Pixel Buds Pro 2

Item: Pixel Buds Pro 2
Rating: 5
Author: M0MNF

15 Jun 2025 · Pixel Buds

Somewhere at home in a bag, car, coat, hoodie or drawer is a pair of Pixel Buds 1. They are great headphones, batteries are fine, case is fine, drivers are fine. But I can't find them for the life of me - sad face.

My lack of organisation forced my hand, I needed a new pair. I was half tempted to buy a chaep pair until I found the old ones, but when I got a new phone I got a store credit and discount. Even with both of those these still weren't a cheap pair, but I'm glad I didn't get a cheap pair now. I've still not found the old pair. When I find them, there's three other pairs of ears at home, so when I find them, they'll find another loving pair of ears.

The transparent plastic case was a classic 'things you might like' when I got to the checkout. It adds a little bit of bulk to the case, but the carabiner is handy to clip them to your belt loop/bag when you're wearing them. I ordered them direct from the google store the buds and case arrived a couple of days later. I've been using the buds for a few months now, ignore the grot in the photos.

The buds magnet snap into the case without much lining up. As long as you put the left one in the left side and right on the right, the magnets take care of the rest. The buds last for 6 to 8 hours with the noise cancelling on. The case has a battery and can charge the buds 3 or 4 times. The case has a USB C port and a pairing button. They also charge via Qi wireless chargers.

The buds have got 11mm drivers. The sound they put out is spot on. Nice powerful bass and clear high up tones. They've got good natural noise cancellation thanks to their shape and the ear tips. Add to that the three microphones and noice cancelling software built in they are formidable at isolating you from the outside world. Don't get me wrong, they're not over ear, so they're not 'in the woods' isolating, but for what they are, they're unbeatable.

The buds are touch sensitive, to turn the volume up slide your finger from the back of the bud to the front, vice versa to turn it down. Tap the bud to play/pause/answer a call. Double tap to skip a track/reject a call. Triple tap to skip tracks backwards. Touch and hold flicks between the noise cancellation modes. With the buds app, you can customise the touch controls.

Round the back of the buds are a couple of contacts, they charge the buds when you put them in the case, they detect when they're in your ear, when you take a bud out, it pauses the music. The buds come with three different sized sets of ear tips. The first time you connect the buds to your phone it runs a series of tests to make sure you've got the right tips on.

The buds are IP54 rated. IP54... what does that mean?
IP - Ingress Protection.
5 - Dust Protected - Ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it must not enter in sufficient quantity to interfere with the safe operation of the equipment.
4 - Splashing of water - Water splashing against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effect, utilizing either: a) an oscillating fixture, or b) A spray nozzle with no shield. Test a) is conducted for 10 minutes. b) is conducted (without shield) for 5 minutes minimum.

So they're fine to put in your sweaty ears when you're out running, at the gym, or doing any other sweaty activity. Even when they're sweaty and you're running they stay in your ears. The buds are comfortable to wear for hours at a time.

The charge case is is 65x50x25mm in my clear case it's 70x55x30mm it weighs (with buds) about 65gr and 100gr with the case and carabiner. The buds weigh about 5gr each. The buds are too awkward to measure! The white circle is about 16mm, from the front of the white face to the start of the ear tip is about 18mm, the medium tips extend about 8mm.

The buds connect to your phone with Bluetooth 5.4 and are backwards compatible with any device that supports Bluetooth 4.0 and up. Phone has to be running at least Android 6 (so every Android phone that's still working!).

Thoughts

The buds are comfortable, sound good and have great battery life. They're a worthy successor to the Buds 1 (that are still lost). I'm pleased I got them, I wish I didn't need to buy them, but that's a different story.

Pros
Great sound · Waterproof (pretty much) · Battery life

Cons
Not cheap