The Small Changes to the AirPods Pro 2 Are Cool, but Not Enough to Justify Buying Them Again

Apple announced its AirPods Pro 2 would be getting a little bit of a makeover in September, swapping out the now-outdated Lightning port for USB-C, allowing the case to be charged via the new global standard.

There wasn’t too much new to the AirPods Pro 2, except USB-C, but there are still some things we thought it worth our time to test out.

AirPods Pro 2, with USB-C

While most of Apple’s 2023 ‘Wonderlust’ event was dedicated to the iPhone 15 range, the USB-C port was the focus for basically everything, including, as you know, the AirPods Pro 2. Just to reiterate, there was no new model, no new chip, just a new case. In my case, though, it was a fresh new pair of the second generation pro earbuds after using the last pair for over a year.

With the AirPods Pro 2 last year, I focused on the noise-cancelling. Basically, that they turned out to be the most perfect concert buddy (except for the part where I looked like I was listing to my own music and not the band in front of me). The reason I chose to hyperfixate on that was because the noise-cancellation capabilities were truly that good. The standard AirPods don’t even compare.

Which brings me to what’s new with the USB-C version of the AirPods Pro 2.

Noise-cancelling, but better

The AirPods Pro 2 offer an improvement in audio quality and a handful of new features that their 2019 predecessors don’t have. A lot of this is thanks to Apple’s H2 chip.

Running through the features, with the AirPods Pro 2 you’ll get Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), adaptive transparency, better pressure equalisation, Personalised Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, adaptive EQ, easy-to-use on-bud controls, multiple charging options, tips to suit most ear types, up to 6-hours of listening time, and the benefit of Apple’s walled garden.

In the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C, Adaptive Audio has been updated, blending Transparency and Active Noise Cancellation modes to adapt to your experiences throughout the day. The AirPods now include a toggle for quickly muting and unmuting, and Automatic Switching has been improved.

Computational audio takes the information the AirPods Pro 2 learn about how you listen (conversations, environments, etc) and sort of provides a personalised way to throw this Adaptive Audio back at you.

How does it sound?

The short answer? Weird.

Adaptive Audio turns the music down when it detects you talking, which I got caught out on (on more than one occasion) when I was singing along to the music. It took a while to get used to, and I ended up switching it off before giving it another go. Now it seems to have learned that I don’t want to hear people talking on the bus, nor my cats meowing at me for food 4 hours before dinner time.

I did feel the sound was more clear. I’m not sure if this is a placebo effect or the fact the older pair I used had been used almost every day since I got them, and that I had dropped them and their case quite a number of times in the 12 months, but it was definitely more crisp, more definition, and that was across a number of genres.

You’ll lose out on the full experience if you don’t activate Personalised Spatial Audio (where you map your face for a very personalised sound experience) and you’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t listen to tunes via Apple Music.

What else?

The AirPods Pro 2 – with or without USB-C – aren’t the best quality noise-cancelling earbuds, but with the seamless phone-to Mac-to iPad capabilities, they’re definitely the most practical for a heavy Apple user.

With the AirPods Pro 2, however, you get Apple’s Spatial Audio – which means you can hear music in 3D, as well as a handful of movies and TV shows – you can’t get that in a better-sounding pair of earbuds.

Battery life remains the same, as well as the in-Settings tweaks you can make.

There’s also two billion transitions in the buds, which is absolutely ridiculous.

Should you buy the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C?

As you can tell from the headline, the new features in the AirPods Pro 2 are very cool and Apple is continuing to iterate and innovate with one of the best products it makes. That said, I couldn’t possibly encourage you to buy the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C if you already have the second-generation pair from last year. If you have the first-gen, or even the older AirPods 1, 2, or 3, then you’ll definitely be left impressed by the new pair.

For me, I do appreciate having nothing left in my home charge via Lightning.

They’re $399, which is the same price the non-USB-C AirPods Pro 2 were selling for when they debuted, which is another tick in Apple’s corner.

Image: Asha Barbaschow/Gizmodo Australia