Being someone that regularly takes public transportation I’ve really been looking forward to my new Apple AirPods Pro showing up. My cone of silence descends on Monday!

So first experience with AirPods Pro is they were ok but I could still hear room sounds like the tv. Then I tried the ear fit test and ended up with the large tips in (they come with the medium tips in). The difference was amazing.

As a test I was playing Major Tom by Peter Schilling and had the tv on. I could not hear the tv at all and Major Tom sounded like I had my Bose QC-35s on. I’m a believer.

Had my first dog walk while wearing the AirPods Pro and listening to podcasts. They definitely reduce outside sounds and it is easy to be focused in your own world. If you are running with them in you would have to be cognizant of cars coming up behind you.

The Pros have 3 settings, noise cancelling, off and transparency. With noise cancellation, outside sounds are muted but not always entirely gone. Off means they are not actively doing anything other than passing through audio if they are connected to something. Transparency means that they are also passing through outside sound to some degree. An example of needing that might be when running or listening to something outside while listening to your phone. I tried all 3 settings while on a dog walk and listening to podcasts and you can distinctly hear the difference. If I were running I would probably use noise cancellation but I would also be careful to be cognizant of sounds or activity around me.

The silicon tips come in 3 sizes and I am using the largest. I usually do not like ear filling things but these have not been a problem yet.

While these do not replace my Bose QC-35ii’s for situations such as long flights or covering open office sounds they definitely are impressive. For my public transportation commute I was about to start wearing my Bose headset to drown out the conversations that regularly happen around me. I was reluctant to do that because I feel like the headsets are conspicuous. Now I am looking forward to trying the AirPods on my next commute as I think they will serve the same purpose and not be quite so eye catching.

Something I am wondering about is that my original AirPods and their case get very dirty over a period of months particularly with running during the summer. I suspect the silicon tips with the Pros are going to be worse but they are removable which may mean that they can be cleaned a bit more easily.

So far I have no complaints about the Pros and definitely recommend them. They are clearly an evolution above the originals.