Google has released a few updates (they're now on V2.14) that address some of the issues and concerns we had, so hopefully you'll experience everything a bit smoother/better than we did!
For multi point you pair it to two devices simultaneously but the audio will still only come out of one at a time. So in order to switch you just pause on one device and play on the other. It has worked just fine for me. Got the pixel buds pro yesterday and even tested it with a MacBook Pro and iPhone and they both work fine.
Have you tried it with multiple devices connected by Bluetooth to the Mac? My Samsung Galaxy Buds interfere with my Logitech MX mouse, but the Sony XH-1000 don't.
@@maybethisismarq AirPods are not that seamless. It takes time to switch devices and for it to detect which device you are using. I have AirPods Pro also. Additionally the automatic switching for AirPods don’t work unless you have iCloud enabled and synchronized. On my work Macbook I can’t have iCloud enabled so the whole seamless thing completely falls apart. Pixel buds pro working great though.
James is great at these audio overviews! He crams in so much real world experience into them that it's almost a full review, not to mention he's a really likeable character! I've missed him outside of an ad read.
This actually happened with me as well when I got my buds pro but some of the bugs shown in the video are actually because they came with like v72 firmware and there was a day one update to something like v150. Definitely was confusing because I couldn't trigger the update until a day or two later. The app also crashes because the built-in pixel buds app (it's built-in for pixel phones) might have not auto updated so it needs to be manually updated with the play store. Edit: So more interesting developments. One of the two buds are now permanently 10% volume and have pretty much tried every suggestion Google support has mentioned (resetting, changing all settings, cleaning). So it has to be RMAed but... The interesting thing about it is they told me to send it using a specific overnight label which was addressed to the Google campus. So I guess they're dissecting my buds to see what went awry.
There's a part in this video where James's email address is uncensored. Not sure if that's a mistake (in which case, hopefully LTT see this and change the video) or intentional and I'm just being overly cautious
That swiping motion as volume control is pretty cool, seems like an uncomplicated way to add more control options without removing the assistant or the modes, I have the galaxy buds 2 and I have to compromise between having volume control or switching modes, although they do have that ambient on when you take one bud off.
The labs option in the galaxy wear app to turn on earbud edge tap for volume control is pretty good on the buds2 - you don't even need to tap the earbuds themselves, tapping the outside of your ear works! Swiping motion would definitely be better though :)
@@briancrossan2923 dunno if it's improved but it triggered the edge tap by accident too often when I first tried it out. Just gave up and stuck to using my phone for volume control.
Multi-point works really well between my Pixel 6 Pro and my work phone. Work phone's a Motorola. I haven't tried to switch audio mid-stream, but if I get a phone call, my buds will switch to the appropriate phone automatically. It's been pretty great for my uses.
The multi device works like this Say you're on your laptop, and playing. And you get a call on your phone, the earbuds will automatically switch to the phone, and when you hang up they'll switch back to laptop. I'm not sure if it works the other way around tho
In my experience with the Sony XH-1000 XM4 it should work the other way around but it's hit and miss. If I receive a phone call (even a Whatsapp videocall), the connection goes to the phone, 10 out of 10 times, always. If I'm playing something in my phone and I receive a Teams or Slack call it may work but often it doesn't. Not a big deal, when I need to receive Slack calls I'm usually listening Spotify in my computer anyway and I like that I don't miss phone calls. But yeah, it's not perfect.
Yeah, multipoint has to be manually enabled in the app and it took a while to appear on my Pixel Buds App even though everything was up to date. Incredibly useful feature, got my music "interrupted" by a couple of calls on the first day and been using it a lot since without being like I need to check my phone for call anymore. Pretty cool, love the buds
FLMAO you set off my Google Home - thanks for the weather update! Also SUPER thrilled to finally see this review. My fiance is about "linus-level" picky when it comes to ear buds and needs replacements for her current buds. We have pixels and she's got her heart set on these. I appreciate the amount of detail in these reviews, and so does she. Thank you!
Honestly me too, i think I'll wait a year for the bugs to get squashed out, and for the price to drop a little, and buy them, as they seem like basically what I've wanted all along, 11 hours of battery life with one charge is a big plus for me as battery wear means that even after 1-2 years it'll still be very usable.
That would be real nice but the problem is that like that would need uncompressed audio on perfectly tuned speakers and both are virtually impossible as TH-cam compresses videos on its end and speakers like that are stupidly expensive on our end so opinions are more accurate
I'd like to see a review on a very specialized pair of TWS buds, the 1more comfobuds Z's. They're hyper-specialized for sleep, being microscopic ear plug types that don't fall out and disappear even when side sleeping, with a focus on stupidly clear, impressively wide sound at low volumes, have no ANC, no microphones, just dedicated bluetooth earbuds for sleep. As a paramedic, I can't live without them now, since they help you fall asleep and then just silently turn off after a few hours and become good earplugs, but not so overpowering that I can't still be woken up when a 911 call goes out.
I've been rocking Pixel Bud 2s for a couple years, and Bose qc35s... Grabbed a pair of PBpros 2 weeks ago, I'll never touch the QCs or PB2s again. The Pixel Bud pros are all the great bits of the Bose and Pixel boat tools combined. The ANC is awesome, fit is great, and transparency mode is brilliant. I freaking love them.
The multipoint works for me like a charm. I have it connected to my work PC and my private phone. And as soon as I get called it swaps to the PC and pauses my phones music. And when the call is done a few sec later it starts the music back.
First Pixel Buds, I'm still actually tempted to get, after watching a review on them. So bravo Google for finally shipping some competitive buds. "Don't buy products for an advertised feature that hasn't been activated yet" 🤔 is it just me or is that, shots fired at PS5 fanatics who had to wait 18+ months for VRR and 3 years later have only just got 1440p as a beta feature 😅 If it is, don't worry, Sony will give us a controller with back paddles, when the PS5 is end of life and then make sure they're incompatible with the PS6... just like they did with the PS4 paddles 😂
I don't remember when sony ever promising 1440p support. They did state they are willing to take it under consideration if there is enough demand for it after being asked about it in an interview. And while the notion of "don't buy products for an advertised feature that hasn't been activated yet" is sound advice but who bought the ps5 specifically for VRR? I am pretty sure everyone bought a ps5 for the games. Also that advice doesn't really apply to a major competitor in a market. A more obscure one for sure can be problematic cause you don't know if that product will be around for long. But last time i checked the only gaming platform that has been under scrutiny for viability is xbox. All that spending and its still struggling in last place. Nothing MS has done has put any stability in its viability. But the same is also true for xbox if you want to make fun of sony. Look at all these games they are showing off every year yet where are they? MS has released less than 10 first party titles even though they own like 22 studios in the last 5 years. So for xbox fanatics i would say the same thing don't buy products for an advertised feature. The only issue is their advertised feature is games. MS doesn't have much and is only getting by with 3rd party support that they are paying devs obscene amounts of money for them to be included in gamepass. Yet again barely any 1st party games. Games showed off before the system released still aren't released yet. Its been what 3 games halo, horizon and flight simulator? Anything i am missing cause thats seems to be it. "shots fired at PS5 fanatics who had to wait 18+ months for VRR and 3 years later have only just got 1440p as a beta feature" Also VRR came out a couple of months ago and 1440p is releasing in the same year. So why are you saying 3 years later? Ps5 came out in nov 2020. Its August 2022. Please explain how its been 3yrs after a year and a half? Which is what 18months is. That makes ps5 4 1/2 years old and last time i checked its only 2022 not 2024. So both english, math and time aren't your strong points. Cause wow that was a fucked up sentence.
@@densetsu4286 oh don't be sad, I am sure Sony will read this and compensate you properly. Begin apologists for a billion dollar corporation on social media platform is the last job a fallen human can do for 2 cents per comments. Don't be sad and cheer up Sony will surely notice this.
@@densetsu4286 bless your cotton socks, did I hit a nerve with my post 😂 The three years was being sarcastic about silicon lever features, not being enabled from launch and you can defend Sony all you want, because taking 18 months to enable a silicon level feature is disgraceful. But it's OK, because Sony Fanatics like you, just encourage companies to take year/years enabling features they've advertised at announcement/launch, even tho the customer pays for them missing features 🤦🏻♂️ As for "games being a feature" 🤦🏻♂️😂 and you say English ain't my strong suit 😂 Also if you want to talk about invested money showing no rewards 🤔 what happened to all that money Sony Invested in Discord, saying we'll have Discord voice integration by 2022. 2022 has nearly come and gone but I ain't seen that feature enabled on my PS5 but yet my Series X just got it enabled 😂 I wasn't trying to bring console wars into this. All I was doing was mentioning the first company doing it that comes to mind and one with a massive track record, for doing it with their products, especially their TV's (hdmi 2.1 advertised at launch but you have to wait years for it to be enabled).
You are correct James about multipoint feature. It does exists. It is berried deep inside the Bluetooth settings. For some reason google decided to disable the feature out of the box. You have to find the setting and enable it. It does work flawless afterwards.
Ha, the "OK Google" part let me know what my weather is like outside. It's still as crappy and overly hot as when I checked it earlier. But thanks James for asking for me again!
one think i would like to start seeing on these wireless headset/buds reviews is sound latency. with steam deck gain a bunch of traction, knowing what works for gaming would be awesome.
The only good wireless earbuds I've found (that aren't sealed earbuds) are the Razer Hammerhead. The build quality isn't great but they don't block your hearing, they are small like the original apple airpods, they are cheap ($50) and they support aptx-low latency. I loved my Samsung buds live but they only use Samsung's crappy proprietary codec or a crappy old bluetooth one so there is a massive delay in sound so I never use them except for music.
You can choose what modes to switch between with the touch and hold. Default is only swapping between ANC and transparency, you have to add OFF to the list if you want to be able to toggle between all features with the touch controls. Likewise you can remove the ANC or transparency modes from the touch controls if you don't use them.
imagine living in vancouver and annoying people with earbuds last time i was on the skytrain, a man was just screaming into the abyss for no reason whatsoever
Multi point is great once you get it working. I have JBL Live Free 2s and after a bunch of times pairing and connecting back and forth between my OnePlus 8T and Surface Pro it finally started working properly. Now it just works on whichever device I am using. Can't say exactly what I did to get it working, but I am not going to change anything at all now because its working great. I feel like there needs to be some options added to host devices to set up multi point easier.
I got these, and they're pretty good. The functionality is great. While the audio quality isn't top tier, I mainly use my earbuds for podcasts, calls, and multitasking on my Chromebook/Pixel phone.
@@Panzer_Z but they did??? You can do that on the pixel buds pro I just tried it out and you can change the volume the exact ways you listed it's the same.
@@MB-hk3dy nice to know. They sound more tempting to get now. I'll still wait for long term reviews though. Hopefully future firmware updates improve its performance in transparency, higher sounds, and anc
So, I've had these for a week and I've just reboxed them and printed the return label. I really wanted to like these. Love the styling, great feature set, ANC is ok-ish, seemingly a perfect match for the pixel phones, but, the sound......that sound.... Very pronounced V signature, and yes while the bass extension goes low, the bass speed and timing is piss poor. These sound like a badly designed ported speaker placed too close to a wall. Then we have the top end which is accentuated in the sibilance region and sounds dog rough. The A Series buds sound better, and the 2020 Gen 2 buds sound way better. Sony WM4s kill these for sound and have better ANC. Sorry Google, these miss the mark.
You didn't even mention the one thing that's missing from the reviews made by ShortCircuit, a mic test we can hear, but you still delivered all i need to know about them. Your description of the sound is a absolute no-go for me. Thank you
I am literally just about to go buy earbuds, I just saw that you posted this and I'm so happy you did, please more headphone and earphone vids! There's so many good options, and you have to buy a new pair more often than a phone so would be cool to have vids on it from you guys with your high production value
actually, that would most likely be a reed sensor. Hall effect sensors need to be perpendicular to measure strength. Reed sensors are simply on or off as soon as it detects the field and are parallel. There's no need to measure strength, just whether it's closed or not.
1. Music is choppy when ANC on (source is my MacBook Pro). 2. Numerous People over zoom and MS team said my voice was distant and blurry (like I’m in a radio station) when I use pixel buds mic, so I had to switch to MacBook built in mic for important meetings. 3. Multipoint forcibly switch away from my laptops TH-cam player, back to my pixel phone when it is running Pokémon Go (I don’t want turn it off, entering this game on Android takes decades.) I could go on, but I’ll leave something for other folks to say and I’m returning it.
Please for the love of all that is holy. How did you not catch the 'hey google' at 3:37. Love the review, and James is always nice to have review things. Thanks ShortCircuit. :)
Ayo the teams ring tone actually scared me because I was half daydreaming at work with this playing in the background. Also teams is notorious for not smart switching between devices, it's lame.
I had the pixel buds 2 and never had any issues with them except they are wearing out the batteries now. I was hoping for a true replacement unlike the A series which ditched volume control and wireless charging. These are awesome, I'd say the only negative is the fit isn't as good as the old ones with the wings, but it's pretty close. They sound good, ANC is great, battery life is awesome, everything works well, just like the old ones. The multipoint is a game-changer because I can have my phone connected at work, pause what's playing on there and play something on the work laptop and it just plays through the earbuds seemlessly. It's better than airpods which only work on apple devices; it seems to work with everything. Here is how multipoint actually functions for those wondering (it needs to be enabled first): Pair your earbuds to both devices If sound is playing from device 1, pressing play on a song or video on device 2 will immediately pause it again. If no sound is playing from device 1, device 2 will play immediately with no effort. Phone calls will always interrupt other audio as a priority. I get in to work and put an earbud in, it's immediately connected to my phone and my windows laptop, no manual connection required there either. I get home, same thing, it works with my phone and with my macbook. No extra pairing. All the devices work automatically. Never buying bluetooth earbuds without multipoint again.
the multi point will work if you pause the music from your phone then call via your laptop... it worked on mine also you need to turn on contact sharing in your earbuds or it won't either.
For multipoint sometimes it is easier to just disconnect from one device then connect to other device. Same works with my Sony's from Pixel 6 pro to Dell XPS
The original pixel buds with the cable or the 2020 true wireless pixel buds? If the latter, I upgraded from the 2020s to the Pros and the sound quality is definitely improved. I was using the wavelet app to make up for the shortcomings in the 2020 versions and haven't felt the need to do the same with the Pros (though there isn't a profile made for the Pros yet anyway).
"Don't buy stuff hoping for features to come down the line, wait until the features you want are supported, and then buy stuff." Learned that lesson with the Galaxy Watch 4. I'm honestly don't with Samsung products at this point and I'm going full Pixel. I'll be getting the watch later this year and the tablet next year
LDAC is not exclusive to Sony. It is part of AOSP. The manufacturers need permission from Sony. The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro supports LDAC for instance. In theory, it should provide higher quality at the cost of multi point and possible connection stability.
Just got mine and it wanted an update right away. I love them. I will say they probably aren't so great for people with hearing loss greater than mine. I have minor hearing loss in one ear and moderate in the other. I find myself running the volume at about 80 or 82 percent which is fine. But if you really wanted to get kids with them these may not be the ones. Call quality is incredible. Active noise cancelling is phenomenal also. I have a Pixel 6 phone and it works flawlessly so far. I'm very impressed.
Bought the Pixel buds pro and had to return them. I could never get a proper seal on one of my ears. Still rocking the airpods pro on Android best experience I've had.
@@Samsonfs Idk about you but I've enjoyed my time for the last 6 months. I use material pods as well and have all the basics I need. It also lets me use the assistant. The only issue I experience is latency issues on pods connecting to each other. But that's only when connecting and reconnect multiple times when my uncertain ADHD ass isn't sure if I need them or not. Decided to use them from Linus talking about it idk when.
0:55 *Archaeologists looking at ancient civilizations:* "Obviously this was a primitive society since they hadn't advanced beyond pictures." *This guy:* "really like this kind of elemental design language you just have pictures of stuff like you could find this ten thousand years in the future in like a post language world" 🤔🤪🙃
It depends, sometimes they publish the video the same day they receive the device. But it's mostly for popular devices. Like the Mac Ultra I remember Anthony publishing he's doing the unboxing and it's got published the same day.
I think the delay of pause and play etc. is necassary. The earphone does not know you will only hit it once and want to pause/play. It has to wait for a second or even a third tab in case you wanted to skip the track for example. With this kind of interface, there will never be no delay.
I keep watching these headphone reviews, partly becaue i like James, partly because i'm used to this company being aware of what's important, and thus expecting them to get their asses in gear and include a mic test we can hear. ..but no.. Still hasn't happened. The next headphone review from this channel i watch, will be one where "mic test" is promised in the title.
Waiting for the lab for those MIC tests. Plus - this is a ShortCircuit - so it's not really a review. But I'm with you. MIC tests are a must. I still have nightmares how bad those Sennheiser buds sounded
For all the cr*p I give to The Verge their headphone reviews are quite good, and they do include exactly what you want (though I don't know if they reviewed these).
Where I live you can get Galaxy Buds pro for around 120€. With good deals they are under 100€. It is really strange that they are so much more expensive in america, especially because most phones are more expensive here (1€ is 0.98 usd right now) Edit: They are 230€ on Samsungs website normally but there is a 125€ deal rn.
Thanks for making my nest home give me a weather update in the middle of the video! I really needed to know what the temperature outside was while watching this.
You did the call test with the teams app if I am not wrong? And form what I have seen that the teams app applies a very very heavy compression over audio. So this was not a true test for the buds, I would rather like a test over a normal call using the mobile towers. Yes I know this just hands on, but I would much prefer the regular mobile call test.
To be honest, Teams calls over wifi sometimes sound better than regular phone calls, at least in my country. The "heavy compression" isn't really that heavy, the worse problem is people having terrible headsets.
Man I wish Sony had put multipoint into the wf-1000XM4's. They put it in the WH version (the over ears, except I have the older XM3 model of those that doesn't have it) and they make a big deal of the fancy processor in the earbuds but for whatever reason it's not available, I don't even know if BT5 LE Audio is a thing on them. Thankfully the sound and ANC is good enough to make up for it. Big fan of Fast Pair though, I know Apple nailed BT pairing first but it's still awesome to just flip open the case and instantly get a pairing pop up on my phone, tablet, PC or whatever. And it's nice that it's not limited to specific brands or whatever
One thing I don't see a lot on your guys earbud reviews is directly mentioning and talking a bit about how good the seal on the earbuds are. That's the most important part, other than sound, for earbuds. A bad seal is a big deal breaker.
I have Huawei Headphones which also have a "multi Point" Feature. It will prioritize one device (usually the phone), but if there's nothing coming from the phone, it will play the laptop's sound. When youre watching a video on the laptop and you start a call on your phone, the video will stop and the headphones will be used for the call. On most Linux devices, this works great, on windows it's quite unreliable
Multi Point is great for work and play! I am connected to the work laptop and my personal cell phone at the same time. I listen to music, podcasts, etc... on my cell phone, then pause for a Teams meeting on the work laptop. I use both a Technics EAH AZ60 and Bose NC700 for multi point depending on the setting. I ould not recommend the AZ60, they are fine, but with a cheap parts bin case. The Bose NC700 are great when they work.
I have the pixel buds pro and let me tell you....I don't care what the reviewers say.. the ANC is the best I've ever used. I have the Bose QC and have owned the Sony's XM3s and the xm4s. Transparency mode is the best on my galaxy buds plus but man, the pixel buds are unreal if you like strong ANC. I was shocked.
If you're getting there I assume you're on android. And if you're on android just use Wavelet for your EQ needs, it's free, it works great and is a lot better than most apps you get with any sort of buds
i would really highly consider these earbuds. since i’m on iphone right now but as soon as i need an upgrade in maybe a year or so i will go to android (maybe even pixel) so it would be nice to have something that will do well for android after my eventual switch
@@cetvrlog i have the A52, imo best bang for the buck and retains the headphone jack (a53 doesnt have one) with the processor being barely better in the a53
Cool & FUN review which makes you seem so playful!!! Love it!! I'm pretty impressed by the sound quality, active noise cancelling & transparency modes. Luckily, I was able to buy my refurbished lemongrass Pixel Buds Pro for $99 on Amazon with a 90 warranty in case anything happens. So far, so good!!! Very happy.
Google has released a few updates (they're now on V2.14) that address some of the issues and concerns we had, so hopefully you'll experience everything a bit smoother/better than we did!
For multi point you pair it to two devices simultaneously but the audio will still only come out of one at a time. So in order to switch you just pause on one device and play on the other. It has worked just fine for me. Got the pixel buds pro yesterday and even tested it with a MacBook Pro and iPhone and they both work fine.
Have you tried it with multiple devices connected by Bluetooth to the Mac? My Samsung Galaxy Buds interfere with my Logitech MX mouse, but the Sony XH-1000 don't.
@@AlejandroLZuvic your mouse? I have Logitech MX Master 3 and the BT works fine with my Samsung Buds paired at the same time to the same PC
That seems worse than airpods. With airpods it switches without having to pause.
@@maybethisismarq AirPods are not that seamless. It takes time to switch devices and for it to detect which device you are using. I have AirPods Pro also. Additionally the automatic switching for AirPods don’t work unless you have iCloud enabled and synchronized. On my work Macbook I can’t have iCloud enabled so the whole seamless thing completely falls apart. Pixel buds pro working great though.
@@AlejandroLZuvic hi, I've used them with an mx master on Bluetooth. No problem at all
Thank you for activating my google assistant.
At least we get to figure out what the weather is like outside
Mine only works when it wants to
I was about to say: “ayo!” But then I realized what you meant
He didn't even finish, and I got the weather. All I heard was "Hey Google" and I got the weather all of a sudden
My android auto assistant turned on too lmao
James is great at these audio overviews! He crams in so much real world experience into them that it's almost a full review, not to mention he's a really likeable character! I've missed him outside of an ad read.
3:22 not censoring the email? That is brave
Hi, this is James Strieb's mailbox. I'm not available at the moment. Please leave a message after the tone.
F
This actually happened with me as well when I got my buds pro but some of the bugs shown in the video are actually because they came with like v72 firmware and there was a day one update to something like v150. Definitely was confusing because I couldn't trigger the update until a day or two later.
The app also crashes because the built-in pixel buds app (it's built-in for pixel phones) might have not auto updated so it needs to be manually updated with the play store.
Edit: So more interesting developments. One of the two buds are now permanently 10% volume and have pretty much tried every suggestion Google support has mentioned (resetting, changing all settings, cleaning). So it has to be RMAed but... The interesting thing about it is they told me to send it using a specific overnight label which was addressed to the Google campus. So I guess they're dissecting my buds to see what went awry.
Pixels and bugs, what else is new
want to hear something funny that same thing also happens to Samsung smart watches and earbuds on Samsung phones.
@@ExySmexy the same happened for airpods pro they were bugged as fuck
@@ErdnußRiegel6969 what bugs?
Everything Google do is rushed and mismanaged
There's a part in this video where James's email address is uncensored. Not sure if that's a mistake (in which case, hopefully LTT see this and change the video) or intentional and I'm just being overly cautious
I tweeted them with this too
@@smugborgin I emailed them this too
Edit to clarify: I emailed info@lmg not James 🤣
timestamp? 👀
@@divyam._.maheshwari bro no
@@toobskuiks116 I'm not creepy and I don't live in Canada, so it is totally risk-free to share the timestamp with me. 😅
loved James and his review/unboxing, definitely have missed him and his experience
That swiping motion as volume control is pretty cool, seems like an uncomplicated way to add more control options without removing the assistant or the modes, I have the galaxy buds 2 and I have to compromise between having volume control or switching modes, although they do have that ambient on when you take one bud off.
The labs option in the galaxy wear app to turn on earbud edge tap for volume control is pretty good on the buds2 - you don't even need to tap the earbuds themselves, tapping the outside of your ear works! Swiping motion would definitely be better though :)
@@briancrossan2923 Can't believe people have Buds bit dunno about this.
@@briancrossan2923 this is the one of the best features also for pro's, works every time.
@@briancrossan2923 dunno if it's improved but it triggered the edge tap by accident too often when I first tried it out. Just gave up and stuck to using my phone for volume control.
as brian said check the labs thingy, its amazing but where is the option to have ambient mode when you take one off
3:20 they forgot to blur out the email..
Multi-point works really well between my Pixel 6 Pro and my work phone. Work phone's a Motorola. I haven't tried to switch audio mid-stream, but if I get a phone call, my buds will switch to the appropriate phone automatically. It's been pretty great for my uses.
3:20 was that email leak accidental?
Email him and let him know
@@Carlos-qd7qf good on 'em. they blurred it :)
The multi device works like this
Say you're on your laptop, and playing. And you get a call on your phone, the earbuds will automatically switch to the phone, and when you hang up they'll switch back to laptop.
I'm not sure if it works the other way around tho
In my experience with the Sony XH-1000 XM4 it should work the other way around but it's hit and miss. If I receive a phone call (even a Whatsapp videocall), the connection goes to the phone, 10 out of 10 times, always. If I'm playing something in my phone and I receive a Teams or Slack call it may work but often it doesn't.
Not a big deal, when I need to receive Slack calls I'm usually listening Spotify in my computer anyway and I like that I don't miss phone calls. But yeah, it's not perfect.
8:38 As a pixel 6 user, I have to point out that it is only half volume level. That indicator goes way higher than you might think.
Yeah, multipoint has to be manually enabled in the app and it took a while to appear on my Pixel Buds App even though everything was up to date. Incredibly useful feature, got my music "interrupted" by a couple of calls on the first day and been using it a lot since without being like I need to check my phone for call anymore. Pretty cool, love the buds
James' email is on screen. Considering reediting and reuploading for my man's privacy.
8:45 "If you're one of those deaf people that blast it" got my ass in stitches as partially deaf man myself hahaha
FLMAO you set off my Google Home - thanks for the weather update! Also SUPER thrilled to finally see this review. My fiance is about "linus-level" picky when it comes to ear buds and needs replacements for her current buds. We have pixels and she's got her heart set on these. I appreciate the amount of detail in these reviews, and so does she. Thank you!
I was on my table with my other family phones and it set off all three phones. At least it's clear today.
same for me.. 🤣
same! and mine was turned up so I jumped when it started telling me the weather!
My Google nest Mini told me the weather.
You need to register your voice with Google Assistant.
Multipoint is disabled by default, you need to turn it on it's the very last option on the main page of the earbud settings
These seem pretty good. ANC, small size, small case, wireless charging, price isn't massive. Feeling somewhat tempted I must say.
Honestly me too, i think I'll wait a year for the bugs to get squashed out, and for the price to drop a little, and buy them, as they seem like basically what I've wanted all along, 11 hours of battery life with one charge is a big plus for me as battery wear means that even after 1-2 years it'll still be very usable.
I feel like we need to hear microphones for ourselves, not just hear someone's opinion about the sound. That would be nice
That would be real nice but the problem is that like that would need uncompressed audio on perfectly tuned speakers and both are virtually impossible as TH-cam compresses videos on its end and speakers like that are stupidly expensive on our end so opinions are more accurate
I'd like to see a review on a very specialized pair of TWS buds, the 1more comfobuds Z's. They're hyper-specialized for sleep, being microscopic ear plug types that don't fall out and disappear even when side sleeping, with a focus on stupidly clear, impressively wide sound at low volumes, have no ANC, no microphones, just dedicated bluetooth earbuds for sleep. As a paramedic, I can't live without them now, since they help you fall asleep and then just silently turn off after a few hours and become good earplugs, but not so overpowering that I can't still be woken up when a 911 call goes out.
i have the sony mx4 and can confirm, they sound absolute awesome
I remember one time James was using Mastodon's crack the skye album to test and i liked that
Edit- he did it. Thank you James
I've been rocking Pixel Bud 2s for a couple years, and Bose qc35s... Grabbed a pair of PBpros 2 weeks ago, I'll never touch the QCs or PB2s again. The Pixel Bud pros are all the great bits of the Bose and Pixel boat tools combined. The ANC is awesome, fit is great, and transparency mode is brilliant. I freaking love them.
“Where the light is” such a good album. James has good taste
The multipoint works for me like a charm. I have it connected to my work PC and my private phone. And as soon as I get called it swaps to the PC and pauses my phones music. And when the call is done a few sec later it starts the music back.
First Pixel Buds, I'm still actually tempted to get, after watching a review on them.
So bravo Google for finally shipping some competitive buds.
"Don't buy products for an advertised feature that hasn't been activated yet" 🤔 is it just me or is that, shots fired at PS5 fanatics who had to wait 18+ months for VRR and 3 years later have only just got 1440p as a beta feature 😅
If it is, don't worry, Sony will give us a controller with back paddles, when the PS5 is end of life and then make sure they're incompatible with the PS6... just like they did with the PS4 paddles 😂
I don't remember when sony ever promising 1440p support. They did state they are willing to take it under consideration if there is enough demand for it after being asked about it in an interview. And while the notion of "don't buy products for an advertised feature that hasn't been activated yet" is sound advice but who bought the ps5 specifically for VRR? I am pretty sure everyone bought a ps5 for the games. Also that advice doesn't really apply to a major competitor in a market. A more obscure one for sure can be problematic cause you don't know if that product will be around for long. But last time i checked the only gaming platform that has been under scrutiny for viability is xbox. All that spending and its still struggling in last place. Nothing MS has done has put any stability in its viability.
But the same is also true for xbox if you want to make fun of sony. Look at all these games they are showing off every year yet where are they? MS has released less than 10 first party titles even though they own like 22 studios in the last 5 years. So for xbox fanatics i would say the same thing don't buy products for an advertised feature. The only issue is their advertised feature is games. MS doesn't have much and is only getting by with 3rd party support that they are paying devs obscene amounts of money for them to be included in gamepass. Yet again barely any 1st party games. Games showed off before the system released still aren't released yet. Its been what 3 games halo, horizon and flight simulator? Anything i am missing cause thats seems to be it.
"shots fired at PS5 fanatics who had to wait 18+ months for VRR and 3 years later have only just got 1440p as a beta feature"
Also VRR came out a couple of months ago and 1440p is releasing in the same year. So why are you saying 3 years later? Ps5 came out in nov 2020. Its August 2022. Please explain how its been 3yrs after a year and a half? Which is what 18months is. That makes ps5 4 1/2 years old and last time i checked its only 2022 not 2024. So both english, math and time aren't your strong points. Cause wow that was a fucked up sentence.
@@densetsu4286 why are you writing big essays?
@@LazyEngineerYT it's sad that you think that's an essay let alone a big essay.
@@densetsu4286 oh don't be sad, I am sure Sony will read this and compensate you properly.
Begin apologists for a billion dollar corporation on social media platform is the last job a fallen human can do for 2 cents per comments.
Don't be sad and cheer up Sony will surely notice this.
@@densetsu4286 bless your cotton socks, did I hit a nerve with my post 😂
The three years was being sarcastic about silicon lever features, not being enabled from launch and you can defend Sony all you want, because taking 18 months to enable a silicon level feature is disgraceful.
But it's OK, because Sony Fanatics like you, just encourage companies to take year/years enabling features they've advertised at announcement/launch, even tho the customer pays for them missing features 🤦🏻♂️
As for "games being a feature" 🤦🏻♂️😂 and you say English ain't my strong suit 😂
Also if you want to talk about invested money showing no rewards 🤔 what happened to all that money Sony Invested in Discord, saying we'll have Discord voice integration by 2022.
2022 has nearly come and gone but I ain't seen that feature enabled on my PS5 but yet my Series X just got it enabled 😂
I wasn't trying to bring console wars into this.
All I was doing was mentioning the first company doing it that comes to mind and one with a massive track record, for doing it with their products, especially their TV's (hdmi 2.1 advertised at launch but you have to wait years for it to be enabled).
Common guys! You have to provide a audio sample of the microphone when making calls/recordings... Not what other "thinks" it sounds like.
You are correct James about multipoint feature. It does exists. It is berried deep inside the Bluetooth settings. For some reason google decided to disable the feature out of the box. You have to find the setting and enable it. It does work flawless afterwards.
Love how James always defaults to Crack the skye. Saw mastodon play the whole album right after it came out. Best show ever
Ha, the "OK Google" part let me know what my weather is like outside. It's still as crappy and overly hot as when I checked it earlier. But thanks James for asking for me again!
Me using the first gen pixel buds that came with my pixel 3: "Ah yes, an upgrade, at last"
one think i would like to start seeing on these wireless headset/buds reviews is sound latency. with steam deck gain a bunch of traction, knowing what works for gaming would be awesome.
The only good wireless earbuds I've found (that aren't sealed earbuds) are the Razer Hammerhead. The build quality isn't great but they don't block your hearing, they are small like the original apple airpods, they are cheap ($50) and they support aptx-low latency. I loved my Samsung buds live but they only use Samsung's crappy proprietary codec or a crappy old bluetooth one so there is a massive delay in sound so I never use them except for music.
@@rubiconnn I have a pair of razer Hammerheads and been having issues with getting the left earpiece to either be charged or turned on.
@@DeangusMcFife Yeah apparently the soldering to the batteries inside is kind of shoddy. I would send them in for warranty.
5:25 that made james look insane, the way he just laughed with no expression and leaned forwards
I got these a few days ago for $150 - they arrive tomorrow and I'm so excited!!!
You can choose what modes to switch between with the touch and hold.
Default is only swapping between ANC and transparency, you have to add OFF to the list if you want to be able to toggle between all features with the touch controls.
Likewise you can remove the ANC or transparency modes from the touch controls if you don't use them.
imagine living in vancouver and annoying people with earbuds
last time i was on the skytrain, a man was just screaming into the abyss for no reason whatsoever
Multi point is great once you get it working. I have JBL Live Free 2s and after a bunch of times pairing and connecting back and forth between my OnePlus 8T and Surface Pro it finally started working properly. Now it just works on whichever device I am using. Can't say exactly what I did to get it working, but I am not going to change anything at all now because its working great. I feel like there needs to be some options added to host devices to set up multi point easier.
Do these work by switching both devices
I got these, and they're pretty good. The functionality is great. While the audio quality isn't top tier, I mainly use my earbuds for podcasts, calls, and multitasking on my Chromebook/Pixel phone.
My only critique on these headphones is that the swipe is unintuitively left/right instead of up/down for volume control.
IIRC the 2nd gen Pixel buds had all 4 directions with vol up/down and track nav left/right... if only they brought that back with these
@@Panzer_Z but they did??? You can do that on the pixel buds pro I just tried it out and you can change the volume the exact ways you listed it's the same.
@@MB-hk3dy is that from a new update? Everything out there says there is swipe volume left/right only but no vertical gestures
@@Panzer_Z vertical gestures still work to alter volume, just swipe up or down to change how loud the audio is. All 4 directions work.
@@MB-hk3dy nice to know. They sound more tempting to get now. I'll still wait for long term reviews though. Hopefully future firmware updates improve its performance in transparency, higher sounds, and anc
So, I've had these for a week and I've just reboxed them and printed the return label.
I really wanted to like these. Love the styling, great feature set, ANC is ok-ish, seemingly a perfect match for the pixel phones, but, the sound......that sound....
Very pronounced V signature, and yes while the bass extension goes low, the bass speed and timing is piss poor. These sound like a badly designed ported speaker placed too close to a wall. Then we have the top end which is accentuated in the sibilance region and sounds dog rough. The A Series buds sound better, and the 2020 Gen 2 buds sound way better. Sony WM4s kill these for sound and have better ANC. Sorry Google, these miss the mark.
You didn't even mention the one thing that's missing from the reviews made by ShortCircuit, a mic test we can hear, but you still delivered all i need to know about them. Your description of the sound is a absolute no-go for me. Thank you
an elephant farting into a Tuba would sound better than Apple Earbuds
laser james! finally back from just doing sponsor bits!!!!! missed ya bud
rare J-Labs acknowledgement. Their earbuds have lasted me like 4 years now with 0 complaints, they even replaced the case for free 2 times.
Question: can you turn off touch controls completely? Would be a deal-breaker for me if it's not possible...
I am literally just about to go buy earbuds, I just saw that you posted this and I'm so happy you did, please more headphone and earphone vids! There's so many good options, and you have to buy a new pair more often than a phone so would be cool to have vids on it from you guys with your high production value
looks like James will need a new email after this
actually, that would most likely be a reed sensor.
Hall effect sensors need to be perpendicular to measure strength.
Reed sensors are simply on or off as soon as it detects the field and are parallel.
There's no need to measure strength, just whether it's closed or not.
If you've not been to Vancouver, the Skytrain is way louder than any other rail based transit that isn't currently crashing (data circa 2010)
1. Music is choppy when ANC on (source is my MacBook Pro).
2. Numerous People over zoom and MS team said my voice was distant and blurry (like I’m in a radio station) when I use pixel buds mic, so I had to switch to MacBook built in mic for important meetings.
3. Multipoint forcibly switch away from my laptops TH-cam player, back to my pixel phone when it is running Pokémon Go (I don’t want turn it off, entering this game on Android takes decades.)
I could go on, but I’ll leave something for other folks to say and I’m returning it.
Please for the love of all that is holy. How did you not catch the 'hey google' at 3:37.
Love the review, and James is always nice to have review things. Thanks ShortCircuit. :)
that toast notification is called 'at a glance' and its for pixel phones
I own a pair of Jabra 85t elite, those things are so good. Noise cancelling, hear through, and awesome bass for about $20-$30 dollars cheaper
*Cheaper than the airpod pros*
3:37 Thanks James for activating my Google Home speaker.
But at least I know the weather conditions outside.
@@generalginger7804 he's talking about a Google home on his phone
Ayo the teams ring tone actually scared me because I was half daydreaming at work with this playing in the background. Also teams is notorious for not smart switching between devices, it's lame.
I had the pixel buds 2 and never had any issues with them except they are wearing out the batteries now. I was hoping for a true replacement unlike the A series which ditched volume control and wireless charging.
These are awesome, I'd say the only negative is the fit isn't as good as the old ones with the wings, but it's pretty close. They sound good, ANC is great, battery life is awesome, everything works well, just like the old ones.
The multipoint is a game-changer because I can have my phone connected at work, pause what's playing on there and play something on the work laptop and it just plays through the earbuds seemlessly. It's better than airpods which only work on apple devices; it seems to work with everything.
Here is how multipoint actually functions for those wondering (it needs to be enabled first):
Pair your earbuds to both devices
If sound is playing from device 1, pressing play on a song or video on device 2 will immediately pause it again.
If no sound is playing from device 1, device 2 will play immediately with no effort.
Phone calls will always interrupt other audio as a priority.
I get in to work and put an earbud in, it's immediately connected to my phone and my windows laptop, no manual connection required there either.
I get home, same thing, it works with my phone and with my macbook. No extra pairing. All the devices work automatically.
Never buying bluetooth earbuds without multipoint again.
the multi point will work if you pause the music from your phone then call via your laptop... it worked on mine also you need to turn on contact sharing in your earbuds or it won't either.
For multipoint sometimes it is easier to just disconnect from one device then connect to other device. Same works with my Sony's from Pixel 6 pro to Dell XPS
How's the sound quality compared to the first pixel buds? Considering upgrading to these.
The original pixel buds with the cable or the 2020 true wireless pixel buds? If the latter, I upgraded from the 2020s to the Pros and the sound quality is definitely improved. I was using the wavelet app to make up for the shortcomings in the 2020 versions and haven't felt the need to do the same with the Pros (though there isn't a profile made for the Pros yet anyway).
Leave it to Short Circuit to not look into how a feature is actually supposed to work and just publish the video without figuring it out.
Shoutout to Mastodon! Hell yeah, James! Crack the Skye is such a good album
3:41: it's 18 and clear. Thanks for asking James
"Don't buy stuff hoping for features to come down the line, wait until the features you want are supported, and then buy stuff."
Learned that lesson with the Galaxy Watch 4. I'm honestly don't with Samsung products at this point and I'm going full Pixel. I'll be getting the watch later this year and the tablet next year
Love the last version of the pixel buds, and these look to be a lot better, I know what I'll be upgrading too if I lose mine.
James’ sound effects are actually pretty effective lol. I’m fully immersed in the review.
LDAC is not exclusive to Sony. It is part of AOSP. The manufacturers need permission from Sony. The Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro supports LDAC for instance. In theory, it should provide higher quality at the cost of multi point and possible connection stability.
Just got mine and it wanted an update right away. I love them. I will say they probably aren't so great for people with hearing loss greater than mine. I have minor hearing loss in one ear and moderate in the other. I find myself running the volume at about 80 or 82 percent which is fine. But if you really wanted to get kids with them these may not be the ones. Call quality is incredible. Active noise cancelling is phenomenal also. I have a Pixel 6 phone and it works flawlessly so far. I'm very impressed.
Bought the Pixel buds pro and had to return them. I could never get a proper seal on one of my ears. Still rocking the airpods pro on Android best experience I've had.
Using airpods pro on an android is atrocious, you lose so many basic features and they sound like shit, the ANC is banging tho
@@Samsonfs Idk about you but I've enjoyed my time for the last 6 months. I use material pods as well and have all the basics I need. It also lets me use the assistant. The only issue I experience is latency issues on pods connecting to each other. But that's only when connecting and reconnect multiple times when my uncertain ADHD ass isn't sure if I need them or not. Decided to use them from Linus talking about it idk when.
when James asked for the temperature by home responded that it was 26 here too. and that's there's a thunderstorm warning in effect
0:55
*Archaeologists looking at ancient civilizations:* "Obviously this was a primitive society since they hadn't advanced beyond pictures."
*This guy:* "really like this kind of elemental design language you just have pictures of stuff like you could find this ten thousand years in the future in like a post language world"
🤔🤪🙃
I didn't know it took you guys a week and a half to go from recording to publishing. Surprised when I saw the July 28 date on the phone screen.
It depends, sometimes they publish the video the same day they receive the device. But it's mostly for popular devices. Like the Mac Ultra I remember Anthony publishing he's doing the unboxing and it's got published the same day.
You may wannna hide James’s personal email ID next time :D
THANKS JAMES!!!! the wife was asleep until my google home started blaring out the weather😂
Jake starting ShortCircuit with the Pharrel count, madman!
At 3:20 James his private Google mail is visible. Might wanna hide it maybe?
For podcast and audiobook listeners quIck access to "Previous" is the most important control on any headset. Tripple tap doesn't cut it.
I think the delay of pause and play etc. is necassary. The earphone does not know you will only hit it once and want to pause/play. It has to wait for a second or even a third tab in case you wanted to skip the track for example. With this kind of interface, there will never be no delay.
I keep watching these headphone reviews, partly becaue i like James, partly because i'm used to this company being aware of what's important, and thus expecting them to get their asses in gear and include a mic test we can hear. ..but no.. Still hasn't happened. The next headphone review from this channel i watch, will be one where "mic test" is promised in the title.
Waiting for the lab for those MIC tests.
Plus - this is a ShortCircuit - so it's not really a review.
But I'm with you. MIC tests are a must. I still have nightmares how bad those Sennheiser buds sounded
For all the cr*p I give to The Verge their headphone reviews are quite good, and they do include exactly what you want (though I don't know if they reviewed these).
Where I live you can get Galaxy Buds pro for around 120€. With good deals they are under 100€. It is really strange that they are so much more expensive in america, especially because most phones are more expensive here (1€ is 0.98 usd right now)
Edit: They are 230€ on Samsungs website normally but there is a 125€ deal rn.
Thanks for making my nest home give me a weather update in the middle of the video! I really needed to know what the temperature outside was while watching this.
You did the call test with the teams app if I am not wrong? And form what I have seen that the teams app applies a very very heavy compression over audio. So this was not a true test for the buds, I would rather like a test over a normal call using the mobile towers. Yes I know this just hands on, but I would much prefer the regular mobile call test.
To be honest, Teams calls over wifi sometimes sound better than regular phone calls, at least in my country. The "heavy compression" isn't really that heavy, the worse problem is people having terrible headsets.
You guys did a great detailed review but missed out on the most important part, the mic. It should've been recorded how you sound from these buds.
I appreciate when the main LTT channel bleeps trigger words for any nearby devices within earshot
Man I wish Sony had put multipoint into the wf-1000XM4's. They put it in the WH version (the over ears, except I have the older XM3 model of those that doesn't have it) and they make a big deal of the fancy processor in the earbuds but for whatever reason it's not available, I don't even know if BT5 LE Audio is a thing on them. Thankfully the sound and ANC is good enough to make up for it.
Big fan of Fast Pair though, I know Apple nailed BT pairing first but it's still awesome to just flip open the case and instantly get a pairing pop up on my phone, tablet, PC or whatever. And it's nice that it's not limited to specific brands or whatever
My man uses Proton Mail, and Signal is prominently-placed! I stan! 👏
Hey you have the tidal music setting set to the lowest quality 8:47 it probably sounds bad.
One thing I don't see a lot on your guys earbud reviews is directly mentioning and talking a bit about how good the seal on the earbuds are. That's the most important part, other than sound, for earbuds. A bad seal is a big deal breaker.
I have Huawei Headphones which also have a "multi Point" Feature. It will prioritize one device (usually the phone), but if there's nothing coming from the phone, it will play the laptop's sound. When youre watching a video on the laptop and you start a call on your phone, the video will stop and the headphones will be used for the call. On most Linux devices, this works great, on windows it's quite unreliable
Multi Point is great for work and play! I am connected to the work laptop and my personal cell phone at the same time. I listen to music, podcasts, etc... on my cell phone, then pause for a Teams meeting on the work laptop. I use both a Technics EAH AZ60 and Bose NC700 for multi point depending on the setting. I ould not recommend the AZ60, they are fine, but with a cheap parts bin case. The Bose NC700 are great when they work.
How about a sample of the microphones? That call you made, it would be great to have a cut away to the sound on the other end. Good video though 👍
I have the pixel buds pro and let me tell you....I don't care what the reviewers say.. the ANC is the best I've ever used. I have the Bose QC and have owned the Sony's XM3s and the xm4s. Transparency mode is the best on my galaxy buds plus but man, the pixel buds are unreal if you like strong ANC. I was shocked.
A minute of silence for that Celsius app and account.
If you're getting there I assume you're on android. And if you're on android just use Wavelet for your EQ needs, it's free, it works great and is a lot better than most apps you get with any sort of buds
James, you are great at this! Very fun to watch. As well as informative, of course.
You said "hey Google" and my phone wanted to know what's up. : )
Uhh, lets hope that gmail is public info. RIP James' inbox
i would really highly consider these earbuds. since i’m on iphone right now but as soon as i need an upgrade in maybe a year or so i will go to android (maybe even pixel) so it would be nice to have something that will do well for android after my eventual switch
I recommend the Samsung A series for new android users, A32 mid end, A53 and above higher end, Samsung galaxy line if you really want high end
@@cetvrlog the A series galaxies are all awful, avoid like the plague and get basically anything else for slightly more money IMO
@@cetvrlog i have the A52, imo best bang for the buck and retains the headphone jack (a53 doesnt have one) with the processor being barely better in the a53
Airpods pro are way cheaper and better even on Android.
Adam should continue taking James' spot
Cool & FUN review which makes you seem so playful!!! Love it!! I'm pretty impressed by the sound quality, active noise cancelling & transparency modes. Luckily, I was able to buy my refurbished lemongrass Pixel Buds Pro for $99 on Amazon with a 90 warranty in case anything happens. So far, so good!!! Very happy.