General consumers love them because they know they can expect the same high quality as their last set. Audiophiles tend to avoid them, because they prefer something with more grit or character over a vanilla cookie-cutter sound.
Personally, I really like the AirPods and even use a set of gen 1 AirPods Maxes quite often. Awesome headphones when you just something that starts as soon as you pick it up and sounds good no matter what. But, in pretty much every “versus” review I’ve done on earbuds or headphones over the past couple of years, AirPods always get the “Yes, but” treatment. Competitors have advanced and responsive EQs… Apple doesn’t.
A ton of special features, not a since EQ setting | Image by PhoneArena
Apple does have a reputation of doing things the “Apple way”. You can have any color of AirPods Pro that you want, as long as you want white ones. You can have any sound signature you desire, as long as you want it to be a V-shape with enhanced low end and chimey highs.
The “Apple way” is no more. Custome EQ is here – it’s your way now!
Nothing’s Advanced EQ is the current best in consumer wireless headphones | Image by PhoneArena
It being Apple, I do expect a decent set of bands and boosting options, but also it’s very possible we get an “Apple curveball” in there. For example, it could be an auto-gain compensating EQ (doesn’t let you boost a frequency too much, instead lowers the others). Or, it could use the inside microphones of the AirPods to scan your ear canal and suggest EQ settings for you to begin with, teaching you what each band does in the process.
The latter sounds pretty reasonable. AirPods already use the tech to dynamically adjust their EQ depending on content, your environment, and the way the headphones are placed on your head (in the case of the AirPods Max). It would be kind of cool if we get limited access to this tech, so we get a bit of help when customizing our own EQ for the first time!
