Quick! Apple AirPods are the cheapest they have ever been

By Josh Levenson January 17, 2020

Apple AirPods — Riley Young/Digital Trends

Start reaching for your wallet because Amazon has the run-of-the-mill AirPods with Charging Case for just $129 — the cheapest we’ve seen the iconic Pods to date. But what does that translate to in terms of a cold, hard discount? These puppies are down a massive $30 from the usual $150.

The best thing about the AirPods is how simple they are. Just pop one in each ear, and the tunes will start flowing. Need to adjust the volume, send a message, place a call, create a calendar event, or find the answer to a pressing question? Double-tap a Pod to ask Siri and she’ll take care of it.

However, decide to fork out an extra $40 and you won’t need to lift a finger to communicate with Siri. That’s because the AirPods 2, which have beenreduced from $200 down to only $169, are always listening. All you need to do is mumble “Hey, Siri!” and you’re ready to roll — no tapping required.

Apple AirPods with Charging Case — $129 ($30 off)
Apple AirPods 2 with Wireless Charging Case — $169 ($30 off)

But the main reason you might want to consider the more expensive model is battery life. If you often find yourself on a call, the two-hour talk time on the standard AirPods isn’t going to cut it. You’ll want the four hours that comes with the AirPods 2. Both last for around five hours of music playback.

The other notable difference? The AirPods 2 come with a Wireless Charging Case, which can be charged … well … wirelessly. The actual capacity is the same though, with it delivering the same 24-hour reserve as the Charging Case bundled with the regular AirPods, so it probably won’t be a dealmaker.

So, which do you need? Well, as we’ve said before, if you can live without wireless charging, don’t mind having to tap a Pod to fire up Siri, and can live with the two-hour talk time, then look no further than the AirPods. You can snap up a pair for an absolute bargain. For everyone else, it’s the AirPods 2.

Or is it?

If you’re after the absolute best Apple has to offer, you will want to turn your attention to the AirPods Pro. At $250, they aren’t cheap, but they do sit at the head of the AirPods table, introducing a smaller, more compact design; noise cancellation; sweat-resistance; and interchangeable eartips.

Looking for more fantastic offers? Take a look at our Deals Hub.

Topics

Having spent half a decade writing about the latest AV, mobile and social news for some of the world’s largest…

Audio / Video

Apple AirPlay 2: the wireless audio and video streaming tech fully explained

Apple AirPlay 2 control center.

When it comes to listening to music wirelessly, most people think of Bluetooth. It's built into just about every smartphone on the planet, and a huge number of tablets, desktops, and laptops have it too. But if you own Apple hardware, you need to know about a Bluetooth alternative that works over Wi-Fi, called Apple AirPlay 2.

AirPlay 2 is much more than just a simple pairing option: It lets you send both audio and video to a growing variety of devices, such as TVs, speakers, Apple TV boxes, Macs, and home theater receivers, all sans wires. If you own more than one AirPlay 2-compatible audio device, you can stream your music to just one of them, some of them, or all of them without losing synchronization. If that sounds cool, stay with us. We're going to point out all of the exciting features of AirPlay 2 and show you how to use it.
What is AirPlay anyway?

Mobile

OnePlus Buds Pro 2’s spatial audio makes me want to ditch the AirPods Pro

OnePlus Buds Pro 2 black case on a cork coaster and black earbuds on a white and gray table top.

The OnePlus Buds Pro 2 Bluetooth earbuds are among a half-dozen gadgets OnePlus launched at its Cloud 11 event. These earbuds intend to elevate your sound experience with a rich and highly customizable audio profile, Google's Fast Pair support, high-fidelity (Hi-Fi) audio through the LDAC and LHDC Bluetooth audio codecs, Dolby Audio, and noise cancellation.

While these features have essentially been carried over -- and slightly improved -- over the first generation of the OnePlus Buds Pro launched last year, the Buds Pro 2 are equipped with spatial audio capabilities that help create a realistic and experiential 3D audio space around you. Along with spatial audio, the earbuds also support head tracking to simulate an ambiance that changes as you move your head around.

Audio / Video

Apple AirPlay 2 supports 24-bit lossless audio, but you can’t use it

An Apple AirPlay icon hovering above an Apple HomePod speaker.

Apple's wireless platform for audio and video streaming -- AirPlay -- is one of the best ways to play music from an Apple device to a wireless speaker. When at home, on a Wi-Fi network, it outperforms Bluetooth thanks to its wider bandwidth. The conventional wisdom has always been that AirPlay sets a hard limit on audio quality: iPhones and other Apple devices can only transmit lossless CD-quality audio, at 16-bit/44.1kHz, to an AirPlay-enabled speaker, leaving the technology incapable of supporting the higher-res streams now being offered by Apple Music and others. But it seems that AirPlay can actually do 24-bit audio. Sort of.

The new second-gen HomePod, which Apple released in January, can stream lossless 24-bit/48kHz audio directly from Apple Music, using its own Wi-Fi connection to the internet. This isn't news: Apple added 24-bit lossless playback (via Apple's ALAC codec) to the first-gen HomePod and HomePod mini in 2021, along with Dolby Atmos support.