AirPods (Revisited for iOS 11)

Apple’s wireless buds go to 11

$159 From Apple, apple.com Features Bluetooth, charging case

Apple’s wireless buds have turned around many people’s perceptions that it makes horriblesounding headphones. We previously praised their great sound at 50 percent volume and even close to maximum. Our major criticism was the limited range of double-tap controls you could assign to the buds (Siri, play or pause, or nothing), and that the same action was assigned to both of them.

With iOS 11, two new actions are available – skip to the next or previous track – and different ones can be assigned to each AirPod. We settled on the left one for Siri, and the right for advancing to the next track – invaluable if you listen to many Apple Music playlists, or your own music on shuffle.

The benefit to the overall experience, now that you no longer have to speak or touch your iPhone to control playback, means we’ve revised our score upward. There’s still room to improve on the pauses that can occur when you call upon Siri, and mic performance in loud environments, though.

the bottom line. Great sound, comfortable, and with improved playback control if your device is running iOS 11.