If you’re an iPhone user looking for a solid pair of earbuds, then AirPods are a great default option that you really can’t go wrong with. And Apple has a good selection of AirPods to choose from… plus they also have their Beats Studio Buds and Beats Fit Pro. Now the Beats Fit Pro are a great pair of dedicated workout earbuds… but this video is going to be breaking down Apple’s more casual use earbuds. Nonetheless today we’re going to break down the AirPods 2, Beats Studio Buds, AirPods 3, and AirPods Pro 2 and lets see which ones right for you.
Now first there’s pricing… the AirPods 2’s are apple’s entry level earbuds which retail for $130, than there are the Beats Studio Buds which have a retail price of $150… now these are really meant for android users… but iPhone users can still use these earbuds and get a good deal on them. Then there are the AirPods 3 which start at $170, but if you want wireless charging you can pay $10 more. And finally there are the AirPods Pro 2 which are the newest ear buds here and these retail for $250. And if you ask me, they are worth it due to all of the extra features that these earbuds have over all of these other earbuds. Nonetheless, if you want to pick any of these earbuds up, they’ll be linked down below, or you can press on the YouTube shopping button.
Now first lets talk about these cases… AirPods have some of the smallest cases out there, making them super convenient for everyday cause you barely notice any of these cases while they are in your pocket. Now the AirPods 2 and AirPods 3’s cases are basically the same size, where as the AirPods Pro 2’s case is a little larger. Its the same thickness… but it has a slightly larger footprint. But nonetheless, all of these AirPods cases are noticeably smaller then your galaxy buds cases, Sony linkbuds S, Sony WF-1000XM4’s, Sennhehsier CX Plus, Sennheiser Momentum 3, Jabra Elite 85T, Jabra Elite 7 Pro, Pixel Buds, and especially the Bose QC Earbuds 2. But then there’s the Studio Bud’s case… this case is on the larger side. You can make these earbuds work for everyday, but this case is larger than the majority of all of these other cases that I just mentioned, and its noticeably larger than all of these AirPods cases. But overall, AirPods are one of the most convenient earbuds that you can get cause of their small cases.
but now lets talk about charging these cases cause there are some key differences here. Now all of these AirPods charge via a lighting port… which is convenient if you’re and iPhone user. Where as with the Studio Buds, it charges via a USB C port. Its convenient if you’re an android user, but if you’re an iPhone user you’re going to need a separate cable. Now wireless charging is available on both the AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2… Now even though both the AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2 have mag safe… meaning that they will get automatically lined up with Apple’s Mag Safe charger… only the AirPods Pro 2’s will allow you to charge this case by using your Apple Watches’s wireless charger if you have one. With the AirPods 3’s, its Mag Safe magnets will reject this charger.
But also, the AirPods Pro 2’s case has a few other features on it which just isn’t found on these other cases. First off, this case has a built in speaker, and this speaker is user for a few things. It will give you a chime when you plug it in to charge, but more importantly you will get an audio notification telling you to charge your case… but also, you will get a chime if you place the wrong AirPods into your case. I don’t know who’s having this issue, but its a feature.
But also, the built in speaker on this case will help you locate this case if you’re looking for it using the find my app. And this leads us to the other important feature found on this case, and that’s the U1.
Now the U1 chip basically makes this case into an AirTag. You can track this case where it goes in real time, and when you’re within bluetooth range, your iPhone can help you track it down by displaying an arrow on the screen. And now you can even track your case, even if the earbuds aren’t inside. Cause with all of these other earbuds, you can track them with the find my app, but you can only track the earbuds, not the individual case.
But also I love that this U1 chip constantly tells you the battery status of your case, it tells you the battery status of your earbuds, and it also tells you when the case and or earbuds are charging. And you can see all of this either from the battery lock screen widget, or you can use a home screen widget. Where as with all of these other earbuds, yes you can also see these details, but its not at up to date as with the AirPods Pro 2’s case. So if you’re thinking about getting any of these earbuds, just know that the AirPods Pro 2’s case has some very useful features that just isn’t found on any of these other cases.
But now lets talk about battery life, even though AirPods have relatively small cases when compared to the rest of the competition, they still have really good battery life. Now the AirPods Pro 2’s have an advertised battery life of 30 hours with their active noise cancelation turned on. But if you were to use these earbuds with their active noise cancellation turned off, then you can expand their battery life.
Now the studio buds are the only other earbuds here that have active noise cancelation. Now these earbuds have an advertised combined battery life of 24 hours, the earbuds themselves can go for 8 hours and the case can supply 2 additional charges. But that’s with their active noise cancelation turned off. With their active noise cancelation turned on, they have an advertised combined battery life of 15 hours, the earbuds themselves can go for 5 hours plus those two charges from the case.
But then there are these other two AirPods which don’t have active noise cancelation. The AirPods 3’s have an advertised combined battery life of 30 hours, the earbuds themselves can go for 6 hours and the case can supply 4 additional charges, and the AirPods 2 have an advertised battery life of 24 hours, the earbuds themselves can go for 5 hours plus those 4 charges from the case.
So overall, AirPods have really good battery life on them… however, as you move up in model, you are going to get better battery life. But then there are the Studio buds. They have decent battery life, but it is not as impressive as these AirPods cause they do have a chunky case.
But now lets talk about fit. Now both the AirPods 2 and AirPods 3 simply rest in the bowl of your ear. Meaning that these earbuds are very comfortable to wear and you can wear them for hours on end without any issues… but these earbuds do let in a lot of noise pollution. So if you’re in a noisier environment, then that is going to interfere with your media and you’re going to have to use these earbuds at a higher volume. And if you use these earbuds at a higher volume, you’re going to have a considerable amount of sound leakage. But then, there are the AirPods Pro 2 and studio buds. Now these are in ear earbuds, but they don’t fit like standard in ear ear buds that go in deep into your ear canals like either the Galaxy Buds 2, Sennheiser Momentum 3, or Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s… these are shallow fitting in ear earbuds like either the Jabra Elite 85T’s, Pixel Buds Pro, or Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. Now the good thing about shallow fitting in ear earbuds is that they don’t feel as intrusive as standard in ear earbuds… so they do feel a little more comfortable. And since these are in ear earbuds, they are going to passively block out noise, which is going to help your music sound better, and you’re not going to have to crank the volume on these earbuds as much. However, since these are shallow fitting in ear earbuds, they do tend to wiggle out, especially if youre working out. So that’s why I recommend that if you’re looking for a par of earbuds to workout with, then you’ll want to go with the beats fit pro cause of their wing tips. But overall, all of these earbuds are better suited for causal use, however both the AirPods 2 and AirPods 3 are the most comfortable options here cause they don’t actually go into your ear canal. The draw back here is that they let in a lot of noise pollution. So if you plan on commuting a lot with your earbuds, then you’ll might want to go with these other two earbuds cause they will passively block out noise… but since they are in ear… they can get a little annoying after a few hours of use.
Now when it comes to connectivity, on all of these earbuds, each earbud establishes a connection with your phone. So if you just want to use on earbud at a time, you can use either one, it doesn’t matter. Now apple has been doing this since day one, and this is the connection set up that we expect to see on all of our earbud nowadays. But unfortunately this is something that we still have to specify, cause there are still premium ANC earbuds that are using a hero and sidekick set up. Namely the Bose QC Earbuds 2.
But more importantly, any of these AirPods are a good option if youre an Apple power user, cause you can easily hot swap between any of your apple devices that are associated to your iCloud account. Where as the Studio buds are a good option if youre a power user with devices from different eco systems cause they are very fast to jump from one device to another if you try to connect with them from a different device.
But with all of these earbuds, they all have hey Siri support so you can quickly activate Siri and as her to do something without having to touch the earbuds themselves.
And when it comes to overall performance, all of these earbuds have zero latency across the board when watching movies or videos on your phone whether youre using an iPhone or an android device… but when it comes to audio codecs, all of these earbuds only have support for SBC and AAC. Now AAC is going to work perfectly fine if youre an android user and iPhones top out at AAC.
But now lets talk about sound. Personally I have never really liked the original AirPods or AirPods 2 for actually listening to music cause they sound very narrow, but more importantly they have a big emphasis on the bass. So personally, I would mainly recommend the AirPods 2 for watching videos or for listening to podcasts. And with the original AirPods Pro, I also didn’t like to listen to music with them cause they sounded very narrow and flat… but the AirPods 3, Studio buds and AirPods Pro 2 actually sound pretty good. Now first lets talk about the AirPods 3. These earbuds sound very dynamic with a fun sound signature that gives you strong vocals and strong bass when you need it. And more importantly, they have much better instrument separation than the AirPods 2. However, with the AirPods 3’s if you want to get the best listening experience from them, you have to use them in a quieter environment cause like I mentioned before, due to their fit, they let in a lot of noise population. So that noise pollution is just going to ruin your music. But then there are the Studio buds. Now these have an advantage cause they passively block out noise. So your music isn’t going to get ruined by noise pollution as easily. These earbuds also have strong bass and good instrument separation. My only critique is, these earbuds now sound a little too bright cause they treble sounds a little elevated on these now. And I swear these didn’t sound so bright a few months ago. But finally there are the AirPods Pro 2, now performance wise I would say that these perform the same as the Beats Studio Buds. They have the same instrument separation and they have the same kick and reosness in their bass. The main difference here is that these earbuds don’t sound as bright as the Studio buds, they sound much more balanced. Now the AirPods Pro 2’s still lean a little towards the brighter side, but nonetheless, I really like how the AirPods Pro 2’s sound and for me, these are my number favorite sounding earbuds. Second to only the Sennheiser momentum 3’s and CX Plus thanks to their more balanced sound and slightly better instrument separation.
However, one major difference that the AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2 have over these other two earbuds is that they have spatial audio. Now having the spatial audio on both of these earbuds set to fixed does help improve the sound stage on these earbuds, they sound more open. But also, these earbuds can track your head and give you a 3D listening experience when watching certain songs or movies. Personally I think this head tracking is a gimmick, and I never use it, but I do keep these earbuds with their spatial audio set to fixed.
Now when it comes to the media controls on these earbuds, there are some differences here to keep in mind. Now the AirPods 2 have haptic touchpads, so when you tap on these earbuds they are registering the force of your tap, both the AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2 have these stems that you squeeze, and the Studio Buds have actual clicky buttons. Now with all of these earbuds, you can skip through your music by either tapping or squeezing, but the really cool thing about the AirPods Pro 2’s is that you can also adjust the volume of your music by either swiping up or swiping down on these stems. So with the AirPods Pro 2’s, you have more control over your music directly from the earbuds themselves.
However, the beats studio buds are the only earbuds here that don’t have wear sensors, so they won’t automatically play or pause your music when you take them out of your ears or put them back in. And personally I do feel that this is a very noticeable inconvenience and this is a rather standard feature for entry level or mid tier earbuds.
But now lets talk about active noise cancelation on these earbuds. Like I mentioned earlier, the Studio buds and AirPods Pro 2’s are the only earbuds here that have active noise cancellation. And I gotta say, the active noise cancelation on the AirPods Pro 2’s is very impressive. I feel the ANC on the AirPods Pro 2’s blocks out as much noise as a pair of mid teir ANC headphones… but they still aren’t blocking out as much noise as a pair of Premium ANC headphones like lets say the AirPods Max, Sony 1000XM5’s, bose QC45 or Sennheiser Moemtum 4’s.
But when compared to other ANC earbuds… the AirPods Pro 2’s are my number one earbuds cause these block out the most amount of noise. However, the ANC on the AirPods Pro 2’s can make me a little nausus sometimes and sometimes I might even lose my balance a little bit. Now right below them are the Bose QC Earbuds 2 which also block out a ton of noise without the side affects. Right below them are the Sennehsier momentum 3’s. Right below them are the Sony WF-1000XM4’s and their itchy foam eart tips. Right below them are the Linkbuds S. Right below them are the Jabra Elite 85T’s, right below them are the Jabra Elite 7 Pro’s… right below them are the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, and right below them are the Pixel Buds Pro.
Now below the Pixel Buds Pro are the beats studio buds, below them are the Galaxy Buds 2 and blew them are the Sennehsier CX Plus. So overall, the performance difference between the Studio Buds and AirPods Pro 2 is pretty big. But regardless, the ANC on the Studio buds is useful for reducing road noise if you're on a bus, or reducing chatter if you're in a cafeteria.
But if active noise cancellation is very important to you, then you’ll want to go with the AirPods Pro 2’s cause their active noise cancelation is very impressive. The only thing to look out for is, if youre sensitive to cabin pressure like I am, then these could make you feel a little nauseous, or they could sometimes make you lose your balance when you walk. Now im not saying that this will happen to everyone… but it does happen to me.
But then there’s the ambient mode on these earbuds. Again the AirPods Pro 2’s and studio buds have this where as these other two earbuds don’t. Now the ambient mode on the AirPods Pro 2’s sounds very natural, its almost like youre not wearing earbuds. And their microphone array does a really good job of blocking out wind noise when walking out doors.
Now the ambient mode on the Studio buds is also very good, but it doesn’t sound as good as the ambient mode on the AirPods Pro 2’s. But also, the ambient mode on the Studio buds lets in everything, they don’t have an active ambient mode like the AirPods Pro 2’s do where they will automatically block out sudden loud sounds.
And what I mean by this is this. With the AirPods Pro 2’s, they would have reduced this clap, where as the Studio Buds would have pumped in that clap and just blasted your ears. Now this feature is very useful if youre walking out doors and a siren rolls by or if a dog starts barking, your ears aren’t going to get blasted. But overall, the studio buds have a decent ambient mode on them, but the AirPods Pro 2’s have a better ambient mode.
But finally here’s the microphone test. Now the studio buds have a decent sounding microphone on them.
But the AirPods 2 do a slightly better job of focsuing on my voice.
But then there’s the microphone on both the AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2’s which both do a better job of focusing on my voice. And in the interest of time, the microphone on the AirPods 3 sounds and performs the same as the AirPods Pro 2.
However, to make things a little more interesting, here’s the microphone on the AirPods Max. I also feel that the microphone on both the AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2 sounds better than the microphone on the AirPods Max.
But also, the microphone on both the AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro 2 do a much better job of dealing with noise pollution. Cause right now these earbuds are doing a good job of reducing this road noise while keeping my voice front and center, because for comparison sake, if we were to switch over to my lapel microphone, youre going to clearly hear all of this road noise, but if we were to switch back over to the AirPods Pro 2, it is severely reduced.
Now the AirPods 2 are also doing a decent job of reducing this road noise and keeping my voice front and center.
Where as with the studio buds, these are trying their best, but there is a noticeable amount of interference with my voice with my voice.
And with the AirPods Max, there’s also a noticeable amount of interference going on with my voice.
And when it comes to blocking out chatter, the AirPods Max are letting in a noticeable amount of chatter, and there’s a noticeable amount of interference with my voice.
Now the studio buds are doing an oaky job of blocking out this chatter while keeping my voice front and center.
And the AirPods 2 are also doing a good job of reducing this chatter and keeping my voice front and center.
But the AirPods Pro 2 do the best job here of dealing with this chatter. So overall, if you plan on taking lots of phone calls with your earbuds, then you’ll might want to go with Apple’s newer earbuds like either the AirPods 3 or AirPods Pro 2’s cause these do a better job of picking up your voice and they also do a better job of dealing with noise pollution.
But with all of that being said, if youre an iPhone user looking for earbuds, then AirPods are a great default option. But in general, AirPods are some of the most convenient earbuds out there because they have some off the smallest cases, but they still manage to have really good battery lives. Now the AirPods 2 get the job done, but I highly recommend that you spring for the AirPods 3 cause youre going to get a better sounding microphone for phone calls, youre going to have slightly better battery life, and youre going to have much better sound. But then there are the AirPods Pro 2’s, these things have very powerful active nose cancelation, but they also have the ambient mode on the market. These earbuds also genuinely sound very very good now, I actually enjoy listing to music with these earbuds now. But these earbuds also have really good battery life… and the case it self has a decent amount of features. The built in speaker on this new case really does help remind me to charge this case and I really like that I can track this case down if I were to ever lose it. And I also like that I have to option to charge it with my apple watch charger. And finally there are the studio buds, these are really meant for android users, but you can make them work if you're an iPhone user. Overall, these give you almost everything that you’ll find on the AirPods Pro 2’s at a more affordable price… but in a water downed version.