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AirPods Max

apple.com

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Re: AirPods Max

#711

Post by dang »

nathias wrote: post #171
r0fl wrote: post #122

I know nothing about headphones, nor do I want to invest any time learning about headphones. I’ve had a bunch of Apple products that have never disappointed me in the last 10+ years. I’ll buy these overpriced headphones because an extra $200 for a product I’ll probably use for 5 years will not break my bank account.

Fascinating, I always suspected people like this existed.

Please don't.

Edit: We've had to warn you about flamebait comments and personal attacks before. Continuing like this will get you banned. If you would please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and use the site as intended, we'd appreciate it.

Re: AirPods Max

#712

Post by ssambros »

comandillos wrote: post #706
visarga wrote: post #688

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery issues, etc. Sure they're $500 My AirPods often have bluetooth issues, even when coupled to a MacBook, not just any laptop. They fail at the basic function of making sound.

+1 My experience with the AirPods Pro is far from being smooth. Random disconnections, sometimes L or R do not connect, cannot use microphone and listen to music... Tired of them. Bought a pair of Beyerdynamic with a 3,5mm jack and not even a single issue... For about 150$...

I had an issue with R constantly not connecting. Ended up replacing under the warranty and now have zero issues.

Re: AirPods Max

#713

Post by FroshKiller »

tjoff wrote: post #685
zcw100 wrote: post #240

I think this is actually a fantastic place for Apple. I'm happy to trash Apple where appropriate and I've got plenty of complaints. I think Apple does it's best when the integration of hardware and software is really important and there is a very low tolerance for, I won't say bugs, but issues. They're headphones. I want to put them on and they need to make noise. I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery iss…

You know what doesn't have a battery never had any connectivity issues (before apple) and just works? The 3.5mm jack. I'm all for options though! But apple don't so I guess it doesn't matter.

I've had my share of connectivity issues with corded headphones, like pulling the cord out of the jack accidentally, breaking the wire inside the cord, not being able to walk away from the device I'm connected to without taking off the headphones, etc.

Re: AirPods Max

#714

Post by throwaway1777 »

runawaybottle wrote: post #695
visarga wrote: post #688

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery issues, etc. Sure they're $500 My AirPods often have bluetooth issues, even when coupled to a MacBook, not just any laptop. They fail at the basic function of making sound.

Yeah, I have no idea where people are getting the whole seamless wireless connectivity experience idea from. AirPods are pretty much awful in terms of connecting. It’s a little better than regular Bluetooth because of the case which gives a lot of visual feedback when you open it, but that’s mostly to trick your senses into not realizing it’s still just a shitty bluetooth headphone that takes forever to connect.

Because in the past most Bluetooth headphones were terrible and pretty much everyone got in pairing hell at some point. Airpods were much better than the status quo when launched.

Re: AirPods Max

#715

Post by thefunnyman »

deergomoo wrote: post #697
visarga wrote: post #688

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery issues, etc. Sure they're $500 My AirPods often have bluetooth issues, even when coupled to a MacBook, not just any laptop. They fail at the basic function of making sound.

In my experience AirPods work like magic 99% of the time, but the 1% that they don’t is infuriating . If you have any issues all you can do is the “put them back in the case and hope that kicks them back in line” dance, to mixed effect.

This is spot on. Every now and then only one of my AirPods will connect and then it’s just putting them back in the case over and over until they start working again.

Re: AirPods Max

#716

Post by mrtksn »

no-dr-onboard wrote: post #594
mrtksn wrote: post #162

Oh, I find it fascinating how the audio gear industry has taught the consumers on how much money you are supposed to spend to have audio experience at certain level. Pay attention on audiophile arguments, they will talk in terms of money(i.e. 150$ headphones vs 500$ headphones) when talking about audio quality. I always find the audiophile market to be borderline fraud. They sell CD demagnetisers, ceramic cable lifte…

> "you actually pay for the product experience instead for being part of some deeply troubling subculture" I appreciate your larger argument but this statement is ironic in light of your previous paragraph :/. IME (with time as an Apple software engineer) the Apple subculture _is_ a deeply troubling subculture. Take the iPhone for example: small, insignificant iterations that demand a premium. Consider the litany of…

What I like about Apple fanboy subculture is that it's generally positive. Apple fans can get smirky when discussing Apple but would't chase down and brigate, turning every discussion about competitors into "We are smart Apple elites but good for you for trying". Competitor hateboys are not common among Apple fanboys.

On the other hand they would be always targeted by people who are not in the Apple ecosystem, usually called sheep and explained how they are supposed to not be happy with the product they bought.

For me, Apple is the company that cares about experience design as primary concern and that's why I care about what they are doing. It's intellectually stimulating, much more than chasing the random metric that somehow everyone decided that it's the number to look for. For example, lately everyone would talk about bezel to screen ratio. Previously it was Ghz, Megapxels, core numbers and what not.

Re: AirPods Max

#717

Post by low_common »

zcw100 wrote: post #240

I think this is actually a fantastic place for Apple. I'm happy to trash Apple where appropriate and I've got plenty of complaints. I think Apple does it's best when the integration of hardware and software is really important and there is a very low tolerance for, I won't say bugs, but issues. They're headphones. I want to put them on and they need to make noise. I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery iss…

I bought a $100 pair of bluetooth Sennheisers that have a battery life that seems to be measured not in hours, but in days. I use them all day every day while working in the office, at home, or coffee shop. Music sounds great and so do movies. Never have to worry about the bluetooth connnection, pairs to my Mac or to my work laptop just fine. And they got to me with Amazon Prime.

You do not need to spend $500 if all you need is headphones that do their job.

Re: AirPods Max

#718

Post by mempko »

enos_feedler wrote: post #625
emcq wrote: post #606

It feels like we are seeing the result of diminishing returns with technology advancement. To make a product that Apple believes is significantly better than the competition they had to design a very intricate solution that includes: * High end look and feel not similar to the bulk of their products with lots of textile webbing and memory foam ear cups. These get way more wear and tear than normal electronics being e…

I don't understand the point you are trying to make. You lead with a statement that sounds like disappointment, but then build up to the engineering complexity involved. What are you trying to say? That this doesn't add up to a great product? How long have you been using them for?

I think he means headphone tech is already complex and they needed to raise complexity a lot, lets say 10x to get something that maybe has 1.2x better sound. At least that's what I understood. In other words, you get diminishing returns.

Re: AirPods Max

#719

Post by jkubicek »

friday99 wrote: post #575
zcw100 wrote: post #240

I think this is actually a fantastic place for Apple. I'm happy to trash Apple where appropriate and I've got plenty of complaints. I think Apple does it's best when the integration of hardware and software is really important and there is a very low tolerance for, I won't say bugs, but issues. They're headphones. I want to put them on and they need to make noise. I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery iss…

Thanks for pointing out the spatial audio. It amazes me all the comments about price but not discussing what features these actually have. Dynamic head tracking for spatial audio could be really amazing and is not cheap to implement. These aren't just some "dumb" headphones with speakers in them. I'm really interested in trying these out on the Xbox X which has Dolby Atmos on a big screen and hearing the sounds move…

Dynamic head tracking spacial audio is available today with the Airpods Pro and it is amazing. Watching surround-sound TV with spacial audio enabled is basically indistinguishable from watching TV with a surround sound system and no headphones, to the point where I have to check to make sure the audio is playing through my headphones and not external speakers.

Downside is that it only works with iPhone, iPad and AppleTV 4k. It's such an amazing upgrade over my current setup, though, that I'm planning on upgrading to an AppleTV 4K so that I'm not limited to using spatial audio on just my iPad.

Re: AirPods Max

#720

Post by chairmanwow1 »

deergomoo wrote: post #697
visarga wrote: post #688

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery issues, etc. Sure they're $500 My AirPods often have bluetooth issues, even when coupled to a MacBook, not just any laptop. They fail at the basic function of making sound.

In my experience AirPods work like magic 99% of the time, but the 1% that they don’t is infuriating . If you have any issues all you can do is the “put them back in the case and hope that kicks them back in line” dance, to mixed effect.

I setup a macro with BetterTouchTool on my Mac to turn on bluetooth and connect to my Airpods. And that has essentially solved any of the edgecase weirdness about connectivity. Now it's truly magical 100% of the time. I can be listening to a podcast on my phone, hit the macro and jump into a zoom call with no menu or case futzing.

Before this I was dealing with these bizarro issues occasionally that was really frustrating.

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