Live data from Hacker News

AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

apple.com

431–440 of 509 posts

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of this has a super simple explanation: the shitty products always have org structures that treat software dev as shitty cost centers. It took a long time to realize that the most compelling devices have good, well maintained software. I don’t mean to say that software devs are geniuses or that these orgs have to hire the best of the best. No, they just need to create an org that prioritizes software dev. Low att…

The unsung part of this is that Bluetooth is a ridiculously complicated protocol. Basically everyone has a broken implementation of it. If someone asked me to choose whether to write either a C++ compiler or a bluetooth stack, I would probably choose the C++ compiler. There are very few people who are both passionate about the problem of wireless devices and who understand all of the stack enough to make a driver tha…

I use Airpods with my PC, iPad, MacBook, and Android phone. It works well on all of them. Switching sucks though. Basically have to forget and re-pair every time.

Still better than the competition though. Had a Sony Xm something or another before, but the Airpods are way easier and more comfortable by a huge margin.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#432
post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is Apple’s strength in general. Much easier for older folks to use.

I’ve never really unpacked this idea in my mind before, but if you stop for a second you can quickly appreciate how powerful this type of experience is. Older folks do not like feeling left behind. if Apple is causing them to feel liberated from their state of techno exile, that’s going to create insane goodwill.

And us younger folk appreciate not having to play tech support for the nthteenth time.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#433
post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. You put them in the case, hold the one button (basically the “pair” button) for a sec, and connect from your device. Bam. Work perfectly after that.

For some reason on Windows AirPods show up as two different types of devices (not left and right) one of which sounds very bad with a lot of noise. And of course if you connect AirPods with your iPhone and your Windows laptop they’ll start fighting over who gets to connect.

Use the nicer one for listening. Use the shittier one for conferences. It's not an Airpod thing, Bluetooth just sucks and doesn't support high fidelity full duplex audio.

Same issue on Macs for what it's worth. If you are listening to music and a meeting starts and the mic turns on, the protocol will switch and everything will sound like crap.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some reason on Windows AirPods show up as two different types of devices (not left and right) one of which sounds very bad with a lot of noise. And of course if you connect AirPods with your iPhone and your Windows laptop they’ll start fighting over who gets to connect.

This isn’t an AirPods specific issue, it’s a Windows issue. My laptop does the same thing with my galaxy buds where it shows two devices when I connect them. One of them uses the Bluetooth profile for headphones which sounds decent and the other uses the profile for headsets which sounds like garbage but that is needed in order to have the bandwidth to use the built in mic.

[deleted]

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#435

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 had a couple of airpods as my daily driver and was pretty surprised of how little they suck, but a couple of months ago, I bought some shitty headband with bluetooth headphones which is advertised as running gear. I actually bought it to sleep covering my eyes with the headband and put some white noise, and since they costed 20 bucks that’s all that was asking from them.

So I was greatly surprised because they sound pretty decent, and they are able to pair on several devices, automatically switching, keeping the annoyance on a pretty low level, you still need to turn them on by long pressing a button and they still emit annoying sound when battery is low for a lot of time, but since they were just shitty 20 bucks generic gear I was thinking that maybe companies have finally solved Bluetooth.

Time skip to 5 days ago, I lost my airpods and thought to give non apple headset a chance, since I’m more into over ear stuff. So I bought a pair of not so cheap sony headphones… and yesterday I returned them. Bluetooth still sucks and maybe the generic ones were just a lucky hit. It seems like I will get a new set of airpods.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#436

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…

Yeah. I remember my reason for switching to AirPods Max. My Sony xm3 kept connecting to the laptop in my backpack - which was asleep - when I was getting on my bike. I had to unpair my phone and re-pair it to force it to "own" the headphones. It was such a pita. That really was the biggest value add of the Apple headphones, and it works absolutely great. It almost (a 99.5%+ kind of almost) always connects to the devi…

Bluesnooze[1] mostly resolved this issue for me on MacOS. I also own the XM3s, as well as non-Apple Bluetooth earbuds (Edifier X3), neither of which support multiple devices.

>Bluesnooze prevents your sleeping Mac from connecting to Bluetooth accessories.

[1] https://github.com/odlp/bluesnooze

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#437

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…

After moving from Airpods (not Pros) to some Sennheiser MTW2s, I want to go back to Airpods. My Airpods worked and were reliable. These Sennheisers on the other hand have needed one of them to be replaced due to a stuck button, and now need the other one replaced due to it outright dying out of nowhere, but Sennheiser support is basically nonexistent right now. I never needed an Airpod replaced, or any other kind of support. They just worked and were reliable, and honestly, stayed in my ears SO much better.

I love my HD600s but I will never buy another wireless Sennheiser product. They're garbage. Apple definitely did this one right.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So does airpods. Either way it should just be a setting.

No, they make a noise once and then shut up.

Warning sound at ~10 mins before shutdown, then the shutdown sound when they give out.

Noise twice. OK by me.

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#439

I really want to buy a pair of AirPods, but I’ve been hesitant to because hearing in my left ear is seemingly slowly fading away and I think it was partly because I use to wear EarBuds at max volume all of the time when I was a teen. I know Apple has a headphone safety feature which limits the maximum dB they’re outputting; Even then I always feel super guilty that I might be damaging my hearing further whenever I us…

With noise cancellation I find I never have to crank up the volume above low-medium. This is great as I also try to avoid damaging my hearing more.

The iPhone also has a widget in the control center that displays the current decibel number that the AirPods are outputting. I never go above the “green zone”. The volume is tracked in the Health app where you can see all historic data.

Finally the iPhone has an accessibility function where you can use apps to create perform a sound test, and then generate a specific frequency curve for your phone (maybe boost some frequency that you struggle to hear or increase the volume on one side etc).

Re: AirPods Pro (2nd Generation)

#440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're 85-90% right - but I wouldn't undersell the impact of Apple's proprietary W1 / H1 / H2 chips in their headphones either.

Oh, so they make their own chips, they make both AirPods and MacBook, the OS, but then why do they fail to connect 20% of the time? I think the product should be capable of making sound 99.9%, not 80% of the time. AirPods might be the king of BT devices but it's a beggar in the house of wired.

The house of wires was discontinued. They are lords of a rotten borough.
Post reply on HN