Powerbeats Pro 2 review – GSMArena.com news | Infinium-tech

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are the latest fitness-oriented earbuds from Apple-owned Beats. Successor to 2019’s Powerbeats Pro, the second-generation model comes with several improvements, including a new design, a new Apple H2 chip, active noise cancellation, and even built-in heart rate monitoring.

Beats says the Powerbeats Pro 2 are the best-selling earbuds in their category, which isn’t a surprise since the ear hook category is dying as manufacturers transition towards earbud-style design. However, for fitness enthusiasts, the ear hook design remains the most secure way to have your audio with you as you work out. But are you willing to shell out $250 for it and, more importantly, should you? Let’s find out.

Design

The Powerbeats Pro 2 design sees a significant overhaul over its predecessor while maintaining the same basic form factor. The more squared-off design gives way to a curvy body that is also a lot smaller and lighter, with Beats claiming a 20% weight reduction. The design is IPX4 sweat and water-resistant.

The Powerbeats Pro 2 features a new nickel-titanium alloy ear hook that is meant to be much more durable but also smaller—50% smaller than the one on the Powerbeats Pro.

Along the sides of the earbuds are dedicated volume buttons, which make it very easy to adjust the volume even if your phone isn’t nearby or if you don’t want to interrupt your workout. The Beats logo also acts as a button, which controls things like playback and ANC toggles.

On the inner side are the new ear tips, which now come in five different sizes. There is also an optical sensor to detect the earbuds being worn to control playback and ANC. Next to that is the new optical heart rate sensor, which uses bright green LEDs to see through your skin. The sensors are placed on both earbuds so you can still use them even if you are just using one earbud.

The earbuds come inside a rather large charging case, which Beats claims is 33% smaller than its predecessor. The company has also made it easier to place and remove the earbuds from the case. The case has a pairing button on the inside and a status LED on the outside. On the back is a recessed USB-C port for charging. The case supports Qi-wireless charging through its bottom surface.

Now for some pros and cons. The new earbud design is a welcome change, feeling both smaller and lighter than before. The physical buttons feel fantastic to use and make it very convenient to control features and playback without having to rely on the phone.

However, the new hook is viciously taut and snaps back with incredible ferocity. I found this the hard way when I pulled it and it snapped back on my finger in a way that made me scream like a Tom & Jerry character. The hook’s only purpose in life is to keep the earbuds anchored to your ears and it could not care less about your feelings.

The buttons being so easy to use also has a downside, which is that they are also very easy to press when inserting the earbuds into your ears. I had to figure out new ways to insert them in my ears without touching any of the buttons, which is easier said than done as the large Beats button is especially easy to press.

Lastly, despite being smaller, the charging case is still comically large by modern earbud standards. I understand it has to be that way but that does not make it any less cumbersome. The LED on the front is also placed at an awkward angle so it is always out of sight when you open or close the lid unless you specifically tilt the case upwards. Finally, as a minor gripe, the recessed USB-C connector might not work with every USB-C cable out there, which could be a problem since the earbuds don’t come with a cable in the box.

Comfort

Comfort is an important aspect of headphones, one that can make or break a pair. It’s also very subjective, so what follows below is my experience and your mileage may vary.

The Powerbeats Pro 2 sit somewhat differently in your ears than most typical in-ear earbuds. While most earbuds tend to rely mostly on the ear tips and a deeper insertion to anchor themselves, the Powerbeats Pro 2 hold themselves in place using the shape of the inner earbuds and the hook, while the ear tips have a somewhat shallow insertion depth.

As a result, the Powerbeats Pro 2 tend to put more strain on your concha as well as the back of your external ear with the ear hook, the same hook that can probably be used as an anti-roll bar on your car due to how taut it is. This I did not find particularly comfortable, as both my inner ear and the back of my external ear would start to get sore after about an hour of use. It was more prominent in one ear but it did happen on both.

To be clear, the Powerbeats Pro 2 fit my ears like a glove so it was not a fitment issue. The issue seems to be that this design simply isn’t as comfortable for prolonged use as standard earbuds. In the very least, the hooks should have had more padding on the ends.

But while they may not be very comfortable over long periods, they do what they are designed for, and that is to stay within your ears. You can shake your head till it comes clean off but these earbuds aren’t going anywhere. The earbuds stay snug while the nickel-titanium hooks grip your ears like they owe them money. If you have trouble getting regular earbuds to fit your Easter Island Head ears, then these should do the trick. Just know that just because they stay in your ears doesn’t mean you will get the best fit in terms of sound, ANC, or heart rate monitoring.

Software and features

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are designed to be compatible with iOS as well as Android devices, although you do get more features when paired with Apple devices.

For starters, the earbuds support one-touch pairing with Apple devices so you will get a prompt on your phone or tablet as soon as you open the case to pair. On Android, you will need to press and hold the pairing button on the case.

When paired with an iPhone, a new option gets added to the Settings menu to let you configure the earbuds without having to download another app. On Android, you will need to download the Beats app, which gives you access to most, if not all, of the features found on iOS.

One of the features found only on Apple devices is spatial audio with head tracking. This uses audio processing on your Apple device as well as the accelerometer and gyroscope on the Powerbeats Pro 2 to provide spatial audio effects on compatible content that moves around as you move your head. I’ve personally never been a fan of this feature so it wasn’t a big loss for me when switching to an Android device.

iOS settings

Another Apple-exclusive feature is audio sharing, where the earbuds can share their audio with another compatible Beats or AirPods product nearby so two people can listen to the same audio from the same source device. The Powerbeats Pro 2 also features “Hey Siri” or “Siri” command, which you can blurt out any time and access the feature hands-free.

One feature that is exclusive to not just Apple devices but very specifically to the Apple Vision Pro is lossless audio. When paired with this device, the H2 chip can access a proprietary, low-latency codec that is also lossless so you can get the best quality and lag-free audio. However, for everything else, the earbuds rely on standard AAC audio.

Beats Android app

Unfortunately, one big omission in the feature list is multi-point pairing. Unlike most other modern, high-end audio products on the market, the Powerbeats Pro 2, much like every AirPods model, can only be paired to one device at a time. They try to soften the blow by syncing your pairing across all your Apple devices on the same iCloud account so you can move between them with relative ease but it’s still not as convenient as being connected to two devices at once.

Performance

Audio quality

The Powerbeats Pro 2 sound is slightly bass-forward. There is some additional thump to be found in the bass notes in the mid-bass region but it’s still fairly controlled and tight. It’s a fairly typical Harman-esque bass tuning that livens things up a bit without being overwhelmingly bassy or bass-centered.

The mid-range dips in the lower octaves, causing vocals to take a step back in the mix. I often found myself increasing the volume a bit to compensate. It’s not a narrow or sharp dip, so it doesn’t change the timbre of the vocals or instruments, and things still sound more or less how they should, just a bit quieter.

The treble response on the Powerbeats Pro 2 can best be described as soft. The sound lacks some of the shimmer or airiness at the top, giving the overall sound a slightly dull quality. I don’t find the treble performance to be inaccurate or poor but just like the mid-range there is a bit less of it, so the focus invariably moves towards the bass.

The overall tuning seems optimized toward your typical workout playlist, featuring bassy, bright tracks where the vocals probably don’t matter that much. This is where the tuning from the Powerbeats Pro 2 thrives and gives you the best listening experience.

That said, I didn’t mind the tuning for critical listening or for listening to other things, such as movies, TV shows, and podcasts. Despite the slight preference for bass, the sound is still reasonably balanced and most content I listened to tended to sound just fine. As with the AirPods, the Powerbeats Pro 2 don’t have any EQ or audio presets but despite that I never found myself wanting to reach for either of them. While I certainly could have used a bit more sparkle at the top end, this is not a bad tuning to have if it’s the only one you can have.

Tuning aside, the audio quality does not impress on a technical level. The sound isn’t especially detailed or resolving and neither the imaging nor the soundstaging are anything to write home about. While these aren’t typically strong suits of wireless earbuds, we have heard better over the years, especially on products with higher resolution codecs.

Microphone

The Powerbeats Pro 2 have good microphone performance. Voices tend to sound quite clear and are up there with the best in terms of clarity. The background noise reduction is a bit aggressive and you can hear it working hard even when there isn’t much background noise but it’s also effective when there is noise present.

Noise cancellation

The Powerbeats Pro 2 have active noise cancellation, a feature sorely missing on their predecessors. Having said that, the ANC experience here isn’t top-tier, and there is a reason for that.

Most ANC products rely on active as well as passive methods to block sound. ANC earbuds use ear tips and a deep insertion point to passively block out mid and upper noise frequencies while the software takes care of the lower frequencies. This doesn’t work that well if the earbuds don’t form a great seal or if the tips don’t sit deep enough in your ears, which is exactly the case with the Powerbeats Pro 2.

The tips here simply don’t go deep enough in your ears in my experience, which meant that the Powerbeats Pro 2 weren’t canceling enough noise in the mid and higher frequency ranges passively. When the software kicked in, the low frequencies were taken care of but you were still left with some noise in the mids and highs.

This meant some sounds like people talking around you, the sound of water as you do the dishes, gym equipment, and kids running around in the park can still come through on the Powerbeats Pro 2 in a way it won’t on standard ANC earbuds with a proper seal. It’s still pretty decent overall but it’s not as good as the AirPods Pro 2 or most other high-end wireless earbuds these days.

On the plus side, the transparency mode is great and the sound is natural without any latency.

Finally, it’s worth noting that despite having similar hardware as the AirPods Pro 2, the Powerbeats Pro 2 do not have the hearing aids functionality. It seems Apple is going to keep that feature an AirPods exclusive for some time but it also seems out of whack with the Powerbeats branding. Imagine Grandma walking around with bright orange Beats down the street. The world isn’t ready for that sight.

Heart rate monitoring

The Powerbeats Pro 2 have built-in optical heart rate sensors, which is a rare if not unique feature among wireless earbuds. The main reason to have these on the earbuds isn’t necessarily to use it with your phone, although you can certainly do that, but with other things such as gym equipment.

But let’s start with the phone first. This was a bit of a rude awakening as I found out you can’t just go into the iOS Health or the Beats app on Android to see your heart rate from the earbuds. It will only broadcast that information to third-party apps installed on the device that support the protocol. Also, you first need to double press and hold the Beats button to even engage the heart rate monitoring, a thing you need to do every single time for the feature to work.

Beats lists a few compatible apps, including Nike Run Club, Runna, Ladder, Slopes, Open, and Peloton but really any app that supports the protocol should work. I tried it with the Nike Run Club and the app was able to read the data from the HR sensor fine once I started a run within the app (it won’t show the data otherwise). I tried the Nike app on both iOS and Android and it worked perfectly fine on both. All of these apps require you to make an account, by the way, which is an added hassle.

At this point, you may be wondering why bother with this if you can just use a smartwatch or fitness band, both of which will just show the HR data on their screen without going through this convoluted process. Indeed, if you have the Powerbeats Pro 2 and an Apple Watch paired to the same iPhone, the phone will always prioritize the data from the watch over the earbuds, so there’s really no point using the HR monitoring with a phone.

However, much like a chest strap, you can pair the Powerbeats Pro 2 HR monitoring functionality with a bunch of other devices, including gym equipment such as treadmills and exercise bikes. All you have to do is do the double press and hold gesture and any nearby compatible equipment or device will be able to pair with the earbuds for HR data while remaining paired with your phone for audio. Having your fitness data available on more devices can be quite useful, especially if you rely on more than your smartwatch for tracking your health.

The sensor is visible when not worn properly

In terms of performance and accuracy, the Powerbeats Pro 2 seemed to perform well. I compared it with other HR-enabled smartwatches as well as a blood oxygen monitor and the readings were within the margin of error on all of them. However, this will likely come down to how well the earbuds fit you. The sensor needs to be completely covered by your ears to be accurate. This is not an issue for me as the earbuds fit my ears perfectly but I’ve seen some pictures of people where the sensor was clearly visible and that’s just not going to give you a proper reading.

Battery Life

The Powerbeats Pro 2 have a claimed continuous battery life of 10 hours with ANC disabled. In my testing, I got 13 hours and 21 minutes of continuous playback. While fantastic, this number is significantly out of range compared to the claimed figure and will require further testing.

I also performed a brief test to see the impact of HR monitoring on battery life. With ANC enabled and playing from 100% battery, the earbuds dropped to 94% after one hour of continuous playback and 92% with HR monitoring continuously running. Beats assured us the impact of HR monitoring is small on battery life and that does seem to be the case.

The Powerbeats Pro 2 support wireless charging for the case. The case will also play a chime any time it is charged, either through a cable or wirelessly.

Conclusion

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are primarily fitness earbuds, something you wear at the gym or when you go for a run outside, and at that they are very good. They stay securely in your ears regardless of the activity, they are sweat and waterproof, the heart rate monitoring is great for use with gym equipment, the physical buttons are incredibly convenient, and the sound quality with the typical upbeat gym playlist is pretty great.

However, the Powerbeats Pro 2 are not great everyday earbuds. Comfort can be sketchy after an hour or two of binge-watching, the ANC is just okay, the case is still massive, there’s no multi-point pairing, and the audio quality leaves me wanting more outside of the gym, especially at this price range. The only solace here is the good battery life and microphone quality.

Unfortunately, the Powerbeats Pro 2 are not quite the ‘AirPods Pro 2 but with fitness features’ that people wanted them to be. If fitment and fitness features are your priority, the Powerbeats Pro 2 are still highly recommended. But if that’s not the case then the AirPods Pro 2 are the better earbuds overall.