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Apple has taken what is arguably one of its most iconic and widely acclaimed products -- the AirPods Pro 2 -- and elevated them with a significant upgrade late last year. Since the product has a simple mission, and it didn't appear that there were a ton of things Apple could do to make them better, it's always a risk to make big changes.
And make no mistake, there are major changes in the AirPods Pro 3.
Also: Best AirPods 2026: I've used every pair of Apple headphones and earbuds - these are the winners
I've been using them for months since they was first announced in September. And I'm happy -- even a little relieved -- to report that Apple didn't ruin a good thing here. In fact, there's one area where I didn't realize it was even possible to make them better, but they are. Additionally, new features enhance the product's usability. Of course, there are also a couple of gaps and blind spots, and we'll talk about those, too.
But if you've had a pair of AirPods or AirPods Pro in the past and loved them, the good news is there's a great chance you're going to love the AirPods Pro 3 even more.
How I tested AirPods Pro 3
I started testing the AirPods Pro 3 on the day they were announced at Apple Park last year. I wore them on a five-hour flight home from California to test the sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC), and battery life. And I've been wearing them daily since then, and comparing them with AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with Noise Cancellation, AirPods Max, Google Pixel Buds Pro, Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds, and Meta Ray-Bans smart glasses (which I've been increasingly using at times when I used to wear AirPods).
I spent the most time comparing the AirPods Pro 3 to Sony's XM5 earbuds because those have some of the highest quality sound and active noise cancellation of any earbuds I've ever tested -- so much so that they are even more expensive than AirPods Pro at $329.
To analyze sound quality, I played Hans Zimmer's "Only I Will Remain" from the Dune: Part Two soundtrack because it has a very complex multi-layered set of sounds that include whispers, whooshes, bass-filled booms and rumbles, lilting highs and lows, and a beautiful mixture of loud and quiet flourishes.
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