Apple AirPods Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds, Active Noise Cancellation, Hearing Aid Feature, Bluetooth Headphones, Transparency, Personalized Spatial Audio, High-Fidelity Sound, H2 Chip, USB-C Charging

I’ve tried several hearing aid substitutes over the years, my past favorite being the now unavailable Bose Hearphones and costing $500. Rather than just a sound amplifier, these had several functions allowing you to filter and focus sounds in various ways and for various situations. They were pretty good. But now Apple has added some great features to their AirPods 2—features that function like far more expensive hearing aids and at less than half the price of the Bose product. I’ve owned these for a month or so and am now just getting the hang of how to use them. If there is a downside to these earbuds it is the rather deep and confusing tech included in them (or, at least confusing for a grandfatherly type like me). Once they are Bluetooth connected to your iPhone (They connect very easily with the button on the front of the EarPod’s charging case.) they should automatically connect every time you put them in your ears. You will then be able to access all the functions by tapping the “settings” app on your phone. You will find a heading near the top of the list just below the box with your name and iCloud options. Tapping on this will allow you to drill down through several pages of options. There are a lot of options there and it can be confusing, but experimenting with the various functions will help you figure out their purpose. The key here is to drill down to find the hearing test. This will quickly test for hearing loss by leading you through a series of tones of varying in pitch and volume. The end result will be an audiogram that can be used to program your EarPods as hearing aids. As stated before, it took me several weeks to find and activate this feature, but when I did a whole new experience dawned. Just be patient and search around for this function. It works very well. Of course, these things also serve as EarPods to listen to music or podcasts. (May I recommend “Pat Gray Unleashed!” if your bent is conservative commentary and just plain fooling around). The quality of sound is phenomenal and the buds are more comfortable than most to keep in your ears for an extended time. To control the volume for this function you can TRY to use the external control buttons located on those silly looking stems that hang out of your ears (good luck) OR just open the “Control Center” page (slide one finger upward on your iPhone screen to access this page) where you’ll find the volume slider. If your EarPods are connected and in your ears you’ll see the slider is marked as controlling the AirPods. I really like these things now that I’m a little more familiar with them. The quality and value are exquisite. If I discover more, I’ll edit this comment. 4 MONTHS LATER: Apple has improved the controls for these in their latest iOS update. The functions I had to dig around to find are now more easily accessed. Getting to the hearing test is now fairly straight forward.

I purchased these Airpods 2 Pro after many bluetooth listening accessories, and these are my all time favorites. It is hard to beat the integration into the Apple Ecosystem, but apart from that, these have just been the most convenient bluetooth headset to use all around. I have 2 other in-ear earbuds systems and one Sony over the ear noise cancelling headset, and I prefer these. Sure, there are pros and cons, but for the quality of audio along with the ease of use at home and traveling, the airpods have just been my go to. The airpods have rich sound easy to manage form factor and are of little inconvenience to have around. Sure, my Sony WH-1000XM4's sound great, but do not readily connect or maintain connection for my use all the time. My other bluetooth headsets have great battery life, but volume is a guessing game when I initially connect and I can't secure that I won't have my eardrums blown out when I first start using them, which is an extra step to consider when using, which I shouldn't despite zeroing volume when I stop using said audio accessory. My other personal audio accessories are larger or slightly more cumbersome to use than the airpods pro 2s. The airpods can also act in multiple modes, negating the need for seperate open-ear or noise cancelling personal audio equipment, though using a little extra power to do so. The only gotcha I have a half a year later is that the battery life is slightly better on the other equipment, which isn't a huge deal because these are more compact and expected. Again, ease of use rules with audio quality to match - it only takes a few seconds to pop these in an be listening to music and/or transition to calling in a matter of moments. That just can't be be and I default to it when making most calls as hands-free is my preference and the conversations are held in both ears. Naturally, I am inclined to use these with my iPhone, Mac Pro and Macbook Pro by design and these units can be connected to both in simultaneous standby, but only switch to one or the other for active use. I do use other devices for listening on each computer, but I prefer these, again for convenience. I only switch to wired for ridiculously long gaming or movie-watching sessions. I highly recommend these airpods and will continue to buy replacements as needed. Try them and you'll see it is hard to go back to anything former without a highly specific reason. I hope this review helps!

I bought these as a replacement for a pair that were lost, and I am very happy with the upgrade. I use them with an iPhone, and the setup was almost instant once I opened the case near the phone. The newer AirPods Pro 2 have noticeably better sound, longer battery life, and USB-C charging, which is more convenient since it matches the iPhone and my other devices. Noise cancellation is excellent for blocking background noise, and the transparency mode feels very natural when I want to hear people or traffic. I also like the extra features, such as personalized spatial audio, the ability to adjust volume by sliding along the stem, and the ability to find the case and earbuds with the Find My app. 🟢 Pros - Great sound quality with clear highs and better bass than my older pair. - Pairs very quickly and works seamlessly with my iPhone. - Strong active noise cancellation and natural-feeling transparency mode. - Longer battery life and USB-C charging on the case. - Small, comfortable fit that stays in my ears well. - Handy extra features like spatial audio, stem volume control, and Find My support. 🔴 Cons - Price is on the high side, but in my view, the quality and features justify it. Overall, I am very pleased with these AirPods Pro 2 and would absolutely repurchase them.

First, please comment if you have any questions and I would love to respond to help! I had the AirPods Pro Gen1 prior to these, but the new AirPods blew them out of the water. The added ear tips make customability even better especially for small ears like mine. The Active Noise Cancellation is clearly superior to the first generation and the addition of Adaptive audio is super cool and very useful. The battery is even better than I was expecting. The AirPods charge super fast in the case, and the case charging itself is also super fast. The USB-C cord is a very nice addition especially with the new, more common, USB-C charging block. The new Apple Braided USB-C cord is also a small but nice touch. I personally do not use the ring on the side, but I imagine many people may find it useful. The addition of the Find My capabilities with both the case and the AirPods themselves is beyond helpful because I always seem to misplace them. Small bonus, every time you charge the case or the AirPods, the case sounds off a little chime to let you know that they are charging or if the battery is low. As an owner of the AirPods Max and a former owner of the AirPods Pro gen 1, I would 100% recommend this new generation. The noise cancellation is superior to the gen 1, but slightly behind the Maxes because they are in-ear instead of over-ear. If you want the maxes, I would get them, but it depends on your activities. I have noticed recently how good the sound quality is. It’s stunning. Sometimes I still prefer my Maxes for certain listening experiences or if I’m heavily invested in a movie or I have a long flight, but the quality on the 2nd gen pros is so crisp. Some pitches you can notice are superior to that of the Maxes. In terms of listen, Maxes win, but it’s so damn close. AirPods Pro are ideal because they are small, discrete, and light weight. You can slip them in your pocket or place just one in your ear. They are also very useful and comfortable to use while working out, as opposed to the maxes. The AirPods are quite durable too. If my first pair is any indication to this pair, then I promise you, they can take a beating. After 4 years of having the first gen AirPods Pro, I have thrown them around, dropped them hundreds of times and they often got small scratches, but only chipped once or twice after higher falls on super hard surfaces. But they worked every single time. Long story short, if you’re on the fence, get them. They are super great for travel, workouts/runs, house chores, and all activities in general. Hope you find this helpful, if you have any questions please comment them!

A couple months ago I got “commercial” hearing aids from the VA. However, I didn’t like how they operated so I gave them back, and they’re going to order a different brand/model, which I’ll have in about three months (!) So I went in search of quality, inexpensive hearing aids to fill the gap. (My hearing loss is considered mild, at -32db on one side and -39db on the other.) I got the AirPods last Friday, and the software for hearing aid support rolled out last night (iOS 18.1) So this will be a two part review. Part one is the overall operation as earbuds for music and calls. These are my first ever Apple branded sound devices. Once I got the correct tips installed and the buds fitted, I was ready to go. OMG! The sound quality overall is the best of any earbuds I’ve ever owned, and by a huge margin. Astonishing bass, and crisp high range. (My hearing loss is in the upper ranges.) I’m beyond happy. Overall, the only thing I’m dissatisfied with is the battery life at 5-6 hours, but the extremely fast recharge speed eases that compliant. Voice quality when on a call is crystal clear. Controls are easy, though a bit hard to operate considering how small they are. Part two is the hearing aid function. The first thing I had to do was take a hearing test with the included software. (However, if you prefer to use a third party hearing test, you can import that profile and use it.) The hearing test takes about 5 minutes, after which the hearing aid sound enhancement profile is set automatically and they start up. I was totally gobsmacked at how well these things work! They boost the exact freqs I need. They actually work considerably better than those $7000 (egads!) hearing aids that I returned. Now for the ANC. At home, I sit right in front of a large, noisy window air conditioner. On the opposite side of the room is a dehumidifier (I live in south central Texas, where it was 91° yesterday.) Between these two pieces of equipment, it’s pretty noisy here. I turned on ANC and the room went absolutely silent. So silent that I thought I’d popped a circuit breaker and everything had stopped running. I removed one of the AirPods, and the noise returned. Amazing. In short, everything I’d hoped the commercial hearing aids would do, the AirPods actually DID. I consider this the smartest purchase I’ve made in years. Only one negative, and that’s the ear tips. None of the provided sizes are a good fit for me, so I’m now looking to memory foam replacements. But that’s a very small gripe. If you’re looking at these, either for music or hearing, don’t hesitate. You’ll be glad you got them. EDIT: I had to go to a doctor appointment across town today. Part of the route is on a toll highway with an 80 mph speed limit and heavy traffic. I got up to speed and turned on noise cancel mode. INSTANTLY the car was completely silent at 80 mph. No road rumble, no engine noise, no wind noise, no traffic noise. It was an amazing and invigorating experience. Oh, for those wondering about recharge time, if you take them all the way down to 0% battery and they shut down (I’ve now ascertained that 6 hours is about what you get with all the options turned on), it only takes about 15 minutes in the charge case and you’ll easily get another 3-4 hours out of them. EDIT2: Okay, I’ve had these for almost a month, and I just keep liking them more and more. I didn’t mention pairing in my original text above, so I need to mention it here. There is, in effect, no pairing that you need to do, at least in the Apple-verse. By the time I’d opened the charging case and looked at the buds, they’d already paired with both my iPhone and iPad. I didn’t have to go into settings on my iOS devices, or press any buttons on the case. Just open case and it’s done. As a computer engineer for 40 years, I have never seen a faster or more seamless pairing of anything. One more word on recharging: just today I took them all the way to zero. Dropped them in the charger and in FIVE MINUTES they were at 24%. I am in love with the hearing aid functionality. I hear sounds in movies that I’d never heard before in my life, even when my hearing was perfect. And I can adjust amplification either by going into settings on my iPhone, or sliding my finger up or down on the stem.

Over the past 20 years, I've used three generations of the Bose in-ear monitors, nearly daily. Their audio quality is supreme and wear/fit extremely comfortable. I've also used a Bose QC15 OTE wired headset for hundreds of hours of long overseas flights. The QC15 audio quality is very good but their strong noise cancellation is why I purchased them (best airport buy I've ever made). Nevertheless, with the removal of headphone jacks from my last two iPhones, I decided it was finally time to try out wireless earbuds for terrestrial listening. I did check out what was available in the market and determined that Apple AirPod was the way to go for known quality and integration with the iPhone. Since I also wanted active noise cancellation, the AirPod Pro 2 was the logical choice. I struggled with fit for weeks and tried two different after-market eartip replacements because I couldn't get a good fit with the AirPods Pro 2. Finally, I achieved a breakthrough, realizing that, unlike the wired Bose IEM, the AirPods eartips are NOT intended to extend into the ear canal proper, just to fit over the surrounding area of the outer ear. With that discovery, I found that the Large eartips shipped with the AirPods yielded a decent-feeling fit and a very good audio quality. Why the star-rating downgrade? The active noise cancellation (ANC) effect is absolutely minimal -- can't be more than 1 or 2 dB. This failure may be down to an imperfect fit (even with the Large tips). The fit test that runs on the iPhone refuses to execute because it doesn't recognize that the earbuds have been inserted. The fit test that precedes the hearing test on the iPhone does run but always returns the error requiring the buds to be reseated or different-sized tips installed. Since ANC on these AirPods for me was desirable but not a showstopper, I've just downrated the AirPod Pro 2 by one star.

AirPods have just been getting better and better and to be honest. I lost a pair of these AirPods in a river and they were in there for a month before I found them and when I did they still worked!!! The noise cancelation stopped working and so I bought a new pair. On the new pair I dropped one in water and it also works perfectly fine now. To say the least these are very water resistant and can withstand a lot. As for the sound they have a really good bass response while having the high end intact. Most earbuds you find will have large bass and no highs at all but these are powered very well and everything stays intact even when you EQ on Spotify. As for compatibility the seamlessly transfer between Apple products which is great and lastly, they’re so comfy and feel like you’re wearing nothing. If you need new AirPods or just want a pair of good earbuds this is the pair to get for sure. Still holds up even with the new ones out.

After having a pair of these, I cannot go back to under designed earbuds. I used to think buying an expensive pair of earbuds was ridiculous. Now, I think these are the best buds on the market. There are multiple tips included so you can figure out what’s the most comfortable, the sound quality is amazing, and just the overall quality is so enjoyable. I feel like you get good value for your money. My favorite thing, though? The thing that I couldn’t do without? The way the controls absolutely makes sense. One tap is play or pause. (Some other brands of earbuds have the most stupid controls, where you have to press twice on an earbud just to pause.) You can swipe up or down to change the volume level. And you can customize the settings so that press and hold on your earbud is Siri activation. The button is also on the front of the earbud instead of the side, which is a lot easier to control and I think it makes a lot of sense. I tend to only use one earbud at a time so I like mono controls (using only one earbud).