Compared to the Apple Earpods with either lightning or jack-cable I would describe the Airpods as having just slighty more bass in the sound and just slighty more volume. What they lack in audio quality compared to bulkier proper headphones they make up for with their amazing portability and convenience.
I don't know that they are worth $200, I thought $160 was pretty expensive when I got mine. But that seems to be the price range for premium bluetooth headphones.
Personally: I don't find any earbud-style headphone to be very good audio vise compared (my experience with them is also limited) as compared to headphones or speakers. I can wear them for a long time without feeling fatigued. In the first two weeks with the Airpods my ears became very sore after ~30min wearing them, despite being very accostumed to the Apple Earbuds, luckily that is not the case any more.
