Airpods Pro 2

[Peluvius]

Well Airpods Pro 2 are announced as heavily rumoured. Not promoting a new high res capability, just Bluetooth® 5.3, "Adaptive Transparency" and claiming twice as effective noise cancellation. I am bit disappointed actually, I use buds quite a bit through my day and would be keen to see these with improved audio capability. I am still up for a set in any case to check out this claim in some of their marketing material:

"A custom-built driver and amplifier work with the H2 chip to provide lower distortion during playback, so you’ll hear deeper bass and crisper highs — across all volume levels."

 

[Kevbaz]

I’m looking forward to how they measure on frequency response and distortion.
Nothing in the announcement today made me think they will be a dramatic improvement in sound quality though.
The special audio thing where you take a photo of your head/ear is interesting for customised special audio?
Looks like I will be sticking with my JBL Club Pros for now, or maybe upgrade to the Samsung buds 2 pro.
Kev

 

[Peluvius]

I’m looking forward to how they measure on frequency response and distortion.
Nothing in the announcement today made me think they will be a dramatic improvement in sound quality though.
The special audio thing where you take a photo of your head/ear is interesting for customised special audio?
Looks like I will be sticking with my JBL Club Pros for now, or maybe upgrade to the Samsung buds 2 pro.
Kev

There was a rumour that they would be announcing a new streaming codec to achieve something approaching lossless. The H2 chip may still have that capability and they are still ironing out the bugs, unclear. The spacial audio sounds very similar to the Sony gimmick (you also take photos of your ear). I either never got it to work properly or it is simply a novelty. Sounded weird to me (on the Sonys).

The Airpods work for me since I am well and truly in the Apple techniverse (is that a thing?), so they work seamlessly with other Apple tech. I would not go for them if I was not.

 

[sushi2020]

I ordered one.
Honestly, I don't expect any improvement in sound quality.

I am hoping that crinacle will measure it soon.

 

[Peluvius]

I ordered one.
Honestly, I don't expect any improvement in sound quality.

I am hoping that crinacle will measure it soon.

I'll give my impressions after the 23rd, when they are due to arrive.

 

[soundwave76]

Ordered mine. I do expect a leap in sound quality.

 

[Dimifoot]

I only use my AirPods for music when traveling. Planes, boats trains etc.
If noise cancellation is 2x better as mentioned, this will result in massive improvement in sound quality, since external noise will be drastically reduced. Even if everything else remains as it was.

 

[Peluvius]

I only use my AirPods for music when traveling. Planes, boats trains etc.
If noise cancellation is 2x better as mentioned, this will result in massive improvement in sound quality, since external noise will be drastically reduced. Even if everything else remains as it was.

And there is a new low-distortion driver and a custom amplifier which sounds promising. If they can come close to my Sony XM4s I wont have to carry both sets around any more..

 

[MayaTlab]

And there is a new low-distortion driver and a custom amplifier which sounds promising.

The THD from the original APP was already probably lower than audible at all frequencies anyway. The two main areas of interest I think in terms of SQ will be whether or not Apple has managed to lower the noise floor when ANC / transparency are activated and whatever they've done to reach a desirable FR in as many people's ears as possible, which I'm skeptical is easy to do past 800-1kHz.

 

[Peluvius]

Warning......I have been waiting for these and so wanted to love them I might be totally skewed in terms of my personal and subjective account :

Well I have been playing with these new toys all day and I love them. They are significantly better sounding that the 1st Gen set and marginally better to me than the Sony XM4s that I have been using for the last year or so. Not as good as my Tin Hifi3 wired set by a decent margin though, clearly still a big difference there.

The standard tips (medium) that come attached in the packet, fit my ear this time round, the last gen tips did not fit at all. I can run the fit test now and have it confirm a "good fit". The Stem volume control is great and very convenient once you get used to it and I am using it after a few hours as though it has always been that way.

The connection to Phone & Mac is almost instant as soon as you put them in, and faster than the 1st Gen.

I much prefer the "spacial audio" feature on fixed setting and it significantly improves the focus of the soundstage and tightens everything up.

My listening has been with noise reduction on and the spacial audio active. No further EQ (yet). On a Macbook pro 14 with Apple Music and iPhone 13 Pro (sound the same on either).

I usually don't leave wireless buds in to listen to music as I get tired of the sound but I have been happy to leave these in for a few albums straight so either the novelty is keeping them in there or they just sound that much better.

If Apple can get something lossless going here it would be outstanding.

Anyone else been having fun with theirs today?

 

[Eetu]

Crinacle has the first AirPods Pro 2 measurements out:

https://crinacle.com/graphs/iems/apple-airpods-pro-2/

 

[sushi2020]

I got mine today.
I didn't have a great impression about their SQ, but it was good that the pressure of their ANC was less than the 1st Gen.

According to crinacle's graph, compared to the 1st Gen, they have lost some of the smoothness in the high, but have been improved in the low.

In-Ear Fidelity – IEM Graph Comparison Tool

Easily compare industry-standard frequency response measurements of hundreds and hundreds of IEMs.

crinacle.com

Now I'm trying to figure out which EQ preset would be the best for the 2nd Gen.
So far, I personally like "Acoustic".
https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...e-music-eq-presets-what-are-they-doing.25588/

 

[Music1969]

A bit of an improvement over Gen 1

News Samsungs are better but if you're in iOS universe and use Spatial Audio, gotta stick with Airpods

 

[abdo123]

Don't the headphones have some gentle EQ settings like the Airpod Max?

 

[soundwave76]

Just got mine and the first impressions are REALLY good. I don't have iOS 16 installed yet though so apparently I am missing some features. I agree that the ANC 'pressure' is not bad at all. I have tinnitus and sensitive ears to ANC and these seem very comfortable. Need to listen to these longer of course.

 

[soundwave76]

...I also have the Airpods Max and I think that these just might be better. Tomorrow more testing maybe with the iOS 16 installed.

 

[Peluvius]

I got mine today.
I didn't have a great impression about their SQ, but it was good that the pressure of their ANC was less than the 1st Gen.

According to crinacle's graph, compared to the 1st Gen, they have lost some of the smoothness in the high, but have been improved in the low.

In-Ear Fidelity – IEM Graph Comparison Tool

Easily compare industry-standard frequency response measurements of hundreds and hundreds of IEMs.

crinacle.com

Now I'm trying to figure out which EQ preset would be the best for the 2nd Gen.
So far, I personally like "Acoustic".
https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...e-music-eq-presets-what-are-they-doing.25588/

Have you tried the Spatial Audio feature? Is your source an Apple device?

I really like the spatial audio, either its introducing a distortion I like or it's more accurate, I have no idea which. To my ear though it brings the sound closer to the wired IED I have.

 

[Peluvius]

Don't the headphones have some gentle EQ settings like the Airpod Max?

There is still the "Slight", "Moderate", "Strong" settings for three tuning options in the "headphone Accommodations" section.

 

[abdo123]

There is still the "Slight", "Moderate", "Strong" settings for three tuning options in the "headphone Accommodations" section.

I wish crinacle measured that.

 

[G|force]

Have the 1st generation since 2017 and still use them every day. In that span of time they hold about 1/2 of the charge, or 1/2 of the duration of use compared to when they were new.

Voice call or only playing speech recordings at moderate volume, they have to go back into the case to recharge every 1 or 1.5 hour.
I'm keen for these new ones if I can listen to podcasts for 3 hours before returning to the case. SQ is not a concern for me on these, I seek duration.