A few weeks ago, my friend who happens to be decent at recommendations for headphones and things of that sort said to me that I should consider getting Apple Airpods Pro as my Raycon E55's are getting a little older. Three years of every-day usage really tends to be able to wear most pieces of technology out, and so I said that I'd give them a look.
So now that Christmas is over and I've had the headphones for about a week and a half, I figured I'd throw out a bit of my opinion on them.
First Thoughts
When I first opened the box I was quite happy with the way it was packaged. Apple always does a good job with this sort of thing so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but for some reason I just always am. They tend to use this really cool system where the top of the box slides off the bottom, and it's just really clean and neat.
The Airpods came right out of the box, and I didn't have any trouble with tape or anything like that. They come with a USBC to Lightning cable to charge, and the case for the actual headphones is easily small enough to fit inside the palm of your hand.
A common complaint that I've heard in the past about the airpods is that they look quite odd in your ears due to the stem that comes out of the bottom, however I didn't notice anything like that with this specific model. I've heard that the size of the stems was changed with the newer versions, which is really great if you don't want it to be super obvious that they're in your ears while you're in class, although I'm not sure it'll make a huge difference.
Battery And Connectivity
As soon as I unlocked my phone after opening the case, I was immediately greeted with a dialogue that asked me to connect and set up the devices. Setup took less than 2 minutes, and after that was complete I was able to listen to music immediately.
Unlike most bluetooth earbuds, the Airpods didn't lag at all, which would make them ideal for playing games... And even for using voiceover to text.
The battery life of the airpods I'd say is pretty good. The Raycons were rated for 6 hours per earbud while the Airpods are rated for 4 hours, however the Airpods can charge a lot faster than the Raycons in my experience. I haven't been in a situation were I was able to use the Airpods battery fully yet however.
Sound Quality
In my opinion, the Airpods only real drawback is that the sound quality isn't quite as good as my old set of Raycon E55's. That's not to say that they're bad, they're just a bit different. Where the Raycon's had more bass, the Airpods had a fuller and more crisp sound, and got a bit louder.
Another problem I had with the Airpods was that they have a bit of a problem with sound leakage. In my testing, I played the same song with both headphones. I started at a low volume and slowly turned it up to maximum with the Raycons and about 85% with the Airpods, which was about the same volume. By the time I reached full volume, I could clearly hear all of the lyrics using the microphone I had placed 2 or 3 feet away from my head, while with the Raycons I could hear mainly only the beat.
Final Opinion
In my opinion, the Airpods pro are a good purchase if you don't like to listen to your music too loud, and don't want the headphones with the most thunderous bass. Especially with the original Airpods, I've always thought this line of particular headphones were more focused on looks, simplicity and showing off to others than the way the music sounded. They're moving in the right direction in my opinion, focusing more and more on the quality of the sound, however I wouldn't necessarily go for these if you need something that won't annoy other people in the room at high volumes and won't cost you an arm and a leg plus a bit to replace if they happen to break over time.
Just pick up the Raycons instead. They're half the price, and mine have lasted me almost three years, even with at least 30 minutes of usage each day since the original purchase.