AirPods Pro 3 Review After 5 Months: Still Worth It?
I’ve used the AirPods Pro 3 for 5 months. Here’s my honest long-term review covering sound quality, noise cancellation, battery life, and value.
PRODUCT REVIEW
2/27/202610 min read
I’m a big fan of AirPods now, but it definitely didn’t start that way. For years, in-ear headphones just weren’t my thing. I was used to over-ear headphones, so my first Apple headphones were the AirPods Max. Those felt familiar, comfortable, and easy to love
After using the AirPods Max for a couple of months, I got curious and decided to try the AirPods Pro 2. Mostly to see if in-ear AirPods could really work for me. To my surprise, they did. The convenience, the sound quality, and how effortless everything felt quickly won me over.
As I started working remotely more often, I found myself reaching for the AirPods more and more. Pairing was instant, switching between devices goes superfast, and everything just worked perfectly with my iPhone. That’s when it clicked for me. I had become an AirPods fan. Who has ever though that ;-)
Funny enough, for years I refused to buy them because I thought they weren’t “my kind of thing.” Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
When the AirPods Pro 3 was announced I was hooked. The specs sounded promising, and I was genuinely curious to see what Apple had improved on this one. Especially since I was already very impressed with the AirPods Pro 2. I heard who already bought it that the noice cancellation was improved and that the sound quality was better. I wanted that to experience myself.
I donated my old AirPods Pro 2 to my mom and she was really happy with it. She had the first gen AirPods Pro. So it was an upgrade for here too. This is how the cycle keeps running as you know what I mean ;-)
It's now been 5 months further and in this blog article I will give you my honest review about the AirPods Pro 3.
AirPods Pro 3 Specs
First lets talk about the specs of the AirPods Pro 3. Below, you’ll find the key specs, clearly divided into categories for easy reference.
When I first looked at these specs, I honestly thought the improvements over my AirPods Pro 2 would be minimal. After all, those already sounded really good. At least, that’s what I expected on paper.
Audio & Performance
Apple H2 chip for advanced sound processing and efficiency.
Improved Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) — up to 2× stronger than AirPods Pro 2.
Adaptive EQ and Personalised Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking.
Live Translation support on iPhone with compatible iOS.
Fit & Design
Redesigned earbuds for a more stable fit and comfort.
Five ear tip sizes included (XXS, XS, S, M, L) for better customization.
Silicone ear tips now foam-infused for improved passive noise isolation.
Battery & Charging
Up to ~8 hours listening time on a single charge with ANC enabled.
Up to 10 hours with Transparency/Hearing Aid features.
Up to 24 hours total with MagSafe/USB-C charging case.
Quick 5-minute charge ≈ 1 hour listening.
Durability & Sensors
IP57 rating — improved sweat, water, and dust resistance.
Built-in heart rate sensor for workouts and health tracking (via iPhone Fitness app).
Dual beamforming and inward-facing mics, motion & speech sensors.
Connectivity & Extras
Bluetooth 5.3 wireless tech.
Charging case includes second-generation Ultra Wideband (U2) chip for better Find My precision.
Works with MagSafe, Apple Watch, Qi-certified chargers, or USB-C.
Unboxing
The box of the AirPods Pro 3 is smaller and it is because there is no USB-C power cable in the box, compared to the AirPods Pro 2. But honestly I have plently of these USB-C cables at home, so I don't miss that at all. When you open the box it really feels like a premium product as with every Apple product. Everytime you buy something from Apple you feel that you have something special in your hand. And sliding the box open is instant happiness. Everything is well packed and the smell of the new Apple products is addictive ;-) The charging case is slightly larger than the one from the AirPods Pro 2 and it now features a new capacitive pairing button on the front.
Holding the AirPods Pro 3 for the first time in your hand is a pleasure and it was really easy to setup. Just open the AirPods case and hold it close to your iPhone and you will see a pop to configure your new AirPods.
When its connecting you can see your AirPods in Settings of your iPhone. From there, everything is in one place. You can manage here all your AirPods settings directly in this menu. Settings like noise control, transparency modes, audio settings etc. Everytime you put in your AirPods you can access this menu in Settings.
Sound Quality
After setting up my new AirPods and configure my prefered settings it was time for the most fun part. Testing the sound quality. For my listening tests, I used both Spotify and Apple Music, with the audio quality set to the highest available settings that is lossless. A little note here that this isn’t true lossless audio. AirPods use Bluetooth, which can’t deliver true lossless sound over Bluetooth. It does mean I was listening at the best possible quality these services currently offer on iPhone. That said I started to listen and I could immediately hear the difference in sound quality compared to the AirPods Pro 2. I listen to The Weeknd - Blinding Lights and on the AirPods Pro 3 the bass sounded richer and deeper, while the mids and highs felt cleaner and more refined. Overall, the track came across as more detailed compared to how it sounded on the AirPods Pro 2.
What really surprised me was how much extra detail I suddenly noticed in a song I’ve heard countless times before. I really was genuinely impressed and a bit shocked at the same time, because I already thought the AirPods Pro 2 sounded great. Hearing familiar music reveal new layers is always a good sign.
I also listened to songs from Bruce Springsteen and the numbers Born To Run & Jungleland are fantastic to hear on the AirPods Pro 3. The drum, piano and guitar layers sounds amazing and very detailed on the AirPods Pro 3. Again I was shocked because every soundtrack just sounded better and more detailed with deeper bass.
Spatial Audio
Another cool thing that the AirPods Pro have is Spatial Audio. Spatial Audio is Apple’s way of making sound feel more immersive and three-dimensional. Instead of music or audio sounding like it’s coming straight into your ears, Spatial Audio makes it feel like the sound is placed around you, almost like a mini surround-sound setup. It uses the Dolby Atmos technique.
So Spatial Audio is not new to the AirPods Pro 3 but it is improved due to the next-generation Adaptive EQ, improved transducers, and refined head-tracking. You can listen to Spatial Audio songs in Apple Music. If you open Apple Music and select New in the bottom bar you can choose the category Spatial Audio. In this category you will find all Spatial Audio songs.
And Spatial Audio sounds good on AirPods Pro 3. It does sound better and more enhanced and the Dolby Atmos technique feels that the song is really arround you. It was already good on the AirPods Pro 2 but I hear its improved on the AirPods Pro 3.
Listening modes
This part of testing the AirPods Pro 3 is really fun. I make a lot of phone calls when I walk outside so to me its important to hear no background noice. Before I will tell you how the Noice Cancellation is on the AirPods Pro 3 let me say this first. On the AirPods Pro 3 you can setup 3 Listening Modes. Transparency, Adaptive and Noise Cancellation. You can setup this in your AirPods settings.
The difference between the 3 listening modes are:
Noise cancellation
This mode blocks out background noise as much as possible. It’s ideal for busy places like cafés, airplanes, or when you want to fully focus on your music or work.
Transparency
Transparency mode lets outside sound in, so you can hear what’s happening around you. It feels more natural, almost like you’re not wearing earbuds at all. This is great for conversations, walking outside, or staying aware of your surroundings.
Adaptive
Adaptive mode automatically switches between noise cancellation and transparency, depending on your environment. If things get loud, it reduces noise. If someone talks to you or the environment changes, it lets sound in. It’s designed to give you the best balance without having to switch modes yourself.
My favorite mode is noice cancellation. I always want to block out as many background noise as possible and fully focus on music or when I walk outside on my phone call. So as I said I make a lot of phone calls outside and I also live in an area where severe weather often the case. So a lot of winds or heavy rainfall etc. With the AirPods Pro 3 the noice cancelling is FANTASTIC. I am very very impressed how good it is. You can genuinely hear the difference compared to the AirPods Pro 2.
Apple claims that noise cancellation is up to four times better than on the first AirPods Pro, and honestly, to me it feels like it's even more than that.
Walking outside on windy days really shows the improvement. I barely hear the wind anymore; the focus stays almost entirely on the phone call itself. That’s impressive, because with my AirPods Pro 2, I noticed much more background noise even with noise cancellation mode enabled.
This is to me a kind of real-world performance and makes the AirPods Pro 3 truly stand out to me. Really impressed with this part. When I listen to music while walking outside on windy days, the noise cancellation really stands out. It’s so effective that I barely hear any background noise at all, just the music. That level of isolation is impressive to me.
At the same time, in a busy city this can almost be too good. With noise cancellation fully enabled, you barely hear traffic or other sounds around you, which means you do need to stay alert and be a bit more careful when walking in crowded or urban areas.
Battery life
The battery life of the AirPods Pro 2 was already excellent. It often felt like they would last forever. One thing I especially liked was the charging case, which offers up to 30 hours of total battery life. In everyday use, that’s a long time. I could easily go a couple of days without needing to recharge the case, even with frequent listening. With the AirPods Pro 3 Apple improved the battery life on the AirPods itself. It gained 2 hours extra from 6 to 8 hours. That's impressive and you can almost do a full working day on a single charge.
The downside, though, is that the charging case of the AirPods Pro 3 drops from 30 hours to 24 hours of battery life. And honestly, this does bothers me a lot. It feels like I need to charge the case more often than I should, especially compared to the AirPods Pro 2, which easily lasted several days.
The extra two hours of battery life on the AirPods Pro 3 themselves doesn’t make a huge difference for me in real-world use. Personally, I would rather see that battery capacity go into the charging case instead.I rarely wear my AirPods for eight hours straight. Most of the time, I use them for a couple of hours and then put them back in the case. Because of that, the battery life of the case matters more to me than squeezing a few extra hours out of the AirPods themselves. It’s something I notice and don’t love, but the sound quality and noise cancellation are so good that I’m still very happy overall.
Pros
Excellent noise cancellation
The noise cancellation is outstanding and noticeably improved. Wind noise, traffic, and background sounds are reduced extremely well, even during phone calls outdoors.
Improved sound quality
Music sounds richer and more refined, with deeper bass, clearer mids, and more detailed highs compared to the AirPods Pro 2.
Great for calls
Voice clarity during calls is very good, even in windy or busy environments.
Comfortable for long sessions
The fit is secure and comfortable, making them easy to wear for hours without fatigue.
Great price-to-value ratio
For what you get (Excellent noise cancellation, improved sound quality, and a comfortable fit) the AirPods Pro 3 deliver strong value compared to other premium wireless earbuds on the market.
Cons
Charging case battery life reduced
The charging case now offers 24 hours instead of the 30 hours found on the AirPods Pro 2, which means charging the case more often.
Noise cancellation can be too isolating
In busy city environments, noise cancellation can block out important sounds like traffic, requiring extra awareness.
No LDAC audio codec
With AirPods Pro 3 you can't get Hi-Ress Lossles sound over Bluetooth
My take
After using the AirPods Pro 3 for several months, my overall experience has been very positive. Apple didn’t reinvent these AirPods, instead, they focused on refining what already worked and just made that better.
The noise cancellation is excellent, easily one of the best I’ve experienced so far.. Combined with the improved sound quality like the deeper bass, richer mids, and cleaner highs, listening to music feels more immersive to me. Especially for my daily calls the AirPods Pro 3 really stands out.
That said, they’re not perfect. The reduced battery life of the charging case is something I notice in daily use, and it’s a step back compared to the AirPods Pro 2. And while the powerful noise cancellation is impressive, it can be a bit too isolating in busy city environments. Add to that the fact that true Hi-Res lossless audio is not possible with the AirPods Pro 3 due to the missing LDAC audio coded.
Still, when I look at the full package, sound quality, noise cancellation and comfort, the AirPods Pro 3 is something that I would buy again.
