Apple AirPods Pro 3 Announced!
Apple finally released the follow-up to the insanely popular AirPods Pro 2, but the question is: does everything we know about the AirPods Pro 3 point to it being a winner for audiophiles like the 2 was?
The Apple AirPods Pro 3 have finally been announced, and for those of us deeply invested in audio, this is big news. The AirPods Pro 2 set a high bar for true wireless in-ear monitors (IEMs), combining top-tier noise cancellation, comfort, and impressive sound quality—even for those of us outside the Apple ecosystem, or compared to wired audiophile IEMs. So naturally, we’re excited (and maybe a little anxious) to see what Apple has in store this time.
From what we’ve seen in the announcement, Apple seems to be refining rather than reinventing. The first thing that stood out was the new venting scheme, which Apple claims will improve bass, vocals, and soundstage. As headphone enthusiasts, we’re curious to hear how these changes actually play out because even small tweaks to venting can meaningfully change the sound, though we're a bit skeptical of the venting's effects on anything but bass. The new earbuds also boast eight hours of battery life, an upgrade from the AirPods Pro 2's estimated 6 hours, as well as a sleek new design with smaller, better-contoured earpieces.
Apple’s pushing further into fitness territory this time too. A built-in heart rate sensor makes these feel like a sports-focused release, and that impression is reinforced by the new IP57 rating which means it'll hold up better to sweat.
One of the most jaw-dropping features is live translation—Apple demonstrated a scenario where the earbuds cancel the voice of the speaker in real-time and play back a translation instead.
Another big change is the introduction of five ear tip sizes (up from four), along with a new hybrid foam-and-silicone construction. The nozzle design is slightly longer, which could improve fit, though we’re again, cautiously skeptical until we get a chance to try it.
While these hardware updates are exciting, there’s one glaring omission that has us frustrated: personalization. The AirPods Pro 2 remain one of the most sophisticated headworn audio delivery devices on the planet, solving problems no other IEM can quite match... Yet Apple still refuses to offer any meaningful EQ options or sound customization features. Competing brands offer robust suites with sliders or even parametric EQ for end-users to tweak the sound, while Apple insists on a one-size-fits-all tuning philosophy. This stands in stark contrast to the plurality of preference we know exists when it comes to headworn audio, so we’d love to see Apple loosen up here, even if it was just with a simple bass adjustment.
Which leads us to the biggest unknown: sound quality. Apple says they’ve improved bass and vocals, but we’re frankly a bit worried there may be big tuning changes. The AirPods Pro 2 already offered an extremely reasonable, if slighty bass-forward signature that struck a great balance, and we’d be disappointed if they tipped too far toward a more aggressive “V-shaped” sound. At this point we're hoping the sound changes are like the physical/feature changes: refinements rather than full reinventing.
That said, the AirPods Pro 3 will likely remain a gold standard in the true wireless space. Other brands like Samsung may try to compete, but Apple is still well ahead of the curve by all accounts. We’ll be first in line to pick up a pair on launch day, and you can expect deep dives, measurements, and reviews as soon as we get our hands on them.
Full Video Transcript Below:
(Andrew Park) (Griffin Silver) (Andrew Park) (Griffin Silver) (Andrew Park) (Griffin Silver) (Andrew Park) (Griffin Silver) (Andrew Park) (Griffin Silver) (Andrew Park) (Griffin Silver) (Andrew Park) (Griffin Silver)
Alright, so it turns out that the Apple AirPods Pro 3 just got announced and this has everybody who understands audio or is interested in audio very excited because the AirPods Pro 2 was great. Even for non-Apple users like myself, the AirPods Pro 2 was one of the best true wireless in-ear noise-canceling devices. The bar is set very high here and we are fired up to hopefully get a chance to hear it and talk about it. But let's just talk about what this information, this reveal is, and the information that we've gotten from it. So to do that, I brought with me a listener who is also our resident AirPods Pro 2 stan. So Griffin, you've been paying very close attention to this announcement. What can you tell us? What's sort of the gist, the summary of what's new here with the AirPods Pro 3? And what can we expect?
Yeah, so the announcement had a bunch of cool stuff. I think the first thing that kind of pricked my ears up was the new sort of venting scheme. There seems to be, and they seem to think it will improve the bass performance and vocal performance and add soundstage. I could see a different sort of venting scheme affecting the bass in a positive way. We'll have to see how it actually plays out. Biggest thing for me was the battery life. It's eight hours on the device itself. There's the IP57 dust water rating, which is going to be really cool for a lot of people who felt the AirPods Pro wasn't good enough for that. One really cool feature was the live translation which they showed—basically, you just hear someone talking to you and it'll actively noise cancel their voice so you can hear a translated voice in your ear. Which seems really cool. I would have appreciated that feature a lot when I was just in Italy. They have a heartbeat sensor in the earpiece now, which again, kind of, I think plays into this thing being more of a fitness targeted release than, you know, maybe something that was targeting something like a sound quality improvement. Additionally, apparently the earpieces are going to be a little bit smaller now, which is kind of interesting because this is already the most comfortable IEM I own. So it being a little bit smaller and better contoured would obviously be welcome, but I'm not sure how that's going to work for me. And lastly, the thing I'm kind of most skeptical about is the new ear tips. So instead of four sizes of ear tips like what come with the AirPods Pro 2, there's going to be five sizes. And it seems like they're a hybrid foam-silicon construction, where there's foam internally and then silicone externally. And it also seems like they've changed the kind of dimensions of the nozzle to be a little bit longer and less stubby than on the AirPods Pro 2. So yeah, pretty exciting stuff.
Yeah. There are a couple of things that I'm excited for with this. announcement, this release. And one thing that I'm hopeful for, but I am not exactly optimistic that they will do this. But what I'm most excited for with this is the sports active. Stuff so to do with the IP57 dust and water resistance, and the heart rate sensor, and it's mainly because I've always said to myself, like, if I could ever develop a product, it would be a noise-cancelling sports IEM like True Wireless in-ear sports thing that actually sounded good, because that did not exist, and yes, there was the Power Beats. They were bad. They had the little hook thing, which was useful, but they were bad. And the original AirPods Pro 2, you could use them for that, but there were some limitations there, and that's what this seems to fix. So I'm excited for that. But the big thing that I'm hopeful for, but they probably aren't going to deliver here, is... Some sort of customization. For folks who are unaware, the AirPods Pro 2 is one of the most sophisticated acoustic devices on the planet. And we don't give it enough credit or praise— for being as good as it is. It solves problems that nobody else can really solve with IEMs. But one of the things that's missing and lacking with that whole ecosystem is customizability, customization, some way for users to... adjust the sound to make it closer to their preference. And this is an area where most of the other big brands who are making true wireless in your products and over your products as well, they have an advantage and a leg up. So they have apps where you have custom EQ sliders where you can add more bass if you want more bass or reduce the bass if you want less bass. Make various different adjustments. Apple seems to have this philosophy of, we know what good is, and so it's going to be this way, and then that's just how it is. And I feel like that's one key limitation when you consider the range of preferences that exist when it comes to sound quality in headphones. So I hope that they're able to... get out of their own ass and give us some sort of EQ ability, some sort of basic filters, right? Even just bass adjustment would be great. But I'm not holding my breath on that. But other than that, I think the other thing to consider is that, like this, is the product that all true wireless products are compared against. So even a non-Apple user like myself, I'm the first person to say that this is still the best true wireless noise-canceling headphone that exists. Some people are like, 'Oh, the Samsung.' No. No, it's the Apple AirPods Pro 2. So my hope is also that they maintain and, at most, iterate on that sound quality that they already achieved, and not do something stupid with it. Because there's always a risk.
Yeah, so as far as like the unknowns, I feel like the sound quality is kind of the big unknown here. And where, yeah, they gestured towards, like, improved bass and vocal performance. Know what that means, right? Like, I assume there will be more bass. Um, which the AirPods Pro 2 was already a pretty bassy item for my taste. Uh, but you know, I have heard consumers complain about it not being bassy enough. So I totally understand if they make that decision. I also do lament the lack of personalization options. Like, obviously, they have personalization automatically for spatial audio with that kind of ear capture. But yeah, I want something to bring the tuning a little bit more in line for stereo playback. It doesn't seem like something they're really interested in doing, which is kind of a shame. Everything else just seems like a straightforward improvement to me, so I'm really excited. Are there any things that you're less sure about, or is it basically just sound quality?
Yeah, it's just sound quality because this is one of the most, like, one of the deepest research divisions in the development of any audio product. And again. It's funny because like AirPods Pro 2 is one of the most ubiquitous audio devices on the planet. And I feel people don't really respect it for its sound quality enough. My hope is that they they don't overfit for feedback too much from that. If people are saying, 'Oh, I want more bass or whatever,' give them the option to have more bass, but don't fundamentally change the sound signature with that in mind. Right. So that's that's my my hope. But that really is the unknown. Right. Has the research changed in any meaningful way? To point to new uh new notions of what good is because they they were damn far ahead of the competition with their previous one.
Yeah, and they still are. I mean, frankly, this is still one of the best sounding IEMs you could buy, regardless of it being wireless or not. I'm hoping it ends up being more of just like a subtle change, where maybe there's a little bit more bass, but... I would be very upset if they did something dramatic and made it more V-shaped or...
Yeah, that would actually, that would ruin your day and you would be very disappointed.
I mean, I would keep using these if that happened.
You would fall into a deep depression.
I would be very upset. I'm not going to lie. This is, as someone who does not get hyped for new IEM releases, frankly, most of them don't measure up to this. The new AirPods Pro 3 is an IEM release I've been hyped up for since I first heard this, right? So. Yeah, if it's bad, I'm going to be heartbroken a little bit. But I think, yeah, very, very excited, cautiously optimistic. And yes, September 19th can't come fast enough.
And with that, that's going to do it for this video. But stay tuned to the channel. Subscribe if you want to get some information on the AirPods Pro 3 as soon as it becomes available. I'm sure Griffin will be jumping on that, lining up with all the other Apple cultists.
Yeah, I'll be picking mine up at 8:45 in the morning.
So we'll have some videos out there for you guys on the AirPods Pro 3. Likely written content up on headphones. com as well. So make sure you guys stay tuned to the audio files. That'll be linked in the description. But that does it for this video. If you want to chat with me or Griffin or other like-minded audio folks, you can do so in our Discord, also linked below. Until next time, we'll see you guys later. Bye for now.
Bye, guys.
