Apple AirPods Pro

Long-term owners

My Pro 2s are genuinely very comfortable and still work great after 2+ years of moderate use

Sep 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

• Apple AirPodsRecommended for setup that just works, easy switching between Apple devices, good call mics and solid sound, though many features and smooth pairing are limited outside Apple's ecosystem.257recommend
• Fairphone FairbudsRepairable Fairphone earbuds, praised for repairability and a 10/10 iFixit score. Main caveat: replacement parts have been out of stock.7recommend
• Pine64 PineBudsOpen firmware earbuds that people recommend for software experimentation. Caveats: limited battery life with ANC on and incomplete hardware documentation.7recommend
• Sony WF-1000XM5Recommended mainly for comfort; critics say noise cancelling is inconsistent and Bluetooth features can be unreliable, especially on Windows.5recommend
• Anker Soundcore earbudsPeople recommend them for easy reconnection, long case charge life and strong value, about half the price of AirPods. Common caveat: some units stop charging.5recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 206 comments. Each links to the original.

1. the hearing accommodations on the AirPod Pro 2/3 headphones brought literal tears to my eyes because of how fabulous it makes music sound for me

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “New accessibility features powered by Apple Intelligence”

2. Sinus/ear infections cause one of my kids to temporarily not be able to hear well due to fluid in the ear, and AirPods help.

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “AirPods Max 2”

3. they are actually well designed headphones. They are remarkably unremarkable. They have good (the new Pros even great) ANC.

   Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “GitHub – librepods-org/librepods: AirPods liberated from Apple's ecosystem”

4. My pro 2s worked fine on my S21 and S24 ultra. What annoyed me the most is that they would auto connect to my iPad first

   Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem”

5. they sound excellent. and they've never fallen out of my ears during normal movement like i assumed they might.

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “AirPods 5”

6. Great cancellation and they’re always on my person thanks to the case perfectly fitting that tiny right pocket

   Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “GitHub – librepods-org/librepods: AirPods liberated from Apple's ecosystem”

7. The noise cancellation is unparalleled (which is huge if you use public transit or use them in the gym).

   Recommends · Dec 2025 · in “Apple's slow AI pace becomes a strength as market grows weary of spending”

8. Apple's audio engineering is truly top-notch, and all the convenience features are icing on the cake.

   Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “GitHub – librepods-org/librepods: AirPods liberated from Apple's ecosystem”

9. the sound quality of the AUD$400 set of Airpod Pro 2s completely smokes the AUD$5,000+ set of Phonaks

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?”

10. First generation of AirPods Pro were the only in-canal earphones that didn't fall out of my ears

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “The AirPods Effect”

11. I find that a lot of wireless earbuds are way too heavy on the bass compared to the airpod pro.

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “GitHub – librepods-org/librepods: AirPods liberated from Apple's ecosystem”

12. The automatic switching from noise canceling to transparency mode really does work incredibly

    Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “The AirPods Effect”

13. I have yet to try a pair of earbuds with better active noise canceling than the airpod pro 2.

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “GitHub – librepods-org/librepods: AirPods liberated from Apple's ecosystem”

14. My Pro 2s are genuinely very comfortable and still work great after 2+ years of moderate use

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “AirPods 5”

15. The AirPod Pro 2 sound quality is a world of difference from the wired earbud style AirPods

    Recommends · Jun 2026 · in “Vinyl succumbs to Loudness War: more than just collateral damage (2025)”

16. I love the sound of Airpods Pro in particular even if they don't want to stay in my ears

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Bose is open-sourcing its old smart speakers instead of bricking them”

17. Definitely prefer the rubber tips for ear comfort over the plastic on the standard ones.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “AirPods 5”

18. The first generation stayed in my ears perfectly, but the second generation does not.

    Mixed · Jun 2026 · in “The AirPods Effect”

19. Airpods Pro have great audio quality considering they are wireless bluetooth earbuds.

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Wired headphone sales are exploding. What's with the Bluetooth backlash?”

20. the new hearing aid features of the airpodpros are very handy to me, so I have both.

    Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Bose is open-sourcing its old smart speakers instead of bricking them”

21. In first and second generation I had an issue with one AirPod making strange noises

    Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem”

22. The Airpods are perfect for lowering the background noise and elevating the speech.

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Ask HN: Hearing aid wearers, what's hot?”

23. AirPods Pro 3 are on a whole different level of sound quality, noise cancelation

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “How Fairphone built the Fairphone Gen 6+”

24. AirPods Pro 2 and 3 can amplify ambient sound.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “AirPods Max 2”

25. I had this exact problem on my AirPod pros too! It is the internal mic, but if you forcefully suck the air out from the black mesh microphone openings, it gets rid of it.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “AirPods Max 2”

26. AirPods are fine if you only ever use one device at a time. If you use more than one at the same time, it becomes extremely annoying.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Wired headphone sales are exploding. What's with the Bluetooth backlash?”

27. airpods pro 2nd gen immediately started behaving extremely annoyingly to the point of becoming completely useless for any serious use

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem”

28. they rejected my airprods pro warranty claim because it was a month after they stopped accepting warranty for a known failure mode

    Criticizes · Sep 2026 · in “AirPods 5”

29. All three pairs of AirPod Pros I've owned have had rattling issues that would reproduce when I physically moved/tilted my head.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “AirPods Max 2”

30. stopped working after a few months, and then the replacements they gave me stopped working again after a few months

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Millions of Audio Devices Need a Patch to Prevent Wireless Hacking and Tracking”

31. They'll connect and play audio for a few seconds, then cut out, and I'll have to re-pair to get any audio again.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem”

32. My 6 year old Airpods Pro are barely chugging along at this point. I'm only getting a couple hours per charge.

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “EU Exempts Apple Watch and AirPods from Battery Removal Requirements”

33. I missed the replacement window by three weeks and they offered to “repair” them for $180. Was not impressed.

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “GitHub – librepods-org/librepods: AirPods liberated from Apple's ecosystem”

34. Severely degraded experience on purpose to the point of rendering them worse than chinese 10$ aliexpress buds

    Criticizes · Jan 2026 · in “Apple introduces new AirTag with longer range and improved findability”

35. Apple intentionally choose unrepairable design, despite much smaller companies offer repairable earplugs

    Criticizes · Jul 2026 · in “Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters”

36. the replacement - pro v3 - had fixed the rare shape and they started falling out like any other earbuds

    Criticizes · Jun 2026 · in “The AirPods Effect”

37. AirPods microphones just don't work for my vocal range, they sound horrible and underwater.

    Criticizes · Mar 2026 · in “Wired headphone sales are exploding. What's with the Bluetooth backlash?”

38. Absolutely no issue whatsoever, and everyone mentions I usually have by far the best audio out of anyone else in the call.

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem”

39. I have a set of APP 3 (and previously the 2s) and both worked just fine with my Windows laptop, I use them daily with it

    Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “AirPods libreated from Apple's ecosystem”

40. Being able to get my phone out of my pocket and not have to worry about the cable is worth all the tradeoffs.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Wired headphone sales are exploding. What's with the Bluetooth backlash?”