I’ll admit it: I’m a hypocrite. Last year I mocked AirPods owners with the line “You can’t hear broke? Well, I can hear overpriced, annoying earbuds.” While I can still agree with this statement, I can no longer take that stand as I’ve bought a pair of AirPods Pro.

I ordered the AirPods Pro a few days following their release as I waited for the first reviews to appear online so I could decide if I wanted them. As reviews came out and were generally positive, I decided to buy them. Over a month and a week later following the date I ordered them, they had finally arrived. 

My unboxing experience of them was slightly skewed as my first impressions were based on a FaceTime call with my friend and low quality sound playback in addition to opening them no less than ten minutes after I threw up at work. Now that I’ve gone through last night and half a school day, I do believe I’ve tested them in all scenarios that I’d have them in with the exception of a flight or some other semi-rare occurrence.

Now to the price — I do believe that an increased $91 price, bringing the total to $250 for the AirPods Pro, is an unfair price for the headphones for multiple reasons. The greatest issue I’ve noticed is the bass, or lack thereof. The AirPods Pro have generally been outperformed by my previous Apple EarPods in category of volume of the bass and highs, which is an issue as its common for the part of songs I most enjoy is the bass. The poor performance in delivering bass and high pitches can be overlooked with my satisfaction for the capabilities of the noise cancellation.

The famous joke of “can’t hear broke” is sadly a reality with these headphones. The noise cancellation combined with music playing at only 30% or 40% volume has made me be ignorant when people have tried to talk to me, as I literally can’t hear them. For this reason, there’s also a ‘transparency mode’ within the AirPods. This feature has been helpful when having conversations or needing to hear an announcement from the teacher, but I notice the one or two seconds it takes to switch between the two modes is too great of a delay as I only change the mode once I realize the teacher or a fellow student has said something to me.

The AirPods Pro have the positives of noise cancellation, transparency mode, an appealing and minimalistic design and the seamlessness guaranteed by Apple within the last few years. They also have the cons of weak bass and highs, as well as a four and a half hour battery life with noise cancellation activated. Personally, I believe the cons can be overlooked and would suggest the AirPods Pro — if you can get over the exorbitant price tag.