Apple Airpods Pro test: on iPhone or Android, still good

Technical sheet Test Video Design Noise Active Active Audio Use Autonomy Price and release date Conclusion CONDITIONAL COMMEMENTS TO THE PRODUCT PRODUCTIONS TO 215 €

After its "basic" headphones, Apple puts itself in True Wireless headphones with noise reduction: Airpods Pro.Are they worth their price increase?Can they compete with those of Sony?Are they used for both Android and IOS?Here is our full test to find out.

Airpods Pro, Android and iOS

After having popularized the True Wireless headphones market, Apple renews its range and launches Airpods Pro, intra-ear (or rather semi intra) headphones which also benefit from a noise reduction system.Offered at 279 euros, they directly compete with the Sony WF-1000XM3, both on the price and on their technical characteristics.Is the comparison legitimate?Audio quality, autonomy, comfort, here is our point point by point.

Technical sheet

This test was carried out with pro AirPods purchased by Fundroid.

Our video test

YouTubes' link in Fandroid

A smaller and very worked design

Airpods design has often been mocked.However, this does not prevent small white stems from multiplying in the ears of public transport users in the Paris region - and certainly.Despite a certain commercial success, Apple still listened to criticism and revised the design of its wireless headphones with its new generation of Airpods Pro.

The rod that comes out of the ear is smaller, perfectly directed towards the mouth, which makes them much more discreet than the first two generations.A more aesthetic observation than anything else, but which may have its importance for those who prefer to avoid looking like a start-perper between two meetings.

Airpods Pro and Airpods

However, there is an important difference with these pro AirPods: these are intra-ear where the first and second generation airpods are "buttons" headphones, which arise in the pavilion without entering the ear canal.Personally, it is not something that bothers me, but many are those who have trouble with this format.Apple nevertheless offers three tips to adapt to the different ears and some who do not like this type of headphones admitted to finding these comfortable pro AirPods.So they deserve to be tried.

Airpods Pro

Il faut avouer que les Airpods Pro sont très agréables à porter.They are very light (5.4 grams each) and forget easily in the hollow of the ear without ever hurting.Their form is well thought out and they can also easily catch.This discord rod is therefore a plus here to position the earphones in the ear or remove it.

Note, however, that the two headphones differentiate themselves quite badly and that it has happened to me several times to have to look at the looter ("R" / "L") on each earpiece to find out in which ear or in which location of the caseI had to put them. Amusant quand on sait que sur la page principale des Airpods Pro, Apple a mis deux écouteurs droits.To believe that they also find it difficult to differentiate them ...

Deux Airpods Pro droits – Source : Apple.com

The headphones are also relatively slippery and I have repeatedly dropped them by leaving them from the box or trying to put them in them.

As for rubber tips, they are quite confusing to change at first.It is a simple system of clips that requires forcing a little to remove them the first time and to have the right angle to put them back.Even if we shouldn't change them all the time, it's a blow to hurt them and lose them regularly.When you know that the exchange is done only in Apple Store or via after -sales service, it is not necessarily good news.

Airpods Pro dans l’oreille

Par ailleurs, les Airpods Pro ne sont disponibles qu’en blanc.Nothing allows me to assert today that they will age badly, but rubber tips that will stay in our ears are rarely immaculate with time.

Finally, on each stem is a capacitive button with an audio return to clearly specify that the click was taken into account.I will come back later on this button.

La bonne nouvelle, c’est que les Airpods Pro sont IPX4, c’est-à-dire qu’ils résistent aux éclaboussures et à la sueur, et qu’ils tiennent bien en place dans les oreilles, même lors de l’exercice.In my case, it has happened several times that I reposition them a little in my ear.

The box

The box des Airpods Pro s’agence à l’horizontale (comme celui des WF-1000xM3), et non à la verticale comme ceux des AirPods, conséquence de la réduction de la tige et de l’agrandissement de la tête de l’écouteur.However, with its dimensions of 45.2 x 60.6 x 21.7 grams, it remains in the same order of magnitude as for the first generation.Suffice to say that it easily holds in any pocket and is not noticed too much.

The box des Airpods Pro reste petit

It takes up the same technical characteristics as on the old model.It is white lacquered, simple to open even with one hand and displays a diode at the front and a pairing button at the rear, as well as a lightning port on the bottom for recharging.There is no lockout inside to find out which earpiece is put in each location, but it is impossible to slide the right into the left accommodation and vice versa.

Petite anecdote cependant : il est apparemment possible de mal ranger ses Airpods Pro.It happened to me once to bring out one of my airpods flat although there were battery in the transport case, and several times to have an error signal on one of the headphonesBy opening the box near my iPhone.

A good active noise reduction

Si Apple a opté pour un design intra-auriculaire pour ses Airpods Pro, c’est pour profiter d’une réduction de bruit passive.This type of headset goes by indeed the hearing canal and therefore makes it possible to partly reduce external noises.A necessary point for active noise reduction to be effective.The reverse would be the equivalent of putting a armored door to a straw hut.

Les Airpods Pro ont donc un système de réduction de bruit active qui utilise un micro externe pour capter les bruits ambiants et les réduire en générant une onde de même amplitude, mais en opposition de phase.The two waves then overlap and ... cancel out.This is for theory (or "magic" as Apple says).In practice, capturing all sounds is often very difficult and even the most advanced helmets (such as the Sony Wh-1000XM3 or the Bose Headphones 700), with their multiple microphones, struggle to remove certain noises.

Noise cancellation works well

De leur côté, les Airpods Pro s’en sortent plutôt pas mal comparativement parlant à leur taille.On this point, the H1 chip created by Apple is quite impressive, but it remains less effective than the noise reduction of its main competitors, the Sony WF-1000XM3.For all deaf noises acting as a buzzing on the length, like a plane engine, a national behind your window or even work, the noise is completely annihilated.

As soon as sounds vary more and go up a little more frequency, the reduction is less good.The voices of my colleagues or the snap of my fingers on my mechanical keyboard, for example, remain very noticeable and intelligible when the music is not launched.

Where I can easily isolate myself by fitting my helmet and activating only the noise reduction, here it is not the case.The reduction is not powerful enough for that.Once the music is launched on the other hand, it becomes much easier to cut yourself off from the world, even at a fairly low volume.No need to push the volume to have peace, noise reduction takes care of it for you.

Airpods Pro et Android

The reduction is not only less powerful than those of the True Wireless headphones from Sony, but it is also less configurable.Apple tends to impose its choices on its users to simplify their lives, but sharp users will appreciate having the choice on the headphones of Sony, which they will not have here.The measures are carried out, according to Apple, 200 times per second to allow a real -time adjustment of the noise reduction.It is impossible to voluntarily let some noises filter more than others.

Transparent mode

Like all other current helmets and headphones with an active noise reduction, Apple uses its microphones to offer the "transparent" mode.This allows you to record the exterior audio to retransmit it directly in the user's ears, which is practical to hear what surrounds us without having to remove your headphones (to listen to an ad in the metro for example).

Yes, I hear you!

On this point, I must admit that I was particularly blown away.Even Jabra Elite 65 hours, which is however one of the best helmets that I have been able to test in the matter, does not offer such a realistic and pleasant rendering.When you go into transparent mode, you would almost feel like you are no longer having a earboard in your ears.

Audio quality… automatic

Like the Sony WF-1000XM3, Apple is satisfied with the SBC and AAC codecs, compressed formats.If it is a shame not to find a lossless format, it is unfortunately a material constraint on True Wireless headphones as small, which cannot take the same components as on a helmet (if only the battery) which rather favor stability to quality.No surprises here to see only these two formats.For iPhone users, the advantage is that files from iTunes are directly disseminated in AAC, which avoids re-compression.

L’écouteur des Airpods Pro

Presented as an advantage, adaptive equalization is there to take care, as its name suggests, of the audio equalizer in real time.It is also a way for Apple to impose its tastes on the user and not to offer an equalizer to choose the audio profiles that we want for each musical style.A good for an evil therefore.

It is all the more frustrating since the audio quality of the AirPods is good ... but unequal.Overall, the bass is well defined, as well as the mediums, but the high mediums and the acute lack a little depth."Overall" being an important point of the previous sentence. En effet, en raison de l’égalisation adaptative qui « calibre la musique automatiquement » et « améliore le rendu audio en ajustant les basses et moyennes fréquences », je me suis surpris à reprocher des lacunes différentes aux Airpods Pro en fonction des musiques écoutées, notamment au niveau de la gestion des basses.

For example, on Berzerk d'Eminem, the bass resonates well in my ears, but on Brothers of Rilès, some of them are based in mediums.And this is just one example among many others on many hours of listening to music of all kinds and podcasts.

Ce sont là néanmoins des remarques d’un tatillon habitué à profiter du son chaud à la signature marquée d’un casque Sony WH-1000xm3 et il ne faut pas oublier que les Airpods Pro sont de simples petits écouteurs intra auriculaires. Remis dans ce contexte, les Airpods Pro possèdent une très bonne qualité audio qui surpasse de très loin celle des premières générations.They are certainly not headphones for audiophiles, but they will easily come to seduce the greatest number.

Finally, note that the latency in play has been reduced compared to the previous generation.If it was relatively marked with the AirPods, it must be admitted that even while tasting your ear, it is no longer easy to detect the latency here.

Calls

Lors des appels, la réduction de bruit des Airpods Pro continue à être active et permet donc d’être bien isolé des bruits extérieurs.The sound is far from exceptional and the voices are stifled, both in reception and in issuance.The conversation remains audible, but the quality of the sound remains very average.

The outdoor microphone is also mainly used for user noise reduction and is therefore not used to reduce the transmitted sounds.If you are in a noisy environment, your correspondent will hear everything.

Apple's "magic"

On its promotional page, Apple promises to put "magic in your ears".For an automatic equalizer and a noise reduction which is not really new, the term is clearly overused, but Apple seems to forget its true magic, linked to its ecosystem and its ease of use.

Au quotidien, les Airpods Pro sont pensés pour rendre accessible la technologie, depuis l’appairage qui se fait d’un simple geste avec un iPhone (ouvrir la boite), jusqu’à la gestion des embouts.In the IOS Bluetooth accessories settings, it is possible to carry out an adjustment test of the tips that plays music and uses the integrated microphone to check if the acoustic performance is optimal. Si ce n’est pas le cas, il peut être conseillé de changer les embouts des Airpods Pro ou de les replacer dans l’oreille.The biggest problem of this functionality is that you have to go and get it in the depths of iOS and that novices will certainly not find it naturally.

We also find the now familiar a automatic break when we remove a earpiece.Note, however, that the tactile button at the stem is not the best ideas, especially since it has been shortened.In fact, we often press on it by mistake by wishing to readjust the airpods in our ears or by removing them.Nothing abominably frustrating, but for a brand as attentive to details as Apple, this is an amazing point.Note also that as for many True Wireless headphones, no volume adjustment has been made from the earpiece itself.

In the end, what is missing is a multipoint pairing.It is quite rare on the True Wireless, but the pairing constraints with a PC for example and the return then on the phone make that in everyday life I ended up keeping my headset connected to the computer to avoid back and forth-tedious and.This is a recurring defect on this range of products, but it deserves to be underlined.

On Android

On Android, évidemment, toute cette magie n’est pas là, mais les Airpods Pro s’utilisent tout aussi bien.Using the button behind the box, you can pair the airpods at any device, and you can just as well use the noise reduction or the transparent mode.

Les Airpods Pro fonctionnent aussi bien sur Android que sur iOS

On the other hand, the automatic break is not there.Too bad when we know that the WF-1000XM3 offer it on the two platforms.

Autonomy remains in the same waters

As for autonomy, Apple remains on the same basis or almost. Comptez environ 4h à 4h30 d’écoute en continu avec les Airpods Pro et environ 22 heures loin d’une prise grâce au boitier de recharge.Where Apple has been strong is that these figures are very close to those of the previous generation, but with a shorter stem, an active noise reduction that consumes a lot and a charging box that has not won too muchoverweight.

The recharge is made by the Lightning port

Clairement, pour une utilisation quotidienne, les Airpods Pro font l’affaire, mais ils risquent d’être un peu limités pour certains.To see according to your use of course.

Price and availability

Les Airpods Pro sont disponibles depuis octobre 2019 au prix de 279 euros.