It's nearly Black Friday and a new record-low price for Apple's five-star AirPods Pro 2

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

I'll cut straight to it. Apple's AirPods Pro 2 have dropped to a record-low price of £169 at Amazon. That's an impressive £60 off their £229 launch price.

Despite being superseded by the AirPods Pro 3, the second-generation buds still boast clear, detailed and powerful sound, excellent noise-cancelling and a long battery life.

Best Apple AirPods Pro 2 wireless earbuds deal

The AirPods Pro 2 represent Apple's triumphant entry into five-star territory after years of solid – but not quite exceptional – wireless earbuds.

These second-generation flagships finally deliver the complete package that places them alongside class-leading competitors from Sony and Bose.

At the heart of the Pro 2's success lies Apple's advanced H2 chip, which powers significant improvements across active noise-cancelling, sound quality, and battery performance.

The ANC capabilities have been dramatically enhanced, with Apple claiming twice the background noise reduction compared to the original Pro model.

In practice, this translates to impressively effective isolation that makes background chatter and transport noise fade to a comfortable murmur.

The earbuds themselves remain visually identical to their predecessors, but Apple has refined the experience with useful additions.

Touch-capacitive volume controls finally grace the stems – a long-overdue feature that responds reliably to up and down swipes.

The inclusion of an extra-small ear tip size broadens the fit options, too, while the USB-C charging case gains a built-in speaker for location tracking.

Sound quality represents the most significant leap forward, though. They deliver a richer, more powerful presentation that maintains Apple's signature clarity, while adding welcome weight and dynamic authority.

These earbuds demonstrate impressive versatility across genres, even if rivals like the Sony WF-1000XM5 offer even greater insight and rhythmic ability.

AirPods Pro 2 on a chair outside — (Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

Overall, the performance feels more engaging and entertaining than previous AirPods generations as well, with improved rhythmic drive that keeps listeners hooked.

Voices remain a particular strength – from gravelly vocals to podcast dialogue, they deliver natural, focused reproduction that draws you into whatever content you're consuming.

Some iOS updates have also added valuable features, including Adaptive Audio, which intelligently adjusts noise-cancelling levels based on your surroundings. Conversation Awareness also smoothly reduces music volume when you start speaking.

Battery life is six hours from the earbuds with ANC active, with a total of 30 hours including the charging case – competitive, but not class-leading.

The seamless integration with iOS devices remains unmatched, with near-instant pairing and intuitive operation that simply works without requiring too much thought.

In short, at this reduced price of £189 at Laptops Direct, the AirPods Pro 2 make a compelling case to take the plunge and experience five-star audio at a nicely discounted price.

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