[HN Gopher] AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)
___________________________________________________________________
AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)
Author : ValentineC
Score : 182 points
Date : 2022-09-07 18:35 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.apple.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.apple.com)
| inasmuch wrote:
| A little off-topic, but ...
|
| Does anyone else have problems with the current AirPods Pro
| dramatically prioritizing ambient noise (cars passing on the
| street, washing of dishes, etc.) over your own voice when on
| phone calls? This is a major problem with two pairs I've owned
| and with those owned by my girlfriend, brother, and pretty much
| everyone else who would humor me and test it out. My girlfriend
| and I have taken our sets to multiple different Apple Stores for
| diagnostics and even had one or both of the AirPods (and cases)
| replaced to no avail.
|
| I kinda feel like I'm going nuts because I can't find many people
| talking about this online and it renders them effectively useless
| for calls when anywhere but sitting at home in a quiet room.
| bradstewart wrote:
| Pretty much everyone at my company who has Airpods suffers from
| this, it seems particularly bad on Zoom for some reason (still
| happens on Google Meet, but less often).
| koverda wrote:
| Sure do, i wonder if these new ones have fixed that. The talk
| about a microphone update on apple's site...
| noncoml wrote:
| I do. I have a couple of friends with AirPods Pro and
| absolutely hate calling them because all I can hear is ambient
| noise.
| paxys wrote:
| Yeah this is pretty standard behavior. The worst part is that
| the headphones cancel most of the background noise out while
| the mic magnifies it, so you think you're in a perfectly quiet
| space but everyone else on the call is wondering what's going
| on on your end.
| askafriend wrote:
| You're not nuts - this has been a huge issue for a long time.
| It's what makes taking calls outside on a street so frustrating
| (or even turning on the faucet to wash a mug while on a call).
|
| It's weird because this wasn't an issue with the initial
| versions of AirPods firmware. But somewhere along the line,
| they tuned the firmware to introduce the issue you're
| describing.
| killerdhmo wrote:
| Check your settings on your call that it is on Voice
| Isolation; there are three settings IIRC that tell the
| microphone what to focus on.
| bloudermilk wrote:
| It's the worst when you're talking to someone with AirPods who
| is doing other tasks while talking to you, like chores around
| the house. The noise cancellation is perfect until some loud
| sharp noise then BAM your ear drums get blasted. As an end-
| user, though, I much prefer my AirPods to my Bose over-ears in
| almost all situations.
| colechristensen wrote:
| This happens without headphones as well. Any ambient noise on a
| call triggers silencing that makes conversations almost
| impossible sometimes. Like my parents are outside and there's a
| light breeze and 80% of them speaking is muted.
|
| Happens with normal phone microphone, worse with speakerphone,
| happens with my calls with my Bose headphones and my AirPod
| Pros.
|
| It's a phone setting, I'd buy a case of beer for anybody who
| could show me how to turn off the noise suppression completely.
| It is clearly happening on iOS, not the headphones.
| inasmuch wrote:
| I've definitely experienced the ear-piercing scream of a
| siren on the other end only to be told by the person I'm
| talking to that the ambulance is like eight blocks away. I
| remember that as far back as my LG Chocolate.
|
| But what AirPods are doing is either a dramatic escalation of
| that or something different altogether. Typically when I
| encounter this problem, I or the person I'm talking to will
| hang up and call back without AirPods, using the regular
| phone mic or speakerphone or whatever, and it will be
| significantly better if not completely resolved.
| noncoml wrote:
| Call someone within AirPods Pro and then have them remove
| them and talk you directly on the phone.
|
| The difference is huge! What I mean to say is that AirPods
| Pro make what you describe even worse
| 8ytecoder wrote:
| It's customizable.
|
| https://support.apple.com/guide/airpods/customize-transparen...
| inasmuch wrote:
| I think you're misunderstanding. This isn't an issue with
| noise cancelling or transparency mode. The issue is with the
| way the AirPods Pro mic picks up the user's dialogue (and
| surrounding noises) and relays/amplifies them to the person
| on the other end of a phone call.
|
| For example:
|
| Person A calls Person B. Person B answers using AirPods Pro.
| They begin talking. Person B decides to wash a dish in her
| sink while talking to Person A. Person A goes from hearing
| Person B's voice clearly to barely hearing it at all behind
| the seemingly amplified sound of the dish washing. Person B
| is none the wiser and doesn't understand why she has to keep
| repeating herself. Both parties hang up in frustration. Then
| they break up and enter simultaneous but separate downward
| spirals until neither can afford AirPods Pros anymore. Then
| they meet again and decide to talk on the phone. They hear
| each other clearly. Their lives improve. They can afford
| AirPods Pros again. The cycle repeats.
| elaus wrote:
| That link describes how the person wearing the AirPods can
| customize how much of the environment noise they (!) want to
| hear.
|
| The person you were responding to was talking about calling
| an AirPod user and hearing too much of their (!) environment
| noise.
| josephduffy wrote:
| Enabling "Voice Isolation" might help:
| https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iphb54d5dee2/io...
|
| I don't think the microphones are great but I've found this
| helps.
| dougmwne wrote:
| Interested to know what bluetooth codecs these support. That's
| important for using them with non-apple devices. Frustrating that
| they don't list supported codecs in the tech specs.
| JacobiX wrote:
| It would be great if it supports the LC3 codec (Bluetooth's
| future low-power and high-quality codec)
| 1123581321 wrote:
| The tech specs link on the APP page is grayed out. Hopefully it
| will be live soon.
| w-m wrote:
| Personalized Spatial Audio has me really excited
| (https://youtu.be/ux6zXguiqxM?t=2739). The idea is to map your
| ears / head with the depth camera of the iPhone, to create a
| personal profile.
|
| 10 years ago I played around with binaural microphones, the kind
| that you stick in your own ears to record the true sound profile.
| Closing your eyes and playing back these recordings is just
| incredible. You will be completely fooled and will not believe
| that these sounds are just played back.
|
| If this personalized spatial audio stuff gets even close to this
| level of immersiveness, that would be outstanding. So cool for
| Apple to even attempt such a feature!
| [deleted]
| keepquestioning wrote:
| There was a company that did this. Whatever happened to them?
| Nura I think. Maybe they got bought out by Apple. Surprised
| they are not suing.
| wellthisisgreat wrote:
| Did they fix the microphone? The thing is barely usable because
| of the random mic error that starts broadcasting outside noises
| instead of the voice.
|
| I RMAed mine twice and Apple didn't challenge me so they are well
| aware of the issue. Naturally the issue came back with the 3rd
| AirPods Pro but I just won't bother RMAing at this point.
|
| So is it anyhow addressed in the new model? The other features
| are frankly insignificant, as AirPods Pro are already nearly as
| good as it gets for this kind of gadget.
|
| Battery life is nice sure etc but it's all diminishing returns at
| this point i thunk
| canuckintime wrote:
| Touch volume control removes my biggest pain point with the
| original. I might actually get two: one for my Apple devices and
| another for Windows/Android
| Jcowell wrote:
| I've never seen anyone use them for non Apple devices , how
| well do they work?
| sc00ty wrote:
| I use them with my Pixel 5. They work fine. No spatial audio
| and no battery status for the case or headphones. You can get
| apps that unreliably show that info but they require
| excessive permissions and are loaded with ads. Occasionally
| the headphones won't connect or one headphone won't play
| audio. Toggling bluetooth or rebooting my phone is usually
| required at that point.
|
| I got mine in February 2021, I would say that connection
| issues have improved since then through a couple firmware
| updates. But you can only install the firmware updates if you
| have an iphone/ipad/mac so thats another barrier.
| canuckintime wrote:
| Works well with Surface Book and Duo but Apple doesn't
| officially support multipoint so it doesn't have the semi-
| seamless sharing enabled for Apple devices
| colinmhayes wrote:
| Personally the best features of my airpod pros are that they
| have never fallen out of my ears and I can wear them for 10+
| hours straight without noticing them where other earbuds
| would get my ears sore after a couple hours.
|
| Do they work as well with non apple products? No, but the
| apple integration isn't what makes them great imo.
| Grazester wrote:
| I used a pair of pros on my Android phone and they work fine
| to the time I used them(a few hours).
| kapsel wrote:
| I love my AirPod Pros, but I hate how unreliable charging in the
| case is. The AirPods will often think they are out of the case,
| when they are, and discharge themselves, while connected to my
| phone/laptop.
|
| Then they will re-charge, emptying the battery in the case, so I
| will end up with a dead pair of AirPods after a couple of days in
| the pocket, not using them.
|
| I guess their tolerances are too tight, hopefully something that
| will be fixed with AirPod Pro 2, it is a big annoyance.
|
| Some times they will also not pick up that they are being put
| into my ears, so I have to put them back in the case a couple of
| times for them to react. Really annoying too.
| thepasswordis wrote:
| This happens to me all the time too, just saying.
| cfeduke wrote:
| I have this same problem, have had the right one replaced under
| warranty and the entire set replaced under warranty, no luck.
| If I periodically clean the inside of the case with rubbing
| alcohol it helps mitigate the charging problem. Then I just end
| up in a world where left ear connects, right ear nothing...
| unpair, re-pair... right ear connects, left ear nothing...
| unpair, re-pair... I used to use them mostly for trail running
| and it would take me 10-15 minutes to get them functional
| before every run. Now I just skip them, too frustrating.
| berkut wrote:
| Made worse in my experience with M1 Macbook Pros keeping
| bluetooth connected/paired while closed/asleep (and so other
| devices can't connect to them), and the fact that Monterey got
| rid of the "paired" bluetooth system menu icon (it's always
| just the standard icon which doesn't change depending on paired
| status now), so it's now a bit more annoying to work out if
| things are paired or not, without clicking around in the menu.
| carlesfe wrote:
| Check if you have rust in the case contacts. Happened to me and
| I had to clean them with vinegar.
|
| Weird, because I don't use my airpods for sport and I have no
| idea why the contacts would be rusted.
| icpmacdo wrote:
| I replied to the gp saying I had similar issues, this fix
| appears to have improved the issue quite a bit
| afterburner wrote:
| Is there a light that indicates charging? I know with my super
| cheap earbuds I rely heavily on that light to avoid the problem
| you describe...
| jcdavis wrote:
| There is a light. The problem is if only 1 is charging,
| you'll still see the "charging" light while the other slowly
| loses battery.
|
| I've dealt with this occasionally, from what I suspect is
| some buildup on the contacts due to sweat on my headphones
| from running. I find taking a cotton swap with alcohol to
| clean off the contacts every so often solves the problem.
| squeaky-clean wrote:
| The light only indicates the case is charging, you can take
| out both airpods (or have them not contacting properly) and
| the light will still come on.
| cyunker wrote:
| I had similar issues when I used them while working out and was
| sweaty. Sometimes, in the case, they wouldn't fully make
| contact and didn't charge. Cleaning them off periodically fixed
| that for me.
| TimTheTinker wrote:
| I've had this issue too, and I think the root cause is that the
| physical connection between the AirPods and the case can be
| unreliable/spotty -- likely a light film buildup on the
| contacts.
|
| I've had success from "massaging" the offending AirPods in a
| circle pattern while they're in the case -- which I think rubs
| the contacts together. Anyway, I haven't had the problem for
| some time now.
| eugeniub wrote:
| Sorry to hear that this happens to you but I have never seen
| this issue on my AirPods Pro in the last 3 years or my AirPods
| 1st/2nd gen.
| Negitivefrags wrote:
| This issue is very bad, and I've had it on all 3 of the sets of
| AirPods pros I have owned.
|
| Another issue I have had on all three is that the noise
| cancelling degrades over time. When you get a new set, it's
| kind of night and day how good they are at first. After about 6
| months I would say that they noticably suck compared to how
| they are when you first get them, and they just continue to
| degrade over time.
|
| My guess is just wax and gunk getting to the external
| microphone mesh over time, but there is no way to deal with it
| that I can see short of buying another pair.
| initplus wrote:
| Apple has covered these sound issues for me, every time they
| have apparently diagnosed that the issue matches my
| complaint. But I've had to make 5 warranty claims for this in
| just over 2 years of ownership! I have only made 8 warranty
| claims ever in my life, over 60% of my lifetime warranty
| claims have been for one airpods pro purchase!
|
| Something is seriously up with the design of the original
| pros. I hope these issues have been resolved for 2nd gen.
| jjcm wrote:
| This might be because each were sold with the old firmware
| (better noise cancellation), and eventually got updated to
| the new firmware (better battery).
| initplus wrote:
| It's not firmware - the issue develops very gradually
| rather than all at once. This is part of what makes it such
| an insidious fault, like the boiling frog analogy.
| smalley wrote:
| I think that was an issue on the earlier airpod pros and
| they had/have a replacement program for that issue:
| https://support.apple.com/airpods-pro-service-program-
| sound-...
| initplus wrote:
| Make no mistake, the issue is in no way resolved on new
| manufactured 1st gen pros. New manufactured stock are
| more likely to be covered by the original purchase
| warranty and so there is less pressure on Apple to extend
| support.
|
| I recently had my pre-Oct 2020 pros replaced with new
| manufactured stock under this support program. Within
| less than a month the replacements developed the same
| sound issues, supported by Apple's diagnosis and another
| free replacement.
|
| I don't think I use them in an unusual way - I don't even
| wear them during exercise. There is just something
| inherently flawed in the design that causes the sound
| quality to subtly degrade by a significant amount.
| cwales95 wrote:
| I actually have a similar issue. I gave them a good clean last
| week which seems to have helped a bit... Very seriously
| considering upgrading to the new generation sometime soon.
| Axsuul wrote:
| I had similar issues but found somewhat of a workaround.
|
| What I have to do is first put the left AirPod Pro into the
| case, close the lid, then wait for the light to turn orange. If
| it doesn't turn orange, try re-seating it and it eventually
| will. Only after that happens can I then put in the right
| AirPod Pro and everything will properly charge and pair
| properly.
| joshstrange wrote:
| They said there will now be (I assume, optional) audio cues
| when you put your AirPods in the case to let you know they are
| charging, not sure if that will help or not. I agree with you
| though. It seems like it would be a really easy thing for Apple
| to check if 1 headphone was in the case (that it knew of) and
| the other wasn't but also that you weren't playing music/audio
| so it could warn you. I added a battery widget to my home
| screen to see if they are both charging. Thankfully this issue
| is rare-ish for me but when it does happen it's maddening.
| dereg wrote:
| This has never happened to me. It's likely you have a defective
| unit, take it in.
| joegahona wrote:
| This happens to me with my PowerBeats Pro but never with my
| Airpods Pro.
| swores wrote:
| Apple won't replace or fix for this, it's something many many
| many Airpods Pro owners have complained about (including
| myself).
| [deleted]
| umanwizard wrote:
| 100% of these issues happen to me too. I thought I must have
| gotten a defective set or been doing something wrong!
|
| Don't get me wrong, it's still an absolutely fantastic product.
| I hope they've made the new line even better.
| xtracto wrote:
| FWIW I've got Samsung Galaxy Buds that also suffer from a
| similar case charging issue [1]. Seems to me that it is a
| problem with the technology itself which hopefully companies
| will improve in next product iterations.
|
| [1]
| https://www.reddit.com/r/galaxybuds/comments/if7ajj/ultimate...
| icpmacdo wrote:
| This is my exact same experience with the AirPod Pros, its
| extremely irritating
| sbarre wrote:
| As others have also said, I've never had this happen.. You
| should look into a warranty replacement.
| [deleted]
| Invictus0 wrote:
| Very impressed by the H2's computational algorithms. Those are
| the most advanced type of algorithms.
| unknownaccount wrote:
| Hopefully they have some sort of authentication system. I
| previously wrote about fake Airpods and how they are nearly
| indistinguishable from the real ones when they are connected.
| (Spoofs all the special iOS interfaces etc)
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32287113
| paxys wrote:
| Lack of simultaneous 2+ device pairing is still a deal breaker
| for me. If my $80 Jabra earbuds can figure it out, why can't
| Apple?
| chrisseaton wrote:
| Why do you think it's a case of them not being able to figure
| it out, rather than they don't want the feature?
| yodon wrote:
| Apple figured out how to get your Apple devices to talk to each
| other to do the Bluetooth handoff automatically
| disconnecting/reconnecting your AirPods from your iPhone to
| your MacBook, iPad, Mac Mini, etc., and back, without you
| having to do anything.
|
| The fact that this only works with Apple devices is, from
| Apple's perspective, a feature not a bug.
|
| It also allows them to keep the bill of materials inside the
| AirPods smaller, cheaper, and lower power, because they only
| require a single Bluetooth transceiver to pair with an
| unlimited number of Apple devices, unlike your Jabra which
| requires two Bluetooth transceivers to support dual device
| pairing.
| dereg wrote:
| Adaptive Transparency is such a promising feature. I would love
| if transparency mode could eliminate the sound of noises like air
| conditioners, road noise, and construction while still being
| "transparent". It seems that, as of now, it's limited to loud
| noises only.
|
| I hope it at least eliminates the hear-loss-causing pops that
| occur when you have loud, brief clicking noises like that of a
| bug zapper. For older models, you should never use the Airpods
| next to a bug zapper. I learned the hard way, in the form of
| tinnitus.
| codercotton wrote:
| The AirPods Pro popped loud enough to cause tinnitus? Tinnitus
| is terrible, and life-long :(
| daxelrod wrote:
| Not all tinnitus is lifelong. See the Natural Course section
| of https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686891/#__se
| c2...
| hwbehrens wrote:
| I have an ultrasonic cleaner that I use for 3D printing, and
| they have a similar effect on my AirPods. I wonder what could
| cause this interaction?
| sniglom wrote:
| From the accessibility you can select to have booth
| transparency and noise reduction. You can also tune what the
| transparency passes through. It's not super sophisticated, but
| maybe it's a bit closer to what you want.
| j-krieger wrote:
| The fact that setting a maximum loudness level is not the first
| step of configuration when you pair new AirPods is still beyond
| me.
| dereg wrote:
| That doesn't work. I set my iPhone to cap sounds at 85db but
| I guess it doesn't cap the passthrough noise from
| transparency. In the case of the bug zapper, it actually
| amplifies it.
| pwpw wrote:
| I want to get them but reliability is a big concern. Everyone in
| my family has had problems with our first gen pros. Mine started
| developing crackling issues. During the pandemic I remember
| hearing that it was a known problem and could be fixed at the
| Apple store, but all of the stores were closed. I put off
| bringing them in until later. I finally got around to it this
| past week as the issue has grown a lot worse recently, and they
| said it is indeed a manufacturer defect, my AirPods are now out
| of warranty, and it will cost $180 to repair them. They then
| encouraged me to just buy a new pair given the high repair price.
|
| That just rubs me the wrong way. They spent a good amount of time
| during the conference today highlighting their commitment to the
| environment yet are incentivizing that I purchase a new set. If
| these ones demonstrate stronger reliability and get USB C a year
| from now, I'll definitely consider them.
| dobs wrote:
| It might be worth giving the Apple Store or online support
| another shot.
|
| I was in basically the exact same position a month ago (pros
| bought launch week, very out of warranty, known crackling
| issue) and they replaced the ear pieces (but not the case)
| without question or hesitation.
| happyopossum wrote:
| Err, Apple was replacing those things left and right during the
| pandemic - you didn't need to go to a store.
|
| Sorry you waited so long, but...
| pwpw wrote:
| Ahh I didn't know that! The problem was nonexistent for me
| during that period, so it wasn't a priority to "fix" my
| working product. The issue has become much more pronounced in
| the period since the warranty expired. Lesson learned: bring
| in the working product if there's a known recall regardless
| of if it's fine at the moment. Won't let that happen again.
| ponow wrote:
| I'm still not convinced that Bluetooth earbuds are safe, and yes,
| I'm aware they don't produce ionizing radiation. No one here is
| concerned about having them in your ear canal for hours every day
| for years is essentially no worse than wearing a hat that keeps
| your head equally warm? What is the most convincing, clear
| evidence of a lack of long term health issues?
| happyopossum wrote:
| > What is the most convincing, clear evidence of a lack of long
| term health issues?
|
| The same convincing, clear evidence we have of a lack of long
| term health issues from eating a gluten free diet. There will
| never be any that will satisfy you, as one can't prove a
| negative.
| ztratar wrote:
| Plenty of RF signals are going through your body right now --
| what makes bluetooth here particularly dangerous in your
| opinion?
|
| Concerns come after some form of adverse reaction. I personally
| only have them in for 2-3 hours per day, and don't think of the
| bluetooth much.
|
| We won't have long term data for years, and that's just the
| reality. Even with long-term data, trying to hone in specific
| health problems to Airpods or similar devices will be
| incredibly difficult.
| harrisi wrote:
| Just to be clear, are you suggesting that wearing a hat causes
| some sort of damage to one's health? And further than that, a
| hat that kept one's head as warm as two one inch pieces of
| plastic?
|
| Obviously I don't have data to back it up, but I can't imagine
| even gluing a pair of AirPods to one's face for one's entire
| life would make any significant impact on lifespan. Other than
| maybe all the glue.
|
| EDIT: And if you're experiencing excessive heat from earbuds
| (which I would say would be essentially any amount of heat -
| they shouldn't really put out any noticeable heat), you
| probably have severely faulty earbuds and should get them
| replaced.
| elicash wrote:
| If your concern isn't radiation, then is there a specific
| bluetooth issue or is it in-ear headphones in general?
| Certainly anything that can cause a build-up of earwax can
| result in other issues. So if you're wearing them for long
| stretches daily, there's a potential issue if these devices go
| deep enough (I don't know if they do).
| theshrike79 wrote:
| The only issue with wearing them long-term is ear wax buildup.
| That's it.
|
| Wearing earplugs is worse, since they form a tighter seal and
| breath less. People haven't died from wearing those, so earbuds
| are just fine.
| cromka wrote:
| Gluten-free or gluten-full?
| sbf501 wrote:
| Long live the first generation ipod shuffle. It just worked. Now
| every gadget has so many "why is it doing this?" and "how do I
| make it stop doing ___?" that I've checked out entirely. Cords
| are hip again in my house.
| ryeights wrote:
| Good to know they use _computational algorithms_ to perform ANC!
| What would we do without the innovators at Apple...
|
| In other news, still no support for lossless audio, and the
| charging port is still Lightning rather than USB-C. Seems like a
| good time to pick up the 1st gen Pros on discount
| CharlesW wrote:
| > _In other news, still no support for lossless audio..._
|
| AirPods Pro 2 support lossless audio. _[see update below]_
|
| https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/09/07/new-airpods-pro-w...
| crazygringo wrote:
| There are a couple of articles from the past hour that
| mention the term, but zero details and zero about it on
| Apple's website.
|
| I'm suspecting the journalists might be wrong? But I'd love
| to be proven wrong.
| CharlesW wrote:
| > _I 'm suspecting the journalists might be wrong?_
|
| I believe you're right. Although the URL still includes
| "lossless", the claim was just removed from the article
| itself.
| sfvegandude wrote:
| You don't need lossless audio. Seriously. AAC is transparent in
| all the conditions you'd use these AirPods in. Lossless is a
| total gimmick and shame on Apple for ever enabling that 24bit
| nonsense.
|
| You don't have golden ears. You aren't listening closely while
| walking around town. Noise cancellation removes some of the
| frequencies. Lossless would drain battery for literally no gain
| in quality.
|
| Edit: as others have noted, these do feature the ability to
| receive lossless audio. You should disable it.
| ryeights wrote:
| Ctrl-F "lossless", "24", "ALAC" on the tech specs page. No
| results.
|
| I am no audiophile, and I don't really care about lossless
| audio one way or the other, but it seems deceptive to plaster
| "Apple Lossless" all over the Apple Music app when no Apple
| headphones can play lossless audio. All the marketing talk
| about the audio improvements in the H2 chip seems designed to
| obscure this fact, and to compensate for the fact that the
| AirPods Pro 2 are technically inferior to other Bluetooth
| headphones that support lossless playback.
| initplus wrote:
| Judging a headphone by specific codec support just doesn't
| make sense. Support for acoustically transparent codecs is
| good enough. Nobody has every demonstrated an ability to
| reliably distinguish high bitrate mp3 or AAC from lossless.
|
| There are still benefits to lossless from a preservation
| perspective, but for actually listening to music it really
| doesn't matter.
| desro wrote:
| A lot of sane improvements to the case (added speaker, lanyard
| loop, full U1 Find My support), good to see. They tout "H2 Apple
| Silicon, amazing sound quality with Adaptive EQ," but I can't
| find any reference to lossless audio in the tech specs, which is
| a bit of a disappointment.
|
| It's surely ironic that Apple Music supports 24/192 lossless
| audio and none of its headphones can utilize it.
| parkersweb wrote:
| That's ok - very few ears can utilize it either ;-)
| mandeepj wrote:
| > It's surely ironic that Apple Music supports 24/192 lossless
| audio and none of its headphones can utilize it.
|
| True! But, someone is saying you can come close to it by using
| a wired connection. I've not tested it though.
|
| https://www.reddit.com/r/Airpodsmax/comments/nfc1h3/clearing...
| whalesalad wrote:
| I adore the OG airpods, but the pro model disappointed me
| bigtime. They are always falling out of my ears, specifically my
| left ear which seems to be a little bit smaller. I tried
| aftermarket tips to no avail.
| qiller wrote:
| I still use v2 and got an extra one in case that model will
| disappear from stores. The tap interface is so much easier to
| use than the actual button press
| 0x38B wrote:
| I had the same experience, loved my AirPods but the Pros never
| fit well and the left side would fall out, returned within the
| 14-day return period.
|
| The 2nd gen AirPods have a better UI, too: wearing mittens,
| with a hat over the AirPods, I could tap them to play/pause or
| skip tracks. This is impossible on newer AirPods. Siri is good,
| but isn't as quick or convenient as a physical interface.
| theshrike79 wrote:
| Same here. I've tried every single price point of in-ear
| headphones. They all fall off.
|
| Haven't dared to spend the almost 300EUR for Airpods Pro
| because of this.
|
| But the OG style stays in my ear like magic, doesn't fall off
| when running etc.
| matthewcford wrote:
| What are the chances the microphone will be useable?
| alistairSH wrote:
| Two major gripes with my current AirPods (not-Pro)... 1 - Battery
| life is less than half what it was when new. For $160, they
| should last more than 2 years, IMO. This applies to both the pods
| themselves and the case.
|
| 2 - I hate wireless ear buds for anything beyond sitting still.
| The risk of losing one half of a $160 pair is just too high. They
| might be ok walking, but not hiking, running, or cycling. The
| Pros might stay in better, but they're even more expensive.
|
| If Apple made a set of ear buds that had a strap, and a battery
| that lasted longer (not per play, but lifetime/# recharge
| cycles), I'd happily buy again. My wife has a set of Jaybird
| Tarah Pros that were cheaper, the battery longevity is better,
| and there's no risk of losing one. Of course, Jaybird no longer
| makes these either. Ho Hum.
| yusefnapora wrote:
| > If Apple made a set of ear buds that had a strap
|
| They make a bunch of these, but for some reason always under
| the Beats brand. I assume the battery longevity is just as bad
| though.
| X-Istence wrote:
| I won some Beats X from a contest at a conference in 2017,
| and used them on and off for the first two years. After that
| they were my daily drivers for any and all workouts.
|
| They would get used at minimum 3 times a week for at least 2
| hours, and then the last two years they would get used 7
| times a week for at least 1.5 hours.
|
| The last year or so I had to charge them every three
| workouts, so the battery was lasting 4.5 - 5 hours or so.
| They would still quick charge though, so 15 minutes of
| charging would be enough for a long workout.
|
| About a month ago they stopped charging, no matter what I
| tried. I ended up buying the Beats Flex and the Powerbeats
| Pro. The Flex at $70 is a steal, and so far lasts about 12
| hours before needing recharging. I've been using them almost
| daily around the house.
|
| The Powerbeats Pro I've been using when heading to the gym
| when lifting, the lack of cord around the back makes them a
| better choice.
|
| Anyway, the Beats Flex are holding up well over the last
| month or so... but the original Beats X definitely held their
| own too over many years of service!
| alistairSH wrote:
| I haven't used an around-the-ear bud in many years. Do you
| think the Powerbeats Pro would work well under a bicycle
| helmet (where the straps typically pass just in front and
| just behind the ear)? I wonder if they have them open at
| the Apple shop - I could always swing by with a helmet and
| try.
|
| Have you tested how well the Flex pairs with multiple
| devices? That's one nice feature of the AirPods, at least
| within the Apple device ecosystem. At that price, they
| might be my best option, but I haven't heard much about the
| chip they use (vs the H1 in the AirPods and up-market
| Beats).
| alistairSH wrote:
| Unless I'm missing something, the only offering from Beats is
| the Flex. The rest are either over-ear "studio" headphones or
| true wireless. The Flex might be ok, but it doesn't use the
| same chipset as the AirPods, so I don't know if it pairs as
| seamlessly between 3+ devices or if they'll work as well for
| teleconferencing.
| happyopossum wrote:
| > The Flex might be ok, but it doesn't use the same chipset
| as the AirPods
|
| The Beats Flex actually do use the W1 chip, which was used
| in the first few AirPods, and a bunch of Beats devices. It
| supports 'AirPod-style' pair once/use on any Apple devices
| use.
|
| Would recommend.
| johnwalkr wrote:
| For skiing, I just use a piece of tape to make a strap, but you
| can buy silicone straps for a few dollars.
| alistairSH wrote:
| But then they don't fit in the charge-case. Minor annoyance,
| but at that price point, it's enough to put me off.
| sz4kerto wrote:
| Almost all earbuds just fall out of my ears for some reason,
| but Airpods Pro + memory foam tips allow me to run with them.
| DavideNL wrote:
| Interesting, which tips do you use if i may ask?
| hardwaregeek wrote:
| It's wild how much money Apple has made from Bluetooth headphones
| that don't suck. That's literally it. They're portable, pair
| easily and (somewhat) work with multiple devices. I have top of
| the line Bose Bluetooth headphones that still, in 2022, have
| issues with multiple devices. I can't count how many times I've
| started playing music on my iPhone only to realize that the
| headphones think my laptop is playing, so they just silently
| suppress my phone. And the only way to fix it is to go into the
| inane Bose app and disconnect the laptop. Why the hell can't you
| just tell the headphones to play from the phone and keep the
| laptop connected? It's so bad.
| spaceman_2020 wrote:
| Personally, I absolutely hate Bluetooth headphones
|
| At this point in my life, I want fewer things to remember to
| charge, not more.
|
| My wired earphones will never run out of "battery" in the
| middle of a flight.
|
| I'm a complete grump about this stage of the headphones cycle.
| spaghettiToy wrote:
| I just got a brand new phone with an Aux port, I have 1 set
| of $2 earphones at each desk, in each car, next to my running
| stuff, gym bag, backpack, etc ...
|
| I had to pay a premium for a phone with an aux port, but
| extra features are worth it to me.
| theshrike79 wrote:
| I hate wires. I've broken SO many headphones just by snagging
| the cable on something when I try to stand up.
|
| A good 95 percent of cases where I've dropped my phone, it's
| been wired to a pair of headphones and the wire snagged.
|
| I moved to wireless about a decade ago and haven't looked
| back.
| scarface74 wrote:
| I fly often. Just the idea of always getting wired headphones
| tangled in something is a pain.
|
| I use Beats Flex headphones though. It's a lot easier to just
| hang them around my neck and they don't fall to the floor if
| they fall out my ear. They also last 12 hours.
|
| Wired headphones are especially a pain when running,
| TillE wrote:
| They're fantastic for exercise, or light usage like listening
| to podcasts around the house.
|
| Certainly if you want to listen to music at decent quality,
| buy real headphones with a replaceable cable.
| saiya-jin wrote:
| I always had issue with in-ear phones passing some of the
| friction down the ear canal. Sure over the ear ie kosses work
| flawlessly, but then I have to carry usb-3.5mm conversion kit
| all the time (and keep forgetting and then having useless
| headphones), no premium non-chinese phone with good camera
| has the port anymore. And I have small kids, so good, I mean
| the best on the market camera always with me is a must I will
| thank myself later for, as does/will all my close family.
|
| As for airpods, I don't get the hype, but thats mostly true
| for any Apple announcements apart from their CPUs. Yet they
| have the capitalization they have so they are doing something
| right, athough it feels its mostly marketing and "we are US"
| which means nothing to Europeans for good reasons
| unfortunately... I prefer higher quality customizable phone
| who respects me as user, higher quality cameras on it, higher
| quality in ear buds (even relatively mediocre Sennehiser
| Momentum 2 TW sounds miles and lightyears better, last
| longer, use HD codecs with anything ever created that has it
| too, which now means tons of devices, and pair flawlessly so
| far). I saw first hand my boss struggling and failing
| repeatedly to even pair his (back then) brand new Iphone 13
| pro max pair with out-of-box charged airpods pro. WTFs all
| around the office, he was so ashamed... It was not the last
| time we all saw it from front seats, still happens quite
| regularly.
|
| My wife has Garmin fenix watch. Apple watch are a bad joke if
| you have it for something else than showing off how "in" you
| are and not an "old boring fart", which seems mostly
| marketing/sales guys these days.
|
| My wife, based on my recent recommendation which I am
| beginning to regret, just bought iphone 13 mini. Battery life
| is proper meh, seriously I expected better based on what
| online world says. The device with useless notch is fugly as
| hell, thick, heavy, screen has huge black borders - it looks
| like cheap chinese phone from cca 2015. OK, whatever, quality
| must be inside, and some is, some isn't.
|
| You can't have a fucking unlocking pattern, because Apple
| knows better what you need, and you should learn what you
| actually want. Because 'security', so either full Face ID
| which she finds no-go because its her opinion and I respect
| it (and so should Apple), or some 6-digits idiotic code for
| every fucking unlock which is plain stupid and arrogant, or
| completely unsecured phone. No pattern draw like every other
| sane device since 2015 unless you want to straight jailbreak
| whole device and lose all warranty.
|
| Fuck you Apple, I really, truly expected more from your
| devices in 2022, and so did my wife. Its not about how many
| things you get right (there are plenty of devices who get
| many things right), but where you fail hurts, especially when
| one is used to basic things working for many, many years.
|
| At least resale value is quite good, especially when Apple
| decided to not continue their smallest line for whatever
| stupid reasons so this is last of the line, with A15 chip.
| Maybe she will eventually start liking it, but man I _truly_
| expected more from Apple since right now Samsungs seem a much
| better offer for people like her, if you are not counting
| pennies on resales
| jamesy0ung wrote:
| I just think it of the passcode as a pattern draw without
| the lines
| dereg wrote:
| Moreover, it's amazing how they've managed to make a bluetooth
| accessory that is intuitive to older folks. I never bothered
| buying my parents bluetooth devices because they'd always end
| up in the drawer from disuse. They use their Airpods daily and
| never ask me for help. A wonder.
| davidf18 wrote:
| 8ytecoder wrote:
| I've seen people minimize the usability of the AirPods. My
| dad who's quite technology-averse, figured it out in 2
| minutes while I helped him over FaceTime. The only reason he
| agreed to even try it was because the wired EarPods broke.
| Since then he just loves his AirPods.
| aqme28 wrote:
| This is Apple's strength in general. Much easier for older
| folks to use.
| jonny_eh wrote:
| And when it's easy enough for older folks, they're also
| generally better for even savvier users.
|
| I like hacking around a Linux workstation as much as the
| next nerd, but when I put BT headphones in my ears to
| listen to a podcast, I want it to just work.
|
| That said, every so often I need to toggle my iPhone's
| bluetooth switch in Settings. Even Apple's software isn't
| 100%.
| ASalazarMX wrote:
| ...with other Apple products. FTFY
|
| Being Bluetooth, technically the Airpods will connect to
| say, a Dell laptop, but in practice they will have
| erratic behavior, which you can solve by buying a mac...
| and teaching said old folks how to use MacOS instead of
| Windows.
| puyoxyz wrote:
| While they don't have the excellent UX of Airpods with
| Apple products when used with non-Apple products, I've
| never experienced this "erratic behavior". They just work
| like bluetooth headphones with no weird issues. I
| regularly use them with my desktop on both Linux and
| Windows, I've used them with my Nintendo Switch, etc...
| and no erratic behavior
| stemlord wrote:
| Not that intuitive imo. I had to show my sister in law who is
| in her 50's that she needs to leave the case open with the
| airpods in it, then press the button on the back, in order to
| make them discoverable.
|
| Like all apple products they do sacrifice some
| discoverability in favor of a sexier minimalist look
| happyopossum wrote:
| If you buy a new pair of AirPods, you should never have to
| do that unless you go out of your way to unpair them from
| your iCloud account. Also, you e over complicated it - just
| hold the button in the case until it's reset, then open the
| lid and they will appear as new.
|
| > Like all apple products they do sacrifice some
| discoverability in favor of a sexier minimalist look
|
| And which Bluetooth headphones have a more 'discoverable'
| pairing mode?
| dijonman2 wrote:
| The Bose QC35 series 1 headphones are the best, pairing
| semantics work great with fantastic range. The QC35 II
| model is a major downgrade.
| unglaublich wrote:
| When you first connect them, iOS will automatically detect
| the presence of the AirPods and suggests to connect to them
| in a small window.
|
| Then your Apple account is used to make all your idevices
| recognize your AirPods.
|
| For 90% of people, that solves 100% of their problems.
| jen729w wrote:
| When you bring an unpaired AirPods case close to a phone,
| all you need to do is open the lid.
|
| A photorealistic visual will appear on screen explaining
| what to do next. At this point, guided by the visual, you
| need to push the button on the back.
|
| If you can think of a simpler way, I'd give Apple a call.
| stemlord wrote:
| With an _iphone_ maybe so. But open the lid with the
| airpods inside. She couldnt figure it out.
| jen729w wrote:
| Are you saying that she was pairing them with a non-Apple
| device?
|
| In which case, fair enough perhaps, but it feels a tad
| unfair to put the burden of universal discovery for all
| host devices on Apple.
|
| And is it really that un-discoverable? What would you do
| on any other Bluetooth device? You'd look for a button.
| What is there on the AirPods case? A button.
|
| I still say: if you have a simpler idea, let's hear it.
|
| Edit: _and_ , I'm sure the AirPods come with a folded
| slip of paper in the box, as all Apple products do,
| explaining the very basics of how to get the thing
| working.
| matt-attack wrote:
| True, but at least it's a one time thing. And it results in
| automatic pairing to all devices in iCloud account.
| gigatexal wrote:
| Yup! The killer feature just got better. They claim noise
| cancellation is better and there's a way yo adjust volume up
| and down on the stems. So dope. And more battery life! These
| are insta buys for us.
| Buttons840 wrote:
| I would have completely agreed until I tried to pair my AirPods
| with Linux; they're the only device I've had trouble pairing
| with my Linux desktop. Even so, I mostly agree. What's going on
| at all the other companies that cannot get this right?
| oynqr wrote:
| They seem pretty picky, but usually work with Intel wireless
| on the hardware and (recent) pipewire on the software side.
| sbf501 wrote:
| Funny, I have a friend with Apple airpods and has he walks
| through his house they ask / try to connect to all his apple
| devices.
|
| That's part of the reason why I prefer a cord.
| aeyes wrote:
| They do suck if someone who is using them calls you.
|
| I wish they didn't have a microphone. People on the receiving
| end of the calls truly suffer when callers use them.
| williamscales wrote:
| I've never had an issue with Jabra bluetooth earbuds. Great
| multi device support too.
| postalrat wrote:
| Take away the most convenient interface (the 3.5mm mini plug)
| that works on all devices equally and replace it with something
| you can do better than anyone else.
|
| Most companies don't have those types of options.
| smileybarry wrote:
| It's upsetting how (non-AirPods) device switching -- even
| Bluetooth 5 multipoint -- is still just meh.
|
| Some devices accept connect requests and gracefully disconnect
| from the current device (good but manual), _some_ just ignore
| them, some don't gracefully disconnect causing the original
| device to ping-pong reconnect, etc. And "real" BT5 multipoint
| can also break if an app happens to use "phone call" audio
| priority, and you get yanked off the second device.
|
| The only device I have that does it well (and with non-Apple
| platforms) is an Xbox Wireless Headset, and that's only because
| it literally has 2 wireless audio chipsets connected at the
| same time: Xbox Audio and Bluetooth. Sadly that means it's also
| 2x the power and 0.5x the battery life.
|
| But yeah, switching from iPhone to iPad with AirPods is really
| nice. I wish I had that on Windows (without MagicPods).
| johnwalkr wrote:
| They also don't do this:
|
| "BEEP. CONNECTED. BATTERY LEVEL IS 50%."
| xsmasher wrote:
| My "sleep headphones" start chanting "battery low" every 20
| seconds when the battery drops too low, which inevitably
| happens after I'm asleep. Who thought that was a good idea?
| dzhiurgis wrote:
| So does airpods. Either way it should just be a setting.
| smileybarry wrote:
| Eh, they have a dis/connection chime and a low battery chime
| too. But yeah, no obnoxious maybe-TTS voice.
| danso wrote:
| I'll just chime in and say that while I'm reasonably satisfied
| with my Airpods Pro, I've been pretty happy with much cheaper
| Bluetooth wired (i.e. connected buds) earphones -- the noise
| canceling is nice but I don't depend on it. A couple months ago
| I bought Airpod Pros on sale for my mom. And it's the one
| gadget gift, out of countless that I've bought her, that I've
| actually seen her regularly use. Not only that, but she'll get
| pretty annoyed when something goes temporarily wrong with them
| (e.g. foam tips fall out, case fails to charge), rather than
| give up on them like any other superfluous accessory.
|
| The gadgets I've bought my mom that she's neglected and
| forgotten include: PC and Mac laptops, her iPhone (in lieu of
| getting her another Android), Apple Watch, and of course,
| various kinds of headphones, bluetooth and wired.
|
| She's a pretty big luddite and I honestly had never really seen
| her use her iphone for much other than talking and texting --
| e.g. when she's lost in the city, she will ask every random
| stranger for help and never think to use the phone GPS. But
| since she took to using the Airpods, it's opened up all the
| (obvious) possibilities of the phone as portable entertainment
| device.
|
| Sorry if all this sounds like shilling for the Airpods (again,
| I'm personally meh on them and will likely try out Anker's
| offerings if I need to replace mine) -- it's just this comment
| thread triggered in me the pleasant experience I've had with it
| as a Mother's day gifter.
| drewg123 wrote:
| Uninstall the Bose app? I never installed it, and my Bose
| QC35ii headphones work _better_ than my airpod pros. With the
| airpods, they will almost always bind to the wrong device until
| I go into settings and force a connection. The Bose connects to
| both, and actually works..
| theshrike79 wrote:
| The Boses are pretty nice as long as you're in the "both"
| range of connected devices.
|
| Add a third, fourth or a fifth device to the mix and you need
| to hold yourself back to not slam the headphones to the
| nearest wall in frustration.
| andreyk wrote:
| IMO there's been Bluetooth headphones that don't suck (aside
| from multi devices, which I don't care about personally) way
| before Airpods. Perhaps this was many peoples' introductions to
| quality Bluetooth headphones though, as the ones I like tend to
| be in the 100-150 range.
|
| I still much prefer U-shaped headphones worn over the neck,
| much less hassle, more battery, better sound. Samsung's entry
| in that category was very good, I hope they keep putting those
| out and not go all in on airpod type products.
| cafed00d wrote:
| All of this has a super simple explanation: the shitty products
| always have org structures that treat software dev as shitty
| cost centers.
|
| It took a long time to realize that the most compelling devices
| have good, well maintained software.
|
| I don't mean to say that software devs are geniuses or that
| these orgs have to hire the best of the best. No, they just
| need to create an org that prioritizes software dev. Low
| attrition, increased visibility, the usual. You don't need
| fancy new features. Just make sure the intern who wrote your v1
| Bluetooth driver feels compelled enough to stay on to become a
| staff engineer running a team that still assures bugs get
| fixed. Simple.
| wvenable wrote:
| Apple's key to success is that they're the best hardware
| company at doing software.
| s3r3nity wrote:
| I think you're 85-90% right - but I wouldn't undersell the
| impact of Apple's proprietary W1 / H1 / H2 chips in their
| headphones either.
| epolanski wrote:
| Nobody cares about those, not to the point of paying such
| premiums.
| tomphoolery wrote:
| I mean, if there was another "commodity" processor one
| could just insert into their earbuds and write some
| awesome software, why hasn't anyone done that yet? If you
| could offer the same features as AirPods (and other Apple
| headphones) at half the cost, you'd make serious money.
| People might not care too much about those technical
| features of them, but I know they care about consistently
| good performance, and the AirPods have so far delivered
| on that promise. Making something that works just as
| well, but doesn't require you to be locked in to the
| Apple ecosystem, would absolutely change the game for the
| headphone market.
| ballenf wrote:
| I'd prefer a hardware switch over pure software anyway.
|
| A toggle on the headphones -- a slide switch for Device A or
| B.
|
| (Auto software switching would be better if it worked 99%+ of
| the time.)
| theshrike79 wrote:
| My Airpods Max connect to 5 different devices daily.
|
| What kind of switch would you suggest they use?
| tshaddox wrote:
| A 3-bit DIP switch would do the job.
| kimburgess wrote:
| A DIP switch, really? Could you imagine the horrendous
| usability. Plus all that mechanical movement will surely
| cause early failure. Much better to just have some solder
| pads. With the cost and performance of USB/battery irons
| these days surely most users can keep one handy. This
| completely solves the challenge of accidental pairing and
| helps the user ensure each device switch is contemplated
| and intentional.
| tomphoolery wrote:
| > (somewhat) work with multiple devices.
|
| This feature _alone_ made me buy the 1st generation AirPods Pro
| once I got an Apple Watch. They really hook you into that
| ecosystem! ;-) In all seriousness, these are the best-sounding
| and most reliable earbud headphones I've ever owned. I hear the
| Beats Pro are a little better sound bass-wise, but I bet that
| tech will be in the new generation of the AirPods Pro as well.
|
| The fact that my AirPods can move between my multiple
| computers, phone, watch, and even television relatively easily
| is just amazing. It goes to show how hard this problem was to
| solve, though, since Apple had to literally invent their own
| processor to make this work.
| astrange wrote:
| The main selling point of AirPods Pro is replaceable tips and
| noise cancelling. People say competitors have mostly caught up
| in Bluetooth quality, but it's the only noise cancelling I've
| used without the sucking feeling that hurts your ears.
| chrismeller wrote:
| Interestingly enough that's what I miss about my Bose. The
| in-ear QuietComfort earbuds I had were _far_ more comfortable
| (and stable in my ear) and the noise cancelling was so far
| ahead of my AirPods Pro that you wouldn't even consider the
| two devices in the same genre.
| muro wrote:
| I think you can hit one of the buttons on the headphones to re-
| pair.
| nytesky wrote:
| My Jlab headphones have a solution -- whenever they turn on
| they are in "pairing" mode as if they are brand new. They seem
| to figure out when they find an existing paired device, but if
| not they are discoverable every time.
|
| Still can't pair to two devices without dueling but just drop
| it form one.
| lph wrote:
| I guess "don't suck" is relative, but my AirPods failed after
| about a year. It's a coin toss now whether their microphone
| will work or not, rendering them unreliable and worse than
| useless for the work Zoom meetings I bought them for. Maybe I'm
| old-fashioned for expecting any piece of technology to last
| longer than a year.
| KennyBlanken wrote:
| Buy devices like that with a credit card that has warranty
| extension. Homeowners and renters insurances sometimes also
| include extended warranties. Applecare is another option, of
| course.
| xirdstl wrote:
| This is my complaint as well. On multiple pairs, the
| microphone becomes unreliable after some number of months. If
| I'm lucky, it's within the warranty period.
| Angostura wrote:
| It sucks. But in the EU/UK you would have simply got them
| replaced.
| cube2222 wrote:
| Yeah. I remember my reason for switching to AirPods Max.
|
| My Sony xm3 kept connecting to the laptop in my backpack -
| which was asleep - when I was getting on my bike.
|
| I had to unpair my phone and re-pair it to force it to "own"
| the headphones. It was such a pita.
|
| That really was the biggest value add of the Apple headphones,
| and it works absolutely great. It almost (a 99.5%+ kind of
| almost) always connects to the device I want it to connect to,
| right away.
|
| It's a pity though that they have the common issues of
| Bluetooth, and turning on the microphone immediately kills the
| sound quality... It's one of the cases where I'd appreciate
| them just using a proprietary protocol. The headphones
| basically only work well with Apple devices anyway.
| mpalczewski wrote:
| Apple creates the problem by leaving bluetooth on in the
| first place. When I close the lid on my laptop, no power, no
| external monitor, I would expect it to be sleeping. This is
| also a security issue. Thieves can detect that you left your
| laptop in the trunk of your car.
| theshrike79 wrote:
| I had the Bose QC35 IIs and had the exact same issue. My work
| laptop was in sleep mode and still they decided to keep
| connecting to it.
|
| I had to either open up the mobile app, wait for it to do its
| stuff and force a disconnect with the laptop OR get up, walk
| to the laptop, open it, turn off BT and close it again.
|
| Ordered AirPods Max and I've had pretty much zero issues
| since.
|
| I can walk from my computer to the TV and Apple TV will
| prompt me to connect to it with one button. I can grab my
| phone, walk away and the headphones will move to the phone
| automatically. Magic.
| aceazzameen wrote:
| I have an XM3 also. Only occasionally does it try to pair
| with the wrong device. That might have a lot to do with me
| turning bluetooth off on unused devices though. However, in
| the rare instances where it does connect to the wrong device,
| I hold the power button down which forces it to enter pairing
| mode and disconnect. And almost always, the device I want to
| use will then connect. It hasn't happened often enough to be
| an annoyance yet.
| dzhiurgis wrote:
| I have XM3. Hold power for 7 seconds and it will enter
| pairing mode. Fairly minor issue for me as I mostly use
| them for coding. Amazing headphones otherwise.
| alanbernstein wrote:
| What bugs me about this UI is that there is another
| button on the headphones that I NEVER use. Why can't that
| just be the pairing button? Or maybe their top-of-the-
| line headphone model could have... Three buttons?
| Larrikin wrote:
| Also if you have a phone with NFC (or possibly any device
| with NFC other than an iPhone) you can just slide the
| device over the NFC logo and it will switch over to being
| paired with that device. Really convenient when switching
| from my computer to phone.
| coldtea wrote:
| > _That might have a lot to do with me turning bluetooth
| off on unused devices though_
|
| Well, duh!
| antipaul wrote:
| I have two versions of Sennheiser Momentum, but I decided to
| "trial" the AirPods Max by buying them with the intent of
| return, because they're over half a grand $$$.
|
| After literally minutes of use, the thought to return them
| evaporated just as quickly.
|
| Pretty much all because of the seamless connection.
|
| To be fair to the Sennheisers, they are durable: they
| survived contact with a wall at least twice.
| joshstrange wrote:
| This makes me think of the "What if AirPods was a company?" [0]
| post from 2019. It's really wild how big that one product is
| alone.
|
| [0] https://jonahlupton.medium.com/what-is-airpods-was-a-
| company...
| matt-attack wrote:
| Would love to see an updated version of this analysis.
| aqme28 wrote:
| It looks like they still sell about 60MM per year, so not
| much has changed
| jasonlotito wrote:
| > Bluetooth headphones that don't suck
|
| That isn't a ringing endorsement. Not sucking isn't the least
| you can do, and for the price they charge, it should be better
| than not sucking.
| ycta3402937498 wrote:
| Sony WH-1000XM4s I'd say are the most comparable in terms of
| ease of use and pairing well. I haven't had any dropout
| problems with them like I have with others (including my gen 3
| airpods). I use my AirPods for my phone/tablet and my XM4s with
| my 2020 Mac Mini.
| risho wrote:
| I've daily driven the xm3's and the xm4's for years and their
| multi-device support is so bad that it literally makes it
| worse than not having it at all. I explicitly disable multi-
| device support for them because the headphones will randomly
| jump around for seemingly no reason at all making them
| entirely unusable. Apple's bluetooth headphones, assuming you
| are living exclusively inside of the apple ecosystem, are the
| only bluetooth headphones that have multi-device support that
| is actually functional.
|
| If you chain your xm4's to a single device then they work
| pretty much flawlessly but that is also way less convenient.
| [deleted]
| BuckRogers wrote:
| I disable the multiconnect on my XM4s as well. They switch
| based on what's currently sending signal, but one has to
| stop broadcasting first. It disables LDAC support anyway if
| you use that. I was torn between the XM4s and Airpods Max
| but ultimately am tired of picking up more Lightning
| connector devices. I will no longer purchase things that
| don't charge via USB-C. I use my XM4s daily as well for
| over 1.5 years now (Jan 2021), and have to be in my top 5
| things I've bought in my life that I feel were worth every
| dollar. I'll be buying the XM5s on launch day.
|
| I also had a pair of Airpods Pros, they're so close to
| being the perfect single pair of headphones for everyone.
| But they hurt my ear canal with anything but the small
| tips, and then they wouldn't seal.
| operator-name wrote:
| If you have apple devices maybe. An acquaintance purchased a
| pair that was solely linked to his windows laptop and had a
| miriad of issues. This persisted with different device and was
| finally resolved when he switched to a different pair of
| Bluetooth headphones.
|
| The issues you're describing sound more Bluetooth related, and
| given the above experience I suspect the experience would be
| just as bad on non apple devices.
| alberth wrote:
| > It's wild how much money Apple has made from Bluetooth
| headphones that don't suck.
|
| It also helps that Apple removed the headphone jack.
| emadabdulrahim wrote:
| Yup. Unfortunately every other Bluetooth headphones suck when
| it comes to connectivity and stable playing. Been using Airpods
| Max for a year and never had a connection issue.
| jmspring wrote:
| I ended up giving my airpod pros to my partner. I found both
| the connectivity and sound quality (as well as noise
| canceling) much better on my Sony WF-1000MX4s.
|
| edit: isolation replaced with canceling
| horsawlarway wrote:
| There are plenty of other bluetooth headphones that don't
| suck...
|
| I have literally zero problems with these:
| https://www.amazon.com/AfterShokz-Open-Ear-Wireless-
| Conducti...
|
| They work everywhere - across my phone, laptop, personal
| laptop, hell - even my nvidia shield tv. Across
| Win/Linux/macOS/Android/iOS.
|
| Connect just fine - play just fine. Reconnect just fine. Pair
| just fine.
|
| I'm glad you like the Airpods, but damn is this some crazy
| bullshit thing to be claiming.
| scarface74 wrote:
| I have seven devices that I use my AirPods with - an
| iPhone, iPad, Watch, computer, and two AppleTVs. Once I
| paired them with one device, they are automatically paired
| with every device connected to my AppleID. They switch
| seamlessly without me having to do a thing.
|
| I also don't have to decipher beeps to change settings. I
| can change anything about them visually from any of my
| devices.
| horsawlarway wrote:
| scarface74 wrote:
| Yes, because amazingly enough, neither Linux or Pinephone
| are great user experiences in an of themselves.
|
| A garden is usually a nice place where things are nicely
| pruned and organized. Unlike going out into the
| wilderness like our forefathers scavenging...
| horsawlarway wrote:
| I'm no longer sure what you're talking about. I am
| responding to this point:
|
| > "Unfortunately every other Bluetooth headphones suck
| when it comes to connectivity and stable playing."
|
| and it's complete rubbish. The vast majority of high end
| bluetooth headsets work just fine (some are even FAR
| better in terms of battery life, comfort, and range -
| with no stability issues at all)
|
| I'm glad you get a slightly improved experience when you
| stay in your walled garden, but that has zilch to do with
| my point - I'm not in that garden.
|
| So your response of "Well it works ok if you [do this
| thing you're not doing]" is mostly a tangent that's not
| relevant.
| Miraste wrote:
| Of course they can't do the same auto connection, but in
| my experience airpods work at least as well with non-
| apple devices as any other Bluetooth headphones.
| horsawlarway wrote:
| > but in my experience airpods work at least as well with
| non-apple devices as any other Bluetooth headphones.
|
| Ding ding ding... Of course they do - and that's my
| point.
|
| They're moderately nice on apple if you're entirely on
| that ecosystem, and utterly the same on everything else
| (frankly - I think they're actually much worse than some
| of the nicer headphones you can get, but that's not
| bluetooth related at all).
|
| Good to know we agree.
| scarface74 wrote:
| You mean you can pair to one of your devices and it will
| automatically show up and paid to every other device you
| possess without having to do anything?
| j-krieger wrote:
| It's not like other bluetooth headphones can do this. My
| Jabra Elite won't work with their own app half the time
| on devices that are officially supported!
| horsawlarway wrote:
| Cool beans. the one I linked sure as fuck does, though.
| jasonlotito wrote:
| And yet I've had problems with every AirPod I've owned
| (Normal, Pro, and Max) and at this point, with the issues
| with the Max, I'm fed up. It's awful, and for the price I've
| paid, I should not be having these issues.
| swores wrote:
| Same here, so many issues that always led to dead earphones
| after <18 months.
|
| I won't be buying any more Apple headphones after my
| current Airpods Pro dies (already quite unreliable charging
| in the case, so unless I check and place it down gently I'm
| likely to come back and find it out of battery from one of
| the earpieces having been on the whole time).
|
| I only stuck with airpods this long because their bluetooth
| functionality really is great especially when I was in a
| little apartment with an Apple TV as well as my phone. But
| they're really disappointingly unreliable, badly
| overpriced, and Apple support around them is always
| terrible (in my experience in the UK).
| poisonarena wrote:
| I love my samsung pods and they dont look like retarded white
| bars spilling out of my head holes
| entropie wrote:
| I had no issues with 3 phones and my notebook with my like
| two years old sony WF-1000XM3.
| smoldesu wrote:
| > Why the hell can't you just tell the headphones to play from
| the phone and keep the laptop connected?
|
| This is something that baffled me on Windows and MacOS, but I
| don't seem to experience on Linux/Android/iOS. Windows was
| particularly "greedy"; whenever you'd turn on your headphones
| it would attempt to steal the connection away (even booting
| other multipoint connections off). MacOS is slightly more
| graceful, but still hiccups when it initializes a new sound
| source and (for some godawful reason) launches iTunes for me.
| Thanks Apple.
|
| On my FireTV and Linux desktop/laptop, they seem to have lazy-
| negotiation enabled by default. Turned-on devices will connect
| and acknowledge one another, but won't switch audio sources
| until the other device starts playing audio. I really think
| this ought to be the standard for _all_ Bluetooth audio stacks.
|
| (Note: this is a relatively recent development on the Linux
| side of things. Before PipeWire, it's Bluetooth audio stack was
| worse than Windows.)
| Miraste wrote:
| The Windows Bluetooth stack is terrible. Ludicrously bad.
| Last time I looked, it had four times the latency of iOS with
| the exact same headphones.
| smileybarry wrote:
| It's complicated, but basically, when audio is playing
| (I.e. new audio session) that's when the BT headphones wake
| up. So you can get horrible initial delay (and missed audio
| in some configurations), unless you just broadcast a null
| signal to keep the connection alive.
|
| I'm assuming that's why all the popular USB "Bluetooth
| audio with aptX" all identify as an audio device and handle
| pairing etc. on their own. (Despite Windows' stack having
| aptX support)
| ezfe wrote:
| Part of it is probably that iOS/Android have a far more
| fundamental "is media playing" understanding
| smoldesu wrote:
| That's probably a large piece of it, considering Linux has
| a similar interface that would work just as well (MPRIS
| controls). I wouldn't be surprised if _all_ of those
| implimentations used media data to determine connection
| priorities.
| philsnow wrote:
| I haven't experienced the issue with iTunes starting on
| bluetooth connections, but some people pointed me to this
| project to deal with it: https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes
|
| You can also set it to start something else (Spotify,
| whatever) instead
| smoldesu wrote:
| I'm personally just miffed that it's enabled by default.
| Reminds me of something Microsoft would do (Hey, I see you
| connected your headphones! Want to launch Groove Music?)
| com2kid wrote:
| > only to realize that the headphones think my laptop is
| playing,
|
| Some browser tab has some media playing that is keeping hold of
| the BT audio connection.
|
| Same reason why laptops, neither my Windows or Mac laptops, can
| figure out when they should go to sleep. Some broken browser
| tabs keeps the CPU at max speed, and turns on the GPU.
| didip wrote:
| This is how Apple operates, no?
|
| It makes products that people widely need at a quality that's a
| class on its own.
| georgelyon wrote:
| > and (somewhat) work with multiple devices
|
| I was hoping for AirPods which synthesize audio from all of
| your devices using spacial positioning... maybe next generation
| kergonath wrote:
| That would be a hell of a feature. I am not sure Bluetooth is
| up to the task, though, I don't think it handles simultaneous
| connexions to a single device very well.
| mpalczewski wrote:
| This was why I originally loved my airpods pro. Then it started
| going random and they no longer would connect to the device I
| expect. Much of the problem is that for some reason even if the
| laptop lid is closed apple's laptop still connect to your
| headphones. Right now my bose work better than the apple stuff,
| they connect to my laptop and headphones and music plays out of
| which ever one is going at the time.
| jononomo wrote:
| Is it possible to preset a max volume on the airpods pro so that
| I never under any circumstances damage my ears, even if I
| mistakenly blast the sound of a screeching whistle at full
| volume?
| happyopossum wrote:
| Yes - Settings / Sounds / Headphone Safety / reduce loud
| sounds.
|
| Note it might be in a different spot on iOS 15, but that'll get
| you there on iOS 16
| cpsns wrote:
| Millions of more tons of expensive ewaste when the non-
| replaceable batteries die in a year or two. So exciting!
| qvrjuec wrote:
| I believe Apple said they're recyclable and also made from
| recycled materials. Not ideal to have to replace the entire
| device, though
| imknewhere wrote:
| I've been using the same airpods v2 since some time in 2019 and
| whenever I end up replacing them, I won't really feel much
| regret at the small amount of e-waste they produce. I mean, I
| probably come across 2 or 3 e-cigarette things each time I take
| my dog for a walk.
|
| I don't mean to engage in whataboutism but I've used those
| airpods for hundreds of hours. Seems like a pretty reasonable
| lifespan to me.
| fallat wrote:
| We'll live in a new paradigm: Earth plus Airpods!
| initplus wrote:
| I used to think like this, but on closer inspection I realized
| that you create more waste/polution on every trip to the
| grocery store, or by driving a car for a week, or eating meat.
| Yes it's a shame that they are designed not to be repairable
| but there are so many more low hanging fruit in our everyday
| lives that we don't think about when it comes to environmental
| issues.
| crazygringo wrote:
| Millions of tons...? It's orders of magnitude less than that.
|
| It's 56.1 grams for both buds _and case_. For comparison, 2 AA
| batteries is 46 grams.
|
| They're tiny. In terms of e-waste, they're not even a rounding
| error. In terms of all devices to worry about, they're
| essentially last on the list. They're roughly the mass of the
| most popular consumer disposable batteries themselves.
|
| (If you want to do the math, they sold ~90 million units in
| 2021.)
| cpsns wrote:
| Millions of tons is hyperbole, but my point remains. As
| convenient as they are, devices like them aren't good for the
| world.
|
| They might be a rounding error, but I'm going to call out
| rampant consumerism and environmental issues where I see
| them.
| seasox wrote:
| I don't think we should discuss throwing away two AA
| batteries worth of ewaste every 2 years.
|
| Do you consume meat or dairy?
| elicash wrote:
| A billion pairs of AirPods would weigh around 6614 tons.
|
| I'm admittedly leaving out the cases, but just for lack of
| time. Somebody please do that math!
| mensetmanusman wrote:
| The non-replaceable battery is a brilliant business model. Mine
| only work for an hour now.
|
| I have to consider AirPods as a subscription now. (Even
| considering off-brand $70 repairs)
| aaaaaaaaaaab wrote:
| I get the audio quality will still be tincan-tier when the mic is
| on, right?
| pfranz wrote:
| Are there Bluetooth headphones that are better? My
| understanding is that it's a limitation in the Bluetooth spec.
| I've heard talk of Apple wanting to do their own thing
| specifically because of things like this.
| [deleted]
| xylophoner wrote:
| i hope the volume control can be disabled (though i doubt this
| will be the case). i've never met a touch sensitive headphone
| volume control that wasn't susceptible to accidental triggering.
| i have too many issues with my hearing to risk that.
| hancholo wrote:
| Once my OG AirPods crap out, I'll be going wired most likely.
| Already have ChiFi IEM's that blow the AirPods out of the water.
| gnicholas wrote:
| If the size/shape is the same as the original AirPods Pro, does
| that mean that the new XS earbud will be usable with the original
| version? I have never had issues with earbuds (wired or original
| AirPods) before, but the AirPods Pro doesn't fit well for me. I
| use it when listening to content, but if I'm talking I use my old
| AirPods (non-Pro). The Pros migrate out of my ear canal quickly
| when I'm talking or eating, due to the jaw movement.
|
| Fingers crossed that we'll be able to pick up the new XS size in
| an Apple Store once these are out!
| ramesh31 wrote:
| Why don't we have Wi-Fi headphones? The only thing anyone can
| agree on about Bluetooth is that it absolutely sucks. You'd think
| Apple would be pushing this.
|
| I should be able to buy a pair of headphones with built in
| streaming capability and be able to cast from HomePod or my phone
| with near gigabit bandwidth over Wi-Fi 6, and have zero concerns
| about range anywhere in my home.
| jws wrote:
| Your ears have on the order of 1 megabit/sec bandwidth, so
| anything more is irrelevant, specifically Wi-Fi 6 is 1000 times
| overkill.
|
| Bluetooth uses about half the energy per bit transmitted
| compared to wifi. So, using wifi would cut all your run times
| in half or increase your battery size. The data transmission is
| the dominant power consumption of wireless ear phones.
| ramesh31 wrote:
| >Your ears have on the order of 1 megabit/sec bandwidth, so
| anything more is irrelevant, specifically Wi-Fi 6 is 1000
| times overkill.
|
| That's silly. This would imply that there's no point in ever
| having any form of wireless data transmission with more
| bandwidth than the totality of your senses can intake at
| once. Obviously it could be used for more than just
| transferring audio data. But bandwidth isn't really the point
| anyways. It's about connection quality and range, which
| Bluetooth will never be able to achieve by design. I would
| gladly sacrifice battery life for headphones that "just work"
| with zero effort connectivity at all times, in the same way
| my laptop seamlessly connects to Wi-Fi.
| [deleted]
| Angostura wrote:
| The one thing that would have made me upgrade is the promise that
| I could use the Pros with my Mac on a Teams/Zoom cal and not
| sound like I was talking on a 1970s landline.
| lljk_kennedy wrote:
| I know it's a 'workaround' but have your MacBook use it's own
| as the mic input, and the AirPods as the output.
| happyopossum wrote:
| Wha? I and about 70% of my coworkers do this and never have any
| such problems
| tarunkotia wrote:
| I am just curious how are people dealing with EMF radiations
| emitted by AirPods? I have 2 sets of AirPods and Bose QC35 but I
| stopped using AirPods altogether and I use QC35 using the wire.
|
| NIH study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6701402/
| CamperBob2 wrote:
| Until a study like that is reproduced and a plausible
| explanation given, it's just junk science, and should be
| treated as such.
|
| It would be VERY obvious by now if nonionizing EMF was
| hazardous to humans at athermal levels. We've spent ~100 years
| using it and ~50 years paying attention.
| e40 wrote:
| The Pros (gen1) hurt my ears and I had to return them. Guessing
| gen2 is the same? I'm on regular Airpods for this reason.
| camdenlock wrote:
| Same. I'll be sad when they discontinue the original form
| factor.
| formerly_proven wrote:
| How do these compare to something like Sennheiser Momentum 3?
| birdmanjeremy wrote:
| does the mic still pick up literally everything though?
| tommit wrote:
| That's what I'm wondering. It's impossible to do anything while
| on a call without the other side complaining that it sounds
| like I'm banging cutlery on my pots.
| alphabetting wrote:
| If that's your main issue with headphones the pixel buds pro
| noise cancellation for mic and headphones are both insane.
| Examples from stress test here
|
| https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/17/23309582/wireless-buds-
| st...
| afterburner wrote:
| That sounds like every vocal-tuned mic ever. Someone's kids
| could be two rooms away and barely audible to them, but over
| the mic they are amplified screams. Kitchen stuff, forget
| about it.
| tommit wrote:
| I don't know much about it so let me ask: is this primarily
| a software or hardware "issue"? I feel like it wasn't
| really an issue before the Pro's, and I've been using
| AirPods since 2016. I may just be misremembering things
| though.
|
| I totally get it, too. When I'm on call with someone and
| they do kitchen stuff or whatever, I quite literally feel
| an erratic rage building up and just want to hang up
| immediately. It sounds so infuriatingly loud, even though
| the other side may have only put down a glass on the
| counter or something. It's really bad imo. If this somehow
| gets fixed, I'll buy a pair at an instant.
| HatchedLake721 wrote:
| It's a software issue.
| knownastron wrote:
| On the iPhone I turn on voice isolation and 99% of the problem
| goes away. Have you tried that?
| Tagbert wrote:
| Where is that? I don't see anything about voice isolation.
| knownastron wrote:
| Yeah so when I start a call, I swipe down from the top
| right and there's a tile that lets you select the mic mode.
|
| This tile shows up when any calling app is active. So it
| works for FaceTime or even third party apps like Google
| Meet. Good luck!
| philsnow wrote:
| It's a setting that AFAICT only shows up in facetime. When
| I'm in a facetime call, in the control center there's a new
| "mic mode" tile (next to the also-facetime-only "video
| effects" tile that toggles portrait mode). In the mic mode
| panel there's three options "Standard", "Voice Isolation",
| and "Wide Spectrum".
|
| I use the voice isolation one and people I've talked to say
| that it's drastically improved the call quality,
| particularly while I'm walking next to a busy street.
|
| edit: you can see the setting without actually starting a
| call, just go into the facetime app and hit "New FaceTime".
| It will show you a blurred front view camera and let you
| pick a contact to call, but at that moment you can drag the
| control center down and they'll be there.
| happyopossum wrote:
| It shows up when you're on most voice calls - I just
| tested it in Google Meet, and it works in zoom too from
| past experience.
| ok_dad wrote:
| It's one of those things hidden in the menu you get when
| you drag down from the upper right (during a call). I
| think. I found it once on a video call to my mom, but like
| the lost city of Atlantis, it seems to have disappeared for
| me again now that I'm trying to find it again. I hate the
| iPhone UI, but they work so well most of the time...
| happyopossum wrote:
| It shows up when you're actively in a voice call, and
| disappears all other times.
| [deleted]
| erikpukinskis wrote:
| I would love to buy AirPods one day, but I have just had too many
| experiences telling someone on Zoom they sound like they're under
| water, and they say, "hold on a sec that's my AirPods."
|
| If Apple could fix that issue, this would be a nice product!
|
| Unfortunately I don't know how Apple could ever signal to me that
| they had fixed that issue.
| askafriend wrote:
| Just try them, there's a 14 day no-questions-asked return
| policy.
| rozenmd wrote:
| They start breaking down after months, not days.
| pivo wrote:
| Mine have been working fine for a year and a half, haven't
| noticed any degradation. Not saying that doesn't happen,
| just that it's not a given.
| TobyTheDog123 wrote:
| Anecdotally, I've never had this issue. Is it something that
| happens often?
| porcc wrote:
| Yeah two way bluetooth bandwidth is too low to support high
| quality audio. People speaking on airpods sound horrible
| smoldesu wrote:
| Yep. Airpods simply _do not_ support decent sounding duplex
| audio: https://youtu.be/N6Y_Q7RYmmY?t=351
| kofejnik wrote:
| yes, wired earbuds are much better for calls
| mynegation wrote:
| I have AirPods Pro but I still use Jabra wired headset with mic
| for work and important video calls. No issues like devices
| stealing the Bluetooth away from each other, and voice sounds
| much better which can be important for people's perception.
| Eric_WVGG wrote:
| regarding the "hold on a sec" issue, that's the Mac, not the
| AirPods
|
| Every time I dial in with an iOS device it works flawlessly. If
| it's on the Mac, I have to log in to YouTube and play some
| random nonsense to make sure they're connected before I start
| the call, and even then (today), they sometimes fail.
| temende wrote:
| Yeah this happens to me a lot too when using my airpods pro on
| zoom calls. Good to know I'm not the only one experiencing
| this.
| texasbigdata wrote:
| The max are basically useless. They sound okaish compared to
| headphones 4-6x their price, but they love to pair with
| anything around and the mic is non existent. It's the most
| enjoyable brutally frustrating experience ever.
| e40 wrote:
| I've done A/B tests with Airpods (gen2) and the built-in mic on
| my M1 iMac and people always say Airpods are better, but both
| are good.
|
| I've noticed what you're saying with people on older (Apple)
| laptops. I wonder if there's a connection. Honestly, sometimes
| I could swear that people are using the built-in mic and not
| the Airpods, but they swear they are not.
| js2 wrote:
| It's a limitation of Bluetooth's available bandwidth,
| especially with bidirectional audio. Apple added support for an
| improved speech codec, AAC-ELD, to the 3rd gen AirPods last
| year:
|
| https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2021/10/introducing-the-next-...
|
| AAC-ELD support was also apparently added to existing AirPods
| Pro and Max at the same time:
|
| https://medium.marco.zone/apple-implemented-the-biggest-impr...
|
| I'm not sure when AAC-ELD is used on the host side though. It
| probably depends on the version of macOS and maybe even which
| app is being used.
|
| FWIW, macOS can be setup to use the AirPods for output and the
| built-in mic for input and that will likely result in better
| quality both for the person using AirPods and the person on the
| other end.
|
| Personally, I still use a wired headset for my conference
| calls. Wires are a PITA but they Just Work.
| foolfoolz wrote:
| honestly you have to use the right tool for the job. if you're
| speaking on video for a significant portion of the day you
| should have a microphone
| [deleted]
| mcculley wrote:
| How do "computational algorithms" differ from other kinds of
| algorithms employed in headphones?
| iambateman wrote:
| One term was written by someone paid $120,000 to write
| software, the other by someone paid $120,000 to write marketing
| copy. ;)
| mimsee wrote:
| Tell me that the headphones have AI without telling me the
| headphones have AI. That's probably what they were thinking
| when they wrote that.
| willis936 wrote:
| What's worse is that their boss is bad at their job. I sold
| phones in retail for one year and in that time I learned
| feature, function, benefit. I think some of these VPs should
| go back to school.
| msoad wrote:
| I noticed they said "the Watch scans for crash events 3,000
| times a second" and then "The always-on display refreshes at 1
| hertz"...
|
| So it's "x times per second" if it's good and "y hertz" if it's
| bad lol
| stnmtn wrote:
| I disagree, I don't usually hear hertz as a unit outside of
| display refresh rates. If they had said "The watch scans for
| crash events at 3000 hertz" it would sound strange and
| incorrect to me year.
|
| And an always-on display being able to refresh at 1 hertz is
| a selling point and a good thing, no?
| mimsee wrote:
| I don't think 1 hertz is bad. It's good so it doesn't use
| much battery refreshing an always-on lock screen that changes
| relatively infrequently.
| dymk wrote:
| Or the copy editor didn't want to sound too repetitive
| Humbly8967 wrote:
| Not to say that this would be a good idea, or that anyone does
| headphones this way, but you could implement PID control with
| analog circuits. Capacitors, resistors, and Op-amps.
| mcculley wrote:
| That had occurred to me in that we have analog computers and
| devices. But aren't all algorithms "computational"?
| neillyons wrote:
| For anyone who runs with AirPod Pros I recommend "AirPod Pro Ear
| Hooks" that you can get on Amazon for like PS10. They keep them
| in your ear really well.
|
| Edit:
|
| The ones I have https://amzn.eu/d/3ihERHb
| jhickok wrote:
| Hey that's a cool suggestion and if that works I can get rid of
| like 2 other pairs of "workout" earbuds. Thanks!
| neillyons wrote:
| No worries. I was considering buying another pair or
| headphones just to workout in, but all I really wanted was
| for my AirPod Pros not to come loose. These hooks work so
| well. Surprised Apple don't sell them.
| discobot2 wrote:
| nothing on improving the mic and moving away from bluetooth =(
| joshstrange wrote:
| > A redesigned inward-facing microphone works with voice
| enhancement algorithms to better recognize and articulate your
| voice, so it sounds more natural when you're on phone and video
| calls.
|
| Also where are you getting "moving away from bluetooth"? That
| was a rumor (that they might move to their U1 tech for better
| audio quality) but they didn't mention that in the presentation
| nor is it mentioned on their site.
| jws wrote:
| UWB would provide plenty of bandwidth at close range with
| better energy efficiency, but it will not match bluetooth for
| distance. With sufficient software complexity you could
| switch back and forth between them depending on conditions...
| so that sounds like a business decision on cost to implement
| and benefit.
|
| Or some clown has a patent conjoining some aspect of UWB and
| audio, or protocol switching. Apple _never_ says "we don't
| do this because there is a patent in the way". It isn't their
| image.
| [deleted]
| wellthisisgreat wrote:
| > sounds more natural
|
| Well that's a problem nobody had.
| xu_ituairo wrote:
| I think they mean that it's a shame that they haven't moved
| away from Bluetooth.
| joshstrange wrote:
| Ahh, that makes way more sense. I didn't apply the "nothing
| on" to the second thing and while I think moving off
| bluetooth is a plus I know there are others who see it as a
| negative and I assumed that's what they meant since moving
| from BT was rumored ("Apple doing something proprietary",
| even though clearly the market isn't moving quickly to fix
| the issues with BT).
| joshstrange wrote:
| These will be an insta-buy for me. I've loved my AirPods Pro but
| the battery life has fallen from when I first got them. I knew
| that would be the case and I'm not mad about it. I'm excited for
| the touch control on these as well as the better ANC. Also the
| case having Find My support will be very nice. I'll finally get
| the MagSafe case as well since that came out later and I never
| upgraded.
| padjo wrote:
| This is my problem with wireless headphones. They're cool but
| basically disposable when the battery degrades, which happens
| fast because of the usage pattern. Seems like an awful waste,
| I've gone back to wired. They will last me decades.
| turtlebits wrote:
| It's $50 for Apple to change the battery. My Airpods from
| 2017 still last around an hour, which is fine for when I need
| to get on meetings.
| Wingman4l7 wrote:
| I call bull on this -- the plastic halves of the earbud
| casings are ultrasonically sealed together; you have to
| break them apart to get at the guts (and IIRC the battery
| is also soldered in). Just look up the iFixit teardown;
| they're completely unrepairable. My bet is, they are just
| swapping them out with refurbs and writing off the loss
| against their AppleCare earnings.
| joshstrange wrote:
| Ehh, I've used these without fail almost every day I've owned
| them, just shy of 3 years, for often 4+ hours a day. They
| feel magical, they work really well, and I love always having
| them in my pocket (and they never get tangled). So for me
| they were a really good return on investment. I tried to go
| back to wired after I lost my original AirPods (not pro)
| years ago and bought new AirPods within a week after going
| crazy dealing with the wires (getting caught on things,
| getting tangled, having to run them up my shirt and even then
| having them sometimes pull on my ears, etc).
|
| At the end of the day it comes down to what your
| time/enjoyment is worth, for myself $250/3 years is an easy
| choice but I get that it's not for everyone. Also I've never
| had wired headphones last more than a year or 2 (at least the
| ones I carried with me everywhere), 10's of years seems like
| a stretch unless we are talking about over the ear headphones
| or similar and those have a ton of downsides compared to
| something that can fit in your pocket.
| lajosbacs wrote:
| I hope that they have finally eliminated the deafening loudness
| of the low battery announcement. I check the airpods pro battery
| compulsively just to avoid hearing this. (love them otherwise)
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