Apple AirPods Pro Truly Wireless Headphones Review

The Apple AirPods Pro are just as sleek and minimalist as earlier models. The stems are now shorter, while the white silicone tips give them a premium look and feel.

The Apple AirPods Pro are quite comfortable for in-ear headphones. They come with three sizes of silicone tips and don't enter too deep into the ear canal. They're very lightweight and put no pressure on your ears, meaning they're barely noticeable.

The Apple AirPods Pro's controls are mediocre. Instead of physical buttons, they have an indented 'force sensor' on each stem. Pressing the sensor doesn't provide any tactile feedback, but the earbuds do play a sound when a command is registered. The controls are straightforward: one tap to play/pause or to answer phone calls, two taps to skip a track forward, and three taps to skip a track backward. If you hold down the controls, it activates the ANC or Siri depending on how you configure your settings. However, it can be difficult to get the long press to work. On the upside, all the controls also work on Android devices including ANC, although you can't configure them to other virtual assistants.

Like most in-ear headphones, the Apple AirPods Pro don't trap heat inside your ears, which makes them a suitable option for sports. You won’t notice a difference in temperature when wearing them and won’t sweat more than usual.

Lightweight and smaller than previous models, the Apple AirPods Pro are very portable. Their case should also fit into most pockets.

Their case is outstanding. It's extremely small and portable, measuring only slightly larger than previous models. Like the Apple AirPods 2 Truly Wireless 2019, it supports Qi wireless charging as well as charges via its Lightning port. It should protect the headphones well against minor falls and scratches, but not against water damage.

The Apple AirPods Pro have a great build quality. They're made from high-quality plastic and should be able to survive a couple of accidental drops without too much damage. Unlike the Apple AirPods 2 Truly Wireless 2019, these headphones are also rated IPX4 for water resistance, although we don't currently test for this.

These headphones have great stability. While they don't have stability fins, they shouldn't move or fall out of your ears during moderate physical exercise like running.

• Apple AirPods Pro headphones
• Charging case
• USB-C-to-Lightning cable
• 3x tip size options
• Manuals

The Apple AirPods Pro have a fairly neutral sound profile, suitable for a variety of audio content. While they struggle a bit more to produce thump and rumble, they lack less bass than the Apple AirPods 2 Truly Wireless 2019, which have an open-back design.

The Apple AirPods Pro's frequency response consistency is outstanding. Assuming you achieve a proper fit with the included tips, you should experience the same sound reproduction every time you use the headphones.

The Apple AirPods Pro's bass accuracy is excellent. Thanks to their closed-back design, they don't have low-bass issues like the Apple AirPods 1 Truly Wireless 2017 and Apple AirPods 2 Truly Wireless 2019. However, the response is still a bit under our target curve, meaning some people may feel like they're a bit light on the low-bass.

The Apple AirPods Pro have amazing mid accuracy. The reproduction of vocals and lead instruments is fairly well-balanced, although a bit over our target, especially in the low-mid range. This may sound a bit cluttered and forward, but most people likely won't notice this.

The Apple AirPods Pro have excellent treble accuracy. While it's somewhat underemphasized across the range, it's still quite even. Vocals and lead instruments may sound slightly less present or detailed, though. Sibilants like S and T sounds are a bit dull too.

These headphones have an excellent peaks and dips performance that's fairly flat and even. There's a small peak in the low-mids, which slightly clutters vocals and lead instruments. There's also a small dip between the low to mid-treble, which dulls sibilants but this shouldn't be too noticeable to most listeners.

The Apple AirPods Pro's stereo imaging is great. The group delay graph shows it's under the audibility threshold, resulting in a tight bass and treble reproduction. The L/R drivers of our unit are also well-matched in frequency, and phase response, which is important for the accurate placement and localization of objects and instruments (like voices and footsteps) in the stereo image. While there's a slight mismatch in amplitude, but most people wouldn't notice it with real-life content as it's very minor. Note that these results are only valid for our unit and yours may perform differently.

The Apple AirPods Pro have a bad passive soundstage, which is to be expected from in-ears. One important factor for creating an out-of-head and speaker-like soundstage is the activation of the outer ear by different resonances. Since in-ears bypass the outer ear altogether, their soundstage is perceived as being small and enclosed in your head. If you prefer a slightly more spacious in-ear experience, try out the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live Truly Wireless, which feature a semi-open design.

Update 03/08/2021: Thanks to a firmware update, these headphones now have a spatial audio feature. We have updated this box to better reflect this change.

The Apple AirPods Pro have a spatial audio feature but it's only available on iOS/iPadOS 14 or later. You can turn this feature on and off by going into your iPhone's Bluetooth settings. Turning this feature on also turns on head tracking, which reorients the virtual soundstage to follow your head movements. However, we don't currently test these features.

The Apple AirPods Pro's weighted harmonic distortion performance is great. This results in a clean and pure audio reproduction, and the bump in the treble range shouldn't be audible for most people. There's also no big jump under heavier loads, which is good.

These are the settings we used to test these headphones and our results are only valid using this configuration.

The noise isolation of these headphones is excellent. They perform similarly to the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds Truly Wireless in the bass range and do a great job isolating the low rumble of bus or plane engines, which makes them good for commuting. Their mid-range performance is also great, making them excellent for blocking out ambient chatter. Their weakest isolation performance is in the treble range, though this is the least important for most situations and they still do a decent job. That said, if you're looking for an even better noise isolating performance, check out the Apple AirPods Max Wireless.

It should be noted that there are reports of the ANC performing differently after the 2B588 firmware update. However, we didn't get noticeable test differences. Apple may have tweaked the ANC, but not enough to noticeably impact the overall performance.

Their leakage performance is very good, and much better than previous models due to their in-ear design. They leak the most sound in the treble range, meaning the leaking sounds thin. It's unlikely that these headphones should bother those around you.

The Apple AirPods Pro have an integrated Bluetooth microphone.

The recording quality of the Apple AirPods Pro's microphone is disappointing. Speech recorded sounds very thin, muffled, and distorted, though you should still be able to make out what's being said.

The noise handling of the Apple AirPods Pro's microphone is mediocre. It struggles to separate your voice from ambient noise, even in moderately noisy environments. You shouldn't have a problem in a quieter space like at home though.

The Apple AirPods Pro have an alright battery performance. They last over five hours on a single charge with their ANC on and their case offers five additional charges. They charge very quickly too and they're even advertised to give you three to four hours of continuous playback on a half-hour charge. They even come with a standby mode that activates when they detect that they aren't in your ears to conserve battery life. If you're looking for truly wireless headphones with even longer continuous battery life, consider the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ Truly Wireless.

The Apple AirPods Pro don't really have a companion app, just a settings screen on iOS devices. They have slightly more customization options than the Apple AirPods 2 Truly Wireless 2019, with ANC and transparency mode toggle, and the ability to change long-press on each earbud to either ANC control or Siri activation. The app also allows you to do a Fit Tip Test to help find which size tips give the best fit, though we had mixed results from this. There are no customization options for Android devices. However, if you do prefer having a bit of customization, check out the Amazon Echo Buds Truly Wireless and their 3-band EQ or the Anker SoundCore Liberty Air 2 Truly Wireless with their 20 available presets.

The Apple AirPods Pro have alright Bluetooth compatibility. They use the H1 chip for Apple devices which helps with pairing, connection strength, and latency. Unfortunately, our testing dongle doesn't support Bluetooth 5.0 or interact with the H1 chip so you may experience better overall performance when paired to an Apple device. If you want more gaming-oriented truly wireless headphones for non-iOS devices, check out the Razer Hammerhead True Wireless.

These truly wireless earbuds are Bluetooth-only.

These headphones can't be used wired, which is expected with truly wireless headphones. They charge via the included USB-C to Lightning cable, but don't include a charging power brick.

These headphones are compatible with PC via Bluetooth if your PC is Bluetooth-compatible or you have the correct USB dongle. They aren't compatible with PS4.

These headphones are Bluetooth-only and aren't compatible with Xbox One.

Their charging case is very premium-feeling and is rather small considering its battery capacity. It charges via Apple's Lightning port or any wireless Qi charging pad.