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Apple now sells three sets of earbuds:the new AirPods Gen 3,the older AirPods Gen 2 and the more expensive AirPods Pro.

Chasing Twisters by Delta Rae poses a real challenge to headphones to reproduce well;it relies on moments of silence,heavy emotion,small details,low bass and clear high frequencies. It starts sparse,builds to a dramatic cacophony and can be ruined by flat or poorly tuned headphones. The new AirPods did well for the most part,nailing the silences,some of the emotion,and the driving beat of the floor toms. But on the second chorus,as the song built,the mid-tones started getting a little muddy and it became difficult to tell the individual instruments apart.

It still sounded much,much fuller than on the older AirPods,which sound tinny and cheap in comparison. But while they came impressively close to the experience of the AirPods Pro,they couldn’t quite touch the detail and emotion of their in-ear sibling.

On a positive note,I’ve listened to Olivia Rodrigo’sGood 4 You a hundred times on various speakers and headphones,but when listening on the new AirPods for the first time I noticed a mysterious high-pitched instrument in amongst the cymbals on the bridge. I normally wouldn’t expect to pick up new details on ear buds,so that was a pleasant surprise.

The new AirPods have a few more tricks,but they’re also a chunkier fit.

They also handledMy Way by Pvris admirably. It’s an extremely bass heavy song that relies on the bass guitar to be just distorted enough without going over the edge,with the brightness of the hi-hats twinkling in the background. Ear buds shouldn’t be able to make this song sound this good,and yet these ones do.

The new AirPods are great for movies too,though spatial audio doesn’t quite have the same impact on these as they do on the AirPods Pro. Spatial is obviously huge for Dolby Atmos movies and shows,with sounds seeming to come from above,below and around,and having the audio stay in the same place while you move your head is trippy and immersive.

Part of this improved sound comes down to the adaptive EQ which uses an inward facing microphone to tune the frequencies to match the shape of your ear,which makes a noticeable difference.

There’s also an upgrade to how the on-device controls work,moving away from the tap controls (which are easily triggered by adjusting the ear bud) and towards force controls on the stick. This is extremely welcome,because usually true wireless headphones have the least user-friendly controls ever,enough to make one miss the days of wired remotes.

Another great addition is that they now have the same accessibility features of the AirPods Pro,including Live Listen,which is wonderful.

But,with all those extra features comes added girth,and those with smaller ears,or for
whom the existing regular AirPods fit perfectly,will have some issues.

I always found the original AirPods fit perfectly,and the new AirPods just felt a touch too big. They’re the same size bulb as the AirPods Pro,but the Pro have the added clutch of the ear canal.

Although the left AirPod constantly felt at risk of falling out,it took a surprising amount of effort to get it to actually fall. It was secure while riding for five kilometres on a stationary bike. Making weird faces and eating chewy food is usually enough to make all but the most secure buds fall,but they passed the test.

The thing that finally made it fall was the ultimate test:drumming. When drumming you can’t touch the ear bud,you’re (or at least,I’m) making weird faces,and there’s a lot of head movement.

In the end,the only negatives are the size and the unfortunate environmental impact of the unrepairable,unrecyclable true wireless style. If you can get past that,and have an appropriately sized ear shell,the 3rd Generation AirPods are a huge improvement over the originals.

There’s a reason why AirPods have become so iconic and are the most popular true wireless headphones,and these take that to the next level. The 3rd Generation AirPods are easily the best non-in-ear ear buds I can ever remember hearing.

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