Airpods Pro vs Powerbeats Pro - How to Kill an Hour

James Haskell took the two best wireless headphones for a spin to decide which is the best! It’s time for Airpods Pro vs Powerbeats Pro!

Airpods Pro

Comfort

Firstly we have to give not to Apple’s take on comfort. In-Ear headphones which don’t fit right, will always sound bad! Each pair of Airpods Pro come with three different sizes of soft, flexible silicone tips. So they can form an exceptional fit to help aid active noise cancellation. Allowing you to not even be aware that you are wearing any headphones! This is emphasised by vents which will equalise the pressure, helping you feel as though there’s nothing there!

The tips are internally taped too, so they are designed to conform to your ear shape. Therefore not only making them fit better but making them more secure!

Noise Cancellation

The AirPods pro are SUPER smart too as they’ll continuously adapt to the geometry of your ear and the ear tips. Blocking out external sound to focus on the music, this is called Adaptive Noise Cancellation.

How does it do this?

Well, an out an outward-facing microphone detects any external sound. Then the headphones themselves will counter it with equal anti-noise. Therefore cancelling the external sound even before you hear it. Furthermore an inward-facing microphone also listens to the inside of your ear for any unwanted sound. This is further eliminated with anti-noise. All of this is continuously adjusted at 200 times per second, giving you truly immersive sound.

Noise Transparency

AirPods pro have something called Transparency Mode allowing you to hear what’s happening around you. Simply press and hold the force sensor on the stem to jump between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode. Transparency Mode let’s the outside sound in, allowing you to talk to people nearby or hear the traffic around you.

Audio

Adaptive EQ is also another smart feature. This will automatically tune music to the shape of your ear. Giving you a rich consistent listening experience.

Love Bass? Well you’re in luck. Strong, powerful base is delivered in a custom-built high-excursion, low-distortion speaker driver. As discussed earlier the inward-facing microphone will help fine tune the audio by adjusting the mid and low frequencies. The amplifier within the in-ear headphones will remove the background noise and the H1 chip controls listening levels. The super-efficient high dynamic range amplifier produces amazing sound which is super clear. Additionally helping to also extend battery life.

H1

The H1 also powers Siri, give low audio processing latency and helps with the real time noise cancellation via 10 audio cores. The way that the AirPods Pro are designed with the placement of each component based on the form of the human ear. Helps maximise comfort, fit and stability.

The force sensor not only helps to control music and calls easily it helps to switch between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode.

The H1 also allows the in-ear headphones to connect as if by magic to an iPhone and Apple Watch. Simply open up the charging case or hold them near to your device and wait for them to appear on screen. Then click connect! The charging case is also wirelessly chargeable via QI enabled chargers.

Like to gym? No problem the Airpods Pro are sweat and water resistant! They also feature an expanded mesh microphone port to help improve call clarity in windy conditions!

Not to forget Siri either! Hey Siri! Will allow you to control, music, calls, volume and directions, all without lifting a finger! Even share a song, podcast or an audio stream between two sets of Airpods with Audio sharing on iOS 13!

Powerbeats Pro

The new Beats earphones Powerbeats Pro are built specifically for those who love to workout and are always active. They have zero wires for a start so there’s no holding you back! Powerbeats Pro delivers powerful, balanced sound with dynamic range and noise isolation for a very cool and enjoyable listen.

They are wireless (obviously!) but also have a really strong connection to your device, with fewer dropouts included! You are going to get sweaty using these right? Well they have a reinforced design for sweat and water resistance! Not only that the adjustable, secure fit ear hooks keep them locked in to your ears. So, you can keep locked into the music.

While you get a total of 9 hours of listening time the charging case will give you an additional 24hrs of playback! If you need a charge, Fast Fuel for 5mins gives you an additional 1.5hrs of playback! Hands Free controls via “Hey Siri” on iOS devices and and voice capability with a push of the “b” button on a variety of compatible devices!

There’s also volume and track controls on each earbud so you can play both earbuds or one at a time. Not only that there’s also sensors in the buds which will detect when you are wearing them and start/stop playing accordingly.

Airpods vs Powerbeats Pro Breakdown

Check out our extensive table below:

	Airpods Pro	Powerbeats Pro
Weight	5.4g (each) 45g (Charging Case)	0.71 oz/20.3 g
Connections	Bluetooth 5.0 Lightning to USB C (Case)	Bluetooth Lightning to USB – A (Case)
Accessibility	Live Listen Audio
Sensors	Dual beamforming microphones Inward-facing microphone Dual optical sensors Motion-detecting accelerometer Speech-detecting accelerometer Force sensor	Dual beam-forming microphones Dual optical sensors Motion-detecting accelerometer Speech-detecting accelerometer
Power	AirPods Pro Up to 4.5 hours of listening time with a single charge. (Additionally up to 5 hours with Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency off) Up to 3.5 hours of talk time with a single charge More than 24 hours of listening time More than 18 hours of talk time 5 minutes in the case provides around 1 hour of listening time⁷ or around 1 hour of talk time	24hrs charge with the case Single Charge 9hrs 5mins = 1.5hr
Hey Siri Compatible	Yes	Yes
H1 chip	Yes	Yes
Noise Isolation	Yes	Yes
Controls	Pressing / Press and Hold	Physical Buttons
Adjustable Ear Tips	Yes	Yes
Adjustable Fit	No	Yes
Sweat and Water Resistant	Yes (IPX4)	Yes

Airpods Pro vs Powerbeats Pro – What do you think?

Purchase them here: Air Pods 2nd Gen / Powerbeats Pro

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