Early in October, I acquired my palms on a pair of Google Pixel Buds Professional for the primary time. Whereas the earbuds aren’t precisely new, they did get a handy feature bump alongside the Pixel 8 reveal. Furthermore, the Pixel Bud Professional are arguably a significant step up for me.
For the final couple of years, I’ve used Microsoft’s Surface Earbuds as my major wi-fi earbuds. I’ve tried different earbuds all through that point, however few had been in a position to pull me away from the Floor Earbuds. It’s not that the Floor Earbuds sound notably nice (they’re high-quality) or have stand-out options (they don’t, until you depend the ability to control your PowerPoint presentations). The Floor Earbuds don’t even have lively noise cancellation (ANC) and cost a whopping $259.99.
I don’t write this to disparage the Floor Earbuds. In any case, I did use them for years, they usually usually labored nicely all through that point regardless of, for all intents and functions, being very fundamental wi-fi earbuds. Trying again, there have been two issues the Floor Earbuds did exceedingly nicely.
First, they had been extraordinarily comfy. Not like most earbuds, which have a silicon tip that goes into your ear canal, the Floor Earbuds have a flat tip that sits simply outdoors the ear canal. If you put them in, that you must twist the buds barely so the ‘lock’ into your ear. It’s a bit robust to elucidate, however in follow, I discovered I might put on the Floor Earbuds for hours with minimal discomfort.
The opposite factor the Floor Earbuds did very well was providing a big floor for contact controls. It made it tremendous straightforward to regulate my music or podcasts, which was nicely well worth the tradeoff of wanting like I had mini Starlink dishes jammed in my ears.
Why do I deliver all this up? Nicely, after a few weeks of utilizing the Pixel Buds Professional, I’ve discovered they nonetheless don’t examine on the consolation degree with the Floor Earbuds.
Tradeoffs, tradeoffs
Don’t misunderstand, there’s quite a bit to like in regards to the Pixel Buds Professional and, up to now, I actually like them. ANC is a superb function, particularly on the occasional days I commute into the workplace on the prepare, noise cancellation actually helps lower out the noise. It makes for a way more peaceable commute.
However to make ANC work nicely, the Pixel Buds Professional want a good seal, which implies these terrible silicon suggestions. With the Pixel Buds Professional, by the top of my roughly hour and 15-minute prepare trip, I have to take the buds out and provides my ears a break. The Floor Buds didn’t assist lower the prepare noise, however I might comfortably put on them whereas strolling from the prepare station to the MobileSyrup workplace, and preserve them in all day lengthy if I needed.
As a lot as I like ANC, I’ve additionally discovered I solely prefer it in sure conditions. The design of the Floor Earbuds suggestions means they don’t do a lot to muffle exterior sound, which is nice and dangerous. However with the Pixel Buds, the silicon suggestions nonetheless muffle sound in contrast with ANC off. And the transparency mode that pipes exterior sound into my ears simply isn’t nice to make use of.
Whereas these are knocks towards the Pixel Buds Professional, it’s value noting they’re tradeoffs. Certain, my Floor Earbuds are extra cozy, however they don’t do something to isolate or scale back noise. Furthermore, the Pixel Buds Professional have a number of extra options that I make use of ceaselessly.
For instance, there’s multipoint, which permits me to attach the Pixel Buds Professional to a number of gadgets on the identical time. That makes it pretty straightforward to leap between listening to music on my telephone to a gathering on my laptop computer with minimal fuss. Admittedly, multipoint isn’t good and I’ve had some points getting the buds to modify from one system to a different, however I’m pleased to have the function regardless.
The Pixel Buds Professional can even learn my notifications to me, which is sort of helpful, it has discover my system capabilities if I misplace the buds, Clear Calling and the case has wi-fi charging. Plus, the latest firmware replace added extra useful capabilities like Bluetooth Tremendous Wideband assist for clearer name audio and a listening to wellness instrument.
Dialog mode is fairly good
There’s additionally the newly added dialog mode, which makes use of AI to detect speech and change the Pixel Buds Professional from ANC to transparency mode so you possibly can hear the dialog. It would additionally mechanically pause taking part in media.
I had some doubts about how nicely dialog mode would work, however truthfully, it’s been fairly good. That mentioned, there are some notable limitations that undoubtedly take the function from ‘must-have’ to ‘it’s high-quality.’ First, the dialog mode solely appears to activate once I communicate. This is sensible — you wouldn’t need dialog mode approaching each time it heard speaking — nevertheless it does imply the function solely works once I provoke a dialog, a lot to my spouse’s perpetual annoyance (the ANC makes it laborious for her to get my consideration once I’m working).
I’ve discovered dialog mode is fairly good at solely approaching once I discuss, although I’ve had a handful of unintended activations triggered by my sneezing or coughing. Fortunately, you possibly can flip off dialog mode with a fast faucet on the Pixel Buds Professional.
The one different subject I’ve discovered with the dialog mode is that the time it stays lively could be frustratingly quick. For instance, in a single take a look at I did whereas grabbing a slice of pizza for lunch, dialog mode got here on and allowed me to speak with the cashier whereas putting my order. However dialog mode ended, and the music and ANC got here again on whereas I waited for my slice, so I couldn’t hear when my title was known as.
In the end, the function set and entry to ANC will preserve the Pixel Buds Professional as a staple in my pocket for the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, I plan to maintain my Floor Earbuds helpful too, for the occasions once I don’t need ANC and would profit from a extra comfy listening expertise.
Given the Pixel Buds Professional also cost $259.99 in Canada, I can’t suggest shopping for the Floor Earbuds in any respect. For the cash, you get considerably extra options and worth out of the Pixel Buds Professional. That mentioned, when you wrestle with earbuds utilizing silicon suggestions just like the Buds Professional, and when you don’t care about ANC, it is perhaps value attempting the Floor Earbuds simply to see in the event that they work higher in your ears.
