Agree with the point of the blog, but the biggest hurdle for me:
If you do a short and intensive sprint, Airpods usually will register a click and skip to the next song...
AirPods don't “just work”
411–420 of 966 posts
Re: AirPods don't “just work”
#412Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Mobility is why I got the Air Pods Pro to begin with. I don't use them with my Air and I don't even want them to pair with my Air; wired ear buds are fine (and cheap!) for that. But they're great for walking and working out. The Air Pods Pro even stay in my ears while erging. Still, the OP's complaints are valid. But when they work, which is most of the time, they're great. Surprisingly (but not insanely) great.
Tangent but what’s “erging”? Never heard this before and the spellcheck has a red squiggly below it, so it has not heard of it either.
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Re: AirPods don't “just work”
#413Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Mobility is why I got the Air Pods Pro to begin with. I don't use them with my Air and I don't even want them to pair with my Air; wired ear buds are fine (and cheap!) for that. But they're great for walking and working out. The Air Pods Pro even stay in my ears while erging. Still, the OP's complaints are valid. But when they work, which is most of the time, they're great. Surprisingly (but not insanely) great.
Tangent but what’s “erging”? Never heard this before and the spellcheck has a red squiggly below it, so it has not heard of it either.
Shorthand for ”using an indoor rowing machine”
Re: AirPods don't “just work”
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
Y’know what headphones really did “just work” though? Wired headphones, circa 2017. Their battery life was infinite. You could “pair” them in seconds to any device with a headphone jack, aka any device, because we’re in 2017. Oh, and they were cheaper and better for the environment. Courage, indeed. And this is why I’m currently typing my comment on an iPhone 6S...
Honestly, the fact that I no longer snag my earphones on random protrusions, like doorknobs and bus ticket validating machines is a bliss. Cables inside at a desk: sure, why not. Cables outside: hard pass.
This was such a big issue with my wired Sony headphones. Can't tell you how many I've gone through.
On another hand, I've a pair of Bose wireless headphones for close to 6 years now. Battery is still good enough for 2+ hours of workout.
Re: AirPods don't “just work”
#415Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't wired use the DAC on the device rather than the headphones? I thought the 3.5mm jack carried an analog signal.
That's his point. They're using the device's DAC when wired which is why it doesn't sound as good as when using Bluetooth through the headphones' DAC.
Sure but that's an issue with wired headphones in general, not specific to these.
Re: AirPods don't “just work”
#416Earlier quoted context omitted.
Aftershokz Aeropex, silly name aside, is a decent product that gets you a Bluetooth device you can wear all day without losing
I've got these, bluetooth on them works great, and the bone conduction is really interesting. It's really nice being able to hear your surroundings while having some kind of audio playing. Or if you don't want the surrounding sound, they come ear plugs. Really comfortable to have on too, I barely even notice them (if at all) when I'm wearing them. Should be mentioned though, for the price the music quality is worse t…
Agreed. They're great for walking around outside while on a phone call, listening to a podcast, or listening to music while exercising outdoors – not for "getting into the music". Airpods are better at doing both, based on what I've heard.
Re: AirPods don't “just work”
#417All valid annoyances, but I really think OP should try using another brand of Bluetooth headphones for a week just to get some perspective of how well AirPods "just work" compared to the competition. Manually having to re-pair once in every blue moon, one earbud playing while the other isn't, no automatic device switching without having to go through the Settings app everytime, A/V desync, dodgy mic quality, earbuds…
Sony bluetooth is wonderful! The pair is lasting me the longest any earphone every have
Re: AirPods don't “just work”
#418Earlier quoted context omitted.
Y’know what headphones really did “just work” though? Wired headphones, circa 2017. Their battery life was infinite. You could “pair” them in seconds to any device with a headphone jack, aka any device, because we’re in 2017. Oh, and they were cheaper and better for the environment. Courage, indeed. And this is why I’m currently typing my comment on an iPhone 6S...
Honestly, the fact that I no longer snag my earphones on random protrusions, like doorknobs and bus ticket validating machines is a bliss. Cables inside at a desk: sure, why not. Cables outside: hard pass.
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Re: AirPods don't “just work”
#419All valid annoyances, but I really think OP should try using another brand of Bluetooth headphones for a week just to get some perspective of how well AirPods "just work" compared to the competition. Manually having to re-pair once in every blue moon, one earbud playing while the other isn't, no automatic device switching without having to go through the Settings app everytime, A/V desync, dodgy mic quality, earbuds…
Owning Sony XM4s, Galaxy Buds Pros, Bose QC, and Airpods Pros: that's an extreme take. All of these devices "just work" and "don't just work" in nearly the same ways.
The microphone quality is a tin can on all of them. Among my friends in Discord, anytime someone logs on with a shit mic the meme is "dude are you using airpods?!" They usually are. Or any earbeans. Because they're all bad.
The AV desync is an equal issue on both of them. BT headphones are basically useless for any realtime application (think: playing a digital piano).
This may just be me, but: I have no idea what the "automatic device switching" airpods feature is. I have a Mac. I have an iPhone. If I want to switch my Airpods from iPhone to the Mac, I have to go to the bluetooth menu in the toolbar, and click the Airpods on the Mac... just like the XM4s. To go back, I go into the bluetooth quick settings menu and click Airpods Pros. Its exactly the same. Like, ever since they announced this feature, I feel like either the world entered a collective psychosis on what this feature does, or I'm getting old and I'm missing something, but its exactly the same (and, not that bad; exactly how many steps I'd expect to switch an audio output device). The Airpods are certainly very nice during the initial pair process, but that's a one-time thing on both devices.
The scary part to me is: the APPs do have slightly better UX on Apple devices. And it isn't just the value-add features like "automatic" switching and spatial audio; I do experience slightly more AV desync on the XM4s on iPhone. The XM4s sometimes won't connect to my Mac. But these issues are entirely and totally Apple device specific; I also regularly use the XM4s with a Galaxy S21 Ultra and Windows 11 PC, and they're just where I'd expect BT headphones to land there. I really think this is an "Intel Mac situation", where Apple is intentionally ruining (or ignoring, and thus leaving to languish) the experience of integrating non-Apple devices so they can sell their accessories. Then, even educated customers start saying "the APPs just work better" even though what's really happening is, the iPhone is just working worse with non-APPs, and Apple is pushing their monopoly once again.
And I say all that coming to the conclusion: If friends ask me what earbeans to buy, if they have an iPhone, just buy APPs. They have better UX, in very small but nonetheless extant ways, even if I'm convinced it's because of Apple's monopoly control over consumer devices. Maybe more-so: they have a very neutral, unoffensive sound profile. Its boring. But the quality is competitive with any other bean out there, which is to say: great. It works for nearly any type of music, and no one will complain about it.
None of the other "tech company beans" can compete with the APPs. Some are cheaper. All of them suck. This meaning: Samsung, Microsoft, Google beans.
But if you're on Android; the APPs are still a top 3 choice. However, I'd add: if you want a neutral sound profile, the Bose QC beans (non-sport) have better noise cancellation and comparable audio quality. If you'd welcome or accept a more bass-heavy sound signature and larger (yet still comfortable) in-ear profile: the Sony XM4s are the best beans money can buy.
Re: AirPods don't “just work”
#420Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hope it's an open protocol that operates on WiFi spectrum. Every implementation of Bluetooth is horrible, and you start to wonder if the Bluetooth spec itself is the issue..
I hope you mean the 5 or 6GHz range. Bluetooth already runs at 2.4GHz, but that frequency band is cluttered as all heck. An open protocol would be excellent though.
Yeah sure, I really don't know much about wireless spectrum. It just needs to be something that existing hardware supports.