Design and features:The earphones work with or without the noise canceling feature being turned on. You can use the noise-canceling feature without listening to music. The AirPods Pro have integrated microphones as well as music player and call connect/disconnect controls that work with paired Bluetooth devices, and controls to switch between noise canceling and ambient sound monitoring. They support Apple's Siri digital voice assistant (which can be activated using the "Hey Siri" wake phrase or by pressing and holding one of the earphones depending on how the earphones are set up) when used with Apple devices that use later operating system versions and have a WiFi or cellular Internet connection. Either earphone can also be used alone for one ear monitoring of Bluetooth streamed audio and telephone communications. According to Apple this model is water resistant; it comes with three pairs of ear pieces in various sizes, a Qi wireless charging compatible charging cradle/recharger battery/carrying case and a USB-C to Lightning connector charging cable for cord connected charging.
Sound quality: We found the AirPods Pro provides Excellent active noise reduction and delivers sound quality that falls in the Very Good range - it reproduces music and voice very well although it does have some noticeable sonic quirks. The overall sound can be summarized as slightly bassy and a bit soft overall. Bass (as in bass drums, bass guitars, stand-up bass, etc.) has good impact and goes deep, but is slightly prominent and boomy. The midrange (voices, guitars, horns, etc.) is fairly even, but is somewhat hazy and grainy, and slightly soft. The treble (cymbals, the upper range of violins, etc.) is fairly extended, but is a bit soft. This model does a decent job of recovering the room ambience of a recording (the sense of the acoustic space in which the audio program that's being listened to was recorded). While the sound has a decent sense of liveliness, it is somewhat closed (sound-wise it's fairly obvious you have something plugging your ears). The sound quality was pretty much the same regardless of whether the noise cancellation feature turned on or off. These earphones provide Excellent noise reduction across the entire frequency range with the low frequencies reduced the most. When the noise canceling feature is used a very faint rushing noise is audible in very quiet environments when there is no audio program material to mask it.
Comfort: As typical of in-ear models they produce a sense of pressure in the ear canal opening might be uncomfortable for some. Users with small, medium, and large sized ear bowls will probably find that this model stays in place with no problem for casual use and that they are very stable even during vigorous head movement. The controls are on the earphone stems that hang out of the ears and can be actuated without causing ear discomfort. The short stems make this model less prone to being knocked lose then the longer stems on the regular AirPods.
