The AirPods Pro is, without a doubt, one of the best-selling earbuds available today. Many people love it for its sound quality, clarity, and noise-canceling feature. But is the AirPods audiophile quality, and does it deliver high-fidelity audio?
The AirPods Pro is not audiophile quality. Although the sound produced by the AirPods sounds great, it does not output the high-fidelity sound required by audiophiles. This is because the AirPod Pro receives its audio signals through Bluetooth technology. Unfortunately, the transmission of audio signals through Bluetooth degrades the original signal.
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Why AirPods Pro Is Not Audiophile
The sound produced by the AirPods Pro is not audiophile because the audio signals it carries are transmitted through Bluetooth media and not wires. Any sound that is transmitted through Bluetooth media does not meet the standards required by audiophiles.
That is why generally, all wireless listening devices are not known to produce a sound that is of audiophile quality. In fact, any listening device that works through Bluetooth cannot achieve the audio fidelity that matches the audiophile level of quality.
Bluetooth audio is basically a digital compression codec. What this means is the transmission of audio through Bluetooth incorporates some form of compression on the sound.
Sending and receiving audio via Bluetooth connections takes place over a narrow bandwidth. Therefore, compression of the audio signal must take place to enable the signal to travel through this narrow bandwidth.
The compression of audio through Bluetooth media is done through a codec. This ultimately introduces some form of degradation and coloration to the sound.
Regardless, this compression process is quite efficient. For this reason, most people will not be able to notice the difference. But true audiophiles can certainly tell the difference.
So there is no denying the fact that AirPods Pro has a great build and sounds incredible. But because it uses Bluetooth technology to receive audio from the devices, the audio will have reduced quality before it even reaches the AirPods Pro. I hope this makes sense.
What about AirPods Max? Is It Audiophile Quality?
Just as the AirPods Pro, the AirPods Max is not audiophile quality. It uses Bluetooth technology to receive audio signals from devices. And this reduces the audio fidelity.
Regardless, the AirPods Max is an excellent headphone by all standards.
Just as I said in my article on why audiophiles hate Bose, Audiophiles represent only a few percentages of headphone users. And Apple’s main focus is to design a headphone that sounds great for the average consumer and is convenient, which is why they focus on making wireless headphones and adding features like noise-canceling.
Their primary focus is not to make high-fidelity headphones that audiophiles need. As of now, no technology makes it possible to listen to audiophile-quality audio through wireless headphones.
And all of these reasons are why the AirPods Max is not audiophile quality.
How Is The Sound Quality on AirPods Pro?
Although not so great for audiophiles, the quality of sound outputted by the AirPods Pro is great for the average consumer. It delivers a sound of superior quality.
Without a doubt, it sounds much better than many wireless earbuds available on the market. The AirPods Pro delivers balanced sounds. And it delivers a very good bass.
Unlike many earbuds and headphones, the bass boost does not overshadow the low midrange. This listening device by Apple has flat mids and subdued treble response as well.
The sound produced by the AirPods Pro has high clarity as well. This is due to the adaptive EQ it comes with. This adaptive EQ functions by automatically tuning the mid and low frequencies in the music being played to the shape of the listener’s ear.
Conclusion
The AirPods Pro is one of the best true wireless earbuds on the market. It is known to deliver an amazing, hands-free experience and can be integrated with your iPhone seamlessly.
The AirPods Pro sounds good as well. However, it does not offer an audiophile level of sound quality.
This is because the AirPods Pro runs on Bluetooth transmission technology. Though this wireless means of audio transmission is convenient, this convenience is always at the expense of audio quality.
Hello, I’m Elijah. A writer on Geek Musician, based in Ghana-West Africa. I am a writer with a passion for research and reading. I usually spend my free time playing chess or watching movies. For more info, check out my about me page. Or read more of my articles here.