Apple AirPods (2019) review: Still the perfect audio companion for iPhones

Note: This article was first published on 16 April 2019.

First things first, why aren’t these called AirPods 2?

That’s a good question. Presumably, it is because these are an incremental update to the first-generation AirPods from nearly three years ago. Not much has changed, really.

So what has changed?

Nothing has changed insofar as the overall design and aesthetics are concerned. The earbuds themselves and even the new wireless charging case are exactly the same. That’s why you can use the new wireless charging case with the first-generation AirPods. It also means that if the first-generation AirPods didn’t fit you well, these new ones won’t either.

What has changed is on the inside. The big one is the new H1 headphone chip, which will replace the W1 chip in the predecessor. This new chip does a couple of things and it’s worth listing them down for clarity:-

• Support for Bluetooth 5.0
• Hands-free Siri (no more double-tapping, yay)
• Faster connection to and switching between devices
• 50% more talk-time (but the same music-listening time)

I no longer have to double tap to activate Siri now?

Yes, simply say “Hey Siri” and that’s it. This frees up the double-tapping gesture to do other things like skipping or playing and pausing tracks. While this is undeniably more convenient, one problem is that there’s no audio cue to let you know if your command was actually heard. So if nothing happens, I’m never sure if Siri is simply being slow or I have to repeat myself because the AirPods didn’t hear me the first time around.

Does it connect and switch faster?

I compared the new AirPods to its predecessor and the answer is yes - but only slightly. According to my timing, the first-generation AirPods took 8 seconds to switch over from my MacBook Pro to my iPhones, while the new AirPods took 6 seconds.

That said, it would be preferable to simply have the new AirPods connect to multiple devices simultaneously so that switching between sources would be more seamless. The niggling issue here is that you still need to go fiddle around in the settings menu or Control Center and select AirPods for the switch to be made.

Is the connection any better?

I didn’t find the connection to be any stronger with iOS devices like my iPhone or iPad. The first-generation AirPods were very good in that regard and the new ones are just as good. I did, however, find the new AirPods to maintain a noticeably stronger connection to my MacBook Pro in my noisy (in terms of wireless noise) office environment. I can only attribute this to the new AirPods support for Bluetooth 5.0, which serves up double the data throughput and up to four times the range.

Can you really talk for an hour longer?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find enough test subjects to converse with me for that long. Sorry.

Are they still as easy to set up?

Yes, simply open them near your iPhone and a prompt will appear asking if you want to pair it with your phone. Answer to the affirmative and that's all there is to it. Plus, if you are connected to iCloud, the AirPods will automatically be set up on all other Apple devices associated with the iCloud account.

Fair enough, so how does it sound?

Like any other earbud and IEM, the sound quality that you are going to get from the AirPods is going to be highly dependent on the quality of the seal that you can achieve with your ears. If you fail to get a good seal, the AirPods will sound soft, hollow, and lacking in bass. That said, the AirPods are earbuds and so won’t seal as well as IEMs (in-ear-monitors/earphones). Consequently, they also let in quite a bit of environmental noise, which can be a good and bad thing. Good because you are more aware of your surroundings; bad because it distracts you from your music. If noise isolation is important to you, you need to look elsewhere.

At any rate, if you can get a decent enough seal with the AirPods like I can, then you might be surprised to find that they actually sound quite good. Clarity and detail retrieval are good and the bass is surprisingly strong for earbuds this small. Mids are placed just right in the mix so vocals and most instruments have the right amount of body and presence. The highs, however, are significantly rolled off so the AirPods lack that bit of air and sparkle that would have made them great.

Tell me more about the new wireless charging case.

The new wireless charging case supports the Qi standard - the same as the iPhone - so the charging pad that you use for your iPhones will work with this new case. It works best with flat charging pads since the charging coils on those fancy standing ones often won’t line up nicely with the wireless charging case because the case is too short.

There’s a small LED indicator on the front of the case that lights up when it is properly positioned on the wireless charging pad - orange means it’s charging and green means it’s fully charged. One odd thing about the indicator is that it goes off after a couple of seconds so it can be a bit unsettling to some users. Plus, it also means there’s no quick way of telling if the case is fully charged - you have to remove it and place it back on the pad.

It’s really slow to charge too. It charges at just 5W and when using a 7.5W charging pad, it took about 3 hours for me to get a full charge. If time is of the essence, using a Lightning cable is the wiser option. Fortunately, the AirPods don’t need a lot of juice and 15 minutes in the case is enough to give the AirPods three hours of listening time.

Do the new AirPods cost more?

They cost a dollar more. The new AirPods are S$239. The old ones were S$238. You can get the new AirPods with the new wireless charging case for S$299. On their own, the wireless charging case is S$119.

How does that compare to the competition?

The AirPods are - surprise, surprise - actually one of the more affordable true wireless earbuds. Admittedly, Apple products are typically amongst the priciest in their respective categories but the AirPods are, I don’t want to say affordable, but at least they aren’t outright pricey. Don’t believe me? Check out how it compares against some rivals in the table below.

Here’s the big one, should I upgrade if I already have the first-generation AirPods?

I don’t think so. Sound quality is more or less the same and while hands-free Siri is nice to have, you really have to ask yourself: is double-tapping really that troublesome? You should get the new AirPods only if your old ones are failing on you (the built-in batteries have a limited lifespan, after all), or you've not yet bought one.

What about the wireless charging case?

If the convenience of wireless charging is important to you, then the answer is yes. It’s nice to be able to charge the case just by putting it on a wireless charging pad, but it isn’t a huge deal if you ask me. Besides, and as I said earlier, it takes a long time to charge wirelessly. Plus, at S$119, it’s quite pricey, no?

Final thoughts?

If the iPhone is part of your daily arsenal and you want a pair of true wireless earbuds to go along, the new AirPods are easy to recommend. There’s a lot to like about them. Apart from being easy to set up and use, they are also compact, sound pretty great, have decent battery life, and have a distinctive design.

But the biggest reason why I recommend them over other true wireless earbuds is how well they stay connected to the iPhone. The biggest issue, for me, with many true wireless earbuds is the frequency of dropouts and jitter. In my opinion, nothing ruins my music more than a sudden drop or cut-out and I’m delighted to say that this issue hardly plagues the AirPods even in a crowded and noisy (in terms of wireless signals) environment. It is, in my view, the AirPods biggest advantage over its rivals.

However, if you've never really liked the AirPods design, here are some other options to consider:-

Read Next: True wireless earbuds shootout: Plantronics BackBeat Fit 3100 vs. RHA TrueConnect vs. Sony WF-SP700N

Discover Next: The best true wireless earbuds according to HWM + HWZ Editors

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