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- Table of Contents
- Top
- Main Differences
- Design
- Sound
- Isolation
- Microphone
- Active Features
- Connectivity
- Comments
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) vs Apple AirPods 4
Side-by-Side Comparison
Products
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation)
Apple AirPods 4
Tested using Methodology v1.8
Updated Feb 14, 2025 09:02 PM
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Amazon.comTested using Methodology v1.8
Updated Feb 13, 2025 12:29 AM
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TypeIn-ear
Noise CancellingYes
EnclosureClosed-Back
WirelessTruly Wireless
TransducerDynamic
MicYes
TypeEarbuds
Noise CancellingNo
EnclosureOpen-Back
WirelessTruly Wireless
TransducerDynamic
MicYes
Variants
- AirPods Pro (2nd generation) (White)
- AirPods Pro (2nd generation) (USB‑C) (White)
- AirPods 4 (White)
Our Verdict
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation)
Apple AirPods 4
The Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) Truly Wireless are better for most people than the Apple AirPods 4 Truly Wireless mainly due their more predictable fit and the flexibility of active noise cancellation. On the other hand, if you prefer the environmental awareness of the open-back AirPods 4 and their looser fit, you may prefer that to the transparency mode on the AirPods Pro (2nd generation). Both have the H2 chip for switching between iCloud-registered Apple devices and Spatial Audio. However, the AirPods Pro (2nd generation) can also charge wirelessly, while the AirPods 4 only charge via USB-C.
Main Differences for
Threshold
Neutral Sound
7.4
7.4
Treble Profile: Target Compliance
4.6
2.7
Passive Soundstage
0.8
2.5
Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance
8.4
9.2
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Design Picture 2
Type
In-ear
Earbuds
Enclosure
Closed-Back
Open-Back
Wireless
Truly Wireless
Truly Wireless
Transducer
Dynamic
Dynamic
Comfort
7.5
7.0
Comfort Picture
Weight
0.02 lbs
0.02 lbs
Clamping Force
0 lbs
N/A
Controls
8.2
5.8
Controls Picture
OS Compatibility
Not OS specific
Not OS specific
Ease Of Use
Good
Great
Feedback
Great
Good
Call/Music Control
Yes
Yes
Volume Control
Yes
No
Microphone Control
Mute/Unmute
Mute/Unmute
Channel Mixing
No
No
Noise Cancelling Control
On/Off
No
Talk-Through
On/Off
No
Additional Controls
Voice Assistant
Voice Assistant
Breathability
Breathability After Picture
Avg.Temp.Difference
Portability
9.6
9.6
Portability Picture
L
1.2" (3.0 cm)
1.3" (3.3 cm)
W
0.9" (2.3 cm)
1.0" (2.5 cm)
H
0.9" (2.3 cm)
0.7" (1.8 cm)
Volume
0.99 in³ (16.20 cm³)
0.85 in³ (14.00 cm³)
Transmitter Required
No
No
Case
9.0
8.5
Case Picture
Type
Hard case
Hard case
L
1.8" (4.5 cm)
1.8" (4.6 cm)
W
2.4" (6.1 cm)
2.0" (5.0 cm)
H
0.9" (2.2 cm)
0.8" (2.1 cm)
Volume
3.67 in³ (60.10 cm³)
2.93 in³ (48.00 cm³)
Build Quality
8.0
8.0
Build Quality Picture
Stability
7.5
7.5
Stability Picture
Headshots 1
Angled Picture
Side Picture
Headshots 2
Front Picture
Rear Picture
Top
Top Picture
In The Box
In The Box Picture
Sound
Sound Profile
Sound Profile
Normalization Frequency
600 Hz
900 Hz
Bass Amount
0.1 dB
-1.1 dB
Treble Amount
-5.2 dB
-7.2 dB
Frequency Response Consistency
9.3
9.2
Consistency L
Consistency R
Avg. Std. Deviation
0.15 dB
0.17 dB
Raw Frequency Response
Bass Profile: Target Compliance
9.9
9.5
Bass Profile: Target Compliance
RMS Deviation From Target
0.4 dB
2.3 dB
Low-Frequency Extension
20 Hz
20 Hz
Low Bass
0.23 dB
-2.85 dB
Mid Bass
-0.55 dB
0.28 dB
High Bass
0.41 dB
0.14 dB
Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance
8.4
9.2
Mid-Range Profile: Target Compliance
RMS Deviation From Target
1.56 dB
0.94 dB
Low Mid
1.04 dB
0.44 dB
Mid-Mid
-0.43 dB
-0.89 dB
High Mid
-2.26 dB
-0.71 dB
Treble Profile: Target Compliance
4.6
2.7
Treble Profile: Target Compliance
RMS Deviation From Target
5.4 dB
7.5 dB
Low Treble
-5.55 dB
-7.94 dB
Mid Treble
-4.73 dB
-6.19 dB
High Treble
-8.22 dB
-3.69 dB
Peaks/Dips
8.5
8.4
Peaks/Dips Graph
Peaks
0.93 dB
0.78 dB
Dips
1.04 dB
1.62 dB
Imaging
9.3
9.0
Phase Response Mismatch
Weighted Group Delay
0.08
0.23
Weighted Phase Mismatch
1.65
1.12
Weighted Amplitude Mismatch
0.44
1.05
Weighted Frequency Mismatch
1.03
0.8
Passive Soundstage
0.8
2.5
PRTF
PRTF Accuracy (Std. Dev.)
N/A
N/A
PRTF Size (Avg.)
N/A
N/A
PRTF Distance
N/A
N/A
Openness
0.9
9.2
Acoustic Space Excitation
1.9
2.3
Virtual Soundstage
5.0
5.0
Virtual Soundstage
Head Modeling
On/Off
On/Off
Speaker Modeling
On/Off
On/Off
Room Ambience
No
No
Head Tracking
On/Off
On/Off
Virtual Surround
Personalized Spatial Audio
Personalized Spatial Audio
Weighted Harmonic Distortion
8.1
8.6
Weighted Harmonic Distortion
WHD @ 90
0.224
0.129
WHD @ 100
0.086
0.067
Test Settings
Firmware
7B21
7B19
Power
On
On
Connection
Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Codec
SBC, 16-bit, 44.1kHz
AAC, 16-bit, 48kHz
Test Instrument
Audio Precision APx517B
Audio Precision APx517B
EQ
Adaptive EQ
Adaptive EQ
ANC
On
No ANC
Tip/Pad
Silicone (small)
Default
Microphone
Integrated
Integrated
Isolation
Noise Isolation - Full Range
9.1
1.8
Noise Isolation - Full Range Graph
Noise Cancelling
Yes
No
Overall Attenuation
-24.48 dB
-4.05 dB
Bass
-20.83 dB
0.07 dB
Mid
-26.68 dB
-0.04 dB
Treble
-26.47 dB
-13.49 dB
Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios
9.6
2.2
Noise Isolation - Common Scenarios Graph
Airplane Noise Attenuation
-23.48 dB
-3.75 dB
Airplane Noise Isolation Audio
Office Noise Attenuation
-21.63 dB
-4.14 dB
Office Noise Isolation Audio
Street Noise Attenuation
-25.52 dB
-4.13 dB
Street Noise Isolation Audio
Noise Isolation - Voice Handling
Female Voice 1
Male Voice 1
Female Voice 2
Male Voice 2
Leakage
8.3
8.0
Leakage Audio
Overall Leakage @ 1ft
31.85 dB
33.86 dB
Microphone
Microphone Style
Integrated
Yes
Yes
In-Line
No
No
Boom
No
No
Detachable Boom
No
No
Mic
Yes
Yes
Recording Quality
5.3
6.4
Microphone Frequency Response
Recorded Speech
LFE
216.68 Hz
276.97 Hz
FR Std. Dev.
4.98 dB
5.77 dB
HFE
3,466.89 Hz
4,902.93 Hz
Weighted THD
57.033
1.682
Gain
-4.91 dB
28.06 dB
Noise Handling
6.4
6.7
SpNR
10.15 dB
37.48 dB
Noise Gate
No
No
Speech + Pink Noise Handling
7.0
7.5
Speech + Pink Noise Audio Sample
Speech + Subway Noise Handling
5.5
5.5
Speech + Subway Noise Audio Sample
Active Features
Battery
7.0
7.2
Battery Type
Rechargable
Rechargable
Continuous Battery Life
5.9 hrs
6.7 hrs
Additional Charges
4.0
4.0
Total Battery Life
29.5 hrs
33.5 hrs
Charge Time
0.9 hrs
0.5 hrs
Power-Saving Feature
Standby mode
Standby mode
Audio While Charging
Yes
Yes
Passive Playback
No
No
Charging Port
Lightning
USB-C
App Support
6.5
6.0
App Picture
App Name
iOS Interface
iOS Interface
iOS
Yes
Yes
Android
No
No
macOS
Yes
Yes
Windows
No
No
Equalizer
No
No
ANC Control
On/Off
No
Mic Control
No
No
Room Effects
No
No
Playback Control
No
No
Button Mapping
Yes
Yes
Surround Support
Yes
Yes
Connectivity
Wired Connection
0.0
0.0
Cable Picture
Analog Audio
No
No
USB Audio
No
No
Detachable
No
No
Length
N/A
N/A
Connector
No Wired Option
No Wired Option
Latency - Analog
N/A
N/A
Latency - USB
N/A
N/A
Recorded Latency
N/A
N/A
Recorded Latency Connection
No Wired Audio
No Wired Audio
Bluetooth Connection
8.0
7.4
Bluetooth Version
5.3+H2 chip
5.3+H2 chip
Multi-Device Pairing
Yes (Apple Ecosystem)
Yes (Apple Ecosystem)
Quick Pair (Android)
No
No
Quick Pair (iOS)
Yes
Yes
Line Of Sight Range
334.65 ft (102.00 m)
259.19 ft (79.00 m)
Latency - SBC
160 ms
215 ms
Latency - aptX
N/A
N/A
Latency - aptX Adaptive (High Quality)
N/A
N/A
Latency - aptX Adaptive (Low Latency)
N/A
N/A
Latency - LDAC
N/A
N/A
Recorded Latency
Recorded Latency Codec
SBC
SBC
AAC Support
Yes
Yes
Wireless Connection (Dongle)
0.0
0.0
Line Of Sight Range
N/A
N/A
Latency - Dongle
N/A
N/A
Recorded Latency
N/A
N/A
PC Compatibility
Analog
No
No
Wired USB
No
No
Non-BT Wireless
No
No
PlayStation Compatibility
PS4 Analog
No
No
PS4 Wired USB
No
No
PS4 Non-BT Wireless
No
No
PS5 Analog
No
No
PS5 Wired USB
No
No
PS5 Non-BT Wireless
No
No
Xbox Compatibility
Xbox One Analog
No
No
Xbox One Wired USB
No
No
Xbox One Non-BT Wireless
No
No
Xbox Series X|S Analog
No
No
Xbox Series X|S Wired USB
No
No
Xbox Series X|S Non-BT Wireless
No
No
Base/Dock
2.2
0.4
Type
Charging Case
Charging Case
USB Input
No
No
Line In
No
No
Line Out
No
No
Optical Input
No
No
RCA Input
No
No
Dock Charging
Yes
No
Power Supply
Lightning
USB-C
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation)
Apple AirPods 4
Comments
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation) vs Apple AirPods 4: Main Discussion
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