Jim Rossman: AirPods sound quality depends on the fit in your ears

I received a question this week from a friend about wanting to upgrade his AirPods from the original AirPods Pro to the AirPods Pro 2.

I have both versions, and my friend asked me about the noise cancellation feature introduced with the AirPods Pro 2. Specifically, he wanted to know if I thought the noise canceling was worth the upgrade cost.

My specific answer was that if he liked the sound of the AirPods Pro, he would benefit from the noise cancellation of the Pro 2s, as long as he could get them to make a good seal in his ears.

With a set of in-ear buds, like the AirPods Pro and Pro 2, there is a silicone tip that extends into the ear canal to make a seal. As long as you get a good seal, the music sounds really good and the noise cancellation works surprisingly well.

If you can’t quite get a good seal, outside noise will leak into your ears and music will sound thin and you’ll keep thinking it should sound better.

If you buy AirPods Pro or Pro 2, you’ll find there is a way to test the ear fit inside the settings in iOS.

The Pros 2 come with different ear tip sizes and the tips just pop off and snap back on, so they are not too difficult to swap out.

When you unbox them, the Pros 2 have the medium tips installed, but there are extra small, small and large tips in the box.

Take a few minutes to try the different sizes and run the Ear Tip Fit Test.

To run the test, put the AirPods Pro into your ears and make sure they are connected to your iPhone or iPad and open the Settings and then open Bluetooth.

Tap the More Info icon next to your AirPods in the list and then touch the Ear Tip Fit Test and tap the blue Play button.

You’ll hear a few seconds of music, followed by the test results, which will tell you if you have a good seal or if you should try repositioning the AirPods in your ear or trying another size.