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Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

arstechnica.com

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Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#381

Post by banannaise »

fragmede wrote: post #270
banannaise wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't punish the behavior you want to see. Would we rather they defaulted there? Sure. But it's arguably an even better signal to see that they're willing to listen to their customers even when there is no direct financial incentive for them.

Their financial incentive is negative. They were hoping to force everyone to buy new speakers, driving sales. But if the community is able to get open source firmware to run spotifyd on them, there is a non-zero (not everyone, but it's non-zero) amount of people that will just not buy new speakers from them.

This is why I said "direct". This is an indirect financial incentive, and there are other indirect financial incentives at play here (as others have noted).

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#382

Post by PaulHoule »

tstrimple wrote: post #207
PaulHoule wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Build quality of Bose products is good in my opinion. The headphones are alright but so are Sony, Plantronics and Apple. I love the sound of Airpods Pro in particular even if they don't want to stay in my ears [1] and the pairing experience even with the iPhone isn't what I expect of >$100 headphones in 2016. If you want really good stereo or 5.1 sound there is no substitute for big speakers that can move a lot of ai…

If you haven't tried foam replacement tips, they make a world of difference for me. I couldn't use the airpods (non-pro) at all. I could barely use the silicon tipped pros. But when I put a foam tip on them it not only blocks out ambient sound better, they stay in place. Unfortunately the foam wears out rather quickly and I replace them around three times a year.

To be fair I'm pretty satisfied with the AirPod fit situation if I am sitting at my computer where the noise reduction is handy when the guy across the hall for me at the office is talking up a storm administering contracts and when my son is practicing guitar scales upstairs at home.

They don't fall out often and when they do I'm not worried about losing them.

Out in public is different. (1) It's a pet peeve of mine that people are wearing them and oblivious to warnings about environmental threats or sitting in a machine at the gym for 20 minutes doing nothing looking at their phone and hard to get in contact with. (2) I am doing a practice that increases sensory awareness when I "go out" and listening to music with noise canceling isn't compatible with that.

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#384

Post by bloomingeek »

Thorrez wrote: post #365
neilv wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. When someone does something, hears the complaints, and changes, it's charitable to bin them as someone who made a mistake and wants to improve. Not every company deserves this charity, but the social media default nowadays is to deny that charity to everyone, and to go scorched-earth.

Even if they don't want to improve, and just do it reluctantly, it's best to reward them for doing something good, because otherwise they'll have no incentive to do something good in the future.

And therein lies the fault, they only do "good" because they were made to do it. Rewarding them for "reluctantly" improving won't change their bad behavior. They should improve because it's the decent thing to do. By doing the decent thing, the praise would have been tenfold, which is the best incentive. (I do appreciate your comment because most companies do live in a moral vacuum.)

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#385

Post by monooso »

Wafje wrote: post #225
ktg0215 wrote: post #8

This is how "end of support" should be handled. Instead of turning devices into e-waste, open-source them and let the community extend their life. Kudos to Bose for setting a good example. More companies should follow this approach - especially as right-to-repair becomes a bigger issue.

Bose should not receive praise for this move. Bose only took this action after community backlash. In an older version of their end-of-life announcement, most functionality of the speaker systems would have removed and transformed the devices into dumb-speakers/amps. Good that they changed their statement and took the right action. Even better for the community for stepping up and 'forcing' Bose to do so. Sources: ht…

I don't understand this attitude. Bose listened to feedback, and responded in a positive way.

That's a good outcome for the community, and refusing to "praise" Bose's actions just because they didn't originally do what you wanted is petty and churlish.

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#386

Post by timc3 »

jacquesm wrote: post #244
filoleg wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Bose blows" is a popular comment amongst the audiophile community but, to me, it seems like they don't blow at all[0] That comment is not wrong, you are imo just not making an important distinction that the criteria on which audiophiles judge Bose as “blowing” (which is almost purely the sound profile + a few other smaller things like physical comfort/connectivity/price/etc.) vs. what you judge it on (which is mor…

The audiophile community usually are people with more money than ears, their opinion on the quality of particular brands is easy to discard, it is usually correlated more with expense than actual measured performance.

Except from what I remember Bose audio stuff is measurable bad by any standards (its been a while since I even took note). Their noise cancelling was good in the past though.

My personal experience of Bose PA and HiFi equipment is that is belongs in the trash.

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#387

Post by timc3 »

com2kid wrote: post #250
bartread wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. "Bose blows" is a popular comment amongst the audiophile community but, to me, it seems like they don't blow at all[0]. In fact quite the opposite: this is a fantastic example for other companies to follow. Top marks, Bose! [0] What is actually true is that they are opinionated about sound reproduction in ways that a bunch of people don't agree with but which in the right context are often effective and…

"Bose blows" is typically in regards to their price/performance, and especially with how they marketed themselves throughout the 90s and early 2000s. Bose used to advertise that they were the best sounding speaker out there, while also running advertisements that made claims which violated the laws of physics. For the same price as a Bose system you could get something much higher quality. Bose was selling at luxury…

Speakers often use materials that degrade over time unfortunately. For example electronics in the crossover, foam, glue, and depending on the environment paper.

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#388

Post by timc3 »

pete5x5 wrote: post #113
kiney wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know about Bose. But sound quality in general is absolutely objectively measurable.

You can certainly measure it, but the catch is that there is not always a single "correct" value. So just because you can measure what the speakers are outputting and then adjust it, it doesn't mean there is one correct output value. A good example of this is a target curve, often used in room calibration. Dirac has a good explanation: https://www.dirac.com/resources/target-curve (highly recommend Dirac room correcti…

Yeah that was a very interesting thing to learn. When my room was being tuned (after being built to a specification for acoustics) the acoustician then actually tuned in several switchable curves because it was so flat in response he wanted to make it sound more natural to work in.

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#390

Post by Thorrez »

croon wrote: post #379
Thorrez wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if they don't want to improve, and just do it reluctantly, it's best to reward them for doing something good, because otherwise they'll have no incentive to do something good in the future.

There's the whole citizens united ruling stating companies are people, but they're not toddlers. They (the grown adults working there) should not need positive reinforcement to figure out that consumer hostile actions sour said consumers on their product in future purchase decisions. If they want an incentive to be better, start there.

The massive amount of bad publicity on the initial bad decision is a disincentive to not make bad decisions in the future.

The medium amount of good publicity on the course correction good decision is an incentive to make good decisions in the future, both initial good decisions and course correction good decisions.

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