Review of Google's new $99 Pixel Buds A-Series: good sound quality, improved comfort, and water resistant, but audio can cut out and ear hooks are non-removable
The $99 A-Series is the answer on both fronts: it keeps the improved sound, cuts the price by $80, and reworks fit for better long-wear comfort — while introducing two new flaws of its own, intermittent audio cutouts and non-removable ear hooks.
First-order effects
Buyers get a sub-$100 Android-first alternative to the $179 second-gen buds, with water resistance and better comfort as the headline upgrades.
Second-order effects
The A-Series creates a two-tier Pixel audio lineup that pressures rivals' mid-price earbuds, though the cutout issue hands competitors a quality talking point at the same price point.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, each generation retires the last one's complaint — the later Pixel Buds Pro review confirms the dropouts were engineered out — pointing toward a matured, tiered Google audio portfolio rather than a single flagship experiment.
The trend: Google is iterating its earbuds from a single premium product into a tiered lineup where each generation directly answers the previous review's criticisms.
Introducing Pixel Buds A-Series 🔈 Listen to rich sound from 12 mm dynamic speaker drivers 👂 Stay comfortable with a flush-to-ear design 👆 Play, pause, and skip easily with touch control Shop for only $99 USD: https://store.google.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Mixed on Pixel Buds A. I'm super excited that each bud now connects to the source and that they've improved the chipset and antennas, but I used Wireless Charging and volume control ALL the time. Would have loved to see a v1.5 for the $179 model too. https://www.theverge.com/...
if you must have google logos in your ears, the new pixel buds A are fine, but you can definitely do better and get more for not that much more money from other brands at this point https://www.theverge.com/...
The “true wireless earbud” world has gotten very competitive in the last two years. Google's efforts in maintaining a budget line of gadgets is probably a good move, but I wonder what the “instant buy” price threshold is for stuff like this right now. https://twitter.com/...
The new Pixel Buds A-Series preserve most of what was good about Google's 2020 Pixel Buds and make unsurprising sacrifices to hit a $99 price. For that money, these sound very nice. But Google still hasn't fully conquered audio dropouts. https://www.theverge.com/...
seeing a lot of chatter about how they don't have the audio drops of the past models, which is great, but also like, table stakes? how is that even still a conversation with how many other earbuds on the market haven't had that problem in years
Here's the new Pixel Buds A-Series review from @chriswelch . They seem ...fine? $99 is the right price and not too much is cut to hit it, but can't help but feel like really the only interesting part of these is the Pixel branding, which... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://www.theverge.com/...