Apple AirPods Pro Wireless Earbuds with MagSafe Charging Case. Active Noise Cancelling, Transparency Mode, Spatial Audio, Customizable Fit, Sweat and Water Resistant. Bluetooth Headphones for iPhone

For reference i purchased the item ‘wireless earbuds made in china’ e10 $20 after coupon (left, white, smallest case), air pods pro $175 (2nd left, white), pixel buds pro $200 (2nd right, black), bose soundsport $109 (right, black, wired). All tested using a pixel 6 to play the music.

I received google pixel buds for my birthday this month. I will say they had excellent touch controls, better than apple’s and google assistant was always on point. I’d imagine best wireless battery life too, marginally better than apple. Probably the best noise cancelling i’ve ever had plus transparency mode is nice and easy to switch between. Even better than my, albeit older, bose quiet comfort 25 over the ear wired headphones. Just can’t stand how quickly these come out of my ears, the fit is like the tip of an adult thumb to the first knuckle shoved vertically in your ear. Also noted as the best bass. Pixel buds did connect easily to a pixel 6 phone, a littleore difficult to connect to a laptop but they did.

I bought my wife airpods pro for her birthday earlier this year. Airpods are definitely more comfortable than the e10 knock offs, but e10 are close with minimal activity. Airpods aren’t perfect, and will still fall out running or jumping for kids… I’d rather drop the e10s for the price. Sound quality is better than google but not as good as my bose, not as much bass as the pixel buds but apple has far superior overall sound quality than the pixel buds. The touch controls do work, i do have some issues squeezing the right spot but i’m getting older and have fatter fingers than when i was in my 20s. I found pixel buds touch controls to be a little better. My wife uses these with her laptop (windows) at work for meetings more than her phone. They connected easier with her iphone 13, but i did connect them to a pixel 6 and her laptop fairly easily. Airpods charging case feels the most durable with a metal hinge, plus wireless charging works good. Noise cancelling is good and it has transparency mode, i think google may be a tad better.

Bose soundsport have the best fit of any ear buds i’ve ever worn. So tight, i’ve actually pulled the cord loose from my phone instead of out of both my ears. Also the most comfortable since it’s all a rubberish material touching your ear that sort of forms to your ear. Plus bose have the best overall sound, but airpods are very close. I will admit pixel buds have the most bass of any of these 4. Actually these 2015 released ear buds have the weakest bass of any of the 4 being reviewed. These are wired and still expensive, and now hard to find reasonably priced in 2022. I have used them hard and they keep on trucking. I will continue to use them if the battery is dead in my e10s. More and more devices are lacking an auxiliary port to connect to, i currently have an adapter for auxiliary to usb-c to use with a pixel 6 phone, which also does work on my laptop.

These e10s have better overall sound than pixel buds pro. More bass than my (very old) bose soundsport headphones. Smallest charging case for wireless, also cheapest feel and the hinge wouldn’t stay open when laid down. Touch controls also suck the most, i did get volume up to work, sometimes volume down. Non existent noise cancelling. Only says noise cancelling in the name on the manual, no where in the manual. Mic must work fine, google assistant heard me clear. I haven’t tested a call. These are the only headphones to come with a charging cord, no brick to plug into the wall, but usb-c to usb. My pixel 6 charger with the official google brick did charge this.

Bottom line. I’m returning $200 pixel buds pro for the $20 e10s… And i will settle for my wired bose if these don’t have battery. I couldn’t justify buying currently priced $179 airpods at the time of this review for my pixel 6. Plus my wife won’t let me keep her birthday gift.

Time will tell if the upcoming pixel watch is a success or a failure. I may be converting to apple if the watch flops. I can’t stand my fitbit versa 2 compared to any apple watch (series 1 included).

After owning my air pod pros for nearly two years now i feel that i am qualified to give an accurate and in-depth review over this popular product. I originally bought them due to my right original air pod dying, so naturally since i liked the first once i decided to go onto the next ones. I have used them for all the most common activities that the average headphone user does such as: working out, traveling, studying, and general use to listen to music or podcasts. Considering my time of ownership and widespread use of them i feel that i am qualified to tell you the pros and cons as well as why i think you should pick up your own pair of air pod pros.
If you have owned the previous generation of air pods or any other apple product, then you will find that the pros come in the typical apple packaging which keeps the headphones and accessories secure and in good condition upon opening. Out of the box you will have the air pods themselves inside the portable charging case, as well as a usb-c charging cable (an upgrade from the usb-a in the original air pods), instructions, an apple sticker, and a few interchangeable sized silicon ear tips to fit best into your ear. To set them up simply open the case (the air pods will already be partially charged when you get them) and open you iphone and a button will pop up to connect them. Next apple will take you through a sizing test to get a crisp and comfortable fit in your ear. As mentioned, the pros fit differently than the original air pods which is great for those who found the plastic design didn’t cater to their ears. Now with 3 different sized silicon tips buyers can find a snug personalized fit. The silicon tips also help introduce the new and biggest feature of the pros being noise cancellation and transparency mode. The noise cancellation works very well when you need to tune out outside noise to focus, study, or are trying to sleep on an airplane. Sometimes i find myself putting them in without playing anything simply to make the surrounding are quieter. The transparency mode conversely also works well to help you hear the surrounding area which is great if your study buddy needs to talk to you, or you want to hear things around you on a run or bike ride.
Now that we covered some of the highlights let’s review some of the negative. The sound quality is good, however, if you are a self-proclaimed “audiophile” then they made not be the earbuds for you as there is better quality out there. I found that it lacks some of the base that i personally prefer, but the mids and highs both sound good. Additionally, i found them to be just good and not great for working out. When trying to wear them to run i found that sweat often caused them to fall out and i even lost one in a stream once while running and had to replace it. There are aftermarket tips you can put on them to fight this, but i think something like the beats powerbeat pros suit an active user needs more with the hook around ear design. Finally, the price for these is a bit steep at $250 although right now they are on sale for $180. Overall, i think that these are the best earbuds on the market right now and worth your money.

These airpods are wonderful. I have had them now for many months and i use them every day, multiple times a day.
-they are super easy to initially pair with an iphone (i have an 8s+).
-they immediately pair as soon as i put either airpod in my ear. No other bluetooth headphones i’ve tried have come even remotely close to pairing this easily.
-you can very easily switch between using one or both airpods at a time. As soon as you take one airpod out, it pauses whatever you were listening to. Put the airpod back in the ear and it will play on its own, or use your thumb and index finger to squeeze the stem on either airpod to play/pause.
-noise cancellation only works when both airpods are in (which makes sense).
-noise cancellation works so well i can mow the lawn and easily listen to a podcast with a normal level of volume (with my old bluetooth headphones mowing was not an option because i would have had to blast the volume way too loud.
– i love how siri will tell me if i have an incoming call (and who from) and ask if i want to answer. Same with texts. She’ll say who it’s from, read the text and ask if i want to reply. If the incoming text is too long she’ll say “bob sent a text with a long message, do you want me to read it?”
– i also love that i can have my phone in my pocket and use the microphone built into the airpods to have a phone conversation.
– a few times the left and right earpiece didn’t pair in synch so the sound came through at slightly different times through left and right. Very rare. Simply take both airpods out and put them in the case and close the lid. Then open the case and put them back in your ears. It’s never happened twice in a row. Again, very rare, takes seconds to fix.
-spatialize stereo is really cool for listening to music. Really makes the sound feel more like a concert hall. Fixed and head tracked options both work great.
– i really like the transparency mode, where it amplifies the outside sounds so you can easily have a conversation with someone while leaving your airpods in your ears. Works remarkably well! Keep in mind this still feels a little rude if your around other people, but, sometimes i use this feature if i’m traveling and stopping real quick at a food place or rest stop, or drive through, and may not have my case handy, but i still want to be able to hear and interact with the person serving me.
-i love to run and i have run with these many many times. On occasion i’ve had the right ear get a little loose from sweat, but on those occasions i simply push it back into place and it stays in for quite awhile. My left ear never has that problem. I probably have a weird ear canal or something.
-i highly recommend these airpods.
Also, get a case. I got a cheap case for $8. Well worth the money because you will drop the case at some point.

Wow, these really exceeded my expectations. I’m usually slow to buy new apple products because mostly i feel my needs are more than met by the iphone and macbook air i own. But i also find myself frequently fumbling with ugly tangled headphone cables, attaching and detaching (and sometimes losing) the obnoxious “dongle” needed to switch from my iphone’s lightning jack to my macbook’s headphone jack, and i find the sound quality on the standard apple earbuds pretty bad for anything but the most utilitarian listening, e.g. A news podcast or a call to the bank. So i’m pleased to report that my airpods have already become *incredibly* useful in the first week of use for their ability to connect almost instantly, and with fabulous intuition about when and where to connect, to either my two primary devices, transforming my day’s patchwork of zoom sessions (i’m a therapist and a yoga teacher), phone calls, audiobooks, podcasts, and music into something much smoother and more flowing.

The features, and their usefulness, were what surprised me. When i bought these i had assumed, wrongly, that they would basically be the same as the standard apple earbuds, but made wireless. On the contrary, the sound here is massively better, a gigantic leap from one end of the quality spectrum to the other, and the sound can be shaped in several useful ways:

1) noise-cancelling mode, which instantly sucks the background noise out so well for a moment you’ll think you’ve gone deaf

2) transparency mode, my favorite, which beautifully mixes the original sound source (music, podcast, etc) with the sound of your own breath and the outside world. The levels are perfectly adjusted to give you an amazingly crisp listening experiencing while remaining aware of your surroundings. It’s ideal. If in a dystopian total recall scenario a microchip were implanted in my head to play music, this would represent the best possible audio mix.

3) normal mode/“off”, which gives the unmixed, untreated effect of standard headphones, allowing the normal amount of bleed between the sound in the ears and the slightly muffled sound of the outside world. This is the only mode i have no use for, because the other two are such big improvements to me.

Turning these features on and off, pausing, or switching between music tracks works very well with the old “pinch the stem” technique that most wireless earbuds use. It’s the morse code style, squeeze once for this, squeeze twice for that system, and while it occasionally fails to understand what i want to do, it is much more intuitive and accurate than the few other brands i’ve tried. I’d say it following 3/4 of my commands perfectly, which for me is good enough, and again a vast improvement on other wireless earbuds i’ve tried, which usually suffer horribly in this category. I was a bit worried about this feature due to past negative experiences, but there was nothing to fear. Once again, apple made the best.

My strongest area of constructive critique is the voice quality of a airpod user as experienced by the listener. The sound is crystal clear, and the volume is well-controlled, but it does sound slightly sterile and thin to my ears. I am a therapist and a yoga teacher and i frequently see clients through zoom or other streaming video, so i was hopeful that these might also double as a solution for a wireless microphone. But i find the sound of a voice over airpods in zoom to be too thin and papery to match the sound of a good or even mid-level wireless mic. They sound best-suited to business purposes to me. Your experience may differ! That said, these are about half the price of an average studio or wireless mic, so this is not a crime, merely a point worth noting for other users.

They are also a bit distracting visually for me, as their shape is a little chunky and protruding from the ears, and their milk-white color really pops against the skin. They are by no means huge or ridiculous, you’ll feel fine wearing them, but they are large enough that i am persistently aware of them when i see someone over video talking to me or giving some kind of instruction. It also throws me off slightly because i associate headphones with someone being unable to hear me, rather than as a way to connect with me. This is another reason that a wireless mic or a proper studio mic still has its place. That said, connecting a wireless or studio mic to literally any apple device requires a bit of technical knowhow, plus a receiver and a collection of cables and connectors to get it to work, and with airpods you just take them out of the case and that’s it, and you’re connected!

Great product. These are the droids you’re looking for.

So i’m an apple baby and just got my first iphone, apple watch, and airpods and honestly these things are a beast. Disclaimer i have always gotten off brand headphones in the past that cost about $50. The noise cancellation is great so much so i even wore it when i was at a club and the music is too loud. Perfect. The sound quality on these babies are just perfect especially the base. Boom boom. I charge these twice a week with everyday use. I don’t keep them in my ear all the time though only when i’m driving or on a call and usually only 1 ear at a time so i can stay vigilant.
Anyway bottom line if you have the money get them. Now… Seriously you won’t regret it unless you needed the money for rent or something else important.

I have some sony xm3 over hear headphones and i have been pretty happy with them but they get uncomfortable to wear a while headset for a long time. So, i purchased the highly rated sony xm4 ear buds. I returned them the same day. For the airpod pros and am impressed all around. The rubber ear buds are much more comfortable and seat better, making noise cancelation way more effective. They are secure and won’t fall out, but don’t put pressure on your ear canal. Sound is good, and spacial sound with iphone is amazing. Make sure you go into the settings of spotify, amazon music, apple music, and turn on hd audio or you will be. Is song out on music quality by default.
The charging case is super simple and holds a charge that will top off your earbuds when you put them back in your pocket. Double tapping the case will show the battery level of both the buds and the case on your phone screen. You can also sound a beacon and make the ear buds beep in the find my iphone app. All around stokes on these, and definitely better than the sonys.

I’ve bought other wireless devices, but none have the battery life, quality sound, or excellent noise cancellation that these bad boys have. The noise cancellation works so well that i can’t hear myself talking when i talk on the phone with people. It takes getting used to but it really does cancel out nearly all external sound. They work so well, i recommend you be careful using them while walking or driving.

An extra added feature allows you to hold the case with the earphones in it and open it up next to your iphone; when synced with the phone, the image of the earphones will come up on your phone and indicate the percent power left on the earphones and the case itself, which holds power and will charge the earphones when not connected to a power cord. Nice!

Also, periodically, one of the earbuds won’t produce sound (unrelated to how well-powered they are–a problem i’ve had with other devices, so it’s not an isolated problem). Unlike other earphones i’ve had problems with, however, correcting the problem is as simple as putting them back in the case, closing the case, and then taking them out and putting them back in my ears again. That appears to reset the device and every time i’ve tried it, both earbuds come back online. My raycons never worked that well.

I don’t know what i did before i had these. Seriously, added bonus that it connects to any and all my apple products with little to no hassle. Sound quality is good, fits in ear comfortably sometimes i fall asleep with them in. I love that the individual airpod has a location sensor.. This is my 3rd pair.. The first gen one didn’t have a location sensor on the individual earbud and i lost 1 while at work couldn’t trace it because i had the case and the tech only sensed the charging case. The second pair, my toddler chewed them to filth and thankfully sh didn’t swallow them but a need to buy new ones.. I dnt regret the purchase add in that the shorter stem than the originals make it less likely to detect especially if you wear hats or have big curly hair

I always hesitate to spend the money to buy apples version of the product i want. I’ve done the same with laptops, tablets and now these. And in the end i just waste money on 10 pairs of crappy headphones (or even some decent headphone) but when i finally buy the apple product i get that ‘oh so this is what a carefully engineered well thought out set of headphones is like.’

if you’ve never experienced top notch noise cancellation it will change your world. Especially with continuous noises…turning on noise cancelation is like hitting mute on my ac. And transparency mode makes me hear better than without them on. Being able to toggle between them, especially with siri is really great…actually i think one of the best things about them is how well they integrate with siri. The mic is good enough that i can kindof mumble under my breath to give siri commands in public without feeling like a shmuck.

Look, at this high of a price point i’m sure their are other options that are very good as well, but if you don’t have a reason to go with one of those i’d just buy these. And if you are already invested in the apple ecosystem then definitely get these.

The only thing i would add is that they are quite easy to lose. And yes ‘find my’ does do a decent job helping but because the batteries don’t last all that long it can’t always help (i wish they had an option to turn them off at like 20% just so they have juice for ‘find my’ just in case.) but finally i bought a silicone case that i put on a lanyard to wear around my neck and a little silicon cord that connects them so that i can take one out and it hangs on my neck. These cheap additions have really helped (fingers crossed).

But, fyi, if you do lose one but still have the case and other headphone you can by a single replacement from apple for like $80. Still allot but worth it in that situation.

I work doing mechanical and technical services for different customers in the supply chain area. A lot of times i’ll need to work on an conveyor or technical issues where i’ll need to be on a phone call with my upper sme team and the upper levels of the customer needing to block out all noise around me, hear my support team, and focus on the task at hand. These are excellent for the noise cancellation and how clear they sound. Sometimes the down time event can take a few hours to trouble shoot and repair, sure enough the charge will still be good. I would not be able to do my job at critical times like these and get it done in a timely manner. Thanks apple

There are a billion reviews for these things so why another one? Well, today i’m hoping to help those trying to decide between these or the sony wf-1000xm4 in ear noise cancelling buds (see pics). Both are top of the line in terms of noise cancelling.

I love love love active noise cancelling (anc) headphones. My at-home go to cans are the sony xm4, with a xm3 as backup. I also own and love my bose qc 35 ii. I’ve lived with anc cans on my head for the better part of 5 years. While i realize the sound quality for music is often a little compromised, for non-audiophiles it’s usually more than good enough imo.

But as awesome as the full sized sony and bose cans are, when i leave the home i prefer not to look like someone from the 1980s, so i pop in either my apple air pods pro or my sony wf-1000xm4 buds. I need good anc but also comfortable but secure fit, good track controls, portability, and decent battery life.

So which is better?

Commonalities
stuff both the airpod pro and sony have in common:
– both have decent anc
– both have a great case which can charge the buds while on the go
– both have reasonably good audio quality
– both allow for being connected to multiple devices at the same time
– both can turn off when taken out of the ears (except airpod can only do this with iphone/ipad)
– both can start/stop tracks by touch
– both cases can do wireless charging
– both let you see the battery levels for each bud
– both can be set to turn anc off, and both have ‘transparency mode’ where the mics stop canceling noise and actually amplify your surroundings so you can hear better without having to remove the buds
– neither can increase or decrease volume by touching (!) . Airpods require you say the ‘hey siri’-command (‘hey siri, increase volume by 20 percent’) , or fiddling with your phone. For the sony you’ll need to go straight to your device, or set your chosen voice assistant to do it for you via the sony headphones app (not tested).

The airpods pro and sony wf have more in common than not. And the few differences may or may not be big enough for you to write home about. Let’s have a look:

anc – active noise cancelling
(if you need details exactly how anc works, please google it as i don’t have the space here to explain this.)

sony wins here imo. Both the airpods pro and the xm4 are almost equally good at reducing much of traffic, air conditioner and other steady noises. Sony might be a little bit better, but that’s subjective.

However, for voices (playground, restaurants, etc), and other non-static noise, the sony do offer noticeably better noise cancelling in my opinion. It’s not a huge difference in most situations but i did notice it on occasion and other reviewers seem to agree.

Comfort and fit
airpod pro wins here (for me). In fact the fit is probably the single biggest fail with the sony buds. Have a look at my pics and notice how much bigger the sony buds are. Now remember the whole thing (the big outer part) has to sit between your ears’ conch and antihelix, and the actual sound producing part of course goes inside your ear canal. This means the weight of the outer part is dragging on your inner ear quite a bit if not balanced correctly. Since the sony are so bulky, there’s a good chance that parts of it won’t ever sit properly in your ears and try to pull out the tips from your ear canal.
Critics would say to just ‘put them in properly’ but this is surprisingly hard to do with the xm4 buds.

You’ll also see comments that the way the sony buds curve is better for ears. Idk, i’m not feeling it. And i’m pretty sure i don’t have freak ears. I’ve never had problems fitting and balancing any buds like the sony xm4.

The sony units have a much larger and honestly rather uncomfortably shaped body that houses the anc chip and microphone.
Even when properly placed in the ears, they stick out.
Weight distribution always seems off to me. I’m a tall man with average sized ears, and it’s a chore to make the sony buds fit comfortably. Once they’re in, they often fall out or feel like they’re about to fall out. This is because the size and weight of the outer parts of the xm4 buds is rather high, at least compared to the airpods pro.
Another part of this is the size of the ear tips (see below).

To get the sony buds in my ear i have to use both hands: one to tug and pull the ears, the other to wedge and move the buds into place. If i don’t get it juuuuuust right, they are prone to fall out. Very annoying.

Airpods pro: one hand, quick move and they’re in – and stay in. I have more confidence in that the buds will stay in during movement compared to the sony xm4. Somehow the weight, size, and ear tips all just work better for me. Your ears may vary.

Side note: the part that goes inside your ear canal has a removable and replaceable ear tips. Those tips come in several sizes and most people find one that fits. Somehow none of the 3 that sony provides really fit me, but the ‘large’ are the closest ones. Since they’re very tight on me, they provide a better passive noise cancelling. But they’re quite uncomfortable. The other 2 are just too small for me. They’re also sweaty and pick up lint and dust and (icky alert!) ear wax easily. The fit really matters with these buds, especially considering that they have to compensate somewhat for the extra bulk and weight of the overall unit.

Soundguys claims the sony have a better fit but i have to disagree. And i really do love sony headphones in general.

The airpod pro on the other hand come with cleaner and better fitting ear tips. They have a neat magnetic thing where you ‘clip on’ the tips. It’s a strong connection and yet makes it easier to replace them if you need to. They’re also easier to clean (bye ear wax!) since the buds aren’t as bulky or heavy, it feels like the tips stay in the ear canal better. I can use the medium size tips and they fit perfectly.

Battery life
tie. Assuming you have anc on all the time, and have the case with you (the case houses a battery which in turn can charge the ear buds batteries), you’ll get about the same play time out of either set. Some sites say the sony get longer playback before needing to be charged, others say the opposite. My experience is that both have about the same playback time, and both have another 18 or so hours of juice from the case. Again, your use of anc and other factors change these numbers somewhat.

Charging
sony wins here because you can charge the case using usb-c cables – much faster than apple’s slower lightning. In my experience, the case charges up about twice as fast as the airpods pro case.
I have not tested wireless charging for either.

Software
i’ve not tested sony’s headphones app much except i downloaded it on both my iphone, ipad, and android phone. It works flawlessly on all devices for me. You can change some parameters but overall it’s probably not something you’ll need to use a lot. I didn’t, hence no further ratings

apple aiprods pro work perfectly with ios devices right out of the box. Pairing is super fast, and all settings can be changed within ios directly.

Other
i find that both connect to all my devices just fine, bluetooth connectivity is strong on both, and the distance between ear buds and device is about the same before i get connectivity problems.
I do like the seamless switching between ipad, iphone and macbook pro that the airpods pro can pull off. It’s almost instant and just works – if you’re on ios or mac os
the sony also work on all devices i tried them on but switching between them is not always as seamless or fast.

I hate that i can’t change volume directly on the buds on either of these. Sony has these awful ‘touch’ pads on the side and i find myself constantly tapping and re-tapping to start or stop the audio because i sometimes miss hitting that tiny spot where you’re supposed to touch.
The airpods have a dedicated little clicky button that just works more reliably in my experience.

You will lose one or both of your ear buds at some point. Death, taxes, and losing ear buds. It’s a law. And i love how apple implemented the find my option here. If you lose your airbuds pro, simply make them sound an alarm and use the gps feature on your phone to find them. It works really well.

I didn’t find a way to do this on the sony buds.

Sound quality
this one’s a bit subjective. I find the sony to be a tad better, with a little more bass and oomph yet they never sound muddy to me. The difference isn’t massive and audiophiles probably have their own overly persnickety opinions about either option.

Final words

there are several things i either didn’t test or don’t want to spend time talking about. The apps (equalizer options, voice assistant options, etc) are something you’ll need to figure out for yourself if that’s important. For me, the default settings are sufficient for both the sony and the airpods pro.
The biggest takeaway for me is that the airpods pro fit my ears a lot better and feel more ‘secure’ in my ears than the sony. The sony have better noise cancelling.

You’ll find online reviews that claim the opposite, other reviews that agree with my findings. You really need to figure it out yourself.

One final suggestion is that if you primarily or solely use apple devices, your better bet is probably to invest in airpods pro – the seamless switching is excellent.

There are a billion reviews for these things so why another one? Well, today i’m hoping to help those trying to decide between these or the sony wf-1000xm4 in ear noise cancelling buds (see pics). Both are top of the line in terms of noise cancelling.

I love love love active noise cancelling (anc) headphones. My at-home go to cans are the sony xm4, with a xm3 as backup. I also own and love my bose qc 35 ii. I’ve lived with anc cans on my head for the better part of 5 years. While i realize the sound quality for music is often a little compromised, for non-audiophiles it’s usually more than good enough imo.

But as awesome as the full sized sony and bose cans are, when i leave the home i prefer not to look like someone from the 1980s, so i pop in either my apple air pods pro or my sony wf-1000xm4 buds. I need good anc but also comfortable but secure fit, good track controls, portability, and decent battery life.

So which is better?

Commonalities
stuff both the airpod pro and sony have in common:
– both have decent anc
– both have a great case which can charge the buds while on the go
– both have reasonably good audio quality
– both allow for being connected to multiple devices at the same time
– both can turn off when taken out of the ears (except airpod can only do this with iphone/ipad)
– both can start/stop tracks by touch
– both cases can do wireless charging
– both let you see the battery levels for each bud
– both can be set to turn anc off, and both have ‘transparency mode’ where the mics stop canceling noise and actually amplify your surroundings so you can hear better without having to remove the buds
– neither can increase or decrease volume by touching (!) . Airpods require you say the ‘hey siri’-command (‘hey siri, increase volume by 20 percent’) , or fiddling with your phone. For the sony you’ll need to go straight to your device, or set your chosen voice assistant to do it for you via the sony headphones app (not tested).

The airpods pro and sony wf have more in common than not. And the few differences may or may not be big enough for you to write home about. Let’s have a look:

anc – active noise cancelling
(if you need details exactly how anc works, please google it as i don’t have the space here to explain this.)

sony wins here imo. Both the airpods pro and the xm4 are almost equally good at reducing much of traffic, air conditioner and other steady noises. Sony might be a little bit better, but that’s subjective.

However, for voices (playground, restaurants, etc), and other non-static noise, the sony do offer noticeably better noise cancelling in my opinion. It’s not a huge difference in most situations but i did notice it on occasion and other reviewers seem to agree.

Comfort and fit
airpod pro wins here (for me). In fact the fit is probably the single biggest fail with the sony buds. Have a look at my pics and notice how much bigger the sony buds are. Now remember the whole thing (the big outer part) has to sit between your ears’ conch and antihelix, and the actual sound producing part of course goes inside your ear canal. This means the weight of the outer part is dragging on your inner ear quite a bit if not balanced correctly. Since the sony are so bulky, there’s a good chance that parts of it won’t ever sit properly in your ears and try to pull out the tips from your ear canal.
Critics would say to just ‘put them in properly’ but this is surprisingly hard to do with the xm4 buds.

You’ll also see comments that the way the sony buds curve is better for ears. Idk, i’m not feeling it. And i’m pretty sure i don’t have freak ears. I’ve never had problems fitting and balancing any buds like the sony xm4.

The sony units have a much larger and honestly rather uncomfortably shaped body that houses the anc chip and microphone.
Even when properly placed in the ears, they stick out.
Weight distribution always seems off to me. I’m a tall man with average sized ears, and it’s a chore to make the sony buds fit comfortably. Once they’re in, they often fall out or feel like they’re about to fall out. This is because the size and weight of the outer parts of the xm4 buds is rather high, at least compared to the airpods pro.
Another part of this is the size of the ear tips (see below).

To get the sony buds in my ear i have to use both hands: one to tug and pull the ears, the other to wedge and move the buds into place. If i don’t get it juuuuuust right, they are prone to fall out. Very annoying.

Airpods pro: one hand, quick move and they’re in – and stay in. I have more confidence in that the buds will stay in during movement compared to the sony xm4. Somehow the weight, size, and ear tips all just work better for me. Your ears may vary.

Side note: the part that goes inside your ear canal has a removable and replaceable ear tips. Those tips come in several sizes and most people find one that fits. Somehow none of the 3 that sony provides really fit me, but the ‘large’ are the closest ones. Since they’re very tight on me, they provide a better passive noise cancelling. But they’re quite uncomfortable. The other 2 are just too small for me. They’re also sweaty and pick up lint and dust and (icky alert!) ear wax easily. The fit really matters with these buds, especially considering that they have to compensate somewhat for the extra bulk and weight of the overall unit.

Soundguys claims the sony have a better fit but i have to disagree. And i really do love sony headphones in general.

The airpod pro on the other hand come with cleaner and better fitting ear tips. They have a neat magnetic thing where you ‘clip on’ the tips. It’s a strong connection and yet makes it easier to replace them if you need to. They’re also easier to clean (bye ear wax!) since the buds aren’t as bulky or heavy, it feels like the tips stay in the ear canal better. I can use the medium size tips and they fit perfectly.

Battery life
tie. Assuming you have anc on all the time, and have the case with you (the case houses a battery which in turn can charge the ear buds batteries), you’ll get about the same play time out of either set. Some sites say the sony get longer playback before needing to be charged, others say the opposite. My experience is that both have about the same playback time, and both have another 18 or so hours of juice from the case. Again, your use of anc and other factors change these numbers somewhat.

Charging
sony wins here because you can charge the case using usb-c cables – much faster than apple’s slower lightning. In my experience, the case charges up about twice as fast as the airpods pro case.
I have not tested wireless charging for either.

Software
i’ve not tested sony’s headphones app much except i downloaded it on both my iphone, ipad, and android phone. It works flawlessly on all devices for me. You can change some parameters but overall it’s probably not something you’ll need to use a lot. I didn’t, hence no further ratings

apple aiprods pro work perfectly with ios devices right out of the box. Pairing is super fast, and all settings can be changed within ios directly.

Other
i find that both connect to all my devices just fine, bluetooth connectivity is strong on both, and the distance between ear buds and device is about the same before i get connectivity problems.
I do like the seamless switching between ipad, iphone and macbook pro that the airpods pro can pull off. It’s almost instant and just works – if you’re on ios or mac os
the sony also work on all devices i tried them on but switching between them is not always as seamless or fast.

I hate that i can’t change volume directly on the buds on either of these. Sony has these awful ‘touch’ pads on the side and i find myself constantly tapping and re-tapping to start or stop the audio because i sometimes miss hitting that tiny spot where you’re supposed to touch.
The airpods have a dedicated little clicky button that just works more reliably in my experience.

You will lose one or both of your ear buds at some point. Death, taxes, and losing ear buds. It’s a law. And i love how apple implemented the find my option here. If you lose your airbuds pro, simply make them sound an alarm and use the gps feature on your phone to find them. It works really well.

I didn’t find a way to do this on the sony buds.

Sound quality
this one’s a bit subjective. I find the sony to be a tad better, with a little more bass and oomph yet they never sound muddy to me. The difference isn’t massive and audiophiles probably have their own overly persnickety opinions about either option.

Final words

there are several things i either didn’t test or don’t want to spend time talking about. The apps (equalizer options, voice assistant options, etc) are something you’ll need to figure out for yourself if that’s important. For me, the default settings are sufficient for both the sony and the airpods pro.
The biggest takeaway for me is that the airpods pro fit my ears a lot better and feel more ‘secure’ in my ears than the sony. The sony have better noise cancelling.

You’ll find online reviews that claim the opposite, other reviews that agree with my findings. You really need to figure it out yourself.

One final suggestion is that if you primarily or solely use apple devices, your better bet is probably to invest in airpods pro – the seamless switching is excellent.

This is going to be a lengthy review but i want to cover most of the bases.

First off i bought the pros for an extremely great deal of $160. The noise cancellation and transparency mode is some of the coolest features i have seen. I go to the gym almost everyday and i used to have the 2nd generation airpods and i hated how i had to put the volume almost at max to block out noise. Now with the pros i can turn on noise cancellation and put the volume at about half and still have the same noise quality without damaging my ears. One thing i don’t like about the pros is that they sometimes fall out of my ears if i bend down or if i sweat too much. But, this doesn’t hinder the overall qualities of the product. Moving on to transparency mode, i really enjoy this feature when i want to listen to music and still have to listen to others speak. When first using the feature i was shook by how it made my head spin, but i soon came to love it. I know there are headphones out there that can perform noise cancellation like the $400 sony headphones, but the pros can do the same job for less than half the price. Lastly, an important feature is battery life. Now i usually take my case everywhere so that i can charge my airpods once i’m done. I can honestly use my airpods for about 4 to 5 hours a day for about 3 days until i have to put the charging case on charge. Overall this product is extremely well designed and has great features. I recommend using a case so you don’t scuff the charging case since they easily scratch with keys. I would definitely wait to buy the product until it goes on sale for less than the standard $180.

P.s – the mic is also pretty good. You can use it for virtual meetings or talking on the phone and others will hear you just fine.

The product is amazing (idea).

I just up with defective product twice (didn’t know it was the product and thought it was my phone).
1. After almost a year of owning, i realized it was the product (not my phone service).
2. After 1st replacement, the warrantee was done but the same problem occurred after a few weeks.
3. I spoke to a representative online who went above and beyond is assisting. (the store employee informed me that without that representative, he would not have been able to do anything).
4. Expensive not to do what it is supposed to do.

Now i finely have one that works. Would have been two stars (if not for the representative)

I bought these rip-off asian earbuds a while ago and they were the most bulkiest, poor quality earbuds you could get. These are the exact opposite. The small size is perfect for pockets. The charging is really fast and the battery is amazing. Especially if you only use one earbud at a time and let the other charge. The sound quality is quite nice for a pair of wireless earbuds (on par with some of those expensive headphones out there). If i had to complain about anything in the slightest would be the fact that the lid on the charger case is a tad lose and my ocd doesn’t like it. Other than that, perfect purchase! Highly recommend.

Airpod pros are probably my favorite earbuds i ever owned. And i have owned all types and brands of headphones. However my first pair that i purchased at the apple store was also the most troubled earbuds that i have ever owned.

The sound is amazing. I use these earbuds before any of my other ones, until the battery runs out.

I own a shure earbuds(prob the best sounding earbuds out there and still on the top of my list) and although i can’t say that airpod pros beats the shure, but i still reach for my airpods pro’s first.

The noise cancellation i think it’s better than the bose qc 15 or the qc 20.

They are very comfortable to wear for hours.
Recently i purchased a foam earpiece to replace the plastic ones. I like how the upgrade seals the earbuds in my ear and is more comfortable than the original that’s provided.

Now the cons, the first pair i purchased from the apple store had a lot of problems. The left ear bud started to make funny noises, squeak and the noise canceling started to wear off. I was very disappointed confused and reach out to the apple store for troubleshoot. Lucky for me it was still under warranty so they replaced the left earbud, not so long after the right earbud started to act up. Apple also replaced that one, however after that i still have problems with them. At this point apple sent me a new pair of airpod pros for replacement. Unfortunately these new pair didn’t last any longer than the first pair.
As disappointed i was with the performance of these earbuds. I ordered it again from amazon and purchase the applecare to make sure that i would have extended coverage. I am a feeling that the first generation of the airpod pros that came out of the factory may have been lemons. It turns out that they were others complaining about the same issues. (knock on wood )so far the ones that i ordered from amazon had been working fine.

I surprised that they haven’t updated them to airpod pro 2 or 3 by now, i would like to see update, however these earbuds are pretty good and may not require an update other than quality control. 1 star subtracted for all the troubles i had.

I purchased these airpods as a gift for my girlfriend to upgrade from her old wireless earbuds she had. She absolutely loves these and uses them all of the time. For that reason alone i know it was a superb purchase. They do everything she needs them to:
-noise cancelling that works incredibly well.
-take and receive phone calls.
-listen to her music and podcasts.

For the price i paid this was a slam dunk in my book and something i would recommend anyone in the market for some new earbuds look into. One word of caution though; they don’t always stay in her ears during activities or movements that jostle. We have tried to change the silicon inserts and the airpod positioning in the ear to no avail. Over the course of time she has gotten good at knowing how far she can push before they start to get loose but it is my word of caution to future buyers to be careful and consider buying different size end attachments to try and find one that fits your ears best.

4.5 wireless noise cancelling stars out of 5!

First of all i’d never pay 270.00 for earbuds no matter how good they are. Taking nearly 100.00 bucks off was made me buy these finally. Prior i’ve been using cheap amazon specials out there so i’ll give you a review from that perspective.

My previous earbuds that i had died so i went on amazon again looking for the next cheap special to get. However, at least as of march 2022, it appears that all the amazon specials had more limitations than previous. I might gain one feature that was better than my predecessor, but i would lose a critical feature that i had from my predecessor. Also newer tech the manufacturer advertised you’d find they didn’t actually take advantage of it. I couldn’t find a win-win. So i started expanding my price range up to close the feature gaps on looking for a non-airpod product that allows me to keep the features i had on my predecessor. It took going to 130.00 price rage to start seeing that . I might as well get a pair of airpods at that price range but then i remembered those things never stayed in my ear. Then came the airpod pros with the amazon discount. Unlike regular airpods, the airpod pro comes with the rubber inserts that allow the earbud to log into your ear canal, thus it actually stays there. The pros were just 30 bucks more than the regular airpods so i jumped for them so i can also get apple proprietor features like siri communications. I can head bang to my metal music and conduct any kind of physical activity and these airpods still stay in my ear firmly. Also another big point to convey, you don’t half to use both earbuds at the same time for them to function properly. Today’s cheap alternatives are requiring you to use both of them or they have connectivity issues or just don’t work at all. I can use just one earbud, put my phone in my pocket on either side, and get no disruption in connection with these airpod pros. Since these airpods have rubber inserts, they take advantage of noise canceling technology. It does a pretty good job at that as long as the sound source is below 60 db at your current position. Do you note that much of the audio control is done through siri like volume control. You can still pause audio directly through the earbuds but really the rest of the audio control will be done through siri.

I think the only gripe that i have with these airpod pros is that it’s only ipx rating limits it to sweat exposure, nothing more. This means jogging in the rain is out of the question, this is mainly due to the exterior audio control features that are proprietary to these earbuds.

As for the battery life, that depends on how you use any earbuds. If you tend to put these on when you actually need them at the given time, the battery life is phenomenal. If you’re one of those that tend to wear them like jewelry all day long, you’re going to complain about battery life when you actually need them.

Overall, i think it’s safe to say they exceeded my expectations, by a lot.

Setup is super easy.. Uses nfc (near field communication) so you just hold the case near your iphone for initial setup.

The imaging is surprisingly good. With transparency mode off, i’ve done something that i’ve only done with high-end over-ear headphones (like my sennheiser hd660s).. I’ve felt the need to take them off to see if what i’m hearing is coming out of the drivers, or if i was hearing something from the real world around me.

The positional audio is pretty cool but there’s some noticeable lag to it that can kill the illusion.
Overall, the sound quality is quite good though they have more bass than i expected and overall they sound like they’re much larger drivers.

The active noise canceling is better than i expected to find in earbuds, but it suffers from the same limitation that all active canceling does.. It’s much better at canceling out low frequency droning noises than higher frequencies. It is what it is.. That’s ‘baked into the cake’ of noise-canceling tech.

Integration with apple products is unsurprisingly excellent. I appreciate the small things, like my phone being able to read out sms & slack messages when these are on.. Something it doesn’t do with other bt headphones. One annoying quirk though.. It happily joins to both my phone and macbook but while using them with the macbook.. A chime on my phone will interrupt the active connection with the computer. The solution is fairly trivial.. Disconnect them from the phone.

There’s three modes.. Noise cancelling, normal, and transparency (where you’re actively hearing your surroundings amplified through the buds and blended with what you’re playing through them. Transparency is super useful in a lot of situations.

I’d have given these 5 stars if not for the battery life.
I’m used to using bt over-the-air headphones and those have the battery capacity to run all day. I was so happy with these that i tried to use them throughout the day and even taking long breaks from them.. They ran out of juice before i did.
I’m not shocked by this.. They’re tiny, light ear buds. It’s still a real issue though.
What i haven’t determined yet is how much the active-cancelling or tranparency mode decreases battery life over the normal mode.

At least the case does charge buds, but if you’re planning to use them for a long time… Like while waiting for a flight, and then through an entire long international flight.. Plan on having to take them out to recharge at some point.

Overall.. Still very happy with them.
There are some limitations but nothing unexpected. They’re still just little earbuds so they can’t perform like a large set of bt cans.
In exchange for these limitations, i get other benefits though.. Like the ability to get excellent audio that i can use outside in the summer without cooking my brain.. Like what happens when i put a big set of cans on when i’m mowing the lawn in 90 degree heat. ;-p

Yes they have the shortcomings listed by everyone else (no volume control, for one). But they do have some nice features like stopping the music when you remove one from an ear. In my case, the supplied rubber tips aren’t great. Either too big or too small so they don’t feel really secure and i’m sure the music would sound better with a better fit. I haven’t really had a good opportunity to try the noise cancellation where there is a constant drone (like an airplane), so i can’t comment on that feature. I do know that i don’t like the feeling from bose noise cancelling headphones because of the pressure they apply. It doesn’t hurt – i just find it discomforting.

Otherwise, good but expensive.