We spoke to Esge Andersen from Apple’s acoustics team to find out how the AirPods Pro 2 manage to sound so good
It’s all about airflow. “When we talk about good sound, it’s about how we move the air in the product – which is kind of weird because it’s not about the enclosure or how it looks – but it’s about ensuring that we also design for airflow.”
We are speaking with Esge Andersen, an engineer from Apple’s acoustics team, who is here to give an insight into the processes behind designing the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and developing its sound quality.
Apple has been making AirPods since 2016, and while the all-white stem-and-bud design is much imitated, sound quality has always been good, but not great. All that changed with the new flagship AirPods Pro 2 wireless earbuds, launched in September 2022. They finally earned a five-star review from What Hi-Fi? We were impressed with their wonderfully clear, subtle, engaging, powerful sound, which can sit alongside the best-in-class from Sony, Bose and Sennheiser.
A pocketable AirPods Max
“We wanted to give everybody an AirPods Max in their pocket,” says Andersen of the 2nd gen AirPods Pro. Apple’s first-ever over-ear wireless headphones had shown how serious the brand truly was about audio quality. We gave the Airpods Max five stars and an Award win in 2021, and with this ‘pocketable Max’ brief, the focus was on getting a better sound quality experience for Apple’s flagship wireless in-ears– which all came back to the basics of acoustic design.
The two generations of Pro models are practically identical, save for the repositioned vents and mics in the buds. Andersen says they had to change the venting system to optimise airflow for the driver – and this was key to improving the AirPods Pro’s sound.
It’s the same principles any hi-fi speaker company such as B&W and KEF would employ when designing new products: finding ways to make the speakers sound cleaner and more open, reducing unwanted noise that might affect the sound, and extending the high and lower frequencies with as much clarity and low distortion as possible. In the AirPods Pro 2, the venting system was simplified: there’s now one vent at the back of the buds, rather than two (one in the front and one in the back) as found in the previous model.
It’s thanks to this new back-venting system that the AirPods Pro have been able to reach those higher, cleaner highs
