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Two months ago, I had my AirPods Pro 2 stolen.
At least, I think they were stolen – I’ll elaborate on that in a moment.
Regardless, I’ve been without what I have long called the best earbuds on the market for two months now. What has surprised me is that I’ve not felt compelled to buy another pair, and I’m now asking myself just how attached I was to Apple’s earbuds.
Sound familiar? Regular readers will know that I recently broke free of the Apple Watch Ultra’s clasp, and have found myself not really missing it at all.
Is it the same story for the second-generation AirPods Pro? Well, as it turns out, there’s a bit more to this story than meets the eye.
That sinking feeling
I very rarely lose tech and no one has ever stolen any of it from me.
That all changed on 1st June 2023.
Having finished up at the gym, I packed everything into my gym bag and headed back to the studio. A normal afternoon’s work ensued until the clock struck 4PM and my calendar notification reminded me that I had a Zoom call to attend.
For as long as I can remember, the AirPods Pro 2 have been my default choice for undertaking calls. I’m not a fan of over-ear headphones for the task and I’m yet to find another pair of earbuds that offer the same utterly brilliant transparency mode as AirPods Pro 2.
Seconds before the call was about to start, I dived into my rucksack to retrieve the AirPods Pro 2 from the pocket in which they’re always stowed.
Nothing. My hand swiped around helplessly in an attempt to locate my beloved earbuds but only encountered loose change, a Lightning cable, and a spare camera battery.
Panicking – and simultaneously informing the attendees of the Zoom call that I was running late due to “unforeseen circumstances” – I scrabbled around in the rest of my bag. Perhaps they’d slipped into the larger compartment, I thought.
Nope.
I turned to the Find My app on my iPhone, assuming that it would point me in the direction of my car or gym bag. It didn’t. Instead, it suggested that my AirPods Pro 2 had somehow made their way across the other side of town to the driveway of a house that wasn’t mine and to which I’d never visited.
I immediately headed to that location (don’t worry, the Zoom call was rearranged) only to be met by a lovely old lady who clearly did not have my AirPods Pro 2. It might be one of the neighbours in her apartment building, she suggested, taking my details and promising a call if they ever made an appearance.
I’m no detective, but I’m pretty sure I left my AirPods Pro 2 unattended somewhere in the gym changing rooms and neglected to pack them back into my rucksack. What happened next is anyone’s guess, but, clearly, someone either helped themselves to my earbuds or accidentally packed them into their own gym bag.
Regardless, they’re gone. I never heard back from that lady, Find My stopped reporting their location on 16th June, and I simply haven’t had the time to go back to where they were last located to conduct a treasure hunt.
Thankfully, I’m in a rather unique position.
Exploring the alternatives
I review a lot of headphones and earbuds. As a result, my studio is awash with options when it comes to filling my ears with music.
This enabled me to turn the loss of my AirPods Pro 2 into a positive experiment. Would I miss them? What other earbuds could potentially help me break free from the reliance I once had on AirPods Pro?
More importantly, what on earth would I use for calls?
It’s been a fascinating journey so far. Upon realising that my AirPods Pro 2 were probably gone forever, I immediately turned to the Beats Studio Buds + which I’d reviewed a few weeks previous. They’re light, benefit from some of the Apple ecosystem stuff and sound great. I even put them through a hot cycle in our washing machine. And they survived.
During this mourning period for AirPods Pro 2, I’ve also had my ears opened – literally – to open-ear headsets. The first came from Shokz and their OpenFit Pro which are a ludicrously light, great-sounding pair of earbuds that pipe music into your ear canal rather than filling it. The Oladance OWS Pro followed, which are a little heavier than the OpenFit but offer slightly better audio.
The open-ear experience has been the most impressive discovery of the post-AirPods era in which I now find myself. The ability to enjoy great audio (for the tech being used – it still can’t compete with in-ears) and hear everything going on around me has been refreshing.
I’ve even revisited the Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 which, as noted in my original review, are the best-sounding earbuds I’ve tried to date. They’re heavy, have a poor case, and don’t have particularly good noise cancelling, but the audio performance is stellar and a joy to rediscover.
When it comes to calls, the OpenFit and OWS Pro have been great alternatives to AirPods Pro 2, but I’ve actually been turning more readily to AirPods Max for that task. That’s right – the guy who always suggests that you shouldn’t use over-ear headphones for taking calls has been doing just that for the last two months. The reason? It’s simple; nothing comes close to the transparency mode on AirPods Max which makes them the only over-ears worth bothering with for calls in my opinion.
Conclusion
So, do I miss AirPods Pro 2?
I miss their convenience. I miss their noise-cancelling and transparency mode. I miss the ability to switch effortlessly between Apple devices. I miss their combination of sound, battery life, case size, and stem design.
But I haven’t yearned for them.
This surprises me far more than my reaction to the absence of the Apple Watch Ultra on my wrist. AirPods Pro 2 were one of the most impressive product upgrades Apple has made in the last few years – surprisingly so, in fact.
I’m starting to realise that the key to being unable to live without an Apple product really is its relationship with the ecosystem. I can’t give up my iPhone because of AirDrop and the ability to share its clipboard with my Mac. I can’t get rid of the Mac because of Final Cut Pro (that’s a loose connection to the ecosystem, but you catch my drift).
AirPods Pro 2 are also hamstrung by the reliance on Lightning for charging (and, no I don’t use wireless charging regularly). There’s a rumour that we’ll see an update later this year featuring a USB-C-equipped charging case. That’ll raise the convenience stakes for me, but my time without my favourite earbuds suggests that Apple needs to work a little harder on their place within the walled garden.
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