‘Tinkering Review’ — Is AirPods Pro Everywhere Now? How Huaqiangbei Fought Back!
Translated from the Chinese original.
AirPods Pro Appears
On October 30, 2019, Apple released AirPods Pro at an official price of RMB 1,999. They used Apple’s H1 chip, and their new in-ear design was mainly intended to support noise cancellation and improve the listening experience. That was also their biggest functional difference from the first two generations!
Trying the Genuine Product
No one seems able to escape Apple’s “once you try it, you can’t go back” effect. What impressed me most at the time was the genuine AirPods Pro’s active noise cancellation. I still remember how my ears suddenly tightened when I turned it on, and how the whole world instantly fell silent. After that rush of relief, I had a great many choice Chinese curses running through my head…
There was also Transparency mode. The ambient pickup sounded especially distant and clear. I took out the earbuds, looked at the price tag, and immediately calmed down: RMB 1,999 is simply more than most ordinary consumers can accept.
Huaqiangbei (華強北) Catches Up
In fact, barely a week after Apple released AirPods Pro, all kinds of third-gen clones began flooding the market. Their build quality was extremely rough: they still used the second-generation formula for the charging connector, some parts of the earbuds could not achieve a 1:1 match, and Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode could not even be enabled on a phone. After trying the sound quality, I quickly wiped them clean and put them in a cabinet to gather dust, thinking:
Is this all Huaqiangbei has? It hasn’t even achieved a 1:1 exterior.
At the time, this was the model I least recommended buying. But after Huaqiangbei’s earlier second-generation experience, I believed it would solve the problems quickly. Less than a month later, a true 1:1 version officially appeared, and sellers everywhere began advertising that it could enable noise cancellation. Heh, it was fake noise cancellation: turning it on made no difference at all. To me, a third-gen clone without active noise cancellation has no soul. You might as well buy the second generation and spend the money you save on something else—isn’t that a better deal?
It was not until the end of July that a friend messaged me to say that real ANC noise cancellation was out. I was pretty excited. After waiting for more than half a year, the Airoha third-gen clone with real ANC had finally arrived. My first impression after receiving it was that the build quality really was a little better than before, but I cared more about what was inside. I put on the earbuds and turned on noise cancellation. As my ears tightened slightly, the noisy street suddenly became much quieter, and the low-frequency rumble in the distance disappeared. The effect was not as dramatic as Apple’s official product, though—I could still hear some sounds…
On Xianyu, Taobao, and other platforms, there are countless sellers offering this counterfeit AirPods Pro. Some list them for RMB 300–400 and use descriptions such as “brand new,” “original,” “factory original,” and “genuine.” There are also Huaqiangbei agents selling AirPods Pro with Airoha 1536 and 1536U chips in their social feeds, but the prices are far above their wholesale cost.
About the Exterior
The front is exactly the same as the original, and the markings inside the charging-case lid are the same too.
It does not use a metal hinge but a powder-metallurgy hinge, which surprised me a little. The original also uses plastic made to look like metal.
The connection between the ear tip and the earbud is the same as the original, including the legendary “big black mesh.” The Jieli (JL; 傑理) solution uses the cheapest white ear tips, however, which greatly weakens the sound quality.
The original uses a force sensor in the stem, which triggers earbud controls according to how firmly you squeeze it. Huaqiangbei uses force sensing too, and it is quite responsive in use.
It uses the same charging connector at the tail as the original.
The original uses an infrared optical sensor—the so-called true optical sensor—rather than the touch sensing that often caused accidental pauses before. This model also uses an optical sensor for in-ear detection (teardown photos below).
Some cheaper versions use chrome-plated plastic, which greatly shortens the life of the charging port. This manufacturer uses the same gold-colored charging contacts as the original!
System Compatibility
At present, both the genuine product and Huaqiangbei’s third-gen earbuds require iOS 13 or later for the pop-up pairing screen. Holdouts stuck on older systems can only set up a Bluetooth connection. The animated pairing pop-up looks the same as the original, and there is even an initial setup screen for waking Siri by voice! It is only for show, though—I doubt anyone is going to shout “Siri” in the street!
Huaqiangbei AirPods still cannot wake Siri directly through the earbuds. Those online claims that it works all involve the phone being held in the user’s hand. When you say “Hey Siri,” it is actually the phone’s microphone picking it up, not the earbuds’ microphone. Move the phone farther away and it stops working. This third-gen version is the same!
There are currently two latest versions of the third-gen earbuds:
Airoha ANC noise-canceling button-cell version
Airoha ANC version with a serial number in Settings and a standard battery
Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode in Control Center can both be switched freely. The only difference is that the button-cell version still uses second-generation earbud icons, while the version with a serial number in Settings has replaced them all with third-gen icons. Both can test the fit of the ear tips just like the original, but the button-cell battery lasts considerably longer than the standard battery!
About Active Noise Cancellation
In theory, all in-ear headphones provide some passive noise reduction. Passive noise reduction simply means plugging the ears to block some sound. Active noise cancellation uses the microphones on the earbuds to capture sound, processes it through a chip, and plays an inverse waveform externally to cancel the noise.
Noise cancellation only filters some low-frequency noise. If someone is standing in front of you and talking, you can still hear them. The biggest highlight of Apple’s AirPods Pro is the addition of active noise cancellation. I had followed many Huaqiangbei third-gen solutions before, and none of them achieved active noise cancellation, but this ANC model did.
This top-spec Airoha version with a true optical sensor includes active noise cancellation, namely ANC (20–30 dB), as well as a real Transparency mode (30% of the original’s effect). From my hands-on testing, I cannot say it reproduces the original 100 percent, but the noise-canceling effect is clearly noticeable. As I said at the beginning, after my ears tightened slightly, the surroundings became much quieter. In daily use on the metro or on a noisy road, it can remove some of the noise. Transparency is also noticeable; active noise cancellation is only a little bit there, almost negligible. Maybe my ears just aren’t sensitive enough—Apple’s genuine product can reach 70–80 dB of noise cancellation.
Note: For people who used an earlier version and then dismiss every updated version outright, all I want to say is that you are thinking too simply. Everyone experiences noise cancellation differently, so don’t overanalyze it.
About Sound Quality
When it comes to sound quality, wired earphones have always crushed wireless earbuds. After more than a year of continuous tuning on Huaqiangbei’s second generation, the better manufacturers really can approach the original’s performance. Most diaphragms use cashmere, titanium-alloy metal, or composite materials. But good sound does not depend entirely on the chip; it takes a complete system to create it. The current third-gen composite-diaphragm speaker is quite good. Below RMB 10,000, it’s all just “making noise” anyway—the point of true wireless is convenience.
About Latency
With most third-gen earbuds, you cannot feel any latency when listening to music or watching videos in daily use, and there are no mic pickup issues in Honor of Kings voice chat. If you insist on arguing with me about PUBG latency, I suggest you wear wired earphones.
About Battery Life
Apple’s official battery-life figures are 4–5 hours on a single charge and up to 24 hours with the charging case. The button-cell version lasts much longer than the standard-battery version. In my own test, a single continuous music session also lasted 4–5 hours. The charging case has a 400mAh battery and can fully recharge the earbuds 3–4 times, while the standard-battery version only reaches about 4 hours at most.
Taking It Apart
Airoha ANC noise-canceling button-cell version
Airoha ANC version with a serial number in Settings and a standard battery
A Few Quiet Words
The Jieli (JL; 傑理) and Bestechnic (BES; 恆玄) solutions are just for show. Their sound, build quality, and overall quality are simply awful.
That’s the only way to describe them. But in sellers’ hands, they are praised as if they were magical. Countless listings use noise cancellation in their titles, and the prices are pushed high enough to fool a batch of newcomers into paying the “intelligence tax.” Jieli mainly occupies the low and mid-range of the market, so its shipments are also the largest. Taobao and Pinduoduo are its biggest sales channels. At today’s prices, you get what you pay for—surely nobody is going to buy a phone for RMB 6,000 and sell it to you for RMB 4,000, right?! The Airoha solution has a smaller market share, so its price has stayed fairly high. Some social-commerce sellers even sell the standard version without noise cancellation for RMB 3xx!
The biggest advantage for factories that buy Jieli chips is their low cost. That means they do not use good materials for the shell, circuit board, and so on; as long as the product just meets the market’s bare minimum, it is good enough. There is a clear gap in the exterior, feel, and experience. Models priced below RMB 120 on the market are basically using Jieli chips.
Huaqiangbei is now very close to the original in every respect. For ordinary users, it is worth recommending. For everyone else, I still suggest buying the genuine product directly!
Finding the newest version of the Airoha earbuds online is not easy. Taobao listings that claim to be the true latest version are usually batches 951 or later, and the price is generally around RMB 230; some are even higher. Ignore anything under RMB 150—it cannot be the latest version.
In short, a good Airoha third-gen earbud will not have especially poor detail or build quality. The original-style, non-diffused light is also something only Airoha offers. Basic features such as renaming, location tracking, and no battery-level jumps are now standard. As for price, 99% of anything below RMB 150 is an old version upgraded from the touch-sensing model!
You finally got the third-gen clone review you kept asking for. I nearly passed out… If you are interested in earbuds, feel free to message me to discuss them!