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AirPods Pro

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Re: AirPods Pro

#311

Post by nexus2045 »

gamblor956 wrote: post #183
whalesalad wrote: post #8

I really struggled to take the plunge on the original AirPods and it has been one of my top 10 purchases ever in my life without a doubt. I stood there holding the little $200 box in my hand and really danced back and forth in my mind about whether or not they would really be necessary. If they broke, I would go buy a new pair immediately. For what they are, the sound is amazing. I can't really do a phone call anymor…

I've demoed my $25 Anker or mpow earbuds (the Airpod-likes) to many coworkers sporting Airpods and they're universally astounded by the quality of the cheaper buds. I've converted quite a few people who lost their Airpods. The chead buds don't sound quite as good as Airpods, but they're 85% of the way there, fit better, can actually handle the rain and sweat without breaking down, can be used during exercise without…

I've bought quite a few of the cheaper earbuds from Aliexpress, and there are problems with the really low end ones that you should watch out for:

- left and right earbud need to first pair with each other on startup before pairing to your phone. Otherwise you get one side paired to your phone and the other side is just dangling

- lack of volume controls on many

Battery capacity was actually never a show stopper for me - some earbud charging cases are 550 mAh while others are 3500. But the 550 one would already be enough for a whole day's worth of use, so by the end of the day I could just charge the case all the same.

Re: AirPods Pro

#312

Post by coldtea »

fancyfish wrote: post #106
whalesalad wrote: post #8

I really struggled to take the plunge on the original AirPods and it has been one of my top 10 purchases ever in my life without a doubt. I stood there holding the little $200 box in my hand and really danced back and forth in my mind about whether or not they would really be necessary. If they broke, I would go buy a new pair immediately. For what they are, the sound is amazing. I can't really do a phone call anymor…

If the noise cancelling and sound quality on these is great, I may actually go from the Sony cans to these, mainly due to Bluetooth pairing woes. With the Sony headphones, if I want to switch from iPhone to Macbook I have to do the dance of Bluetooth repairing. Switch off BT on iPhone -> connect headphones to Mac, switch iPhone BT back on. The sound would have to be in the same ballpark though, which is hardly a guar…

I hate my Sony MX1000M3 for this reason.

Re: AirPods Pro

#313

Post by coldtea »

samwhiteUK wrote: post #134
baxtr wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me the answer is quite clear: they simply work. Apple like. Did I test all the others you mentioned? No. Probably because I used to have several Bluetooth headset. They hardly ever worked. For me, I had to have high trust in the HW company to ever test a Bluetooth headset again.

FWIW, I've tried to set up one pair of Airpods, and they were broken right out of the box. Wouldn't pair with anything. So that's a 1 in 1 failure rate ;)

"Anything" being? Some Android phone / Windows PC, or within the Apple ecosystem?

Re: AirPods Pro

#314

Post by coldtea »

fyfy18 wrote: post #257
unlinked_dll wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microphone quality on most of the other offerings is atrocious. That said I wish these things didn't have a microphone. People tend to shout into them.

The microphone in Airpods is pretty bad too. One of my colleagues uses them paired to his Mac (maybe that's the issue?) and it sounds like the built in microphone on cheap laptops.

>The microphone in Airpods is pretty bad too

Haven't been my experience. They sound excellent for voice stuff (paired to the Mac/iPhone)

Re: AirPods Pro

#315

Post by coldtea »

freeqaz wrote: post #75
whalesalad wrote: post #8

I really struggled to take the plunge on the original AirPods and it has been one of my top 10 purchases ever in my life without a doubt. I stood there holding the little $200 box in my hand and really danced back and forth in my mind about whether or not they would really be necessary. If they broke, I would go buy a new pair immediately. For what they are, the sound is amazing. I can't really do a phone call anymor…

I find that I can't use them for phone calls because the other person always complains that my mic is terrible. Is this because of using an Android device? They also don't stay in my ears for the life of me, so exercising at the gym I have to use over-the-ear headphones. I think this impacts the sound for me, as well, since they sound better when I hold them in my ear versus when I let go. Any recommendations for wha…

>I find that I can't use them for phone calls because the other person always complains that my mic is terrible. Is this because of using an Android device?

Probably, never had any complaints and my own recordings work (airpods/iphone)

Re: AirPods Pro

#316

Post by ScottBurson »

ogre_codes wrote: post #79
krastanov wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There used to be an expectation of longevity in the electronics we purchase. Even while Moore's law was in full effect, you could find good uses for a 6 year old computer. Today's computer hardware can easily remain fully usable for a decade. The notion of buying a laptop or phone, let alone headphones, every year is ludicrous and actively harmful to the environment.

You must have lived in a different "Used to be" than I did. I owned multiple Walkman style cassette players back in the 80s and if you got 2 years use out of those foam covered headphones, it was a small miracle. Even buying replacement foam, the cords got snagged and destroyed quickly. Also, the cheap plastic doors on the players were notoriously prone to failing. Not to mention all of them were powered by disposabl…

I agree about the headphones, but I got a full decade of use from my WM-D6 Walkman Pro and its (optional, removable) rechargeable battery pack. I replaced it with a WM-D6C which still worked the last time I tried it, a few years ago now.

High-quality gear was definitely available in the '80s, if you were willing to pay for it — and might have been cheaper in the long run.

Re: AirPods Pro

#317

Post by johnnycab »

falcolas wrote: post #252
robotresearcher wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm interested in this, so looked the Shure line up. The cheapest IEM model is SE425CL at $269. Simple wires, no mic. Anyone have experience with them? https://www.shure.com/en-US/products/earphones/se425cl

If you want inexpensive, SE 215 is what you're looking for, for $99. I have the 535's, which are a step up in drivers, and I love them. They aren't reference quality (which I recommend Etymotics for, and you can buy the isolating sleves for them), and are a bit on the warm side. The 425s are fairly similar, but the 535s are a bit clearer in the high-mids. Any Shure headphones will have better sound quality than Apple…

>If you want inexpensive, SE 215 is what you're looking for, for $99.

Shure has jumped the shark. I own these and have stopped endorsing them, the sound quality is utterly rubbish compared to some alternative wireless pairs, which might cost a little bit more, but even a punt on some of the cheaper pairs like Airdots et al. would be worth it.

Re: AirPods Pro

#318

Post by Shivetya »

graeme wrote: post #100

What’s the word on active noise cancellation and hearing protection? I currently avoid using headphones in loud environments, and my quick test is if I can hear myself talk over the music. This page says the active cancellation uses “anti-noise”, which iirc is noise, at frequencies that drown out the outside noise. But I’m not really sure about this. So, if we were in say a 85 db environment, would music with these b…

my two questions are

1) will they work well enough to use while riding a motorcycle

2) how long does it reduce the run time in truly loud environment

Re: AirPods Pro

#319

Post by p1esk »

johnnycab wrote: post #317
falcolas wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want inexpensive, SE 215 is what you're looking for, for $99. I have the 535's, which are a step up in drivers, and I love them. They aren't reference quality (which I recommend Etymotics for, and you can buy the isolating sleves for them), and are a bit on the warm side. The 425s are fairly similar, but the 535s are a bit clearer in the high-mids. Any Shure headphones will have better sound quality than Apple…

>If you want inexpensive, SE 215 is what you're looking for, for $99. Shure has jumped the shark. I own these and have stopped endorsing them, the sound quality is utterly rubbish compared to some alternative wireless pairs, which might cost a little bit more, but even a punt on some of the cheaper pairs like Airdots et al. would be worth it.

* the sound quality is utterly rubbish compared to some alternative wireless pairs*

Compared to airpods?

Re: AirPods Pro

#320

Post by icotyl »

It’s unfortunate that the batteries in these things wear out so quickly. And the battery is glued inside, making them $200+ disposable headphones.

But even so, AirPods are one of my favorite products I’ve bought in years.

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