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AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

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Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#161

A little off-topic, but … Does anyone else have problems with the current AirPods Pro dramatically prioritizing ambient noise (cars passing on the street, washing of dishes, etc.) over your own voice when on phone calls? This is a major problem with two pairs I've owned and with those owned by my girlfriend, brother, and pretty much everyone else who would humor me and test it out. My girlfriend and I have taken our…

It’s customizable. https://support.apple.com/guide/airpods/customize-transparen...

I think you're misunderstanding. This isn't an issue with noise cancelling or transparency mode. The issue is with the way the AirPods Pro mic picks up the user's dialogue (and surrounding noises) and relays/amplifies them to the person on the other end of a phone call.

For example:

Person A calls Person B. Person B answers using AirPods Pro. They begin talking. Person B decides to wash a dish in her sink while talking to Person A. Person A goes from hearing Person B's voice clearly to barely hearing it at all behind the seemingly amplified sound of the dish washing. Person B is none the wiser and doesn't understand why she has to keep repeating herself. Both parties hang up in frustration. Then they break up and enter simultaneous but separate downward spirals until neither can afford AirPods Pros anymore. Then they meet again and decide to talk on the phone. They hear each other clearly. Their lives improve. They can afford AirPods Pros again. The cycle repeats.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#162

A little off-topic, but … Does anyone else have problems with the current AirPods Pro dramatically prioritizing ambient noise (cars passing on the street, washing of dishes, etc.) over your own voice when on phone calls? This is a major problem with two pairs I've owned and with those owned by my girlfriend, brother, and pretty much everyone else who would humor me and test it out. My girlfriend and I have taken our…

It’s customizable. https://support.apple.com/guide/airpods/customize-transparen...

That link describes how the person wearing the AirPods can customize how much of the environment noise they (!) want to hear.

The person you were responding to was talking about calling an AirPod user and hearing too much of their (!) environment noise.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#163

A little off-topic, but … Does anyone else have problems with the current AirPods Pro dramatically prioritizing ambient noise (cars passing on the street, washing of dishes, etc.) over your own voice when on phone calls? This is a major problem with two pairs I've owned and with those owned by my girlfriend, brother, and pretty much everyone else who would humor me and test it out. My girlfriend and I have taken our…

Pretty much everyone at my company who has Airpods suffers from this, it seems particularly bad on Zoom for some reason (still happens on Google Meet, but less often).

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#164

A little off-topic, but … Does anyone else have problems with the current AirPods Pro dramatically prioritizing ambient noise (cars passing on the street, washing of dishes, etc.) over your own voice when on phone calls? This is a major problem with two pairs I've owned and with those owned by my girlfriend, brother, and pretty much everyone else who would humor me and test it out. My girlfriend and I have taken our…

Sure do, i wonder if these new ones have fixed that. The talk about a microphone update on apple's site...

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#165

It's wild how much money Apple has made from Bluetooth headphones that don't suck. That's literally it. They're portable, pair easily and (somewhat) work with multiple devices. I have top of the line Bose Bluetooth headphones that still, in 2022, have issues with multiple devices. I can't count how many times I've started playing music on my iPhone only to realize that the headphones think my laptop is playing, so th…

I would have completely agreed until I tried to pair my AirPods with Linux; they're the only device I've had trouble pairing with my Linux desktop. Even so, I mostly agree. What's going on at all the other companies that cannot get this right?

They seem pretty picky, but usually work with Intel wireless on the hardware and (recent) pipewire on the software side.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#166
post #60

It's wild how much money Apple has made from Bluetooth headphones that don't suck. That's literally it. They're portable, pair easily and (somewhat) work with multiple devices. I have top of the line Bose Bluetooth headphones that still, in 2022, have issues with multiple devices. I can't count how many times I've started playing music on my iPhone only to realize that the headphones think my laptop is playing, so th…

Moreover, it's amazing how they've managed to make a bluetooth accessory that is intuitive to older folks. I never bothered buying my parents bluetooth devices because they'd always end up in the drawer from disuse. They use their Airpods daily and never ask me for help. A wonder.

No post body was provided.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#167

nothing on improving the mic and moving away from bluetooth =(

> A redesigned inward-facing microphone works with voice enhancement algorithms to better recognize and articulate your voice, so it sounds more natural when you’re on phone and video calls. Also where are you getting "moving away from bluetooth"? That was a rumor (that they might move to their U1 tech for better audio quality) but they didn't mention that in the presentation nor is it mentioned on their site.

UWB would provide plenty of bandwidth at close range with better energy efficiency, but it will not match bluetooth for distance. With sufficient software complexity you could switch back and forth between them depending on conditions… so that sounds like a business decision on cost to implement and benefit.

Or some clown has a patent conjoining some aspect of UWB and audio, or protocol switching. Apple never says "we don't do this because there is a patent in the way". It isn't their image.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#168
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moreover, it's amazing how they've managed to make a bluetooth accessory that is intuitive to older folks. I never bothered buying my parents bluetooth devices because they'd always end up in the drawer from disuse. They use their Airpods daily and never ask me for help. A wonder.

Not that intuitive imo. I had to show my sister in law who is in her 50's that she needs to leave the case open with the airpods in it, then press the button on the back, in order to make them discoverable. Like all apple products they do sacrifice some discoverability in favor of a sexier minimalist look

When you first connect them, iOS will automatically detect the presence of the AirPods and suggests to connect to them in a small window.

Then your Apple account is used to make all your idevices recognize your AirPods.

For 90% of people, that solves 100% of their problems.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#169

Two major gripes with my current AirPods (not-Pro)… 1 - Battery life is less than half what it was when new. For $160, they should last more than 2 years, IMO. This applies to both the pods themselves and the case. 2 - I hate wireless ear buds for anything beyond sitting still. The risk of losing one half of a $160 pair is just too high. They might be ok walking, but not hiking, running, or cycling. The Pros might st…

> If Apple made a set of ear buds that had a strap

They make a bunch of these, but for some reason always under the Beats brand. I assume the battery longevity is just as bad though.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#170

It's wild how much money Apple has made from Bluetooth headphones that don't suck. That's literally it. They're portable, pair easily and (somewhat) work with multiple devices. I have top of the line Bose Bluetooth headphones that still, in 2022, have issues with multiple devices. I can't count how many times I've started playing music on my iPhone only to realize that the headphones think my laptop is playing, so th…

> Why the hell can't you just tell the headphones to play from the phone and keep the laptop connected? This is something that baffled me on Windows and MacOS, but I don't seem to experience on Linux/Android/iOS. Windows was particularly "greedy"; whenever you'd turn on your headphones it would attempt to steal the connection away (even booting other multipoint connections off). MacOS is slightly more graceful, but s…

The Windows Bluetooth stack is terrible. Ludicrously bad. Last time I looked, it had four times the latency of iOS with the exact same headphones.
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