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Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

soundguys.com

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Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#111

Post by aidenn0 »

bdefore wrote: post #87
ubercow13 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can a phone reasonably drive such high-impedance headphones anyway?

With a pocketsize amp yes. When at my desk, I plug in through a Mont Blanc FiiO for my Beyerdynamic headphones. Makes a big difference with some audio. Wireless buds are obviously already a step down from wired, and one step further from amplified cans. And yeah, I'm an outlier and want to be.

But there are combined DAC/amps that will use lightning connectors, so if you use an external amp, you might as well use an external dac/amp instead and get audio quality that is certainly no worse than a random android phone, and possibly better.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#112

Post by joshspankit »

formerly_proven wrote: post #36
dangoor wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were two things that happened when Apple got rid of the headphone jack: (1) they added water resistance, (2) the phones got thinner. Plus, Apple had seen the trends heading toward wireless headphones. They still included a dongle to give you a standard headphone jack. While Apple could likely have gotten their water resistance even with the headphone jack, they couldn’t have made the phones as thin. People may…

> the phones got thinner No. They didn't. iPhone 5: 7.6 mm thin, 6: 7 mm iPhone 7: 7.1 mm > While Apple could likely have gotten their water resistance even with the headphone jack, they couldn’t have made the phones as thin. Except that's a pretty obvious lie. Not just that the phones did not get thinner (or lighter), they stayed around the same thickness (+- 0.5 mm), while getting larger, much heavier and much more…

I would argue the the camera “bump” means that the phone is not actually thinner anyway. Honesty means measuring thickness by it’s thickest point.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#113

Post by jungturk »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #84
imglorp wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just update your firmware and then remove the app. Not just Bose, the Sony WH* series is also guilty of this. Great cans, awful app.

I'm curious about the Sony App. What information does it get from the phone? The only kind of sensitive permission it asks for is location, and arguably there's a functionality related to that (change the adaptive sound reduction as a function of where you are). The other permission it asked for is Bluetooth, which I guess is expected since it uses that to talk to the headphones. It never asked for anything else. I d…

Access to the Bluetooth service itself can cause some problems - both in user tracking (as your device notices and is noticed by other discoverable Bluetooth devices), fingerprinting, and through access to the bluetooth data channels (as mentioned in the article with the Bose Connect app)

https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/bluetooth-surveillance...

https://www.soundguys.com/bose-allegedly-tracks-your-informa...

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#114

Post by johnnycab »

wiredfool wrote: post #93
snvzz wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As usual, if there's no headphone jack, I won't buy that device. Privacy isn't even the deal breaker there. Latency and the ability to use my favourite set (Sennheiser HD600) are.

I like my grados, but my old sennheisers were perhaps a bit more comfortable.

I felt cheated after falling for the mass hysteria, which lead me to acquire my first set of SR-60. It didn't take very long to realise how uncomfortable they are for longer listening periods, or when the cable turns into a tangled mess, and the special hell, when you have to replace the earpads.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#115

Post by acd »

I tend to use passive headphones with 3.5mm jack, they have no electronics in them except the small speakers. They do not collect data. They are also used by musicians when doing audio mixing so its should sounds neutral and good.

That the headphones does not have electronics and batteries means they will last longer and thus be be better for the environment.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#116

Post by jungturk »

BTCOG wrote: post #107
sascha_sl wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bose 700 recently patched in EQ support, I'd say that's a reason.

So to each of you with the same response; You're totally ok being sold an unfinished product, paying too high of a price for it, and then having to opt into privacy violations to use a device which should have worked from day one out of the factory. Got it. Noise cancellation in headphones is a gimmick and a fad. High end studio monitors do not typically use it, and it distorts the experience. It makes sense if you'r…

You are surprised that devices can be improved after their launch via software updates?

Or that people will see that as valuable?

Or that people have different preferences in their products than you?

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#117

Post by jcims »

acd wrote: post #115

I tend to use passive headphones with 3.5mm jack, they have no electronics in them except the small speakers. They do not collect data. They are also used by musicians when doing audio mixing so its should sounds neutral and good. That the headphones does not have electronics and batteries means they will last longer and thus be be better for the environment.

I can’t prove if everything you said is true or not but I like the way you lay it out there. :)

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#118

Post by wongarsu »

BTCOG wrote: post #107
sascha_sl wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bose 700 recently patched in EQ support, I'd say that's a reason.

So to each of you with the same response; You're totally ok being sold an unfinished product, paying too high of a price for it, and then having to opt into privacy violations to use a device which should have worked from day one out of the factory. Got it. Noise cancellation in headphones is a gimmick and a fad. High end studio monitors do not typically use it, and it distorts the experience. It makes sense if you'r…

I suspect they liked the device in the state they bought it in, and were pleased when it later got even better at no extra charge (except for installing the app).

You can still buy dumb headphones without Bluetooth or noise cancellation of you don't like smart devices.

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#119

Post by wongarsu »

lozenge wrote: post #60
oarsinsync wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My QC35IIs have a button on the side to adjust noise cancelling. No need for an app.

The app lets you set the levels the button cycles through, and also set an auto off timer and some other odds and ends.

All features that couldn't be reasonably configured without an app

Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

#120

Post by renewiltord »

saurik wrote: post #76
caymanjim wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't. The app may ask for it, and there may be some benefit to the user if they provide it, but it's not like the headphones magically acquire any of the data the author is complaining about. If people want to give their personal information out, that's up to them. I personally limit what information I share, and I get annoyed when devices or apps try to sneakily get more information than I'm willing to intenti…

They care. It exudes as a cynicism about the world and continual jokes about talking to the FBI agent assigned to watch them. They (as are we) are just powerless to prevent it as every single service and every single platform and apparently every single product is collecting data on us. And since the value of services and platforms and, sadly, even products goes up as more people are using them, the arguments of "don…

That sounds like you do have a choice: spend more money. In a world where this wasn't allowed, presumably you'd be forced to spend more money. So you can inhabit that world right now if you want.
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