Two Weeks with Apple AirPods Pro 3 — An Honest Diary
I wasn't planning to buy these. Let me just say that upfront. I'd walked into the Croma store at Ambience Mall, Gurgaon, to pick up a USB-C cable — one of those ₹300 errands that somehow always ends with you spending fifty times more. The AirPods Pro 3 were sitting right there on the display shelf, and the guy at the counter mentioned they were running a ₹6,000 discount. I picked them up, turned the box around, put it down, walked to the cable section, walked back, and then just... bought them. That's how it happened. No research, no comparison videos, nothing. Just vibes and a credit card.
What follows is basically my diary of living with these things for two weeks. Not a formal review. I don't have measurement rigs or frequency response charts. Just a guy who listens to a lot of music on public transport and wanted to know if ₹18,999 was money well spent.
Day 1 — First Impressions and the Croma Experience
The Croma buying experience itself was fine, if a bit slow. I had to wait about twenty minutes because they were processing some exchange deal for another customer. The staff knew the basics — H3 chip, better ANC than the Pro 2, USB-C case — but couldn't answer my more specific questions about codec support or whether Adaptive Audio had improved. Par for the course at most electronics retail in India. They did process the ₹6,000 discount without any fuss, and I got an additional ₹500 off with my HDFC card, which was nice.
Unboxing at home was typically Apple. Satisfying pull tab, the little card that says "Designed by Apple in California," four sizes of silicone ear tips. I went with the medium tips, which fit my ears pretty well. Pairing with my iPhone 15 Pro was instant — you just open the case near your phone and a card pops up. It's really the smoothest pairing process in wireless audio. I'll give Apple that.
First song I played was "Tum Hi Ho" by Arijit Singh. I know, I know — predictable choice. But it's a track I've heard thousands of times, so I know exactly how it should sound. The opening piano notes were clean and well-separated. Arijit's vocals sat right in the centre with a warmth that I wasn't expecting from earbuds this small. The bass on the chorus hit harder than the AirPods Pro 2 ever did. Not by a huge margin, but enough that I noticed.
Day 3 — Delhi Metro, Red Line, 8:47 AM
This is the real test, isn't it? Anyone can sound good in a quiet room. I wanted to know what these things could do on the Red Line during peak hours. If you've never had the pleasure, the Delhi Metro Red Line between Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk at quarter to nine in the morning is a specific kind of chaos. There's the metallic screech of the train on curves, the constant hum of the AC, people talking on phones, that one uncle watching reels at full volume without earphones, and the periodic announcement system that seems designed to be heard on Mars.
I popped the AirPods Pro 3 in and switched on noise cancellation. The difference was... significant. Not total silence — I don't think any earbud in existence can fully cancel out the Delhi Metro. But the low-frequency train rumble almost vanished. The conversations around me dropped to a faint murmur. That uncle's reels became barely perceptible. I put on an AR Rahman playlist and started with "Jai Ho" — specifically because of the heavy bass and layered instrumentation. At about 60% volume, I could hear every layer clearly. The tabla hits had genuine punch. The strings didn't get lost behind the vocals. I was honestly surprised.
The real magic, though, was the Adaptive Audio. When the train stopped at stations and got quieter, the ANC seemed to relax a bit, letting in just enough ambient sound that I didn't feel completely disconnected. When the doors opened and the rush-hour noise flooded in, it tightened up again. It's not something you consciously notice — it's more like the earbuds are constantly adjusting so that the music always sounds right regardless of what's happening around you. That's a hard thing to do well, and Apple's done it well here.
Day 5 — Transparency Mode and MG Road
I'd been using these mostly in ANC mode, but Day 5 I decided to properly test Transparency mode. I was walking along MG Road — not the Bangalore one, the one in Gurgaon near the metro station. It's a busy road with auto-rickshaws honking, construction noise from some building project, and general traffic chaos. I switched to Transparency mode and... it's strange. The outside world sounds almost exactly like it does without earbuds. Almost. There's a very slight digital quality to it if you listen carefully, like a 1% reminder that you're hearing a processed version of reality. But traffic sounds, horns, someone yelling "bhaiya idhar aao" at an auto — it all came through clearly and naturally.
I crossed the road with Transparency mode on and felt safe doing it. I could hear the Maruti Suzuki honking from my left. I could hear the e-rickshaw bell from behind me. This matters because I know people — myself included — who've had genuinely dangerous moments crossing Indian roads with earphones that block too much. The fact that I could keep my music playing at a low volume and still be fully aware of the traffic around me? That's worth something. Hard to put a rupee value on not getting hit by a Baleno running a red light, but it's worth something.
Day 7 — The Samsung Comparison
My friend Varun has the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, and on Day 7 we did a back-to-back comparison at a Starbucks. Not scientific at all — we just swapped earbuds and listened to the same tracks.
Here's what I noticed. The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have a wider soundstage. Music feels more spread out, more spatial. The 2-way speaker system with the separate tweeter and woofer gives vocals a clarity that's truly excellent. For certain tracks — particularly anything with a lot of vocal layering — the Samsung buds sounded more open and detailed. I played "Kun Faya Kun" from Rockstar, and the Galaxy Buds rendered the qawwali chorus with better separation between the individual voices.
But the AirPods Pro 3 had better bass. Not boomy, bloated bass — just tighter, more controlled low-end that you could feel in your chest a little. I played "Why This Kolaveri Di" (don't judge me, it's a good bass test) and the AirPods had more thump. The noise cancellation comparison wasn't even close, though. The AirPods Pro 3 cancelled noticeably more ambient noise. We tested it in the Starbucks with the coffee machine running, people chatting, and that constant background music they play. The AirPods made the cafe feel emptier. The Galaxy Buds reduced it, but I could still hear the grinder clearly.
The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have one advantage I'll admit freely: they don't care what phone you use. All the features work on any Android phone. The AirPods Pro 3, meanwhile, save their best tricks for Apple devices.
Day 10 — The Android Question
This brings me to something I've been thinking about a lot. Are the AirPods Pro 3 worth it if you don't have an iPhone? I borrowed my wife's Samsung Galaxy S24 for a day and paired the AirPods with it. They connected fine over standard Bluetooth. Sound quality was... decent. But you lose a lot. No Adaptive Audio. No personalised spatial audio. No head tracking. No automatic device switching. No "Find My" integration. No Conversation Awareness that lowers your music when you start talking. You're basically paying ₹18,999 for standard Bluetooth earbuds with good ANC.
My honest answer: if you're on Android, buy the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro or the Sony WF-1000XM6 instead. The AirPods Pro 3 are designed for the Apple world, and that's where they shine brightest. On Android, you're paying a premium for a fraction of the experience. It's like buying a Ferrari and only driving it in first gear — technically it works, but you're missing the point.
Day 12 — Long Listening Sessions and Comfort
I wore these for a six-hour stretch on Day 12 — a long train journey from Delhi to Jaipur on the Shatabdi. By hour four, I could feel a slight pressure in my right ear. Not pain, just awareness. I took them out for ten minutes, put them back, and was fine for the remaining two hours. For context, most earbuds start bothering me by hour three, so this was above average for my ears.
The battery held up well during that journey. Started at 100%, ended at about 22% with ANC on the whole time. That's roughly in line with Apple's claim of six hours. The case gave me a full recharge plus about 70% of another, so for a day of heavy use, you're covered.
I did some call testing on this trip too. Called my mother, who's the harshest audio critic I know because she'll immediately say "sun nahi aa raha" if the quality drops even slightly. She said I sounded clear. The wind noise reduction kicked in when I was standing between carriages with the door area creating a draft. She didn't notice the difference, which tells me it works.
Day 14 — Final Thoughts
Two weeks in, and I think I can be honest about these. The AirPods Pro 3 are the best wireless earbuds I've used — if you're in the Apple ecosystem. The noise cancellation is the best available in this form factor, full stop. The sound quality is excellent, not the absolute best (the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro edge it in soundstage), but excellent. The Adaptive Audio is something I didn't know I needed and now can't go without. The build quality is solid, the case charges three ways, and the fit is comfortable for extended wear.
Are they worth ₹18,999? With the ₹6,000 discount, yes. At the full ₹24,900, it's a harder sell when the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro exist at ₹14,999. But at the discounted Croma price, I think Apple's hit a good balance between premium and reasonable.
The H3 chip actually does deliver better processing than the H2. The noise cancellation improvement is real, not marketing fluff. The Adaptive Audio transitions are smoother. Spatial Audio with head tracking, when it works well in supported content, adds a dimension to movie watching that's hard to go back from. I watched three episodes of a show on my iPad with these and the audio felt like it was coming from the screen, not from inside my ears. It's a trick, obviously, but it's a convincing one.
There are things I'd change. I wish Apple would support lossless audio over Bluetooth — they have the engineering talent to develop a codec for it, and it's strange that the company that bought Beats and runs Apple Music still caps Bluetooth audio quality. I wish the ear tips came in more sizes — four is fine for most people, but if you're between sizes, you're stuck. And I wish the features didn't degrade so much on non-Apple devices. These are ₹18,999 earbuds. They should be great regardless of what phone you pair them with.
But those complaints don't change the core verdict. For an iPhone user who commutes on Indian public transport, listens to a mix of Bollywood and Western music, and wants the best noise cancellation available in true wireless earbuds, the AirPods Pro 3 at this Croma price are a strong buy. The ₹6,000 savings made the decision easy for me, and two weeks later, I don't regret it.
One last thing. On Day 11, I lost the left earbud. Dropped it somewhere between my sofa cushions, spent forty-five minutes convinced it had fallen into a parallel dimension, tried the Find My chime which led me on a wild goose chase around my living room, and finally found it wedged inside the fold of a blanket. My heart rate during those forty-five minutes probably qualified as cardio. These things are small, white, and designed to vanish into light-coloured fabrics. Consider yourself warned. I'm now mildly paranoid every time I take them out, which is probably the one user experience Apple didn't optimise for.
