Introduction
Hello folks ! Today. Lets discuss about everyone’s favourite set of Truly Wirelss Earbuds. For obvious reasons, lets compare both AirPod 2 and AirPod Pro against the new completely revamped Google Pixel Buds 2.
That’s right! we’ve got my AirPods, we’ve got my Pixel Buds and We are comparing all of these guys today.
These are not your normal run-of-the-mill third-party earbuds, these things are something special and we’re really excited to review them.
Let’s Get Started
Build Quality
Starting out with the Pixel buds. There is a whole lot of love I have to give mad props to Google for how well they have designed these.
I can’t tell you how many ear buds come across our desk and they’re just kind of the same thing, they feel rather cheap and they’re plasticky but these Pixel buds Gen 2 are different.
They have a different feel with these more premium options. The price tags aren’t all that premium though.
Really the best build quality outside of Airpods that we’ve seen has been the Master & Dynamic MW07 Plus and MW07 Go and all the new versions of those, are other favorite kinds of premium high-end ones.
Most of the other stuff we’ve seen has just been a little more on the lower side. They don’t invest as much attention to detail as Google and Apple do.
Design & Practicality
First of, these new Pixel Buds come in a few different colors. We have the white model here. You can also find them in black, orange and mint, they look really cool.
I always just love the pastel colours they use with the Pixel line. They’re great, they have these nice matte finishes. They do pick up a little bit of dirt due to that matte finish.
Gloss and matte both have pros and cons. If you go with the glossy finish of the Airpods it scratches and scuffs fairly easily whereas if you go with a matte finish Pixel Buds, it picks up debris a little bit easier.
Google kept these things clean there’s no logo, there is no real Pixel logo, there is no regulatory information printed on the outside of these Buds.
They look pristine even the hinge actually from the back looks a lot better than what we get with the AirPods.
Apple AirPods has that metal hinge that hangs on the back of the AirPods versus what we have on the Pixels Buds, I would choose Pixel Buds any day- hands down.
It’s just cleaner, so I really like to look at that. The other thing is Apple really nailed what we kind of refer to as the fidget factor and it’s actually a big deal.
And it’s particularly due to how that lid works on the AirPods. It feels great. You open it up, it is solid, it is smooth, it kind of flicks into a position as you open it and has a satisfying click when these things close.
Third-party ones just don’t have it and it’s kind of a small thing but when you’re having your hands on it, it just gives you a better feel of quality and attention to details.
Google nailed it pretty well with these Pixel Buds. They open up very smooth, there’s a very little wiggle room. It springs up close again. It has a good satisfying click when it closes. The hinge on this Pixel Buds is top-notch.
So this is pretty much the closet you have seen so far as build quality comes to AirPods and finding up the design is almost like just amalgam between the AirPods and the AirPods Pro.
Because it’s kind of got the vertical nature of the AirPods but it’s more rounded and curvier like the AirPods Pro. So a little bit of a mix there.
Features
Pixel features that we really love the most was probably the real-time translation. You basically put these in your ear, talk to someone in a different language, and get translations real-time going into your ears.
It’s very cool and such a unique feature. Mind you, it only works over on Android. So a lot of the features that are great to Pixel Buds are only going to work on the Android side of things.
And similar things happen with the AirPods, a lot of the AirPod specific features only work on iOS and they don’t carry across to Android.
Aside from real-time translation, these Pixel Buds offer an IPX4 water resistance the same as AirPod Pro, though AirPod does not have that same level of water resistance.
Pixel Buds do have adaptive audio and it basically adjusts your volume as per surrounding noise and sounds, again another Android specific feature there.
And of course, it features Google assistant on Pixel Buds whereas AirPods feature Siri. Pixel Buds do charge over USB C which is great, it features a wireless charging which is fantastic.
What’s really handy about wireless charging is that it’s built into these Pixel Buds just like the Airpods Pro whereas with the regular AirPod to pick that extra feature bumps up the price as you have to get that wireless charging case.
Battery Life
As far as battery life goes, the Pixel Buds are rated for 5 hours and with the case 24 hours of battery backup. That’s pretty much spot-on with AirPods.
Regular AirPods will get you 5 hours on a single charge and AirPods Pro they 4.5 hours though that does stretch to 5 hours if you turn off ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) and Transparency modes.
Similar to Pixel Buds, 24 hours again on the AirPods Pro including the case.
So battery life is very comparable between the two devices.
Noise Cancellation
As I did mention a couple of AirPod Pro specific features that are kind of a big deal and likely a big selling point for them versus other options even the lower cost Airpods and that’s going to be a Transparency mode and Active Noise Cancellation (ACN).
Regular AirPods offer nothing, they have a very loose seal which a lot of people like.
Then we have the Pixel Buds which offer passive noise cancellation. They go in your ear and they’ve got a silicone fit, they’ve got that little stabilizer that goes out at the back and really hold them in your ear. So they have a strong fit on the Pixel Buds and offer that passive noise cancellation.
Then you got an AirPods Pro which offers Active Noise Cancellation as well as Transparency mode.
Both of the Pixel Buds and the AirPods Pro have little vents in there which help equalize the pressure so you don’t have any ill effect that some people get with some noise-canceling earbuds.
Active Noise Cancellation is a huge deal as this Transparency mode. A lot of people like that about AirPods Pro and unfortunately don’t get that with the Pixel Buds.
Controls
As far as controls go Pixel Buds have a kind of flat surface on the outside. You can tap on this large flat surface to play and pause. You can swipe up and down to adjust audio volume levels and you can tap a couple of times to go forward and triple tap to go backward.
Whereas on regular AirPods they have a tapping gesture as well though it’s far more limited. Basically, we double–tap or triple taps.
And then you have the AirPods Pro which has those force stems, a little bit easier to control than regular AirPods.
I like the force stems better than the whole bunch of tapping gestures but I really like that large surface on the Pixel Buds, they sit very close to your ear and it’s very easy to swipe around with those large surface.
Additional Features
Other features that we love about AirPods– Apple has the Find My App where you can find your AirPods. There is a Find My Device App that you can use to find your Pixel Buds.
AirPods have Live Listen which is an accessibility feature allowing you to use the microphone on your phone to pick up the audio.
So, whether you’re using it to hear somebody better or using it as a hearing aid or if you just want to spy on someone that’s something you can do using AirPods.
There’s audio sharing feature with AirPods where you can share that audio you’re listening to with multiple devices at the same time. Thanks to Apple’s H1 audio chip.
Mind that the audio chip also gives you great signal strength. We had far fewer dropouts and connectivity issues with our AirPods and gives you incredible range up to a 100 feet using that class one Bluetooth audio.
Whereas Pixel Buds using standard Bluetooth 5 hears about a 33 or so foot range.
Not bad, but while we were listening, we did have some issues, kind of lag between the two buds while talking on the phone.
We almost heard like an echo in one ear before we heard in the other ear just by a split second or so.
So a little bit odd kind of discrepancy there with the Bluetooth performance on the Pixel Buds.
Audio Quality
Google is touting its nice custom 12 millimeter drivers in these things. It has a good sound a very good sound. Don’t get me wrong but it sounds just a little muddy.
it wasn’t as crisp or as clear as it was on the AirPods.
There was more bass or sound mood through the Pixel Buds but it was just not as tight, not as honed in as the AirPods were.
And for me, that was more important especially if you’re going for something like an audiobook or spoken word or phone calls it was cleaner on the AirPods than it was on the Pixel Buds.
So audio quality is a bit of a toss, it just goes with what your preference is. Both of these things have larger drivers moving larger amounts of air.
However, volume-wise both of them weren’t incredibly loud but we did see that AirPods were slightly louder than the Pixel Buds.
Either way, these guys are great and kind of the question that it comes down to between the Pixel Buds and AirPods is not really which one is better, it’s which devices you have to go with them.
if you have iOS devices you have to pick AirPods they are simply the best for iOS. If you’re going with an Android device, hands down these Pixel Buds are the clear winner.
Final Verdict
I like these Pixel Buds so much more than the Galaxy Buds, the build quality is incredible.
I just love the color, the feel of them , the gestures are so easy to use and it has such a large surface controls, they fit in your ears and everything about them.
Pixel Buds have been hands-down my favorite Android set of earbuds.
Unfortunately, you lose those features you love- Live Translation, Google assistant, and adaptive audio when you take your Pixel Buds over to iOS.
Similarly when you take your AirPods and you move those over to an Android device you lose features as well those being able to control Active Noise Canceling and Transparency mode that you enjoy on IOS devices.
They just don’t have nice cross-platform compatibility. Either way whatever device you have is really kind of the device that you should pick up for your earbuds.
No matter if you have Android or iOS I want to hear what you guys think. Do you think Apple should steal anything from the Pixel Buds or you think Google should get anything from AirPods?
Let me know down in the comment. And if you want to grab any of these AirPods or Pixel Buds follow the link for BEST PRICE on these bad boys. Until next time Stay Safe and Stay Techy.
