AirPods Pro are the 'buds you're looking for

The new wireless earbuds from Apple are good enough for a musician's discerning ear.

I have my AirPods in my ears for most of the day as I make business calls, stream the latest episode of the Omni Show, or just listen to relaxing music.

I always use the same music tracks when trying out headphones and with these (which arrived a day early!) I hear instrument separation that isn't present in the AirPods 2nd version, nor my Bose QC 35 II's.

Testing, testing...1,2,3.

I test out headphones using Rick Ross' "Aston Martin Music", Jay-Z's "What More Can I Say?", both for their very low bass notes and hi-hats or horn instruments. I also then test with various classical and rock tracks.

For hip hop and bass-heavy music, the bass notes that are a very low (like the 5-string bass guitar's low B, tuned a half-step lower to B-flat in Aston Martin Music) are audible, where many other headphones would drop the note almost entirely because their frequency range doesn't cover it. I have to imagine that the frequency dips to 20hz here. Conversely, the vocals and hi-hats and snare are so crisp with treble, yet not overpowering. A delight.

Fit

This is how I like earbuds to fit : securely. There is zero worry that these will fall out of my ears. I'm unfortunately one of those people for whom the original series of AirPods just never felt quite right in the ear. They felt as if I had to jam them in to stay in. I guess I have large inner ears. In fact, the AirPods Pro proved me right in that assumption with their fit test, which can be found when going to Settings>Bluetooth>AirPods Pro. It was determined that the largest of the included tips would create the best seal, and Apple was spot on with this assumption. Music sounded nice with Medium tips in my ears. With the correctly-fitting Large tips, I was experiencing sound.

Noise cancellation

With the included presets of holding the end of the AirPods Pro to change from transparency mode to noise cancellation mode, I could hear an immediate difference while not playing music. In my bedroom I have a fan going and in noise cancellation mode, the sound disappeared. With transparency mode I could once again hear the ceiling fan whirring about.

On the whole

Apple really has a great idea of what music lovers need between the HomePod and these. I will sell my AirPods (2nd gen) now as I won't go back after hearing the Pro's. Yes, $250 is a lot for headphones, but if sound quality, fit and noise cancellation are your jam, so will be the AirPods Pro.