Here’s What Makes AirPods Pro 2 Special (And More Reasons Are On The Way)

Apple continues to deliver updates to its best wireless earbuds: AirPods Pro 2. Second-generation hardware (Lightning or USB-C) launched with impressive active noise cancellation, transparency and more. A year later, Apple released a big update that added Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, and more. Later this year, Apple will release another feature update that will add even more improvements.

Adaptive audio

The AirPods Pro 2 started with three noise control modes. Noise cancellation effectively cuts out the world around you. Transparency channels sounds around you when your ears are blocked. And off…off is what in-ear headphones looked like before AirPods Pro. Wet and suffocated. You are probably in noise cancellation or transparency.

Enter adaptive audio. You may never need the other two modes again.

Adaptive mode “dynamically combines Transparency mode and active noise cancellation based on the conditions of the user’s environment to deliver the best experience at the time,” Apple explains.

And it works wonderfully.

Adaptive Audio lets you enjoy the presence of transparency while you do the dishes, then seamlessly adjust the noise cancellation when you turn on the vacuum. You won’t even realize a mode change has occurred, because the audio playback just seems consistent. The return of ambient sounds around you Wow you when you notice what just happened.

Conversation awareness

Since the very first release in 2017, AirPods have always been great at letting you turn off the sound and connect to the world. With auto-pause, simply remove an AirPod from your ear to stop playback. Tablecloth.

Conversation Awareness is a new take on a similar idea.

If you speak with Conversation Awareness enabled, AirPods Pro 2 automatically lowers your volume and improves the voices of people speaking in front of you. Meanwhile, Conversation Awareness will actively reduce background noise behind you.

This allows you to play music and say hello to someone passing by without ever touching your AirPods.

Mute or unmute the sound

Mute or unmute might not sound as mind-blowing as Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness, but it’s just as handy if you ever use your AirPods Pro 2 during a phone call. This allows you to easily mute yourself during any call through your AirPods by pressing the stem. Press again to unmute. No need to take out your phone.

Custom volume leverages machine learning to allow AirPods to “understand environmental conditions and listening preferences over time to automatically refine the media experience.”

Auto-switching is a feature for moving between Apple devices that has been around for a while. An update to this feature means “connection time between a user’s Apple devices is significantly faster and more reliable,” according to Apple.

iOS 17 first introduced these features in AirPods Pro 2. Improvements to adaptive audio, conversation awareness, mute or unmute, custom volume, and auto switching are available after updating to iOS 17.

Starting with iOS 18, Apple will release these features:

Siri interactions:

AirPods are one of the best ways to interact with Siri on the go, and with Interactions with Sirithis experience becomes even more personal, private and practical. AirPods Pro users will be able to simply nod their head yes or gently shake their head no to respond to Siri announcements, which is especially useful in crowded or quiet areas where they don’t want to speak out loud. Enabled by machine learning on the H2 chip, Siri Interactions allow users to answer or reject calls, interact with messages, manage notifications and more, all without speaking.

Voice isolation:

To deliver the best call quality regardless of environmental conditions, AirPods Pro feature Voice isolation, expanding the revolutionary functionality available on Mac, iPhone and iPad. Machine learning, running on the H2 chip in AirPods Pro and the paired iPhone, iPad, or Mac, isolates and improves voice quality while removing important background noise, like the wind around you. ‘caller, for the listener.

Customize spatial audio:

Custom Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking will be available for gaming on AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max, delivering the immersive audio customers love when listening to music or watching movies and videos. emissions. When using AirPods Pro, gamers will now experience the best wireless audio latency Apple has ever offered for mobile gaming.¹ AirPods Pro users can also enjoy improved voice quality, including 16-bit, 48kHz audio, when chatting with teammates and other players.

Currently available in beta, look for these three features coming to iOS 18 this fall. Not on the AirPods Pro 2 bandwagon yet? Regularly buying a bundle with USB-C charging for a discount these days.

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