Apple AirPods Pro 2 vs. Beats Powerbeats Pro 2: which Apple earbuds are best?

For anyone that has an Apple device — be it iPhone, iPad, or MacBook — it’s natural to immediately consider Apple-branded headphones and earbuds to use alongside them. After all, any of the AirPods are designed to integrate seamlessly into the Apple ecosystem. But a product with Apple on its box isn’t the only option. Thanks to Apple’s purchase of Beats back in 2014, Beats earbuds like the Powerbeats Pro 2 have the same native integration as the Apple AirPods Pro 2. Plus, the Beats are compatible with Android devices as well. That makes it seem like the Powerbeats are the obvious choice over the AirPods, but the conversation gets a bit more complicated when we look deeper.

So should you get the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 as your next earbuds? Or are the Apple AirPods Pro 2, which we still consider one of the best wireless earbuds you can buy, still a top choice? Let’s pit them against one another and find out.

Apple AirPods Pro 2

Beats Powerbeats Pro 2

AirPods Pro 2 vs. Powerbeats Pro 2: Price

Both the AirPods Pro 2 and Powerbeats Pro 2 have the same MSRP: $250 (well, technically $249 for Apple and $249.99 for Beats). But since the AirPods have been out now for over two years, they can regularly be found on sale — especially for Black Friday and any Amazon sales throughout the year like Big Spring Deal Days and Prime Day. The AirPods Pro 2 can consistently be found for $199, and sometimes dip down to $169 or lower.

When we’re looking at a $50 difference, a pick based on price is a pretty easy decision.

Winner: Apple AirPods Pro 2

AirPods Pro 2 vs. Powerbeats Pro 2: Specs comparison

Both earbuds use Apple’s H2 chip (a benefit of Beats being a part of the Apple family), which allows for excellent performance potential when it comes to noise canceling, battery life, fast pairing and sharing capabilities, and better sound. There’s a whole host of similar features — iCloud sharing, Automatic Switching, Audio Sharing, Find My, Spatial Audio with Dynamic Head Tracking, Hey Siri support — which all work identically on the AirPods Pro 2 and Powerbeats Pro 2.

The specs that set the AirPods apart include Adaptive Audio (sometimes called Adaptive Transparency Mode), which is a blend of ANC and Transparency mode that dynamically adjusts the amount of sound you hear from the changing environment around you. Sudden loud noises are attenuated, as are continual pink noise (such as the running water from a tap while doing dishes). The Powerbeats have a Transparency mode, but it doesn’t automatically adjust like Adaptive mode. The AirPods also have rated dust protection (that’s the “5” in its IP54 rating) which applies to both the earbuds and the case, while the Powerbeats are IPX4 — and that’s just on the earbuds.

The Powerbeats are the first Apple family earbuds to include heart rate monitoring, and unlike the AirPods, can be used with both Apple and Android-based devices. The Beats app from the Google Play store allows you to toggle between ANC and Transparency modes, activate heart rate monitoring, use Find My Beats (the Android version of Apple’s Find My), and change button assignments. The AirPods can be used as Bluetooth earbuds on an Android device, but very little beyond volume can be adjusted. The Beats also have better battery life than the AirPods. At up to 10 hours with ANC off, I’d consider them to be above average.

Some of the finer points — such as how the ANC compares — we’ll get to below. But based solely on a specs list, the two earbuds are pretty even.

Winner: Tie

AirPods Pro 2 vs. Powerbeats Pro 2: Design and fit

I don’t think it’s too extreme to say the Apple AirPods Pro 2 design is iconic. Love it or hate it, the white stem design has symbolized Apple earbuds since the wired versions were introduced over 20 years ago. And it’s been copied — for better or worse — by numerous companies, to varying degrees of success. The Pro line introduced a sealed design, and the AirPods Pro 2 added an ear tip size so they now come with four silicone ear tip options (XS, S, M, and L).

The Powerbeats Pro 2 are decidedly different. The Powerbeats use an earhook design, so while the earbuds nestle into your concha, they also wrap around your helix for added stability. One more ear tip size (an extra large option) gives more flexibility for fit, and the four color available at launch add more style personalization than the one and only option of the AirPods.

While generally I haven’t encountered fit problems with the AirPods — I’m able to use the included ear tips for a secure fit in my ear — there have been a number of occasions where I’ve inadvertently knocked one out of my ear while trying to adjust volume, skip a track, or answer a call. That is never an issue with the Beats. The hook design keeps them securely in my ears, whether I need to adjust volume or if I’m out for a run. Both earbuds are comfortable over a few hours, although my left ear (and not my right) did get a little sore after wearing the Powerbeats for long periods.

When it comes to controls, the earbuds use completely different technology. The AirPods are all capacitive touch controls — tap the side of the earbuds to stop and start music, advance tracks, answer calls; pinch the stem to toggle listening modes or activate Siri; or slide your finger up and down the stem to adjust volume. The Powerbeats use physical touch buttons. Using short presses of the “b” on the earbuds controls track navigation and calls, while a long press toggles noise canceling. Along the top of earbud housing are volume control buttons.

Capacitive buttons never work consistently for me, especially if I’m moving around. With the AirPods it can sometimes take extra attempts to hit the right spot on them to pause music or to change them volume. The Beats are just easier to use and more dependable.

The biggest design drawback of the Powerbeats Pro 2 is that they’re big. Even though their size has decreased significantly from the original Powerbeats Pro, the earhook design takes up more space than the stem design of the AirPods Pro 2, which means the Beats case is also bigger. If I’m going with my keys, wallet, and phone and don’t have a bag, I’m grabbing the AirPods before the Powerbeats just to keep the bulk in my pockets at a minimum.

But the look of the AirPods are just, well, boring. Other colors have been extended to almost every other Apple product — iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, Home Pods — but AirPods are still limited to only white. I like having more options, and the Beats Powerbeats come in some nice colors (I have the Electric Orange, which look great, but kind of wish I had the Hyper Purple instead).

If you need something more compact, the AirPods Pro 2 are the way to go. But the secure fit, push buttons, and multiple color options make them my winner for design and fit.

Winner: Beats Powerbeats Pro 2

AirPods Pro 2 vs. Powerbeats Pro 2: Sound quality

When comparing sound quality between earbuds in this price range, the differences are usually rather minimal. Generally nothing sounds bad (although there are a couple $250 examples I can think of over the past couple years I wouldn’t recommend), so it comes down to personal preference.

The Beats have a nice, robust bass response and clarity to the mids. There’s a bit of punchiness missing from upper mids, but it’s a minor issue. There’s airiness to the highs with good detail. Push the volume too much, though, and those highs can get piercing and fatiguing pretty quickly.

In contrast, the highs on the AirPods Pro 2 are smoother and rolled off a bit more, but not quite as exciting. The same goes for response around 5-7 kHz, where the crispness of the snare and the splash of the cymbals live. There’s a small amount of snare snap I’m missing that I like from the Beats. The AirPods are better with the presence of vocals and the midrange of guitars.

While there are certainly some differences between the two, you really can’t go wrong with either.

Winner: Tie

AirPods Pro 2 vs. Powerbeats Pro 2: ANC and transparency mode

When the AirPods Pro 2 came out, they quickly were one of the best noise-canceling earbuds available (alongside the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II). The performance was staggering. Since then, other earbuds have been released — notably the Sony WF-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds — that have surpassed the AirPods, even if it’s just by a little bit. Still, the AirPods Pro 2 offer some of the best noise canceling you can get.

You might expect, since the Powerbeats Pro 2 use the same H2 chip as the AirPods, that noise canceling with the Beats would be on par, but that’s not quite the case. That isn’t to say the Beats don’t do an excellent job with noise canceling. They do. But they don’t compare to the AirPods Pro 2, which handles chatter and low end airplane noise better.

The AirPods Pro 2 also do better with their hear through. While no earbuds on the market are completely natural sounding, the AirPods are some of the closest you can get. As with noise-canceling performance, the Beats do a good job, but their midrange is a bit more pushed than the AirPods.

More importantly, though, the AirPods have Adaptive mode, which dynamically adjust the transparency mode to the ever-changing noises in your environment. It helps protect your ears from unexpected loud noises, or tame extra continual noise while still allowing you to hear your surroundings. Even though they’re a couple years old, the AirPods Pro 2 ANC and transparency modes are more advanced than the Beats.

Winner: Apple AirPods Pro 2

AirPods Pro 2 vs. Powerbeats Pro 2: Additional features

The AirPods Pro 2 and the Powerbeats Pro 2 share many of the same additional features, including iCloud sharing, Automatic Switching, Audio Sharing, Spatial Audio with Dynamic Head Tracking, and Hey Siri support. There’s not really any difference in the way they work from earbuds to earbuds, either.

There are a few features the AirPods have over the Beats, such as charging being supported by MagSafe and Apple Watch chargers and better dust protection. The most notable are Apple’s hearing health options. Those include a hearing test — with fairly accurate results that exceeded an audiologist’s expectations for an at-home test — and FDA authorization as a hearing aid. Those are some impressive features, and for anyone suffering hearing loss, a major selling point.

But the Powerbeats Pro 2 step ahead when it comes to workout support and cross-compatibility. The new heart rate feature — which uses a green LED sensor that pulses over 100 times per second, photodiode that reads the reflections off your red blood cells, and a custom algorithm to combine the information from the two earbuds — is remarkably accurate when compared to other wearable options such as a Garmin Epix 2 and Apple Watch Series 10. There are also supported third-party apps that, when iOS Health app permission are properly set, work seamlessly with the heart rate monitoring.

Since Beats are a part of Apple, but are still treated separately to some extent, it benefits from having native integration in the Apple ecosystem, while still maintaining strong support with Android products. There are a few features that are only available with an Apple device (Spatial Audio with Head Tracking and Audio Sharing, for instance), and the heart rate monitoring needs to be started within the Beats Android app, but they still far outpace the AirPods functionality on an Android device. In that case, the AirPods are just a Bluetooth device that have no adjustability, including ANC/Transparency toggle.

If you need the hearing support, the AirPods are the obvious choice when it comes to features, but for workouts or as an Android user, the Beats have better features.

Winner: Tie

AirPods Pro 2 vs. Powerbeats Pro 2: The verdict

It’s probably not much of a surprise that the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 stack up pretty well against one another. They use the same processing chip and are from, essentially, the same parent company. But there are still some notable ways in which they differ and they’re aimed at slightly different markets.

The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 are the best pair of workout earbuds currently on the market. Anyone looking to add some earbuds to their gym routine or for running don’t need to look any further than the Beats. The earhook design keeps them secure, the heart rate monitoring let’s you get the most out of your workout regime, and the different color options make sure you look good as you run through the neighborhood. If you don’t have an Apple device (or you have both Apple and Android devices), the Powerbeats will also serve you better than the AirPods because you’ll be able to use them with everything.

For Apple devotees, and everyday use, the AirPods Pro 2 are the better choice, though. The ANC and Transparency modes perform a bit better, they’re more compact and easier to pocket, and they have a few more features for Apple users than the Beats (apart from the heart rate monitoring). Plus, even though their MSRP is identical, the AirPods are consistently less expensive since they’ve been out a couple years and the Beats were just released a couple weeks ago.

If you’re looking for your next workout earbuds, get the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. Otherwise, the Apple AirPods Pro 2 will likely serve you better.

Winner: Apple AirPods Pro 2

Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews

Entertainment blogs & Forums