| Preview | Product | |
|---|---|---|
|
Apple AirPods (2nd Generation) Wireless Ear Buds, Bluetooth Headphones with Lightning Charging Case... | Buy on Amazon |
|
Apple AirPods Pro | Buy on Amazon |
The Apple Airpods are among the most unique earphones ever made in quite a long time. The Apple Airpods Pro introduces better features and more ergonomic treats that improve your overall listening. Whether it is watching your favorite movies or listening to your favorite playlist on Spotify, the Airpods are great to use. However, is it worth buying the 2nd edition or should you just stick to the old one?
What Made the Airpods Great
- HIGH-QUALITY SOUND — Powered by the Apple H1 headphone chip, AirPods (2nd generation) deliver rich, vivid sound.
- EFFORTLESS SETUP — After a simple one-tap setup, AirPods are automatically on and always connected. They sense when they’re in your ears and pause when you take them out. And sound seamlessly switches between your iPhone, Apple Watch, Mac, iPad, and Apple TV.
- VOICE CONTROL WITH SIRI — Just say “Hey Siri” for assistance without having to reach for your iPhone.
- 24-HOUR BATTERY LIFE — More than 24 hours total listening time with the Charging Case.
- AUDIO SHARING — Easily share audio between two sets of AirPods on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV.
Instead of just being a wireless version of the old Apple earpods, they’ve added new ways to make listening much better. Obviously, there are no more wires involved. Instead, these are two separate pieces of earphones that connect in unison to a device through Bluetooth. It uses the latest connection so latency is down to the very minimum, resulting in a seamless listening experience in which the video is in sync with the audio. It also pairs quickly with the Mac, iTunes and other Apple-related devices.
Another trait that the Airpods have is the ergonomics. If the old earpods just hook in your ears, these require you to plug them inside the ear thoroughly. This may be a preference for many, but as for someone who doesn’t like the plug type earphones, the Airpods are an exception. They’re so light inside the ears, it does not feel irritating at all.
So, where do you keep the ear pieces? The Airpods have a dock where you put them in. But, instead of just being a pouch for earphones, they also serve as portable charging stations, which makes it convenient to bring your Airpods around despite the pieces being only 3 hours. After all, it only takes a few minutes to finish charging.
There are, however, some issues with the pair. One of the most prevalent is that many people do not like its its overall price and the separate pricing of an additional wire. Nobody likes cut content but for those that are desperate for a wired connection or convenient wireless earphones, these do very well. Another is the lag between the device and the earphones. While it runs properly at full battery, the Airpods show their weakness through the terrible delays between video and audio once it runs under low battery. While the earphones do feel light inside the ears, the controls are tough. To switch to a song or pause / play music, you will need to squeeze the right stem of the earphones and doing so is quite tough. Lastly, connecting the Airpods to the phone is very long too. Too long, in fact, that you would rather use a Bluetooth headphones instead.
Overall, it mostly received good review from critics but not much of a favorable choice among people. So, Apple claimed they listened to the people and improved upon the device to make a more accessible and convenient pair of earphones.
Improving Upon the Original
- Active noise cancellation for immersive sound
- Transparency mode for hearing and connecting with the world around you
- Three sizes of soft, tapered silicone tips for a customizable fit
- Sweat and water resistant
- Adaptive EQ automatically tunes music to the shape of your ear
Not long after, Apple released the latest edition a year later: the Airpods Pro. Claimed to be the “new standard of earphones”, the Airpods 2 outsold the original Airpods within just a month. This is all partly because of the many rave reviews and the overall convenience of the pair.
So, what makes it different from the older one? First of all, you can now communicate with Siri with just a double-tap of a finger. By popular demand, the squeeze controls of the Airpods Pro became lighter and more convenient for everybody. The fit of the earpieces inside the ears have not changed but the audio quality is much clearer than its previous iteration with better bass and treble too. The overall battery life of the pieces has also been increased, with faster charging times and an overall 24 hour battery life for the casing. The latency has also been lowered to just 30%, allowing better reception between audio and video. Fortunately, it launched with the same price as the original Airpods.
Why the Airpods Pro is Better than the Original
In more ways than one, you can tell why people are happier with the second one. It improves upon everything wrong from the first Airpods and used them as an advantage to make a better version. Now, it sets the standard for high-quality listening in wireless proportions. Bluetooth has never looked this good. As of right now, it is $159 average price.
I recommend buying the brand-new Airpods Pro because it is the only version available now in Apple stores. If you still insist on the older Airpods, you can only buy the second-hand ones. Then again, why would you when you can go one that is faster, lighter, and more convenient than how it was first launched.
