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Airpods Max Sucked for Me

mattfarrugia.com

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Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#21

Post by mfarrugia »

diebeforei485 wrote: post #18
mfarrugia wrote: post #2

I admit that my requirements are not the standard ones, I just thought this might be useful info for other people who, like me, thought they'd be perfect for working from home

It is frustrating how opaque bluetooth is. A lot of regular folks would have no idea that getting a newer Mac would improve their airpods microphone quality. For what it's worth I have found the NC 700's to have a much better microphone quality when in self voice mode. It's explained here: https://www.gearpatrol.com/tech/audio/a594565/bose-noise-can...

Yes the microphone was better. My Bluetooth 4.0 adapter still resulted in an 8kHz duplex connection to them though

Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#22

Post by falcolas »

diebeforei485 wrote: post #18
mfarrugia wrote: post #2

I admit that my requirements are not the standard ones, I just thought this might be useful info for other people who, like me, thought they'd be perfect for working from home

It is frustrating how opaque bluetooth is. A lot of regular folks would have no idea that getting a newer Mac would improve their airpods microphone quality. For what it's worth I have found the NC 700's to have a much better microphone quality when in self voice mode. It's explained here: https://www.gearpatrol.com/tech/audio/a594565/bose-noise-can...

Improve? Mic, perhaps, but my range and connection reliability have gone down the toilet with a new Macbook air, compared to my pre-USB-c version. I can’t get more than 3’ from it without the audio cutting out. The same headphones can get 100’+ with my iPhone SE.

Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#23

Post by AshamedCaptain »

dpedu wrote: post #14

Audio / bluetooth on macs is currently a total disaster. My newer macs - mainly a 2019 15" - have some truly bizarre behaviors around these. One example is that if I switch 3.5mm audio cables too quickly it starts routing audio to my HDMI monitor instead. Macs still can't control the volume of HDMI audio out so that means I get hit with a max volume blast. I have to detach one cable, wait 60 seconds, and attach the o…

> activating the mic on bluetooth headsets [...] brings the audio bitrate down to a quality comparable to AM radio

This is actually an artifact of the BT profile used. It is the same for most bluetooth headsets (all I know), and the same for all operating systems I know. Usually most people don't realize because when they enable the mic they're listening to... well, other people (definitely not music) and human voice sounds quite good at these bitrates. Good operating systems will just pause the music when you switch to the headset profile so that you don't hear it heavily compressed (until you finish the call and disable the mic).

It won't matter which "BT version" your adapter is using. 2.0, 4.0, 4.2 or 5.0. The headset profiles have remained unchanged for decades.

There is something new in 5.x -- the "LE Audio" profiles -- but I know no headset using it yet. And then there's the myriad of propietary extensions. Most of them are snake oil; your mileage may vary. But then again when using proprietary extensions BT version does not really matter either.

Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#24

Post by ah88 »

Somewhat surprised at the number of negative experiences. I've had them for ~3 weeks and can't believe I didn't buy them sooner. I did go from a wired headset to these for work and they're a game changer. Battery life is excellent. Noise cancelling is great. Yes, it seems to pair to the closest device but pairing is a couple of clicks away.

Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#25

Post by watt »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #23
dpedu wrote: post #14

Audio / bluetooth on macs is currently a total disaster. My newer macs - mainly a 2019 15" - have some truly bizarre behaviors around these. One example is that if I switch 3.5mm audio cables too quickly it starts routing audio to my HDMI monitor instead. Macs still can't control the volume of HDMI audio out so that means I get hit with a max volume blast. I have to detach one cable, wait 60 seconds, and attach the o…

> activating the mic on bluetooth headsets [...] brings the audio bitrate down to a quality comparable to AM radio This is actually an artifact of the BT profile used. It is the same for most bluetooth headsets (all I know), and the same for all operating systems I know. Usually most people don't realize because when they enable the mic they're listening to... well, other people (definitely not music) and human voice…

I don't really care about the nitty gritty. The fact that it's even possible on something that's supposed to be high-end, is ridiculous.

Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#26

Post by camgunz »

I've messed with this a lot, and the best setup I've come up with is:

- Etymotic ER4SR earbuds

- Laptop mic(s)

- Do some weird thing for my iPhone (Airpods, Earpods, dongle to my Etymotics)

I've never had noise cancellation be anywhere near as effective as a good ear seal, and I absolutely do not trust it to not malfunction and damage my hearing. Noise cancellation and high quality sounds are essentially orthogonal anyway so, it's an easy choice.

Unfortunately sound quality almost always means giving up a mic and wireless too. Etymotic has a neckbuds adapter but you can't replace the cables, which means its lifespan is something around a year. There are some great Bluetooth converters, but since they're almost exactly like plugging into a phone I don't really see the point.

There are some aftermarket cables you can buy that have mics built in. I messed with this a little but, it turned out that the mics on my laptop were actually pretty good.

So, yeah my setup now is I carry two sets of earbuds around, which actually all things considered is coming away pretty cheap. Can wholeheartedly recommend the ER4SRs too (they make a version w/ a bass boost but, don't crack), replaceable cable, replaceable filters, insanely good sound quality, great support. The immediate feeling of IEMs is pretty uncomfortable, but spend 3-4 months getting tips that are right for your ears and getting used to them. It's been extremely worth it for me, I can focus and do real work in pretty bonkers environments. Plus your battery will never die ;)

Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#27

Post by davio »

brundolf wrote: post #10
Analemma_ wrote: post #4

Bluetooth on Macs is infuriatingly broken, even with Apple's own products. I have the AirPods Pro with a 2019 13" MBP and run into similar issues: if I'm just listening to music, everything is fine. As soon as the microphones come on to do a call, the audio quality goes down the tube and there is a loud crackling noise in the right AirPod that never goes away (and I know this isn't the crackling problem with AirPods…

This isn't the bluetooth, it's a known problem with the AirPods Pro. I used the regular AirPods (with no issues) for a year before getting AirPods Pro, which I then used for a couple months before the increasingly bad audio issues made them completely unusable. I ended up buying a new pair of the regular AirPods and, again, no issues. I read somewhere that it was an early-batch problem and that it's been fixed in new…

I had mine replaced under warranty because of this. The specific problem only appears in the active noise cancelling or transparency modes. Can also test it by touching the pod. Ones with the problem will make crackling noises in active modes.

Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#28

Post by dpedu »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #23
dpedu wrote: post #14

Audio / bluetooth on macs is currently a total disaster. My newer macs - mainly a 2019 15" - have some truly bizarre behaviors around these. One example is that if I switch 3.5mm audio cables too quickly it starts routing audio to my HDMI monitor instead. Macs still can't control the volume of HDMI audio out so that means I get hit with a max volume blast. I have to detach one cable, wait 60 seconds, and attach the o…

> activating the mic on bluetooth headsets [...] brings the audio bitrate down to a quality comparable to AM radio This is actually an artifact of the BT profile used. It is the same for most bluetooth headsets (all I know), and the same for all operating systems I know. Usually most people don't realize because when they enable the mic they're listening to... well, other people (definitely not music) and human voice…

I'm not so sure. I mainly used the airpods as a mic for Zoom calls so the content is voice either way. The quality degradation is drastic enough that I don't even try to use the Airpods on my computer for voice calls anymore. However, they're still my go-to for use with my phone and it doesn't seem nearly as bad there. Yes, they have different modes for mic on vs mic off but on my phone they are usable.

Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#29

Post by mfarrugia »

mfarrugia wrote: post #2

I admit that my requirements are not the standard ones, I just thought this might be useful info for other people who, like me, thought they'd be perfect for working from home

In case anyone cares, the Jabra Evolve2 85s arrived today. They definitely sound worse for music listening but I'll keep them because the USB Bluetooth dongle fixes the 8kHz problem, they work wired over USB and they cut out the event noise in the house. YMMV.

Re: Airpods Max Sucked for Me

#30

Post by mfarrugia »

AshamedCaptain wrote: post #23
dpedu wrote: post #14

Audio / bluetooth on macs is currently a total disaster. My newer macs - mainly a 2019 15" - have some truly bizarre behaviors around these. One example is that if I switch 3.5mm audio cables too quickly it starts routing audio to my HDMI monitor instead. Macs still can't control the volume of HDMI audio out so that means I get hit with a max volume blast. I have to detach one cable, wait 60 seconds, and attach the o…

> activating the mic on bluetooth headsets [...] brings the audio bitrate down to a quality comparable to AM radio This is actually an artifact of the BT profile used. It is the same for most bluetooth headsets (all I know), and the same for all operating systems I know. Usually most people don't realize because when they enable the mic they're listening to... well, other people (definitely not music) and human voice…

I'm curious as to why the same BT profile achieved 8kHz to my Big Sur Mac with a Bluetooth 4.0 chipset, 16 kHz to a Big Sur MacBook with a Bluetooth 4.2 chipset and 24 kHz to the iPhone 11 Pro with a 5.0 chipset (and the other custom Apple chips of course). Any ideas?
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