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Tag: audio

  • Nothing Ear 3 Review: Super Sounding Wireless Earbuds, Not-So-Super Mic

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    From the start, Nothing was designed to be an antidote to Apple and its omnipresent AirPods. While Apple focused on a sort of all-purpose minimalism, Nothing adopted a hallmark transparent look that, if not altogether disparate (both pairs of wireless earbuds have a similar stem design), at least gave its Ear products a unique design language. That quest for being different extended into features, too. In 2023, Nothing introduced personalized EQ, giving it a visual and technological difference over Apple’s AirPods and eventually a ChatGPT integration, which was a first in the category.

    But a lot happens in a few years, especially in a space as saturated as wireless earbuds, and while Nothing’s Ear are still a solid pair of earbuds, they feel… a little less of an earful. Apple now has its AirPods Pro 3 with high-tech features like real-time translation and heart rate monitoring, while non-Apple competitors in the same price range, like OnePlus and Google, aren’t pulling any punches with their own entrants into the space that offer personalized EQ, AI features, and noise-canceling that compete with pro-level gadgets.

    Nothing Ear 3

    The Nothing Ear 3 have solid sound, but flub the one thing that makes them unique.

    Pros

    • Great sound
    • Solid ANC
    • They look very cool
    • Case feels premium

    Cons

    • Super Mic is a super letdown
    • May not be worth the premium over last gen

    But just in the nick of time, as Nothing’s flagship wireless earbuds seem to be falling behind, the company is back with its $180 Ear 3 that offer a new look and one truly unique feature for improving voice calls. As usual, Nothing is taking some chances, and not just in the visual department. For me, some of those risks are really paying off, but others… well, they’re not so super.

    Nothing Ear 3 gets a visual update

    © Adriano Conreras / Gizmodo

    So much of Nothing is about looks. That’s not a knock on the company. This is technology that you wear, and because of that, appearance can be make-or-break. Chances are, if you’ve bought Nothing products in the past, you agree, which also means, if you saw Nothing teasing its Ear 3 wireless earbuds before its release, your eyebrows may have been raised.

    I’m going to get straight to the point: the Ear 3 look great. I was worried at first that the Ear 3 may scale back on the transparent part of its wireless earbuds, but that’s not the case here at all. Sorry for the alarm bells, anyone who reads my blogs. Instead of a homogeneous black look on the outside of the stems, the Ear 3 goes with a metallic silver that really makes them look like a capital “G” Gadget. As Gizmodo’s Senior Editor, Consumer Tech, Raymond Wong, noted to me, this thing has big Talkboy vibes (shout out to Macaulay Culkin). There’s still a transparent shell that lets you see the internal components through the sides and back of the earbud stems.

    Nothing Ear 3 07
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    The case also adopts the same metallic look, shedding the white version (there’s also still black) for an aluminum that both looks and feels genuinely different. The “Talk” button (more on that later) is also nice and shiny, inviting you to push it. This case now has some weight in your hand, and I really love that. No one wants to carry around heavy gadgets, but Nothing did a good job here of balancing the weight to make the case and buds feel premium without making it feel chunky.

    The design language also feels more aligned across flagship audio products now, bringing together the Ear 3 and the Headphone 1, which have an aluminum finish. If you’re a fan of the Headphone 1, or prior Nothing buds, you’ll love the look of the Ear 3. Another thing you’ll love? The sound.

    A much-needed audio upgrade

    I thought the Ear were nice wireless earbuds when I first listened to them in 2024, but I’ve tested a lot of newer earbuds since then, and in that testing, my opinion has shifted. The Ear still hold it down, but the sound and ANC aren’t quite as premium as I’d like them to be, especially with a slight cost premium over brand new buds like the OnePlus Buds 4. In short, it was time for an upgrade.

    According to Nothing, the Ear 3 now has a redesigned 12mm dynamic driver and “patterned diaphragm surface” that is meant to “lower total harmonic distortion from 0.6% to 0.2% versus the previous in-ear generation.” Nothing also says that the redesigned architecture increases bass response and delivers a wider soundstage. That’s all rhetoric, though, and at the end of the day, what you really want to know is, “Do these sound better than the last generation?” and in my anecdotal testing, they definitely do.

    Nothing Ear 3 11
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    I tested the Ear 3 back to back with the Ear (which is actually newer than the Ear 2) and found that there was a lot less distortion when listening to C.W. Stoneking’s “Desert Isle”. There’s more spatiality in the Ear 3 than the Ear, making guitars and vocals sound like they’re in their own place instead of muddled together competing. Vocals in particular sound clear and natural, which is great if you’re like me and tend to listen to a lot of rock music. One vast improvement over the Ear is in the bass department. As I’ve said many times, I don’t particularly care about having a ton of bass in wireless earbuds, but I do appreciate a pair that can still provide low end without sounding over-compressed or super simulated. I’d say the Ear 3 do just that, especially after testing bassier music by listening to Daft Punk’s “Da Funk”.

    As usual, I also dove into the Nothing X app and used Nothing’s personalized audio test to tune the Ear 3 to my specific hearing. I can’t overstate this enough: stop sleeping on your wireless earbuds’ companion app. There’s a big difference in the sound before using the personalized EQ and after, and while this won’t be the case with everyone, I’m 33 years old and a couple of decades of going to shows and listening to loud music means I could probably use a little assistance in the hearing department. The Ear 3 sound great out of the box, but personalized EQ really sends the audio over the top. In short, Nothing is still holding it down with its flagship-level sound, and the Ear 3 is an even bigger improvement generation-to-generation than its jump from Ear 2 to Ear.

    Active noise cancellation (ANC), however, I found a little less improved generation-to-generation. Though to be fair, Nothing isn’t touting better noise canceling this time around. I gave the Ear 3 the obligatory subway test, and while they passed, they weren’t quite as formidable as my favorite noise-canceling wireless earbuds, Bose’s Quiet Comfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen). They’re still much better than the similarly priced Galaxy Buds 3 FE from Samsung that I recently tested. I do think they’re slightly more noise-canceling than the last generation, though that could be due to Nothing’s redesign of the buds, which are meant to provide a better and more comfortable fit in your ears—that could create better passive noise cancellation and the illusion of stronger ANC.

    Battery life is also only slightly improved. Nothing says the Ear 3 will get 5.5 hours of listening with ANC on, while the Nothing Ear was rated for 5.2 hours. This is nowhere near the best battery of wireless earbuds in this class; in fact, it’s a little under. Six hours is generally the standard nowadays. In my testing, I went from 100% to 80% battery in a little over 1 hour of listening at 70% volume with ANC on high.

    So, that’s the good, pretty good, and just okay news about the Ear 3. But there are some things I really don’t like, so let’s talk about them.

    Super Mic? More like soupy mic.

    There’s one aspect of the Ear 3 that can’t be compared, since Nothing is the only company really trying it. I’m talking about the “Super Mic,” a new exclusive feature in the Ear 3 that lets you use microphones in the case for clearer calling and voice recording. By pressing the “Talk” button on the case, you can activate the feature and get recording or calling—one push activates the feature until you release the button, while a double-tap will turn the feature on until you turn it off.

    According to Nothing, there are two Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) mics inside the case that use beamforming to zero in on your voice and cancel out environmental noise at the same time. The Ear 3 also take advantage of bone-conducting capabilities that detect “microvibrations” in your jaw that are meant to detect speech. The process of relaying the results of your Super Mic voice is a bit convoluted. Nothing says your voice is “sent to the case antenna, relayed to the earbud antenna over Bluetooth, then passed to the phone.”

    Nothing Ear 3 01
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Per Nothing, Super Mic “focuses on your voice, cutting through surrounding noise (up to 95 dB) for clearer calls and voicenotes.” In theory, I love the idea. Wired earbuds are a big thing again, and a major part of that (outside the superior audio quality) is that they usually come with an on-cable mic for clearer calls. This theoretically makes the Ear 3 a best of both worlds situation, giving you wired earbud-level mics for calling (or better) while not having to deal with annoying wires.

    The only problem is… the Super Mic doesn’t work as advertised. I ran the feature through a few different tests, and the results were varying degrees of muddy. At first, I played background music while using Super Mic to record my voice through my iPhone’s Voice Memo app. Instead of canceling out the background music (lo-fi beats playing at 75% volume from a Chromebook about a foot away from me), it mixed my voice and the beats together, creating a kind of muddled amalgam that wasn’t very pleasant to listen back to.

    Nothing Ear 3 04
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Similarly, I simulated subway noise (something more “environmental”) on YouTube at the same volume and distance, and the results were similar. My voice was still mixed in with the ambient sound that I hoped it would filter out. Super Mic did seem to work better out on the street near my office (a fairly busy part of downtown Manhattan), though I still wouldn’t describe the results as “super” in any way. Even when Super Mic effectively filters out environmental noise, I find the fidelity to be choppy and compressed-sounding at times. It’s nowhere near as pleasing to listen to as recording through the native mic on my iPhone 13.

    Super Mic did filter out noise effectively while walking on the street next to ongoing construction and in a fast casual restaurant that was playing music, but it still picked up other people’s voices in settings where people were talking nearby, which would make using the feature in an environment with other people potentially problematic.

    There’s also the issue of compatibility. Nothing says Super Mic is designed for voice calling in apps like Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, WhatsApp, WeChat, and is also supported in native voice memo apps on iOS and Android. However, Nothing makes it clear that the feature “isn’t optimized” for in-app voice messaging through third-party apps like Snapchat or native voice features in iOS Messages and the like. This is a long way of saying that your mileage may vary when it comes to Super Mic, and while compatibility can’t be blamed on Nothing—it’s up to Apple and Android to allow third-party mic access, and in what apps—it still limits the Super Mic feature, making its use a lot more restricted than it ought to be.

    I reached out to Nothing about the issue I had with Super Mic, but haven’t yet determined if there’s an issue with the wireless earbuds or a problem with the feature. (Yes, I was using the right firmware and Nothing X build). Other reviewers have reported their own issues with Super Mic, too.

    Good buds, but a little (ear)itating

    When you make a big bet, you might lose a little money—no risk, no reward. No matter your rote idiom of choice, that sentiment tends to be true. Super Mic could be a cool feature if it’s refined, but for now, I would file it firmly in the “undwhelming” folder. Maybe it will improve with future software, but I can’t really guarantee that, so all I have to work with is what we have right now, which is to say a Super Mic that seems to be plagued by a serious case of Kryptonite.

    Nothing Ear 3 05
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    The annoying part is that everything else about the Ear 3 is pretty solid. They look great, they sound great, and ANC is sturdy. The battery life leaves something to be desired, but it’s not so bad that it’s disqualifying. But this is what happens when you try to do something different sometimes, you gotta take the hits with the misses. Alright, I’m done with the corny euphemisms now, I swear.

    The Ear 3 might falter out of the gate with a shoddy Super Mic feature, but if you like the way Nothing wireless earbuds look and you want solid sound and ANC, the Ear 3 are still worth a look. Just don’t expect to be taking any Zoom calls from a construction site with these things just yet.

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    James Pero

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  • The Fiery Furnaces Announce Blueberry Boat Vinyl Reissue, Share New Song

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    The Fiery Furnaces have announced a special vinyl reissue of Blueberry Boat, their breakout album from 2004. It’s out October 10 via Everything Nice. The experimental art-rock band, started by Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger, has also shared a previously unreleased bonus track that was recorded in 2003. Check out that new song, “Far Away,” below.

    Matthew Friedberger wrote “Far Away” at Eleanor’s request, according to a press release, for a November 2003 show at New York’s Mercury Lounge. “I liked the idea of writing a special song for each show, but that was the only time we ever did it,” explained Matthew. “In the end we decided to not put it on the album. I’d thought it would fit because it didn’t. It turned out it just didn’t. I told myself that the songs on Blueberry Boat are about working and not working, as opposed to loving and not loving.” Eventually, “Far Away” morphed into “Waiting to Know You,” which landed on 2006’s Bitter Tea.

    The upcoming reissue of Blueberry Boat is limited to 500 hand-numbered vinyl copies. It features new cover artwork and comes in a gatefold tip-on jacket. The Fiery Furnaces will embark on a short tour to coincide with the reissue, beginning on October 10, in Kingston, New York. From there, the duo will perform at Pitchfork Festival London, Le Guess Who?, and elsewhere. Find the group’s full list of tour dates below.

    Read about Blueberry Boat at No. 145 in “The 200 Best Albums of the 2000s.”

    All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

    The Fiery Furnaces: Blueberry Boat Tour

    The Fiery Furnaces:

    10-10 Kingston, NY – O+ Festival
    10-25 Brooklyn, NY – National Sawdust
    11-06 London, England – Pitchfork Music Festival London
    11-07 Brussels, Belgium – Botanique
    11-08 Utrecht, Netherlands – Le Guess Who?

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    Nina Corcoran

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  • Jake Xerxes Fussell and James Elkington Detail Rebuilding Soundtrack, Share New Songs

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    North Carolina folk singer Jake Xerxes Fussell and Chicago-based guitarist James Elkington have collaborated on the soundtrack for Rebuilding, a new film directed by Max Walker-Silverman. The duo’s first original score arrives November 14 via Fat Possum, coinciding with the film’s New York theatrical release. Hear two selections—”Contemplating the Moon” and “Glow in the Dark”—below.

    “I could hear the cinema in it right away,” producer Dan Janvey said of Fussell in a press statement. “His music is rooted firmly in all the folkloric traditions I love but not at all nostalgic. And that was much like the film we were making; a story in which the past is all around but firmly of the here and now. And since so much of his music has no lyrics, Jake already understood the challenge of telling a story through instrumentation alone.”

    Elkington added: “I think Max had a suspicion that we’d be able to improvise a couple of new pieces in the room, while watching the picture, which turned out to be true. Some of our favorite cues were written that way—in the room while watching the picture.” Elkington has produced Fussell’s last two albums—2022’s Good and Green Again and 2024’s When I’m Called, in 2024—and shared his own latest solo album, Pastel De Nada, earlier this year.

    Rebuilding is Walker-Silverman’s first directorial effort since 2022’s A Love Song. The film follows Josh O’Connor as a cowboy whose southern Colorado ranch has burned down in a wildfire. It also stars Lily LaToree, Meghann Fahy, Kali Reis, and Amy Madigan.

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    Walden Green

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  • Mitski Covers Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open the Door”

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    Milan Records has released the soundtrack for A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, a new film starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell. The soundtrack includes famed Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi’s score for the film, four tracks performed by Laufey, and a cover of the Who’s Pete Townshend’s “Let My Love Open the Door,” performed by Mitski. Find the Townshend cover and full soundtrack below.

    Hisaishi is best known for his work with Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, most recently collaborating with the director and studio on 2023’s The Boy and the Heron. With A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, he “makes his Hollywood feature scoring debut,” as noted in a press release.

    Three of Laufey’s four songs on A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) are covers, but one, “The Risk,” is an original that was apparently written at the behest of the movie’s director, Kogonada. Laufey co-produced the song with Spencer Stewart, her primary collaborator on new album A Matter of Time.

    Read Pitchfork’s review of Mitski’s latest studio album, 2023’s The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We.

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    Matthew Strauss

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  • Pavement Release New Best-Of Compilation Hecklers Choice

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    Pavement have just released Hecklers Choice: Big Gums and Heavy Lifters, their new best-of compilation; physical editions will follow on November 14 via Matador. What’s more, the band has also announced that vinyl and CD versions of the soundtrack to their oddball movie Pavements—a blend of documentary, biopic, and mockumentary, all directed by Alex Ross Perry—will arrive on November 14, too. Stream their new compilation album, and check out a live video of “Grounded,” filmed at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, below.

    Hecklers Choice is the second best-of compilation of Pavement’s career, arriving 15 years after their 2010 collection Quarantine the Past. The updated tracklist includes songs that have since become modern classics of the band’s career, including the Spotify algorithm favorite–turned–TikTok hit “Harness Your Hopes.” Pre-orders for vinyl and CD versions of Hecklers Choice are currently ongoing.

    Pavements (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is also currently available to order. Compiled by the band and Robert Greene, the movie’s producer and editor, Pavements’ official soundtrack combines live and rehearsal recordings from the band’s 2021 reunion tour, dialogue snippets from the movie, scenes from the fake Oscar-bait biopic Range Life, and cast recordings from the Slanted! Enchanted! jukebox musical.

    Revisit Pitchfork’s review of Pavement’s first best-of compilation, Quarantine the Past.

    All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

    Pavement: Hecklers Choice: Big Gums and Heavy Lifters – A Pavement Collectio

    Pavement: Pavements (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

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    Nina Corcoran

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  • Listen to Silvana Estrada’s New Song “Good Luck, Good Night”

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    Next month, Silvana Estrada releases Vendrán Suaves Lluvias. She’s now shared the fifth and final preview of the new album. Listen to the Estrada-produced “Good Luck, Good Night” below.

    “This is a song born out of pain, and, above all, out of humor, as a way to cope with it,” Estrada said of “Good Luck, Good Night” in a press statement. “It’s a delirium, and, at the same time, an act of letting go. A heartbreak song in every sense. It was the last song I wrote for the album, and, in many ways, it marks the end of a friendship. The truth is, even if it’s hard to admit, not all stories end well. Not all of them come with neat little morals or a light behind every goodbye. Some people, and some breakups—are just dark, no matter how you look at them. And it’s exactly in that darkness that humor shows up, like a guard dog, keeping you company.”

    Vendrán Suaves Lluvias is Estrada’s second studio album, and it’s out October 17 via Glassnote. Along with “Good Luck, Good Night,” the follow-up to 2022’s Marchita will include “Como un Pájaro” (which was just nominated for Best Singer-Songwriter Song at the 2025 Latin Grammy Awards), “Lila Alelí,” “Dime,” and “No Te Vayas Sin Saber.”

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    Matthew Strauss

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  • Helado Negro Announces New EP The Last Sound on Earth, Shares Song

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    Helado Negro will release a new EP, The Last Sound on Earth, on November 7. His debut release for Big Dada, the five-song record is inspired by Roberto Carlos Lange’s reflection on the question of the last sound he will hear before he dies. Listen to “More,” a song he’s said is about “the day-to-day push and pull that can lead to being overwhelmed with more of everything,” below.

    Lange added in press materials, “When I wake up in the morning, I can listen to my ears tuning-in to the world around me. It feels like a blanket being pulled off my eardrums.” He continued, “I was watching Michael Snow’s Wavelength (in increments) while working on these songs and the room for interpretation of what I saw and heard felt large. Every time I watched it carved a new emotion out of me. Despair, hope and inspiration. I wanted to ask more of listeners, to want to take time—not just pause, but ask yourself can you untangle all of the mess and try again.”

    The “More” lyric video is directed and animated by Annapurna Kumar, who said, “The central metaphor of this video, the origami heart, represents a person processing their emotions. By focusing on a simple physical task like folding, the inner mind is freed to meditate subconsciously. I wanted to depict the mindset of someone who is a little bit overwhelmed by fleeting thoughts, but working to channel them into something positive.”

    Helado Negro released the album Phasor in February of last year.

    All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

    Helado Negro: The Last Sound on Earth EP

    The Last Sound on Earth EP:

    01 More
    02 Protector
    03 Sender Receiver
    04 Zenith
    05 Don’t Give It Up Now

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    Jazz Monroe

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  • Listen to Thundercat and Remi Wolf’s New Song “Children of the Baked Potato”

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    Thundercat is back with two new songs that he made with producer Greg Kurstin. First, there’s “I Wish I Didn’t Waste Your Time.” Then, he’s got a collaboration with Remi Wolf called “Children of the Baked Potato.” Listen to both songs below.

    The title of “Children of the Baked Potato” refers to a Los Angeles jazz club called the Baked Potato. “[Remi Wolf is] a child of the Baked Potato, like me,” Thundercat said in a statement. “She knew exactly what the song needed. And it was wild to watch her make it happen. The more I listen to the song, it’s clear there was no one better I could have picked.”

    Thundercat begins a North American tour next month. He’s not released a new album since 2020’s It Is What It Is.

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    Matthew Strauss

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  • AirPods Pro 3 Review: Skating to Where the Puck Is Going, Not Where It Has Been

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    Almost three years after Apple introduced the original AirPods Pro 2 (updated with USB-C in 2023) with category-defining sound quality and active noise cancellation (ANC), I can safely say that just about every company making ANC wireless earbuds has caught up or surpassed them, and often with buds that are sold for less than $250. Basic wireless earbuds features—good audio, good ANC, and good battery life—are table stakes, and each of these is improved on AirPods Pro 3. Apple’s third-gen ANC wireless earbuds are an excellent gen-over-gen upgrade and an even bigger leap if you’re coming from first-gen AirPods Pro.

    But what’s more interesting is seeing how Apple transforms the AirPods Pro 3 into a health and fitness-centric wearable and a vessel for AI features like Live Translation. To borrow a quote that’s often misattributed to Wayne Gretzky, AirPods Pro 3 “skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”

    AirPods Pro 3

    Apple’s third-gen ANC wireless earbuds improve all the basics and lay the foundation for going beyond audio with health and AI features.

    Pros

    • Even better fit
    • Terrific sound
    • Improved ANC
    • Longer single-charge battery life
    • Simultaneous heart rate tracking and music
    • On-device Live Translation works
    • IP57 rating

    Cons

    • Less total battery life with case
    • Heart rate tracking only works with Fitness app
    • Live Translation only supports five (six if you count UK English) languages at launch

    Design and comfort

    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    I’ve never had complaints about the comfort and fit of AirPods Pro 2, so I was skeptical whether I’d feel any difference with AirPods Pro 3, which feature smaller buds with a more angled design, and foam-infused eartips. I’ve been using AirPods Pros almost daily since the originals came out in 2019, so I have a pretty good idea when the little white pieces of plastic that I stuff into my ears feel off—in a good way. AirPods Pro 3 sit deeper in my ears (your ears might be different), and the stems are just slightly farther away. I’ve been using the preinstalled medium-sized eartips on AirPods Pro 2 without issues, but just to see whether I’d get more noise passive noise cancellation from the new foam-infused eartips, I tried the small size tips, and lo and behold, they seemed to block out just a bit more environmental noise. So definitely try a size down if you’re feeling like ANC could be better. Apple also includes an XXS size eartip (for a total of five sizes) this time around. (There’s no USB-C cable in the box anymore, though, but who doesn’t have a dozen of them lying around?)

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 1
    AirPods Pro 2 (left) vs. AirPods Pro 3 (right). © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    There are other subtle external changes, too. The inner vent is smaller; the outer vents are larger; and there’s one more covering the heart rate sensor next to the eartip. The buds are also rated IP57 sweat- and water-resistant, which means they can be immersed in up to 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes and can survive heavier rain and dusty conditions. AirPods Pro 2 are only IPX4-rated, which is good for only splashes, and light rain and sweat.

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 2
    AirPods Pro 2 case (left) vs. AirPods Pro 3 case (right).  © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    The charging case is largely the same, save for some small tweaks. Most people won’t notice this (I almost didn’t), but the case is a teensy bit larger in all directions. Apple told me that the redesigned geometry of the buds required a slightly bigger case to ensure they’d slip in with the same satisfying clicks and snaps. Loose-fitting cases for older AirPods Pro should still be compatible with the AirPods Pro 3, but the ones that are snug might not, and you may need a new case. I don’t do cases for my AirPods, so I’m fine sticking a cute keychain on the cases’ built-in lanyard loop. The case also no longer has a physical button on the backside. Matching the AirPods 4 (with and without ANC) case, the AirPods Pro 3 case has a touch-sensitive button just below the battery indicator LED. Double-tapping it puts the wireless earbuds into pairing mode, and double-tapping it three times factory resets it.

    Sound quality and active noise cancellation

    Like any tech company, Apple takes every opportunity to boast about how it reengineered its products to offer even better this or that. For AirPods Pro 3, Apple says the wireless earbuds use a “new multiport acoustic architecture” for better sound across all frequencies—highs, mids, and lows. I’ll leave the scientific tests to the audiophiles at SoundGuys and RTings, but to a regular Joe like myself, they sound virtually the same compared to AirPods Pro 2. That’s not a knock—AirPods Pro 2 sound great—but we’ve reached a ceiling for sound quality in wireless earbuds. If there’s any discernible difference, it’s that the lows are just a bit cleaner, especially if you’re using the AirPods Pro 3 in motion like running. Many of the bass-heavy tracks in the Power Hour playlist on Spotify sounded deeper with less distortion, and vocals sounded just a smidge clearer. I thought some of my favorite new songs from Linkin Park’s latest album, “From Zero,” including “Stained” and “IGYEIH,” would sound miles better, but alas, they sound about the same. There wasn’t much that Apple needed to improve in terms of sound quality, so I’m not surprised at all that any audible differences are minor. I’m fine with not messing with the already great sound. It’s better than Apple forcing some kinda AI enhancement to remaster songs for the modern age and potentially ruining them.

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 9
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Transparency mode is also more natural-sounding. Compared to other similar modes on other wireless earbuds that I’ve tried, like the Pixel Buds 2 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, and Nothing Ear, I’ve always found Transparency mode on AirPods Pro 2 to sound the cleanest. Background noise is blended with music in such a way that it doesn’t sound like a synthetic mode with tinniness or reverb that I’ve noticed on other wireless earbuds. On AirPods Pro 3, I could hear voices and ambient sounds mix more seamlessly with my music. It’s subtle, but very nice!

    ANC is a different story. Apple says it improved active noise cancellation by two times compared to AirPods Pro 2, and by four times compared to the first-gen AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 with ANC, which have the same level of noise cancellation. I don’t have the tools to measure and verify that ANC claim, so again, I’ll let the audio experts tackle that, but I can tell you the ANC (with the best-fitting eartip for my ears) is noticeably stronger in blocking out background noise. As I type this, I can’t hear the whir of the Dyson Airblade fan from 10 feet across the room or even the battery-powered pocket fan on my desk. I didn’t hear my cat, Kiwi, meowing like a maniac earlier when it was her dinner time. Outside, on the subway, the screeches and rumblings of the train were more drowned out compared to my AirPods Pro 2; I felt less irritated not having to hear a guy singing bad karaoke for two stops. All of this is to say, the ANC on AirPods Pro 3 is indeed better than on any other AirPods. Is it the best there is in any wireless earbuds? Better than the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (2nd Gen) that my colleague James Pero says have “amazing ANC” and are best in class? Probably not—AirPods Pro 3 don’t completely eliminate external sound—but they’re gonna be more than enough for most people. Crank the volume up past 50% when you’re listening to music and you’re gonna hear less environmental noise.

    Heart rate tracking

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 5
    AirPods Pro 3 have a built-in heart rate sensor. © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    The biggest new addition in AirPods Pro 3 is the heart rate sensor. If you don’t have an Apple Watch, you can use it to track your heart rate and calories while using the Fitness app. The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, released in February, were Apple’s first pair of wireless earbuds with a built-in heart rate sensor, but they fell short of being useful because you couldn’t simultaneously track your heart rate and listen to music. Many reviewers also found the heart rate readings to be inaccurate compared to an Apple Watch, chest strap, or even smart rings like Oura.

    Apple confirmed to Gizmodo that the heart rate sensor inside AirPods Pro 3 is completely different technology compared to the Powerbeats Pro 2 and wasn’t based on it. Weird, how Beats is owned by Apple, but developed its own inferior tech. You’d think there would be more synergy between the two companies internally.

    Either way, I’m happy to report that you can listen to music and get a real-time heart rate reading while using the AirPods Pro 3. I didn’t have a chest strap monitor to compare the AirPods Pro 3 with, but there’s a low deviation between the heart rate sensor in the wireless earbuds compared to an Apple Watch Series 9 and Series 10. Before, during, and after three outdoor walks and two 2-mile runs, I did back-to-back checks on the heart rate readings between the three wearables and found there was generally a beats per minute (bpm) difference between 1 and 5. Sometimes the AirPods Pro 3 and Apple Watches recorded the exact same heart rate. This heart rate variability is considered normal; anything higher than 5 bpm would have been reason to worry about the accuracy of the sensor in the AirPods Pro 3. Of course, there’s always going to be some difference when you’re measuring heart rate in your ear versus on your wrist or chest. There’s also the matter of making sure the heart rate sensor on the AirPods Pro 3 is properly covered by your ear’s front flap, or tragus. A poor fit could result in inaccurate heart rate readings, so keep that in mind.

    Heart rate reading on Apple Watch Series 9 vs. AirPods Pro 3
    Heart rate reading on Apple Watch Series 9 vs. AirPods Pro 3 © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

    You’re probably thinking: if you have an iPhone, then you probably have an Apple Watch, so why would you need a heart rate sensor in AirPods Pro 3 as a duplicative feature? First, not everyone who has an iPhone owns an Apple Watch. Not everyone wants a smartwatch, though the new $250 Apple Watch SE 3 is gonna be a value that’s too good for fence-sitters to refuse. Second, the heart rate sensor in the AirPods Pro 3 is just a single stream of heart rate data. Apple says that combined with an Apple Watch, you’ll get multiple readings and the Health and Fitness apps will log whichever is the more accurate one. It’s not an average of multiple connected heart rate sensors, Apple says. I pressed the company on what exactly “more accurate” means, but it seems the company is keeping that info secret, only stating that the activity and calorie tracking reading is determined based on an AI model that was trained from over 50 million hours of data from its Apple Heart and Movement Study.

    Live Translation

    Companies have been trying to figure out how to shove real-time translations into wireless earbuds for years. Google first attempted live translations with its original Pixel Buds in 2017. To review them, I brought in two professional interpreters who had translated for UN conferences to help me test the accuracy and speed of Google Translate running on the Pixel Buds paired to a Pixel 2 XL. The results were not unexpected: the Pixel Buds were no replacements for live translations from humans. The live translation feature was convenient and helpful in a pinch, but clearly too literal in translations, and oftentimes incorrectly translated certain words or phrases. The professional interpreters were able to translate five times faster than waiting for Google to beam the translations from the cloud. Eight years later, Apple may have cracked it.

    AirPods Pro 3 Live Translation
    © Screenshots by Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

    Live Translation on AirPods Pro 3 is the same feature, but it actually (mostly) works—and in near real-time—from what I could gather. The number of supported languages at launch is short—English (UK), English (U.S.), French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain)—but Apple says it plans to add Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese (Simplified) by the end of the year. As somebody who’s been learning Mandarin Chinese and starting on Japanese, I was bummed I couldn’t try out either. I’ll have to revisit Live Translation when those languages are added.

    I tested Live Translation in Spanish and French, though in most cases the Spanish was of the Mexican variety. Turning on Live Translation is easy, and there are several ways to do so. You can squeeze the stems of both buds, and your iPhone will launch the Translate app. You don’t need to have the app open, but you’ll get live transcriptions for both the language that’s being translated and that you’re translating into. You can use a Siri Shortcut and map it to the Action button on a supported iPhone. Or you can simply say, “Siri, start Live Translation.” I found this to be the worst of the three ways, with the voice assistant constantly translating “live translation” into a language after the command. Siri also repeatedly got confused about where the start and end of a sentence I asked to be translated was. Clearly, Siri is still not as intelligent as it could and should be by. Google’s Gemini seems to misunderstand me a lot less on the Pixel 10 and Galaxy Z Fold 7.

    I first tested translating Spanish with my friend Christian, who speaks it as her first language. We had a brief conversation about what types of food and activities there are to do in my neighborhood. She said the translations were about 95% accurate. There were some instances where the AirPods Pro 3 microphones failed to pick up on a few words that both of us said. For example, I tacked on “Thanks, honey” at the end of the convo and the buds just didn’t hear that part. I don’t know if I spoke too quickly or too softly or what. It’s not a dealbreaker unless you’re mentioning something really important.

    In classic Apple style, Live Translation has its nice attention to detail. When activated, ANC turns on and the beamforming mics in AirPods Pro 3 kick in to isolate the voice of the speaker directly in front of you so you can focus on what they’re saying. If the other person is wearing AirPods Pro 3 (or Pro 2 or AirPods 4 with ANC), they’ll get the same experience.

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 4
    Squeezing both stems turns on Live Translation. © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Then, I tried Live Translation with a fruit stand seller speaking Mexican Spanish, while Christian monitored the live transcriptions on my iPhone. I asked, “Can I get some fresh orange juice?” and the AirPods Pro 3 read back (and transcribed in the app), “¿Puedo conseguir un zuma de naranja fresco?” Christian told me that while that was correct because Live Translation was translating English to Spanish (Spain), she would have gone with “jugo” for juice instead of “zuma”, which is more common in conversational Spanish. Maybe one day, Apple Translate and Live Translation on AirPods Pro will be able to automatically detect accents and regional vocabulary, and personalize translations to them. For now, Live Translation seems to work mostly as advertised.

    The best part of Live Translation is that it all works on-device—no internet connection is required. I tested it with the Wi-Fi turned off and translations worked just as quickly. Of course, you will need to download the languages to your iPhone, so you will eat up some storage, but also your conversations (audio and transcriptions) are never saved on the device or anywhere in iCloud or the cloud, and Apple promises that it doesn’t use any Live Translation data for training its AI models. That’s a relief, because I don’t need Apple or any AI knowing the very stupid conversations I like having with my international friends.

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 3
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Another fun way I found to use Live Translation was while watching YouTube videos. I loaded up a video from a Spanish-speaker and turned the volume loud enough for the AirPods Pro 3 to pick up the audio and translate it back in real-time. All of a sudden, videos in Spanish became more accessible without having to glance down at the bottom of the screen and potentially missing what was happening. I compared the voice translations coming through the buds and the Translate app to the on-screen subtitles and auto-dubbed version from YouTube, and they seemed to track closely. AI voice translations are rapidly breaking down language barriers for video content and I’m all for enabling more people to view and connect with videos regardless of their native tongue. What I’m not sure about just yet is using AI to deepfake or reproduce a person’s voice (and sometimes even sync it to lip movements). Google’s Pixel 10 phones have a feature called Voice Translate that does real-time voice translations (also on-device) during phone calls, but it clones your voice with near pitch-perfect tones and inflections. It’s cool, creepy, and a month after reviewing the devices, I’m still not sure whether it’s necessary. Google frames Voice Translate as “hear the voices you love, not a robot,” but this is gonna be something consumers will decide whether it goes too far. Fortunately, you don’t need to worry about deepfaked voices with AirPods Pro 3 and Live Translation—you get two female voices and a male one to choose from.

    Battery life

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 8
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    There are two ways to look at battery life for wireless earbuds: you can get longer battery life from a single charge for the buds and fewer hours total with the charging case, or less continuous listening time with the buds and more total hours with the charging case. On AirPods Pro 2, the buds could last up to 6 hours with ANC and get up to 30 hours total with the case—that’s five additional charges. On AirPods Pro 3, Apple bumped up the buds an extra 2 hours to 8 hours on a single charge, but reduced the total amount of battery with the case to 24 hours—so you only get two extra charges.

    That’s an upgrade if you prefer more continuous listening time, like for a long-haul flight. But it’s a downgrade if you want more battery life on the go. This split between continuous listening battery life and total battery life with the case is equal to Sony’s WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds. Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) get up to 6 hours with ANC and only 24 hours total with the case.

    This change may mean trips to the outlet sooner than before. I really wish Apple had sped up the fast charging. A 5-minute charge still provides only 1 hour of listening time, just like on AirPods Pro 2.

    Still great for audio, but the future is health and AI

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 11
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    There are some other features that are nice, like the ability to press the stem of a bud to click the shutter when you’ve got the Camera app open; good if you’re a vlogger or want to snap a photo with your iPhone propped up from afar. AirPods Pro 3 also have a newer Ultrawide band chip inside the charging case that lets you find them using Precision Find My from 1.5x farther away, according to Apple. I’ve maybe used Precision Find My only a handful of times with my AirPods Pro 2, so it’s not a big addition for me, but if you’re always misplacing your wireless earbuds, it could come in handy.

    Apple is also doing more for hearing health and assistance, with the hearing test that you can take during setup for the AirPods Pro 3 now being scientifically validated.

    Combined with the upgraded basics for sound, ANC, battery life, and durability, AirPods Pro 3 are an even better wireless earbuds package than the AirPods Pro 2. The price is still the same $250 MSRP, but if the deep sales on AirPods Pro 2 in the past years are any indication, AirPods Pro 3 may drop drop $200 or $150 this holiday season. Yes, there are probably better-value ANC wireless earbuds out there, but they’re not buds that are designed to pair and switch seamlessly between Apple devices. Nor will other wireless earbuds have the same tight integration with Apple services, like the heart rate tracking and Live Translation that are only possible with iPhone and the Fitness app. If you’ve got an Android phone, you’ll get all the better core wireless earbuds features, but you won’t get the health and AI stuff, and that’s where the puck is going. With AirPods Pro 3, you’re getting a front-row seat to where things are headed. I would bet money that once Apple gets its Apple Intelligence-powered Siri back on track, that’s when we’ll really see AI in AirPods open new doors.

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    Raymond Wong

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  • Galaxy Buds 3 FE Review: Samsung’s ‘Fan Edition” Wireless Earbuds Are Just Enough

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    If you’re a Samsung fan and you see “FE” branding, you probably think a few things. The first thing that comes to mind is probably, “I’m saving some money.” For those not fluent in Samsung lingo, FE, which is actually short for “Fan Edition,” is the equivalent of SE in Apple-speak, meaning it’s a more budget-friendly alternative to the flagship-level gadgets. But it’s not just savings you want when you’re seeking something FE-branded—you want quality, too. Maybe you’re not expecting every bell and whistle in the wheelhouse, but you want a lot of it.

    I want a lot of the good stuff, too, and I don’t want to pay for it, which is why when I got my hands on Samsung’s recently released Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 FE, my expectations were elevated. And at $150, they might be even more elevated than usual. It’s not that $150 is too much money in the world of wireless earbuds, it’s that there are a ton of competitors in that range, and a lot of them punch above their weight class—the OnePlus Buds 4, Nothing’s Ear, and Google’s Pixel Buds 2a, for example.

    So, the next logical question is how do the Galaxy Buds 3 FE hold up against competition, and if we already know there are compromises built in, what exactly are they? On that front, I’ve got good news and bad. Let’s start with the good stuff.

    Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 FE

    Samsung’s newest Galaxy Buds 3 FE wireless earbuds sound good but lag in some key departments.

    Pros


    • Good sound

    • Same blade design as Buds 3 Pro

    Cons


    • ANC is middling at best

    • Not as feature-rich as competing buds

    • Blade design looks nice but isn’t great to touch

    FE price with flagship sound

    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    I won’t mince words; I really like how the Galaxy Buds 3 FE sound. For wireless earbuds in this price range, they sound (at the risk of hyperbole) shockingly good. They don’t have as much bass as some competitors like OnePlus and its recent pair, the OnePlus Buds 4, but I personally don’t mind that at all—I don’t key in on bass when it comes to wireless earbuds. I’m more likely to appreciate buds that mitigate distortion, and I would describe the Galaxy Buds 3 FE as pleasantly unmuddled.

    See Galaxy Buds3 FE at Amazon

    See Galaxy Buds3 FE at Samsung

    I find that, despite being less bassy, the Galaxy Buds 3 FE have a really natural soundstage, with clear mids and highs, which make vocals feel audible and present, and accompanying music distinct. I tested the Galaxy Buds 3 FE back-to-back against the OnePlus Buds 4, listening to the new Gorillaz single, “The Happy Dictator,” and the experience was kind of jarring, but I think I prefer Samsung’s audio tuning. I could hear vocals upfront, background vocals felt artfully tucked away, arpeggiated synths occupied their own rightful space in the mid and high range, and I didn’t detect much distortion even with the volume turned almost all the way up. If you emphasize bass, you’ll most likely disagree with me, but the Galaxy Buds 3 FE are my preference.

    What’s the FE catch?

    Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Fe 5
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    So, there’s the highlight—the sound. But what about the stuff you may not like? For me, it’s the active noise cancellation (ANC). As much as I like listening with the Galaxy Buds 3 FE when I’m in a relatively quiet environment, I find that the appeal withers slightly in the cacophony of New York City living. One of the biggest tests you can put a pair of ANC wireless earbuds through is New York’s subway system—a gauntlet that I send almost every pair of wireless earbuds and headphones through—and in this case, I would say the Galaxy Buds 3 FE barely pass the test. When a train arrives, I basically can’t hear what I’m listening to, and even while I’m riding the subway, I’m still getting a decent amount of ambient noise from my environment.

    I don’t think that it’s a passive noise cancellation issue—the default eartips feel comfortable—but even if it were, the Galaxy Buds 3 FE also only come with two tip sizes, which is notably less than other similarly priced competitors, which offer between three and five sizes. I’ll give Samsung a little slack here if just because the last pair of ANC wireless earbuds that I tested are Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen), which cost $300 and are designed specifically to cancel the heck out of all the noise around you. They’re the best at noise cancelling of any wireless earbuds I’ve put in my ears. But still, I was expecting more from Samsung, especially when I had no such complaints about the OnePlus Buds 4.

    While the Galaxy Buds 3 FE are fine for mild instances of noise cancellation—they’re mostly fine on the sidewalk in New York when I’m walking place to place—they’re not the wireless earbuds I would spring for on an airplane or during a loud New York City subway commute.

    Things that are fine with the Galaxy Buds 3 FE

    Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Fe 2
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    You’ve got the good and the not-so-good, but what about the in-between? There are levels to this stuff, after all. I think the best encapsulation of things that are just fine in these wireless earbuds is the squeeze and touch controls. They’re not the best I’ve ever used, but they’re very okay. Interestingly, Samsung includes two types of controls on the Galaxy Buds 3 FE. To adjust volume, you swipe up or down on the buds, while skipping tracks, pause/play, and turning ANC on and off are done through squeezing. Like any squeeze controls, you’ll have to adjust to the sensitivity at first, but once you do, they work fine for the most part.

    I say “the most part” because I do find—because the Galaxy Buds 3 FE are so light—that squeezing them does jostle them in my ear a bit. They’re not flying out mid-commute or anything, but squeezing does feel marginally more tenuous than on other pairs of wireless earbuds. Adding to that tenuousness, I think, is Samsung’s “blade” design, which is borrowed from its flagship Galaxy Buds 3 Pro for this version of the FE. My complaint doesn’t have anything to do with how the blade design copies AirPods—I actually like the look of the Galaxy Buds 3 FE—but one thing I don’t like is how it feels on my fingers.

    Because of the way the buds are situated when they’re in your ears, the edge of the blade faces forward, which means when you go to squeeze, you may actually be squeezing a sharp angle, which (while not the biggest problem in the world) just doesn’t feel altogether right. I’d much rather squeeze a flat surface (a flatter stem with a bigger surface area). It’s a small tactile detail in the scheme of things, but as long as we’re getting nerdy about this stuff, it’s worth mentioning.

    Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Fe 1
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Though I don’t love the feel of the blade design, I do actually like the look. They’re plain in the scheme of things, but I find them kind of elegant. I also like how they appear when they’re in my ears, though the blade is a decent length and can sometimes end up sticking out if I don’t properly put them in my ears. Haters will say that the blade design is just an AirPods ripoff, and congrats, haters, you’re right. That being said, AirPods look nice (if a little boring), in my opinion, and I think that Samsung does a good job of putting a little twist on the Apple minimalism.

    In keeping with the theme of the section, the battery life of the Galaxy Buds 3 FE is also just okay. The buds are rated for 6 hours of battery life while ANC is activated and 8.5 hours when it’s turned off, and with my usage, those estimates seem accurate. With the charging case, the total hours of battery is up to 24 hours with ANC on and up to 30 hours with it off. That’s about the same battery you’d get with most wireless earbuds in this price range, give or take a half hour or so. Sorry folks, if the longest battery life is a priority, you’ll just have to spend more money on wireless earbuds.

    Feature-wise, the Galaxy Buds 3 FE are decently equipped but not brimming. You get adaptive ANC, 360 audio (Samsung’s version of spatial audio), transparency mode, and you can choose EQ presets in the Galaxy Wearable app, but there’s no personalized tuning test like there is on the OnePlus Buds 4 or Nothing Ear. That last one is a bit of a bummer since personalized EQ can dramatically change the sound quality in my experience.

    Feature-rich or not, the Galaxy Buds 3 FE are still nice-sounding buds at a fairly affordable price. I think Samsung has room to improve in the ANC department, though, and if you’re looking for the most of anything, going FE just isn’t the way. But if you like Samsung’s Galaxy products and you’re more focused on quality sound over anything else, these might be your pick without costing too much.

    See Galaxy Buds3 FE at Amazon

    See Galaxy Buds3 FE at Samsung

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    James Pero

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  • Stereolab Release New Songs “Fed Up With Your Job” and “Constant and Uniform Movement Unknown”

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    Stereolab have released a pair of new songs, “Fed Up With Your Job” and “Constant and Uniform Movement Unknown.” Take a listen below. They are packaged as a double A-side single, out now and limited to 3,000 copies in a co-release by Warp and the band’s own Duophonic UHF Disks. The single comes on the eve of the band’s tour of North and South America.

    Stereolab have already been touring for several months behind Instant Holograms on Metal Film, their first album in 15 years, released in May. More dates in Europe have recently been added to the sprawling trek.

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    Jazz Monroe

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  • Mobb Deep Announce New Album Infinite, Share New Song “Against the World”

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    For the first time since 2014, there will be a new Mobb Deep album: Infinite, the follow-up to The Infamous Mobb Deep, is out October 10 via Mass Appeal. Below, listen to the 15-track record’s Havoc-produced opener, “Against the World.” Scroll down for the new album’s artwork.

    Infinite is the first album from Mobb Deep since the death of Prodigy in 2017. It’s also Prodigy’s second posthumous release, following 2022’s The Hegelian Dialectic 2: The Book of Heroine.

    “This one feels like coming full circle,” Havoc stated in a press release. “It’s that classic Mobb energy—dark, real, unfiltered. The sound that shaped who we are but also speaks to where hip-hop is right now.”

    A month after Infinite’s release, Havoc (under the Mobb Deep) banner will go on a co-headlining tour with Raekwon. He’ll be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Mobb Deep’s iconic sophomore album, 1995’s The Infamous.

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    Matthew Strauss

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  • Pink Floyd Announce Wish You Were Here 50th Anniversary Reissue, Share “Welcome to the Machine” Demo

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    Pink Floyd are reissuing their classic 1975 album, Wish You Were Here, for its 50th anniversary. Wish You Were Here 50 is out December 12 via Sony Music Entertainment. The expanded edition will be available in 3xLP and 2xCD formats featuring alternate mixes and demos, or as a box set that also includes a fourth LP of live material recorded at Wembley Stadium and a Blu-ray that gathers three concert films from Pink Floyd’s 1975 tour and a short film by graphic designer Storm Thorgerson. Listen to “The Machine Song (Demo #2, Revisited),” a demo of “Welcome to the Machine,” below.

    “In the 1970s, album covers were equally as important as the music, because the cover helped to sell the record,” Aubrey Powell, who co-founded the UK design collective Hipgnosis and designed the Wish You Were Here cover alongside Thorgerson, said in a statement. “Record stores would carry 10,000 different images in album sleeves, so what we were doing had to look different and stand out amongst the crowd. I remember turning around to Storm and saying, ‘How are we going to set a man on fire?’ Because there was no digital way of doing it in those days. He said, ‘Po, you’re just going to have to do it for real.’”

    Wish You Were Here was in large part a tribute to Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s co-founder and original vocalist, who had left the band seven years prior due to his deteriorating mental health. Roger Waters and David Gilmour shared lead vocals on the album. Waters handled both halves of the 25-minute epic “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” while Gilmour sang “Welcome to the Machine” and “Wish You Were Here.” “Have a Cigar” was an exception: The band recruited folk songwriter Roy Harper to perform the song.

    Revisit Sam Sodomsky’s Sunday Review of Wish You Were Here, and read about the album’s title track at No. 39 in “The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s.”

    All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

    Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here 50

    Wish You Were Here 50:

    01 Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-5)
    02 Welcome to the Machine
    03 Have a Cigar
    04 Wish You Were Here
    05 Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 6-9)

    01 Wine Glasses
    02 Have a Cigar (Alternate Version)
    03 Wish You Were Here [ft. Stéphane Grappelli]
    04 Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Early Instrumental Version, Rough Mix)
    05 The Machine Song (Roger’s Demo)
    06 The Machine Song (Demo #2, Revisited)
    07 Wish You Were Here (Take 1)
    08 Wish You Were Here (Pedal Steel Instrumental Mix)
    09 Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-9, New Stereo Mix)

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    Walden Green

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  • Listen to Madison Cunningham and Fleet Foxes’ New Song “Wake”

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    California singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham has teamed up with Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold for a new song. Listen to “Wake” below.

    Cunningham, according to a press release, first met Pecknold backstage at one of her shows. “Fleet Foxes’ melodies and songs have inspired me for as long as I can remember,” she stated. “I feel quite lucky to have been able to experience his genius up close.”

    Pecknold also discussed working with Cunningham: “Working with Madison on this was a humbling and enlightening experience! We did maybe 10 takes where she played and sang perfectly every time and I struggled to keep up. She’s a force and an inspiration; thank you so much Madison for pushing things forward so masterfully.”

    “Wake” is the second single from Cunningham’s recently announced new album, Ace, which is out October 10 via Verve Forecast. She previously released “My Full Name.” See the album details below.

    Cunningham will support Ace on tour next year. The shows take place across North America in January, March, and April. See the dates below.

    In 2023, Cunningham won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album for Revealer. The next year, she and Andrew Bird covered the entirety of Buckingham Nicks for an album they called Cunningham Bird.

    All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

    Ace:

    01 Shatter Into Form I
    02 Shore
    03 Skeletree
    04 Mummy
    05 Take Two
    06 Wake [ft. Fleet Foxes]
    07 Break the Jaw
    08 Invisible Chalk
    09 Shatter Into Form II
    10 My Full Name
    11 Golden Gate (On and On)
    12 Beyond That Moon
    13 Goodwill
    14 Best of Us

    Madison Cunningham:

    10-09 Los Angeles, CA – Largo at the Coronet
    01-06 San Francisco, CA – Bimbo’s 365 Club
    01-08 Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
    01-09 Vancouver, British Columbia – Vogue Theatre
    01-10 Seattle, WA – St. Marks Cathedral
    01-13 Boise, ID – Egyptian Theatre
    01-14 Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
    01-16 Santa Fe, NM – Tumble Root Brewery & Distillery
    01-17 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
    01-20 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
    01-21 Austin, TX – 04 Center
    01-22 Austin, TX – 04 Center
    01-24 Tucson, AZ – La Rosa
    01-28 Los Angeles, CA – The Bellwether
    03-25 Nashville, TN – Blue Room
    03-26 Nashville, TN – Blue Room
    03-26-29 Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival
    03-27 Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
    03-30 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
    03-31 Washington, D.C. – Sixth and I
    04-01 New York, NY – Town Hall
    04-02 Philadelphia, PA – Ardmore Music Hall
    04-04 Boston, MA – The Wilbur
    04-06 Toronto, Ontario – Danforth Music Hall
    04-07 Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre
    04-08 Cincinnati, OH – Memorial Hall
    04-10 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
    04-11 Minneapolis, MN – The Fitzgerald Theater

    Madison Cunningham: Ace Tour

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    Matthew Strauss

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  • AirPods Pro 3 Hands-On: All the Upgrades Seem to Check Out (So Far)

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    Whereas the Apple Watch SE 3, Series 11, and Watch Ultra 3 are pretty much internal spec bumps compared to the previous generations of those respective smartwatches, the AirPods Pro 3 wireless earbuds are actually reengineered inside and out, but you’ll have to look closely to spot the changes. The charging case also ditches its physical pairing button.

    After Tuesday’s “Awe Dropping” Apple Event, where Tim Cook and company announced the remarkably thin iPhone Air, feature-stuffed iPhone 17 Pros, and the aforementioned trio of Apple Watches, I had some personal time to experience the AirPods Pro 3. These are the replacements for the AirPods Pro 2 introduced in 2022 (and then upgraded with USB-C in 2023). So we’re talking about a new version for Apple’s three-year-old wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC).

    You can read all the techie detail about how Apple reengineered the drivers and acoustics and all that stuff here or on Apple’s product page. We also wrote up a helpful comparison on how the AirPods Pro 3 compare to the AirPods Pro 2. What neither can tell you is what it’s like to wear the AirPods Pro 3 in your ears and try out the new Live Translation feature and the built-in heart rate sensor. That’s my job, so let’s get to it.

    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    As with my other hands-on, these are merely first impressions. I had about 45 minutes to try the AirPods Pro 3 out. At first glance, the AirPods Pro 3 in their charging case don’t look new at all. There were rumors that the case would get smaller, but the case is about the same size as the one for AirPods Pro 2. Flipping the case over to the back, you’ll notice there’s no more pairing button. Apple removed it and replaced it with an invisible touch-sensitive one on the front. Press and hold it for two seconds to put the AirPods Pro 3 into pairing mode, and then press and hold longer to do a factory reset. The charging light LED is still present.

    Apple Event iPhone Apple Watch AirPods 05
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    The AirPods Pro 3 earbuds themselves are subtly different and designed for better comfort. First, there’s now an extra size for eartips in the box—XXS—for a total of five. Second, the bowl of the buds is more compact. And third, the eartips fit tighter to the buds. Together, these changes all help situate each bud deeper and more snug inside of your ears. One side effect is that the stems seem to stick out more. I immediately noticed this for some reason. I don’t know; I’m very sensitive to how things stuck inside my ears look. Needless to say, the AirPods Pro 3 fit very comfortably in my ears, and although I’ve never had problems with the AirPods Pro 2 buds falling out, I did shake my head, and the AirPods Pro 3 buds felt quite secure.

    Sound-wise, Apple says it’s improved the quality, especially with active noise cancellation performance. I listened to a few songs on Apple Music, including some recent favorites on repeat, like “Dive” by Olivia Dean and “Euphoria” by Keshi, and they sounded very clear with clean and deep bass, and crisp vocals. Apple had four HomePods simulating various environmental noises, like the hum of an airplane and a noisy street. I immediately noticed the stronger ANC in reducing the background noise. Apple says that it’s increased ANC by 2x on AirPods Pro 3 compared to AirPods Pro 2, and by 4x compared to AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 with ANC. That’s impressive, and I look forward to testing how the ANC holds up in the real world. Simulations, after all, aren’t always representative of real life.

    Live Translation Demo

    Apple Event iPhone Apple Watch AirPods 02
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Now let’s talk about the live translation and heart rate sensor because, as our senior reporter James Pero said, AirPods Pro 3 is clearly Apple dipping its toes into transforming the wireless earbuds into much more than a gadget for listening to music.

    In a demo, Apple had a person on hand to speak Portuguese while the AirPods Pro 3 in my ears translated what he was saying into English. Live Translation is activated by using a Siri shortcut (Apple mapped it to an Action button on an iPhone 17 Pro demo unit) or by pressing and holding the stems of both AirPods Pro 3 buds. ANC kicks into gear to isolate the speaker’s voice, and then the translation begins. You can also pull open your paired iPhone to see the transcribed translations within the Translate app. Now, I don’t speak Portuguese, and neither did any of the other media in my hands-on group, so I can’t say with what accuracy the translations were. But I do have experience using the Translate app on iPhone for Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and French translations. It’s good, but not as accurate as Google Translate, especially for tonal languages like Mandarin. I will say that the live translations were nearly instant; the buds do use beamforming tech to home in on the voice of a person who’s directly in front of you, and some languages may require a few more seconds to get the correct context for a translation, but it seemed to work.

    The fine print for AirPods Pro 3 (if you’re getting them for Sept. 19) is that the Live Translation feature is launching in beta and is limited to five languages (English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish) at first. Apple says Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese (simplified) will be available by the end of the year.

    On the bright side, Live Translation is not exclusive to the AirPods Pro 3. The feature is also coming to AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC—the requirements being wireless earbuds with an H2 chip and ANC.

    Heart Rate Tracking Demo

    Apple Event iPhone Apple Watch AirPods 01
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Now, let’s talk about the heart rate sensor. This is not the same tech that Beats uses in its Powerbeats Pro 2 fitness buds, but Apple’s own sensor is based on tech from over a decade’s worth of learnings from the Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor. Ripped from Apple’s own press release, AirPods Pro 3 uses a “custom photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor that shines invisible infrared light pulsed at 256 times per second to measure light absorption in blood flow.”

    I got a brief look at how the heart rate sensor integrates with the Fitness app for workouts. Worth noting, my heart rate in the video below is quite high from having little sleep, getting up at 5 a.m., and hopping in an Uber, and then Caltrain, and then Uber again to get to Apple Park. Oh, and then running around Apple Park for several hours, being extremely caffeinated from too many espresso shots, and Cupertino being extremely warm. That being said, I can’t say how accurate the heart rate sensor in the AirPods Pro 3 is compared to an Apple Watch. I’ll have to compare that when I get a pair of the ANC buds in for review.

    At $249, the AirPods Pro 3 seem to be a worthwhile upgrade over the AirPods Pro 2 if everything like the 2x ANC checks out. And if they’re anything like the AirPods Pro 2, Apple will likely support them with new features for several years. I’ll have more to share when I review them soon, but I’m not seeing any steps backward for now.

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    Raymond Wong

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  • Nothing’s New Wireless Earbuds Have a ‘Talk’ Button, and I Need to Know What That Means

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    Buttons are in right now—at least if you’re a designer at Nothing, they are. On its Headphone 1 (the first pair of Nothing-made over-ear headphones), there are all sorts of doodads. A paddle for track selection; a tic-tac-shaped wheel/button for volume and ANC; a pairing button (okay, this one is boring, but still, it’s a button). Even on its recently released Phone 3, there’s a button on the back of the phone for doing really useful stuff with its “Glyph Matrix,” like… playing spin the bottle. No matter what the use case is, Nothing is clearly intent on bringing back tactile input, and it looks like the upcoming Ear 3 wireless earbuds are in on that trend, too.

    There’s a lot to unpack in this picture of Nothing’s Ear 3, but the main thing that jumps out is a big, obvious “Talk” button on the side of the charging case. It begs some obvious questions, such as, what the hell does that mean? I wish I knew, but I do enjoy the mystery right now. Maybe it’s a way to activate a voice assistant on your phone? Maybe it initiates a call? Maybe there’s a little bug in there that really needs some 1-on-1 convo right now, and only you can help? Hard to say, but obviously, Nothing has some plans for its next pair of wireless earbuds, and it’s not all about just listening to tunes.

    There are more buttons on the side of the case, too, in case you weren’t already in full-on tactile overload. What those buttons do is also anyone’s guess, but I do hope they’re at least a little more fine-tuned than those on the Headphone 1. No shade to more buttons (I like buttons), but I’d prefer the execution to be a little more precise.

    Outside of the button-fest, there’s also a big design shift gen-over-gen, which I wrote about when Nothing dropped its first teaser. Now that we’ve got the full picture, I’m willing to say this: it looks pretty cool! I do think it definitely strays away from Nothing’s transparent aesthetic, but I’m fine with that as long as the buds still have a distinct vibe. Instead of a clean white aesthetic, it looks like Nothing is going for a smooth, metallic silver plastic on the charging case and also a dash of that same silver stuff on the earbuds. I won’t really know how I feel until I lay eyes on them in person, but the shift looks promising and also unifies the design of the Ear 3 and Headphone 1.

    Despite having no clue what any of these buttons do, I’m just glad that Nothing has been in the lab figuring new stuff out. The Ear and the Ear A were nice wireless earbuds, but outside of looks, they didn’t move the needle much (okay, they were the first with a ChatGPT integration, but that’s about it). Maybe a “Talk” button won’t either, but I always give Nothing credit for trying. Get weird with it; why not!

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    James Pero

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  • Gorillaz Announce New Album The Mountain, Share New Song Featuring Sparks

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    Damon Albarn has officially announced the first new Gorillaz album since 2023. The follow-up to Cracker Island is called The Mountain, and it’s out March 20 via the band’s own new label, Kong. Leading the 15-track release is a song featuring Sparks titled “Happy Dictator.” Listen to the new single below.

    The Mountain was produced by Gorillaz, James Ford, Samuel Egglenton, and Remi Kabaka Jr., with additional contributions from Argentine producer Bizarrap. The album was recorded at Albarn’s Studio 13, in London, as well as his studio in Devon, England, and locations in Mumbai, New Delhi, Rajasthan, and Varanasi, India; Ashgabat, Turkmenistan; Damascus, Syria; Los Angeles; Miami; and New York.

    As is often the case with Gorillaz albums, The Mountain is filled with guests, and, this time, artists are performing in five languages: Arabic, English, Hindi, Spanish, and Yoruba. Contributors to the new album include Idles, Kara Jackson, Yasiin Bey, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, Black Thought of the Roots, Anoushka Shankar, and Omar Souleyman. Additionally, the album includes the voices of a number of deceased figures, including Bobby Womack, Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur, actor Dennis Hopper, the Fall’s Mark E. Smith, Detroit rapper Proof, and Tony Allen. See the tracklist for The Mountain below.

    Gorillaz will follow The Mountain with a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland. See those dates below.

    All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

    The Mountain:

    01 The Mountain [ft. Dennis Hopper, Ajay Prasanna, Anoushka Shankar, Amaan Ali
    Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash]
    02 The Moon Cave [ft. Asha Puthli, Bobby Womack, Dave Jolicoeur, Jalen Ngonda
    and Black Thought]
    03 The Happy Dictator [ft. Sparks]
    04 The Hardest Thing [ft. Tony Allen]
    05 Orange County [ft. Bizarrap, Kara Jackson and Anoushka Shankar]
    06 The God of Lying [ft. Idles]
    07 The Empty Dream Machine [ft. Black Thought, Johnny Marr and Anoushka
    Shankar]
    08 The Manifesto [ft. Trueno and Proof]
    09 The Plastic Guru [ft. Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar]
    10 Delirium [ft. Mark E. Smith]
    11 Damascus [ft. Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bey]
    12 The Shadowy Light [ft. Asha Bhosle, Gruff Rhys, Ajay Prasanna, Amaan Ali
    Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash]
    13 Casablanca [ft. Paul Simonon and Johny Marr]
    14 The Sweet Prince [ft. Ajay Prasanna, Johnny Marr and Anoushka Shankar]
    15 The Sad God [ft. Black Thought, Ajay Prasanna and Anoushka Shankar]

    Gorillaz:

    03-21 Manchester, England – Co-op Live
    03-22 Birmingham, England – BP Pulse Live
    03-24 Glasgow, Scotland – OVO Hydro *
    03-25 Leeds, England – First Direct Arena *
    03-27 Cardiff, Wales – Utilita Arena *
    03-28 Nottingham, England – Motorpoint Arena *
    03-29 Liverpool, England – M&S Bank Arena *
    03-31 Belfast, Northern Ireland – SSE Arena *
    04-01 Dublin, Ireland – 3Arena *
    06-20 London, England – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ^*

    * with Trueno
    ^ with Sparks

    Gorillaz: The Mountain Tour

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    Matthew Strauss

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  • Malibu Announces Debut Album Vanities, Shares New Song

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    “So Sweet & Willing” is the latest single from the French ambient artist’s Year0001 release

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    Jazz Monroe

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  • These Odd-Looking Earbuds Rival the Best From Apple, Sony, and Bose

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    The Pro X, like the Between 3ANC before them, use multiple drivers: a dynamic unit for the lowest frequencies paired with a dual set of Knowles balanced armatures for the upper-mids and highs. Just like in a tower speaker that has a woofer, a midrange, and a tweeter, multi-driver earbuds divide and conquer by sending specific frequencies to a driver that’s been tuned to handle them.

    Out of the box, the earbuds are set to Status Signature—the Pro X’s default tuning. It’s a nicely balanced EQ that boosts neither highs nor lows, yet still possesses a warm tone. There’s effortless detail in the midrange, and the highs have excellent clarity. Bass is tightly controlled; even when pushing the Pro X to 95% volume, Billie Eilish’s bass-tastic “bad guy” sounded perfect, with no discernible distortion.

    Switching to the Knowles Preferred preset gives a big bump to the upper mids and highs to show off what those balanced armatures can do. Normally, this kind of tuning doesn’t do it for me, but on the Pro X, I was impressed by how enjoyable it was. If you’ve found yourself drawn to Bose’s high-energy sound signature in the past, this preset gets you very close.

    If you can’t find your favorite balance from among the five available presets, you can roll your own. In fact, one of the best features is creating custom EQ presets by starting with an existing one. I goosed Status Signature’s low-end just a tad, and got exactly the mix I wanted. On that note, I have to give Status props for its app; it’s super clean and very easy to use.

    The soundstage isn’t especially wide—I’d place its extremities about 3-6 inches outside my head—but it’s got excellent precision. Individual elements stand out from each other so clearly that you can mentally point at the various musicians playing in front of you. A jazz classic like Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” benefits a lot from the Pro X’s clear separation of sounds, letting you appreciate each instrument in its own space.

    I did most of my listening on an iPhone 16, but it’s worth noting that the Pro X support Sony’s high-quality LDAC Bluetooth codec. If you’re on Android, make sure you’ve got it enabled for an even smoother, more refined performance.

    Against the Crowd

    Photograph: Simon Cohen

    I swapped the Pro X with Sony’s WF-1000XM5, Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds, Sennheiser’s Momentum True Wireless 4, and Technics’ EAH-Z100. The Status Pro X more than held their own on sound quality. I personally still prefer the XM5’s sound signature thanks to its more resonant bass response, but that’s more about my taste than any shortcomings of the Pro X—they’re excellent.

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    Simon Cohen

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  • AirPods Pro 3 vs Pixel Buds Pro 2: Which Wireless Earbuds Are Better?

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    Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 are here, and with their arrival comes a lot of questions. One of the big questions after Apple’s annual iPhone event is, “Should I buy new AirPods right now?” But before you can answer that, it’s important to know the competition, and the main one is Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2. While both bear the “Pro” moniker in their names, they’re not created equal, and small differences in features could have a big impact on which pair you ought to buy.

    If you’re wondering which trigger to pull, here’s a breakdown of which pair of wireless earbuds does what.

    See AirPods Pro 3 at Amazon

    See Pixel Buds Pro 2 at Amazon

    1) Sound

    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    While I haven’t gotten to hear Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 for myself yet, these wireless earbuds have a new architecture that Apple says should bring some improvements over the last generation. According to Apple, AirPods Pro 3 have a new “multiport acoustic architecture” that better controls the airflow and the way the sound carries to the ear. How demonstrable that change is remains to be seen, but it should be the best-sounding pair of AirPods yet, if Apple’s messaging is any indication.

    Similarly, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 mark a significant boost in sound quality over the original iteration, with 11mm drivers that help augment both high and low ends. Which architecture delivers better sound quality will come down to preference, and we won’t know for sure until we try AirPods Pro 3 for ourselves, but both should be the best-sounding version in their respective product lines. AirPods Pro 3 will have tough competition, though—we thought the Pixel Buds Pro 2 were damn near perfect.

    2) ANC

    Google Pixel Buds Pro 2
    ©

    Apple is promising some big improvements gen-over-gen with active noise cancellation (ANC), claiming that its AirPods Pro 3 have 2x the ANC capability as the AirPods Pro 2. Apple generally offers better-than-average ANC (it’s not Bose QuietComfort Ultra, but it’s good), so double the ANC is an enticing offer. Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 also offer double the ANC over the first generation, and as we stated in our review, it is one of the highlights of the buds overall.

    One thing that could give AirPods Pro 3 the edge, however, is a redesigned eartip that contains foam inside. That should make a very tight seal in your ear and provide good passive noise cancellation on top of ANC. Again, it’s hard to say without hearing the AirPods Pro 3 for ourselves, but there’s a chance that AirPods Pro 3 could have an X factor here.

    3)Battery

    Apple Event iPhone Apple Watch AirPods 06
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    One of the biggest AirPods improvements gen-over-gen, according to Apple, is in the battery life department. AirPods Pro 3 now have an 8-hour battery life outside of the case with ANC on, which is two more hours than the AirPods Pro 2. The thing is, we’re comparing to Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2, which also have 8 hours of battery life outside the case, meaning this part of the showdown could be a tie.

    That being said, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 do have a better battery life in the case. While AirPods Pro 3 have a 24-hour battery life in the case with ANC on, Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 have 30 hours. Case battery isn’t the biggest metric for success, but more is more when it comes to battery.

    See AirPods Pro 3 at Amazon

    See Pixel Buds Pro 2 at Amazon

    4( Features

    Google Pixel Buds Pro 2
    Photo: Artem Golub / Gizmodo

    Features are where things get interesting and potentially where AirPods Pro 3 pull away. While both wireless earbuds have AI integrations (Google has Gemini, and AirPods Pro have Apple Intelligence), conversation detection, support for head gestures, and adaptive ANC, and even live translation abilities, Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 lean into health sensing as well.

    AirPods Pro 3 introduces a heart rate sensor that allows the wireless earbuds to be used for tracking workouts and even calories burned, while Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 have no such health features. Whether that’s a game-changer is entirely up to you, but it’s clear that AirPods Pro 3 just do more in that department. Maybe Google will close the gap with its next pair of wireless earbuds, but for now, Apple has the advantage, especially if you’re using an iPhone.

    5) Fit

    AirPodspro3
    © Apple

    Apple clearly spent a lot of time redesigning its AirPods Pro 3. Specifically, Apple says that it used “over 10,000 ear scans with more than 100,000 hours of user research” to tweak the fit of AirPods Pro 3. It also changed the “external geometry of the eartip,” which now aligns to the center of the body for more stability. Those changes could very well result in an even more comfortable fit and give AirPods an edge here.

    With that said, we gave the Pixel Buds Pro 2 high marks for comfort, so Apple has its work cut out. Apple does objectively now have more eartip sizes than Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2—five instead of Google’s four—but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re more comfortable, even if they do have more fit options. If I were a betting man, I’d put my money on Apple in the fit metric, if just because they seem to have exhaustively redesigned the AirPods Pro 3 and focused on the weight and feel.

    AirPods Pro 3 vs. Pixel Buds Pro 2: Price

    While the AirPods Pro 3 are more expensive than the Pixel Buds Pro 2, they’re also brand new, and the price isn’t drastically different. Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 are $250, while Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 are $230. What’s notable is that Apple didn’t raise the price of its wireless earbuds, making the AirPods Pro 3 feel like a solid deal. Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 are almost exactly a year old at this point, and while $230 isn’t the most expensive starting price for wireless earbuds, it’s not a massive discount. That being said, we’ll be able to tell you which price is worth it once we actually test the AirPods Pro 3 ourselves.

    See AirPods Pro 3 at Amazon

    See Pixel Buds Pro 2 at Amazon

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    James Pero

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