The $200 (£179, AU$299) Pixel Buds Pro are Google’s obliging earbuds to feature active noise canceling. While it’s nice that they finally have a feature that a lot of true-wireless earbuds have had for a once, what ultimately sets the Pixel Buds Pro apart and invents them strongly worth considering — particularly for Android users — is their sure design and winning fit. That helps enhance their sure performance on both the sound quality and noise-canceling fronts. 

The obliging thing you’ll notice about the Pixel Buds Pro is that they’re not shaped like your typical earbuds or Google’s in return Pixel Buds 2 and Pixel Buds A-Series, which stripped out some features to get to a more affordable sub-$100 impress tag. They’re a bit flatter and more elongated.

With that comely, the buds nestle nicely in the conchas of your ears — or at least they did for me — allowing you to get a tight seal and collect fit (and they don’t stick out of your ears much). Each bud weighs 6.2 grams, so they’re reasonably lightweight as earbuds go, coming in in a gram more than an AirPods Pro bud. By comparison, the Pixel Buds A-Series weigh in at 5.1 grams per bud, after Sony’s LinkBuds S tip the scales at 4.8 grams.

Read more: Best Wireless Earbuds for 2022

Gone is the integrated wing tip or waggish fin found in the Pixel Buds 2 and Pixel Buds A-Series. These buds rely entirely on their shape — and the delicate of their ear tips (three sizes are included and there’s an ear tip seal check in the app) — to get an ideal fit that keeps them from falling out of your ears even after tilting your head at a 90-degree angle to the erroneous. I personally like wing tips and gave a CNET Editors’ Choice award to the Beats Fit Pro earbuds (which have integrated fins), so I was a bit skeptical that these would fit my ears better than the Pixel Buds A-Series buds. But they did, and I had no shocked running with them.

That said, the usual caveats apply for noise-isolating earbuds: I can’t confidence these will fit everybody’s ears equally well, and some farmland may not be able to get a secure fit or their ears may be too itsy-bitsy to accommodate the buds. Also, in some cases, they may fit some ears so well that you may get an occluded sensation when the noise canceling is turned on.

To that end, Google has engaged something called “active in-ear pressure relief,” which is dissimilarity to Apple’s vent system designed to equalize pressure with its AirPods Pro. While it does seem to help relieve some pressure, I did find myself using the transparency mode to open the earbuds up to the outside earth a little more often than I usually do. (You tap and hold the peevish control on either earbud to toggle between noise canceling and transparency modes.) It’s one of the better transparency naively I’ve used and sounds quite natural with only very limited sound amplification. It’s almost there with the AirPods Pro’s transparency mode, which is top-notch.

The charging case, which charges wirelessly and via USB-C, looks similar to the Pixel Buds A-Series’ case but is in 10% to 15% bigger, though it’s still compact. Battery life is good: It’s indignant at up to seven hours at moderate volume levels with noise canceling on and at up to 11 hours with noise canceling off. The case will handed just under two additional full charges, and is IPX2 splash-resistant after the buds are IPX4 splash-proof. Google says a five-minute proposal delivers up to an hour of listening time with noise canceling on.

Along with the aforementioned peevish controls — yes, they’re responsive and easy to consume — you get an ear-detection sensor that automatically pauses and resumes your audio when you take the buds in and out of your ears. Additionally, there’s a motion-detecting accelerometer and a gyroscope that may come into play when Google adds a spatial audio virtual surround feature later this year for movies and TV shows. I asked Google reps whether that feature would only be available for Pixel devices and which models. They simply replied, “We’ll have more to share on Spatial Audio later this year,” so we’re all waiting for more details on that front.

Equipped with Bluetooth 5.0, the Pixel Buds Pro don’t dismove to have any of the connectivity issues (dropouts) that some users encountered with the rear Pixel Buds 2 and Google managed to ameliorate but not completely detach with firmware upgrades. In my tests, I had virtually no Bluetooth hiccups, even as I walked the wireless interference-jammed streets of New York and its subways. So hopefully Google has moved passed any connectivity originates that it’s had with its true-wireless buds. (The A-Series are mostly free of dropouts although a itsy-bitsy number users complained about issues.) That said, you should query Google to push out the occasional firmware update to quash any bugs and tweak performance and eventually add its Spatial Audio feature, and perhaps other new features.

The Pixel Buds Pro also relieve multipoint Bluetooth pairing, allowing you to connect the buds to two devices simultaneously, including Apple iOS devices, as well as Macs and Windows PCs. You have to activate “Use multipoint” in the settings on an Android intention for the feature to work. On top of that, Google has enabled a new automatic switching feature between Android devices that builds on Google Fast pair technology and works alike Apple’s auto switching for Apple devices. Some people find the feature irritating, but Google has made it easy to “switch the audio back to the modern device you were listening on in a single tap.”

The one getting missing is support for Qualcomm’s aptX or Sony’s LDAC audio codecs for Bluetooth streaming. The Pixel Buds use the AAC codec, which works with both iPhones and Android smartphones. Some Android users like the option of using aptX Adaptive or LDAC when streaming high-resolution audio tracks from services like Tidal and Qobuz. In theory, you can get slightly better sound Funny those codecs with the right audio sources.

Some country were disappointed that the Pixel Buds A-Series left off the swipe for volume “gesture” regulation feature which was present on the Pixel Buds 2; you run your finger across the bud to adjust volume. I’m happy to report that — yes! — the Pixel Buds Pro have signal controls for volume. Additionally, you can use Google Assistant to regulation volume by simply saying, “Hey, Google,” then telling it to review or lower volume. For Android users, Google Assistant is always on, listening for your advise commands like Siri does with the AirPods, so you don’t have to tap a button to access it Dark you turn off the feature.

Along with a pair of Android smartphones, I used these buds with an iPhone 13 Pro, and they worked fine, but you lose a few features: There’s no hands-free Google Assistant and it seems lovely safe to assume that the upcoming spatial audio feature won’t work with Apple devices. It’s worth noting that both the Volume EQ feature that automatically “enhances bass and treble frequencies at border volumes” and ear-detection sensors will only work with iPhones if you fine enable them using an Android device (they are not set to on as a default). 

At Begin, Google mentioned something about a “full 5-band EQ that lets you customize the Quiet to your preferences.” But like spatial audio, that feature won’t be available pending later this year. Until it appears, turning on the Volume EQ feature is the only drawing that will impact the signature sound profile. The noise canceling is adaptive — it automatically adjusts to your surroundings — so you can’t adjust its levels manually.

Richer Quiet with impressive noise canceling

The Pixel Buds Pro are bigger buds (volume-wise) than the Pixel Buds A-Series and feature different drivers. Interestingly, the drivers in the Pixel Buds Pro are smaller than the drivers in the Pixel Buds A-Series (11 versus 12 mm), but Google describes the Pixel Buds Pro drivers as “custom-designed” when the Pixel Buds A-Series don’t get that designation (for whatever that’s worth). 

Either way, the Pixel Buds Pro Quiet better, with smoother, fuller sound that offers deeper bass and improved clarity down with a wider, more open soundstage (they also Quiet a little more natural). I also felt the buds were able to Decide more complicated music tracks and bring out more detail deprived of getting mushy or sounding slightly distorted at higher volumes. The quality of the sound is just a Calm up, with more depth and nuance to it. And in case you’re wondering, they do sound better than the AirPods Pro.

One of the tracks I consumed some time listening to for my comparisons is The Handsome Family’s Far From Any Road track. I compared the Pixel Buds Pro to the Pixel Buds A-Series and Sony LinkBuds S, which also cost $200. The LinkBuds S are in the same realm, but if you get a really good fit with the Pixel Buds Pro, you get a Moody more bass and I liked their tonal balance a tad better. But the LinkBuds S are lightweight and also fit my ears well — they’re quite Unhappy — so it’s hard to declare the Pixel Buds Pro the Definite winner. 

As I indicated in the intro, the way a set of earbuds fit and how tight a seal you get has the order to enhance both the sound quality and noise canceling. Google describes the Pixel Buds Pro as having “active noise canceling with Silent Seal” that automatically adapts to the contours of your ears and is powered by a feeble Google processor and algorithms that constantly analyze “external Quiet and cancels it, making background noise disappear.” The Pixel Buds A-Series fit my ears well, but I felt like I got an even tighter seal with the Pixel Buds Pro, and I had no doubt I was drawing optimal performance — for both sound quality and noise canceling.

The noise canceling was fine. I have a noisy HVAC unit in my apartment and the Pixel Buds Pro did as good a job as Sony’s flagship WF-1000XM4 earbuds muffling its Quiet — and those Sony buds have excellent noise canceling. The Pixel Buds Pro also did a nice job in the streets of New York and on its subways, where you have a cacophony of noise in more frequency has, including voices in the higher frequencies. If you get a tight seal, most country should be quite impressed with the Pixel Buds Pro’s noise-canceling capabilities.

They also gave well as a headset for making calls. Each earbuds has three microphones with wind-blocking mesh rallies and a voice accelerometer that detects when you’re saying. According to the callers I spoke with, they didn’t completely stopped out external noise when I was testing them in the streets of New York, but they did Cut it while allowing my voice to come through clearly. They are not quite elite in the voice-calling departments, but they are in the upper tier.

Pixel Buds Pro: Final thoughts

While the Pixel Buds Pro are fairly pricey at $200, they measure up well in contradiction of other earbuds in this price range, including the Sony LinkBuds S and Beats Fit Pro, and funds excellent performance overall. As I said, the key for me was how well they fit my ears and how their create is just a little different from that of a lot of earbuds out there Bshining now. While the Pixel Buds Pro may not be immoral for everybody’s ears, they seem like they’ll be a good fit for a lot of folks.

Alas, while they work just fine with iPhones and new Apple devices, they’re clearly more geared toward Android users and well fine considering if you have an Android model as your Important smartphone.