I don’t believe Apple to be targeting the audiophile with any of the AirPods released so far, even with the vastly improved AirPods Pro. For the average consumer looking to upgrade and take that first step into truly wireless in-ear headphones, especially iPhone users coming from EarPods, the original or second-gen AirPods, then look no further than the AirPods Pro with Active Noise Cancellation if you value being immersed in the music you’re listening to, without outside impurities tainting the experience of sound quality.
I think Apple has done an amazing job of figuring out how to get people to care deeply about audio gear. Much like Sonos, Apple is seeing success by marketing the user experience, not audio quality. AirPods Pro sound nice enough, but they earn their keep in different ways than straight audio quality.