believe what you want, but I'm fairly certain having used both units that the Sony is not vented.

 

[nanaholic]

There absolutely is no evidence that the outside vent physically passes air through the inside chamber and lack of water resistance only indicates the electronics are not sealed, nothing more. You can choose to believe what you want, but I'm fairly certain having used both units that the Sony is not vented.

It's not possible for it to be not sealed and not vented at the same time, that's simply mechanically impossible. Again the outside hole is directly linked to the same chamber which also connects to the sound nozzle as you can see in the blow out.

I've owned both models at the same time and compared them for over a month before letting go of the Sony's (for feature reasons, not sound, because I use an iPhone, and Airpods just integrates better and has much less latency issues), I can say for certain that the tight seal feel of the Sony is not due to lack of ventilation but because the Sony is designed to be more deeply inserted than the Airpods Pro. I own enough IEMs and custom IEMs to know the difference between a deep insert and not - the Sony's feels more like a custom IEM where as the Airpods are closer to earphones than IEMs when it comes to the depth of the insertion. In fact, the seal of the Airpods are so loose I even doubt any sort of ventilation is even necessary or it is simply a buzz word the PR team puts in.