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Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

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Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#251

Post by solardev »

DidYaWipe wrote: post #247
solardev wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just Shazam but any app that uses the mic over Bluetooth. Like if you wanted to have background music playing during a Zoom call, or wanted to wear Bluetooth headphones while gaming and voice chat kicks in when you group up, etc. It's a very annoying problem because the Airpods actually sound fantastic, but as soon as the mic kicks in, it sounds like crap. Same thing happens with my Sony XM3s or any other Bl…

Understandable, but in that case what's the value of the utility posted here?

It just automates the manual workaround: It tells your system to use another mic, not the bluetooth one, so that the bluetooth headphones go back to listen-only mode and doesn't have to operate in its inferior full-duplex mode. So you'd use the headphones only for hearing, and your computer's internal mic (or another external mic, like a webcam's or a standalone USB one) does the recording input.

I do that for all my calls and games already, but I just have to manually set it in the OS (and sometimes on a per-app basis). It only takes a second and usually remembers.

If the app were a one-time purchase I'd probably buy it just to avoid the hassle, but definitely not paying a subscription for something that's so easy to do on my own. As a compromise, I'd also be OK with a OS-version tied upgrade pricing, like you pay $x for the macOS 15 version, but when the next breaking OS update comes that requires an update, you can pay $y after the upgrade discount to get the newest version that works with the new OS.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#252

Post by wingerlang »

mrtksn wrote: post #243
nepthar wrote: post #241

Well, one thought about your pricing model - you’re thinking that it might need work in the future, but you’re charging each month without delivering any additional value to customers. How about charging additional money for each new major version, corresponding to either new feature development or support for new versions of the OS?

How do you implement that?

I don't think App Store supports that. But if you're interested, it's a planned feature in my macOS license management SDK (padlockSDK.com - pricing is placeholder, its free until I know if it's of interest for people).

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#253

Post by cfn »

nepthar wrote: post #241

Well, one thought about your pricing model - you’re thinking that it might need work in the future, but you’re charging each month without delivering any additional value to customers. How about charging additional money for each new major version, corresponding to either new feature development or support for new versions of the OS?

This is a big issue with the App Store. Either you charge a subscription or you charge a on-off and all upgrades are free forever.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#254

Post by boffinAudio »

viraptor wrote: post #87
Osiris wrote: post #75

This is really a Bluetooth issue. The same happens with any headphones that have a mic on any OS. When Bluetooth mode is switched from Headphones to Headset (with mic), only much lower quality audio codes are used. Does anyone know if Bluetooth 6 adds support for higher quality codes for Headset? It's a big issue, in my opinion.

It was a Bluetooth issue years ago. Now it's only an Apple issue where it can't use a more decent codec. On Linux you can choose the mSBC codec and get decent two-way quality on a modern headset.

>Bluetooth issue

Its a licensing issue. The borderlands between the headset and headphone profiles are rife with licensing land-mines - developers have flipped the table and rage-quit the issue, and this technical debt has been shipped.

(Disclaimer: I make headset/headphone firmware for a major competitor and deal with this issue every single week...)

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#255

Post by boffinAudio »

DidYaWipe wrote: post #247
solardev wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not just Shazam but any app that uses the mic over Bluetooth. Like if you wanted to have background music playing during a Zoom call, or wanted to wear Bluetooth headphones while gaming and voice chat kicks in when you group up, etc. It's a very annoying problem because the Airpods actually sound fantastic, but as soon as the mic kicks in, it sounds like crap. Same thing happens with my Sony XM3s or any other Bl…

Understandable, but in that case what's the value of the utility posted here?

The default behaviour is designed intentionally to 'degrade to the least-costly codec license' .. since the codecs available to the end user are one of the only ways that different headset/headphone manufacturers can differentiate, doing whats necessary to degrade to the least common denominator allows developers to route around the issues imposed on them by management: namely, don't promote the features of other headset manufacturers, needlessly.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#256

Post by mrtksn »

wingerlang wrote: post #252
mrtksn wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you implement that?

I don't think App Store supports that. But if you're interested, it's a planned feature in my macOS license management SDK (padlockSDK.com - pricing is placeholder, its free until I know if it's of interest for people).

Thanks, I will check it out

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#257

Post by iamtedd »

mrtksn wrote: post #94
simple10 wrote: post #77

This is great! I've been needing a solution to this problem. However... I would pay $20 one time for it. But a subscription is a deal breaker. My guess is you'll make a lot more revenue by doing one time fees tied to a specific AirPod version. So each time I upgrade my AirPods, I pay a new one time fee instead of the subscription.

Thanks! Much appreciated. Unfortunately I don't see how 20$ one time fee will works for such a niche app. After commissions and taxes $20 becomes $10. Anywhere in the developed world the money required only to survive is at least 2000$, which means I will need to be selling 200 copies every month as long as the app exist only to get basic level of income and accumulating customers that I will have to support the year…

I get this app and I will use until my devices no longer receive updates (~7 years). Now I'm stuck giving you (and Apple) money forever. I don't care about any features you may want to add, so the version I originally "buy" is the version that will serve me until I upgrade my hardware.

This is the problem with subscriptions for apps without services - If I stop paying, I lose access to what I already have. That sucks. So begins the treadmill of money leaving my pocket and entering yours (and Apple's) for no good reason. I will find it even more grating when whatever features you do add to the app I don't care about and will never use.

Just let me pay you for your work and we'll go our separate ways.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#258

Post by radicality »

> Most of the time, you have much higher quality microphones built in, so in most use cases, you want to hear from your AirPods but be heard from your internal microphone

Is that true, have I been doing my google meets wrong this whole time? So you’re saying if I’m on my Mac and having a google Meet, and I’m using my AirPods, then I should have my mic input as MacBook and not as AirPods? Do you have any sources or your own empirical evidence that this would provide better sound for the other party?

Even if the microphones are worse on the AirPods (I believe that), I always thought the final voice output would be much better from the AirPods since they are much closer to my mouth and move together with the movements of my head, which I imagined would help with noise reduction / voice isolation.

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#259

Post by nepthar »

cfn wrote: post #253
nepthar wrote: post #241

Well, one thought about your pricing model - you’re thinking that it might need work in the future, but you’re charging each month without delivering any additional value to customers. How about charging additional money for each new major version, corresponding to either new feature development or support for new versions of the OS?

This is a big issue with the App Store. Either you charge a subscription or you charge a on-off and all upgrades are free forever.

Oh wow, I actually had no idea that was the case. That definitely throws a wrinkle into things

Re: Show HN: A macOS app to prevent sound quality degradation on AirPods

#260

Post by mrtksn »

radicality wrote: post #258

> Most of the time, you have much higher quality microphones built in, so in most use cases, you want to hear from your AirPods but be heard from your internal microphone Is that true, have I been doing my google meets wrong this whole time? So you’re saying if I’m on my Mac and having a google Meet, and I’m using my AirPods, then I should have my mic input as MacBook and not as AirPods? Do you have any sources or yo…

Give it a try and see it for yourself. Open the voice memos and record a short message, change the input source and record again. Play the recordings and see which one you like.

To change the input source you can go into System Settings->Sound->Input

Mac microphones are quite good, see if that's the case for you too.

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