I gave up my AirPods Pro 2 for Powerbeats Pro 2. Here’s what happened. f

Photo illustration of a man standing at a desk wearing the Apple Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds.

After a week of using the new Powerbeats Pro 2 and AirPods Pro, I've come away with a clear understanding of how each suits my needs—and maybe yours, too. (Image credit: Future)

I love my AirPods Pro 2. They sound great, the noise cancellation is stellar, and they are incredibly convenient to use in almost all use cases.

However, when Beats unveiled the Powerbeats Pro 2, I saw the first earbuds that could challenge the AirPods Pro 2 as my go-to earbuds. So, I picked them up and spent a week using them instead of my AirPods Pro 2 to see what would happen.

After a week of using the Powerbeats Pro 2 instead of my AirPods Pro 2 at home, at work, and exercising, I’ve come away with a much better understanding of where each of these plays a role in my everyday carry.

AirPods Pro 2 are still my “everyday” earbuds

The AirPods Pro are still the everyday earbuds to beat. — (Image credit: Future)

While I’m mostly using my AirPods Pro 2 during work, I also use them around the house. Whether I’m taking a walk over lunch and giving my parents a call or listening to a podcast while I’m doing chores around the house, they are an everyday carry of my everyday life.

I tried using the Powerbeats Pro 2 instead of my AirPods Pro 2 here and, after a week, I’ve found that, while the Powerbeats can technically replace my AirPods Pro 2 — they can make calls and pump out music, podcasts, and audiobooks — the AirPods Pro 2 are more enjoyable to use.

They’re easier to pop in and out of your ears, the Adaptive Audio feature is great for switching between quiet and loud environments while staying aware of your surroundings, and they’re more comfortable to wear over long periods of time.

Powerbeats Pro 2 for work is weird

The Powerbeats Pro 2 finally come in a much smaller case. (Image credit: Future)

The second area where I replaced my AirPods Pro 2 was my work life. As someone who works remotely, I am constantly on video calls, and while I could blast the audio through my desktop speakers, I’d rather use some earbuds. It’s also nice to throw on some music in between meetings while I am working — and that’s also better to listen to with earbuds — so I end up with them in for most of the workday.

AirPods Pro 2 feature active noise canceling technology, offer stereo sound, a wireless Bluetooth 5.3 connection, and are water resistant. They feature a built-in microphone and include a carrying-and-charging case. The AirPods Pro 2 also feature two programmable buttons and a six-hour battery. The charging case provides an additional 24 hours of battery life, and if you use fast charging, 5 minutes of charge time results in 1 hour of playtime.

Here, the AirPods Pro 2 also won out for me. I find them more comfortable to wear than the Powerbeats Pro 2, and that alone means a lot when you use them consistently over an entire day’s worth of work. The microphone is also better, which is a big deal as someone who is on Google Meet and Zoom calls a lot.

It also feels weird wearing Powerbeats Pro 2 on video calls at work. AirPods are basically the Patagonia vest of work earbuds now.

AirPods Pro 2 are still the king of travel

Powerbeats Pro 2 case on a table — After using the Powerbeats Pro 2 for a week, the purpose of these earbuds is clear. (Image credit: Future)

When it comes to traveling, especially flying, AirPods Pro 2 have surprisingly taken their place as my go-to headphones. While I’ve used the AirPods Max and Beats Studio Pro in the past due to over-the-ear headphones having the most obvious advantage when it comes to noise cancellation, the noise cancellation in the AirPods Pro 2 has gotten so close in performance that their convenient size has made them much simpler to travel with.

While I did not have the chance to hop on a plane with the Powerbeats Pro 2 to compare them to the AirPods Pro 2, I did the Youtuber thing and played some plane sounds out of my television to see how good each did to cut out the noise. While you can certainly get away with the Powerbeats Pro on a flight, the AirPods Pro still had noticeably better noise cancellation.

With that in mind, and already feeling the difference in comfort that the AirPods Pro 2 provide over extended listening, the AirPods Pro 2 are also my pick here.

Powerbeats Pro 2 easily win for workouts

My AirPods Pro would have fallen out of my ears immediately. (Image credit: Future)

While AirPods Pro 2 won in every use case so far, we know how this one will go. While I love my AirPods Pro for basically every other use case, I hate them for exercise for the same reason many people do: They will not stay in my ears.

They’ll stay in place if I do something standing and upright, like lifting weights. But start running, biking, or doing anything that requires you to lean forward or backward anywhere close to ninety degrees, and you can bet those babies are coming out of your ears. Whenever I use them on a run, a hike, or am even at home doing some pushups or situps, I constantly readjust them to ensure they don’t take a nosedive into the floor.

This is obviously where the Powerbeats Pro shine the most. With the over-the-ear hook design, they do what the AirPods Pro can’t: stay in place. I tried, purposefully, everything I could think of to get them to pop out of my ears — they would not budge. So, despite having a little less impressive sound quality and noise cancellation, they immediately overpower the AirPods Pro as my earbuds of choice when doing anything active.

Running? Powerbeats Pro 2. Hiking? Powerbeats Pro 2. Biking? Powerbeats. Leaning too far forward? You get the idea.

Running? Powerbeats Pro 2. Hiking? Powerbeats Pro 2. Biking? Powerbeats. Leaning too far forward? You get the idea.

The only thing I noticed that bummed me out about the new Powerbeats is that, despite coming packed with Apple’s H2 chip, they aren’t automatically recognized by my Apple TV like my AirPods Pro 2. Even the Beats Studio Pro automatically recognize and prompt to be connected, which is disappointing, especially since the Powerbeats Pro 2 would be my headphones for an Apple Fitness+ workout. Hopefully, this will be an omission at launch, and Apple and Beats will work together to add this support to a firmware update.

The point of Powerbeats Pro 2 is clear

After using the Powerbeats Pro 2 for a week, the purpose of these earbuds is clear. While you could use them for everything, they are really tailor-made for the active part of your lifestyle. Beats’ marketing clarifies this, saying they are “built for athletes.”

I’ll continue to use my AirPods Pro 2 for most of my use cases at home, at work, and when traveling. However, I am immediately replacing them with the Powerbeats Pro 2 regarding my workouts. Together, they are a powerful combination that covers every use case you can throw at them.

Now I’ll have to decide if I still need my Beats Studio Pro!

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Joe Wituschek is a contributing personal technology writer for Laptop Mag. He has also written for BGR, MSN, MSN Canada, MSN UK, Android Central, Flipboard, Windows Central, ShortList, NewsBreak, TWICE, and Thrifter.