The release of a review on our YouTube channel is not a reason not to read reviews on the site. Therefore, today I will tell you about the second generation of Google TWS headphones.

In 2018, Google introduced its first headphones. At that time, Apple had been selling AirPods for two years, but we got a weak competitor – a headset with a cable. In theory, they should have liked the athletes, but they did not go.

And in the fall of 2019, at the presentation of the flagship, the second generation of Pixel Buds was announced. They went on sale only in April 2020. Naturally, in Russia it is not officially possible to buy, but no one forbids taking on Avito or ordering delivery from the USA. 

Graphic Design

No more wires – everything is in the trend of modern True Wireless headsets. Oval white case, made not of glossy plastic, as usual, but of soft-touch material. The size is comparable to the AirPods Pro case.

The color of the case is always white, although the headphones are presented in four colors – black, white, mint and orange. At the bottom there is a Type-C connector for charging, on the front side at the bottom there is one diode. At the back at the bottom is the button for the connection.

Inside the case, everything is black and there is an additional diode – during connection, it constantly blinks white. The earbuds sit tightly on the magnets. The familiar and beloved sound of the lid snapping on is also present here.

So, to the headphones themselves. The designers were clearly inspired by the first generation. Again, a circle with a G in the center – reminiscent of Surface Earbuds. The Pixel Buds are IPX4 dust and water resistant, just like the AirPods Pro. Each ear weighs 5,3 grams.

The earbuds were replaced by the in-ear type. But not like everyone else – they added an ear, like in the Jaybird headphones, which helps the headset sit better in the ear.

Ergonomics and sound

The aforementioned ear will be appreciated by many, but not all. Yes, they sit better than their counterparts and do not “run away” from the ear, but they are not suitable for everyone. If you watched our video, Maxim Khoroshev has already said that he does not hold them. My situation is 50 to 50. The left ear sits perfectly, but the right one is in trouble.

A silicone pad in size M is installed out of the box, but there are other options in the kit, it is better to choose for yourself. Also in the box you will find a USB-A to USB-C charging cable.

Pixel Buds are barely felt in the ear. It sounds great, but in fact, I constantly missed the touch panel, plus the earpiece “walks” in the ear, which is also inconvenient. But these are trifles, I think you can get used to it.

Inside each earbud are 12mm speakers, microphone, gyroscope, motion sensor, touch sensors and a voice accelerometer to launch the assistant on the command “Ok Google”.

There are many TWS headsets in my memory, but I constantly use only the variant from Sony (sound quality) and AirPods Pro (ecosystem). Pixel Buds are close in ideology to AirPods: that is, listening to music without a strong bass, recording a voice in Telegram or making a call – there are no problems. Audiophiles will clearly be disappointed.

I am disappointed by the lack of active noise cancellation. Experts say that it is not necessary in good headphones, passive noise cancellation should also be worked out, but I’m probably already used to cutting off unnecessary noise.

From the interesting and strange – the function of adaptive sound. There is a similar solution in Sony headphones, but there, again, there is noise cancellation and transparent mode, but here is something different.

This feature is enabled by default and activates the microphones. Depending on the surrounding noise, the volume of the music will increase or decrease. It is better to turn off this feature, especially if you want to take a walk in the city. As I walked from home to work, the sound was constantly jumping, which was very annoying. I turned up the volume every now and then. Not clear application. But I have never used such things in Sony headphones either.

Connection and management

For the connection, Bluetooth 5.0 is used. There is no Apple magic, but on smartphones with the latest version of Android, a window will pop up in the notification menu. There you will also be able to see the charge of the case and headphones (for sure, you can on Pixel, not on Samsung).

After connecting, the system itself will offer to download the proprietary application. It is also available in Russian. In it, you can change the name, update, turn off the ear detection function, set up control gestures, turn off adaptive mode, set up the Assistant, or find a headset.

I’ve already talked about the adaptive mode. What else is interesting? Finding your device is almost like finding your smartphone. You lost one of the headphones in the apartment, pressed a button in the application and the headphones will start to make a loud sound. We’ll have to shut up and listen carefully.

The Google Assistant can be called by a command and asked, for example, to read notifications or turn on some of the smart home devices – without hands and extra speakers. For this to work, you first need to grant all permissions in the application.

Control gestures. Here Google is great – they thought of everything. By default, the gestures are as follows:

• Swipe left or right – adjust the volume.
• One tap – play / pause and answer a call.
• Double tap – next track and end of the call.
• Triple tap – previous track or song repeat.
• Long hold – launch the assistant or listen to notifications.

I will separately say about the quality of the connection. It’s strange to talk about this in 2020, but a number of foreign media outlets reported problems. Someone simply loses contact, someone loses the connection if you put your ear on – moreover, even new headphones showed a similar problem. I think it’s a matter of the source, not the headset. There are no problems in our model.

Speaking of sources, it’s worth upsetting iOS device owners. Connecting Pixel Buds will work, everything will play and gestures will work, but there is no official application. This means that you will not be able to reconfigure something or remove the endless adaptive mode.

Autonomy

From one charge, they promise up to five hours of listening to music, with a case the figure increases to 24 hours. For comparison, AirPods Pro have about the same performance, but with noise cancellation.

You can charge by wire or wirelessly. There is a quick charge – 10 minutes is enough for two hours of music. AirPods give you an hour of use in five minutes of charging. That is about the same thing.

What’s with the price?

In the US, Pixel Buds (2020) were estimated at $ 180, which is about 13 thousand rubles. They should probably compete with regular AirPods. Or they could have added noise reduction and one would have thought.

In Russia, you can buy on Avito from dealers (we did this). But the price is still at the level of AirPods Pro, which makes the purchase useless. You can order from the USA using delivery services, but we did not succeed, the order was canceled by Google.

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Owners of Google Pixel smartphones should definitely take new headphones. You’ve finally got your AirPods from Google. In principle, you will live without noise reduction, in the rest they should go to you.

I don’t understand why owners of iOS should buy them. Pixel Buds were built for Android fans and Google has managed to stand out from thousands of competitors. Nice minimalist design, quick access to the Assistant, good sound and microphones – what else do you need?