The first-gen Pixel Buds Pro restored our faith in Google’s wireless earbuds game after we were extremely disappointed with the original Google Pixel Buds. The Pixel Buds Pro are still one of the best true wireless buds for Android users. My ears perked up when Google revealed the $230 Pixel Buds Pro 2 during Made By Google and promised several improvements to an already great pair of earbuds. I’m most excited to try these four features when the buds are released next month.
ANC Twice as Aggressive as the Pixel Buds Pro
The main driver behind a lot of the upgrades on the upcoming Pixel Buds Pro 2 is Google’s new processing chip, the Tensor A1. The A1 chip will apparently make ANC on the Pixel Buds Pro 2 twice as powerful as the Pixel Buds Pro. We specifically praised the latter for how powerful their noise-canceling was, so the bar for these buds is very high. Google claims the A1 will adapt to your sound environment up to 3 million times in a second. These figures sound impressive on paper, so I look forward to seeing how well they translate.
First Buds With Integrated Gemini
The Pixel Buds Pro 2 are the first Buds to offer Gemini. You can talk to your buds directly and have them carry out tasks for you without reaching for your phone.
I’m excited to be able to do things hands-free, but I want to test out the buds’ ability to understand my commands in noisy, outdoor settings, where I see myself using this feature the most. It’ll be ideal if it can summarize my last few emails or tell me about the closest open smoothie bar when I’m on the go, and my hands are occupied.
Since our demo for Gemini on the Pixel Buds Pro 2 was in a room with no ambient noise, I’d like to reserve some skepticism for the feature, especially looking at how the presenters ran into multiple failed attempts with Gemini for some of the other features unveiled at the keynote.
I like that the conversations you have with the Gemini agent on your buds will all be automatically stored as transcripts on your phone if you need to reference them later.
Multi-Path Processing
Not to be overly critical, but this is one of those claims that could very well be a gimmick, but if it works as marketed, it has the potential to be a game changer. Usually, music and ANC processing happens in the same lane on a bud’s chip. This leads to a slight compromise since they’re both constantly ongoing processes that are made to share the same path. Google claims that even the most premium earbuds don’t provide a workaround for this. The A1 chip will allegedly provide multi-path processing capabilities to pave two separate lanes for audio and ANC. I can imagine a considerable boost in both departments when they finally have a dedicated space to work on.
Twist to Lock
Obviously, better sound and more powerful ANC are great, but I’m still the most excited about the new Twist to Adjust Stabilizer. My ears reject most in-ear buds, so I have to resort to either on-ear or open-ear ones. Owing to this stabilizing mechanism, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 promises to be twice as secure in your ears as the first-gen Pros. It looks like you could twist the buds in your ears once to tightly seal the lock and ensure they’re snug on a run.
Some of these features sound exciting, but I don’t want to speak too soon and be disappointed later. Most of this could be a marketing tactic, including the new Tensor A1 chip. Let’s not forget that two years ago, Google claimed that the ANC on the Pixel Buds Pro is handled by a custom chip, too. Considering it’s been a while since those buds were released, some obvious hardware upgrades are standard, but we’ll have to wait and see if the A1 is mostly just rebranding.