Not sure whats going on, I open the case with the buds in hold down the button and put it in pairing. The Steam Deck sees it but won’t pair with it. Idk what’s going on. I have reset it, disconnected it from the iPhone, idk what else to try. Desktop mode and Game mode won’t pair :-/
But active noise cancellation is still superior.
You’d be surprised how little additional isolation you get compared to a good set of well-fitting comply tips. I carry a “backup” set of Westone UM3X earbuds on travel and have swapped them in vs my Airpod Pro 2 buds and felt that the effect was nominally equivalent. The AP2s are more comfortable to wear for very long flights, though.
A couple of caveats - first, I “feel” the ANC when it gets out of sync and find that very disconcerting, so I’m pretty careful with the fit and positions of my AP2s. Second, I have tinnitus which is mostly in the C7/E7 range so I have not experienced “true” silence in over a decade. Also, I’m over 50 and my perceptual limit in isolation is down around 11-12kHz, but ANC is pretty poor that high, esp compared to simple isolation.