The AirPods Pro 3 are my favorite earbuds I’ve ever used

Over the years, I’ve reviewed a lot of wireless earbuds, whether it’s the Pixel Buds Pro 2, the Nothing Ear (Open), several generations of AirPods, or even the excellent, but ill-fated Galaxy Buds Live (remember how they were often affectionately called “the beans”), but I always find myself coming back to Apple’s AirPods Pro for a few reasons.

First off, they just work. Whether I’m listening to music on my MacBook Pro, watching content on my Apple TV, or zoning out to a podcast, the AirPods Pro 2 nearly always instantly connect to whatever device I’m using and rarely drop their Bluetooth connection. A lot of companies make the same claim about their earbuds, but in my experience, they rarely live up to it. On top of that, the AirPods Pro 2 feature impressive audio quality and mics, the two features I value the most in wireless earbuds.

But they aren’t perfect. Over the past few months, I’ve found that the roughly three to four hours of battery life my AirPods Pro 2 offer just isn’t enough anymore, especially now that the battery has started to degrade. I recently started running a few times a week and ditched the AirPods Pro 2 for the Powerbeats Pro 2 because they sit far more securely in my ears. Fit has been my main issue with the AirPods Pro and AirPods Pro 2. They just aren’t that comfortable and don’t sit securely in my ears, regardless of what ear tips I use.

This is where Apple’s new AirPods Pro 3 come in. Apple has improved the high-end earbuds’ fit significantly thanks to a smaller design that features foam-infused tips and revamped ergonomics. There are other key upgrades, too, including better battery life, improved sound quality, IP57 sweat and water-resistance,built-in heart rate monitoring, and more.

With the AirPods Pro 3, Apple has taken its impressive pair of high-end wireless earbuds and made them notably better in a few key ways.

4.5/5

Battery Life

8 hours

Bluetooth

Yes

Noise Cancellation

ANC

Charging Case

Yes

New AirPods Pro 3 features include Live Translation, IP57 sweat and water resistance, and a built-in heart rate sensor, allowing users to track workouts directly with the wireless earbuds.

Pros & Cons

• Comfortable design
• Battery life improvements
• Live Translation works great

• Sound quality improvement isn’t notable
• ANC upgrade is marginal

At times, it feels like I don’t even have earbuds in

The comfort upgrade over the AirPods Pro 2 is impressive

The first thing I noticed about the AirPods Pro 3 is how comfortable they are. While I wouldn’t describe the AirPods Pro 2 as painful to wear, after three to four hours, my ears often need a break. With the AirPods Pro 3, that’s no longer a problem. Unlike the AirPods 4, they’re in-ear earbuds, so it occasionally still feels like there’s an insect burrowing into my ear canal if I push them in too much, but the AirPods Pro 3 are significantly more pleasant to wear for longer periods compared to the AirPods Pro and AirPods Pro 2. In fact, the AirPods Pro 3 are the most comfortable in-ear wireless earbuds I’ve ever used.

There are a few reasons for this. First off, they’re slightly smaller and feature a different shape, allowing them to better align with your ear canal. There are also new foam-infused ear tips. The tips still feel the same as the AirPods Pro 2’s silicone tips when you squeeze them with your fingers, but when they’re in your ears, you’ll notice that they’re far more malleable, allowing the tips to conform to the shape of the inside of your ear better, while also blocking out more outside noise (foam is better at passive noise isolation).

This makes them align with your ear slightly differently from the AirPods Pro 2. Like with the AirPods Pro 2, the AirPods Pro 4 come with several different ear tips, ranging from large to extra-small. Similar to the AirPods Pro 2, I find that the medium tips fit the best in my ears, but some people have had to size-down to accommodate the new tip design.

Along with being more comfortable, the new ear tips make the AirPods Pro 4 sit more securely in my ears. Whether I’m cleaning my house, out in my garden picking strawberries, or going for a quick run, Apple’s new wireless earbuds remain firmly in my ears. In fact, I’m considering ditching the Powerbeats Pro 2 for running and switching to the AirPods Pro 3 because they sound so much better (more on this later).

I can’t think of a single instance over the past few days when they’ve fallen out of my ears, while with the AirPods Pro 2, it felt like they constantly tumbled to the ground whenever I was doing something active.

As someone who really values fit when it comes to wireless earbuds, the fact that the AirPods Pro 3 are this comfortable to wear for long periods is enough to justify an upgrade from the AirPods Pro 2. I now understand why Apple boasted that the AirPods Pro 3 are the “best-fitting AirPods ever” — they really are.

There are a few other design changes worth noting, including the removal of the Bluetooth pairing button on the charging case, and the fact that the case itself is slightly taller and wider, similar to the AirPods 4. Neither change is a big deal, but I prefer the physical pairing button. It’s worth noting that unfortunately, the case is still made of the same soft white plastic as Apple’s other AirPods, which means it is very easily scratched.

Sound quality and active noise cancellation improvements

Do the AirPods Pro 4 really sound that much better than the AirPods Pro 2? Not really

Apple talked a big game about AirPods Pro 3 sound quality and active noise cancellation improvements (ANC), but after spending roughly a week using the earbuds, these claims feel a bit over the top. Sure, the AirPods Pro 3 sound better than the AirPods Pro 2 thanks to their new drivers/transducers, offering a wider sound stage and deeper bass, but the improvement is marginal. Some people might not notice it, especially if they’re coming from the 2nd generation AirPods Pro 2.

But as expected, there’s a very clear improvement over the original AirPods Pro. Everything from Underoath’s scream-filled They’re Only Chasing Safety, to something far more low-key like Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero, sounds full, with a range of highs and lows that’s so wide it’s often surprising that it’s coming from earbuds.

The same can be said about the AirPods Pro 3’s improved ANC. Apple says that the AirPods Pro 3 cancel twice as much noise as the AirPods Pro 2 and four times more than the original AirPods Pro, thanks to the earbuds’ new ultra-low-noise microphones, advancements in computational audio, and the new foam-infused ear tips. In my experience, while the ANC is better, it doesn’t feel like it’s a massive improvement over the AirPods Pro 2 unless you’re in a particularly loud environment or blocking out someone talking directly beside you.

On the other hand, just like the sound quality bump, the jump between the original AirPods Pro’s ANC versus the AirPods Pro 3 is far more substantial. My best guess is that the foam-infused tips are doing the bulk of the heavy lifting with regard to the better ANC.

Live Translation works better than I expected

Language options are still limited, though

Apple is very late to the game with Live Translation on the AirPods Pro 3, given Google has offered the feature with its Pixel Buds for several years, but it still works impressively well thanks to the power of the H2 chip and a combination of voice isolation, ANC, and the beam-forming mics (this feature also works on the AirPods 2 and AirPods 4). You can even start Live Translation directly from the earbuds by holding both stems.

When you launch Live Translation, ANC kicks in to pull down the noise around you and to reduce the volume of the person you’re speaking to. This makes it easier to hear Siri translate the conversation through the AirPods Pro 3. If you’re using the Live Translation app, a transcript shows up on your phone, giving you access to the translation before it comes through your AirPods, as well as the ability to play your translated speech to whoever you’re talking to. The whole experience is a bit overwhelming and feels complicated at first, but once you have Live Translation up and running, it works surprisingly well.

Apple Intelligence was handidly able to decipher my partner’s French easily and in turn, flipped my English into understandable French. This isn’t a feature I’ll use very often, but like is often the case, Apple’s implementation of Live Translation is impressively smooth, despite being a few years late.

At launch, language support is very limited and only includes English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. Apple says that Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) are coming later this year. It’s likely more languages are on the horizon, too.

Built-in heart-rate tracking is a welcome addition, but I already own an Apple Watch

The battery life increase is much-needed

Built-in heart rate monitoring has been a rumored AirPods Pro feature for several years, so it’s great to see it finally make its way to the AirPods Pro 3. That said, it doesn’t work entirely how I expected and remains tethered to your iPhone. Having a secure fit is required for the heart rate monitor to work consistently, but in my experience that hasn’t been an issue. The App works with Apple’s Fitness app, as well as third-party apps like Nike Run Club, Runna, Ladder, and more.

My biggest issue with the heart rate monitor is it requires you to run with my iPhone in my pocket to record the data (if I’m not using my Apple Watch), which makes sense, but that limitation isn’t something I considered when the feature was revealed. After a brief test through Apple’s Fitness app, I went back to using the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and the AirPods Pro 3 together.

Thankfully, this doesn’t make the heart rate sensor entirely useless, since both devices work together to pull the most consistently connected heart rate information. I can see the heart rate sensor being useful for someone who doesn’t own an Apple Watch and that’s comfortable running with their phone, but in my specific case, the AirPods Pro 3’s heart rate tracking is just a nice-to-have bonus feature that backs up the Apple’s Watch’s heart rate sensor.

With regard to call quality and voice recording, I haven’t noticed much of an improvement over the AirPods Pro 2, though Transparency mode (which passes noise around you through the earbuds), sounds vastly improved. On the other hand, I immediately noticed that the AirPods 3 eke out an additional two hours of battery life, hitting a total of eight compared to the AirPods Pro 2’s six (one day I managed to get 8.5 hours).

This has allowed me to wear the earbuds for a full work day without charging them, whereas I’d sometimes need to charge the AirPods 2 one to two times over the course of a workday (I think the battery has degraded over the past few years). Like the fit improvements, I really appreciate the battery life increase, and I have a feeling a lot of other AirPods users will too.

Do you really need to upgrade?

If you’re an OG AirPods Pro owner, you’ll get a lot out of the AirPods Pro 3

Since I value comfort and battery life over nearly everything when it comes to wireless earbuds, the AirPods Pro 3 are a worthwhile upgrade for me. Couple that with the minor sound quality and ANC improvements, and you have an all-around, high-end AirPods package that’s very impressive and the best option for Apple users.

On the other hand, if you’re an AirPods Pro 2 user, the marginal upgrades in sound quality and ANC might not push you to shell out the $249 USD/$329 CAD for the AirPods Pro 3. The wireless earbuds are league better than the original AirPods, but depending on what features matter to you, they’re not that big of a move over the AirPods Pro 2.

4.5/5

Battery Life

8 hours

Bluetooth

Yes

Noise Cancellation

ANC

Charging Case

Yes