Two flights behind me with the new AirPods Pro 3. For context, I couldn’t wear the 2s. They felt okay in my ears, but after about 20 minutes of wearing them my ears physically hurt. I’m not sure what was going on, but I tried them on multiple occasions and just couldn’t get around it.
The 3s have not had this issue for me. For my <2 hour flights, I’ll bring these and never my on-ear Bose again. The space savings is great and the noise canceling is every bit as good. For longer flights, I’ll probably bring the Bose because 2 hours of (any) ear buds is just irritating enough that I’m ready to get them out.
Overall - very pleased with this and happy I can save the space on many of my flights.
While folks are saying the AirPod Pro 3 are much better than the AirPod Pro 2 … any description of how they are relative to the Airpod Pro 1? I still have the 1 version. I can’t remember if the 2s were a big or small update to the 1.
I never use my AirPods on flights (typically 10+ hours, about 6-7 per year) just because it’s too easy for me to lose them when I fall asleep. But I do a lot of walking (about 8-10 miles per day) and am using my AirPods all the time for music and podcasts.
More amazing. Quite a leap on the noise cancellation.
Jury’s still out. I’m not convinced the noise cancellation is so much better and I’m not 100% happy with the fit compared to the 2s. But I’ve barely used them yet.
I bought the 3s while travelling and wore them for a while on the plane on the way home. The audio was great but without doing A-B testing (I’d put the 2s in my checked suitcase) I’d have said they were about the same.
Also, my Sony WH-1000XM3 were vastly better at blocking jet noise than the original AirPods Pro. Night and day.
I’ve not yet worn the 3s on my commuter train (because I’m working from home with another cold) but I will be able to tell you easily if they approach the effectiveness of the Sony’s once I do. I don’t usually use the Sony’s outside of home, but I tried them once on the train and got quite a fright when the train started moving! My brain is long attuned to all the sounds of the train — the doors, the buzzer that signals the driver, the creaks and groans and other noises. With AirPods Pro (1 & 2) I still detect enough of those to know the train is about to move. With the Sony’s, the first thing I knew was the train was moving and I was not expecting it!
I got some of these to try but they really hurt my ears after using them a while, so I had to return them. Sound quality was nice, but I’ll be sticking to my non-Pro AirPods as they don’t cause pain. I also had them fall out while walking several times, this never happens with the normal AirPods.
I have an upcoming flight. I’ll report on my experience with the AirPods Pro 3s. I also was enticed by @MacSparky in a recent MPU episode to purchase a lanyard to avoid dropping and losing them while traveling.
I have also had all 3 and have the exact same opinion. I have not taken a flight with the 3s. I find the bass response to be another level of improvement over the 2s. I reenabled personal volume but had to disable it again as I am very sensitive to level changes in what I am listening to. Likewise with conversation awareness. I listen to spoken word and don’t want to miss anything just because someone spoke to me, I need to pause it. Adaptive Audio is still set to middle. I spend most of my day with AirPods in my ears so I have kept my 2s as spares.
I must have very normal ears as I found the factory fitted tips to be perfect and they passed the leak test too.
I guess I should try conversation awareness again. When it first became available my first experience of it was walking down a busy city street and being treated to snippets of conversations I was walking by that were absolutely not anything to do with me!
Great feedback on 3 here. I’m waiting for mine to deliver. I always loved the pros (and the original non-pros) and never had an issue with earfit so wondering how it could be even better with the 3s?
The Pro 3s are outstanding. I used them during my most recent flight. I could not hear engine noise or conversations in NC mode. They were comfortable, and the sound was great. I will no longer travel with my Bose.
I was near the front (row 8). With a podcast or music playing, I heard nothing else. I could catch the low sound of the intercom but had to switch to transparent mode to hear the announcement. The Pro 3s were as good at NC as my Bose. The music quality was not quite as good.
I’d understand loud music making you unaware of the engine noise, but with podcasts, assuming mostly just people talking, I cannot conceive that the sound would be inaudible anywhere on any aircraft I’ve been on.
Since Apple gives you a 2 week trial period to test out the new AirPods Pro, it seems I’ll just need to take them for a test run. Seems to be a lot of individual differences in experiences. Thanks everyone for providing insights and feedback. Potentially these look like a very good upgrade for me, but I’m super happy I can get a 2 week trial run at the local Apple store.
But I do a lot of walking (about 8-10 miles per day) and am using my AirPods all the time for music and podcasts.
