AirPods or not?

I recently purchased the AirPods Pro 2 for my iPhone. Without exaggeration, noise-canceling earbuds are literally life-changing. The ~$240 I paid was the single greatest bang-for-my-buck purchase I have ever made, up there with my bed. I had the original AirPods before and the difference is night-and-day. It has enabled so much more contentedness in my day-to-day life, and that joy has not gone away even after several months.

The Pros are light, portable, and flawlessly cancel all sorts of ambient noise immediately. I live in a city and the active "noise cancellation" feature on the Pros all but perfectly suppresses the relentless traffic rumbles and honks, subway train screeching, truck unloading, blasting music, and even construction activity. (If you're right next to a jackhammer, you can still hear it, but it's greatly muffled.) They effectively reduce the sounds of crying babies and unruly groups of teenagers. It's serene. Airplanes are suddenly an order of magnitude more pleasant. I've never found Amtrak trains to be loud, but they make it even quieter. They work while I walk, run, cycle; when I yawn, chew, move my head. The charging time is rapid and the battery life is remarkably long. It's also better for my hearing, because I don't have to drown out the rest of the world just to hear my music.

The "adaptive" and "transparent" modes are also amazing and I use them frequently when walking around. In general, I like to hear a little bit of my surroundings, even if it's heavy traffic, for general safety/awareness. These modes do a wonderful job of muting the worst of the ambient noises while letting me hear conversations and approaching vehicles. Even if the Pros are in the "off" mode, the tips create a nice enough seal that it's as effective as wearing earplugs.

I found that the AirPods fit my ears nicely. You're given four sizes of tips. I rarely wear them for more than an hour at a time, but they don't hurt. You can try them for free at an Apple Store. Personally, while I have an iPhone, I don't consider myself much of an Apple person. But I have nothing negative to say about the new AirPods.

If you're switching to AirPods Pro from another set of noise-canceling earbuds, it will be at least as good. The noise cancellation works even if they're not connected to an iPhone (I often wear them with my phone's Bluetooth off to preserve the phone's battery): you can control it with the button on the Airpods. There are probably some quality of life reductions beyond that. While I usually control them with the button, I do often use my phone, and I'm not sure what support for that is like on Android. I imagine that a couple features, like conversation awareness, might not work on Android.

I'm against Apple products for various reasons, and I'm not exactly an audiophile, but here's what I use:

• Nothing Ear (a) as my daily driver buds. Less than $100, configurable LDAC support (at the cost of battery), sound really good to me, and pretty decent noise cancellation. They're comfortable, the app (on Android) is really nice, and the stem controls work well and can be customized. Best buds I've ever owned (though I've never spent over $100 on a pair).

• Soundcore Space A40 as my sleep buds. I got these because they're cheap (often on sale for $50 or less), and small enough that I can side-sleep with them in and not feel them. I use them with ANC turned off (for max battery life) to listen to podcasts or white noise at night, so sound quality wasn't a big factor.

• Microsoft Surface Headphones as my daily driver when I want over-ears. Sound quality is acceptable (I think maybe they only support SBC though), and noise cancellation is there but nothing to get excited about. These are probably the most comfortable over-ear headphones I've ever worn though, which is the only reason why I haven't replaced them with something with better quality or ANC yet.

• Sennheiser HD 450BTs were an attempt to replace the Surface Headphones with something that sounded better, but these are straight trash. I can't wear them for longer than 10 minutes without feeling like my head is slowly being crushed in a vice and my ears are going to melt off. I should have returned them. Dunno why I waited too long. They're the only ones I have paired to my desktop so I only use them for work meetings which typically don't last long anyway.

I have AirPods 2 Pro and connect them to both my personal Google Pixel and my work iPhone so I have experience in and out of the ecosystem.

There is not much to the functionality you lose out on for not having an iPhone. Spatial audio, using Siri through squeezing the buds, some other configurable triggers, and more, but none of that is enough for me personally to consider it a major difference. I'm more inclined to simply disagree with the principle of it instead.
While Spatial Audio is probably the nicest of the functions you'll lose out on, it hardly matters. What's important is how the AirPods sound and how their ANC functions, which is to say that it absolutely competes with the top within the bud-type audio sphere.
They'll never compare to fullsized closeback headphones when it comes to both audio quality and ANC (brand and cost depending), but that's not the market they compete in.

Apple's active noise cancelling is superb, audio quality is decent to good, and they're easy on the ears provided they fit. I love going on a run with these over any other wireless airpods or headsets I've tried. They are stable, stay put, and are clear enough.

I have some Sony Linkbuds S and they're excellent. They're small, very light, very comfortable, sound quality is fantastic, ANC is decent but not amazing. Good enough though. I don't know how they compare to Airpods for quality, the Sonys are a little cheaper to buy.

My ears have always got on well with Sony things, yours might not. I have third-party silicone tips on my Linkbuds but the stock ones were perfectly good.

I don't have any advice for you, unfortunately, but I will be watching this thread with interest. I recently picked up a pair of the Pixel Buds Pro 2. They're very small and light, so if that is what you're looking for, maybe they'd be a good option. Unfortunately for me, they do not stay in my ears at all. Their little stabilizer fin is way too small and basically does nothing for me.

I've heard lots of people say airpods stay in their ears when no other earbuds do, so I'm considering that option. But I'm in a similar boat as you - otherwise un-Appled.

I use AirPods Pro specifically for their Apple integration. But to be honest, I don’t think they’re the best choice for people outside of that ecosystem. The choices I would probably look into are Beats’ high end TWS (I forget the name) because it is made by Apple and has a lot of their good stuff but without the Apple specific stuff and it’s a bit cheaper. Alternatively I would probably get Sony’s XM5.

This is such great info! Can anyone chime in on over the ear nose canceling headphones?

The AirPods Pro 2 are very solid earbuds, offering cancellation on par or better than those of my Sony XM4 headphones. Audio quality is also quite good, though not the best you can get. Charging case form factor and size is excellent — the case fits perfectly in the little mini-pocket that's commonly found inside the right pocket of mens' jeans, making them easy to carry around without taking primary pocket space or requiring some kind of daily carry bag.

Within the Apple ecosystem, one thing that's super nice and in my opinion underrated is how easy it is to switch them between devices. I can bounce between my iPhone, iPad, macs, and Apple TV with almost zero friction or fiddling. My Sony XM4's are much more annoying in this regard — while they can be paired with multiple devices, one needs to disconnect them from one device before connecting them to another (they can't switch automatically) which makes the experience considerably more clunky and annoying, particularly when it turns out the last device you used them with is across the room and now you're sitting with a cat on your lap or something.

If you're in the US, AirPods Pro 2 have been $170-$180 3 times in the past month. They're $190 at Best Buy and Amazon right now. Just make sure you don't buy from Amazon (elevated risk of fakes; this bit me) and instead price match to Best Buy or something if they're not already selling it for that price.

Probably not really helpful, but I own a pair of Airpods Pro 2 (with an iPhone) and I could compare them to the similarly priced Sony XM5 on a Google Pixel, the Airpods being way better, specially when it comes to noise cancelling.

However, I haven't tried them outside the Apple ecosystem and, knowing Apple, you will lose a lot of functionality if you try to use them outside their ecosystem. If I was an Android user I'd pick any other alternative.

I personally use AirPods Pro (Gen1) with an iPhone, and obviously in that context I think they are great. I’ve also known several people who use AirPods but don’t have any other Apple devices, and it doesn’t seem to have hampered their experience. Obviously you lose out on some features like Spatial Audio, but as far as comfort, audio quality, noise transparency and cancellation modes, these are all available and function just as well with non-Apple devices.

I've got the EarFun Air Pro 3s. For $60, you can't really go wrong. They aren't the highest quality audio but I'm not an audiophile. They have an app also where you can do a little EQing. They have ANC that, to my ears, is really strong, but I also hate ANC and find it makes me dizzy in general, so that wasn't a selling point for me. The battery life, especially without ANC, is amazing.

Basically, when I did my research, I wanted AirPods but cheaper and not Apple and these have absolutely done that for me. They're no Sennheisers but as a daily active use solution, I've really enjoyed them.

It sounds like comfort is your most important factor.

Focus on that, and only that, because an uncomfortable head or ear phone is an unworn and unused head/earphone.

Have there been any headphones that you like comfort-wise?

I tried my darndest to like Apple headphones, but could not get over them, comfort-wise. I love most things Apple and live in the ecosystem, but with the headphones I just found them to be really uncomfortable for me. I say this to remind you to trust your gut, don't be like me, and think "well everyone is saying these are the most comfortable and best headphones ever--that should apply to me too".

If you can try headphones on (I don't know how this goes for in-ear style), do that, and go with your gut and experience/feelings. If you can't, find people that have a similar opinion to you regarding headphone feel (like other users who find your current set bulky), and see if they have recommendations.

Good luck!

Come over to the dark side, come join the borg... I mean the Apple ecosystem!

The best thing about airpods is they seamlessly work with the iPhone/ macbook/ iPad etc...

The second best thing about airpods is you know the quality is high... so is the price, but at least you know you are getting what you pay for.

I have a pair of Indie Evo Skullcandy headphones and I got during a Black Friday sale for $18. I have seen them for as much as 84 dollars, but right now they seem to be $25 on amazon. I would buy them again at that price point.

I can't tell from looking at pictures of the Sennheisers exactly how they compare, but they seem smaller. Their shape is different. They have a stem that hangs down like the airpods and also a little gel sticks up. Both of these make them fit well in my ears, and they don't fall out.

I don't think anybody's going to claim that these are the best earbuds ever, but they were a big Improvement for me over the wired bluetooth head earbuds I was using before. They have decent battery life. Sound quality is good to me, though I am no audio file. They have ambient sound mode that is nice for walking outside. Controlling then with the taps is meh, usually takes me two or three tries to pause/unpause.

I think the most useful feature on them is the tile integration. If I leave them somewhere, they can be found like any tile. But the most useful, when I know they are in the house, but I can't find them, the tile app shows you relative signal strength so you can do hotter/colder until you find them.
One time I was walking at a track and fell. I didn't notice that I had lost one when I fell, but once I did, I was able to track it down without trouble. After my experience with these, I won't buy a pair that doesn't have a similar feature.

The only catch is the case doesn't have a tile detector in it so if you have the earbuds in your ears, best put the case in a consistent spot.

One thing worth keeping in mind is that AirPods Pro 2 can also function as clinical-grade hearing aids and can be tuned to your specific hearing loss. There's some info here: https://www.apple.com/airpods-pro/hearing-health/

Remember those wired earbuds Apple used to make? I hated those. They were so uncomfortable.

Airpods aren't like that. They fit my ear holes well, they sound good, and they use Bluetooth, so they pair with my Android phone just fine.

I used to use a pair of Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds before switching to the AirPods Pro 2 last year. The Airpods Pro are amazing honestly. They're small, battery life is great, sound is great, and the noise cancelling is the best. I bought into the Apple ecosystem at the same time I switched to the Airpods but I still use a Google Pixel as my secondary phone and use the Airpods with it.

There are two main downsides of Airpods on non-Apple devices though. First, you will not be able to update your Airpods. If a new firmware gets released with features you'd like, you will have to connect to some Apple device to get the firmware to update. Secondly, you won't be able to change all the settings of the Airpods without an Apple device. I think on Android you can download apps to let you enable/disable the ear detection (where the sound stops when you take one Airpod out of your ear) among other settings but I don't think its as smooth as it is with an Apple device.

I think the competition have gotten closer recently both in terms of sound quality and noise cancelling that don't require you to have the phone from that brand so you might have better luck with earbuds from Google, Sony, Samsung and other brands.

Have you tried memory foam eartips? I use them with my earbuds to help with comfort and to give the ANC a hand battling the noise in my environment.
It might be an inexpensive way to keep the Sennheisers in play.

Seconding anker soundcore a40’s, bought for my daughter and they work great, super affordable. But i use airpods pro and like them pretty well. Nothing fits well in my ears though, they always break seal. Dunno whats wrong with my canals.