 Not the best place to review them would be by being in a pod myself. Hi, I'm Rafael from Hardware Sugar, the only PC shop in the Philippines with no BS warranty, and I just came from a trip from Singapore in which I spent several nights in a pod hotel and put the AirPods Pro 2 through its paces, while being in a dorm room style hotel with no soundproofing whatsoever. I want to give a special shout out to Beyond the Box Philippines for making this video possible by sending us this review unit. I'll leave a link in the video description to their online store. While it was provided by Beyond the Box, they had no say in the review process and gave us free reign to be as weird or as detailed as we can. Now let's get straight into it. I'm gonna be honest, when these arrived, I already made up my mind that I wasn't going to have a pleasant experience simply because I left behind the Apple ecosystem four years ago and I know that Apple doesn't play well with others. Nevertheless, I know they're still compatible with Android and I'm quite happy with my M1 iPad Pro and so I figured that they deserve a chance to prove me wrong before I invest in something like the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro. In fact, during the review period of the Pro 2, a study was published which revealed that they could be a more cost-effective substitute to expensive hearing aids for those who need the latter. It is an interesting article which also mentions that those who have impaired hearing might be more comfortable wearing these rather than an actual hearing aid because of the social aspect of showing the world that they are handicapped. I'll leave a link to it in the video description as well. I'll start this review a little bit different from the reviews given by other tech reviewers. Instead, I'll first focus on my real-life experience and feelings of the AirPods Pro 2 and then I'll drive into the technical stuff. Quick background because unlike my brother Anton who tests all things Apple, I was a big iPhone fan for many years. I lined up for the iPhone 7 Plus and the original AirPods the moment it released back in 2016. I love the AirPods version 1 and I even used it with my Galaxy Note 9 when I left the Apple ecosystem. However, I have now completely migrated to the Samsung part of the universe with the Galaxy Watch 5, the Galaxy Buds Pro, and pretty soon the Galaxy Fold 4. I was therefore biased to conclude that my next earbuds would have to be Samsung's, right? That was until I was just awestruck at what the AirPods Pro 2 were capable of doing, whether they played me my favorite lo-fi or nothing at all. I'm going to start off this review with the magic they bring to the commuter, the office worker, and of course the frequent traveler. And that is the magic of silence, an irony since the purpose of earbuds is to play sounds. Yet I couldn't help but not hear anything the moment I put these on. The active noise cancellation on this seems like it jumped five generations ahead of the Galaxy Buds Pro version 1. As someone who is not an audio file and who doesn't have the Buds Pro 2 or even the original AirPods Pro 1 for purposes of comparison, I can only tell you how I honestly failed the moment I put these on for the first few times. You might forget the term off noise cancellation and it's really kind of disturbing because I'm really really absorbed into the music when I have them on. Alright so one thing I can say about these AirPods Pro are that they really are quite definite to the extent that you can barely hear anything outside, actually quite disturbing. I booked Spacepod Lavender in Singapore for two nights thinking it would be the best place to try these out. It's a hostel with a shared room of six other people, however with the added benefit of entombing oneself to bed within a futuristic pod. That's with most hostels, there was a lot of snoring at night from other people and people opening up their suitcases at the dead of night, me being one of them. And so while the bed was comfortable, I'm a little bit of a light sleeper and all the noise sort of really gave me a hard time falling asleep. However, putting the AirPods Pro 2 over my sleep mask completely melted any form of distraction entirely and I was out like a light from 11pm until 9.30am without waking up once. The moment I woke up, all the action of the busy hostel was done and I just remarked to myself that I couldn't remember getting that good of a night's sleep in Aegis and I'm in a hostel. This is despite the fact that I'm used to staying in much more comfortable and private facilities when I travel. In addition to the noise cancellation, if you are the type of person who likes Linus who sleeps with earphones on, you might find the shape of the AirPods Pro 2 to be very compatible if you enjoy sleeping with a mask on or if you like sleeping on your side with one pod resting on your pillow. I found both positions to be quite enjoyable and comfortable. This is something I could never fully achieve with my Galaxy Pods Pro. They have a tendency to fall out of my ear if I sleep with them or even if I'm when I'm running. On the plane ride going back to Manila, I found it quite unnerving not to be able to hear the buzz of the engine and I actually took it out of my ear twice during the flight just to check if things were all right with the plane. I took it around the busy streets of Marathi and I found myself so absorbed in my thoughts through the music's deep bass created by the AirPods Pro 2 that I not only found it quite fun but also terrifying to walk around outside. The noise cancelling really dumps down a lot of the sound and everything seems very far away. You can imagine what might happen if you're so absorbed in your own world that you might absentmindedly cross into your death. I do most of my work from my desk set up at home and the coolest part of my man cave are the windows which are also the weakest part of it because unlike cement it lets in a lot of city noise from the outside. I always hear the banging of construction from the building not too far away and most especially the roar of buses beeping their horns. In fact you can actually hear this in my previous video where you can hear all sorts of dogs shouting. With the AirPods Pro 2 on it really feels like I'm in one of those claustrophobic glass rooms but with the benefit of obviously not having the confining part. When it comes to music quality while I'm not an audiophile I have been absolutely mesmerized with the deep bass and crisp beats that the Pro 2s provide. For sleep I listen to calm sleep stories in addition to the background sounds like river water and the like. I can say that as someone who has been using wired earphones daily from 2005 until 2016 and wireless earphones every day from 2016 till today this is and I hate to say this because I'm going to be labeled as an apple fanboy which if you look at my pc watch and phone I'm evidently not these are the best earphones I've ever had the pleasure of tuning out the world to. Let's talk controls. You can do everything through this crevice located on each pot meaning if you prefer activating things with your left rather than your right no problem. There are two ways to control your pot the first is by pressing down at the center of the crevice and the second is by moving your finger up and down the crevice. One of the best things which contributes to the seamless experience of coming in and out of my sound cocoon is the ability to switch from noise cancellation to transparency by firmly pressing down and waiting for a second for the switch to happen. It's actually quite fun to move back and forth just to compare how noisy the city is compared to the soundproof cocoon you make on the fly. These controls come as default so if you are planning to use these with an android phone such as what I intend to do when I pick up my fault for these will work seamlessly without the need of programming them prior with an apple device. Gone are the days of apparently just tapping on it in order to skip and hop back between tracks. Instead you can choose to firmly double press down on either pot to skip tracks or to triple press to go back a track. I like that there is a sound cue of a playful clicky tap which plays to signal that it is acknowledging your presses. However I would have liked the option to make double tapping my left pod go back a track and double tapping my right pod to skip a track. That's felt like a more natural experience as they used to allow the original airpods. I understand people may like this new method better however all I want is the option to revert to the old if I prefer that more. You can of course control your player by single pressing it to stop and to play again. The volume control of moving your finger up and down this crevice was originally very difficult for me to accomplish. I just couldn't get it to work at first. Now that I've mastered it I don't know how I got it wrong in the first place. Nevertheless I wanted to report that less techy people might be dumbfounded at first on how to activate it. Like I said earlier I'm not new to wireless earphones as I've religiously used both the original airpods and most recently the Galaxy Buds Pro but these are the first earphones which actually give you the option to ping individual pods and the case itself. There were at least four flights in the past 15 years where I dropped one pod somewhere in my seat and I spent an anxious 10 to 15 minutes trying to find and fish them out. This feature should come standard for all premium earphones because really if you lose just one of these it becomes useless for the rest. Using the ping function requires you to go to settings show and find my selecting either the pods or the case and then pinging. Gosh I wish Apple just made a dedicated widget for the home screen for this that would be really handy. Let's talk design. The case charges by a lightning which is very disappointing however it also charges magnetically if you have an Apple Watch charger. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to give life again to my six-year-old Apple Watch charger and I charged alongside my Galaxy Watch 5 now. The case also has a lanyard slot which is a welcome option for those who like rocking and exposed and with a cool case. My biggest complaint about the design of the case is that the magnets which draw the pods in are either less strong than the original airpods or because of the shape of the Pro II's they are difficult to fish out each time. I have actually dropped one of the pods and caused a permanent scar as you can see here simply because it requires a little bit of getting used to on how to fish them out safely and place them back in. One of the best parts about using the original airpods was how they just snap back in with very little effort on my part and then snapping the case shut like a good old fashioned zippo. It's actually better not to use two fingers fishing them out but rather to use one finger to slide each of them out instead. Thankfully you can still snap the lid shut like this however I noticed that mine is a little bit wobbly when I push one end from the other. It feels less premium knowing that the lid isn't fast and tight. Compare that to my now ancient original airpods in which the case isn't wobbly at all. You are also able to pull them out easier too with the original ones. If you only own Apple devices you don't need to worry about connectivity as the Pro II seemed to connect seamlessly with an iPhone and an iPad. It is however when you connect it to an Android device and back again to an iPad or iPhone that it becomes a nuisance actually. In short Samsung's earphones play better with others as I have always had no problem connecting them between my iPad and my Samsung Galaxy and back again. With these though you are required to hold down the back button of the case and then select them from your Android device and hope that they connect the first time around. I hate holding this button otherwise you will need to forget them and try again. This can be a really tiresome process which takes you out of the fun of the moment. I detest this button which needs to be held down. The Galaxy Buds Pros don't need any button pressing and show up and connect instantly to my iPad. Tell me to keep in mind if you intend to dual wheel different operating systems with these. Now we get to the most painful part of the review which is price. These are not cheap and most definitely only recommended to those who have cash to spare. At 14,990 pesos these are very pricey. Within this price range you can either get the Sony WF-1000XM4 or the Galaxy Buds Pro 2 for a little less. I actually had a chance to briefly use the Galaxy Buds Pro 2's at a Samsung store for around 15 minutes and it didn't provide the same wow as the initial 15 minutes I spent with the AirPods Pro 2. The Pro 2 also lasts an hour longer with noise cancellation on and you don't get the added functionality of pulse sound for the pods in case you misplace them. However if you ask me and you're looking for earphones which completely separate you from the world and it's time for you to upgrade you should really consider the AirPods Pro 2 as an option regardless of what device you're sporting right now. I want to give a special shout out again to Beyond the Box Philippines for sending these over for our review. Again I didn't want to like these AirPods because I've happily left most of the Apple ecosystem behind for years now and it's actually quite frustrating to be somewhat back in it so to speak. Of course this still won't convince me to go back to iPhone but this is usually how mission creep begins doesn't it. In conclusion the awesome noise cancellation, the crisp sound quality and enough bonus features which may win enough people over from other platforms makes the AirPods Pro 2 an extremely attractive Christmas gift to yourself. The noise cancellation is so good in fact that I warn commuters against using it while you're on the road for your own safety. It is easy to get lost in the zone because of it. If you're an Apple user this is a no-brainer option. If you're an Android user I recommend that you must religiously use at least one other Apple device so you can make use of the find my AirPods pinging functionality like me who carries his iPad everywhere alongside my Galaxy. The drawbacks of having poor connectivity with others and a minor learning curve with respect to the controls hardly offsets the personal cocoon these AirPods are able to create for you. In case you're interested in buying them locally I'll leave a link in the video description below but let me know what you think about mixing Apple and Android earphones with different devices. Have you tried out both the Pro 2s or the Galaxy Buds 2 Pros? Let us know in the comment section below what we missed out on so that you can help our viewers when they make their decision this holiday season. We also clean and repace GPUs.