These helped me stay calm in a Trader Joe's. They work just fine.
I have spent the past week and a half with the Pixel Buds 2a, and I'm not sure I can give them up, not even for the Iris-colored pair that I have coming soon. Google sent us the Pixel Buds 2a in Hazel, or a gray-black color. I've been wearing them everywhere: outdoors on my walks, around the house for music and hands-free Gemini, into the grocery store to avoid getting overstimulated, and even to bed to help me fall asleep to something calmer than whatever is racing through my brain.
Much like the AirPods 4 felt like a significant upgrade over their predecessors after Apple added active noise cancellation, so do the Pixel Buds 2a. The features available justify the $130 price tag. There are also improvements in water resistance, repairability, and comfort to consider here. I'm feeling guilty about moving on from my first-gen Pixel Buds A-series, which I've given a lot of love to. But the Pixel Buds 2a are the perfect pair to have on hand, always, even if they're not the highest-performing buds on the market.
The Pixel Buds 2a are a substantial upgrade over the original Pixel Buds A series, which launched in 2021. This time, the buds are modeled after the Pixel Buds Pro 2, which launched last year. I was worried that the updated design wouldn't be as comfortable as the first-gen Pixel Buds A series. I have finicky ear canals. The Buds 2a did not work for me out of the box, as they are outfitted with the medium ear tips from the factory. I swapped in the small-sized ear tips for a better fit. Google says you might even find yourself switching sizes between ear canals.
It took about a day for me to acclimate to the Pixel Buds 2a. The buds feature a twist-to-insert design, unlike the Pixel Buds A-series, which required them to be "pushed in" to complete the seal. I feel like I have to "screw in" the Pixel Buds 2a before it sits just right, using the direction of the tiny wingtip on the end as my indicator that they're good to go. On the plus side, once the buds are in place, they have a proper seal. I wasn't worried about the bud slipping out of my greasy ear because I knew they were screwed in tight.
Similar to the AirPods, which feature a custom Apple H2 chip, Google offers ANC through a proprietary internal chip. The Tensor A1 powers the active noise cancellation and is optimized for working with Gemini AI. The chip enables ultra-low latency audio processing, which Google lauds as being able to adapt to your environment at the speed of "3 million times per second." The chip enables a "highway lane" that allows your music to pass through unobstructed while blocking out other audio in real-time.
The Pixel Buds 2a offer a satisfying seal that feels like it's physically blocking noise. It's not entirely quiet, though. No earbuds have been able to match the ANC delivered through a pair of over-the-head Sony WH-1000XMs. However, the Pixel Buds 2a offer effective ANC at their price point, to the extent that Trader Joe's didn't seem as audibly chaotic when I entered with both buds in. I then called my husband (using hands-free Gemini) to discuss what to buy while roaming down the aisles. I was able to hear him clearly, as well as some of the conversations around me, without feeling overly stimulated.
The Pixel Buds 2a feature a gesture control mechanism that can be customized through the Pixel Buds app. By default, the left earbud initiates Gemini, and the right earbud allows you to long-press to switch between ANC and audio pass-through, or Transparency mode. Transparency mode worked well while walking through the neighborhood. I was able to hear cars approaching behind me and other sounds, including the shuffling of rocks kicked up by a runner and birds cawing in the distance, without losing focus on the music. But like all headphones and earbuds, if you turn up the music too loud, it's hard to pay attention to anything else around you.
During my testing on a particularly windy morning, I experienced significant "flow noise" in Transparency mode. When I tilted my head down to look at my phone, the angle allowed more air to rush into the external microphones, which amplified the woosh. But despite the directional vulnerability, the Buds 2a did a decent job of dialing it down so that it wasn't overbearing. I could still clearly hear what I was listening to.
I didn't get to test the Pixel Buds 2a on an airplane or my favorite noisy public transit system, BART. A few years ago, I used to commute with the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 2 on me so that I could make it through the loud Transbay tunnel. The Apple AirPods 4 were also effective at blocking out the screech when I took them for a ride. I hope to report back on what life is like with the Pixel Buds 2A on public transit.
Battery life is always at its best at the beginning of a device's life cycle. I was already satisfied with the battery on the Pixel Buds A series, but the Pixel Buds 2a achieve similar longevity with ANC turned on. Google promises up to 20 hours of battery life with the feature, and up to 27 hours without it.
During my week of testing and wearing the Pixel Buds 2a, I've only had to charge the battery pack twice. I've been interchangeably switching between ANC and Transparency mode depending on the situation at hand. After about three days on a charge, the right-side bud, which is my preferred one, had about 67% charge remaining after being docked in the charging case overnight. When the charging case is due for a recharge, it will pulse an orange light on the front.
It made sense that Google would follow up with its own entry-level ANC offering after Apple introduced the AirPods 4. Then Samsung and OnePlus followed suit with their respective budget releases, which both offer ANC at a more affordable price. That's where the trend is right now, and people are better off for it.
The Pixel Buds 2a are plenty engaging, whether you listen to guitar-heavy rock music or synth-forward dance tracks. It won't be as immersive as a pair of over-ear headphones, but it's definitely an improvement over the $100 Pixel Buds A series that Google was previously offering. If you have Google Store credit or some cash to spare, or you find yourself with credit at another big box gadget store, these are worthy options to have as a backup. I'm going to keep this pair in my purse for all the times I'm out and need a little help dialing down the decibel level of the environment.
I will follow up at another time with more of my hands-on experience using the Pixel Buds 2a to interface with Gemini.