51% of 343 verified owners recommend the Apple AirPods Pro 3, based on real owner verdicts aggregated from Reddit, enthusiast forums, and YouTube.
The headline score reflects owners (Reddit, enthusiast forums), independent lab tests, blogs with no affiliate links, and YouTube owner-comments when they line up with owners. is shown for perspective but kept out here — hover the i for why.
“Till this day I still have the issue of hearing a clicking sound in the AirPods when I'm walking, moving my head etc. as if the internal parts of the AirPods were shaking around.”
“I currently use air pod pro’s with ear muffs, the ear muffs don’t sit quite well on my ears and the air pods don’t really stay in my ears, might have to upgrade to the Milwaukee’s.”
“The 3s for me are even more comfortable. It definitely took a bit of getting used to at first, but they sound better, have significantly better ANC, and stay in my ears even better.”
“Huge sound quality/clarity improvements - the noise canceling is kinda unnerving, makes you feel a lot more isolated from the outside world, way more effective than the last generation.”
“no they don’t sounds bad it’s not as bad as some people have made it out to be but yes it is “worse” than the 2s but then you get way way way better ANC so pick your poison tbh.”
“Did anyone have issues switching between their android phone and an apple device? Looks like I have to pair it again every time :( This didn't happen for pros and pros 2”
“it sounds like they gutted the mids, and boosted the bass and treble which makes both pop with more sparkle… but it literally dulls the meat and potatoes of the mix”
“the airpods are very usable on Android with touch controls and I never needed to check battery, ever, so I don't see a reason to switch to iPhone. ANC and sound quality is the best I've seen.”
“These AirPods Pro 3s have felt both much more clicky on the high end and deep bass-forward on the very low, which makes the mid range and low-mid range feel comparatively quiet for me.”
“Loved the sound quality, but the left bud stopped charging 3 months after the warranty expired and I couldn’t justify the cost again if they can’t make it 3 years.”
“Mine were uncomfortable for the first couple days, now they're completely fine. Well when it comes to fitting in my ear theyre fine. The ANC and transparency mode keeps breaking on mine.”
“One of the best products in their lineup right now for sure. I know 3 other people who have purchased them so far and we’ve all had the same amazed response re: the ANC.”
“APP3’s are a better fit, & have better ANC. That being said, if I had it all to do over again, I’d probably stay wth the APP2’s , because I prefer the sound , slightly.”
“Mine never hurt, the ear tips do have foam in them now so they will feel like they are going to fall out until the ear tip conforms to your ear canal after 1-2 weeks”
“I really believe sometimes it messes up increasing volume on left and sometimes right, Example watching reels is so annoying with voice coming much more from left”
“All of them work really well with my Samsung and yes, the features are better on an iPhone but don’t ignore the fact that most features work on an Android phone too”
“I don’t find the noise cancelling to be all that great to be honest. I can hear people speaking during the more quiet moments of the music.”
“Sound quality on 3 thought is miles ahead of 2. Vocals are present finally. I prioritise sound quality so they’re a big upgrade for me, but I could see people getting upset about other things.”
“I try so many in ear options and comply and other tips options and my ears either push them out or it hurts after 30min of listening.”
“For me, the old design is definitely more comfortable - even if I have to periodically work them back in a bit. The new ones also fit fine, but it's much more noticeable that I'm wearing them.”
“The awareness and noise cancellation modes on the AirPods are fantastic and the foam tips do a much better job staying in your ear and reducing noise.”
“I have pain on the inside of my ear now after about a week and a half of use, they are too painful to even try to get used to them.”
“I find that the new Airpods Pro 3 have a more secure fit, at least on my ears, and the ANC performance was better compared to the Airpods Pro 2.”
“I can still hear people talking when they’re on ANC with nothing playing, but if I’m playing audio through them at like 30-40% volume everything else disappears.”
Practical notes owners raise — setup, quirks, and issues to watch for. They don't say whether the person likes the product, so they're not counted in the score, but they inform the pros, cons, and who it's for.
“They are mimicking foam ear tips I think, that they expand within your ear for maximum seal, which might make some people's ears uncomfortable, either due to pressure or skin contact.”
“Try doing a hearing test and then setting that up in “hearing aid” mode. While I don’t really have any hearing loss - but it did seem to make a bit of a different to transparency mode”
“Does Apple do returns of worn airpods? I've been uhming and ahhing because I'm worried they won't fit me and I assumed Apple (like most retailers) won't accept returns of used airpods.”
“My issue with comply is that I had to squish them before I put them in each time. I can’t do that because I take them out and put the in a dozen plus times a day. Do you have to do that?”
“Also an Android user and been wanting to get a pair. How are the mics for calls in noisy environments? I've heard the call quality is not as good when used on Android phones”
“Might not be a big deal to some people, but if you’re the type to hang back a bit for major OS upgrades until bugs are ironed out, this is a detail you should be aware of. It’s a papercut.”
“Android user here - I have the option for spatial audio and hi-res lossless (24bit/192khz) is there an even higher tier of music quality I'm missing out on in Apple Music?”
“You can use the touch controls on the buds to change listening modes and can download apps from play store/APKs that show you the battery in your status bar and some let you change settings”
“You can see in the measurements that the changes are incremental, the APP3 sounds a lot like APP2, but as I said, it may have crossed that "too much" threshold for some.”
“Yes recency bias got people convincing themselves the 3’s sound quality is light years better. But TBF your average consumer automatically thinks more bass = better sq.”
“Might as well just have a straight up foam tip option like IEMs and just have it separately sold, I’m going to try the mediums today since I’ve been working around XS since that was my APP1 size”
“Hmm that's what I've encountered as well. Will it auto connect to your android device if it was the last paired device and hasn't reconnected to an apple device?”
“I’m not surprised that APP3 with the hybrid Foam tips would have better ANC + Passive Noise Isolation performance than any pure ANC headphones. I wonder how APP2 with Comply Foam Tips would compare…?”
“I just got the air pods pro 3, when I'm outside and if I have ANC enabled and I'm not listening to any music, I can still hear cars driving by. Is this normal?”
“Huh, I had been using their directions by compressing the foam. I'll give this a try on some other earbuds with Comply tips that I have. Thanks for the advice.”
“Tip: You can turn off the fake voice tuning in airpods for real sounds in ios but I don't know how to do it in android. Maybe ITunes settings will do the trick”
“I mean, if the ANC upgrade is even remotely comparable to the AP2 imo it’ll already be worth it. Anyways I lost my AP2 3 weeks ago and decided to wait for these anyways so I’m gonna buy them regardless”
“Spatial Audio I would assume will take a slight hit on the battery. The 9hr real world use per charge is with ANC on and music playing at around 60% volume.”
“Interesting. Tried the maxs in store and the anc made me feel headachy and slightly sick. This gives me hope that the feature on the pro 3 might work for me”
“This is the correct order based on almost every objective test. The rest of this is fanboy shit. Still excited to try the APP3 but expecting them to be better than top of the line over ears is ridiculous.”
“I’m going to upgrade from my Pro 1s purely so I can finally move on from lightning and constantly having to bring around multiple cables whenever I travel.”
“You probably figured it out by now, but adaptive mode is for when you don't want total blackout. You can adjust the ANC strength that way with the slider.”
“Headphones or earbuds? The post we’re referring to the earbud version of the XM5s rather than the headphones as one would expect close back headphones to have a soundstage that excels in comparison to wireless earbuds”
“They have definitely seen better days. Pic from left to right: 3rd gen, 2nd gen and OG AirPods Pro. https://preview.redd.it/715l64lzx8rf1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c9761a06e8cddea770a86f8d78fb84aecc609936”