Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AirPods Max

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

821–830 of 1001 posts

Re: AirPods Max

#821

Post by KX2UOWQ9ZN »

kishinmanglani wrote: post #132

I'm a sucker. I just bought them. I love being able to switch between my iPhone and my Mac on my AirPods. I have the Sony MX3's, and they are great. I don't like toggling between devices and having it automatically connect to my last used device, have to disconnect it from one, blah, blah. This is what Apple does. They raise prices. People are stunned initially. Others follow, then those prices are the norm. iPhone w…

Don't think this is new. I have bose supersport, been using it for a couple of years perhaps. Battery lasts weeks, connects to both my work and personal phone as soon as I turn it on, and hit play on either device. And, I don't remember ever facing any connectivity issues either, just works since the day I paired.

I am not sure what other features airpods have but if this is "the" feature, you can have it even in products for about a fifth the price since years.

Re: AirPods Max

#822

Post by gravelc »

visarga wrote: post #688
zcw100 wrote: post #240

I think this is actually a fantastic place for Apple. I'm happy to trash Apple where appropriate and I've got plenty of complaints. I think Apple does it's best when the integration of hardware and software is really important and there is a very low tolerance for, I won't say bugs, but issues. They're headphones. I want to put them on and they need to make noise. I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery iss…

> I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery issues, etc. Sure they're $500 My AirPods often have bluetooth issues, even when coupled to a MacBook, not just any laptop. They fail at the basic function of making sound.

My (Apple) Powerbeats Pro work about 50% of the time. A really bad design flaw with the tiny contacts means that 1 of the pair frequently doesn't charge in the case after a few minutes.

Go to use them for a run and one is often flat. Or my phone will try and connect to the non-charging one in the case, leaving me with no sound when I'm not actually using ear phones.

Some Apple stuff is great - but 'it just works' is a myth.

Re: AirPods Max

#823

Post by npunt »

_huayra_ wrote: post #759
fbelzile wrote: post #741

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm happy to pay $500 for something that works Sure, if by "works" you mean "only works with other Apple products." The cost isn't just $500, it's also the opportunity cost of going with any other competing (and possibly better) product in the future. Apple's pricing is high, but is even higher if you account for the hidden hand of future buying power you give them. It's a brilliant business strategy as it limits y…

It's always shocking how Apple folks adopt a reality distortion field when it comes to explaining their reasoning. Whether it's avoiding justifying the things they claim they get from Apple ("seamless device interop") or ignoring the way Apple actively treats their customers like hot garbage (see Louis Rossman's youtube channel, or the asinine arguments companies like Apple lead against right to repair and all the po…

It's quite reasonable to dislike the self-repair situation and the opaque software issue reporting. Some people value those a lot, and others less so.

I don't think Apple treats their customers like garbage though; quite the opposite. I've always had a no-bullshit customer experience - fast and easy returns & replacements, generous policies & even being able to return outside the window, no haggling about issues. E.g. a few months ago my iPad stopped charging, a replacement arrived 2 days later. Most tech companies are absolutely terrible at customer service like this.

Tech isn't perfect and will break. And by buying Apple you DO have to go through Apple when this happens, but the actual customer experience is top notch. To characterize it as being about shiny buttons is ridiculous, it's about buying peace of mind and having one less thing in your life be bullshit.

Re: AirPods Max

#824

Post by traceddd »

codq wrote: post #306
traceroute66 wrote: post #290

The hilarious thing about this thread is that all the so-called audiophiles on here sneering at Apple's attempts at audio are the same people who will go out an happily waste their money on all the lovely snake-oil that is prevalent in the audio industry. Oxygen free gold-plated cables, special power cables etc. etc. ...

Audiophiles sneer at that stuff too. This isn’t marketed at audiophiles though. This is marketed at middle management and execs who have been saving their restaurant money throughout COVID and want to conspicuously flout their success on Zoom calls. These are not designed for music. They’re designed for Zoom.

Is a $500 anything really a flex for execs? They could be wearing an Audemars Piguet and I wouldn’t think anything of it.

Re: AirPods Max

#825

Post by mynameisash »

rootusrootus wrote: post #693
tjoff wrote: post #685

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what doesn't have a battery never had any connectivity issues (before apple) and just works? The 3.5mm jack. I'm all for options though! But apple don't so I guess it doesn't matter.

I will tell you this, I do not miss headphone cords at all. Not one bit. I don't miss the cord snagging on parts of my desk, or my legs, or the arms of my office chair, or under the casters, etc. Not to mention cord noise on IEMs, which admittedly isn't really a problem on over-the-ear headphones anyway. I'll probably never buy another pair of corded headphones.

I bought a cheapy pair of heyday headphones ([0] but w/o active noise cancellation) a few years back because I wanted over-the-ear headphones with both Bluetooth and 3.5mm stereo jack. I used these in the office for music, on the bus for podcasts, as hands-free for my phone, etc. It was fantastic. The only complaint I really had was that the Bluetooth mode didn't work with my phone's mic. When they broke recently, I decided to pick up some Sennheisers[1] with similar functionality.

With both of these, there have been times when the cord got annoying, but I really like having that option. I've had these new ones almost two months and have probably charged the batteries once. That's about on-par with the heyday pair - probably less frequently, truly.

People hate on the 3.5mm jack, but it never fails, and I think the hate it gets is disproportionate to how much people actually struggle with it. And if you do struggle with it on occasion, having the option to flip between Bluetooth & 3.5mm is easy peasy.

[0] https://www.target.com/p/heyday-8482-active-noise-cancelling...

[1] https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B083W7V3RG

Re: AirPods Max

#826

Post by bjustin »

I think it's a shame these don't support the new MagSafe charger. Plugging a cable into headphones is more of a pain than it needs to be. Charging my AirPods Pro by putting it on the MagSafe puck is really convenient, and makes me more likely to charge them from time to time than to wait until they're dead to plug them in.

Re: AirPods Max

#827

Post by neya »

zcw100 wrote: post #240

I think this is actually a fantastic place for Apple. I'm happy to trash Apple where appropriate and I've got plenty of complaints. I think Apple does it's best when the integration of hardware and software is really important and there is a very low tolerance for, I won't say bugs, but issues. They're headphones. I want to put them on and they need to make noise. I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery iss…

The Sony 1000XM3/4 series actually does all this and more already and has been for the last few years. Of all the noise cancellation headphones I've tried they're the best out there in the market and you can have them for less than $500. What am I missing here?

Re: AirPods Max

#828

Post by abalashov »

The folks who have noted that high price is seldom an obstacle and if anything, a feature for Apple insofar as it accessorises some kind of social signalling, are right on point.

As a road cyclist, there's a 100% parallel here to Specialized S-Works bike frames.

Re: AirPods Max

#829

Post by qaq »

bjustin wrote: post #826

I think it's a shame these don't support the new MagSafe charger. Plugging a cable into headphones is more of a pain than it needs to be. Charging my AirPods Pro by putting it on the MagSafe puck is really convenient, and makes me more likely to charge them from time to time than to wait until they're dead to plug them in.

that feature will be reserved for AirPods Max Pro

Re: AirPods Max

#830

Post by gonehome »

fbelzile wrote: post #741
zcw100 wrote: post #240

I think this is actually a fantastic place for Apple. I'm happy to trash Apple where appropriate and I've got plenty of complaints. I think Apple does it's best when the integration of hardware and software is really important and there is a very low tolerance for, I won't say bugs, but issues. They're headphones. I want to put them on and they need to make noise. I'm not dealing with connectivity issues, battery iss…

> I'm happy to pay $500 for something that works Sure, if by "works" you mean "only works with other Apple products." The cost isn't just $500, it's also the opportunity cost of going with any other competing (and possibly better) product in the future. Apple's pricing is high, but is even higher if you account for the hidden hand of future buying power you give them. It's a brilliant business strategy as it limits y…

The iPhone 'slow down' was to keep the phone operating with old batteries. Without the throttling the phone would just shut down abruptly under certain conditions.

Part of the reason Apple has this issue at all is that they provide continued support for their hardware years after others have stopped even giving security updates.

Apple has also a multi-year lead on things like chip performance in their devices (and more subjectively hardware design, software performance too).

I used Android nexus phones for a few years before jumping into the Apple ecosystem with the iPhone 5 (I had used macs for a while prior to that since OS X 10.3 and played with a variety of linux distos alongside it).

If Apple stuff starts to degrade compared to competition it will be a hassle to jump to a different ecosystem. As it happens, over the years it's just gotten better further ahead of the competition (with some mistakes: butterfly keyboard, touchbar).

The premium and their authoritarian approach to vertical integration and good defaults isn't for everyone, but I think it's really great and worth the premium. Other companies seem to be all over the place without much of a unified vision of what they're doing. Google in particular is extremely bad at this.

Post reply on HN