Five days ago I jumped on the old Apple wagon and decided to splurge on a brand new pair of Apples “AirPods Pro” bluetooth earbuds. Below is my video review and unboxing result. Continue after the video for a synopsis.
Cutting to the chase, my overall rating is a B+. The noise cancelling feature works well, but it’s not amazing. The transparency mode is very cool. The comfort level is decent, Apple includes three sizes for the silicone ear buds. For me, my left ear has some issues with a tight fit, so if I don’t get it seated perfectly the noise cancellation feature doesn’t work as well.
If you’re looking for the best earphones for noise cancelling, I would look into the over the ear Bose headphones or another top of the line over the ear set. If you are looking for the best noise cancelling ear buds with a small form factor, get the Apple AirPods Pro.
The first time I used Transparency mode I could hear my kids playing and talking to each other from multiple rooms away, it’s pretty neat. I can see this as being valuable for when you are riding a bike or motorcycle (calls and GPS directions from your phone) or walking the streets. Today I notice many people who are unaware of cars and others when their headphones are on, Transparency mode would help this and I believe keep people safer and more aware of their surroundings while still allowing them to hear music, make phone calls, listen to navigation, etc.
The one gripe I have with Apple on these is that when you record video with the iPhone, the phone recording does NOT USE THE MIC ON THE AIRPODS! WTF Apple! I believe Apple is missing a huge demographic of vloggers who want to use AirPods while recording video on their iOs devices. Right now people jump through hoops to provide good audio in vlogging, such as recording on multiple devices, using a Lav mic, wired mics using a lightning dongle, and more. If Apple just updated the video app on the phone to use the connected bluetooth mic, it would solve this. Luckily there is an after market app named “MoviePro” on the app store that allows you to do this, but you have to pay $10 for the app.
Overall I would recommend spending the $250 if you have money to drop, if you are on a budget, look for the previous AirPods model which is dropping in price.