Google Pixel Buds Professional 2 Assessment: Premium Earbuds With Prime Shelf Sound

	Pixel Buds Professional 2 – Obtainable for $229 The Google Pixel Buds Professional 2 are compact, comfy, provide glorious lively noise cancellation and sound nice, however they do not come low cost.
	Clear, crisp sound Glorious ANC efficiency Comfy match Strong battery life	No high-res audio assist Some minor options unique to Pixel telephones Comparatively Excessive value

With the analog headphone jack lengthy since lifeless and buried, Bluetooth earbuds are nearly a requirement for smartphones and even most laptops. As such, most main smartphone OEMs have their very own private audio traces, and Google is not any exception. It has launched myriad earbuds over time, with the newest Pixel Buds Professional 2 launching alongside this yr’s Pixel 9 household. The Pixel Buds Professional 2 proceed Google’s custom of spendy equipment at $229, however you do get loads for his or her price ticket.

Google’s new Pixel Buds Professional 2 have glorious lively noise cancellation, a a lot smaller footprint, and high quality, refined audio tuning. Nonetheless, you will have the very best expertise when utilizing these earbuds with Pixel telephones, and audiophiles will not essentially groove on codec assist right here. Nonetheless, the Pixel Buds Professional 2 might be the appropriate earbuds for lots of people, so learn on for our deep dive analysis.

Google Pixel Buds Professional 2: Design And Match

With the case closed, the Pixel Buds Professional 2 are a lifeless ringer for the last-gen mannequin. The sleek pill-shaped case has the identical white exterior as earlier Google earbuds, however the earbuds themselves are available in a number of totally different colours (our check unit is Hazel). The case has the identical Bluetooth pairing button on the again, which we want to utilizing the contact controls like some earbuds require. We have examined the buds on numerous telephones, and so they’ve been beautifully dependable—no hassle connecting, no dropouts, and no distortion.

The USB-C charging port is on the underside, however you can too cost the earbuds with a wi-fi pad. Subsequent to the USB is the one exterior change to the up to date earbuds: a speaker. The case works with Google’s Discover My Machine community. The speaker will be employed to supply a tone that will help you discover the earbuds. It additionally beeps to inform you when the case battery is low. It is a good further.

The case flips open simply whereas nonetheless remaining firmly closed once you depart it floating round in a bag Additionally it is IPX4 rated, that means it could actually survive the occasional splash. Most earbud instances haven’t any safety, so that is good to see. The earbuds are IP54, so that they’re immune to each mud and moisture like different high-end earbuds. The Pixel Buds Professional 2 drop cleanly into the case, and the charging contacts are close to the highest of the slots, making them simple to wash.

Whereas the case hasn’t modified a lot, Google completely redesigned the earbuds that go inside. The final Professional buds have been a bit cumbersome, and the dearth of wings made them unstable and awkward to place. The Pixel Buds Professional 2 are considerably extra compact, weighing simply 4.7 grams per earbud. They’re simple to insert, and the wings assist them keep in place even if you happen to’re carrying them on the gymnasium.

The Pixel Buds Professional 2 use customizable faucet and swipe instructions on the G emblem to manage playback. Swiping up and down will increase and decrease quantity, respectively. A single faucet is play-pause, two faucets triggers skip, and three faucets is earlier. You possibly can press and maintain the appropriate earbud to activate voice management, whereas the opposite long-press toggles ANC. The earbuds detect faucets and swipes effectively, however they do generally shift a bit of in your ear once you attain as much as press the touchpad. That may trigger a faucet to be detected as a swipe, if you happen to’re not cautious.

Google Pixel Buds Professional 2: Sound High quality And Options

The Pixel Buds Professional 2 deal with the expertise extra so than ticking spec sheet bins. These earbuds function over AAC with SBC as a compatibility backup—no LDAC or different hi-fi choices. Bluetooth audio comes with sure limitations, as does the earbud type issue. Google outfitted the Pixel Buds Professional 2 with 11mm drivers, the identical dimension it used within the 2022 Pixel Buds Professional. There’s solely a lot you are able to do with such a compact system to convey out the nice particulars in music.

Even with the smaller type issue and AAC audio, Pixel Buds Professional 2 sound nice. We examined these earbuds with a wide range of sources, each lossless and compressed, however most individuals stream their music from Spotify, YouTube Music, or an identical service. For this, the Pixel Buds Professional 2 carry out simply in addition to competing high-end buds. For individuals who demand larger audio constancy, bigger over-ear headphones with hi-fi codec assist are a greater possibility. Audiophiles could flip up their nostril on the lack of LDAC, however in observe, earbuds profit minimally from lossless streams.

Google’s default EQ choices ought to please nearly everybody. The audio is evident and crisp throughout the whole spectrum. As you’d anticipate for earbuds, although, the lows lack oomph. We additionally famous some distortion within the mids when cranking the quantity up. Nonetheless, you will attain the boundaries of ear well being (which is tracked by the earbuds and accessible within the settings) earlier than the Pixel Buds Professional 2 begin to sound fuzzy.

Pairing the earbuds is a snap, and so they assist multipoint for simple switching between gadgets. Even if you happen to’ve by no means used it with a specific Android system, Google’s Quick Pair ought to bear in mind the Pixel Buds Professional 2 for even simpler setup. There is a full Pixel Bud app you possibly can set up, however most fashionable Android telephones can entry all of the Pixel Buds Professional 2 options within the system Bluetooth settings. You will want a Pixel cellphone to reap the benefits of spatial audio and head monitoring, however neither one is a must have function for most people.

Google says it designed a brand new chip to energy the Pixel Buds Professional 2, often known as the Tensor A1. The chip permits for sooner audio processing to enhance audio and noise canceling. The final gen Pixel Buds Professional already supplied strong ANC, however the Pixel Buds Professional 2 are higher. They successfully block out most sounds, particularly the drone of a crowd or avenue noise. Whereas there’s a small influence on sound high quality with ANC enabled, it is not as noticeable as some earbuds. Google’s ANC is nearly on the stage of Sony or Bose. Passthrough audio can be implausible. It is clear and loud—you possibly can simply keep it up a dialog with audio transparency enabled on the Pixel Buds Professional 2.

Taking calls on the Pixel Buds Professional 2 can be spectacular because of the A1 chip. Callers had no hassle listening to us, and their audio was crystal clear. The earbuds additionally assist Clear Calling, which makes use of AI to cut back background noise. Nonetheless, Clear Calling is one other Pixel unique that solely works when paired to a Pixel 7 or newer. We examined this with each Google and non-Google telephones—each labored nice, however if you happen to evaluate side-by-side, Clear Calling makes noisy calls barely simpler to listen to.

Previous Google earbuds have included Assistant, however the Pixel Buds Professional 2 function Gemini. After triggering voice management (long-press on the appropriate bud by default), you possibly can ask questions, play music, and even generate blocks of textual content with the generative AI bot that it’ll learn to you by way of the earbuds. The latter would not make plenty of sense with earbuds—Gemini can simply preserve speaking and speaking even after easy queries—however all of the fundamentals work nice. Gemini is, nevertheless, way more open ended than Assistant, and that may make it extra more likely to get confused and reject instructions.

Google guarantees eight hours of playback with ANC and 12 hours with out. We have been seeing longevity proper in that vary, which is considerably larger than different high-end earbuds. The charging case provides roughly three extra cost cycles to the earbuds. For informal listening, these buds may solely want a recharge as soon as per week. Even if you happen to’re consistently listening to one thing, you possibly can go a number of days with out plugging in these buds.

Google Pixel Buds Professional 2: Our Ultimate Evaluation

Individuals who have hopped on the Pixel bandwagon are fortunate to have the Pixel Buds Professional 2 now as an possibility. They’re on the costly aspect, however they provide a compelling premium audio choice to match the AirPods Professional. They’re compact, comfy, and have strong battery life. Whereas they do not assist lossless media codecs, audio replica is general excellent as lengthy, as you do not demand the thumpiest bass.

Google’s noise canceling tech has improved over time and is now nearly on par with the market leaders. The Pixel Buds Professional 2 can block out the world successfully with out considerably affecting the best way your tunes sound. Passthrough audio can be crisp and clear. Likewise, cellphone calls work nice, significantly if used with a Pixel cellphone.

Google made a giant deal of Gemini integration, which isn’t shocking given the corporate’s single-minded deal with generative AI as of late. Gemini is a nice digital assistant in the identical means Google Assistant was, however lots of the bot’s superior options do not make a ton of sense with earbuds. Nonetheless, if you wish to have Gemini recite detailed solutions to your questions, the Pixel Buds Professional 2 can try this.

The Pixel Buds Professional 2 have each Clear Calling and spatial audio when related to Pixel telephones, however it’s not a deal breaker to lose these with different telephones. The Buds Professional 2 might nonetheless be the appropriate earbuds to be used with different Android telephones on the premise of their nice match, ANC and audio constancy. Most up-to-date Android telephones even have native settings assist for these buds, so you do not even have to put in an app to manage them.

The $229 price ticket will scare some individuals away, however good earbuds are sometimes price it. Apple’s comparable AirPods Professional are $250, and the Sony XM5s are $300. The Pixel Buds Professional 2 are nice at MSRP, however they are a killer deal if you happen to can catch them on sale. Google had been promoting the buds for $199 this previous vacation season, which might make them exhausting to cross up, if yow will discover them at that value once more.