The Apple AirPods Pro 3 excel in providing a personalized and immersive spatial audio experience with excellent audio fidelity and seamless integration within the Apple ecosystem. However, they lack collaboration features. Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, focuses on facilitating team communication and collaboration with features like screen sharing and file sharing, but may compromise on audio quality and user experience.
| Attribute | Spatial Audio Communication (Apple AirPods Pro 3) | Microsoft Teams |
|---|---|---|
| Audio clarity and fidelity | Enhanced audio quality with improved speaker drivers and a more advanced audio processor, delivering richer and more dynamic sound. Advanced audio drivers and adaptive equalization technology, resulting in a richer and more dynamic sound profile with deeper bass, clearer mid-tones, and crisper highs. | High-fidelity music mode (32kHz sampling rate, 16kHz bandwidth at 128kbps), Speech codecs (60Hz to 8kHz frequency range) |
| Spatial audio immersion level | Personalized spatial audio for a more precise and immersive experience than standard Spatial Audio, using the TrueDepth camera on an iPhone to analyze the shape of your ears in three dimensions and use this mapping to create a personal sound profile. Creates a 360-degree soundscape, making it feel as though sound is coming from all directions, including above and below you. | Spatial audio simulates surround sound using headphones or stereo speakers, aligns audio location with video representation |
| Head tracking accuracy and responsiveness | Accelerometers and gyroscopes to track the wearer's head movement so that sounds can be positioned accurately and relative to the Apple screen you're watching on. Onboard accelerometer helps audio stay in place when you move around. | Not available |
| Microphone quality for calls/meetings | Support for a codec called AAC-ELD, specifically designed to enhance speech, and covering the beamforming microphones on the earbuds with an acoustic mesh in an effort to reduce wind noise. Adept noise suppression and decent enough quality for phone calls. | Noise suppression feature, external USB mics may improve quality |
| Integration with communication platforms | Seamlessly integrate within the Apple ecosystem, offering features like automatic device switching. | Supports over 2,500 app integrations, integrates with Microsoft 365, cross-platform messaging via Mio |
| Ease of setup and configuration | Setting up and pairing the AirPods with Apple devices is generally seamless, owing to the H1 chip. Setting up Personalized Spatial Audio requires an iPhone with iOS 16 or later and the TrueDepth camera. | Straightforward workspace setup, admin tools can be tedious, clean and intuitive mobile app interface |
| Customization options for spatial audio | Personalized Spatial Audio uses the TrueDepth camera on an iPhone to analyze the shape of your ears in three dimensions and use this mapping to create a personal sound profile that's tuned just for you. | Not available |
| Compatibility with different devices/OS | Compatible with devices that support Bluetooth 4.0 or higher, including Android and Windows devices. Certain features like automatic switching are only available on Apple devices using iCloud. | Cross-platform (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux), Android (last four major OS versions), iOS (last two major iOS versions), four-core processor or better recommended for higher video/screen share resolution |
| Background noise cancellation effectiveness | Active Noise Cancellation (ANC). Rumored to have significantly improved ANC compared to AirPods Pro 2, with smarter algorithms that adapt more effectively to surroundings, blocking out ambient noise with greater precision. | Noise suppression feature, may not address audio fidelity issues from compression |
| Latency and synchronization | No noticeable latency or synchronization issues between audio and video. | Recommended latency less than 150ms one way (300ms round trip), Call Health feature to review jitter, packet loss, and round-trip time |
| Collaboration features (e.g., screen sharing) | The platform does not offer collaboration features like screen sharing or shared whiteboards. | Screen sharing, file sharing, Microsoft 365 integration, whiteboarding, calendar syncing, breakout rooms, meeting recordings |
| User interface and experience | Several rumored enhancements to smart features. Automatic device switching and personalized spatial audio could make interactions more intuitive, adapting to your preferences and delivering a tailored listening experience. Improvements to touch controls or voice assistant functionality may also simplify everyday tasks, such as managing playback, answering calls, or adjusting settings. | Clear and functional interface, customizable icons and backgrounds, dark mode and high-contrast themes, customizable notifications |