The new AirPods 3rd Generation ($279) are curious devices. On the one hand, they’re much more impressive than their older siblings thanks to added sensors and spatial audio. But, on the other hand, the bulby part that goes in your ear is much larger than the previous generation, ruling out those with smaller ears for whom the older model fit perfectly. The question becomes: does the redesign giveth more than it taketh away?
The good news is that the engineers nailed the most important bit: they sound excellent, thanks to the larger drivers and extra features packed into their larger body. Not as full as the AirPods Pro ($399), which is to be expected as those are in-ears with silicon tips, and these are just plastic buds resting on your ears. But the 3rd Gen is definitely better than the 2nd Gen (now $219), which lacked bass response.
Apple now sells three sets of earbuds: the new AirPods Gen 3, the older AirPods Gen 2 and the more expensive AirPods Pro.
Chasing Twisters by Delta Rae poses a real challenge to headphones to reproduce well; it relies on moments of silence, heavy emotion, small details, low bass and clear high frequencies. It starts sparse, builds to a dramatic cacophony and can be ruined by flat or poorly tuned headphones. The new AirPods did well for the most part, nailing the silences, some of the emotion, and the driving beat of the floor toms. But on the second chorus, as the song built, the mid-tones started getting a little muddy and it became difficult to tell the individual instruments apart.
It still sounded much, much fuller than on the older AirPods, which sound tinny and cheap in comparison. But while they came impressively close to the experience of the AirPods Pro, they couldn’t quite touch the detail and emotion of their in-ear sibling.
On a positive note, I’ve listened to Olivia Rodrigo’s Good 4 You a hundred times on various speakers and headphones, but when listening on the new AirPods for the first time I noticed a mysterious high-pitched instrument in amongst the cymbals on the bridge. I normally wouldn’t expect to pick up new details on ear buds, so that was a pleasant surprise.
The new AirPods have a few more tricks, but they’re also a chunkier fit.
They also handled My Way by Pvris admirably. It’s an extremely bass heavy song that relies on the bass guitar to be just distorted enough without going over the edge, with the brightness of the hi-hats twinkling in the background. Ear buds shouldn’t be able to make this song sound this good, and yet these ones do.
The new AirPods are great for movies too, though spatial audio doesn’t quite have the same impact on these as they do on the AirPods Pro. Spatial is obviously huge for Dolby Atmos movies and shows, with sounds seeming to come from above, below and around, and having the audio stay in the same place while you move your head is trippy and immersive.
Part of this improved sound comes down to the adaptive EQ which uses an inward facing microphone to tune the frequencies to match the shape of your ear, which makes a noticeable difference.