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I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

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Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#561

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

BeetleB wrote: post #480
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt very seriously your $30 headphones sound as good as AirPods Pro or have the ANC. But you can buy much cheaper headphones with the H1 chip for fast switching between devices by buying one of the Beats headphones. I love my $60 Beats Fiex with the double flange ear tips for traveling.

I bought my Soundcore A40 for about $60 (occasionally goes on sale for $40). I don't doubt the Airpods Pro is better. But not "pay an extra $200 better".[1] My ANC is pretty decent. Sound quality's quite good. Adjusts to my hearing frequencies. Etc. (The A40 has a much better battery life). [1] Unless you need a hearing aid. Then it's a steal.

Well seeing that the AirPods with ANC are $179. So you are not paying $200 extra..

I’m always surprised to see people who are willing to cheap out on things they will use often over the course of years. The sound quality of my AirPods and the seamless switching between my Mac, iPhone, iPad, AppleTV and Watch make it more than worth $249.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#562

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

MangoToupe wrote: post #231
raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt very seriously your $30 headphones sound as good as AirPods Pro or have the ANC. But you can buy much cheaper headphones with the H1 chip for fast switching between devices by buying one of the Beats headphones. I love my $60 Beats Fiex with the double flange ear tips for traveling.

I have proper over-ear headphones for when I want to listen to music. I'm not sure what ANC is or why it's worth hundreds of dollars—hence why I said 90%. I don't know what the h1 chip has to do with the fast switching—surely this is a bluetooth protocol detail, yea?

I can pair my AirPods Pro (or my $60 Beats Flex) to one device on my Apple account and they automatically are paired and switch between all of my devices - my phone, my iPad, my watch, my Mac and my AppleTV.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#563

Post by hedora »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #227
hedora wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirPods (and Bose QuietComfort) make me dizzy/nauseous. Also, they don’t have decent passive noise cancellation, so they’re not appropriate for mowing the lawn, etc. My Sennheiser ear buds solve all these problems for a much lower price, and their sound quality is much better than the last pair of AirPods I tried. To each their own, I guess.

It should be stated that noise cancellation is not hearing protection, if you were using it for that while mowing. An old groundskeepers trick for having music and ear protection is to get those big over ear protectors and put your buds on with that over them, just being mindful of volume of course.

Another trick is to get earbuds with passive noise isolation. The Sennheisers are a hybrid. They are solid ear plugs even with the power turned off, but support active cancellation too.

With the big over ear hearing protectors that works much better than either in isolation.

Sadly, you usually have to find third party tests to find out what the passive noise isolation rating is for different brands. Manufacturers are terrible at marketing it.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#564

Post by bigyabai »

fredsted wrote: post #340
kesor wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AirPods being a "huge part of Apple's profits" because people keep losing them, and they keep breaking, so you always need to buy a new pair every several months. Hardly a product worth praising.

> Hardly a product worth praising. I get that some people don't like using them for whatever reason, but this is just a completely insane thing to say. AirPods are a technology marvel, there's a reason why they're so popular.

> AirPods are a technology marvel

I get that not everyone is an audiophile, but this is just a completely insane thing to say. Bluetooth headphones aren't a technology marvel. Nor are true-wireless headphones, open-back earbuds, the AAC codec or wireless charging cases. Apple's greatest claim-to-fame is the pairing mechanism, but they refuse to let competitors even use that.

You're right: there is a reason they're so popular. They are the only headphones allowed to use all of iOS' features.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#565

Post by MangoToupe »

Telaneo wrote: post #549
MangoToupe wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have proper over-ear headphones for when I want to listen to music. I'm not sure what ANC is or why it's worth hundreds of dollars—hence why I said 90%. I don't know what the h1 chip has to do with the fast switching—surely this is a bluetooth protocol detail, yea?

> I'm not sure what ANC is or why it's worth hundreds of dollar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_noise_control > I don't know what the h1 chip has to do with the fast switching—surely this is a bluetooth protocol detail, yea? A detail apparently no-one else bothers to deal with. The amount of hardware out there that does bluetooth the worst way possible is horrendous, and I will gladly pay extra to not have those…

It seems the $30 headphones by the brand I use (soundcore) do offer noise canceling in the years since I last looked. Is it as good? Probably not. But I'm not going to spend $200 for slightly better earbuds.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#566

Post by MangoToupe »

raw_anon_1111 wrote: post #562
MangoToupe wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have proper over-ear headphones for when I want to listen to music. I'm not sure what ANC is or why it's worth hundreds of dollars—hence why I said 90%. I don't know what the h1 chip has to do with the fast switching—surely this is a bluetooth protocol detail, yea?

I can pair my AirPods Pro (or my $60 Beats Flex) to one device on my Apple account and they automatically are paired and switch between all of my devices - my phone, my iPad, my watch, my Mac and my AppleTV.

Why can't I do this with other bluetooth devices? It's a load of crap that they won't allow other brands to tap into this for fair competition. I refuse to give them money for software that should be free.

But, a sucker is born every minute, and it seems most of them find their way into control of our anti trust laws.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#567

Post by xarope »

fragmede wrote: post #118
Marsymars wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I could do so, I would mandate that everyone at my workplace must use a wired headset with a boom mic for every Teams call.

You're fucking disgusting. You'd force people to use Teams?

I laugh. Then I cry a little as I put on my wired headset with boom mike for another teams call... :-P

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#568

Post by kjkjadksj »

hedora wrote: post #563
kjkjadksj wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be stated that noise cancellation is not hearing protection, if you were using it for that while mowing. An old groundskeepers trick for having music and ear protection is to get those big over ear protectors and put your buds on with that over them, just being mindful of volume of course.

Another trick is to get earbuds with passive noise isolation. The Sennheisers are a hybrid. They are solid ear plugs even with the power turned off, but support active cancellation too. With the big over ear hearing protectors that works much better than either in isolation. Sadly, you usually have to find third party tests to find out what the passive noise isolation rating is for different brands. Manufacturers are…

You could also go hybrid the opposite way. They make some of those protective earmuffs with built in blutooth speakers now.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#569

Post by mbrochh »

snowwrestler wrote: post #89

> it’s a company that I feel has lost its alignment with me and other long-time Apple users and customers. When OS X debuted there was a daytime radio talk show in my area called “The Computer Guys.” They capably covered all sorts of computing topics, but were clearly long-time Apple dudes. And they spent weeks complaining about what a disaster OS X was. The Dock was useless and violated Apple’s HIG. The Finder made…

The problem is, these companies invest billions to find ways to lock you in, often using illegal ways abusing their monopolies.

"don't like it? buy the competition!" is easier said than done.

Re: I feel Apple has lost its alignment with me and other long-time customers

#570

Post by DecoPerson »

jofzar wrote: post #18
DecoPerson wrote: post #16

Some small carriers in Australia don't support eSIMs, even though they're required for Apple Watches and other devices, and also second phone numbers in phones without dual SIM card trays. I'm hoping that the iPhone Air will make them prioritise eSIM support!

Seriously? Which ones don't support it, I actually have found more that are "esim only" these days (but I am someone who churns through ozbargain deals)

AussieBroadband (who use Optus wholesale). I love 'em, and literally my only complaints after years of using them are:

- lack of eSIM support

- invoice/statement layout hard to read

- businesses can use the residential NBN plans but they don't display correctly on their Carbon business portal

- some advanced mobile service control codes to configure message bank, call forwarding, etc, don't seem to work

Everything else about them has been perfect. Great service, reasonable prices, perfect reliability (zero downtime AFAIK!), and Australian-owned.

(Gonna chuck my AussieBroaband referral code here in case this convinces someone to switch! 13610811)

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