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AirPods don't “just work”

philip.design

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Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#891

Post by glouwbug »

vkou wrote: post #823
cuddlybacon wrote: post #801

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On my PC each legitimate output device has a duplicate with the same name that does nothing. Every once in a while when I launch a game it will switch to the duplicate entry and I will have to switch it back. It's a quirk where the fix has become a reflex. I've never had to deal with this on any console I've owned.

Disabling all the duplicate entries might help. Or not. Shrug . Sound configuration is one of worst aspects of Windows.

I remember it being pretty good on Windows XP. I’d run programs like reaper with full control of my soundcard and it’s IO. It wasn’t until win10 that everything sound related became a chore. I can still find snippets of XP UI in win10 hidden under many layers of new age UX. Stuff like the “listen to this device” checkbox

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#892

Post by jdpedrie »

ktc1 wrote: post #485
jdpedrie wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a sibling comment: > Aftershokz Aeropex, silly name aside, is a decent product that gets you a Bluetooth device you can wear all day without losing Make sure if you get bone induction headphones that you test them out in louder environments before running or getting them dirty. For me, I had to turn them up so high when outside with normal street noise that they gave me a pretty terrible headache.

>I had to turn them up so high when outside with normal street noise that they gave me a pretty terrible headache. You have to be really careful doing that. It's very easy to screw up your ears with bone conduction headphones if you try to drown out background noise by increasing the volume.

Yeah, I returned them! Thanks for the heads up regardless.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#893

Post by SpelingBeeChamp »

plonkus wrote: post #655

A few commenters have mentioned the service program -- I think it's worth mentioning that if you're experiencing sound issues (buzzing, crackling) Apple will repair/replace AirPods Pro even if they're out of warranty (up to three years after the sale, which currently includes all AirPods Pro). I just sent mine in this week. https://support.apple.com/airpods-pro-service-program-sound-...

In my experience, if you are clearly experiencing a Service Program issue, the Program cutoff dates are not set in stone.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#894

Post by AlotOfReading »

symlinkk wrote: post #747
AlotOfReading wrote: post #735

Earlier quoted context omitted.

re #1: This is basically because it's written into the standard that everyone implements. There are non-standardized extensions to get around this that nobody implements because they're non-standard and a perpetual "This will be fixed by the next standard!". There are also codecs that mitigate the issue by solving the underlying bandwidth problem, but nobody implements those because there's licensing and thus it's no…

Which is why people pay extra for Apple products, because they don’t make excuses like “this sucks because of the Bluetooth standard”, they build something that works even if it’s incompatible with non-Apple systems.

Funny you should say that because one of the issues with Catalina was MacOS forcing all headsets, airpods included, to use the terrible default codec I was explaining. Moreover, this then forces all other audio data on the system down to the same terrible quality [1]. The official response was that this was "expected behavior".

This is probably also the explanation for annoyance #3 in the article.

[1] https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/282705/airpods-ext...

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#895

Post by [deleted] »

numpad0 wrote: post #353
StevePerkins wrote: post #55

I have a $200-250 pair of AirPod Pros, and a $40 pair of Tozo NC7's that I bought for a backup. The Tozo's get way more use, to the point where I regret buying the AirPods. Your ears may vary, but "dot" style earbuds are WAY more comfortable (and likely to stay put in my ears) than the "stem" style buds. The spatial audio thing turned out to be a pointless novelty that wore off quickly, and isn't even supported on ha…

AirPods are held on ears similar to how a wine glass should be held in hand. There is a opposing pair of protrusions in human ears, between which the stem goes through, and the flexion of that protrusions works against the force exerted by the bulb and hold earphones in place. I don't understand why Apple went with that as a default; that part of my ears seems to have evolved so as not to catch debris, and EarPods-st…

[deleted]

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#896

Post by fphhotchips »

JohnBooty wrote: post #646
jdminhbg wrote: post #599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of the AirPod annoyances are as bad as having your headphones yanked violently out of your ears when the 3.5mm cable catches on a door handle.

If you're walking around, yeah, sure - wireless all the way. But for desk use, I don't see the appeal of wireless, given all of the tradeoffs.

Somewhere in my audio setup there is a ground loop. I don't know where, and I'm yet to be able to work out what is causing it. But that alone makes wireless appeal at my desk very much.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#897

Post by Loranubi »

symlinkk wrote: post #660
COGlory wrote: post #635

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Are there any other over the ear headphones that provide great sound quality, noise cancellation, pair with computers and smartphones, and have a solid mic? I’ve looked at the Sony XM1000’s and from what I understand there is some issue with Windows where if you enable the mic, it goes into some different Bluetooth mode that degrades the audio quality coming out of the headphones. Many wireless headphones are adverti…

I got the Sony WH-1000XM4 as a replacement to a cheap wired Sharkoon RUSH ER2. It's like 300 USD vs 30 USD. Sony provides good sound quality + great noise canceling + bluetooth. But as soon as I switch on the mic the quality turns bad. It's abysmal with a old Win 7 Laptop and bad on a Win10 Laptop/iPhone. So for all cases which require a mic, I switched back to the cheaper wired one. Getting an extension cord for the wired one would have been a much cheaper solution. The Sony one only shows its real strengths when walking outside in a noisy environment.

Re: AirPods don't “just work”

#898

Post by Dylan16807 »

bsder wrote: post #760
TylerE wrote: post #687

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to wonder if it's time to just say screw Bluetooth, and deploy a new standard that's specially oriented for audio. Requirements aren't crazy. It just needs to support uncompressed 96/24, full duplex.

Except that requirement IS crazy--when you put all the other stuff around it. Must work at 2.4Ghz--even in the face of 200 WiFi access points and 3 times that number of devices. Must stay in sync to within a millisecond ... even though there is a large bag of RF absorbing water in between them. Should work on a battery smaller than a thumbnail. Should process audio but not generate enough heat that you notice it in y…

> Must work at 2.4Ghz--even in the face of 200 WiFi access points and 3 times that number of devices.

At low range and less than 1/100 the speed of wifi.

> Must stay in sync to within a millisecond

If you have a working data connection at all, that level of sync is trivial. It only takes a few bits to align things, and they use pretty big buffers.

> even though there is a large bag of RF absorbing water in between them

That's hard.

> Should work on a battery smaller than a thumbnail.

That part is quite hard. But also it doesn't apply to over-ear headphones.

> Should process audio but not generate enough heat that you notice it in your ear.

I'm skeptical of that part being hard. How many milliwatts do those codecs take? Also once you add the battery constraints then the heat levels solve themselves.

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