51–60 of 496 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's so bad about them?
For those who are into this kind of thing, here's a 25 minute mini-documentary of the US electrical system's history and problems. It's more focused on wiring, but has a lot to say on plugs: https://youtu.be/K_q-xnYRugQ
I have never really gotten used to wireless buds, and still find myself reaching for wires half the time: - Wireless buds don’t connect 100% reliably; sometimes I get one and not the other, or neither. Sometimes they will randomly disconnect during use. - Sometimes the sound glitches out randomly, which is so irritating that I don’t care how good the sound supposedly is the rest of the time. - Gestures and voice are…
Do you have AirPods or AirPods Pro? I was a fan of the originals, but bought the Pros shortly after they came out. I'm on my second pair now - the first pair came down with the dreaded "crackling" and Apple replaced them. I find that they stay in my ears well enough that I regularly use them when driving my Jeep without doors, even when I'm not listening to music. They provide some level of reduction of the wind nois…
Wired in ear phones are a nightmare. If I use them every day I end up going through about 2 pairs a year. No I am not surgically precise with them, but at the same time I'm not a gorilla - nothing else in my life breaks this much.
> For disorganized types, corded headphones are easier to keep track of and needn’t be charged. This is why I've never bought wireless headphones. You don't need to be disorganized to appreciate the convenience of not having to charge yet another device you want to use on the fly. Why would I pay more for something that takes more mental bandwidth to use?
Most wireless _headphones_ that I've bought come with an audio cable just for this eventuality. (Versus earphones, like the Airpods that do not have this capability.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's so bad about them?
Here’s a link explaining why the UK Type G plug is so much better: https://www.quora.com/Why-are-the-electrical-plugs-and-socke... Photo of a type G plug (this is an adapter): https://www.rcjaz.ca/jazrider-type-british-3pin-electrical-a...
IMO the EU way is the best. Radial circuit, fused in groups, and the plug is either the Schuko plug (very safe since the earth/ground is always engaged first) or Europlug (relatively safe because it is only allowed for low class power appliances). Both type of plugs can be angled, although it is quite rare for an Europlug to be.
Also, latency. I can't get over it.
I have Bluetooth headphones (WH-1000XM4) that I use on a PC. They work great for music, but for video content the latency is very perceptual. It is sub-second, but you can tell actor's mouths aren't in sync. Unfortunately there isn't a lot of solutions on PC, since the platform has no control of browser based video playback and even if it did, finding the exact audio offset would be impractical.
And yet you can land an airplane without looking out the windows, by measuring timestamps between source and destination of a signal (GPS).
I'd argue not that impractical.
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Easy to mispolarise, not earthed, not safe when partially inserted.
> Easy to mispolarise I've never given polarization any thought and never had any problems, so I don't buy this being an actually a problem in practice. > not earthed NEMA-1 aren't earthed, but NEMA-1 sockets have been forbidden since the 60s, so that fails the "unchanged" part of coldtea's assertion. NEMA-1 plugs may still be used on Class II double insulated appliances, which is fine. And NEMA-5 does have a ground.…
Just as my anecdotal experience: I've shocked myself at least twice because my finger slipped over the contacts while I was trying to plug/unplug something in the dark. I have of course learned my lesson and am much more careful when plugging stuff in, but it's a relatively easy mistake to make if one is tired or not paying attention.
Yes, I got shocked because I was stupid and careless. But a connector that everybody uses every single day should be idiot-proof -- it should not be possible to kill myself because I plugged something in carelessly.
The US has the "excuse" of being the first domestic power distribution system -- other countries have better standards because they were able to learn from the design flaws in our plugs. And our split-phase 120V system is (as far as I know) a great idea that's way safer than direct 240V. But there really are a lot of things that the NEMA plugs leave to be desired. I second the recommendation by a sibling commenter to check out Technology Connection's videos on the subject -- I found them to be entertaining, nuanced, and highly informative.
The DAC is quite critical for final sound quality (responses to different frequencies, amount of noise...).
Most wireless use built-in DAC and provide no method for using an external/standalone one.
Another obvious issue would be the connection stability which is why I still use 3.5mm on my iPhone 6s (or previously iPhone 8 but requires an adapter).