Apple AirPods Pro 3
pros and cons
- The AirPods Pro 3 bring several design updates and upgraded capabilities with iPhone.
- Active noise cancellation now rivals over-the-ear headphones
- Heart-rate monitoring is a quality-of-life improvement
- Still retails for $249, which is on the pricier side for earbuds
- Same scratch-prone case
more buying choices
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I’ve been using them for months since they was first announced in September. And I’m happy — even a little relieved — to report that Apple didn’t ruin a good thing here. In fact, there’s one area where I didn’t realize it was even possible to make them better, but they are. Additionally, new features enhance the product’s usability. Of course, there are also a couple of gaps and blind spots, and we’ll talk about those, too.
But if you’ve had a pair of AirPods or AirPods Pro in the past and loved them, the good news is there’s a great chance you’re going to love the AirPods Pro 3 even more.
How I tested AirPods Pro 3
I started testing the AirPods Pro 3 on the day they were announced at Apple Park last year. I wore them on a five-hour flight home from California to test the sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC), and battery life. And I’ve been wearing them daily since then, and comparing them with AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Max, Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds (which I’ve been increasingly using at times when I used to wear AirPods).
I spent the most time comparing the AirPods Pro 3 to Sony’s XM5 earbuds” from the Dune: Part Two soundtrack because it has a very complex multi-layered set of sounds that include whispers, whooshes, bass-filled booms and rumbles, lilting highs and lows, and a beautiful mixture of loud and quiet flourishes.
I’ve been an AirPods user since the first version almost a decade ago, even though they didn’t fit my ears at first. With the help of a pair of silicone ear hooks from AhaStyle that I wrote about on CNET, I was able to make them work, and so I would carry both the AirPods and the earhooks in my pocket every day.
Also: Own AirPods? I changed 3 settings on my iPhone to significantly improve the audio experience
When the first AirPods Pro were announced with silicone eartips in October 2019, I was thrilled for the fit alone and immediately pre-ordered a set and have used a pair of AirPods Pro every day since, including their successors, the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C. They fit into my ears much better, and I’ve been very happy with the sound quality — but a little less happy with the ANC, although I figured I couldn’t expect much more from a pair of earbuds. Enter AirPods Pro 3.
The upgrades in AirPods Pro 3
To start, Apple redesigned the shape of the AirPods Pro in version 3. If the original AirPods Pro design was like a head sitting on a pair of shoulders, then the AirPods Pro 3 design is like someone purposefully sticking their neck out.
It’s subtle when you first look at them, but they definitely feel different in your fingers when you start putting them in and out of your ears multiple times a day. As a result, the AirPods Pro 3 feel like they sit a little deeper into your eardrum. Some people may not like that sensation at first, but it didn’t bother me.
The other physical element of AirPods Pro 3 that Apple redesigned was the ear tips, which have switched from pure silicone to foam-infused silicone. In other words, they are foam on the inside and silicone on the outside. This is meant to give the earbuds a better seal inside your ear. And since people’s ears are shaped differently, it’s also meant to contour to various ear shapes. Apple has also added an XXS (extra extra small) set of tips for AirPods Pro 3.
So let’s get into the rest of the upgrades and what they mean for daily use of AirPods Pro 3.
Sound quality — Do the AirPods Pro 3 sound just as good or better than AirPods Pro 2? That’s one of the most important things you need to know if you’re considering an upgrade. First, it’s important to acknowledge that sound quality can be a very subjective thing because people hear things differently. Apple claims that the AirPods Pro 3 have a redesigned “multiport acoustic architecture with more precise airflow control.” That’s key, because after all, the main thing any speaker does to create sound is move air around.
In my tests, I found the AirPods Pro 3 to have fuller, deeper, and clearer sound than AirPods Pro 3. It’s especially noticeable when watching movies with big, cinematic soundtracks. In my quality test with Zimmer’s “Only I Will Remain” song, AirPods Pro 3 were again noticeably clearer and fuller than AirPods Pro 2. However, the quality didn’t quite reach the level of Sony’s XM5’s earbuds — I can still hear notes in the Sony’s that I can’t hear in the AirPods Pro 3. But while AirPods Pro 2 were about 70-75% as good as the Sony’s, AirPods Pro 3 were about 90% of the way there.
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) — This is where the AirPods Pro 3 really shine. Their best feature is a massive upgrade in noise cancellation. And I’ll be honest in saying I’m not quite sure how Apple pulled this off. The AirPods Pro 2 were already about as good at noise cancellation as any earbuds you can buy — although ZDNET previously gave a slight edge to Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. I use ANC on the AirPods Pro 2 nearly every day, and from the first time I turned on the ANC on the new AirPods Pro 3, I was shocked at how good it was. It seems to defy the law of physics, it’s that good.
It’s much better than the Sony XM5 earbuds I had on me, which were right up there with Bose and AirPods Pro 2 among the best ANC earbuds — partially because Sony was already using foam eartips. After using AirPods Pro 3 for weeks across a bunch of noisy scenarios to try to find a flaw, I’m convinced the ANC is about 80-90% as good as the AirPods Max and other leading over-ear headphones. It’s so good that on my next cross-country flight, I’m going to leave AirPods Max at home and try only traveling with AirPods Pro 3.
Also: AirPods Pro 3 vs. Powerbeats Pro 2: I tested both Apple earbuds, and the winner is not so obvious
Extended battery life — Another reason I feel comfortable leaving AirPods Pro Max at home and only traveling with AirPods Pro 3 on my next trip is that Apple claims it has increased battery life by about 25%. I haven’t spent enough time testing them yet to say I’m fully confident in verifying that number. However, I easily got through a cross-country flight with more battery life remaining than I’d typically get with the AirPods Pro 2, so I am confident there’s an upgrade in this department.
Heart rate monitoring — Similar to the PowerBeats Pro 2 (Beats is also owned by Apple), the AirPods Pro 3 have added heart tracking as a health feature, which follows the hearing health features added in 2024. Since I wear an Apple Watch, I don’t have much need for the heart tracking feature, but I have several colleagues who are ready to use AirPods Pro 3 to track their workouts instead of Apple Watch. And Apple clearly has no problem with that because you can now use AirPods Pro 3 to start and track certain types of workouts in the Fitness app.
Live translation — I also got to test the new Live Translation feature on AirPods Pro 3 and the best part about it is how easy it is to start — just do a long-press on both earbuds at the same time. The translation itself is at least as accurate as other live translation features I’ve tried with Google Pixel devices and Meta Ray-Bans, which is to say it can be hit or miss.
I need to do a lot more testing on this and I’m confident that I will this fall and then I’ll report back with a separate article comparing AirPods Pro 3 to the latest Google and Meta live translation upgrades. Also, keep in mind that this feature will work with AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with Noise Cancellation when they are connected to an iPhone with Apple Intelligence (iPhone 15 Pro or later).
An upgrade to Find My — The AirPods Pro 3 includes an upgraded Ultrawideband chip (U2) that Apple claims increases the finding distance of the charging case by about 50% using the Find My app. I’m not sure about the 50% increase, but I did have fun trying to find AirPods Pro 3 with FindMy and they did give off a signal that the FindMy app noticed a little farther away than AirPods Pro 2. The coolest part is that this is likely a signal that a new second-generation AirTag powered by the U2 chip will also be coming soon.
Also: I’m not swapping my Apple Watch for the AirPods Pro 3’s heart rate tracking – here’s why
Improved dust and water protection — Apple also upgraded the dust and water protection of the AirPods Pro 3. The AirPods Pro 2 were previously IPX4 certified, which means they offered no dust protection (the X) and level 4 water protection (against sweat and light splashes of water). The AirPods Pro 3 offer IP57 certification, which means they have level 5 dust protection (against minimal amounts of dust) and level 7 water protection (against total immersion and downpours of rain). I did not attempt to test this, but I’m glad to see it. By comparison, the Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds have an IPX4 rating.
Source : ZDNet