And I don’t want to.
I’m quite sensitive to unpleasant sounds and I will do my best to avoid them. Chewing noices, especially cruncy ones, the vacuum and hair drier for example make me basically want to stab the person inflicting those sounds into my delicate ear canals. Hearing certain sounds, especially suddenly and isolated from background noice feels the same as hitting my funny bone on to something.
Apparently most humans are unbothered by such sounds and don’t have to actively plan their life in a way that they can avoid those sounds and in turn not be sentenced to life in prison for murdering someone for chewing.
Aaaanyways, long story long; I have headphones on a lot of the time.
I don’t like the big ones because those hurn my ears, especially when wearing glasses, and they don’t suit my style. My favourites for three years strong have been the basic Airpods because they just fit my ears well, have long battery life, fast charging and are discreet. Do note that I am no audiophile, and most of the time I’m listening to either a book or a true crime podcast.
I am one of those rare individuals who has managed to keep the same pair of Airpods and their case for years already, and I’ve been very happy with them. The only thing I felt I was missing at times was active noice cancelling ability and while Apple released their Airpod Pros a couple years back, I was happy enough with my original pair.
Quite recently I started working part time at a very noisy environment where you really should wear some ear protection. The proper ear muffs are very uncomfortable so I’ve been just wearing my Airpods which makes the days go nice but are just an added noise on top of everything else. Not very healthy for the hearing.
So I finally bit the bullet and got me the Airpod Pros to wear at work. It’s not perfect but I think they’ll protect my hearing enough and I’ll still be able to listen to books while I do the same exact thing 200 times in a day.
I only got them new little sound machines yesterday so haven’t gotten a chance to fully test them in a work environment. My ears are really small so from the few hours I’ve been wearing them around the house I can feel the pressure on my tragus. Most people say after I while they can’t feel them at all but I can only hope my body adjust to the new technology and accepts it like a good cyborg.
What I can say from the sound quality is that it’s pretty much the same as in the original Airpods, but with added benefits. Obviously thrusting something pretty much inside the ear canal you already get some sound proofing, but the difference is huge when you turn on the noise cancellation. It made my vacuuming day a lot less irritable for sure. The transparency mode will probably become really handy at work when I have to talk to someone and can just press the stem to hear throug better. I say ”huh, come again?” hundred times a day because if I’m not actively listening, I won’t understand you even if I hear you. Transparency mode might help with that a bit because it sounds like it enhances sounds from outside, though I am not a fan of hearing my own voice.
I’ll still be wearing the original Airpods in conjunction with the new Pro’s so my ears can have a rest when I don’t actually have to block out sounds from outside. I also go to sleep with one Airpod on most of the time so the OGs are definitely better for that.