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AirPods don't “just work”

philip.design

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Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#631

Post by gnicholas »

Automatic device switching is hell. These two anecdotes happened since I read this article 10 minutes ago:

I was listening to a podcast using AirPods and my iPhone. Someone reacted to a message I’d sent, which paused the podcast. When I tried to resume a second later, my AirPods had magically connected to my computer instead of my phone. WTF!

Still listening to the podcast and setting up a FaceTime call for my kid on an iPad. Before starting the call, I turned off Bluetooth, so my iPad wouldn’t connect to my AirPods. Regardless, it connected to them anyway.

Did no one at Apple test this ‘feature’?

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#633

Post by bradgessler »

Apple could get away with introducing their own wireless audio I/O standard the eliminated the need for Bluetooth for sound. This new wireless protocol would ideally:

1. Allow AirPods to be connected to multiple audio devices at the same time and eliminate the need to have to switch between exclusive audio sources.

2. Eliminate the problem where a Zoom call (or any call) downgrades audio quality.

3. Allow the playback of lossless audio wirelessly.

I know there’s a crowd that will absolutely hate this idea because it’s yet another step away from a standard (Bluetooth), but the protocol has so much baggage that it’s not delivering a great experience for people in the Apple ecosystem.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#634

Post by recursive »

bitwize wrote: post #339

You know what Just Work? The $10 Skullcandy headphones I plugged into my phone's headphone jack. Forces greater than us have decided that something so simple yet so functional is obsolete so we can't have it on our phones without a dongle.

"Forces" didn't do it. The headphone jack on my phone is doing great. You can have one too if you choose to.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#635

Post by COGlory »

arcticbull wrote: post #620
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #47

I generally enjoy my AirPods. They are occasionally quirky, but most of the time they really do “just work” for me. The annoyances are annoying when they happen, though. The strangest part is that the annoyances aren’t getting any better over time. At first I assumed that they were growing pains of an early product launch. Yet now we’re years into the AirPods experience and they continue to be just as quirky as when…

Extend that to AirPods Pro. My right ear cup crashes periodically - then I can only hear out of the left side until the watchdog timer engages and nukes the left cup too. I frequently have to reset it by holding down the buttons for 10 seconds in order to get it to connect to anything. It frequently disconnects and refuses to reconnect if I take off my mask out from under it. It stops detecting my head occasionally.…

Can I ask why you purchased them in the first place? They seemed very obviously to not be a $600 product from their announcement.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#636

Post by ConceptJunkie »

orkon wrote: post #618

I seem to experience troubles like that with any kind of Bluetooth devices. E.g., sometimes they don't connect or disconnect or lag. At this point, I am suspicious of the entire Bluetooth technology. The same is with WiFi actually: it does work well most of the time but sometimes it does not (for whatever reasons, bugs? changes in environment?).

I find Bluetooth to be the flakiest of the common technologies I use. There are just way too many times that it just doesn't work for no discernable reason.

I have 3 cars with Bluetooth and they all have their quirks, but they generally work. The Ford Fusion, which boasts the Sync system "by Microsoft" is the worst, though. It will always show the little Bluetooth icon soon after starting the car, but when you try to switch to your device, it says there is no Bluetooth device and I have to connect manually by selecting the phone (which Ford lovingly places behind about 8 knob turns and clicks). And of course, sometimes it simply refuses to acknowledge there is a phone at all, so we keep an analog audio-in cord handy.

And I have had a couple of different Bluetooth phones. My previous phone was a Samsung Galaxy 4 Mini that I replaced about 6 months ago with an A52. Bluetooth always worked fine with both phones, but again, there are quirks. In my Honda Civic, the old phone would automatically connect to the car's system and start playing whatever music I'd left off within about 20-30 seconds, whereas with the new (and much nicer) Samsung A52, it takes 2 or 3 minutes... or until I get impatient and select the phone manually.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#637

Post by howinteresting »

graiz wrote: post #119

Bluetooth is so broken at a deep and fundamental level. We should really have a low-energy wifi protocol. The listed problems are just the tip of the iceberg. The fact that my headphones can't be simultaneously connected to both my phone and my computer is ridiculous. The connectivity is awful. The latency of connection and disconnection is embarrassing. On top of that Apple has the worst UI to handle all of of the w…

Bluetooth LE is a completely different protocol from Bluetooth classic.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#638

Post by archepyx »

easton wrote: post #61

The "low audio quality after/during conference" problem as I understand it is because of the SCO codec used for Bluetooth microphone stuff (which is lower bandwidth but allows you to speak and listen at the same time). It takes a few seconds for the AirPods to switch back to their usual codec. Is there a way to fix this without ditching Bluetooth?

Get a headset that has Faststream or bidirectional APTX-LL A2DP vendor codec, and use it with BT stack that implements these codecs (e.g. Linux/Pipewire). Such devices are very hard to find, and aptx-ll in most devices is not bidirectional. I know only some headsets by Avantree that have it.

Or, wait for a few years for Bluetooth 5.2 LE Audio be available in consumer devices.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#639

Post by JohnBooty »

lifewallet_dev wrote: post #627

> AirPods are wonderful products. But I just wish these annoying gripes would go away. What's wonderful about all that? Our fanboyism is re-defining the word "wonderful", Annoyence 4 and 3 made me think AirPods broke and they happen so frequently, I also have the Sony wh-1000xm4 and I cannot configure the mic without degrading my audio quality. I'm back to wired, I have a Beyerdynamic DT 1990 PRO, and none of these o…

    I'm back to wired
Same here. Absolutely don't understand the appeal of wireless headsets for people who are sitting at a desk.

I've snapped up a bunch of used Bose QC25s from eBay, their last model that used a removable standard AAA battery.

Great sound, solid noise canceling, the wired mic is fine, they work even if the battery is drained, sound is better than Bluetooth. I keep a little AAA battery charger on my desk so it takes 10 seconds to swap out a depleted AAA for a new one; IMO far less hassle than remembering to charge headphones with non-replaceable internal batteries.

I expect the QC25s to last more or less indefinitely, aside from occasional replacement of the (insanely comfortable) earpads.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#640

Post by ConceptJunkie »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #550
ASalazarMX wrote: post #519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better yet, AirPods Pro 4 will allow you to adjust the volume of the warning tone, AirPods Pro 5 will allow you to customize it. AirPods Pro 6 will undo that but allow you to disable the tone and use haptic feedback. Then AirPods Pro 7 will allow you to adjust the volume of the warning tone, and customize it.

The one you called AirPods Pro 7 will actually be AirPods Pro 6s+

But they'll come in a new color.
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