By now, I think that we are all familiar with Airpods, either we are talking 1st ,2nd gen, or even the pros. Well, apple just hit the market with a whole new design and fit, more exactly the 3rd generation of true wireless earbuds.
This article will focus on showing you, the average consumer, the main reasons why you should pick this up, and even talk about cheaper alternatives for different tastes.
Design
As you could probably tell, the whole new design features an open-style earbud and almost has the exact same look as the pro variant, but without the ear tip.
As almost 75% of the users reported (recent study), it shows that the design, despite its form factor and previously fitting problems encounters with the first and second generation of AirPods, fits excellently, and the sound does not leak as much as you would expect.
Water-resistance
Apple recently announced that these true wireless earbuds come with IPX4 water-resistance, so you can safely use them while in rain, at gym, and even drop them in a really small amount of water. The bomb-news is that not only the earbuds themselves have an improved seal, but also the charging case, so you are safe with taking these in the rain without any care.
New drivers with improved sound
A pretty unexpected feature for this kind of price tag is the amount of bass the new AirPods produce, but also the dynamic range that these can acquire, as Apple announced a complete redoing of the drivers with adaptive equalization, which should make the earbuds sound really good and crisp, whatever you are listening to.
Spatial audio with head tracking
A premium feature on a rather mid-range pair of headphones is the Spatial-Audio feature with head tracking, which completely changes the way you watch movies, turning it into a unique experience that almost makes you feel like you are partaking in the movie as you move your head to either left or right.
Longer battery life (6 hours vs 4.5)
These also come with a 30% improvement in the battery department, giving users approximately 6 hours of usage, depending of course on how often they use the spatial audio feature.
Also, the AirPods case gives a combined 30h of battery time, making it possible for you to fully charge your airpods 4 times before running out of juice, so you’ll be fine with their battery capacity, unless you are addicted to using your phone.
Skin sensor
Probably the most unexpected, but rather welcome feature is the new implemented skin sensor, alongside the previously used proximity sensor, making the earbuds aware of where they actually sit, whether it is in your ear or your pocket, therefore stopping the music when it’s not facing skin.
Sound sealing
This is probably the only flaw of these rather great earbuds, and that the new AirPods do not seal the sound as much as some people would like them to.
The sound of the headphones is not only harder to hear outside in the street, thus needing to increase the volume, but can also get quite disturbing if you want to use them at night or in a quiet room and there are people around you, because they will be able to hear what you are listening to.
Conclusion
In conclusion, for the msrp of 179$ that Apple is asking, I think they might be a welcome upgrade if you are coming from the 2nd generation of Airpods, or even the Pros, of course, if you do not care about the Active Noise Cancelling feature that the new pair lacks.
They offer better sound then previous versions, but lack a few pro features which indicate the lower price tag.
Of course, if you do not care about the “pro” features and just want a reliable pair of apple earbuds that will do the basics, the 2nd gen is also cheaper now and has decent microphones for calls and reliable drivers for everyday listening.
If you want to go the highest level and care about the noise around you, you might want to consider the Pros, which have a better seal, but not as good drivers, offering a muddier sound overall compared to 3rd gen AirPods.
