After SIX years, we are finally getting a refresh on one of the most popular earbuds of all time, the PowerBeats Pro 2 are here. They are perhaps the best dual-native Android/iOS earbuds you can buy right now and I know athletes, fitness enthusiasts, Beats fans, and anyone with weird shaped ears are stoked to finally have a new PowerBeats model. They have all the latest features you would expect like top notch ANC, transparency, improved microphone, a smaller design, and new features including… a heart rate sensor. Yeah we have to talk about that. Actually, we have a lot to talk about. I’ve been using these for over two weeks now and this is my full PowerBeats Pro 2 review.
Follow me on social media! (it's always just @mikeobrienn)
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mikeobrienn
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeobrienn
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@mikeobrienn
About me: https://mikeobrienmedia.com
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 They're Back!!
0:58 Price, Design, Controls
2:00 The ear hook
3:25 Battery life
4:00 Durability and water resistance
4:35 Features
6:45 The Heart Rate Sensor
10:11 Mic test
10:55 ANC test
11:30 Transparency test
12:40 Sound Quality
ADDITIONAL REVIEW NOTES:
Now as always, my full disclosure - this video is not sponsored. Beats has no editorial privileges. Beats did let me get my hands on this review unit before launch, but I will be covering both pros and cons including one frustrating drawback I noticed.
So let’s start off with the basics.
Same price as airpods pro 2 - $249
Four colors - purple, sandstone, orange, black
Hook is malleable, lighter, smaller, but still super super stable
You know airpods fall out of my ears, so these are basically airpods pro that never fall
The buds point slightly up, but are ergonomic - no fatigue after hours of listening
5 ear tips in the box
Some very mild ear fatigue - top of inside of ear
Does not worsen much though. I forget about it after 30 min
New venting mechanism should keep ear pressure low
Extremely secure
Can interfere with some sunglasses
33% smaller case than before but still ginormous
Wireless charging case
No apple watch charging, but can charge on qi or magsafe nonmagnetically
10/45h with adaptive ANC, 8/36h with full ANC
5 min = 90 min
IPX4 water resistant - not the highest, I saw some people on reddit dropped the old ones in a puddle and the sound was bad but they worked. Sweat and rain should be fine though
MICROPHONE TEST
ANC TEST
TRANSPARENCY TEST
Very natural sounding, but slightly quieter and slightly muffled. Otherwise, excellent
Minimal white noise
You will not forget you have these in if you aren’t playing music
But you can hear everything perfectly and they serve the purpose well. I would be comfortable wearing these while running, knowing I can hear bicycles approaching
Makse sense thanks to the Apple H2 chip inside
Apparently not getting hearing aid features though - I think it would be great if they did
SOUND QUALITY
No hifi codecs
Apple vision Pro lossless - but I feel like these may interfere with AVP headset
Lower fidelity
Not the best spatial reproduction of sound. Instrument separation in general has me turning the volume up to hear everything in the song
Bass could be tighter and overall sound is a little more congested than I would like
I can’t tear these apart for not being audiophile earbuds. They’re Beats so they are really meant for a different environment. So how are they for workouts?
Pretty balanced and powerful. They get much louder than I would ever use
Some people are more bass-heads so I think an EQ would be nice to lift the bass or have a more v-shaped EQ for workouts.
Not seeing an EQ in the app, no app for iOS at all
I would say these are just fine as far as audio goes for most people working out.
I think these sound a bit better on iPhone
Bluetooth 5.3
Personalized spatial audio - compatible with apple spatial audio
CONS
These have apple seamless switching, but no true multipoint
Despite having the H2 chip, it’s not looking like these will get the hearing features
No conversation awareness (anc fades when talking)
Case is still gigantic. I know it’s smaller but come on.
No UWB find my features but let’s be honest, you can’t lose a giant orange case
No speaker on case