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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

#351

Post by tecleandor »

Nullabillity wrote: post #343
tecleandor wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All wireless gaming headsets that I've seen are Bluetooth. What I've seen from some of them (or even some headsets that aren't "gaming") is "Gaming Mode", that usually means that they either use a low latency codec like aptX Low Latency, or reduce the buffers in the connection or something like that. That's also useful to reduce latency when watching videos or TV. But once you switch to headset mode, you're back to t…

> All wireless gaming headsets that I've seen are Bluetooth. Which have you been looking at? Typically it's just labeled as 2.4GHz in the spec sheet (yes, it's a bit silly since Bluetooth operates in the same band.. oh well). I just went through my local IT store's cheapest wireless gaming headsets[0] (ignoring colour variations), and I saw: - HyperX Cloud Mini Wireless[1], Bluetooth, 549kr (~$55) - Deltaco Gaming He…

Oh, I thought the Lightspeed protocol was only for keyboard and mice, as that is/was what they first claimed on their site somewhere. I guess that I always skip those headphones due to the design.

The problem I see here (and in other propietary protocols) is it's very difficult to know what's the quality of the audio stream. Can't find any information about the codecs, sampling rate, bitrate... and the microphone reviews that I've found for that kind of headsets sound very bad.

With the prices on good quality wireless headsets I sometimes feel like I'm going to end up buying a broadcast quality headset with a long cable and forget about it :D

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

#352

Post by adastra22 »

prmoustache wrote: post #349
adastra22 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm stupefied by this comment thread. I routinely have meetings where my microphone quality (built-in MacBook Pro or iPhone 14 in speaker mode) is absolute shit and the person on the other side tells me to put on my AirPods, at which point my audio becomes crystal clear for them.

I don't know if it depends on specific models because some people seems to be using Macbook Pros without headset and their voice is crystal clear while other seem to be talking from an old airplane microphone. Anyway I guess it depends where the macbook is positionned. I am not using a macbook but my laptop is stashed away on a shelf[1] when plugged to my usb-c docking station using external screens so using the embe…

It appears from some google searching that this problem seems to be specific to the AirPod pros. I’ve never used those as I hate the silicone tips.

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

#354

Post by crazygringo »

jillesvangurp wrote: post #217

A good trick to prevent this is to set your microphone to an aggregate device that you create with the Audio Midi Device tool that comes with your mac. Open that, and create a new aggregate device with just the system microphone. Then set that as the default microphone. And now when applications access the microphone for whatever reason, your bluetooth headphones don't switch profile and keep on using the aggregate m…

> Why would I want to switch to a low quality audio codec when I have a perfectly good microphone in the laptop? Answer: I don't want to. Never.

Because you're in a noisy or semi-noisy environment.

In that case, even a low-quality codec for a microphone next to your head head will be vastly clearer than high-quality audio from a microphone several feet away from you.

If you're in a quiet room, though, yes the Mac microphone will be better.

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

#355

Post by presentation »

ivanjermakov wrote: post #345
presentation wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given how much Apple and other manufacturers depend on Bluetooth for their wireless earphones I wonder why no alternative to Bluetooth ever seems to show up.

I think because all the hard work put into open-source bt ecosystem (bluez, pulse, pipewire) makes it "good enough" for average users.

One would think that if some company could credibly exorcise the demons of crappy Bluetooth connectivity, that would be a huge selling point though. I don’t think anyone hasn’t experienced the finnickiness of Bluetooth.

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

#356

Post by alibert »

alibert wrote: post #81

Sorry to crash your launch but this is supposed to be fixed in the new version of MacOS Sequoia + AirPods 2 https://www.headphonesty.com/2024/07/apple-solves-bad-airpod... I'm still on Sonoma for work reason so I didn't test it.

Got time to test it and it works.

2 Ch 48kHz for output and 1 Ch 48kHz for input while using Airpod 2 on Sequoia. Be aware that the app must request a high bitrate for this to work.

Example: you need to use Safari for Google Meet. It doesn't work with Chrome.

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