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AirPods 2 Teardown

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Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#91

Post by sofaofthedamned »

dmitrygr wrote: post #80
sofaofthedamned wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not arguing with your knowledge, but how does the LDAC codec on Sony headphones work then? Is this a later standard or a crowbar?

A2dp optionally allows multiple codecs. Anyone can make their own. Codecs are negotiated at connection time and if the headphones and device both support a given codec, they can choose to use it. SBC is mandatory, all others optional, including ones you can invent later (even after the spec is final and in use).

Thank you, that's interesting.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#92

Post by jaxbot »

ericwood wrote: post #35
jaxbot wrote: post #2

My main interest is in Bluetooth 5. Walking around NYC, in even semi-congested areas of Manhattan, my audio cuts out with my phone in my front pants pocket. I literally have to hold it in my hand or coat pocket in order to cut through the interference. Has anyone experienced improvement when upgrading in this regard?

I constantly had this problem, especially at intersections, and actually read recently on twitter (I wish I could dig up the details!) that transmitters the MTA uses to communicate with trains occupy a similar part of the spectrum. This partially explains why the effects seem to be the most dramatic at intersections that happen to have trains beneath them.

It's all 2.4ghz. The 7 train uses 2.4ghz (literally WiFi I've heard) for CBTC. The other lines don't have train communication, but the bluetooth beacons on them and Transit Wireless (station WiFi) are on the same spectrum of course.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#93

Post by jaxbot »

dmitrygr wrote: post #66
jaxbot wrote: post #2

My main interest is in Bluetooth 5. Walking around NYC, in even semi-congested areas of Manhattan, my audio cuts out with my phone in my front pants pocket. I literally have to hold it in my hand or coat pocket in order to cut through the interference. Has anyone experienced improvement when upgrading in this regard?

> My main interest is in Bluetooth 5 Bluetooth 5 does not help you here at all. Stereo audio is still done over Bluetooth classic which has not been updated since version 2.1 source: i work on bluetooth

Ah, damn. I'd heard from other sources when Bluetooth 5 was first coming out that increased bandwidth was part of the spec, so I was hoping that would resolve my congestion woes. 2.4ghz is unusable at some points in the city. It's rumored that's why the 7 train's CBTC setup took so much longer than planned.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#94

Post by jaxbot »

mises wrote: post #85
jaxbot wrote: post #2

My main interest is in Bluetooth 5. Walking around NYC, in even semi-congested areas of Manhattan, my audio cuts out with my phone in my front pants pocket. I literally have to hold it in my hand or coat pocket in order to cut through the interference. Has anyone experienced improvement when upgrading in this regard?

I'd guess that max bluetooth transmission strength is less than the maximum allowed by the FCC's spec for the 2.4ghz band (bluetooth and many other things use this). We'll probably just end up in an arms race of transmission strength until we hit legal limits.

Basically already done in Manhattan. If you want working internet in an apartment building, it has to be 5ghz at this point. Everyone's WiFi transmitters are cranked up to max to try to punch through the noise floor, plus all the city infra (7 train CBTC, the train bluetooth beacons, commercial/public WiFi, LinkNYC, etc)

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#95

Post by dmitrygr »

jaxbot wrote: post #93
dmitrygr wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My main interest is in Bluetooth 5 Bluetooth 5 does not help you here at all. Stereo audio is still done over Bluetooth classic which has not been updated since version 2.1 source: i work on bluetooth

Ah, damn. I'd heard from other sources when Bluetooth 5 was first coming out that increased bandwidth was part of the spec, so I was hoping that would resolve my congestion woes. 2.4ghz is unusable at some points in the city. It's rumored that's why the 7 train's CBTC setup took so much longer than planned.

Yes. Bluetooth low energy in Bluetooth 5.0 now supports two megabits per second data rate, up from the previous speed of 1 megabit per second. The problem is, none of that matters for audio, because audio is never sent over bluetooth low energy. It is sent over Bluetooth classic. The specification for audio over Bluetooth low energy is not out yet.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#96

Post by rickyc091 »

pfranz wrote: post #39
jaxbot wrote: post #2

My main interest is in Bluetooth 5. Walking around NYC, in even semi-congested areas of Manhattan, my audio cuts out with my phone in my front pants pocket. I literally have to hold it in my hand or coat pocket in order to cut through the interference. Has anyone experienced improvement when upgrading in this regard?

I only have experience with original AirPods, but at home I've often made it really really far away before I realized my phone is on the other side of the house. It only seems to cut off when I go outside with the phone left inside and walk away from the house. I haven't had patience enough with previous BT headphones to see if this is unique, but with AirPods+iPhone the audio pauses when it loses signal, which is mu…

Airpods 2 do not cut out when the microwave is turned on now :D. I've also found the signal stronger and passing through walls a bit better.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#97

Post by moneywoes »

swah wrote: post #54
coldtea wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Audio cutting out? Isn't that the automatic #1 consideration point for wired vs wireless headphones?

Maybe its luck, but I finally found a wireless mouse and BT headphones that I haven't got anything to complain about. Around 5 years ago I made the same test and came back to wired versions. I suppose AirPods, with that price tag, must be much better.

What are they?

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#98

Post by gumby »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #69
gumby wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? Nescafe happily takes back used coffee pods and then tosses them. It's good PR -- good enough that my GF dumps them in the recycling "because they are recyclable: Nescafe takes them".

> My GF dumps [Nescafe coffee pods] in the recycling "because they are recyclable: Nescafe takes them". With all possible respect, this is terrible logic. Apple recycles iPhones, but that doesn't mean you can throw iPhones in your household recycling. Putting non-recyclables into the recycling can contaminate and ruin the entire load. As a general rule, if you're not sure whether something can be recycled, you should…

I agree with your points, but there is no way to win these arguments :-(.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#99

Post by Wowfunhappy »

coldtea wrote: post #90
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> New Bluetooth standards, longer lasting charge, better audio drivers, health monitoring, embedded connection-free translation (babelfish-like), eSIM and calling/receiving directly from the AirPods (like you can do from the Apple Watch, but using Siri for the dialing). Most of these hinge on the earbuds becoming more self-sufficient computing devices, rather than pure audio devices. I think we're a long way off from…

Yeah, but we're talking 3-4 years between each step. Those are enough features for 4 such iterations, or 16+ years. Let's consider phones 16 years ago and today (or watches, for that matter).

They're mostly one step.

> Embedded connection-free translation (babelfish-like), eSIM and calling/receiving directly from the AirPods

This all fundamentally requires a powerful computer in the Airpods, which in turn fundamentally requires a longer laster battery. Apple may try to roll them out over time, but they can't begin the rollout until battery technology fundamentally improves, which it isn't doing in the near future short of some breakthrough.

The one big improvement I could see them doing more near-term is health monitoring, though I'm not sure what it would add compared to the watch, which is more likely to be always on your person. Bluetooth upgrades and audio drivers are "easy" (relatively), but hard to sell to consumers by themselves.

Re: AirPods 2 Teardown

#100

Post by acct1771 »

gumby wrote: post #98
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My GF dumps [Nescafe coffee pods] in the recycling "because they are recyclable: Nescafe takes them". With all possible respect, this is terrible logic. Apple recycles iPhones, but that doesn't mean you can throw iPhones in your household recycling. Putting non-recyclables into the recycling can contaminate and ruin the entire load. As a general rule, if you're not sure whether something can be recycled, you should…

I agree with your points, but there is no way to win these arguments :-(.

There's one.
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