AirPods Pro 3 Review: I’m Frustrated
Just one small tweak would make them great.
Lots of folks, including myself, really loved AirPods Pro 2. They were great, especially as an audio enthusiast. Was it the most balanced in-ear monitor (IEM) in the world? No. But it was the combination of features and decent sound quality that really made me fall in love with them.
So with that being said, I was cautiously optimistic about AirPods Pro 3. Especially considering the language Apple used during its announcement of the product. The company specifically called out "better bass," and that got me really concerned.
With that caution in place, I did not optimistically pre-order the AirPods Pro 3 like most others. I waited until after launch and have spent the last week with the earbuds, and boy do I have a lot of thoughts.
Sound Quality
Let’s tackle the elephant in the room. The new sound signature is problematic as an audio nerd. The tonal balance is more V-shaped and has notable peaks in the treble that cause a lot of harshness in the upper frequencies. On the other side of the spectrum? The bass, most notably the sub and mid bass, are boosted as well, giving it an overall warmer tone compared to a slightly warm and dark AirPods Pro 2.
But there is a saving grace here. The mids (middle frequencies) are near perfection. It’s just a shame you can’t really enjoy them (stock) as they are buried by massive boosts in the bass and treble regions.
The best way I can describe its sound signature is very dark with a hint of treble peak. Maybe not classic Beats level of bass, as some have described it, but a few notches too much for my personal taste.
These are my subjective opinions, of course. Sadly, Apple’s headphone accommodations settings can’t fix this sound signature. Specifically, the treble peak. That’s forever stuck with this generation of AirPods Pro. None of Apple’s headphone accommodation settings tones down the treble, sadly. Of course, I could always apply a parametric EQ through something like Roon, but that’s application based. I’d rather Apple expand on headphone accommodations and give us full EQ that applies to the AirPods themselves. That way, we’re not reliant on application-side EQ or a system that only applies to Apple’s own devices (headphone accommodations).
Not to beat a dead horse, but this is exactly why even a 2-band "bass" and "treble" EQ would do wonders. I get not having parametric EQ, as that might be seen as "too advanced" for the average user. But unfortunately, the tonal balance really turned me off this generation. I greatly prefer the sound signature of the AirPods Pro 2.
Beyond tone, the AirPods Pro 3 also seem to have a lower max volume. Does that matter when you’re playing stereo content? Unlikely. But the extra overhead from AirPods Pro 2 was great for when I’d use them for Dolby Atmos/Spatial audio content (both for music and video). Surround sound audio tends to have much more dynamic range, which equates to a much lower noise floor. Which then means I’d want to turn the volume up in louder environments.
With AirPods Pro 2, my comfortable listening volume was around 55-60%. Now, with AirPods Pro 3, I’m up at around 70-75%. This is regardless of using headphone accommodations or not.
Beyond tonal balance, the AirPods Pro 3 are overall a better sounding set of earbuds. The biggest improvement is its soundstage. With or without headphone accommodations, the extra spaciousness is notable. Not quite "over-ear headphones" level like Apple claims, but it is an improvement over the outgoing generation. I definitely notice the more boxed in sound when moving between AirPods Pro 2 and 3.
The other thing would be overall detail retrieval. We’re still talking about 256kbps AAC Bluetooth compression (although one could argue Bluetooth compression isn’t a problem in the environments you’d use AirPods in anyway). What do I mean by that? Cause yes, there’s soundstage, but I think there’s a slight boost in dynamic range that’s helping with the clarity and detail of the buds.
And that’s a huge compliment because if tonal balance is the only issue? That can at least be temporarily fixed with app-based EQ.
Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode
This review won’t be all negative, I promise. Because beyond sound quality, there’s a lot to love. First things first. Active noise cancellation (ANC). Talk about a very obvious improvement. What kind of wizardry is this?
While AirPods Pro 2’s ANC was really good, one of my biggest complaints was primarily wind noise, whether that came from being outside, an AC unit, or purely noise from the propeller on a plane. Those still cut through a decent amount on the outgoing generation. With AirPods Pro 3, this is fixed almost entirely. You still get a slight hum, but it is very quiet.
Voices and the human vocal range have also been silenced a substantial amount. With the previous generation, if you were standing next to a group of people having a conversation, a lot of that would bleed through. Similarly, if you were in a room where someone was watching TV, the same thing would transpire. It’s still there with AirPods Pro 3, but the amount of noise it cuts is greatly improved.
Transparency mode, on the other hand? It’s a bit of a mixed bag. On first impressions, there was an artificialness to the transparency mode compared to AirPods Pro 2. It’s great in the sense that it helps with hearing human voices. But on the other hand, it’s awful when there isn’t anyone talking because it presents an unnaturalness to what was previously a top-tier transparency mode.
In my subjective opinion, I think it partially has to do with the new tuning. That bumped up treble sounds like it’s carrying over to the transparency mode. It’s to the point where I strongly believe this has got to be a bug and not a feature.
Comfort and Ear Tips
This is arguably the most important thing about headphones or earbuds. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: It doesn’t matter how a set of cans sound if you can’t wear them for more than 10 minutes. Thankfully, for me every single generation of AirPods Pro have been comfortable for me and AirPods Pro 3 are the first set where that comes into question.
Forgoing the medium ear tips as always, I went ahead and popped in the large ear tips and those fit decently well in my ears, just like the previous generation. When Apple announced another ear tip size, I was really hoping for an extra large size. That was not the case. Instead, Apple doubled down on the small size by introducing an XXS size. Shame, but the large size seal my ears well enough.
One reason (of many) that had me stuck to AirPods Pro over other true wireless earbuds was the silicone tips. I was cautiously interested in the so-called "foam infused" ear tips. About a week later, they seemed to settle. I find the old pure silicone tips much more comfortable. The new foam tips are comfortable for about the first 30 minutes or so, but become slightly uncomfortable beyond that.
The new earbud design does help AirPods Pro stay in your ear if you had an issue with them staying in your ears in the first place. I never did, so it’s effectively a wash. But I definitely feel them sitting deeper in my ears.
Battery Life
Similar to the ANC improvements, battery life is notable from day one. Yes, there’s a level of battery degradation on my old pair of USB-C AirPods Pro 2, but the new set will absolutely last you longer.
I was able to clock 9 hours and 45 minutes in pure ANC mode. Never did I switch over to transparency mode during this test. That’s a long time and far exceeds Apple’s 8 hour battery claim.
Transparency mode pushes that even further. I’m effectively able to use the AirPods Pro 3 all day in transparency mode and not have to worry about them dying.
The only real downside to battery life is with the charging case. That goes from 30 to 24 hours and all that really means is that I’m charging the case more frequently. That’s a bummer as the case this generation got slightly, but not noticeably bigger in every dimension.
Conclusion
AirPods Pro 3 weren’t a home run as I and probably many others were expecting. Beyond tonal balance, the AirPods Pro 3 are a substantial improvement in the sound quality department. That’s a big fucking one, though. Combine that with the slightly less natural sounding transparency mode and I’m not quite sure how to feel.
The problem with the AirPods Pro 3’s tonal balance is that Apple swung too much into the V-shaped sound signature. The AirPods Pro 2 were great because while not completely neutral, there was only a slight bass boost and were a bit dark in tone. That was perfectly fine and inoffensive. Especially when you were in a loud environment, the extra bass helped.
With the AirPods Pro 3, there’s too much bass to the point where in those same loud environments, there’s still too much bass. The treble? I hate to say it, but I’m gonna have to give Apple some leeway here. We as humans are terrible at hearing the upper frequencies. We’re all over the map. And that’s not even considering hearing loss. Humans are just bad at hearing terrible consistently.
To me, there’s a slight harshness to the treble that wasn’t present in AirPods Pro 2. But for others, you might not hear the harshness on the AirPods Pro 3, but may hear it on the older 2s.
With all that said, sound is hugely personal and varied. That’s why EQ is a thing. I’m beating the dead horse again here, but the entire AirPods lineup could benefit from some sort of EQ customizability. Again, that’s a huge compliment as every other part of the sound is a notable upgrade.
Apple’s adaptive EQ is already great at ensuring a consistent sound across most, if not all, ear shapes. Apple also applies some level of the Equal Loudness curve where the bass and treble are boosted at lower volumes for a more consistent sound.
I’m not asking for a parametric EQ, that’s never coming to AirPods, I know this already (although it would be very cool). But can we at least have what Sonos has and have a generic "bass" and "treble" slider? That would, at the very least, solve for AirPods Pro 3 in my book. Because the midrange on these earbuds is perfect. Just let me turn down bass and treble a smidge.
Beyond sound quality, the ANC and battery life improvements are excellent. Comfort and fit took a few days to adjust, but they’re equal if not better than the outgoing generation. AirPods Pro 3 very obviously block out more sound than the 2s and last substantially longer as well.
To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. I use my AirPods Pro 2 everyday for at least several hours a day. They are part of my every day carry. For now, I don’t think those will be replaced by the AirPods Pro 3 or any other earbuds, for that matter. I’ll happily continue using my AirPods Pro 2 until maybe AirPods Pro 4 or some other earbuds that catch my attention appear.
Also, one last note: the clank for the charging case is substantially better with AirPods Pro 2 vs AirPods Pro 3. The 3s have a higher pitched, cheaper sound.