Costco Members: Apple AirPods (3rd Gen) Expired

Dont know why you are getting thumbs down on your legit question

1. Gen 3 have very close sound quality to the Pros - which is pretty great considering the Pros isolate noise more with silicon tips and ANC/transparency mode

2. Gen 1/2 fit deeper in the ear canal but dont have silicon tips, Pros have an even deeper fit inside the ear canal and use the silicon tip to create a seal - the deeper the fit the more likely a person will develop itchiness/wax build up esp with the silicon tips

3. Gen 3 sits "outside'' the ear canal - which is why many are complaining of a poor fit

If you value noise cancellation, the tightest possible fit - go with the Pros

If you value a tighter fit with inferior sound quality to the Pros - go with the Gen 2

If you value a looser but subjectively "more comfortable fit" with equal sound quality to the Pros but no vacuum seal / silicon tip - go with Gen 3

I have Gen 2, 3, and Pros - 2 are my favorite for working out, 3 are used only for when i need noise cancellation, and after getting the Gen 3 these are the pair that I use almost exclusively

After an hour or 2 with the Gen 2 and esp the Pro my ear would get irritated / fatigued and i would have to remove them

But with the Gen 3 and the way the design is i can wear them for hours without any issue.

Would I work out or wear them walking down the street in the Gen 3? Absolutely not bc they are not as secure of a fit as the Gen 2 / Pro

But since I use them exclusively at home for streaming (Apple TV), office calls, and at my desk for me they are the best iteration yet

Regardless you have to try them to find out, buy the $90 Gen 2, buy these and return which one u dont like

I don't know how relevant to these my experience with the pros have been but for anyone looking for a comparison here goes:

I got the pros for Christmas last year and was excited. After a year of usage though I generally can't stand them.

My primary use for earbud type headphones is running and going to the gym and these things are awful for that. They do not stay in your ear at all idc what size bud you use. This doesn't seem relevant to these but just a heads up you're going to need to buy ear loops or something which is also a pain because the need to be removed when you charge them.

As soon as you start to sweat, at least for me, it seems like the audio gets all distorted and tinny. I've replaced them 3x and that's just how they are.

Like I said they've been replaced 3x mostly because of issues getting them to charge. I've come to realize it's mostly an issue with the contacts so you need to be diligent on cleaning both the contacts on the buds and in the case. You have to make sure they are both charging and there's no real notification to tell you that so unless you check you can think you charged them and 1 ends up being dead which sucks.

You also have to put them both in at relatively the same time or one doesn't detect the connection and you have to put them back in the case. Minor but still a pain in butt.

This isn't to say don't buy em they do work well when you're not doing anything else and Siri to change songs works well when running, I just felt like for what they cost they should be better. At this point I prefer the 30 dollar sony ones from a few weeks back.