Google Pixel Buds Professional 2 Assessment: A Worthy Improve With One Caveat Leave a comment

How you’re feeling about Google’s new Pixel Buds Professional 2 will largely rely on how nicely they suit your ears. That is the case for many in-ear noise-canceling buds, in fact, however with the Pixel Buds Professional 2, if you aren’t getting a good seal from the included ear ideas, there is a large dip in each sound high quality and noise-canceling efficiency. If you happen to do get a good seal, these buds ship glorious sound, sturdy noise-muffling capabilities and a sturdy characteristic set, significantly for Android and Google Pixel telephone customers.

Not solely are the Pixel Buds Professional 2 smaller than their predecessor however Google’s geared up them with its new Tensor A1 chip, which presents extra processing energy and allows its new “hands-free, eyes-free” Gemini digital AI assistant. One factor Google did not enhance, is the value. 

Out there in 4 shade choices to match the colours of the brand new Pixel 9 fashions, the Pixel Buds Professional 2 listing for $229 or $29 greater than the unique Pixel Buds Professional. That is a development within the true-wireless earbuds market as numerous corporations’ flagship buds, like Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds 3 Professional, have gone up in value by $20 to $50 as they transfer to the following era.

Learn extra: Finest wi-fi earbuds of 2024

Pixel Buds Professional 2 design

I am going to get to the modifications on the within in a minute, however the largest distinction between these buds and the unique Pixel Buds Professional is their design. The originals match my ears nicely, however they did not fairly work for a sure proportion of individuals, and Google has made them 27% smaller and 24% lighter, which you discover instantly. 

In addition they have a built-in fin which Google calls a “twist-to-adjust stabilizer.” That fin helps lock the buds in your ears, and I used to be capable of get a safe match after I tried them on and shook my head round. Additionally, the buds do not stick out of your ears a lot, which is sweet. For higher or worse, they nonetheless look a little bit such as you’ve jammed Mentos candies in your ears. 

I bumped into an issue with the ear ideas. I favored the smaller measurement of the buds, but it surely did actually change the match for my ears. With the unique Pixel Buds, the biggest measurement of Google’s ear ideas created a good seal. That was not the case with the Pixel Buds Professional 2. The identical massive ear ideas did not match fairly snugly in my ears, failing to fully block off my ear canal. That led to underwhelming sound and noise-canceling expertise and a seek for a brand new set of ideas that will get me a good seal. Fortunately, I’ve the luxurious of getting plenty of ear recommendations on hand due to all of the earbuds I evaluate.   

Typically, the form of the ear tip is a consider getting a good seal. Those that include the Pixel Buds Professional 2 are barely conical (wider, extra rounded ideas are likely to work higher for me). I’ve little question that one of many included sizes of ear ideas will match most individuals simply advantageous. There might be some people like me who require a unique, most probably bigger ear tip to get a good seal. As soon as I discovered such an ear tip, the distinction was night time and day. Not solely did I get a good seal, however the earbuds match my ears much more securely; they actually felt locked in, and I had no bother operating with them. 

The buds have an IP54 ranking, which suggests they’re splashproof and dust-resistant. Their case — it is the identical measurement as the unique Pixel Buds Professional’s case — can be splashproof and has an IPX4 ranking. The one design change to the case is the addition of a little bit speaker subsequent to the USB-C charging port (extra on that in a minute). 

I did not notice this in my evaluate of the unique Pixel Buds Professional, however my one gripe concerning the case is that it picks up stains from objects in your pocket. You may wipe these stains off with an alcohol wipe and not using a drawback, it might probably initially be a little bit regarding when your pristine white case will get marked up. If you wish to keep away from any of those points, you should buy a case on your Pixel Buds Professional’s case.   

The Pixel Buds Professional 2 have the identical capacitive contact controls with swipe quantity controls as the unique Pixel Buds Professional, so there aren’t any modifications there. I discovered them responsive and straightforward to make use of. 

Upgraded sound high quality and noise canceling

Google says the buds, geared up with Bluetooth 5.4, have higher sound and noise cancellation, together with improved voice-calling efficiency and noise discount throughout calls. I did discover a big improve in sound high quality and noise-canceling efficiency, and the upgrades in voice-calling efficiency are extra nuanced.

Google’s new Tensor A1 chip and up to date algorithms make plenty of the efficiency upgrades doable. There’s additionally a {hardware} improve that is seemingly an enormous issue within the sound high quality enhancements. These have 11mm drivers just like the originals, Google says there’s an upgraded acoustic structure with a brand new high-frequency chamber for smoother treble.

The added element is what jumped out at me. In comparison with the unique Pixel Buds Professional, there’s extra depth and richness to the sound with higher total definition and extension. The earbuds sound extra correct (pure) and the sound does not get caught inside your head, which is one other means of claiming they’ve an amply vast soundstage.

I listened to all kinds of music tracks, and got here away feeling the sound measures up nicely to what you get with a lot of the high earbuds on the market, together with the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Professional, which have their very own driver and processor upgrades. The Pixel Buds Professional 2’s bass is highly effective with out sounding boomy, there’s good stereo separation (you may distinctly hear every instrument in additional difficult tracks) and a pleasant readability to the treble. I did not expertise any listening fatigue both.      

Spatial audio with head monitoring returns too, however notice that it solely works with the Pixel Pill and the most recent Pixel telephones, beginning with the Pixel 6 — and never Pixel A-Sequence telephones.

For Android customers who need to tweak the sound, you get some preset EQ settings together with a full customizable EQ choices to regulate the sound profile a bit. I primarily saved the EQ on the default setting as a result of it sounded advantageous to me. 

You get three microphones in every earbud with some mesh masking that helps lower down on wind noise. Google says the Pixel Buds Professional 2’s upgraded adaptive noise canceling is twice what it was and covers a wider vary of frequencies than that of the unique Pixel Buds Professional. Once more, how tight a seal you get will dramatically influence noise-canceling efficiency. After I bought a good seal, I used to be impressed with the noise-canceling efficiency. Using the New York Metropolis subway and strolling the streets of New York, I assumed the noise-canceling labored in addition to the AirPods Professional 2’s noise canceling. It actually lower down on plenty of undesirable noise and never solely lower-frequency noise however some within the midrange (folks’s voices) and higher-frequencies, that are more durable to suppress. 

I additionally thought the transparency mode, which lets ambient sound into the buds, sounded fairly pure with just about no audible hiss. It appeared superb.

Pixel Buds Professional 2 voice-calling efficiency analysis

I assumed the voice-calling efficiency of the unique Pixel Buds Professional was fairly good and the voice-calling efficiency of the Pixel Buds Professional 2 is a little bit higher, although perhaps not fairly nearly as good as what you get with Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Professional. In my check calls within the noisy streets of New York, the buds typically did job eliminating background noise whereas choosing up my voice nicely (Google markets the buds’ voice-calling prowess as “Clear Calling”). Callers stated my voice sounded barely clearer with the Galaxy Buds 3 Professional, and so they stated they heard a contact much less background noise. 

Efficiency does appear to enhance a bit when utilizing a Pixel telephone and Clear Calling is activated within the settings. “When a Pixel consumer with a Pixel 7 or later makes a telephone name, the incoming audio (from the opposite particular person) is denoised and enhanced by Clear Calling on the telephone,” Google says. “If the identical consumer can be utilizing Pixel Buds Professional 2, then the outgoing audio (Pixel consumer’s speech) can be denoised and enhanced by algorithms on the buds. Which means, when used collectively, you get a totally denoised and speech-enhanced audio expertise.”

Stem-style earbuds just like the AirPods Professional 2 and Galaxy Buds 3 Professional, which permit the buds’ microphones to be aimed and positioned a little bit nearer to your mouth, are likely to ship barely higher voice-calling efficiency. As Google tinkers with its algorithms, I think the Pixel Buds Professional 2’s voice-calling efficiency might enhance barely. For now it appears fairly good, however not best-in-class.   

Strong characteristic set, sturdy battery life

As it is best to anticipate from earbuds on this value vary, the Pixel Buds Professional 2 have ear-detection sensors, which suggests your music will pause once you take the buds out of your ears and resume playback once you put them again in. There’s multipoint Bluetooth pairing and automated switching between Android gadgets in your Google account. Additionally, the buds help the brand new Discover My Machine community and have a little bit speaker on the underside of their charging case subsequent to the USB-C port that emits a ringtone that will help you discover the case if it is hiding someplace.

Just like the earlier mannequin, the case has wi-fi charging, and the rated battery life for these buds is sort of good — Google says you may stand up to 12 hours with noise canceling off at reasonable ranges and as much as 8 hours with noise canceling on.   

A key characteristic price mentioning is Dialog Detect (it’s important to activate it within the settings), which Google says makes use of AI to inform once you begin talking and can pause the audio and swap the buds to transparency mode so you may have a dialog. Your music and noise canceling will then chill on when the dialog ends. Sony was the primary to have this characteristic, and Apple’s AirPods Professional 2 and Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Professional 2 and three even have a variation of it.

Like their predecessor, these have hands-free Google Assistant, which you’ll be able to entry by saying “Hey, Google” or “OK, Google” with out touching your buds. The buds may also be used to entry its new Gemini Stay AI characteristic by saying “Let’s discuss” after saying the assistant wake command. I am nonetheless testing this characteristic, and to date, it has been a little bit inconsistent, but it surely offers the Google Assistant expertise a extra conversational, interactive really feel and lets you get superior search outcomes learn again to you thru the buds.  

As soon as once more, Google has caught with AAC and SBC has the 2 audio codecs supported. Some people have been dissatisfied that the unique Pixel Buds Professional did not help LDAC or AptX. Actually, the shortage of extra codec help should not be a dealbreaker. It is laborious to inform the distinction between AAC and AptX (or LDAC) even when you have a music streaming service like Qobuz or Tidal that gives high-resolution audio. 

Google Pixel Buds Professional 2 remaining ideas

It is a little bit disappointing that the Pixel Buds Professional 2 value $29 greater than than their predecessor, however, as I stated, we’re seeing that very same value inflation with different current flagship earbuds like Sony’s WF-1000XM5 and Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Professional. Apple has priced its AirPods Professional at $249 for some time, although the AirPods Professional 2 do promote for nearer to $180 at Amazon.  

I respect the smaller design, an improve that ought to tackle the match points many of us with smaller ears had with the unique Buds Professional’s design. These extra compact buds won’t match some ears in addition to the originals. In my case, I used to be capable of resolve my match concern with completely different ear ideas. I would not fault patrons for returning the buds in the event that they fail to get an ideal match and do not need to go to the difficulty of looking for a extra appropriate pair of ear ideas for his or her ears. It is a disgrace extra earbuds producers do not embrace a wider vary of ear ideas with their buds (I am nonetheless ready for Apple to incorporate a pair of XL ideas with the AirPods Professional 2). 

If you will get a good seal, the Pixel Buds Professional 2 are glorious earbuds. Apple customers are higher off with the AirPods Professional 2, and Samsung Galaxy system homeowners ought to most likely go for the Galaxy Buds 3 Professional. Regardless of their greater value, they’re definitely price sturdy consideration from Pixel system customers and Android customers basically, significantly once they’re discounted.

Pixel Buds Professional key specs

• Sweat and water resistance: IP54 (buds), IPX4 (case)
• Bluetooth 5.4 with LE Audio
• Tensor A1 processor
• Customized-designed 11mm dynamic speaker driver
• Energetic noise cancellation with Silent Seal 2.0
• Transparency mode
• Energetic in-ear stress reduction
• Dialog detection
• Ringtone speaker in case for Discover My Machine
• Voice accelerometer
• Three microphones (wind-blocking mesh covers)
• Capacitive contact (faucet and swipe) sensors for music, calls and voice assistant controls
• IR proximity sensor for in-ear detection to play and pause routinely
• Movement-detecting accelerometer and gyroscope
• Corridor Impact sensor for case open and shut detection
• USB-C and Qi-certified wi-fi charging
• Battery life as much as 12 hours with ANC off (extra 36 hours in charging case), 8 hours with ANC on (extra 22 hours in charging case)
• 5-minute cost of earbuds will get 1.5 hours of listening time (with ANC off)
• Colours: porcelain, hazel, wintergreen and peony
• Weight of every earbud: 4.7 grams (with medium ear tip)
• Charging case: 65 grams (with earbuds)
• Value: $229