This week Apple announced the release of redesigned AirPods called AirPods Pro. Sure, NOW you come out with them!

I am a fan of AirPods. They just work. I mostly listen to podcasts or audiobooks or use them for phone calls, so I don’t need high fidelity. What I do need is noise-canceling. AirPods are not great on an airplane or when I’m walking in noisy areas. 

For many years I used the gold standard Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones. These worked well on airplanes, but they are bulky. I was looking to trim down my baggage as much as possible, so I explored downsizing to earbuds. Unfortunately, most of them do not offer good noise-canceling. 

I picked up a pair of Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds in early August when they were first released. I selected these earbuds primarily for the noise-canceling. They work very well for that purpose. The one drawback, however, is that phone calls are not quite as clear, at least on the other person’s end. The calls sound fine to me, but people on the other end say that I cut in and out. I never had this complaint with AirPods.

So now the question is, do I spring $249 for the AirPods Pro? These are probably the earbuds I would have gotten a couple of months ago. Decisions decisions.