Are Google's $99 Pixel Buds A-Series a supreme bargain? (review) By CNET

These are google's new Pixel Buds, a series that a stands for affordability and like Google's a series- pixel phones- they may be next gen, but they're not exactly an upgrade, but they only cost 99, which is a big price cut. So let's jump right into the review and see whether they really are a bargain or not. As I said, looks wise, not much has changed. They feature the same likable design as the Pixel Buds 2. With that integrated sport, bin and relatively discreet. Look, they don't stick out of your ears as much as other earbuds do.

There are some small differences. However, for starters, they are a little lighter than the Pixel Buds 2 google says about 20 lighter across the earbuds and the case along with clearly white. They now come in this new dark olive color, and they incorporate slightly different materials and aren't two-tone. The inside of the buds have a glossy as opposed to a matte finish and its color matches the color of the outside of the buds. Additionally, the inside of the case also has a glossy finish and its color matches the color of the buds.

The other thing you'll notice, is that the nozzle that you attach the ear tip to is now made of plastic instead of metal, which presumably is more durable. The case is the same. It's nice and compact, but, unlike the Pixel Buds too, the series does not have wireless charging just USB charging. These are also missing the swipe for volume control feature. You can't run your finger across the bud to adjust volume.

You don't have to use the volume controls on the device you're streaming with or access Google Assistant then tell it to raise or lower the volume. The series doesn't have. The attention alerts feature that detects certain ambient sounds like a baby, crying ROG barking or an emergency vehicle siren and alerts you to those sounds while you're wearing the buds. The feeling that not too many people bothered with that experimental feature, but a lot of people like the swipe to control volume feature personally, I can live without it for the price reduction. The last little design changes I should mention.

Are these? Have two charging pins as opposed to three on the Pixel Buds too, and there's also a sensor on the Pixel Buds too. That isn't on these guys. When I saw that I was a little worried about the ear detection feature where, if you pull an earbud out of your ear, while you're listening to music it'll, auto pause your music and then resume it when you put it back in well, that feature is still here. When I ask google about it, they said they were able to optimize ear detection with just one IR sensor, and so little changes like that can help reduce the weight of the earbuds just a tad like the Pixel Buds 2. These are equipped with Bluetooth, 5.0, but they're powered by a new chipset. When the pixel buds 2 first came out, there were widespread complaints that the wireless connectivity wasn't rock solid people were getting some dropouts and while subsequent firmware upgrades improved performance, google appears to have addressed any connectivity issues with the series I had no dropouts during my three days of testing.

So in that sense they are upgraded. As far as I can tell. They sound the same as the pixel buds 2 or very similar anyway, to get optimal sound, you do need a tight seal, but you should be able to get one with one of the three different sized ear tips. These are relatively lightweight and comfortable to wear, and they stayed in my ears. Well, they have an ipx4 water resistance rating, which means they're, splash proof, and I had no issues running with them or using them at the gym.

They sound quite good overall with ample bass, that's not loose or bloated, and these have decent clarity. Although there's just a touch of treble push that can lead to some edginess on less well-recorded tracks, they don't have the richer, more open and refined sound of higher end earbuds like Sennheiser's momentum, true wireless 2 or Sony's wf-1000x series, but their sound measures up well against other earbuds in this price range. There's a bass boost mode that I did prefer, along with an adaptive, sound mode that automatically raises and lowers volume according to the amount of ambient noise around you. But the EQ options are pretty limited. These support streaming using the AAC codec, which both apple and android devices use for audio streaming, but there's no app deck streaming for android devices that support that audio codec and those of you looking for multi-point Bluetooth, pairing, that's not here either.

That feature allows you to pair headphones with a PC and smartphone simultaneously for easy, switching between the two that does come in handy, say when you're working from home, but you can pair these with multiple devices, just not two. At the same time, they should work well for a variety of music genres, but I did notice they were a bit challenged when I hit them with some complicated rock tracks, where a lot of instruments were playing at the same time again they weren't, quite as natural sounding or as articulate as higher end earbuds, but I think most people will be really happy with their sound. I did think these were perfect for making calls to test call quality. I hit the streets of New York and made calls while traffic was passing by the buds, did a very good job, reducing a lot of the background noise. During calls and callers said they could hear my voice clearly recalling they measured up well against the AirPods Pro, so they seemed top-notch in the headset department.

Battery life remains slightly underwhelming for non-noise-cancelling earbuds they're rated at five hours at moderate volume levels, and you can get an extra 19 hours from the charging case. As I said from the outset, this is a bit of an unusual product because it's next-gen, but not really an upgrade for owners of the previous model, but it's a smart move by google as it tries to expand its audience for its true wireless buds. This sub 100 price point is where it needs to play: you've got Samsung's Galaxy Buds, plus selling for around 110, and then there are the anger liberty, air 2 pro earbuds and Amazon Echo buds at 130, both of those feature active noise-canceling, but they're already being discounted to 100. Sometimes so they are direct competitors. I don't know if the Pixel Buds an are necessarily any better than those guys.

It kind of depends on just how good they feel in your ears, but when you factor in their strong design, good, sound quality and excellent headset performance, the series are a very good value at 99 and a great choice for android users. Although they work with apple iOS devices, there's no companion app for apple users, so you should probably steer clear unless you have an android device for doing firmware upgrades. But what do you guys think are you, okay, with the corners google cut to get the price down and who's disappointed? Google didn't come out with true next-gen, Pixel Buds that add active noise-cancelling and improve sound, albeit for probably double the price. Let me know what you think in the comments section and if you found anything redeeming about this video hit the like button and subscribe. If you haven't already I'm David Carney for CNET, thanks for watching.

Source : CNET