Forget iPhone 15! USB-C AirPods Pro 2 might be the best new Apple product - better than AirPods Max?

I’ve discovered that Spatial Audio can make it feel like you’re in the room with the artists when listening to certain tracks, which rely on vocals and acoustic instruments. Two songs I’ve discovered sound incredibly immersive with Spatial Audio come from Spanish artists C. Tangana (“Me Maten”) and Rosalia (“Delirio de Grandeza”). The instruments in the first track are already acoustic, but they truly come to life with Spatial Audio on, while Spatial Audio makes it seem like the artist in the second track is sitting and singing right next to you.

That being said, most tracks might sound a bit too harsh with Spatial Audio on (especially if you consider yourself an audiophile), but then you can just turn it off, so who cares.

If you lose/misplace your earbuds, the high price of the AirPods Pro 2 will be worth it

Although I thought I’d never use this feature, it turns out that finding your AirPods Pro 2 (when you’ve lost/misplaced them) can be another game-changing feature that I feel deserves to be talked about more.

Apple’s excellent Find My app works flawlessly to help you locate your AirPods with precision tracking, and the sound (you can play to locate the earbuds) coming off the AirPods case is very loud, allowing you to find your AirPods even if they are stuck underneath a pile of clothes. It’s a time-saving feature that allows you to quickly locate your earbuds and keep doing what you’re doing instead of having to look for them and miss your bus, or the birth of your child. I’m exaggerating but you get the point.

AirPods Pro 2’s battery life is amazing but the reason why that’s the case will surprise you

The battery life you get with the AirPods Pro 2 can be far greater than you expect if you’re coming from an old/cheaper pair of earbuds, and the reason isn’t just the excellent endurance itself but something I mentioned earlier…

The fact that the passive noise-cancelling of the AirPods Pro 2 is so good (make sure you use the right eartips for your ears) means I need to use ANC about 50% of the time when taking a walk and listening to music/podcasts, as opposed to 100% of the time with my old pair of Huawei earbuds. And since ANC uses a good deal of extra power, this saves a ton of battery every day/week, which results in having to charge my earbuds a lot less often.

AirPods Pro 2 can actually produce bass frequencies other wireless earbuds can’t produce

Very few (if any) reviews will tell you that, but I recently discovered that the H2 chip in the AirPods Pro 2 also allows Apple’s earbuds to adjust the bass dynamically as you adjust the volume. This assures you get the same clear bass levels even if you turn the volume down, which isn’t the case with other pairs of earbuds (or even headphones for that matter) that bring the bass level down with the volume until you get to a point where you can’t hear the bass (when your volume is too low).

You will love adjusting your volume by sliding up/down the stem of the AirPods Pro 2

This one’s a nice perk rather than a game-changing feature, but the haptic feedback you get when adjusting the volume using the stems of the AirPods Pro 2 is a very tiny detail that makes the design of the earbuds feel much more thoughtful and premium.

But the real star of the show is the ability to adjust your volume through the stems in the first place. If you haven’t used earbuds that can do that before, you’ll quickly realize this is a feature all wireless earbuds must have. It means you no longer need to take out your phone to tweak your volume. As a matter of fact, my old Huawei FreeBuds Pro happen to have this feature too, which is why I already loved it.

USB-C and improved connection to the MacBook would make AirPods Pro 2 the perfect pair of wireless earbuds - even better than the AirPods Max

In the end, after spending four weeks with the AirPods Pro 2, I’m sad to tell you that I returned them to Amazon. But don’t worry - that’s because I know Apple is about to release a new pair of AirPods Pro 2 with a USB-C charging case, and I really want to have those instead of the ones with the Lightning port.

As you can tell by my “alternative review” of the AirPods Pro 2, I absolutely love these earbuds, and the new USB-C charging port would be the cherry on top of an already awesome slice of cake, which I’d gladly pay $250 for. Are they expensive? Definitely. But they are worth every penny.

After using the AirPods Pro 2 (switching from my Huawei FreeBuds Pro):

• I don’t want to buy earbuds that don’t sound consistent in all listening modes
• I don’t want to buy earbuds that don’t have Spatial Audio (yes, it’s that awesome for the right songs)
• I don’t want to buy earbuds that don’t have precision tracking (so I can find them when they are lost/misplaced)
• I don’t want to buy earbuds that don’t let you adjust the volume through the stems (it’s more convenient than you think)
• I don’t want to buy earbuds that don’t have the same (incredible) level of ANC as the AirPods Pro 2
• I don’t want to buy earbuds that don’t have the AirPods' Transparency mode (which almost works too well to be true)

In case you’re wondering, the AirPods Pro 2 aren’t exactly perfect. My only major cricisizm (other than the Lightning port that’s going away soon) has to do with bad connection issues, which definitely caught me by surprise, considering how seamlessly Apple’s products usually interact with each other.

They don’t drop connection or anything, but they often fail to connect to my MacBook automatically when I switch from my iPhone or take them out of the case. I don’t know if this is a conscious decision on Apple’s part (because I always get a pop-up on my MacBook, which I can press to connect), but I really hope Apple can fix/change that.