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Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)

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

#351

Post by oblio »

zelly wrote: post #128
heavyset_go wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone, including headphone manufacturers, are trying to get in on the gold rush that is turning their customers into fonts of personal data that can be sold to the highest bidder.

I see this sentiment mentioned a lot, but who actually pays for this data? Is there a company I can call that will buy my amorphous "user data"? What are their names?

Spammers. Spammers that used to buy phone number records or email addresses or postal addresses.

I worked for one for a brief time ~15 years ago (at the time it wasn't obvious what they were doing).

It's the kind of people that would have sent mass mail junk 60 years ago (and probably still send it today!).

Heck, you can see them even on this site, check for some marketing optimization technique articles that sometimes pop up here.

Even a good chunk of our fellow HNers are spammers.

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

#352

Post by rorykoehler »

dragonsngoblins wrote: post #284
monksy wrote: post #167

The article should have buried sony for how egregious they are. They require the app to collect location information, and ear. https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00233341 I'm not sure what else they collect.. but those are the 2 bad ones. They've got a few settings that are software controlled (one being the bluetooth's internal volume) What happens if you get a software update and you open the app on…

I've been using my Sony W-1000XM3s with my Android phone for months and I haven't had to install an app. The only thing the app would get me is a bunch of equalizer shit (which my music player could do and I never use anyway), dynamic noise cancelling of some form (which I'm not sure why I'd ever use, just an on/off toggle is good enough for me). As shitty as the app collecting data is it isn't as if the app is requi…

How did you tune the headphones eq without to app?

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

#353

Post by dagw »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #311
dkdk8283 wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would someone buy noise cancelling headphones if they don’t need that feature? The QC II’s bluetooth range is horrible. Less than half of the QC I’s.

Exactly. If you are disabling noise cancellation on the QC II, you bought the wrong headphones. There are much nicer ones without noise cancellation for less money.

I toggle NC on and off all the time depending on the situation.

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

#354

Post by zimpenfish »

cactus2093 wrote: post #342
niklasd wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently tried out wireless noise-cancelling headphones from both Bose and Sony, and (the important privacy issues aside) the user experience with these apps is just horrible. You unpack your Bose headphone, eager to use them. But before that, you have to download an app on the iPhone, then download a software update program on your laptop, which in turn opens a program in the browser that downloads an update, then…

I didn’t find that an issue at all, and not sure what you mean about the laptop part I only use the mobile app to upgrade my qc 35s. I do find the Bose UX to be horrible though for another reason, which is the incredibly stupid “feature” that the headphones can be connected to multiple devices at once. Since I use it both with my phone and laptop and they’re often in range of each other, sometimes the audio control w…

I've had these PLT headphones swap from phone to laptop when phone is playing music and laptop makes some noise (email notification, etc.) Whilst it's handy for the rare circumstances I want to start listening on the laptop without stopping the phone, it's a massive pain in the arse the other 99% of the time. Not least because it doesn't automatically switch back and start playing again.

I suspect it's the generic Bluetooth chipsets, mind, rather than anyone in particular because this happens with the PLT headphones and the Taotronics dongle I've got.

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

#355

Post by La1n »

renewiltord wrote: post #299
La1n wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That sounds like you do have a choice: spend more money. This is not an option for everyone. Don't poor people deserve privacy too?

Sure, but they deserve to be able to make the choice too. So if you move to a world where selling your data for services isn't available, then you're forcing them to pay and since we've determined they can't pay, all you're doing is removing the choice from them and forcing them in to the no-service option. And I know how it is because I was once affected by this. All these "but the poor people" folks disappear when…

>So if you move to a world where selling your data for services isn't available, then you're forcing them to pay and since we've determined they can't pay, all you're doing is removing the choice from them and forcing them in to the no-service option.

Like this is the only option... We already see a lot of services that sell multiple tiers of their products, with power users or larger companies paying significantly more.

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

#356

Post by RealStickman_ »

heavyset_go wrote: post #277
RealStickman_ wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use Android you have to install a custom rom though to guarantee your privacy.

If you use iOS, you have no other option than just trusting the vendor. You couldn't do anything to make it more secure even if you wanted to.

iOS seems to be more privacy oriented (for the western market, where the government does not yet have the power to force them to comply) by default, while android needs more work put in. If you did as much as you could to secure both I'd agree with you that android is more secure.

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

#357

Post by jackric »

myself248 wrote: post #162
secondcoming wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have LAN ports in your bathroom?

One port, singular -- there's not enough knee real estate for multiple devices. Open the laundry chute, it's in there along with a Thinkpad brick, both wired up from the basement. Ends have magnets that captivate them to the chute door for safe keeping.

Have you got more interesting house solutions like this?

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

#358

Post by comfyinnernet »

Shish2k wrote: post #68
jacquesm wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has an app?

Sony has the worst app I’ve ever seen[1], to the point where I legitimately don’t know how it passed the app store vetting process. Paragraphs of text have wrapping disabled so that the text goes off screen (important text, like the TOS!). Text which does have wrapping enabled wraps on character boundaries instead of word boundaries. Bullet-point lists don’t line up. I have no idea how they made it so bad, it feels l…

Maybe the vetting process only applies to peasants and not the likes of Sony.

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

#359

Post by lm2s »

inetknght wrote: post #310
55555 wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, that's interesting. I've used mine ~6 hours per day for 5 days a week for 2 years. Why can't mine hold a charge for more than an hour? Maybe there's something I don't understand about how batteries work that I am doing and that I could do differently.

I mostly don't use bluetooth. I keep them wired 95% of the time and noise cancelling just eliminates office noise. The remaining 5% of the time is typically on a flight to somewhere connected to my iPhone a couple of feet away.

>I mostly don't use bluetooth. I keep them wired 95% of the time (...)

IMO this seems like a very big detail that should be included when describing your battery longevity.

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

#360

Post by Florin_Andrei »

rorykoehler wrote: post #339
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Beyer Dynamic, AKG and Shure have several options much cheaper than these Bose or Sony headsets which still give you at least 10x the audio-performance. It's complicated. The lowest level opinion is "Bose and Beats are awesome, soooo much bass!!!" That's the typical consumer. The level above that is what you said. That's sometimes called mid-fi. At least these things don't have major flaws anymore. The next level i…

Thanks for the tip. I also have the Sonys. Anyone who thinks they sound great needs a hearing test. Not a patch on my 2 favourites, Sennheiser HD-25 (or any €100+ Sennheiser for that matter) and Beyer Dynamic DT-990 Pro (great home listening and mixing headphone). Even after tuning the Sonys to correct their flaws they still sound tiring. Will check out the settings you recommend.

The DT-990 are not bad. The treble is a little overemphasized. The easy bass is also a bit emphasized, but then they give up on the deep bass (start dropping below 50 Hz). Still good headphones, two classes above the uncorrected Sony NC.

With proper corrections based on objective measurements, any headphones can sound neutral and balanced.

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