Apple AirPods Pro 2 review: As a cheapskate, I hate myself for loving these pricey earbuds (2024)

Here's the fastest Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) earbuds review on the internet: Yep, they're a little bit better than the first-generation AirPods Pro. See ya, thanks for reading! Hang on, my boss says I have to say more things. OK: AirPods Pro are Apple's noise-canceling wireless earbuds, by all accounts one of the best products in their class (and a high-ranking member of Engadget's best wireless earbuds list). The second-generation version, released in 2022 (and updated in 2023 with USB-C charging to match the iPhone 15), builds on that with a few incremental improvements — nothing you can't live without, but all very nice to have.

Indeed, it might be more accurate to describe these as AirPods Pro 1.5, though the USB-C case update helps make the, er, case for a 2.0 designation. Either way I'm not convinced that first-gen owners need to upgrade, but if you're shopping for wireless earbuds and don't mind paying a premium, you can't go wrong. Here's my AirPods Pro 2 review.

Read more: The best AirPods Pro alternatives priced $100 or less

Before we dive in, a quick note about AirPods Pro 2 pricing: Apple lists them at $249, but for some time they've been routinely discounted at stores like Amazon, Best Buy and Target. At this writing, for example, you can order them from Amazon for $199, which has been the "sale" price for the bulk of 2024 (and a good chunk of 2023). During the holiday season and events like Prime Day, the price tag was more often around $190. Bottom line: Do not pay list price.

AirPods Pro, 2nd generation: What's new?

It's hard to tell the 2nd-gen AirPods Pro apart from their predecessors. Save for a tiny new sensor on top, they're nearly identical. As before — to paraphrase Henry Ford — you can have them in any color you want, as long as it's white.

Fit is super-important for any earbuds, so Apple expanded the three silicone ear-tip options to include a fourth, extra-small, size. I've always found the pre-installed medium tips to be the right fit for me, but my wife is happier with the next size down. The key is to make sure you get a really good seal when you wiggle the earbuds into your ears; be prepared to experiment with the different tip sizes to find that optimal placement. Thankfully, a newly added "ear-tip test" will help you do exactly that.

The charging case is the same size as before, but now has a small speaker embedded in the bottom. That's so you can hear beeps when activating the Find My feature on your iPhone, which is helpful if the case goes missing. You can charge it via a USB-C cable (the Lightning version has been discontinued), a MagSafe or Qi charging pad, or (and this is new) an Apple Watch charger. Apple promises up to six hours of listening time on a charge, an hour longer than 1st-gen AirPods Pro, and up to 30 hours total via the case (a six-hour improvement).

The earbuds themselves have the same single-control button embedded along each stem, but now it's touch-sensitive — you can swipe up or down to raise or lower volume. That's a welcome addition, though it's a little awkward: You can't help but graze your ear at the same time, especially when you swipe up. It feels like part of your ear is in the way.

The major news here is Apple's "next-level" active noise canceling (ANC), which is not only "smarter," thanks to a new H2 chip, but also "up to two times more powerful." Promises like these are challenging to bear out; I consider the 1st-gen AirPods Pro virtually unrivaled when it comes to ANC, so it's hard to say the new ones are twice as good.

Similarly, it's tough to test the upgraded Adaptive Transparency mode, which allows you to hear external sounds (an important safety feature for outdoor activities like jogging) but aims to minimize the intensity of things like sirens and machinery. This might prove valuable for someone who lives in a bustling big city, but here in the suburbs, it's not much of a value-add. For what it's worth, I tried playing a loud siren sound on YouTube and noticed no meaningful reduction. Your mileage may vary.

I do like the upgraded in-ear detection, which solves a problem with the original AirPods Pro: If you stuck them in your pocket, they'd probably think they were in your ears and resume playback. Here, a new sensor actually detects skin (!), so false readings are much less likely.

AirPods Pro, 2nd generation: How do they sound?

In a word: superb. I've tested a lot of wireless earbuds, and the new AirPods Pro are not only among the most comfortable for long-term wear, but also some of the best-sounding. I'm no fidelity snob; I tend to be pretty satisfied even when listening to budget earbuds like the Baseus Bowie MA10. But with the AirPods Pro, music sounds rich, detailed and perfectly balanced. Chalk it up to Apple's Adaptive EQ or any number of other factors; my jaded ears are impressed.

Of course, I felt that way about the 1st-gen AirPods Pro; I'm not sure there's an order-of-magnitude improvement here. Similarly, Apple's spatial-audio improvements — which employ the iPhone's camera to scan your ears (!) and adjust the sound accordingly — are a bit lost on me. Make no mistake, spatial audio was already a cool feature: When you're watching, say, a Netflix video on your phone, it keeps the sound "fixed" in front of you, even when you turn your head. It's hardly essential, but definitely neat. Does the new "custom geometry" created by the ear scan make spatial audio noticeably better? Not that I've noticed. I wasn't able to test the feature on a group FaceTime call, which Apple says will sound "like you're in the same room with friends and family." (Wait, are we sure we even want that?)

AirPods are also superb for phone calls, something to consider if you like to walk and talk or you spend a lot of time in Zoom meetings.

AirPods Pro, 2nd generation: Not quite perfect

I do have a few nitpicks. First, although the updated charging case has holes for adding a wrist-strap lanyard, Apple doesn't include one. That's pretty annoying, since it would probably cost the company pennies to toss one in the box. As it stands, you can buy a multicolor lanyard 10-pack for around $6.

Second, one mystifying issue remains: The case's front LED lights up orange when connected to power, but then it goes dark after a few seconds. Want to know the charging status? You have to tap or open the case to make the LED come on again. This wouldn't be a big deal if, say, the LED turned green when charging was complete, but it doesn't. There's literally no indication that it's actively charging or finished charging. This makes zero sense to me.

AirPods Pro, 2nd generation: Should you buy them?

Like many Apple products these days, the new AirPods Pro bring only incremental improvements to the table. That's not necessarily a bad thing, not when the previous version was already a winner. The updated earbuds offer slightly better battery life, slightly improved noise-management capabilities and a couple of charging-case tweaks. It's not so much icing on the cake as sprinkles on the icing.

My take: If you already own 1st-generation AirPods Pro, there's no compelling reason to upgrade. You've lived without volume touch-controls this long.

However, if you're trying to decide between AirPods Pro and another set of wireless earbuds, I can definitely recommend the former — especially to iPhone owners. (Android users are likely to be disappointed; although AirPods can pair with an Android phone, many of the best features aren't available.) Much of the AirPods' "secret sauce" lies in integration: Siri for hands-free voice commands, Find My to locate lost 'buds, the iPhone lock screen for battery status and more. Just as the Apple Watch is the best smartwatch for iPhone users, AirPods Pro are arguably the best earbuds.