Powerbeats Pro 2 vs AirPods Pro 2

Tom's Guide

In Kate’s Powerbeats Pro 2 review, she’ll break down how the Powerbeats Pro vs. AirPods Pro compare in terms of design, fit, performance, battery life and additional features. When it comes to picking the best wireless earbuds to buy between these two Apple devices, you might be surprised by which is the better choice for you.

Transcript

00:00Shake test. Thank you very much. In this video, I'll be giving you my review of the PowerBeats

00:06Pro 2, but more importantly, I'll break down the biggest difference between these new PowerBeats

00:11and the AirPods Pro 2. After all, they both start at $249, and I think you'll catch on to a theme

00:18of Beats beating AirPods in a couple of key ways, but that's not me saying that AirPods aren't the

00:23better choice depending on what you're looking for. Let's break it down. I want to start with the

00:30obvious contrast in design. The PowerBeats Pro, in my personal opinion, can be completely credited

00:36with making this ear hook design mainstream for wireless earbuds. So it's obviously back again,

00:42but the whole profile is just way more slender. It has more of a natural curve to it to almost

00:46resemble the shape of an ear. The ear hooks are noticeably more flexible than before, which for

00:52me, makes them really comfortable for longer periods of time. For background, that was not

00:57the case for me on the original PowerBeats Pro, and that kind of sucked because I wanted something

01:01that would stay really secure, more secure than my AirPods when it came to working out, so I could

01:07only wear them for short periods. I'd easily consider my biggest problem fixed with the PowerBeats Pro 2.

01:13AirPods Pro look a lot different between the singular color option versus the four colors for the

01:17PowerBeats Pro 2 and this very low profile size. I just mean, look, look, look at the size difference

01:23there. If I'm just sitting here right like this, the AirPods are more comfortable, but shake test.

01:34Yeah, if you're running or anything like that, forget about it. Thank you very much. There's no

01:39competition when it comes to a secure fit. And just to make sure the PowerBeats Pro 2 fit totally right,

01:45they come with five total ear tip sizes. That is a first for Apple. The AirPods Pro 2 only have

01:51four, and it was a big deal when they offered that extra small ear tip. The PowerBeats Pro 2 have an

01:56added extra large option, meaning that these should fit properly for a larger population of people.

02:02When it comes to sound quality and audio-specific features for a pair of wireless earbuds, I think

02:07the AirPods Pro 2 are pretty phenomenal, very well-rounded overall. But on the PowerBeats Pro 2,

02:13in typical Beats fashion, the extension of the bass frequencies is so good. I'm talking rumble

02:19from bass guitars and low-end synths, punchy kick drums and pounding bass beats, especially in the

02:24genres that you might typically associate with working out. I don't know about you, but I've been

02:28totally obsessed with artists like Kendrick and Dochi, so for hip-hop fans, expect sound that has

02:34some weight to it, some bounce. Vocals are also clear, although high-range sounds can come off a little

02:39overly sharp, especially after listening for a while, but I'd say for most ears, there's a lot

02:44here to like. The Beats having some established AirPods Pro 2 features like spatial audio help,

02:49of course, active noise cancellation coming to the PowerBeats was pretty much non-negotiable for the

02:53price, even if the ANC isn't going to win any awards. That said, there are certain things on the

02:58audio front that are remaining reserved for AirPods Pro 2. The main ones I'd consider when making a buying

03:04decision are adaptive audio, conversation awareness, and all of the hearing aid functionality.

03:09When you consider that for the same price, and if we're actually being honest, a lot less because

03:14the AirPods are almost always on sale, but that is definitely not the case for what I know matters

03:19to a lot of you, battery life. The PowerBeats Pro 2 battery life just about outperforms that which

03:25you'll find not just on AirPods, but also on the Sony and Bose competition. I'm talking 10 hours

03:31without ANC turned on, closer to 8 with ANC, while the charging case has another 35 hours inside,

03:37and there's fast charging. The AirPods Pro tap out at 6 hours of listening and 30 hours total with the

03:43charging case. And a lot of times, my AirPods Pro can't even last a cross-country flight. And while

03:47the PowerBeats Pro 2 probably wouldn't be the first earbuds I reached for while flying, there are plenty

03:51of other situations where the battery life alone would be good enough reason to pack the Beats buds.

03:56Speaking of Beats buds, I will add that if battery life is a big priority for you, the Beats Solo

04:02Buds have 18 hours of battery life. That's a whole 8 hours more than the PowerBeats Pro 2. The trade-off

04:08is no ANC, and the Solo Buds don't get more battery from the case. But for $80 before sales, don't sleep

04:14on these. I'll link a great deal I found to them in the description. Back to the PowerBeats Pro 2. One last

04:19really positive thing I want to mention as a reason to buy these is the fact that the Beats brand has

04:23really committed to devices being as practical for Android users as they are for Apple customers.

04:29That's like so outside Apple stereotypes. But I think that earbuds and headphones should really be

04:35ecosystem agnostic always. AirPods Pro 2 can technically pair to an Android device, but you

04:40can't alter any of the controls. There's no like AirPods app for Android like there is a Beats app.

04:46I'm pretty sure I showed you guys some of the features of the Android Beats app in my Beats

04:50pill review. So side note, thanks for coming back to this channel if you watched that video. But

04:54quickly, I'll go over it again. You get Find My, you can set up heart rate monitoring, change the ANC

04:59mode, and assign functions to the physical control buttons on each of the buds. Probably the biggest

05:04thing missing from the experience on Android is the ability to customize your EQ, but let's be real,

05:09a lot of people don't take advantage of that anyway. I think everything I've talked about so far

05:13establishes that the PowerBeats Pro are a really solid pair of earbuds and have a lot of unique

05:18advantages over the AirPods Pro 2. I'm curious to know what matters most to you when buying a pair

05:23of new earbuds. Is it comfort, sound quality, battery life? Sound off in the comments.

05:28So PowerBeats Pro, I've neglected to mention up to this point, one of the sort of biggest features

05:33here, the heart rate monitor. This is far from a first in the earbuds market, but what you're seeing

05:39right here is a first for an Apple made pair of earbuds. And the best way I can describe it as it's

05:45been made for the PowerBeats Pro 2 is a work in progress. For one, from experience, the heart rate

05:51readings seem to spike a little bit in certain situations, meaning that the readings are higher

05:55than you'll see on a fitness tracking watch. It's a bit of a hit or miss depending on the type of

05:59workout you're doing. Still, look, it is pretty cool. You can basically use these as a heart rate

06:03sensor for certain third-party apps. Seven, in fact, I'll throw them all up here on the screen. And

06:08this is okay for launch, I guess. I'm sure more apps will gain integration with future updates,

06:14but it's really important to differentiate that you can't use the PowerBeats Pro 2 to get an instant

06:19heart rate reading the same way you can for your Apple Watch. In fact, you can't even use them as

06:23your heart rate monitor for Apple Fitness Plus, which includes audio and treadmill running workouts.

06:28I'm predicting right now that the next gen of AirPods Pro will get the heart rate monitor, and they're

06:34probably saving some of these applications to then generate hype around that launch. Note that down.

06:39Another downside to the PowerBeats Pro 2 is something that I actually didn't expect to dislike,

06:44and that's the size of the charging case. Similar to the side-by-side I did earlier with the buds,

06:49look at that case difference. If you're concerned with pocketability, which I think you might be if

06:54you're heading out on a run or something, this is very bulky, even though it's actually 33% smaller

06:59than the previous generation PowerBeats Pro case. I'm no engineer. I can't say it would

07:03have been possible to make this smaller without sacrificing features, but there's no denying

07:08that this isn't super convenient. At least Beats added wireless charging, so that's nice.

07:13Although this video is a review for the PowerBeats Pro 2, I know when two products from two well-known

07:18brands are the same price, people care a lot more about making the right shopping decision.

07:22In this case, compared to the AirPods Pro 2, there are a lot of instances where I definitely go with

07:28the PowerBeats. Despite my disappointment with the heart rate monitor, the secure fit and long

07:32battery life make these super practical for workouts, while the solid sound quality and

07:36compatibility with Android help justify the price. I still think the AirPods Pro 2 are incredible,

07:41especially if you're talking about smarts, you know, things like those hearing aid features

07:45paired with the caliber of ANC in this super small package. Based on this breakdown, which earbuds would

07:51you go with? And just as a reminder, we have a lot of other headphone and earbuds videos on this

07:56channel, so why not subscribe if you enjoyed this one? Would love to see you back here soon.

08:00Otherwise, that's it from me. Thanks for watching. I'll catch you next time.

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