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Apple AirPods Review

3.5
Good
By Tim Gideon

The Bottom Line

The Apple AirPods feel like a big step for wireless in-ear audio—but it's more about innovations and features and less about audio performance.

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Pros

  • Clear audio performance.
  • Seamlessly pairs with multiple iOS devices on the same iCloud account.
  • Carrying case doubles as backup battery.

Cons

  • Lack of ear canal seal means less bass response and potential ear-to-ear stereo image discrepancies.
  • Limited onboard controls virtually require you to use Siri.
  • In-ear fit could be more secure.

The Apple AirPods haven't had the smoothest rollout. Finally available at year's end, the $159 wire-free earphones now have plenty of competition. But where some competing models, like the Bragi Dash ($89.63 at Amazon) , are loaded with swipe and gesture controls, the AirPods simply use your voice and Siri—neither of which prove to be an ideal solution. From an audio standpoint, the AirPods offer decent bass response and crisp, clear highs, but would greatly benefit from creating an in-canal seal like most earphones do. Instead, you hear the outside world and get less low end than you might otherwise. But for the price, you're paying for a new technology, not top-of-the-line audio performance. Every product line needs a first generation, and while the AirPods don't feel like they're in beta, some simple improvements can greatly enhance the next iteration.

Design

When you compare the AirPods ($99.00 at Amazon) with the aforementioned Bragi Dash, the Samsung Gear IconX ($99.99 at Amazon) , and the SOL Republic Amps Air ($51.99 at Amazon) , a trend quickly emerges in the design department. They're completely wireless individual earpieces that come with battery-powered charging cases.

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Available in the pristine white, glossy plastic that Apple audio accessories have flaunted for years, the AirPods have short, stem-like ends to each earpiece that the competing models lack. Where the Dash and the Amps Air are bulkier in size and have gels that help keep the in-ear fit very secure, the fit here, while lightweight and fairly secure, can feel a bit precarious at times. The earpieces fit well enough in my ears, but if I were to go on a jog or exercise vigorously, it's not a stretch to imagine them falling out, something I don't worry about with the other pairs. And if you lose (or damage) an earpiece, it'll cost you $69 to replace it.

The AirPods don't seal off the ear canal—they point audio toward it. There are several gel-tip accessories available for the wired EarPods ($18.79 at Amazon) , but Apple reps claim those won't be compatible with the AirPods, as they would block sensors and might disable tap-based operation. The company claims new AirPod-specific accessories should find their way to market soon, but for now, what you see is what you get. I would want those accessories before I ever took the AirPods to the gym, but everyone has differently shaped ears.

Apple AirPods inline 3

Speaking of exercise, Apple shares no specific IPX (water resistance) rating, but a rep claims they should be able to withstand moderate moisture from, say, a sweaty workout or walking in the rain—just don't shower with them or dunk them in the swimming pool.

Control

Perhaps the biggest differentiator between the AirPods and the competition is how they are controlled. The Dash can feel too jam-packed with control options—swipes, taps, and holds all achieve different things that aren't easy to memorize, and there are gesture-based controls, as well. With the AirPods, you could argue, you have the opposite effect. The only way to physically control them them is by double tapping either one.

Unfortunately, the double taps don't always seem to register—I found I often had to steady the earpiece between my thumb and middle finger, then tap with my index finger. In default mode, double tapping activates Siri; you can choose to switch this to operating play/pause instead. Double taps are also how you answer phone calls (which you can choose to have Siri announce for you so you know who's calling without pulling out your phone.) But that's it. No track navigation, no volume control. You can opt to turn the double-tap feature off altogether, but that seems unhelpful.

Of course, if you use the AirPods the way Apple wants you to—via Siri—then the world is your oyster. Siri commands work quite well, for the most part. "Skip this track," "Play PJ Harvey," "Call Mom's cell," and "Weather report" all functioned seamlessly and quickly in testing. But not all commands worked as I'd hoped. "Lower volume" simply drops the volume a hair—I'd much prefer the volume gradually fade until I say "stop." But this brings up another gripe: Who wants to be talking out loud to Siri all day to do things as simple as skip a track or adjust the volume?

Despite the control limitations, there are some nice design and functionality touches. Removing one earpiece automatically pauses your music, for instance, and replacing resumes it. You can also assign the mics to Automatic mode, which uses either the left or right ear, depending on which is put in first, or you can opt to assign the mic to always be the left or right earpiece. In Automatic mode, when you remove one earpiece, the in-ear Pod automatically becomes the active mic. Call clarity was solid in testing, so not having a mic near your mouth is not an issue.

There are also two accelerometers at work in the AirPods. One determines if your jaw is moving and you're talking (either to Siri or on a call), and immediately activates the mic. The other determines whether the earpieces are in your ears or not; if you set them down (but don't place them in the case), it puts the AirPods in an energy-saving mode to preserve precious battery life.

Battery and Setup

I say precious because, well, battery life is not fantastic. Apple claims you'll get up to five hours of audio playback, two hours of talk time, and somewhere in between those figures if you mix up your usage. Any way you slice it, it's not a whole lot of time. However, short battery life is currently the rule for wireless, cable-free earphones, based on the pairs we've reviewed so far. This is why the charging case is essential.

Apple estimates the included AirPod case, when fully charged, can store up to 24 hours of battery life. So when the Pods run out of juice, restoring them to full life while you're on the go is fairly easy to do, multiple times. More impressively, getting them to 100 percent battery life from a dead battery takes only 30 minutes. If you fully exhaust both the earpieces and the charging case itself, Apple estimates fully charging the case and the AirPods will take roughly two hours.

The charging case is impressive. It looks and feels far less bulky than the other charging cases we've seen. The flip top reveals two recessed charging docks that the left and right earpieces slide into (magnets ensure they snap into place to charge). On the back panel, there's a setup button—press this and the status LED on the case will blink white. In this mode, you can set the AirPods to connect to iOS devices not associated with your iCloud account, third-party devices, or an Apple TV ($148.38 at Amazon) .

Apple AirPods inline 1

Connecting the AirPods is a seamless experience—you flip open the lid of the charging case while the AirPods are docked, and your nearby phone will ask if you want to connect to them. Say yes, and you're golden. Once connected, remember that the AirPods default mode is to only play audio when they are in your ears—when they're not, audio will play through your device's speakers. If you don't love the automatic ear detection feature, it can be disabled so that music plays back the way it would with a typical Bluetooth device, and doesn't toggle back and forth between the earpieces and the phone depending on whether the AirPods are in your ears.

In terms of compatibility, you need an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 10.2 or later, an Apple Watch with watchOS 3 or later, or a Mac with macOS Sierra or later. If you are signed into iCloud, the AirPods will automatically be set up to work with all of your iCloud devices. The cross-device connection is quite nice. You can be listening to music on your iPhone, but decide you want to switch to audio on your iPad—simply grab it, swipe up the control panel, tap the AirPods option in the music menu, and you're switched.

You get the charging case and the essential Lightning-to-USB charging cable that connects to the case, but aside from these, the AirPods ship with no other accessories.

Performance

Because of the lack of a seal, it's very easy to have the earpieces sit in your ears but not angled quite directly at your canals. The result is a less-than-ideal stereo image, not to mention a slightly noticeable variation in frequency response from ear to ear—one earpiece can sound slightly bass-heavier than the other, for instance. Thus, some wiggling might be required to get the ideal audio performance out the AirPods—moving them around a bit can alter the bass response dramatically. One drawback of adjusting the earpieces while music is playing is that it's easy to accidentally trick them into thinking they're out of your ears, and music playback will switch to your phone's speaker if you have automatic ear detection enabled (it's enabled by default; you can disable it in the Bluetooth settings menu).

With a proper fit, on tracks with intense sub-bass, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the AirPods show that they are quite capable of delivering solid bass response. At top, unwise volume levels, they don't distort on this challenging track, and at moderate levels, the sense of bass depth is strong. However, the lack of an in-canal seal limits what the drivers are truly capable of. Simply pressing the AirPods in toward the canal creates a better listening experience—the highs are still there, but you now have more vibrant bass, too.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives a better idea of the overall sound signature. Do the AirPods invent bass when it's not really in the mix? Not at all. The drivers deliver a solid sense of bass depth without exaggerating things too much. The highs are quite sculpted, which helps provide a sense of clarity, but this is not a sound signature for purists. At lower volumes, or if the Pods have slowly slipped out of their ideal placement (which happened repeatedly in my testing), the bass response will sound somewhat diminished, and that's when you hear the high frequency boosting at its most intense—tape hiss typically relegated to the background on this track almost dominates the quieter sections. Callahan's baritone vocals benefit from the treble edge, but some listeners will find the overall sound signature too bright.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the vinyl crackle typically relegated to backdrop status is brought to the forefront of the mix, another sign that the highs are quite sculpted. The kick drum loop gets plenty of high-mid presence to accentuate its sharp attack, while the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with reasonable depth and power, but nothing like you might hear from heavily bass-boosted earphones. If ultra bass is your thing, the AirPods won't do it for you.

Apple AirPods inline 2

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, receive a pleasant added depth in the lower register instrumentation—it's subtle, and mainly shows up in the low-mids, as there's not too much in the way of subwoofer-style bass rearing its head on this track. The higher register brass, strings, and vocals, however, sound a little too bright, overly boosted in the high-mids and highs. It's not a harsh sound, but not an accurate one, either. The frustration, as a reviewer, is not knowing if these drivers could actually deliver a far better, more vibrant, balanced audio experience if they created a seal with the canal. As things stand, the low-mids get more prominence than the lows and sub bass, and the highs are quite boosted and sculpted.

Conclusions

Most of the hand-wringing over the lack of a headphone jack in the iPhone 7 is misdirected—wireless audio is clearly the direction of the future. But it remains to be seen how the world will respond to this new breed of cable-free earphones. As far as ease of use goes, the Apple AirPods score well if you don't mind conversing with Siri to do most things other than answer calls or pause music. As for audio fidelity, it's too easy for the earpieces to fire off at different angles, compromising the stereo image. The lack of a seal at the ear canal really diminishes the potential bass response the drivers seem capable of.

But Apple gets so many things right that other manufacturers struggle with. Connecting the AirPods is a seamless, nearly automatic experience, for instance. The charging case here is more graceful than competing models, and offers equal or better battery life. And the integration of Siri is, undeniably, a building block that in future models will likely be a true selling point. But it should be an excellent extra feature, not essential to operation.

Are the AirPods more of a template Apple wants third-party manufacturers to copy and improve upon? Possibly, if the past is any indication—Apple has always been more than happy for you to upgrade from your bundled iPhone earbuds to a better-sounding third-party model using the approved inline remote control designs. After all, there's money to be had in that for Apple, too.

All of the aforementioned cable-free, wireless in-ear models come with their unique set of drawbacks and advantages. It's a nascent category without a real winner, for the time being. Some simple improvements to the AirPods can make them a grand slam—namely, creating an in-canal seal to provide better audio and a more secure fit, and providing more on-ear controls that don't require Siri. As it stands, you'll get better audio quality and easier control out of a less expensive (wired) Bluetooth pair, like the JBL Reflect Mini BT ($44.99 at Amazon) . That said, Apple is to be commended for pushing the technology forward, and I look forward to the second generation.

Apple AirPods
3.5
Pros
  • Clear audio performance.
  • Seamlessly pairs with multiple iOS devices on the same iCloud account.
  • Carrying case doubles as backup battery.
Cons
  • Lack of ear canal seal means less bass response and potential ear-to-ear stereo image discrepancies.
  • Limited onboard controls virtually require you to use Siri.
  • In-ear fit could be more secure.
The Bottom Line

The Apple AirPods feel like a big step for wireless in-ear audio—but it's more about innovations and features and less about audio performance.

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About Tim Gideon

Contributing Editor, Audio

Tim Gideon

I've been a contributing editor for PCMag since 2011. Before that, I was PCMag's lead audio analyst from 2006 to 2011. Even though I'm a freelancer now, PCMag has been my home for well over a decade, and audio gear reviews are still my primary focus. Prior to my career in reviewing tech, I worked as an audio engineer—my love of recording audio eventually led me to writing about audio gear.

Read Tim's full bio

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