Google Pixel Buds 2: Before & After The Bass Boost Update

Google’s 1st-gen Pixel Buds didn’t live up to the hype. The design w/ the strings weren’t too great, the cloth case was just decent, the marketed Google Translation feature just fed through your phone and come out through the buds – like using their Translate app, more or less. So they weren’t really embraced, liked, or loved.

Fast forward to earlier this year when the new-and-improved models dropped. We didn’t pick them up at launch though as they’ve been out for months now. Google just made the other color outside of Just White available & we picked up a pair. Better late than never, right? Along w/ that, they updated them w/ a new feature drop update & added things as well as fixed a few things. We thought that this was a great time to check them out to see if they actually got better or nah.

The new Buds take the good thing about the original ones and adds on to it. This maintains the plastic build but adds a stabilizer arc to better fit in your ear and adds IPX4 sweat/water-resistant coating. It supports Google’s Fast Pairing to pair your buds w/ your Android device as fast as Apple can do w/ its AirPods.

You got touchpads on the sides of them for tap-based navigation. Not only can you tap to play/pause as well as skip tracks but you can also adjust the volume w/ it as well. The case is nice as its smooth matte finish (not plastic), its a good size + egg-shape w/ a button to check the LED status, offers a USB-C port, & has wireless charging support.

The fit is good & not uncomfortable at all – at least not for me. Thanks to the stabilizer arcs, they help keep them in. I had to give them a slight twist to help push the ear tips in a bit more of a better seal & give you a better sound. More on the sound in a bit.

Google’s new Pixel Buds is more comparable to the Apple AirPods Pro in regards to battery life & functionality. So these aren’t all-day buds or enough to last you an entire shift at work either. What you get in regards to battery life is on par with what Google suggests.

So you can expect to get up to 5 hours of juice listening to media & 2.5 hours of juice on phone calls, up to 24-hours w/ its wireless charging case, and fast-charging w/ a 10-minute charge giving you 2 hours of juice. The more interesting thing is that both Buds lose their juice at different levels. Both will be charged to 100% but as you use them one will draw power more than the other one.

Sound: Before The Update

The Pixel Buds step things up from the original model by improving the overall sound quality. Google made sure to add a lot more modern features to help this to better compete against the crowd. You got dual beam-forming mics, voice-detecting accelerometer, in-ear detection, and the aforementioned capacitive touch sensors.

On the upside, the actual sound quality is really good. This is thanks to their 12mm dynamic drivers offering full + clean sound, a good amount of thump, & a decent seal giving you passive noise reduction (not to be confused w/ noise-canceling though). I like the sound quality way better than the Galaxy Buds+ and on par w/ the AirPods Pro – if not a little bit better.

However, the 2nd-gen Pixel Buds is not w/o issues. The sound levels are low – like you have to crank it up to almost at the maximum to get a good level. A slight workaround is to dive into Developer Options to disable Absolute Volume which gives it a slight boost that helps. There are some Bluetooth connection + audio dropout issues present. Like you’ll be listening to a YouTube video, podcast, or song and you’d miss a word or 2 due to the connection dropping out every here and there. I didn’t experience it enough to it being unbearable but not something you should deal w/ $180 earbuds though.

The Pixel Buds offer amazing sound quality before & after the update - despite the low volume.

Sound: After The Update

About 2 weeks ago, Google finally dropped the other colors outside of White and added a big update to them as well. So after the latest Feature Drop update, some things got better but some things stayed the same. They added features like Bass Boost, attention alerts, sharing detection, a new transcribe mode for conversational translation, an improved Find My Device, and the option to turn off the touch controls.

The Bass Boost is a welcome addition to give them that extra thump that bass lovers will love & appreciate. For me giving me the perfect sound quality in a pair of earbuds – despite the volume issue still being present. Still, no full EQ controls though but its a start. And unfortunately, the update didn’t really address the Bluetooth connection/audio dropout issues as they’re still present.

Google gets the most-improved award w/ the 2nd-gen Pixel Buds but still need a few more feature drop updates to be a top-tier competitor.

Google is in an interesting place right now riding high off the Pixel 4a release & 2 more Pixel devices around the corner. I think if they fix a few more things by the time the Pixel 4a + 5 come out, these would go perfect w/ them. Now the battery life isn’t amazing but it is comparable to Apple’s top of the line earbuds. Amazing sound quality, Google Assistant is way more useful than Siri, and the Buds + the case look great as well.

Although as imperfect as they are, I find myself still going back to them. Whether the dynamic sound (turned up of course), the hands-free access to Google Assistant, or the fast-charging; there is tons of potential here to be great. Until then, they’re the closest thing to Apple’s AirPods Pro. So if you want them at the current time, you’re gonna have to take the good w/ the bad – for now.