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AirPods don't “just work”

philip.design

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Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#461

Post by jon889 »

It would be nice if audio from all your devices played at once through AirPods instead of it trying to switch by guessing which one you want to listen to. In exactly the same way you can hear all your devices at once if not using headphones, the advantage being only you can hear them and not anyone else.

Eg if watching TV on a laptop with headphones but you get sent a TikTok or short clip on your phone it plays over the TV and you just tune out the TV for a few seconds like you would if your were at home watching TV while using your phone.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#462

Post by qwertox »

My "it just works"-setup is the following: all devices are connected via a cable to a cheap audio mixer, including one Bluetooth receiver to which my phone can connect to.

The mixer has a long cable to a well positioned spot in the apartment and the cable ends with a Bluetooth transmitter. A small (4cm x 4cm x 1cm) Bluetooth receiver has wired in-ear headphones connected to it and that's it.

This receiver has small a magnet glued to it, and the desk has another magnet glued to it. The USB-charging cable also has a magnetic adapter so that the micro-USB end is left in the receiver, and when I leave the desk I just have to pull the receiver way, which stops the loading process since the USB cable is also easily separated. When I get back to the desk I just snap the receiver to the magnet of the desk, and if I feel that I should charge it (no issues with using it 6 hours without charging it), I just snap the magnetic end of the cable to the receiver.

Every device which wants to send me audio can do it, and I can move freely around the apartment without any interruption.

When I go out I use another Bluetooth headset connected to the phone.

The annoyances listed in the article would drive me absolutely mad.

---

Basically 3 of these: https://www.amazon.de/1mii-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Dual-Verbin... (one for phone, long cable sender, magnetic receiver)

one of these: https://www.amazon.de/Moukey-Mischpult-Mikrofon-Keyboard-B%C...

one of these: https://www.amazon.de/JEEREE-Magnetisches-Schnellladung-Magn...

and all the cables needed to connect the devices to the mixer.

I have this setup for some years now, so my gadgets are not the ones listed here, but an older equivalent. APTX-LL removes any noticeable delay between video and audio.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#463

Post by mattnewton »

chii wrote: post #156
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #100

Earlier 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...

I used to be like you. Then i tried, for real, a pair of bluetooth headphones. The disadvantages of the bluetooth is by far outweighed by the wireless advantage. The mobility, flexibility and convenience of no tangles and accidental wire pulling and causing phone to drop - all worth it. And wireless UX is only going to get better. Wired is dead.

I am still like OP. I have tried three pairs of airpods and currently use a Bose Bluetooth headphones with an optional attachable wire. Airpods are very painful for more than two devices, get lost, go through the wash, forget the charging cable, etc etc. The problem for me is that apple removed the headphone jack even as an option, and many other phone manufacturers copied that on all but their budget models.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#464

Post by slig »

germinalphrase wrote: post #437
macNchz wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of my roommate’s Jambox bluetooth speaker years ago…I learned that it had this behavior while fully asleep at 4:30am after we’d had a party, when, every few minutes it started loudly blasting “BOOOOP. LOW BATTERY” alerts. The trouble was that it was hidden somewhere in our messy living room, and the alerts weren’t frequent enough to find it quickly, so I was standing around in my underwear for ages, waitin…

I once had an EE friend that built these tiny chips he called Annoyers. They simply emitted a loud chirp at a random time interval. The interval was too long to effectively locate the chip, and the chirp was terribly annoying. It could take weeks to find the quarter-sides device hidden in someone’s home (or the battery would just die). Of course, while he was explaining this to me, the chip slipped from my fingers an…

There's a commercial product called "Annoy-a-tron" that does that.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#465

Post by BugsJustFindMe »

It's weird to me how many people are like "yeah but every other bluetooth is worse". I have Airpod Pros and experienced every one of these issues and many more on the regular with them, but my several years old now Bose QC 35II never have any of these problems, still last like 5 times as long on battery after years of recharge cycles, interact better with two simultaneously connected devices, have better signal range before dropping out, and I can control the damned volume without trying a dozen times to get Siri to wake the fuck up because airpods have no built-in volume controls and Siri's voice activation is worse than terrible.

The Airpods are set to connect automatically to my macbook when I wear them AND THEY DON'T. EVER. And then calls on my iPhone will stupidly decide to connect and route audio to airpods that I'm not even wearing while they are just sitting on my desk when the phone was literally moments before using the handset speaker for a video. Know what bluetooth device does not have these problems? You guessed it, the one not made by Apple. Like...come on.

I really want to like airpods, but they're just not good.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#466

Post by soylentcola »

ziml77 wrote: post #378
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you had to pay more for better headphones with better cables. But wireless headphones are expensive anyway. (And have non-replaceable batteries which will also permanently die after a couple years.)

The best cables still break when they're moving a lot. The important thing is for the headphones to have replaceable cables. But only the high-end headphones and earbuds have that feature.

I can only speak from my own experience, but I've been using the same set of wired KZ ZSN in-ear-monitors for the past few years. They're nothing ground-breaking, but they cost under $25.

The wires loop back behind my ears so they don't get pulled out easily, the wires have yet to short out, and they are replaceable in case I ever want or need to replace them. I almost always use them with my phone, so the USB-C-to-3.5mm dongle that came with my phone is typically attached to the end.

I don't mean to shill for this or any other brand in particular, but I'm pretty sure there are several affordable, decent quality earbuds/IEMs out there with replaceable cables.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#467

Post by dpark »

mattnewton wrote: post #459
yoz-y wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There are pros to wireless headphones and the right choice for many people, but the choice has been made for all people who do not experience that. I personally use Bose over ear heaphones that have an optional cable you can attach and connect and it has come up an incredible number of times. There is so much pain if you switch for more than two devices, forget to charge, at unsure something is paired, etc that all g…

> but the choice has been made for all people who do not experience that

What are you talking about? Is someone stopping you from using wired earbuds?

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#468

Post by kristjansson »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #68
rogual wrote: post #3

Annoyance 8: When I'm using the (good) noise cancelling of the AirPods to eliminate distracting background noise so I can focus, after a few hours the battery will run down to 15% and trigger the EXTREMELY LOUD "PING-pong-pong-pong" low-battery noise, right in my ear, without warning. And it's Apple, so of course you can't turn it off.

What's the big deal here, Apple? People have been complaining about BEING CAUSED PAIN BY AIRPODS for YEARS and they are not doing anything about it! This being the top rated comment here further proves it's a major issue for airpod users. What the fuck, apple? I am absolutely terrified of that painful sound and will regularly check battery to ensure it won't hit me.

Just to provide my own ancedata, I've been an AirPods users for a long time, and don't find the alert sounds particularly loud or annoying.

I think the volume of complaints and popularity of AirPods this speaks to wider variations in human hearing perception than one would expect. The main body of users have no problem, but enough people experience those sounds as painful to generate a volume complaints.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#469

Post by adh636 »

kristjansson wrote: post #453

Most of the authors complaints are valid. I'm definitely guilty of the 10-second 'Hello? Hello?' dance at the start of phone calls. However, AirPods are such a good product I can forgive them all of those flaws and more. One hidden feature: I was walking around my city listening to something on AirPods Pro. A truck in the lane adjacent to the sidewalk braked hard, making painfully loud squeal. Except I didn't hear it…

So if I'm understanding this correctly, you had the device set to let in ambient sound, but a motor vehicle slamming on the brakes was filtered out, and you consider this to be a good thing? Sounds dangerous to me.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#470

Post by matwood »

kristjansson wrote: post #432
rogual wrote: post #3

Annoyance 8: When I'm using the (good) noise cancelling of the AirPods to eliminate distracting background noise so I can focus, after a few hours the battery will run down to 15% and trigger the EXTREMELY LOUD "PING-pong-pong-pong" low-battery noise, right in my ear, without warning. And it's Apple, so of course you can't turn it off.

Your (and other's) complaints about the volume of the AirPod alert notifications makes me think either (a) your hearing is more sensitive than most or (b) I've lost more hearing than I thought I had. Either way, those alerts play at what seems like a reasonable and moderate volume to me.

Those alerts are pretty loud, particularly with noise canceling on. One of the things I love about noise canceling is I can listen to my music almost at zero volume on the phone. With everything else blocked out, it's plenty loud. Then the 'bloop bloop' happens and it's like someone hit me over the head.
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