A buyer’s guide to Google’s best earbuds

At Google’s I/O conference this spring, the company confirmed it’s getting into the pro audio segment with a pair of high-end earbuds called, what else, the Pixel Buds Pro. The new buds certainly sound compelling, boasting ANC, long battery life, and convenient features like wireless charging and Bluetooth multipoint. Sound up your alley? Here’s everything you need to know.

Google Pixel Buds Pro: Design

Source: Google

The Pixel Buds Pro share a strong family resemblance to prior Pixel Buds. Their case is the same smooth pill shape in the same eggshell-finish white as seen on both the Pixel Buds A-Series and 2020’s Pixel Buds.

There are four colorways: left to right in the image above, they’re called Coral, Lemongrass, Fog, and Charcoal. While last year’s Pixel Buds A-Series featured charging cases with accents that matched the buds themselves, that’s not the case this time: the case is black and white for every color of earbud.

The new Pro buds ditch the stabilizing fins intended to hold the last two pairs of Pixel Buds in place. They also don’t have the divisive spatial vent that purportedly helped reduce ear discomfort caused by pressure — though they do feature what Google calls “active in-ear pressure relief.”

They’re bigger than previous Pixel Buds models, with each earbud measuring 23.72-by-22.03-by-22.33 millimeters. For reference, the Pixel Buds A-Series are 20.7-by-29.3-by-7.5 millimeters. The Pixel Buds Pro will stick out of your ear a little farther than the last two pairs did. That’s fair, though, considering these are Google’s first earbuds with active noise cancellation.

Google Pixel Buds Pro: Audio and active noise cancellation

Source: Google

We haven’t had the chance to actually hear the Pixel Buds Pro yet—they’re not out until July—but both the Pixel Buds A-Series and the 2020 model sound really good. Considering the Pro are a higher-end offering, it stands to reason they’ll sound even better. That said, the last two models had 12-millimeter drivers, and the Pixel Buds Pro have slightly smaller 11-millimeter ones. Size isn’t everything, but even so, we’re not expecting a huge leap in audio fidelity.

Even if they don’t sound markedly better than Pixel Buds that came before them, Pixel Buds Pro have a major leg up on them in active noise cancellation. Google had to change up the vented design it used in prior earbuds to accommodate the feature, but that sounds like a worthwhile trade-off. The buds also have a transparency mode to help make up for it.

Google Pixel Buds Pro: Software and features

Like previous Pixel Buds, the Pixel Buds Pro will feature hey Google detection for hands-free Assistant access. They have Fast Pair for easy pairing with any Android device, and you’ll manage the buds’ settings in the Pixel Buds app, which is built in on Pixel phones and a separate download for phones from other manufacturers. In a first for Google earbuds, the Pixel Buds Pro will have Bluetooth multipoint support, meaning they can connect to two devices at the same time — for example, your laptop and your phone.

Pixel Buds Pro will also have the same gesture-based controls as 2020’s Pixel Buds. The feature is absent in the Pixel Buds A-Series, and we’re very excited to see it come back — it means you’ll be able to control media volume without having to get your phone out. Google’s also said they’ll eventually support spatial audio, a sort of virtual surround sound.

Google Pixel Buds Pro: Battery and charging

Source: Google

The last two pairs of Pixel Buds were smaller than most true wireless earbuds, and their battery life reflected that: even without ANC, the Pixel Buds A-Series only managed to eke out about five hours of playback on a charge. Google says the Pixel Buds Pro will provide about seven hours of listening time with ANC on or 11 hours with it off, and that the case contains about two full charges for the buds. Google also claims that charging the earbuds in their case for five minutes will provide “up to 1 hour of listening time.”

While 2020’s Pixel Buds had a case that could charge wirelessly, last year’s A-Series didn’t; they were USB-C only. The Pro bring back wireless charging at 2.5 watts, which is quite slow — but earbud batteries are tiny, so they don’t need a lot of current. We’re not yet sure how fast they’ll charge over USB.

Google Pixel Buds Pro: Pricing and availability

The Pixel Buds Pro will be available for pre-order starting July 21, one week before their July 28 street date. They’ll cost $199.99 in the US.

At launch, the Pixel Buds Pro will be available in 12 countries:

You’ll be able to get a pair directly from Google. We don’t know which third-party retailers will carry the buds yet, but we expect to see them at stores like Best Buy and Walmart.

Google Pixel Buds ProSee at Google Store

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