Apple’s Beats launched the Powerbeats Pro 2 TWS earbuds last month globally, including India. The successor to the first Powerbeats Pro adds Active Noise Cancelling (ANC), Heart rate monitoring for real-time workout data, lighter design, longer battery life and more. Are these the best fitness earphones? Let us dive into the review to find out.
Box Contents
- Powerbeats Pro 2 earphones in Quick Sand colour
- Charging case with wireless charging capability
- Eartips with five size options (XS, S, M, L, XL)
- Warranty card
It doesn’t come with a USB-C charging cable, and is sold separately, said the company.
Design and Build Quality
Starting with the design, the headset comes in a familiar oval-shaped charging case that we had seen in the predecessor. Even though the case is still big compared to other premium TWS earbuds, this is decent for fitness-focused earbuds, and the size of the case has reduced compared to the first model.
The weigh of the case has also reduced to 69g from 108g, which is a huge difference. You can see Beats logo on the front of the case, which has a matte finish. It also doesn’t attract fingerprints, smudges and is also not prone to scratches. It measures 75 x 77 x 34mm.
There is a tiny LED indicator on the inside that glows in green, red and white colours.
The USB Type-C port is present on the back.
The function button is on the inside. The magnets are strong, so the earbuds are secured tightly into the case.
The headset also has a matte finish that doesn’t get scratched easily. You can see the microphones and vents on the outside. Apple said that the reinforced nickel titanium alloy earhook has been tested with nearly 1,000 athletes for improved flexibility, grip, and comfort. The part with the beat logo has a multi function button that lets you play pause or switch on noise cancelling.
This is true since it doesn’t fall off easily, even during strenuous workouts or running. The headset also comes with IPX4 ratings for splash resistance, so it can withstand sweat or light rain, but it is not recommended to use it for swimming.
There is an Optical Sensor for Wear Detection so that it can automatically pause the audio when you remove it from your ears and play when you put it back. Apple has also added a heart rate sensor in the earbuds. Overall, the headset offers a good build quality, and fits your ears perfectly.
Connectivity, Pairing, and Controls
The Powerbeats Pro 2 supports has Apple H2 chip, the same chip that powers AirPods Pro 2, enabling one-touch pairing, automatic switching, Audio Sharing, hands-free Siri and Find My for iPhone. For Android, this uses Bluetooth 5.3 with SBC or AAC audio codec, and doesn’t have any Hi-res codecs.
The pairing process is very easy. Just enable Bluetooth on the iPhone, open the charging case of the buds, and it will show up. For Android, you need to press and hold the setup button in the case for few seconds to enter Bluetooth settings and pair the buds. There is no Google fast pair option.
The headset lacks multipoint or dual device connectivity, so you can’t pair with two devices at a time.
| Function | Left earphone (L) | Right earphone (R) |
| Play / Pause and Answer call | Press once | |
| Play next track or Reject a call | Press twice | |
| Play previous track | Press thrice | |
| Enable noise cancellation | Press and Hold | |
You can customize the controls from the settings if you have an iPhone. Android users can use the Beats app.
You can’t edit single press for play/pause or call control. But you can customize double-squeeze for call controls. You can also choose at least two from Noise cancellation, Transparency, Noise cancellation off, when you press and hold.
Even though there is Adaptive EQ, which uses advanced inward-facing microphones to continuously scan the fit and seal of the earbuds and adjust acoustic frequencies in real-time for a customized sound experience, it does not offer a traditional custom EQ setting that allows users to manually adjust bass, treble, or mid-range frequencies.
The Earbuds fit test option plays music to ensure that your ear tips make a good seal with your ear canal for better noise-cancelling and heart rate tracking.
Audio Quality
The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds feature 9.5mm drivers. However, Beats does not disclose the specific frequency range of these drivers. The earbuds have an energetic sound profile with amplified bass and treble. They emphasize sub-bass and treble, creating a V-shaped sound signature. However, they lack upper treble, resulting in a darker tone overall.
You can’t compare these with flagship earbuds since these don’t have dual drivers or Hi-res audio codec. For workout or outdoor activities, this does a good job.
Heart rate tracking
This has a heart rate sensor with LED optical sensors that can measure blood flow over 100 times per second, promising accurate workout data. You need to activate heart rate tracking manually on the beats app and turn on discover option in the workout app and pair.
It starts tracking when you start a workout, it doesn’t constantly monitor your heart rate throughout the day. It doesn’t start tracking automatically, and you need to turn on the tracking feature every time you need to measure.
Heart rate tracking is supported by Runna, Nike Run Club, Open, Ladder, Slopes and YaoYao, says the company. You can connect the headset to Gym equipment, but on iPhone, you can’t listen to music while simultaneously sending heart-rate data to a fitness machine, which is a big flaw.
I tried with Nike Run Club app on Android, and compared to Huawei Band 9 and Amazfit BIP 5, the values are decent, but there are drops outs in tracking. Even though heart rate got tracked till 6KM, it dropped out in the last 7KM. Also, couldn’t try pairing it to the Nike Run Club app always.
Strava pairing was quick, and it also shows heart rate status to notify you it’s connect unkike the Nike Running App. Heart rate tracking doesn’t drain the battery much.
Noise Cancellation and Call Performance
This finally gets Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) that the first gen model lacked. This blocks the ambient sound that helps in most cases. You can feel the difference when you are listening outdoors. The company doesn’t mention the strength for noise cancellation, but it does a good job since the secure fit design helps to cut out most noise easily.
However, you can’t choose the noise cancellation strength manually. This also has Transparency mode that allows you to listen to ambient sound so that you can recognize the surrounding situation and any potential risks.
Coming to the call noise cancellation, it uses AI-powered noise reduction algorithm and three ENC microphones to cut external noise. This does a good job in cutting down wind and traffic noise. During my use outdoors, wind noise was complete cut out to the receiver, but the traffic noise was faintly audible.
Battery Life
The earphones pack a bigger battery that promises about 10 hours of standalone battery life without ANC. With ANC/Transparency Mode on, it is slightly less at 8 hours. During my mixed use of with and without noise cancellation, I got about 8 and a half hours in about 60% volume, so it is good. For calls, it lasts less since it uses call noise cancellation tech.
The charging case provides an additional 36 hours of battery life with ANC/Transparency Mode on, or 45 hours with these features off. This is a significant improvement over the original Powerbeats Pro, which offered up to 9 hours per bud and 24 hours total with the case.
The green light in the case indicates that the battery is high, and it turns red when it is low. You can also see the charge left in the case in the beats app or directly on iPhone when the earbuds are placed in the case. It also shows up on battery widgets.
Charging the case fully with the earbuds takes about an hour. It also has fast charge, so that you get 1.5 hours of playback with 5 minutes of charging. The charging case also offers wireless charging, so you can simply drop your earbuds onto a Qi Wireless charging pad, but it takes over 2 hours to charge the case fully.
Conclusion
At a price tag of Rs. 29,900, the Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds are good for workouts in terms of fit, offer good noise cancellation, decent audio quality and battery life is good as well. There are a lot of improvements compared to the first Powerbeats Pro. However, the heart tracking is inconsistent and doesn’t work all the time.
The price tag is a bit steep when you can get other options such as Sennheiser MOMENTUM Sport that also have a heart-rate monitor, as well as a body temperature sensor at a slightly cheaper rate. The Powerbeats Pro 2 can be purchased via apple.com/in.
Pros
- Secure fit
- Decent audio quality
- ANC is good
- Long battery life with fast charging, wireless charging
Cons
- Lacks Multipoint connectivity
- Heart rate tracking is inconsistent
- Only has IPX4 ratings