Disillusioned with airpods pro 3's

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JillF

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#323172 3-Nov-2025 05:14

I bought a new pair of airpod pro 3's after watching all the reviews which raved about them. Has anyone else found they just don't live up to hype?

Noise cancellation is not good. Translation is terrible (slow and inaccurate). Sound quality is decent, but not worth the money when you can buy similar for half the cost

stocksp

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#3430268 3-Nov-2025 06:56

Im exactly the opposite. I think they are great. Good noise cancelling, ok sound, the translation worked well when I tried it. And even better, these actually stay in my ears (unlike the previous pros) and are comfortable.

i wore them on a 6 hour flight the other day rather than my sony xm6 over the ears, although would still generally choose the sonys for longer flights. Have stopped using my xm5 in ears.

Senecio

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#3430374 3-Nov-2025 10:52

Have you completed the fit test? They are regarded by almost everyone who has used them to have one of, if not the best ANC of an in-ear bud. If your not hearing then I would check the fit or make sure its not set to transparency or adaptive mode.

alasta

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#3430376 3-Nov-2025 10:56

That's a shame. I was planning on buying a pair but might consider the Bose Quietcomfort instead as The Quantified Scientist on YouTube found the Airpods Pro 3 really buggy.

Having said that, I really like the idea of having FindMy on the Airpods which is lacking on the Bose offering.

Paul1977

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#3430714 4-Nov-2025 11:44

What are you comparing them to conclude the noise cancelling is not good?

I upgraded my Pro 2 (which already had very good noise cancelling) to the Pro 3 and find the Pro 3 noise cancelling slightly better (but I think their claim of 2x better is a massive overstatement). If this is your first experience with noise cancelling headphones/buds maybe your expectations were too high?

I'm not an audiophile so can't really judge the sound quality, but they sound good to my untrained ears.

I never really had any issues with the fit of the Pro 2, but the Pro 3 (for me) definitely fit better. They go further into the ear, which meant I could go a size down on the tip and still get a good seal and they stay in place better.

They aren't perfect though. On a few occasions when I've slept in them I've woken to high pitch noise from the right bud (which is the side I sleep on) - I assume it's some sort of feedback or something from the ANC (maybe from it being pressed into the pillow) but a bit weird and something I never experienced with the Pro 2.

More battery life in the buds is good, but why they now have significantly less battery in the case is baffling.

Haven't tried the translation, but anything that relies on Apple Intelligence I just assume won't be great.

alasta

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#3430727 4-Nov-2025 12:15

From a sound quality perspective, I think the Airpods Pro 2 are as good as you can realistically expect from a bluetooth connection and I can't imagine Airpods Pro 3 being any less capable in that regard. If you want really good sonic performance then you need something like Airpods Max or Bose Quietcomfort Ultra, both of which now have a built in DAC and ability to receive audio via USB-C.