Review: Apple AirPods Pro

Image source: https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/product/MWP22ZM/A/airpods-pro

Having tried out Apple’s super-premium set of ‘truly wireless’ earbuds for a week or so, I thought it would be good to put fingers to keyboard, and write a summary of my thoughts regarding them. Call it a review (or not) if you like, but I think considering what value something is providing for you after 7-10 days of usage, is a good time to be looking at things....!

First, the cost - for me (and I know everyone has a different threshold/tolerance), is on the edge of, if not over, what I would consider to spend on a set of earbuds, regardless of how good they are - there are lots of reasons for this, including:

• The longevity of these devices is likely not going to be ‘several’ years (based on what I’ve read of the first two generations of AirPods and how their batteries degrade over time)
• The likelihood of dropping (and hence damaging or losing) one or both of the AirPods is, I would suggest, ‘quite high’ (factor in your own level of clumsiness; mine is medium-high...)
• There are several other earbuds on the market that perform well, for much less money (even around the £100 mark)
• £250 is a lot of money. Period.

Apple has long had a habit (consider recently with the iPhone X, XS, and 11) of pushing the boundaries of what people are willing to pay, and some would argue even gone too far (if the analysts are correct with the statement that the cheaper XR outsold the XS/XS Max by a significant volume) - but that hasn’t stopped them in this instance seeing what people might be prepared to pay for a set of ‘premium’ earbuds. Interestingly, Apple already had a decent reference for premium headphone price-points in their own sub-brand Beats, which has been the purveyor of design-centric, bass-heavy, expensive in-ear and over-ear headphones for some time now. But here’s the thing - the Beats Powerbeats Pro (a pretty close analog to the AirPods Pro) ARE CHEAPER than the AirPods Pro! Granted, they meet a slightly different criterion use-case wise (i.e. even more sport-centric), but, they are also a full £30 cheaper than the AirPods Pro!

Second, and importantly when you are considering the ‘cost-value’ equation, what value do the AirProd Pros bring? Well, they expand on the solid start that Apple made in the ‘Truly Wireless’ earbud space with the AirPods 1 & 2, by adding some key additions:

• better seal in the ear - largely due to a silicon tip now protruding from the end of the earbud
• refined audio - higher quality experience, due in part at least to the silicon tip
• smaller design - less ‘pasta in your ear’ and more like ‘cutting-edge tech this year’

But the BIG feature, the one that everyone has been super-excited about, is ANC - or Active Noise Cancellation. This feature, which is only deployed in a few other premium Truly Wireless Earbuds, is the thing that is going to transform how the next wave of Earbuds perform. In essence, it allows blocking out (or conversely, allowing in, in transparency mode) of environmental sound, by piping in additional ‘white noise’ that is the reverse audio profile of the environmental sound - thus effectively cancelling it out. And Apple has implemented this like a champ, with a superb solution on both the blocking front, and also when in transparency mode.

That’s not to say its perfect, because it isn’t - it works well on continuous low-level noises (think airplane engines, traffic), but not so well on a singular peak noise at a given point. It also isn’t 100% blocking - don’t think you’ll be getting quite the same experience as an over-ear headphone with ANC implemented. But, for what it is, it’s VERY good indeed! And Apple seems to have dealt at least partially with the one big issue is created with ANC solutions, which is that they drain the battery of the device due to their active nature - a potential big problem when you have a physically small battery, like in the AirPods Pro. But, you’re still get around 4 hours before needing a charge, even with ANC on!  

So what is Apple trying to achieve with the AirPods Pro (apart from trying to swell their already huge bank balance further)? Well, I think it has a combination of short-term and medium/longer-term thoughts in mind:

• First, Apple is doing very well in the peripherals/accessories areas that are associated with the iOS devices - depending on which report you read, Apple Watch is the best-selling Smartwatch, and AirPods of various generations have led to huge sales for Apple globally. So what not release the next model in the series, and make a ton more money?
• Second, in developing these products, it allows Apple to finance the work they are doing on refining their hardware and software techniques for things like wearable designs, computing efficiency, (small) battery usage, and suchlike 
• But thirdly, and most importantly, it continues to lay the groundwork for Apple’s move into the next computing paradigm: that of Spatial computing. In this next wave of computing, we won’t carry a Laptop, or potentially even an iPad - we’ll have (at first) a series of devices/components that talk to each other, and have connectivity on to networks - and crucially, interact with us as users, very differently. The Apple Watch already captures a ton of biometric information about us, the AirPods are starting to move in to the audio-interaction path, and if we believe that Apple are design Smart glasses, then this will be the next step or two in the process of creating wearable compute components that will be intimately integrated in to our lives. For the time being, we’ll need an ‘onboard hub’ or computer to handle the edge-processing, but (almost) all of us already carry a portable supercomputer: its called an iPhone!

So in conclusion, does it make sense now to purchase a pair of AirPod Pros? Well, if you like high-quality audio, and have ‘cash to splash’, then sure, why not - after all, you get some industry-leading design and features thrown in as well. You’re even buying into the development track that Apple has for the next wave of computing in our lives. But if like me you consider £250 to be a lot of money, and you’re worried about dropping one of the AirPods, maybe its wise to try them on in a store first - or even wait for inevitable offers that some retailers will do with them, either in bundles or various cyber-sales.....!