Google - Pixel Buds Pro 2 - Wireless Earbuds with Active Noise Cancellation – Bluetooth Headphones - Porcelain

Right away I noticed the sound signature is definitely different than the original pros. TBH I'm not a fan initially but hey maybe it's Google shooting for a more neutral sound curve which is throwing my perception off. With eq tweaks it sounds pretty good. Definitely not bass heavy by default like it's predecessor. Bass can be cranked up if desired but be aware it gets a little boomy and muddy. Transparency nailed! Noise canceling nailed! Fit is way better and doesn't feel like you don't know which way to seat it in your cartilage. Just twist until the wing rests on your cartilage. Overall I'm impressed with the improvements and it's nice the case design didn't change enough that my Spigen armor case fits perfectly! I highly recommend playing around with different tip sizes and styles as even the large tips didn't seal well for me. This will drastically improve bass and noise canceling. I Had some old wired powerbeats tips laying around and they fit and allow the lid to close with just the right clearance.

The Pixel Buds Pro 2 sounds almost as good as an Airpods Pro 2 but are more comfortable. They're also less likely to fall off due to the lighter weight and better fit. Controls are easy to use and work well. ANC is underwhelming for a pro product which isn't necessarily a bad thing if you still want to hear some of your surrounding. Transparency mode hisses a bit too much. Mic is mediocre like most ear buds. Battery life aligns with what's advertised. This is an ok product overall. There are better options at this price range but if you're big on Gemini AI, these are good for you.

📦 UNBOXING: The Pixel Buds 2 Pro come in a small box with recyclable packaging. Inside you’ll find the charging case and buds with Medium ear tips pre-installed, and another set of Large, Small and Extra Small ear tips. Other than that, you’ll receive a quick start guide and safety information. No charging cable is included, which is the same as the original Pixel Buds Pro. 💪 BUILD: The case is largely unchanged from the previous Pixel Buds Pro launched 2 years ago. It’s made of a soft-touch smooth plastic. It’s slippery, so I’d advise some caution, but unlike other earbuds with glossy cases, these won’t exhibit hundreds of micro scratches over time. The buds themselves are easier to remove from the case compared to the original design. And while they’re still quite smooth, they don’t feel nearly as slippery. I had accidentally dropped my original Pixel Buds Pro earbuds multiple times due to how slippery they were. Now, the Pixel Buds app has a toggle under the Notifications to remind you to clean the buds from time to time, which I think is a great addition. But one of the biggest improvements is the new The buds have touch-sensitive controls on the exterior, an IR sensor to detect when they’re in your ears, and there are microphones for their ANC and Transparency modes. 👂 COMFORT: Compared to the original, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 have much better fit thanks to the new twist-to-adjust stabilizer. I was able to pull them into my ears without having to constantly re-seat them, and I didn’t feel any discomfort or pressure using them for a couple hours. While the original buds were comfortable and had decent fit, they just weren’t as easy to find a good fit. But Google’s really gone back to the drawing board here and I think this new stabilizer makes a pretty significant impact on the overall experience. 📱 SETUP: To pair to your device, you can open the lid of the case, then press and hold the button on the rear of the case, and the front LED will blink to indicate it’s in pairing mode. Once you pair with your device, you may be prompted to download the Pixel Buds app. If not, you can download the app from the Play Store. The Pixel Buds app may run through all the features, and you can manually perform the firmware update through the app as well. But since the Pixel Buds app is Android-only, you’ll need an Android device to perform firmware update. 🧠 FEATURES: The Pixel Buds Pro 2 feature much of the same capabilities as the original. It has Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Transparency Mode, touch sensitive controls, multipoint audio and automatic switching, conversation detection, and a ton of Google Assistant integration. In addition, you also have the USB-C charging on the case and Qi Wireless charging. The touch-sensitive controls are pretty intuitive compared to other earbuds, but you can reconfigure them through the app. I’ve set my right earbud to toggle between ANC and Transparency modes, while holding my left earbud will engage Google Assistant. You can also use the popular “Okay Google” or “Hey Google” voice activation keywords. On the original Pixel Buds, there was a push-to-talk type of feature for Google Assistant where you could hold the earbud to speak, then release touch to finish your command, but it seems Google has removed that capability from their app. Another thing I noticed is that Google is no longer advertising their live translation mode for the Pixel Buds Pro 2. It used to be the case that you could tell Google Assistant to “Be my translator” and it would interpret a foreign language for you, but I tried to re-engage this feature but was unsuccessful. I tried to engage the multipoint audio with my Windows Laptop and found it to be pretty unreliable. I would encounter issues when pausing audio on one device and switching to the other, so I ended up disabling this feature altogether. Perhaps it would function more reliably with a Chromebook, but I don’t have one to test with. Your mileage may vary. Conversation Detection also worked quite well, in my experience. Saying “Yep” wouldn’t trigger it no matter how loud I would say it, but saying “Hello there” would always trigger it, even with quiet speaking levels. However, speaking with my “head voice” was much less likely to trigger it, so it will work better for people that have more resonant voices. Another feature which I found interesting was Gemini Live. If you set Gemini as your default Android voice assistant, you can say “Hey Google, Let’s Talk” and it enables a conversation mode where you can have a free-flowing conversation with Gemini. This could be useful for creative purposes like planning a trip or getting some information. Overall, I thought it was a cool idea, and it is unique to Pixel Buds Pro, but I’m not sure that there is any technical reason for this. And lastly, there is the Find My Device feature to help you locate your buds if you lose them. 🔉 SOUND: The default stock signature on the Pixel Buds Pro 2 is balanced, but I think a lot of people will want to use the “Heavy Bass” EQ preset for some additional bass that in my opinion, is tastefully done. One notable improvement from the original Pixel Buds Pro is that the treble response has been refined so that it’s not sibilant or sharp. In all my testing, my music and other content sounded pleasantly natural without any fatigue—even at louder volumes. Honestly, there is much less to complain about with the Pixel Buds Pro 2 when it comes to sound. And compared to similar Earbuds, I do think they’re quite competitive. There is also the Volume EQ which enhances bass and treble frequencies at lower volumes, and it actually did a pretty good job compared to the original Pixel Buds Pro. Moreover, they have a number of EQ presets that you can engage, as well as a basic 5-band EQ. 🏙️ ANC & TRANSPARENCY: The ANC on the Pixel Buds Pro 2 performs well when it comes to lower-end droning noises, but doesn’t quite do as well when it comes to higher-frequency noise compared to some other earbuds. But listening to energetic music at even low listening volumes would mask some of this high-frequency noise, making it a great option. But there’s no doubt there are better ANC options on the market. The Transparency mode on the Pixel Buds Pro is also improved from the previous generation. In my testing, things sounded quite natural—almost like you weren’t wearing any earbuds at all, but what gives it away is a lightly audible noise floor from the onboard microphones. You might not really hear it if you have significant tinnitus, but I didn’t find it to be distracting. 🎙️ MICROPHONE: The microphone is also very good, and sounds very clear. Under ideal conditions, this might be one of the best sounding microphones you can find on a set of earbuds. To my ear, the microphone sounded more like being on a speakerphone call—it delivers more lower-end body in the speaker’s voice, and doesn’t distort sibilant and consonant sounds during speech. It does a good job canceling out wind noise when you’re not talking, and it does a decent job at keeping your speech intelligible even with wind noise. While it can’t get rid of wind noise altogether, it still makes speech a priority and the speaker shouldn’t be cut out just because of some wind. 🔋 BATTERY: Google says the Pixel Buds Pro should last 8 hours with ANC on and 12 hours without. And with the charging case, they should get up to 30 hours of battery with ANC, and 48 hours without ANC. I imagine most people will use them with ANC, and I do think 30 hours is a reasonable expectation based on my testing. 🧐 CONCLUSION: Overall, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 are a solid upgrade to the original Pixel Buds Pro in terms of sound, comfort and fit. If you were already quite happy with the Pixel Buds Pro, I’m not sure that the collective improvements will justify an upgrade, but I do think they’ve made some very good refinements this year and made a product that’s much more compelling for Pixel fans and Android users, alike. However, there’s been a lot of competition in the last 2 years since the original Pixel Buds Pro launched, and some of those other options come in at very competitive price points that deliver similar or better performance that ought to be considered. Even so, there are a lot of things to like about the Pixel Buds Pro 2, and would not count them out.