At eight o’clock in the morning, you get on the subway and between the noise of the train and the crowd of people there is no space for thought in your head. More than ever, you’ll want to consider using noise-canceling headphones, especially if you want to listen to music. This is when the Pixel Buds Pro 2 surprise and for good: the world goes completely silent when you take them out of the case and put them in your ear.
At ABC we spent a week using the new version of Google’s wireless headphones for practically everything. And if you own a Pixel or an Android smartphone, we can confirm without a doubt that they are the best alternative to Apple headphones.
Going into their design first, the headphones, which come in four colors (black, green, pink and white), sport a completely new design to be the “most comfortable on the market,” according to Google. Although the advertising is very compelling, the truth is that they are devices that fit the ear well, and if this is not the case for you, they come with three other sizes of ear tips to find the one that fits your ear best. As for us, we should note that while exercising, they leave the impression that they are always on the verge of falling or that they are fixed, even if they don’t move from their place. . Every ear is different, which can be completely individual, but it’s a sensation we’ve never experienced with these types of headphones.
As for sound quality, we found them to work admirably for music, videos or phone calls. Unlike other models, the bass and treble are heard more clearly and no matter how much you turn up the volume, it won’t be heard or bother those next to you. As for the microphone, on ABC we were able to send calls and audio through WhatsApp perfectly.
Noise cancellation
The main course. While not having the chance to use its artificial intelligence, Google has managed to improve its noise cancellation system a lot with this new version. In fact, they have “double noise cancellation capacity”, capable of adjusting when we walk down the street, enter public transport or receive a phone call. In general terms, we were surprised at how quickly it activates and how well it works, comparing to the competition and at a low price, which we will talk about later.
More than 30 hours of autonomy
Autonomy is also enhanced in this model. According to Google, they last about 8 hours with active noise cancellation — about 12 hours without it. In the moment of truth, considering that they charge up to 1 hour of autonomy by spending five minutes on the case, and considering that the autonomy exceeds 30 hours, we only need to charge them once in a whole week. use
All will not be well
Unfortunately, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 isn’t perfect. In use, what we didn’t like the most were the touch controls, which felt too vague. Turning the volume up, down, pausing a song, or deactivating noise cancellation is all done using gestures, but there’s no haptic response (small vibration) that tells you the gesture was performed correctly. This will let you pause the music when you want to disable the noise cancellation, or turn the music down when you want the opposite. Furthermore, when we pressed and held the headset a little longer than necessary, we noticed that it responded with a metallic sound that suggested a lack of quality, much like a low-end device.
On the other hand, we miss the Google Pixel Buds application on Apple devices. It acts as a ‘control center’ for the Pixel Buds Pro 2, to check the battery level, find the device functions, enable/disable the designated notification notice… We at ABC don’t understand why Google didn’t enable this. Application in the App Store. Without it, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 will work just as well on the iPhone. However, you are completely ‘naked’ for any adjustments or customizations you want to make to the headphones.
Are they worth it?
As we mentioned in the beginning, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 seems to be the best alternative to Apple’s AirPods right now. A good buy for Android users who want wireless headphones with good noise cancellation, near-permanent battery life and a smart design. However, we cannot fully recommend them for iPhone users. At the price (249 euros) at which the Pixel Buds Pro 2 will be released on the market, we believe that anyone who owns Apple products will enjoy AirPods more because of how organically they fit with the rest of the Apple ecosystem.
