The Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 have lastly been upgraded, bringing with it coronary heart price monitoring and lively noise cancellation for the primary time. Here is how they fare in contrast towards Apple’s identically-priced AirPods Professional 2.
The Beats Powerbeats Professional have at all times had a spot as one of many premium earphone choices on Apple’s roster. Nonetheless, as time pressed onward, different earphones within the Apple and Beats ranges began to overhaul it with options.
In Feburary 2025, Beats lastly made some huge modifications to the Powerbeats Professional. The second-gen mannequin affords a thinner look, whereas nonetheless catering in direction of the health crowd.
The modifications weren’t simply beauty, as Beats additionally introduced Energetic Noise Cancellation to the Beats Powerbeats Professional 2, a much-needed premium audio characteristic.
Moreover, Beats additionally added a really distinctive characteristic in private audio: coronary heart price monitoring. That is one thing that Apple has been rumored to be engaged on, however has really turn into a actuality by way of Beats.
With the extra premium modifications, the Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 are actually the high-end option within the Beats roster. Additionally they instantly compete towards Apple’s own AirPods Pro 2, with the 2 fashions priced identically at $249.
That is the specification breakdown between Beats’ latest providing and Apple’s high of the non-public audio pile.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2 – Specs
| Specs | Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 | AirPods Professional 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Value | $249 Finest sale worth |
$249 Best sale price |
| Weight (ounces) | 0.30 (earbud) 2.43 (case) |
0.19 (earbud) 1.79 (case) |
| Chipset | H2 | H2, U1 in Case |
| Energetic Noise Cancellation | Sure, with Transparency | Sure, with Transparency |
| Audio Options | Adaptive EQ, Personalised Spatial Audio with head monitoring, One-touch pairing, Computerized switching, Audio sharing, Arms-free Siri, Discover My, Lossless audio Beats app for Android |
Adaptive EQ, Personalised Spatial Audio with head monitoring, One-touch pairing, Dialog Consciousness, Computerized switching, Audio Sharing, Arms-free Siri, Discover My, Lossless Audio |
| Listening to take a look at & help | No | Sure |
| Coronary heart price monitoring | Sure | No |
| Charging | USB-C, Qi | USB-C, MagSafe, Qi |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 5.3 | Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Discover My | With noise for earbuds | With U1 & speaker for case |
| Battery Life | 36 hours with ANC, 45 hours with out ANC |
20 hours with ANC, 30 hours with out ANC |
| Quick Charging | 1.5 hours from 5 minutes | 1.5 hours from 5 minutes |
| Controls | Beats brand button, Rocker quantity, |
Swipe & Drive Sensor |
| Different Sensors | Optical sensor, Movement-detecting, Voice accelerometer |
Pores and skin-detect sensor, Movement-detecting, Speech-detecting |
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2 – Design
The obvious distinction between the Powerbeats Professional 2 and the AirPods Professional 2 is of their bodily form.
The AirPods Professional weigh 0.19 ounces apiece, with a peak of 1.22 inches, a width of 0.86 inches, and a depth of 0.94 inches.
The form of the design features a descending stalk that dips down outdoors the ear, which is used for management and for optimum microphone placement for choosing up the person’s voice. A collection of 4 silicone suggestions are used, each to safe the AirPods Professional 2 in place within the ear canal and to create an acoustic seal.
The Powerbeats Professional 2 are significantly larger at 1.8 inches by 1.6 inches by 0.9 inches. They’re additionally a lot heavier than the AirPods Professional 2 at 0.30 ounces every.
Nonetheless, plenty of that is mitigated by the design alternative to make use of earhooks. For the reason that Powerbeats Professional 2 are supposed to be used in exercises and athletic conditions, the earhook is used to maintain the earbuds in your ear, no matter how anchored the silicone tip is within the ear canal.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2: Earhooks make the Powerbeats Professional 2 a lot larger in dimension.
This does imply that customers of the Beats earbuds can use a smaller dimension from the collection of 5 for a extra comfy match as a substitute of going for absolute safety. You do nonetheless want that acoustic seal, however you do not essentially have to wedge the earbuds tightly into the ear canal.
The brand new fashions could also be huge, however they are not as giant as the unique model. This technology has an earhook that is over 50% smaller than the first-gen mannequin, and there is additionally a weight lack of about 20% too.
Whereas you must contact, faucet, and maintain the stem of AirPods Professional to make changes, Beats goes for a extra bodily strategy. Every earbud has a multifunction button on the Beats brand, in addition to a bodily rocker change, used for quantity management.
That is most likely a greater choice for individuals figuring out, because you’d most certainly need the fast tactile affirmation that you simply’re turning the amount up and down from a bodily change when within the warmth of an exercise. Swiping a stalk would not actually have the identical immediateness.
Then there’s colour to think about. As traditional, Apple’s AirPods Professional 2 can be found solely within the conventional white, whereas Beats has 4 choices: Jet Black, Fast Sand, Hyper Purple, and Electrical Orange.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2 – Options
The Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 and AirPods Professional 2 each use the H2 chip for onboard processing. Which means there’s an terrible lot of similarities relating to precise options.
For a begin, each have Energetic Noise Cancellation, which is a brand new characteristic to the Powerbeats Professional. Since there’s ANC, there’s additionally Transparency, permitting customers to listen to the skin world, which is helpful for the occasional run.
Then there’s Adaptive EQ, which tunes the audio to the form of your ear utilizing the built-in microphones. Each choices can enhance the sound high quality when ANC is disabled.
Each even have Personalised Spatial Audio with head monitoring, which is a neat characteristic for listening to music or watching films. Lossless audio can also be current right here too.
Then there’s the Apple ecosystem integrations, that are just about comparable throughout the board. One-touch pairing with Apple gadgets, computerized switching between gadgets, and audio sharing can be found in each pairs of earbuds.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2: Each can rapidly be paired to an iPhone
Arms-free Siri can also be naturally out there, as is Discover My assist, however there’s a distinction right here.
The Discover My of the AirPods Professional depends on the U1 chip within the case, which suggests you possibly can observe down the case itself utilizing a comparatively new iPhone. There’s Discover My with the AirPods, nevertheless it’s a extra primary providing, although you can also make the earbuds make particular person noises for the left and proper earbud.
Beats does profit from being a bit extra Android-aware, as Beats does supply an app to deal with many settings on that platform, whereas AirPods Professional deal with extra like typical Bluetooth earphones.
Which means the Beats has issues like one-touch pairing over on Android, in addition to Find My Beats, listening mode switching, and likewise over-the-air updates, by way of the app.
Audio high quality is excessive throughout the board, with the AirPods Professional utilizing a custom-built drive and amplifier for minimal distortion throughout quite a lot of quantity ranges. In the meantime Beats makes use of a custom-developed dual-layer transducer together with a high-output amplifier and a brand new acoustically-transparent mesh that additionally holds again liquids and particles.
In the case of capturing audio, each units of earphones have three per earbud, totaling six apiece.
The AirPods Professional have twin beamforming microphones, in addition to an inward-facing microphone to energy the ANC performance. The Powerbeats Professional have a devoted voice microphone in addition to feed-forward and suggestions mics for ANC options.
Each additionally depend on voice algorithms to enhance your audio. Nonetheless, if you happen to use a more moderen iPhone, this audio processing may be offloaded to the smartphone as a substitute.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2 – Well being
Each the AirPods Professional 2 and Powerbeats Professional 2 have well being options, however in very totally different areas.
The AirPods Professional 2 supply a scientifically validatedHearing Check, which works along with your iPhone to examine for listening to loss. It additionally offers speedy outcomes, which can be found within the Well being app.
The take a look at may even immediate you to arrange the Listening to Support operate, a clinical-grade characteristic that may amplify particular frequencies for the person.
Whereas Beats would not supply this, the Powerbeats Professional 2 does go down the well being route in a extra literal means.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2: The sensors for coronary heart price monitoring.
Constructed into every Powerbeats Professional 2 earbud is a coronary heart price monitor, utilizing the identical light-based system because the Apple Watch, however in your ear. Shining over 100 instances per second, the 2 earbuds can decide the person’s coronary heart price, which may be shared with the iPhone.
Nonetheless, not like the Apple Watch, which offers all-day coronary heart price monitoring, the Powerbeats Professional 2 does so whenever you’re doing a exercise. As quickly as you begin a exercise in some supported iOS apps, the center price characteristic will kick in.
This may be very helpful in conditions the place chances are you’ll not need an Apple Watch, however nonetheless wish to hold observe of your coronary heart price. For instance, sports activities or actions that require you to maintain your wrist freed from {hardware}, akin to weight lifting.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2 – Charging and Instances
The instances utilized by every bit of package are fairly totally different, partially as a result of huge distinction in earbud design.
The MagSafe Charging Case of the AirPods Professional 2 measures 1.78 inches by 2.39 inches by 0.85 inches. In the meantime the Beats case is significantly chunkier at 3 inches by 2.6 inches by 1.3 inches.
Whereas bigger, it is nonetheless a 3rd smaller than the earlier technology.
In addition to larger, the Beats case can also be heavier at 2.43 ounces versus 1.79 ounces for the AirPods case.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2: Beats makes use of a a lot bigger case, nevertheless it additionally has extra battery capability.
Each instances supply USB-C charging in addition to wi-fi charging assist, although the AirPods Professional case additionally helps MagSafe.
As for battery life, the AirPods Professional 2 can final for as much as six hours of listening from a single cost. It is a most of 20 hours together with the case with ANC allow, 30 hours with ANC off.
The Powerbeats Professional can final for as much as 8 hours with ANC enabled from a single cost, or 10 hours with ANC off. With the charging case included, it is 36 hours with ANC in whole, 45 hours with ANC off.
Quick charging is out there throughout each fashions, with a 5 minute cost leading to an hour and a half of playback time.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2 – Related, however very totally different
Ignoring the health-related options for the second, the Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 and AirPods Professional 2 supply very comparable capabilities as premium earphones. The usage of the H2 chip grants the Powerbeats Professional 2 the premium performance it has missed out on for years, making it a viable high-end choice as soon as once more.
Clearly not everybody will wish to use such giant earbuds with earhooks when there’s the smaller, sleeker AirPods Professional 2. The a lot smaller case of the AirPods Professional 2 additionally helps issues from a portability perspective.
However that dimension distinction affords Beats the prospect to outlast AirPods in utilization time. Each on earbud battery life and in whole with the instances.
Nonetheless, you even have to think about the center price monitoring options of the Powerbeats Professional 2. It is not all-day, however because it prompts throughout exercises, that is the time when it really issues.
Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2: Beats has completely modernized its Powerbeats Professional
It is attainable that Apple is utilizing the Powerbeats Professional 2 as a take a look at case, a precursor earlier than introducing the identical type of tech within the AirPods line down the street. It is a compelling prospect, however for the second, it makes the Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 stand out in a really crowded discipline.
In the event you’re OK with earhooks and the massive dimension, otherwise you’re a very sporty one that needs music as you’re employed out, the Beats Powerbeats Professional 2 is a really compelling providing as it’s, even if you happen to ignore the center price monitoring options.
The AirPods Professional 2 will nonetheless be the principle alternative for a lot of customers. However now there is a very viable Beats choice, and it is one which goes the additional mile.
The place to purchase Powerbeat Professional 2 vs AirPods Professional 2
Powerbeats Professional retail for $249.99 and may be ordered at B&H Photo and Amazon.
AirPods Professional 2, in the meantime, are aggressively discounted at press time, with Amazon delivering the lowest price. You will discover the most effective AirPods & Beats offers throughout the whole product line in our Apple Headphones Value Information.
