Pixel Buds Pro First Impressions
Posted on August 2, 2022 Posted by John Scalzi 16 Comments
I’ve been using Google’s Pixel Buds since their first iteration a few years back, and just picked up the newest version, the Pixel Buds Pro (seen above in their “Lemongrass” colorway) because I was curious how this new “premium” version of the buds, complete with active noise cancellation, stacked up to the previous versions I’ve had. I got them today and have been fiddling with them since; here are some first impressions.
1. To begin, the ear buds themselves are both larger and have a different shape than the previous versions of the Pixel Buds, in part to accommodate the active noise cancellation. I understand that, but I preferred the previous design, in no small part because the last two iterations of the buds included little plastic “wingtips” that helped secure the buds into the ear. These don’t, and I’m already having problems with the left bud, because my left ear canal shape is such that non-secured buds of any sort have historically never stayed put without effort. I went for a short walk and the left bud fell out twice.
Some of that I can probably fix by changing the little rubber flange that fits inside the ear to a different size (the buds come with three different sizes for these), but it would have been even nicer — for me, anyway, your mileage may vary — if Google could have kept the wingtip design feature. As it is, for now I’m unlikely to use these particular buds for vigorous exercise or running.
2. Does the new active noise cancellation make up for the (slight) inconvenience of the missing wingtip? I suspect for a lot of folks, the answer will be yes. The ANC is pretty decent; it doesn’t block out noise like my Sony wh-1000xm4 headphones, but then I didn’t expect them to, because these are earbuds and the Sonys are over-the-ear headphones. A one-to-one comparison isn’t fair. The Pixel Bud Pros do bring the outside noise way down; I can still hear the world with the noise cancellation on (provided I’m not blasting music at a ridiculous level, which I don’t do much anymore because I am old and my hearing is a precious resource), but it’s unobtrusive and easy to ignore.
When one does need to pay attention to the outside, the Pixel Bud Pros come with a “transparency” mode, which is different from simply just turning off the noise cancellation mode — in my experience it bumps up frequencies for speech, and one presumes some other critical noises, so they can cut through whatever else you are listening to. I tried it to speak to my wife and mother-in-law while listening to music; it does the job just fine. You can swap between noise cancelling and transparency modes with a long touch on the buds. One may also simply just turn off noise cancellation entirely in the settings.
3. With regard to music, it sounds pretty good out of the buds. Again, these are earbuds with tiny drivers, so don’t expect monster bass response, but by and large everything I threw at the buds sounded decently full (especially electronic/EDMish things), and I could pick out little details in the music that I would miss with lesser earbuds or if I’m listening to something off my two-watt computer monitor speakers. They’re the best-sounding Pixel Buds, certainly, and I’m happy to listen to my music with them. I also used them for a phone call with Krissy earlier in the day; again, they did perfectly well in letting me hear her, and they had no problem picking up my voice to talk to her.
4. The buds are touch sensitive and you can control volume, pause, play and noise cancellation with them (you can also assign touch for Google Assistant if you want it). All of these work perfectly well, as they did with previous versions, but I’d also add the caveat that if you have to fiddle with the buds to any extent — hello, weirdly shaped left ear canal! — you’re gonna trigger the hell out of these various functions as you fiddle, which is vaguely annoying.
On the subject of Google Assistant, I have it set to be voice activated, and in the times I used it, it worked exactly how it was supposed to, without any hiccups or problems. Google Assistant is simultaneously the most useful and most colorless of all the virtual assistants, and that’s fine with me. I don’t need it to be vivacious and interesting, I need it to access things on my phone when I want it to. It does that really well.
5. Speaking of things done really well, the Pixel Bud Pro integration with my Pixel 6 Pro (yes, I’m well sucked into the Google ecosystem) was flawless and ridiculously easy; I literally just flipped open the lid of the Pixel Buds Pro holding case and my phone said “Oh, hey, look, Pixel Buds, you want I should connect?” Why, yes, Pixel 6 Pro, I do, thank you. So much easier than having to do the usual Bluetooth sacrificing of chickens to get something to connect, or whatever. And there’s no lag or (so far) any dropped connections or connectivity static that was a problem with earlier Pixel Buds before software/firmware updates.
For things that aren’t Pixel Phones (or Pixelbooks, as I understand the integration there is similarly easy), there is regular Bluetooth connectivity available. You’ll have to check with someone else about how it does with that. I’ll be over here, enjoying my seamless connection experience.
6. Other things: I’ve had these for less than a day so I can’t speak to battery life, but Google claims an up to seven-hour listening session before they need to be slipped back into their case for recharging, which is something like a 40% boost from the previous iterations, and the case will handle 20 hours of charging before needing a recharge itself. Google’s previous versions of the buds/cases hit their advertised marks in this respect, so I don’t have any reason to doubt this estimation.
The carrying case for the Pro Buds is marginally larger than the ones for previous iterations but not by enough that I could see it by looking at it on its own; I had to actually put the Pixel Buds A case up next to it to see it. This iteration of the case can wirelessly charge if that’s a thing you want. The buds come in four colorways; I got the “lemongrass” colorway because it stands out, and that way when my left bud falls out of my ear I can find it more easily on the floor.
7. Are the Pixel Buds Pro worth the $199 Google is charging for them? If you’re as deep into the Google ecosystem as I am and you want noise cancellation in your earbuds, I’d say yes; even with my annoyingly troublesome left ear canal, at this early stage I’m very much enjoying the overall sonic experience they provide. If you don’t care about noise cancellation, still want Pixel Buds and want to save $100, you’ll be fine with the Pixel Buds A iteration, which is still available for purchase, and with which my user experience was perfectly good.
But, yeah: So far, the Pixel Buds Pro are pretty nifty. More updates as warranted.
— JS
John, your PBPs and case look very much like my state-of-the-art hearing aids, and I suspect the technology is similar as well. Hearing devices have more bells and whistles because of course their function is to help you hear all kinds of sound, but I have been amazed at how the technology has evolved as things continue to get smaller.
Enjoy your PixelBudsPro, and if you DO end up needing adaptive hearing devices (as nearly 4 in 10 people over 60 do at some point…) you will find the adaptation a snap, thanks to your experience!
I feel the same way about my Apple AirPods Pro – it’s kind of amazing how good active noise cancellation has gotten and how much more “surround” a pair of earbuds can sound.
At the same time, it’s frustrating how easily they’ll fall right out of my ears if I bend over the wrong way! I once dumped an AirPod into the wash and didn’t I’d lost it until I was upstairs, so I retraced my steps and couldn’t find it until I went to put my clothes in the dryer…and there it was! It had been washed along with my pants and denim shirts….
OTOH, I stuck it in a small bag of rice for a couple days, and it works just as well as it ever did. So – yay?
Obviously the second sentence in the second paragraph should read: “I once dumped an AirPod into the wash and didn’t realize I’d lost it until I was upstairs”….
Thanks for the first impressions but I’m happy being “completely sucked into the Apple ecosystem” and although I have their wireless earbuds (which I gave to my wife who loves them), nothing sounds better, or does ANC better than my Bose QuietComfort 35 II over-the-ear headphones with my iPhone and a large collection of .flac music files. Experiment all you want and spend all the $ you want but like millions of other Apple and Bose owners, I’ve found audio Nirvana and am happy with the hardware I have.
I have Bose earbuds and am quite happy with them.
“ non-secured buds of any sort have historically never stayed put without effort.”
Yeah, I find that I need ear hooks to keep mine in. Since I’m in the Apple Ecosystem™ I got Powerbeats, which do the same easy connecting thing. They also have a cable connecting them, which adds to the security. Pity that so many manufacturers went for form over function.
A bit of Silly Putty will help hold that bud in your ear.
This is helpful! I didn’t even ever notice that Google made Pixel earbuds, but I have a Pixel phone and I’ve been needing to research something new because the cheap earbuds I’ve been buying crap out every 6 months.
I don’t need the noise cancellation personally, and I have issues with buds falling out (so I usually use over-ear and joined together ones). So the older model may be perfect for me — especially if I can verify it works well for phone calls if I only use the right bud. ( I realllly like to hear my environment, I’m a women hiking solo with a German shepherd, so I want to hear nature sounds as well as people coming up behind me so my dog doesn’t pre-emptively snap in my presumed defense.)
Did you run the fit check in the app? I did and had to use the larger ear tip but surprisingly only for my right ear.
I just bought the Pixel 6a and Pixel buds “a”. They don’t have the fancy ANC, but they do have the little wingtips, and those really help keep them in the ears. The fit is generally good, though I’m considering trying some soft foam tips to increase passive noise cancelling. My one complaint is that the battery life is much less than my cheapie Aukey EP-T31 jellybean-ish earbuds, which are also physically smaller.
I have also noticed that the small size of the charging case make it easier for my mischief cat to abscond with.
Thanks for the review John. I have the same phone and just got my PBP last weekend. So far this is an improvement over my PB2. With a long bus commute a few times each week battery life was an issue with the PB2 so I am looking forward to the improvements promised with the Pro Buds. I am not sure about the fit yet, but I have been on several long walks and have not yet had one fall out yet.
I got an email from Google advertising foam tips that they sell on their online store site. These might work for your left ear situation:
https://store.google.com/product/premium_foam_tips_pixel_buds_pro?hl=en-US
I bought a super cheap pair of Mpow earbuds from Amazon a little over a year ago. Had no trouble pairing them and keeping them paired with my Pixel 3a. While they don’t have active noise cancelling tech, they sound good enough for me. Fantastic battery life even after 16 moths of regular usage. YMMV, etc.
Mpows are good cheap earbuds – if you can’t afford something expensive, they’re worth buying.
I never take my phone when I go to the gym. I stored about 35CDs on my Apple Watch and I use Bose Quite Comfort ear buds to listen to music. (I also do calls, messages, workouts, and control the ear buds from my watch).
At home I use the ultimate in ear buds that NEVER fall out (the way most ear buds do for my weird ears) with etymotics ER4s. They use passive NC, more effective than the active I have with the Bose ear buds and can use bluetooth with an etymotics add on. The disadvantage for most people is that they go really deep in the ear canal. Bass is excellent. Speaker size doesn’t matter at all; the tight ear cavity is the key to good bass.
The comply people make tips for them that might help. I’ve used some of their tips on other IEMs that I use. Using their tips with my CIEMs result in a fit that’s almost too tight.
I have the older model Galaxy earbuds (which I use on an iphone. I won’t pay Apple’s price for their airbuds). They have the wings, which I like very much, though I also have a problem getting a good seal on the left ear canal. I need to find the extra tips (still unpacking from a move, so God only knows where they are). I find them most useful when I want to take a nap with some soft music playing, blanking out any noise from my wife’s tv in her office.