Okay everyone, here's my Airpods Pro Review after about a week of use (sorry for the crazy long review but I had a lot to say lol):
Going to go through everything in full, but wanted to start by saying that this was definitely a particularly interesting product to review. I do want to credit Apple for making a much improved product from their previous Airpods (which I really disliked), but then again those came out 3 years ago and as such a part of me was hoping for something that was significantly better, especially when you factor in the $250 price point. The one thing I can say is that these are probably going to work for a lot of people and I have to say that there are certain things about them that I absolutely love. On the other hand, in terms of pure sound quality, Apple has done some really weird and arguably cool things that make the Airpods Pro almost trick you into thinking you're listening to something that is better than what it actually is. Anyway, sorry for the tangent, let me begin:
Sound Quality: The sound signature of the Airpods Pro is best described as coherent. All the frequencies fit together very well, with a slight emphasis on bass and mids. What this does is that when you're just walking around listening to them without paying too much attention, or playing music while reading something, working, or while at the gym, it allows music to sit pleasantly and almost comfortingly in the background of your life. As I will get into, however, upon closer listen there are some issues that reveal themselves which prevent the Airpods Pro from achieving that true hi-fi sound quality that many on this thread (myself included) crave in our portable audio.
Bass: The bass on the Airpods Pro is actually not bad at all. It's not super powerful, but extends very low with a bit of roll off that only occurs near the absolute bottom of the frequency range. The low-bass is also not too sloppy, has very little distortion, and is on the tighter side of things, though it sometimes lacks that "epic" feel - it does not always provide that enveloping experience that some TWS like the E12 Ultra, MW07+, Sennheiser MTW, and even MPOW T5 can provide. The mid-bass is solid though in my opinion and adds a nice, non-offensive punch that some TWS like the Tevis can lack. One excellent feature of the bass here is that they never bleed into the other frequency ranges. On the other hand, there's a weirdness here that pops up if you listen for it. There's a bit of a lack of consistency in the tonal quality of the bass as it descends from the mid-bass range into the lower-bass region. It kind of loses it's attack the deeper it goes. While not a big deal and not something you'll normally notice, it adds to that sense of strangeness that exists in the sound quality on the Airpods Pro. All in all though, bass is not bad and can definitely be improved with a slight bass-preference EQ (if you're like me and enjoy some extra warmth).
Mids: Mids on the Airpods Pro are by far its best frequency range. Let me start with vocals, which are pushed a little forward and have excellent detail and tonality. Kind of weird, but when I was listening to them for the first day or two, some higher vocal ranges had a bit of an offensive, almost compressed sounding edge to them. However, for some reason (I hesitate to say burn in?), on my third day of listening, this vocal quality had completely disappeared and vocals ended up sounding great, with some nice body and warmth to lower vocals and great clarity on higher vocals (also rappers sound great). Further, and I do have to praise Apple for this, mid-range instruments have a great timbre, which is not always easy for TWS to pull off. Horn sections, pianos, guitars, etc., all sounded natural and pretty realistic (though not quite at the level of a good set of wired IEMs). There was even some good detail on the pull of a guitar string or the attack of a cello bow. Not much to complain about here, and if you're a mid-head these should actually satisfy you to a certain extent.
Highs: This is where things got weird. Apple has done something in the highs that sort of creates the illusion of good detail retrieval, but upon closer listen there are definitely some issues. What they've done is make highs that are sometimes hidden in the background of certain tracks on some headphones or IEMs "audible" without paying much attention to their actual quality. This works for certain things, but not others. The perfect example of this is with cymbals, particularly loose cymbals. Instead of making a nice crisp "tss" sound, on certain tracks the Airpods Pro make more of a "sshh" sound. While this occurs on other TWS and doesn't always sound that bad, on the Airpods it can sound a little grainy because the actual detail of the cymbal hit is not really there. I don't want to get too into the weeds, but this happens with a few other sounds in the high-frequency range and can make some tracks feel weird or kind of artificial sounding. It's not always there and seems to depend a lot on how the track is produced. The thing is though that if you just have music on in the background and are not closely listening, it feels like the Airpods Pro have a good amount of high-end detail because you can at least hear everything. This is a bit of a trick of the mind that almost works, and it might actually work for some people depending on your use case. One last thing I'll say on the highs is that some in the upper register can be pushed further back in the mix than they are on other TWS sets, whereas some mid-highs are pushed more forward and come off a little bright though never harsh. At the end of the day though, the highs provide an overall impression of clarity though lag behind a bit in actual quality.
Soundstage/Imaging: As is true for most TWS, the soundstage on the Airpods Pro is not wide at all. At the same time though, the imaging is definitely above-average. While I wouldn't call the imaging pinpoint accurate, it definitely does a good job of placing instruments in different locations within the mix, providing a good sense of separation. Also, even though they lack width, there's some height to the sound, with certain instruments feeling like they are above other instruments. Not a bad job, but not great if you like a wide soundstage. When things get busy they can sometimes sound a little closed in.
Overall, regarding the sound I'd say this: If you really like mids then you'll really like these, and the bass on most tracks ranges from above-average to solid despite lack of consistency in the deep bass region. If you need accuracy and precision in your highs though, I would consider looking elsewhere. You'll hear the highs, but if you listen closely you might not like what you hear.
Look/Fit: Now I was never a huge fan of how the Airpods looked even when compared to other TWS on the market. These look a bit better in the ear due to the smaller stem, and obviously you get way cooler as a person when you walk around outside with them. Huge personality boost lol. Fit is absolutely fantastic for me. I got small ears and these just feel great, they never fell out even while playing basketball, and I could wear them for a really long time without discomfort. Love how they just sit nicely in the ear without putting pressure anywhere.
Extra Features: Okay I think we need to take a step back just for a second and realize how dope technology is now. We're all like jaded already by ANC on earbuds, but seriously this is an incredible thing that companies are managing to pull off on such tiny pieces of hardware. And on the Airpods Pro, the ANC is absolutely no gimmick. It's definitely superior to the MW07+ and maybe slightly less strong than the Sony's, but it's definitely close to the best on the market particularly when considering how small and light these things are. Continuous noises such as subway rumble, bus noise, and passing traffic are close to eliminated, and they do a much better job than the MW07+ at drowning out people talking around you, particularly when you are in a busy area and the talking becomes a continuous bustle. This is a killer feature and has allowed me to play my music and podcasts at lower volumes than I normally do, and work great when paired with phone calls. Now to the transparency mode. I never used to care or even think about transparency mode before. With other TWS, I would just take out an earpod if I needed to talk with someone and this did not seem like a hassle at all. Here though, with how easy it is to activate, I find myself using it all the time and it's by far the best I've heard. It allows you basically to interact with and hear everything around you as if you weren't wearing earbuds, but also have something going on in the background, though you do have to reduce the volume a bit to achieve this effect. I've actually grown to enjoy this feature quite a bit. Also the squeeze controls are really intuitive once you get used to them. Lack of volume control is a miss here, but I have no shame so I just use always-on Siri, which also works quickly and seamlessly on iOS.
Battery: Battery life is solid, though nothing special. I got around 5.5 hours with ANC on. The great thing about them though is that the case has some of the fastest charging I've experienced on TWS. You literally pop them in for around 5 minutes and they go from dead to like 30% (which is around 1.5 hours of use). Definitely sufficient for my use.
Case: One of the best cases on any TWS hands down for me. I love the size. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do when I use other earbuds with a case that doesn't fit into the small pocket within my jeans pocket. It's just so damn convenient. Also, it feels quite durable and is very smudge and scratch resistant. I've already dropped it a few times and it doesn't show a scratch. The one sometimes annoying thing about it is that it's quite slippery in the hands, so drops are happening more than with other TWS I have, and the case just pops open and the earbuds fly out when you drop them, so seems like a bit of a recipe for losing your earphones very easily if dropped on the street. Gotta be very careful with these.
Microphone/Calls: Calls on your end are great particularly with noise cancelling on. Calls on the other end also seem great, and I've gotten zero complaints walking around NYC even when it gets noisy. Great mic quality. Probably among the best out there.
Connectivity: Zero connectivity issues with my iPhone. Did not try with Android. A couple weird hiccups when connecting with my Windows laptop so I do think it prefers iOS devices. Still, it switches back and forth from my phone to laptop quite easily. Also the actual bluetooth transmission quality with respect to the music does seem better on these than the MW07+, though not totally easy to tell. It really does suck that the MW07+ don't have AAC. Just as a business decision, I really don't get how M&D could release a premium product that doesn't work as best as it possibly could with with Apple products. I'm not going to harp to much on that though bc the MW07+ still sound way better than the Airpod Pros.
Conclusion: While I will say that I wanted more out of the sound quality (perhaps even much more given the price), I'm also definitely keeping these. Though they won't be my only pair of TWS, I know for a fact that I'll be able to find use cases for them in my everyday life. If you're just going to buy one pair of TWS and you want the best sound quality that money can buy, these are not for you. However, two of the main benefits of TWS are convenience and comfort, and the Airpods Pro are the absolute best in those two categories. It's feature set is also near the top, and in my opinion works the best considering how small these things are. Meanwhile, sound quality is decent, though not spectacular, and benefits from some slight bass-favor EQ. Overall, if you really like mid-range focused IEMs and want a TWS that delivers that signature in a super convenient and well-featured package then these are definitely for you.
