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Top Pros
Top Cons
Reddit Reviews
i have the og and i’m subscribing to “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” sure it’s missing newer amenities but they work great. not sure what the price difference is but if it’s not much ig just go with the newer ones.
My AirPods Gen 1 sound better than my power Beats Pro 1st gen but the pros have buttons, battery lasts longer and they stay in my ear and are more comfortable. so I don’t care about the audio quality. music and podcasts and calls sound fine.
I have not tried anything else. I sent my pros to get a battery replaced by Apple. They ended up charging me 275$. Just gave me new ear buds and my old case back and no ear tips. They won’t do anything about it. total rip off.
Not sure if Beats counts as Apple but I got some $40 Beats Buds Pro for $40 for sleeping
~$40 used on Amazon. The clear ones, cause clear haha
I have too many myself. Method 360 anc, liberty nc, galaxy 2, Rail anc, 1st generation powerbeats pro and a box of others. Apart from more wired ones
I lost my Galaxy bud 3 pros and haven't been the same since. They definitely had the best noise canceling. Right now I'm playing with beats pro buds and they suck. You can't even turn them on without the case.
The previous powerbeats pro where SOLID headphones, not the new ones, they’re just too tinny and weird, only real upgrade over the original is the ANC
Keep getting this skipping sound when they’re in my pocket at the gym. Have to think it’s a connection issue? Hopefully there’s a fix soon. Love the sound quality and button touch features. Never had this issues with beat pro in ears. Really annoying.
Did you have spatial audio OFF in your testing? I find that spatial audio negatively impacts the punch of bass, and makes things more trebly and collapses the sound in your head towards the center. The emulation of "space" doesn't work well. Much better with spatial audio turned OFF. I can say that with spatial audio off, these are better than my Powerbeats Pro 1.
I did the test fit for me and it clearly worked. I started off with the default medium, which if I moved my jaw seemed to loosen -- and the fit test confirmed my experience. Next tried small -- way worse, by feel and confirmed via test - rarely got a good seal. Tried large, and seemed to be good (I thought this was it), but then I noticed it didn't always get a good fit at first when putting it on. So it required more effort than I liked to adjust it. Finally, tried XL. Seemed right almost immediately, couldn't shake it loose with jaw movements, and went in on first try much easier. All confirmed via fit test. So the fit test worked for me, for sure.
Rankings by Use Case
Top recommendations from others in the same boat
Best for Air travel

Top pick
Apple - AirPod Pro Series
Best for Audiophile sound quality

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Technics - EAH-AZ100
Best for High-intensity workouts

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Beats (Apple) - Fit Pro
Best for Industrial hearing protection

Top pick
Sony - WF-1000XM5
Best for Meetings & video calls

Top pick
Apple - AirPod Pro Series
Best for Situational awareness (when running, cycling, parenting etc)

Top pick
Shokz - OpenFit Series





