1 Week With The Pixel Buds Pro
Why You Should Go Pro!
I’ve been daily driving the Pixel Buds Pro for almost a week and I honestly think that they’ve grown on me!
Priced at £179.99, the Pixel Buds Pro certainly don’t belong to the cheapest of wireless earbuds, especially as there are many options available from competing brands.
When I finally decided to go out and buy these earbuds, my main priority was convenience. As a Pixel 6 Pro user, I wanted a set of earbuds that works well with my phone and all the other devices I use daily. Something that I only ever came across with on the AirPods Pro with other Apple Devices.
Before finally deciding to purchase the Pixel Buds Pro, I’ve been using the Pixel Buds A for several months, and I think it’s safe to say that I really liked them. However, I found that two things were missing, Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) and multipoint Bluetooth, which the Pro’s have. Since the Pro’s had both options I needed, I decided to purchase them.
It’s been a week since I started using the Pixel Buds Pro, and I wanted to share my experience with you…
Here’s How My Week Went…
I started my week with the Pixel Buds Pro by taking them with me on a walk to town. Straightaway, I noticed that because they don’t have that dangly thing you see on the Pixel Buds A, they didn’t feel secure, and I was honestly worried that they’re gonna fall out.
The good news is that I found a fix for that, which is to simply swap the ear tips for the smaller ones. Ever since I swapped the ear tips, I was able to securely lock the earbuds in place. I find this rather strange as with most ear tips, I find that the medium tips work best for me ears. But in the case of both the Pixel Buds A and Pro’s I found that the smaller tip works best.
It just goes to show that it’s always worth trying the other sizes to ensure you get a perfect it.
Active Noise Cancelling (ANC)
I started off by testing the ANC during my walk to town along a busy road. Rightly so, I found the ANC to be decent, it blocked out people talking incredibly well. Cars and other vehicles were also blocked out pretty well, but I wouldn’t say that it was anywhere as good as it was with the vocals.
When I test devices with ANC or any other form of active noise-cancelling audio devices, I like to take them to my local train station and test them in a series of conditions. These conditions include passengers talking, station announcements and departing diesel trains, which are quite loud!
Once again, I found that the Pixel Buds Pro coped extremely well with vocals, I barely heard any announcements, and they coped well with people talking. When it came to the departing train, I didn’t expect much, after-all, they’re loud, but with the Pixel Buds Pro, it was nowhere near as loud as it would have been with other earbuds or with none.
On the other hand, whilst the Pixel Buds A did a pretty good job of blocking noise out naturally, it was nowhere near as good as it would have been with even the cheapest ANC earbuds and the volume often had to be on the highest levels to cope.
Transparency Mode
Another feature that I find important to me is transparency mode, particularity if the Pixel Buds Pro are to remain as my daily drivers. I guess I just like to be able to talk to people without the need of taking my earbuds off.
Transparency mode is also another thing I like to test whilst I’m at the train station, particularity when I’m listening out for announcements, which by the way, can be heard loud and clear without having to turn my music off.
I also find transparency mode to be particularly useful for when walking down a busy road and trying to avoid getting hit by a car.
As a whole, I find the transparency mode on the Pixel Buds Pro to be decent and, possibly, one of the best at that price range.
Like with ANC, the Pixel Buds A don’t have transparency mode, so if you want to be able to hear your surroundings clearly, without the need of pausing your music or turning the volume way down, I recommend getting the Pro’s
Sound Quality
During my first week with the Pixel Buds Pro, I had the opportunity of testing the earbuds in several scenarios, and it took me a while to decide whether I like the sound of these earbuds.
One of the first things I noticed is that the Pixel Buds Pro are considerably quieter than other earbuds, even the Pixel Buds A. To me that really is a shame as I like to listen to loud music. I know that it’s not exactly a good idea to constantly listen to loud music, but I should have a decision here! It would be nice to see this as an option which can be disabled or enabled in the settings.
The second thing I noticed is that the Pixel Buds Pro have better bass compared to the Pixel Buds A, you really can feel that thump in some songs.
At the same time, the Pixel Buds Pro offer a clear sound which combined with the bass really make these sound great!
Multipoint Bluetooth
One of the most useful features, which strangely, not many other earbuds have is multipoint Bluetooth which allows the earbuds to connect to two devices at the same time.
For example, If I’m working on my iPad, I can answer a phone call on my phone. I think that this is an absolutely brilliant feature that is sadly overlooked by other manufacturers.
Let’s talk about the other things…
One of the things I’m most disappointed about with the Pixel Buds Pro is the app, or rather the lack of it. At present, to change any of the settings, you need to find the device under Bluetooth settings.
This approach would be fine if there was some form of a shortcut to that menu because it takes a while to get there.
At the same time, I find that the lack of a proper equaliser is also a real shame. At present, there is a basic and I mean very basic equaliser with one setting, on or off. In its on state, it enhances bass and treble, but you don’t get to choose by how much.
Moving on, I’m somewhat disappointed that the earbuds aren’t available in other colours such as Olive Green, which the Pixel Buds A come in.
The Verdict
To summarise this article, I think that it really is worth going pro with the Pixel Buds because you are getting a lot. They may not be the best sounding earbuds, nor may they be your first choice for brand. But, what I can say is that they are perfect everyday earbuds that combine a bit of everything.