The short review (for iPhone users): If you value excellent sound quality over convenience features and general reliability, get these. If you value new features and AI stuff and all the fancy stuff iOS can do, get airpods 2.

I got these because I lost my AirPod pro 2's (think the buds are in my house somewhere but can't find them) and didn't wanna buy another AirPod pro 2, in the event that I either fund the buds, or a new iteration comes out this year or next. Also, I have a very pricey pair of headphones and am kind of spoiled with great sound.

The Good:

Sound: When I first got these, I thought they sounded very good. I was super skeptical because of the price point, and thought "They can't be that much better". I thought that the AirPod 2s sounded very good and I never had a complaint, but didn't have them in front of me to tell the difference. So.. I went and ordered another pair to directly compare them, and let me tell you, the sound difference is pretty drastic. The bass is cleaner and doesn't bleed so much into the rest of the frequency range, the highs are much more clear, overall they just sound "More HD" than the AirPods. The Airpods aren't bad, but these are much better. As I have used them, they seem to sound even better now as they are burned in.

Having an EQ On IOS: I use Tidal which doesn't have an EQ, and Apple doesn't really have a good EQ solution, so having an EQ in the Bowers app is a very nice feature for me to have as I always like to edit my EQ depending on what I'm listening to. Don't expect monumental changes in the sound signature, but generally you can make the bass a little more or less in depth sounding and the highs a little higher or lower

Comfort and Wearability: I have been wearing these for hours daily, wear them at the gym while running on a treadmill, wear them around town doing groceries, and they never fall off or hurt my ears. This is with the stock tips. My airpods would hurt a certain part of my ear after about an hour but these don't.

Build Quality: These feel nice. I wouldn't call them "luxurious" like some people do, but they don't feel cheap either. They feel solid.

The case transmit feature: I thought this was gimmicky and that I wouldn't use it, but I have already used it like when playing my WiiU in bed. Also, I have used it to plug into my xbox controller when I didn't feel like wearing headphones with subpar sound (but do when I'm playing online with friends, because of the mics).


The Ok:

Noise Cancelling: The noise cancelling on these is good. I wouldn't say its very good, but its enough. Sometimes, the high amounts of noise cancelling on the AirPods would bother me, and sometimes it wouldn't. I feel like these won't annoy me ever, but there may be times where I would want more noise cancelling. I think bowers did this to not change the sound too much like high levels of ANC can do

Touch fuctions: they work, but don't use it. Just ok


The Not so good:

The call quality is pretty bad. I was just sitting in my car in a stop light and the other end of my call said they couldnt hear me well. I recorded my voice on these and the airpod pros and the airpods definitely have the edge. They seem to almost artificially boost my voice, which might sound a little weird but it works. This is my biggest gripe on these honestly.

General useability is pretty good on iOS, but often, the left or right bud will disconnect and unlike airPods, I can't just touch them to turn them back on. I often have to put them back in their case then take them back out.

I really wish these had a tracking feature in the app to find them like airpods. Would REALLY suck to lose these. I literally taped an airtag to it haha.

The Price: I think 400 might be a little too much, but I'm still keeping them so I guess that means its not TOO high.



Summary: I will be keeping these just because the comfort and sound really have me won over. I don't talk on the phone often with earbuds, and don't really care about all the iOS features, SIRI or any of that. I just wanted earbuds I could wear to the gym, around the house doing chores and on my random errands that sound great and these fit the bill.

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