Pros
- Same excellent sound, noise canceling and voice-calling performance
- Powered by Apple’s H2 chip
- Charging case has U1 chip and built-in speaker for Find My
- Well-designed controls and now dust-resistant
- Top-notch transparency mode
- Spatial Audio
- Support for 20-bit/48 kHz Lossless Audio with Apple’s Vision Pro headset
Cons
- No support for high-resolution audio with other Apple devices except headset
- Still no XL ear tips
The new-for-2023 AirPods Pro 2 with MagSafe Charging Case (USB-C) are very similar to last year’s Lightning model and cost the same ($249, £249, AU$399 list, with a street price closer to $200), but they’re not identical. First, the new buds and charging case add increased dust-resistance (IP54 rating instead of IPX4). Second, in a pinch you can use your iPhone 15 to charge the USB-C AirPods with the included USB-C cable. And lastly and most interestingly, Apple has added support for 20-bit/48 kHz Lossless Audio with a “massive reduction of latency” for Apple’s upcoming $3,499 Vision Pro headset (note that Apple Lossless Audio actually goes up to 24-bit/192 kHz). As part of that support, Apple has announced it’s developed a “groundbreaking wireless audio protocol,” but some bloggers and YouTubers have noted that the AirPods Pro 2 feature a new “acoustic architecture.”Â
It’s unclear whether that’s a hardware change, a software change or both. Whatever the case — and I’ll discuss below whether I think the new buds sound any better — the key thing to note is that the AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) do offer some slight upgrades beyond their switch from Lightning to USB-C charging. Those upgrades aren’t substantial enough to make anyone want to ditch their original AirPods…
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