Apple announces the Next Generation of AirPods Pro

[TheLostSwede]

Apple today announced the second generation of AirPods Pro, the most advanced AirPods ever. With the power of the new H2 chip, AirPods Pro unlock breakthrough audio performance—including major upgrades to Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode—while also offering a unique way to experience Spatial Audio that's even more immersive. Now, customers can enjoy Touch control for media playback and volume adjustments directly from the stem, along with longer battery life, a brand-new charging case, and an additional ear tip size for a better fit.
AirPods Pro (2nd generation) will be available to order online and in the Apple Store app starting Friday, September 9, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 23.

"AirPods revolutionized the wireless headphone category with an innovative design and incredible sound quality. With the new AirPods Pro, Apple raises the bar once again," said Bob Borchers, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The new AirPods Pro deliver even better sound quality, a more immersive listening experience with Personalized Spatial Audio, and transformative audio features like Adaptive Transparency. With up to double the noise-cancelling power of their predecessor, the world's bestselling wireless headphones just got even better."




Breakthrough Audio
Built into a lightweight and compact body, the power of the new H2 chip provides an exceptional acoustic experience and cancels up to twice as much noise over the previous generation AirPods Pro. With a new low-distortion audio driver and custom amplifier, AirPods Pro now offer richer bass and crystal-clear sound across a wider range of frequencies. Since the best audio experience isn't complete without a great in-ear fit, a new extra small ear tip is included so even more people can experience the magic of AirPods Pro.

Transparency mode makes it possible for listeners to stay connected to and aware of the world around them. Now, Adaptive Transparency takes this customer-loved feature even further. The powerful H2 chip enables on-device processing, which reduces loud environmental noise—like a passing vehicle siren, construction tools, or even loud speakers at a concert—for more comfortable everyday listening.

Precise and Immersive Sound
With Personalized Spatial Audio, the AirPods listening experience is even more immersive. Users perceive sound individually, based on the size and shape of their head and ears. Using the TrueDepth camera on iPhone, users can create a personal profile for Spatial Audio that delivers a listening experience precisely tuned just for them. Users can enjoy Personalized Spatial Audio with music, movies, and TV shows—with dynamic head tracking—across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV.

Convenient Features
The magical experience users have come to love from the AirPods family gets even better with the next generation of AirPods Pro. Instant pairing to all Apple devices makes setup effortless, while the new dedicated AirPods section in iOS Settings lets users easily access and control their AirPods features.
Now, users can control media playback and turn up the volume without using another device. With Touch control on AirPods Pro, a light swipe up or down on the stem enables quick volume adjustments. Press the stem to change the music, answer phone calls, and more, or say "Hey Siri" to make requests hands-free. The improved, built-in skin-detect sensor more accurately turns on or off playback, and delivers better battery life.

Extended Battery Life
AirPods Pro offer 1.5 hours of additional listening time over the first generation, for a total of up to six hours with Active Noise Cancellation. Using the case for four additional charges, users can enjoy up to 30 hours of total listening time with Active Noise Cancellation—a full six hours more than the previous generation.

For more flexibility when traveling, customers can now charge AirPods Pro with an Apple Watch charger, in addition to a MagSafe charger, Qi-certified charging mat, or the Lightning cable.

All-New Charging Case
AirPods Pro come with a newly designed charging case that is sweat- and water-resistant, and includes a lanyard loop so it's always within reach. With Precision Finding, users with a U1-enabled iPhone can locate their charging case with guided directions. The charging case also has a built-in speaker to deliver louder tones, so it's even easier to locate.

AirPods and the Environment
AirPods Pro are designed with numerous materials and features to minimize their impact on the environment, including the use of 100 percent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets and—for the first time—100 percent recycled gold in the plating of multiple printed circuit boards. The case also uses 100 percent recycled tin in the solder of the main logic board, and 100 percent recycled alaluminiumn the hinge. AirPods Pro are free of potentially harmful substances such as mercury, BFRs, PVC, and beryllium. Redesigned packaging eliminates the outer plastic wrap, and 90 percent or more of the packaging is made using fiber-based materials, bringing Apple closer to its goal of completely removing plastic from all packaging by 2025.
Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to be 100 percent carbon neutral across its entire manufacturing supply chain and all product life cycles. This means that every Apple device sold, from component manufacturing, assembly, transport, customer use, charging, all the way through recycling and material recovery, will have net-zero climate impact.

Pricing and Availability

• AirPods Pro (2nd generation) will be available to order for $249 (US) from apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app in the US and more than 50 other countries and regions starting Friday, September 9, with availability in stores beginning Friday, September 23.
• AirPods (3rd generation) with Lightning Charging Case are now available for $169 (US). AirPods (3rd generation) with MagSafe Charging Case remain available for $179 (US).

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[Denver]

4x more expensive than an edifier tws1 pro, with half the battery life.

In Short: Revolutionary.

 

[chris.london]

I was looking forward to this but no hi-res audio support killed it for me.

 

[Aquinus]

with half the battery life.

In Apple's defense, when they run low on battery, they charge pretty fast on the last version, which I have. If I were to complain about anything, it's how long the battery in the case lasts, not the AirPods themselves to be completely honest. I also got them through a deal when I bought my laptop, so they were only something like $60 USD which was a steal.

I was looking forward to this but no hi-res audio support killed it for me.

I really don't see how that's feasible given the bandwidth requirements of lossless codecs and the bandwidth that low power bluetooth has, even under the best of circumstances.

 

[chris.london]

In Apple's defense, when they run low on battery, they charge pretty fast on the last version, which I have. If I were to complain about anything, it's how long the battery in the case lasts, not the AirPods themselves to be completely honest.

I really don't see how that's feasible given the bandwidth requirements of lossless codecs and the bandwidth that low power bluetooth has, even under the best of circumstances.

And yet aptX HD is a thing. Apple has his own proprietary H2 chip, Apple Music offers hi res lossless quality, I can’t believe we are still stuck with 256kbps AAC over bluetooth.

 

[mb194dc]

4x more expensive than an edifier tws1 pro, with half the battery life.

In Short: Revolutionary.

This is what innovation in this era looks like... $250...$200 of it is straight apple tax.

 

[Aquinus]

And yet aptX HD is a thing. Apple has his own proprietary H2 chip, Apple Music offers hi res lossless quality, I can’t believe we are still stuck with 256kbps AAC over bluetooth.

aptX doesn't guarantee that quality though, it adjusts based on wireless conditions. YMMV and really depends on how noisy your environment is with other signals and your distance from the BT transceiver. In busy places like a city, you might never see it. So sure, while you can get pretty close to CD quality lossless over BT, it's definitely not something that can always occur given how limited low energy BT is.

 

[BArms]

This is what innovation in this era looks like... $250...$200 of it is straight apple tax.

Not necessarily, both Sony and Apple's top true wireless buds cost the same (Sony's actually slightly more expensive) and they have noise cancelling that <$100 buds can't dream of. I've used some cheaper buds while biking on trails and they're almost completely worthless at preventing wind noise, it completely overwhelms them where Airpod Pro's and Sony XM4's do a lot better in my experience, especially with memory foam tips that seal better.

Can't wait to see some reviews, especially if their noise cancelling claims hold any water.

 

[chris.london]

aptX doesn't guarantee that quality though, it adjusts based on wireless conditions. YMMV and really depends on how noisy your environment is with other signals and your distance from the BT transceiver. In busy places like a city, you might never see it. So sure, while you can get pretty close to CD quality lossless over BT, it's definitely not something that can always occur given how limited low energy BT is.

That is fine. The problem is that the shiny new $250 Airpods will never be able to do anything better than 256kbit AAC. I just don’t get why Apple keeps dragging their feet. They removed headphone jacks, then added hi res audio to Apple Music, but forgot to release wireless headphones to take advantage of it. They are definitely missing a trick here.

 

[Aquinus]

That is fine. The problem is that the shiny new $250 Airpods will never be able to do anything better than 256kbit AAC. I just don’t get why Apple keeps dragging their feet. They removed headphone jacks, then added hi res audio to Apple Music, but forgot to release wireless headphones to take advantage of it. They are definitely missing a trick here.

To be completely honest, if I'm going to care about sound quality beyond 256kbit AAC, then I'm probably using real headphones with a wire and a DAC. For me, I use them for the noise cancelling, calls/meetings, and music when I'm moving around. It's less about sound quality and more about utility when I'm using them. With that said, I do also have the Airpods Max and that's a device that I think what you're suggesting would be far more reasonable. The sound quality on that is considerably better than the AirPods Pro and might benefit from it, but if it sounds better even with 256kbit AAC, then what difference is lossless going to make on the Pros? The limiting factor is the sound reproduction, not the quality of the audio stream itself.

Can't wait to see some reviews, especially if their noise cancelling claims hold any water.

It's not bad on the first gen. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn good. Granted that's an opinion and about as subjective as it gets.

 

[timta2]

And yet aptX HD is a thing. Apple has his own proprietary H2 chip, Apple Music offers hi res lossless quality, I can’t believe we are still stuck with 256kbps AAC over bluetooth.

Most people either can't hear the difference or don't care.

 

[Guwapo77]

To be completely honest, if I'm going to care about sound quality beyond 256kbit AAC, then I'm probably using real headphones with a wire and a DAC. For me, I use them for the noise cancelling, calls/meetings, and music when I'm moving around. It's less about sound quality and more about utility when I'm using them. With that said, I do also have the Airpods Max and that's a device that I think what you're suggesting would be far more reasonable. The sound quality on that is considerably better than the AirPods Pro and might benefit from it, but if it sounds better even with 256kbit AAC, then what difference is lossless going to make on the Pros? The limiting factor is the sound reproduction, not the quality of the audio stream itself.

It's not bad on the first gen. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn good. Granted that's an opinion and about as subjective as it gets.

I can most certainly co-sign everything you just said regarding the Airpod Pros and the Airpod Pro Max. I hope by the next generation of the Pro Maxes, we do get lossless. One thing the Air Pods and Max need is more BASS! I love the mid and highs, but the bass is lacking. I recently bought the Beats Fit and I am pleasantly surprised by the sound quality. Highs aren't as nice, but I got some bass finally.

 

[Aquinus]

I can most certainly co-sign everything you just said regarding the Airpod Pros and the Airpod Pro Max. I hope by the next generation of the Pro Maxes, we do get lossless. One thing the Air Pods and Max need is more BASS! I love the mid and highs, but the bass is lacking. I recently bought the Beats Fit and I am pleasantly surprised by the sound quality. Highs aren't as nice, but I got some bass finally.

Really? I already feel that the bass on the Max is a bit too strong in a lot of cases. Granted, when I care about quality, I'm using flat response monitor headphones so a bias towards bass isn't typically what I'm looking for. You can always turn it up with an equalizer assuming the device is capable of producing the sound you're looking for.

 

[Guwapo77]

Really? I already feel that the bass on the Max is a bit too strong in a lot of cases. Granted, when I care about quality, I'm using flat response monitor headphones so a bias towards bass isn't typically what I'm looking for. You can always turn it up with an equalizer assuming the device is capable of producing the sound you're looking for.

Yes, I am a deep bass listener. I like reggae music and there are a lot of songs where the bass note gets clipped off or reproduced very low. I need a set where it wants to drive those low bass notes hard.