With the release of the Pixel Buds A-Series today, it’s fair to wonder if the new Google earbuds are plagued with the same connectivity issues as the Pixel Buds (2nd Gen). Early reviews seem to suggest that there aren’t the substantial problems that many witnessed with the 2nd gen model and that is because of a key change made by Google in the A-Series. Unfortunately, it sounds like the Pixel Buds (2nd Gen) might be bad forever.
The audio cutouts and single-bud connection bugs that have been thoroughly documented by us over the past couple of years have never fully gone away from the 2nd gen model, even after a number of software updates. If you browse around any Pixel support or community gathering space, you won’t have any trouble finding threads upon threads of complaints about how bad the Pixel Buds are.
After so many updates failed to fully address their connection issues, you kind of start to wonder if there was some sort of hardware flaw. Those who considered that idea may be right. Google told 9to5Google that they changed the Pixel Buds A-Series to connect both buds directly to a device when paired, while the Pixel Buds (2nd Gen) only connect a single bud and then relay that connection to the 2nd bud.
With a double direct connection, the Pixel Buds A can apparently provide a “stronger transmission of power” with better latency too. It also seems to provide a more stable connection without a single bud needing to do almost all of the work.
For the Pixel Buds (2nd Gen), knowing this fact makes a lot of sense now, as there are countless complaints about single earbuds connecting or not connecting at all. I’ve actually experienced it first hand and the fix forced me to perform the wonkiest factory reset possible in order to get them back in working order.
So if you own a pair of Pixel Buds (2nd Gen), it sure seems to me like they are doomed to have issues forever because if Google could pull off a magic change to the way the A-Series connects, I’d imagine they would have already done so.
Man I guess I’m really lucky with my Pixel Buds… Bought them as soon as they came out and never had the issues that people mention… Yes, I’ve had a cut out here and there, but I have 5 different sets of truly wireless buds and they cut at the same rate also, which is very far and few occasions…
I just started to use them as my “sport buds” (I bought another set of Pixel Buds for sale to be the household buds) and connected them to my wear os watch and went running for a whole hour and didn’t have any major issues…
AirPods OG + Pixel 2 XL here for years. Flawless at Gym, Beach, Pool. $129.
The original AirPods are so uncomfortable. If a pair of earbuds are hard plastic instead of silicone tips then it’s an immediate deal breaker. They could be perfect in every other way and it would still be a no from me.
The market disagrees. You are the outlier. So get the AirPods Pro then. I prefer the AirPods OG because I don’t like things jammed into my ear canal.
Actually the majority of earbuds do have silicone tips that are soft and make a good seal in the ear. So no, the market doesn’t disagree and I’m not an outlier. Go look around and see the majority of earbuds on the market. You might not like the silicone tips but the majority clearly does. And whether you find them uncomfortable doesn’t change the fact that having a good seal results in better noise isolation, better bass and better overall sound quality.
Look at the AirPods OG sales and market share.
I went to the websites for Google, Apple, Sony, Bose, Beats, Sennheiser, Skullcandy, Jabra and Samsung. I looked at all earbud products (wired or wireless). Out of 89 total earbud products 80 of them have silicone tips. That’s 90% that have silicone tips.
I even went to Amazon and just did a search for “earbuds”. In the first two pages of results I found 30 earbud products (wired and wireless) and 27 of the 30 had silicone tips.
Even Apple moved to silicone tips with the AirPods Pro and if the current rumors are true the 3rd generation of the non-Pro AirPods are also moving to silicone tips.
You can certainly have your preference but to say that the market disagrees with me and that I’m an outlier is just objectively not true.
I was told by support in my effort to see if there was anything happening that “we are not the ones who are creating the fix but it is our engineers and developers. We also don’t know when would the next update be or if there wil be another update. We suggest that you file a feedback report via the Pixel Buds as all of the feedbacks goes to them.”
It’s too bad they have those damn spike things (or fins or whatever they call them) I hope the next high end Pixel Buds get rid of those things or at least make them removable.
The billion dollar company known as Google should just blanket offer an exchange or refund for these defective or poorly designed ear buds. Honestly it’s a joke. Google hardware is and many of their software projects are becoming a joke. Why anyone would want to invest in this ecosystem is beyond me. I’ve been burned too so it’s not like I haven’t been tricked as well but I finally found wisdom somewhere and stopped.
And yet, here you are on an Android and Google blog.
Apparently the new Buds-A still have the background static at low values, so they didn’t figure that out yet. Unacceptable for any headphones, especially when cheap generic ones that cost less than half don’t have this problem.
But you lose swipe controls. My buds only show these symptoms rarely.
Can’t say I didn’t see that coming. There is always a compromise with google hardware. Software is really their only strength.
True and it really is a shame. If Google could “knock it out of the park” with the hardware it could rival Samsung in my opinion. Maybe even Apple. If the next Pixel had the overall hardware quality as an iPhone with Google’s Android software experience it would be amazing. That would be a phone I’d be willing to pay $1,000 for and coming from me that’s saying a lot.
What I still to these day don’t understand is while on a phone call, my Buds never cutout, drop audio/call and are perfect, But when playing music the known disconnects and weirdness does happen from time to time..
Too many options for great wireless buds to be bothered with Google.
Can we get an article about Google is the WORST when it comes to anything Bluetooth related?
So true, my chromebook is the worst experience with bluetooth I’ve ever had.
Odd. I’ve had the Pixel Buds since launch and haven’t had issues with audio cutting out.
I don’t question that a lot of folks have had issues with their pixel buds, it’s well documented, but mine have been great. I’ve experienced very few issues and have really enjoyed them. The one nagging bug is that they when paired with multiple devices, they don’t always automatically pair with the most recently paired device. I may be an atypical user but I almost always wear one bud… on a lot of zoom calls, phone calls, and listening to podcasts that way. Being able to independently use either bud is a huge plus for me. A lot of other buds only allow one of the earbuds to be used independently.
Rep I talked to today said the issue is “totally random” affecting some and not others… Well that’s a big problem.
I feel there’s a physicist or engineer somewhere saying “If you believe the problem to be totally random, you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the problem”
To be fair most true wireless buds over 30 bucks let you use the buds independently. The only buds that I can think of that don’t that aren’t super old or cheap are the Jabra elite buds
That independent connection is a great feature. I wish companies would be more clear if their earbuds had that feature. The Google page for the Pixel Buds don’t even mention that they do that and I haven’t heard it mentioned in any of the reviews I’ve seen. I didn’t know they had that feature until reading your comment.
So my 2nd gen buds are under warranty still and have the cutouts all the time. Hey Google, replace my buds with the new ones with the warranty claims and I’ll keep buying your stuff.
The only piece of Google hardware that I’ve bought and had zero issues with was my original Pixel XL. I’ve moved on from ever dependably buying Google hardware again.
class action lawsuit anyone?
It sort of feels like one has been needed for a while, right?
I haven’t even experienced half the issues other people have with pixel buds – only had the one bud cut-out happen twice, and only some issues with the audio drops when I’m outside. I can’t imagine being someone who dropped $180 on these and has had the issues more than I have.
I really appreciate how you,c despite not facing the issues yourself, don’t invalidate others experiences with them. It’s all too common in the tech space to see people saying “WORKS FINE FOR ME IDK WHAT PEOPLE ARE COMPLAINING ABOUT”
So thank you for being different.
Haha Google is such a joke sometimes
Uh so I just bought the Pixel Buds through Verizon per your article about them being $80 off. Did I just buy broken crap? Should I return them? They just arrived today…
That’s a really good deal, but now knowing these new Pixel Buds A are the same price with potentially less issues, worth considering a return. Only differences I believe are wireless case charging and swipe touch pads.
Return them while you can. I’m on my second pair after an RMA from Google, and the second pair is even worse than the first. Only reason I haven’t put in another return request yet is because the non-Google wireless earbuds I bought to replace them have been caught in shipping delays for months and bad buds are better than no buds.
If you’re cool with no wireless charging and no swipe for volume, get the buds A. I rarely use the volume swipe anyway since it has a tendency to misread a swipe and pause playback instead.
Worth noting though: Every review I read when the buds 2 launched was almost universally glowing, and they almost all said “I have no issues with cutouts, even outside!”. Either that was a lie or they just hadn’t experienced it yet. With that being the case… Maybe give the buds A a month or two and then check some subreddits for real user experience.
So all of us told it would be worked on via software updates, and to sit tight, but ran out of return window, screwed. Awesome.
I was able to return mine for full refund after 6+ months of problems.