Computer Shopper - UK (2020-04)

HEADPHONES

ISSUE386|COMPUTER SHOPPER|APRIL2020 73

THERE’SNOGETTINGaround the fact
that £249 is an awful lot topayfor aset
of in-ears, even true wireless ones, but the
latest version of Apple’s headphones ups
the antesignificantly by adding ANC to an
already strong design.
The AirPods Pro also benefit from shorter
stems and capacitive touchcontrols, as well
as anew set of silicone tips that fit snugly in
theear canal. Thanks to this, the fit is secure
enough forsports, and the AirPods Pro are
sweat-and water-resistant to the IPX4
standard, with aclaimed battery lifeoffive
hoursfor the buds (reduced to four anda
half with ANC enabled) and afurther 19 hours
from thepocket-sized charging case.It’s
certainly astrong start on paper.

SNUGASABUD
We particularly like how the tips –which
come in aset of three different sizes –click
securely intoplace,instead of just sliding on.
And if you go to the Bluetooth section on
your iPhone,you can carry out aquick
three-second test to check that you’ve
chosen the right-sized tip.It’s aclever trick: a
short blast of musicplays, and the AirPods
Pro will automatically detect if you’ve gone
toosmall or toolarge.
Once you’ve got the right tips in, the fit is
usually tight and secure,yet incredibly
comfortable.Weworethem forweeks
without feeling the slightest discomfort,
though theycould work alittle loose during
strenuous exercise such as running; not
enough to fall out, but enough to break the
seal and reduce the ANC’s effectiveness.
Predictably,the AirPods Pro work best
with other Apple devices. Open the case near
an iPhone and the buds will be immediately
discovered, with arequest popping up that
invites you to connect to them with one tap.
Linking them to aMacBook or Apple Watch
is almost as easy: just pop them iny
and find the AirPods Pro on your lis
Bluetooth devices.
On Android and other platforms
process is alittle less obvious, but it
still hardly complicated: you just
have to hold down abutton on the
case to enable Bluetooth pairing
mode so theycan be found. Once
connected to anon-Apple device,th
AirPods Pro never dropped out.
The capacitive force sensor is
another nice touch. This can be use
to control playback, and to switch
between noise-cancelling and
transparency mode,which mixes

APPLEAirPods Pro

★★★★★

£249•Fromwww.apple.com/uk

VERDICT

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and ahandy fast-charging feature gives you

an hour of musicfromafive-minutetop-up.

TREBLEWINNER

The AirPods Pro sound significantly better

than the standard AirPods. Indeed, theystand

up well against every other pair of in-ear

headphones in this roundup.The bass feels

solid but not overpowering, while mids and

highs are clear and airy.You don’t get the

feeling that the music is being drummed into

you at short range,which can be the case

with some in-ear buds.

That said, if you preferyourbass to have

alittle more punch, the AirPods Pro might

seem slightly weedy.The Creative Outlier Air

deliver much stronger low end, and for

much less moneytoo.

Still, the Outlier Air lack ANC, unlike

A l’ h d h Th i llti

accurateandresponsivecancellation.Aswell

astheoutward-facingmic,aninward-facing

microphone aims to eliminateinternal sounds

like the pounding of your footsteps, which

can sometimes ruin the immersive feel of

in-ear buds. It all works very nicely indeed;

when using the AirPods Pro on atrain or in a

busy office,the effect is striking.

The transparency feature works very well

too, using the outward-facing microphones

to mix in external noise to the music you’re

listening to,tohelp you stayaware of your

surroundings. Ambient sound comes

through farmore clearly than if you were

using regular,non-ANC headphones (or if

you’d just switched the feature off), so this

can be very useful when running on busy

streets, or working in alocationwhere you

can’t just zone out.

THE GRACE OF POD

Th AiP dsPro are abrilliant set of

s. Youcan happily wear them

hutting out the roar of public

port when you want to,and

tching to transparency mode

hen you need to engage with the

utside world. Agood fit and

ater-resistant design makes them

table forthe gym as well.

erhaps most importantly,they

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urmusicpausesautomaticallywhen

hebudsoutofyour ears.

Pods Pro case is alittlelarger than

estandard AirPods, but it’s still

ugh to easily fit intoapocket and

t45.6g,makingitagreattravelling

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effect impresses, too: it’s all handled

automatically,with the microphone inputs

analysed 200 timesasecondtoensure

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