What is spatial audio? That the sound sounds like it has an origin?
If so, why is it useful/wanted?
The next generation of AirPods
21–30 of 187 posts
Re: The next generation of AirPods
#22Just one day before the new Pixel 6 launch...
Re: The next generation of AirPods
#23I just discovered last week that on the Apple TV I can connect 2 apple audio devices at the same time. Currently staying with the in laws, daughter is sleeping in the same room with us so we couldn’t watch TV. I connected my wife’s AirPods to the Apple TV to watch tv and noticed I could connect another one, so I borrowed my sister in laws AirPods and connected them and both work at the same time. So now we can watch…
I haven't tried doing this with Apple TV, but iPhones also let you share your audio with a second pair of AirPods.
Re: The next generation of AirPods
#24>Apple and the Environment Hilarious section for an expensive product that has a non removable battery and is going to end up in a landfill after a year or two of use.
Yeah my airpods died after like a year and a half of use. When my brand new M1 macbook air died after a month of use I took it to the apple store and the "genius" next to me told someone with dead airpods that it's normal and that they have to buy a replacement pod.
Yeah I got AppleCare for AirPods because I was told they just replace it completely vs only replacing the battery. And I’ve heard the battery will not keep up high capacity if you use it daily a lot as I do
Re: The next generation of AirPods
#25Do they have active noise cancelling? Also, 6 hours listening is a bad joke, that‘s not even a standard workday. With battery aging that‘s soon not even half a workday anymore.
Mine have this rating approximately (AirPods Pros from ~1.5 years ago) and I worried about battery life.
It turns out a few minutes in the case will give you a lot of listening time. Have an in-person meeting? Any reason to put the AirPods away? Throw them in the case and they'll charge a significant amount in 15 or 30 minutes.
My problem ended up being defects which Apple said they would replace the AirPods for, but I need to take them to a certified Apple repair shop. When I did, the shop decided the defect wasn't present. So... I just live with it now.
Re: The next generation of AirPods
#26What is spatial audio? That the sound sounds like it has an origin? If so, why is it useful/wanted?
Imagine having a surround sound system.
Now put on your headphones and you still have that surround sound system.
That's why it's useful / wanted. Video gamers use spatial audio to know where that person shooting at them is.
Audio listeners like the illusory effects of panning around their head.
ASMR listeners like how it can sound exactly like someone is scratching their head because the sound has origin.
Movie producers like it because they can fit more audio into a single scene because the brain can process more spatial audio than regular stereo audio.
That said, stereo audio is still pretty good. Some audio is still just mono. Copied audio is usually mono.
Spatial audio is one way for producers to set their creations off from cheap copies, almost as a non-intrusive form of DRM.
These are my opinions, and happy to chat more about it. Audio is tight.
Re: The next generation of AirPods
#27>Apple and the Environment Hilarious section for an expensive product that has a non removable battery and is going to end up in a landfill after a year or two of use.
A year or two seems implausibly low but I would also compare this with the competition. For example, I have some great AKG headphones (over-ear, wired) which cost more even before adjusting for inflation — the audio quality is absolutely stellar but all of the plastic started falling apart after a couple of years. I've replaced the covers over the ears but now the non-replaceable cable shroud and padding on the crossbar are disintegrating, too.
They probably weigh 10 times more than a pair of AirPods so I'm not sure what the total landfill impact ends up like. I am 100% certain that we will need to have regulation requiring manufacturers to recycle dead products if we want to move the needle at all. I'd also be utterly shocked if AirPods were even 0.1% of the total landfill volume generated by the average buyer over that period — higher for certain trace metals but still, this seems like a newer spin on “I don't even own a TV”.
Re: The next generation of AirPods
#28>Apple and the Environment Hilarious section for an expensive product that has a non removable battery and is going to end up in a landfill after a year or two of use.
Yeah my airpods died after like a year and a half of use. When my brand new M1 macbook air died after a month of use I took it to the apple store and the "genius" next to me told someone with dead airpods that it's normal and that they have to buy a replacement pod.
Seems like PodSwap have figured out how to replace the batteries without butchering them. (I’m not affiliated nor used them.)
Re: The next generation of AirPods
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
They charge super fast. You can get 1 hour of playback from 5 minutes of charging. You can also charge one at a time if you really need them continuously.
Ah now we're thinking with portals.. perhaps they can sell a set of 3 for this exact use? If you're playing games or something that takes heavy focus, you want to stay ahead of charging, not wait for something to die l.
They are not built for your use case, that is all.
I have a pair of airpods pro I use during commuting every day and they are one of my favourite gadgets.
Re: The next generation of AirPods
#30The TL;DR on these is "AirPods Pro without ANC", but comparing the two models there are more slight differences such as skin detection and longer battery life.
Given that, the $180 price point is odd because the Pros occasionally drop to that level on sale.
The new AirPods (and now the old Pros) now have a "MagSafe Wireless Case" which is compatible with the MagSafe charger supposedly, although there isn't more info on that/if it's just Qi charging with no magnets.