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00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom of TechJap and these are the new AirPod Pros 2 and as someone who's
00:22been using these, the original AirPod since they came out back in 2019, I was really excited
00:27to test these new ones.
00:29So are they a big upgrade and are they worth paying £250 for?
00:34Well from the outside, unless you look closely at the small text on the back of the box,
00:37you'd be forgiven for not realising these are the new ones.
00:40It's all very familiar, you've got your earphones in the MagSafe charging case, you've
00:44got your lightning charging cable and a selection of earbuds including this all new extra small
00:50which I know was a big deal for my friend iJustine who can now finally wear AirPod Pros
00:54comfortably.
00:58Now Apple did send me this review sample but I also ordered my own pair with a little TechJap
01:03engraving.
01:04Normally, I don't bother with the engraving because I like to be able to resell my iPhones
01:08and iPads and things like that but for earphones, I'm probably going to keep this as long as
01:12they last or until I lose them which hopefully won't be as often and we'll come to why
01:15in a second and also among all the other white AirPods since you still can't get any other
01:20colour unless you go for some sort of case, this makes it stand out a little bit.
01:24Now versus the old AirPod Pros, these new second generation Pros get this lanyard loop,
01:29there's also a new speaker on the bottom which chirps out various connected charging and
01:34low power chimes and best of all, together with the new U1 chip they've added to the
01:38case, if you lose it, you can use the Find My app to make it ping and you can track it
01:43as if it were an iPhone, an iPad or an AirTag.
01:46Now the earphones themselves feel exactly the same in your ear so if you didn't like
01:50the ones before then you're not going to like these new ones either unless of course that
01:53new extra small ear tip bud thing makes it more comfortable.
01:57Side by side you can see we've got this new acoustic mesh on the top of the earbuds which
02:01apparently helps to reduce wind noise for the mics, there's also new touch volume controls
02:05on the stem and there's also a new optical rather than IR skin detect sensor so it should
02:10be better at pausing if you take them out and put them in your pocket.
02:13Now I'll be honest, in the process of this testing I have got these mixed up a couple
02:16of times, I put them both in and was like why isn't one working and then actually my
02:20iPhone popped up saying you've got mismatched earbuds so actually it does know when you've
02:25done that because unless you do go for an engraving you do have to basically look for
02:29that lanyard loop, the speaker grill or that top acoustic mesh otherwise you wouldn't
02:34really know the difference.
02:35But on the inside it's all new, we've got the new H2 chip which unlocks the new adaptive
02:40transparency mode, it also powers the new low distortion drivers, the new amp, the new
02:45transducer and Apple are promising two times better noise cancellation, better sound quality
02:50and also a longer battery life.
02:52Sounds good but let's put it to the test.
02:54Now the first thing you should do when you get a pair of these is jump into the new AirPods
02:58menu within the settings on your iPhone and firstly go to ear fit test, it plays a sound
03:04and then tells you if you've got a good seal with those ear tips in your ears.
03:08Now the skeptic in me thought is that just going to be the same result no matter what
03:11ear tips you use, is it just going to say good seal and it's all like a placebo thing?
03:16Well actually no, so I've put the extra small ones on now, look at that, here we go, adjust
03:21or try a different ear tip and I agree the mediums, the default ones are a lot more comfortable
03:25so do the ear fit test.
03:27After that head down to the personalised spatial audio tab.
03:31Now this is new for iOS 16 but works with both AirPods Pros, it's not exclusive to the
03:35new ones and it uses your phone's front camera to scan the shape of your head and your ears
03:39to give a more accurate spatial audio experience.
03:42It's basically 3D sound and uses the 5.1 or 7.1 or Atmos signals from whatever you're
03:47watching or listening to, then applies some fancy directional audio filters and adjusts
03:51the frequencies for your ear and then tracking both your head movement and the position of
03:55your phone or your iPad or your MacBook, you get this wonderful 3D audio effect.
04:10Let's move on to noise cancelling and while you could argue other earphones actually do
04:14it a bit better now, I'm thinking of the new Bose QC2s, very, very good noise cancelling,
04:20the original AirPods Pros are still some of the best and actually even sometimes I don't
04:24have anything playing, I just put them in, it cancels out a good amount of that background
04:27noise and I always thought it did a good job.
04:29So I must admit I was a bit sceptical when Apple said these new ones cancel two times
04:34more of that background noise but how the heck do you quantify that?
04:37I mean you can take my word for it because I think it's absolutely true but you can also
04:41look at my Apple Watch and as I sit at this cafe in my town square wearing the old AirPod
04:46Pros with noise cancelling on, the noise app on my watch is telling me that I'm hearing
04:50around 60 decibels of background noise, a normal conversation if you will, but then
04:55switching to the Pro 2s, it's roughly halved to the low and mid 30s, now the equivalent
05:01of a whispered conversation.
05:03I must have looked like a complete idiot changing my headphones every 30 seconds while I was
05:06testing these but I can tell you it is a big step up.
05:09I would probably agree it's two times better.
05:12For me that is reason enough to upgrade to these even from the original Pros.
05:16But wait, there's more.
05:17We also get this new Adaptive Transparency mode which now adjusts the level of outside
05:21sound you can hear, reducing loud noises but boosting voices and conversations.
05:26So if you work in a loud environment like construction or you go to a lot of loud music
05:29gigs and don't want tinnitus, I know a lot of people don't like full noise cancelling
05:33because you can't really get your surroundings, you might be run over by a bus or something.
05:37So I think the new Adaptive Transparency mode is going to be very popular and that is exclusive
05:42to the new model.
05:43But what about battery life?
05:45Well I can tell you after an hour of listening to a podcast, I'm partial to a bit of Stuff
05:49You Should Know and The Verge cast, the original AirPod Pros are down to 80% versus 85% on
05:55the Pro 2s.
05:56Which does roughly tally with Apple's claims of an extra hour and a half or about a third
06:01longer battery.
06:02And as well as that, the case itself holds an extra 6 hours of battery so we get a total
06:06of 30 hours listening time before we need to top it up.
06:09That's a pretty substantial upgrade.
06:10Now speaking of charging, of course you can still top it up with the lightning connector
06:14on the bottom, still no USB-C, but as well as MagSafe charging, you can now also use
06:19your Apple Watch charger and also then there's Qi wireless charging as well.
06:22And actually in terms of charging speeds, it is that order, lightning, MagSafe, watch
06:26and then Qi.
06:27But what about the microphones?
06:29I'm actually recording this audio as a voice memo on my iPhone from the AirPod Pro Gen
06:342s.
06:35Bit of a breeze going on, people talking.
06:38Now the microarray itself, the mics are the same as before but they have actually rejigged
06:42the placement and also you've got that new acoustic mesh which is supposed to reduce
06:45wind noise.
06:46And there is a bit of a breeze so you guys have to let me know what you think in the
06:49comments below.
06:50But let's do a quick side-by-side with the old versus the new.
06:54So now I'm on the original Pros, tell me what you think.
06:57Like and subscribe, like and subscribe, like and subscribe, like and subscribe.
07:00And then back to the new ones, like and subscribe, like and subscribe, like and subscribe, like
07:04and subscribe.
07:05What do you think?
07:06Could you hear much difference?
07:07It's funny, we're this far through the review and I haven't even mentioned the sound quality
07:10yet which you could argue is like the most important aspect of an earphone.
07:14Now in my experience doing some A-B tests and also I was doing it blind because these
07:18do feel the same in my ear, I think the new ones do sound a little bit better.
07:23I think there's a slightly wider soundstage, a little bit richer but it's very subtle.
07:27Now I will admit I am not an audiophile or an audio expert.
07:31This is just my experience as someone who enjoys the original AirPod Pros and now testing
07:34the new ones.
07:35But I think it's maybe 5-10% better, hard to quantify, impossible for me to show you
07:40on this YouTube video.
07:41I appreciate there's a lot more going on, we've got the new amp, the new transducer
07:44and the H2 chip and so it is technically superior but at least in what I listen to, podcasts
07:50and music and while I have quite an eclectic mix of music in my playlist, I couldn't hear
07:55that much difference.
07:56So personally I wouldn't upgrade based on the sound quality alone.
07:59I would upgrade though for that noise cancelling.
08:02It is significantly better and also the longer battery life is nice particularly on longer
08:06flights or journeys.
08:07You don't have to top it up as often.
08:09For me because I use these every day I think it's probably worth the investment.
08:12If you're not bothered or don't like noise cancelling then you can go for the regular
08:173rd generation AirPods which are very much the same but without noise cancelling and
08:21that will save you £70.
08:23Also being Apple these are very much geared towards you being in the Apple ecosystem if
08:27you have a Macbook, an iPad, an iPhone.
08:30If you don't use those, yes you can still use them as Bluetooth speakers, it actually
08:33uses the new Bluetooth 5.3 standard.
08:35You can use it with other devices but you do lose a lot of that functionality and it's
08:38just much better and nicer to use within the Apple family if you will.
08:43So alternatively if you haven't fully turned to the dark side, I would consider the new
08:46Bose QC2's or the Sony WH-1000XM5's.
08:50But what do you think?
08:51Tempted to upgrade?
08:52Maybe you already have a pair?
08:53And if you do let me know your experience in the comments below.
08:56That is a bit windy.
08:59How are these holding up?
09:01If you did enjoy this video by the way I want to see...