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I honestly can't say I understand the draw to drop significant money on a new set of headphones that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone, and can

I honestly can't say I understand the draw to drop significant money on a new set of headphones that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone, and can't be charged while being used. I've had the same set of high quality in-ear wired headphones for the last 5 years or longer and have zero issues with them (I just replace the foam every so often for about $5). What is the improvement I am missing here?

nilkn 8y ago
It would take a significant amount of charging inconvenience to get me to go back to wired earbuds instead of wireless. I can't speak for others, but for me wireless AirPods were a really dramatic improvement in the experience of listening to music outside of my home office. Almost revolutionary, if I can risk being a bit overzealous in my praise.
- brandon272 8y ago
  For me, switching to bluetooth earbuds (PowerBeats) was a game changer. Switching to AirPods was a level above that. I wear them for most of the day and don't really have an issue with having them be charged. I pop them in their case when I take a break or go for lunch and then charge the case itself now and then and things work out just fine. The charging is very fast.
vrutberg 8y ago
True wireless headphones for me is a big improvement. It’s just so darn convenient. Also, during the year I’ve had mine I’ve never found myself in a situation where I’ve had to use them while charging. Having one more thing to keep charged is of course a downside, but when compared to the convenience they bring it’s a small one.
oaw-bct-ar-bamf 8y ago
Not having a cable dangling on your body. Not needing to have your phone on your body constantly. Source: Wife owns AirPods and I use them from time to time. For me these two points are HUGE plus points. But I won’t buy them as i find them too expensive and don’t listen to audio often enough (wired or wireless) on my phone anyway.
deleted 8y ago
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gcommer 8y ago
Being wireless is just that good. Especially when exercising or otherwise out-and-about. The charging is not nearly that obnoxious, I've gone through a wide range of wireless sets and they've all had multi-day charges. Personally I have a nice set of IEMs for longer, sitting use cases and otherwise use a cheap (~$20) wireless set; so that when it inevitably breaks/gets lost/battery wears down after a ~year, it's negligible to just replace it. Also, nowadays, wireless headphones have surprisingly good audio; especially if you're just listening to podcasts.
- avcdsuia 8y ago
  How about getting a pair of BeatsX earbuds, cut those crappy units off and make what's left a Bluetooth adapter with MMCX connectors that are compatible with your IEMs. Seems to have the best of the both worlds.
  - ryanlol 8y ago
    This works quite well, but I still often use my airpods instead of my shures because the airpods don’t block out all the sounds around me.
zachm0 8y ago
Being able to connect to multiple devices at once, not having a chord get in the way or getting tangled while in pocket (happened to me a lot while exercising), not being tethered to a device (not a big deal with a phone, but it can be annoying when you are using a laptop or desktop), some headphones overlay external noises over your music (anti-noise canceling?) so you can be more aware of your surroundings/people talking to you. These are just a few I thought of off the top of my head, but they may not be worth the price tag for everyone.
askafriend 8y ago
I will never go back to wired headphones, especially on the go. After experiencing AirPods, I will pay any amount of $ to replace them if they ever get lost. They really are that good and they’re probably the best purchase I’ve made in years. If you go to the gym at all, they’ll be a game changer. Let me put it this way - sometimes I completely forget they’re even in my ear.
- ktran03 8y ago
  Me too. Lost my v1's, just ordered the new one last night. If I lose these, I'd get a third. I too forget that they're in my ear, sometimes sleeping the whole night rolling around, then waking up and their still in my ear. Been using my wired one's waiting for this to come out. It's a work of a difference, wires are a total pain.
andrei_says_ 8y ago
I’m with you but got AirPods as a gift and did not return them. Pretty much all BT solutions are a pain pairing wise and sound lag wise. Apple’s are very well designed, a luxury object. Almost no lag with sound. Very good phone call experience. Sound is mediocre but always available. Still, they are disposable by design and I find it repulsive that we have normalized the pollution associated with buying this product. I won’t be buying another pair and will be pressing Apple to establish a recycling program. My etimotic headphones sound great and have a long life.
- askafriend 8y ago
  https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in They have a broad recycling program already in place.
  - andrei_says_ 8y ago
    Thank you, this helps.
ksec 8y ago
It is a trade off and not for everybody. But for me I value my time and comfort of not having to untangle / untie the stupid pieces of Earpod wire every time I want to use it. I do agree charging it hurts.
x0x0 8y ago
How many meetings do you do on your phone? The people at my company that have them and love them have daily phone meetings. Keeping your hands free while talking and moving around is the critical feature that people seem to love.
jclardy 8y ago
I think the confusion on charging comes in with the case - you "charge" the airpods by keeping them together in the case. You charge the case by plugging it in. The case has about 24 hours of battery, so I charge the case about once every two weeks with around 2 hours a day of conference calls/podcast listening. I generally hate having a wire attached from my laptop to my ears because it inevitably will get snagged at least once a week. Also for my use case (calls) you can charge while listening by using only one bud at a time. I have many pairs of headphones, wired and wireless, but I just ordered a new set of AirPods because they are simply the most convenient headphone I've ever used (Presuming you use primarily Apple products.) Far from the best sounding - but I've found for a general use headphone they are more than adequate.
- katbyte 8y ago
  > I generally hate having a wire attached from my laptop to my ears because it inevitably will get snagged at least once a week. I actually finally understand why some people may want wireless now, thank you. Personally somehow I never get my earbud cable snagged, even when snowboarding or climbing. However that tangled mess of wires when i take it out of my pocket...
  - swozey 8y ago
    What about having to have your phone in your pocket and a wire coming out of it into your ears? I've always found that annoying and usually wind up running the wire up inside my shirt so that it's not moving around or getting caught on things. I've never liked having phone holder armbands. I absolutely loathe working out with wired headphones. Even with them inside my shirt occasionally I'd wind up with enough slack to get them caught on something. Usually when I'm bench pressing or working with free weights. On the flip side, before BT5 and my S10 I had nothing but problems with all of my wireless headphones constantly skipping. I've actually posted here before that my $200 Jabra 65ts on my S8 would skip just walking to work to the point I'd run wired on my "commute." My S10 solved that, thankfully. With that said I still refuse to buy a phone without a headphone jack (I'm on an S10 now). I have 2 sets of great (Jabra 65t Elites and Galaxy s10 buds) wireless but if I'm just taking the dogs for a quick walk I throw in whatever wired buds are laying around nearby. Or I'm at someones house/pool and just want a quick way to plug into their speakers. It really is genius that you charge the holder which charges the buds, though, as opposed to charging the headphones. I can run them (not airpods) down and toss them in the charger for 20 minutes and get a few more hours of listening. Helps battery anxiety quite a bit.
ktran03 8y ago
Like many Apple products, as an outside observer it seams ridiculous the amount of money people put down for their products. But once you use them, the ah-ha moment eventually kicks in. Contrary to popular belief, Apple didn't become the biggest company in the world from Marketing alone, they actually make great products.
stouset 8y ago
> and can't be charged while being used I'll just address this point, because it is categorically incorrect and something many people misunderstood when they were first released. There are two of them. You can use them independently from one another. When you hear the "low battery" tone, it's trivial to remove one and continue to use the other. By the time the tone plays again in the one you continued to use (signaling critically low battery), you just swap which earbud is in the case. The one that was in the case will be almost fully charged at this point. The effect is that you can pretty much use them indefinitely without a full interruption. And using only one at a time is mostly unnoticeable.
- deleted 8y ago
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- EpicEng 8y ago
  That's all well and good if using one were the same as using two. Of course, it isn't...
  - asudosandwich 8y ago
    It helps in a pinch if you’re on a really long conference call and the batteries start to run low. I’ll pop one briefly back in the case to top it off and not have to miss anything said.
    - EpicEng 8y ago
      Sure, it's a fine workaround for a dying pair, but the GP said: >I'll just address this point, because it is categorically incorrect and something many people misunderstood when they were first released
      - stouset 8y ago
        GP said they "can't be charged while being used". Which is categorically incorrect. They can, and on the scale of Things That Are a Big Deal, it's an 0.3 out of 10.
okmokmz 8y ago
Having to occasionally charge a pair of headphones, and not being able to charge while in use, is easily worth the trade off of being wireless. I would never go back to wired headphones, regardless of quality/price/features
pwthornton 8y ago
These get charged way less than your phone. The case has about 24-hours worth of charge in it. I’m much more likely to have my phone low on charge than my AirPods. Wireless case charging will make it so that my case is almost always well charged.
- jen729w 8y ago
  This, for sure, but also the AirPod case can be charged whenever, whereas you usually want to charge your phone at night. I’m struggling to find words to explain what I mean ... there’s rarely a time when I realise I need to charge my AirPods and it’s an inconvenience, whereas the phone always seems to run low at just the wrong time. I dunno. Plus, you can have the AirPods in your ears, listening to a thing, while the case charges. This takes nothing away from your experience. You can use your iPhone while it charges, but that’s a PITA because now you’re tethered to a wall. TL;DR: charging them isn’t an issue that should prevent you from buying them. They’re amazing.
- geoelectric 8y ago
  Plus (and this isn't unique to AirPods) the lower charge the AirPods are the faster they recharge. As long as you keep the case charged you can drop the pods in for a couple-few minutes while you give your ears a break and you'll get a decent playback duration when you come back.
sosborn 8y ago
> What is the improvement I am missing here? I think what you are missing is that different people value things differently. These don't make sense for you? That's fine, don't buy them. They don't make sense for me either, so I don't buy them. However, I can understand how it would make sense for someone else. Arguing the money aspect doesn't make sense because we never know a person's income, expenses and savings. $200 for one person is nothing, while it can be the difference between making rent for another. Arguing sound quality doesn't make sense either, because despite all of the numbers that people throw around, people perceive and enjoy sound differently. It isn't objective, its subjective. Same thing with the presence of wires. I would have liked these (or, more likely, a larger set of wireless cans) when I lived in Japan and commuted by train daily. Now that I commute by car, my headphone use is limited to netflix in bed and when I'm playing guitar. Wireless doesn't do anything for me in those situations. Long story short, different strokes for different folks.
- SiVal 8y ago
  Like you, I haven't chosen to get them for myself, but I got them for my wife who loves them. Reasons: I have pockets big enough to always be holding my phone, and I can just run a wire up from my pocket under my shirt and into my ears. No snags. She doesn't have such pockets and wouldn't wire herself in any case. She cares about fashion. I'm a programmer. I care about more important stuff like compilers and her. We'll leave it at that. I have a headphone jack in my phone. She doesn't, so wireless is mandatory for her. It's just a question of lower quality, big, and clunky, or these. Now that I got these for her, the lower-quality option is forever off the table. She can cruise around the kitchen cooking while "watching" a video that's playing on a laptop on the counter. I did that using my MacBook Pro's built-in speakers, which eventually blew out both speakers. My phone-in-the-pocket, wired solution limits me to audio-only. So, yes, there are reasons, and whether they matter depends on the person.
  - Nullabillity 8y ago
    Basically every generation of phones' regressions are based on looking at what Apple manages to get away with, and copying it. Even if I would never buy their junk myself (or encourage anyone else to), it's basically impossible to get away from their aftershocks. Unremovable batteries? Apple got away with it from the start. Hell, they even managed to get people to pay ridiculous markups to replace them after it was discovered that they tampered with device performance. Unremovable storage? Just look at what Apple manages to charge for storage upgrades! Dropping the headphone jack? iPhone 7 got away with it, and drove the sale of plenty of adapters. USB-C? Well, if Apple could get people to buy new Lightning devices and chargers... These are standard "features" now. Every phone has this now. There are no other options for me to "vote for" with my wallet anymore, even though I always did when the I had the option to. There is no way for me, as a single consumer, to get away from this bullshit. Fashion doesn't spring up from thin air. It's crafted by people. With agendas. And accessories to sell. Hell, nobody seemed happy about any of these changes when they were introduced. But the manufacturers had the pockets to outlast the outrage. And eventually, fashion changed. And, just maybe, ask why on earth a whole industry exists around fake pockets, and what accessories they exist to sell.
baddox 8y ago
Why is charging while using a feature even worth mentioning? AirPods gain 3 hours of battery life (listening time) with 15 minutes of charging in the case, vs. 5 hours of total battery life between charges. That's very little difference, and if you're doing something important where interruptions are unacceptable (like a phone/video call), you can always charge one AirPod at a time in the case (they both have microphones). In practice I just don't find it hard to believe that very many people would ever need or even use the "charge while using" feature.
fuckyah 8y ago
u could charge one at a time, while using the other
baxtr 8y ago
I love my AirPods. I am in full panic mode when I realize that I forgot them at home (happens rarely). They are the best Apple products in years. Why? Because they simply work, seamlessly. Product development in perfection. Can’t be charged while being used? Who cares? They last long enough. 1 out of 50 times I wear them they run out of battery. Charging them takes 5 minutes, so it’s not a big deal. Also, the whole point is that they’re wireless. If you don’t care about this specific feature it’s no wonder you don’t see them as an improvement.
- FPGAhacker 8y ago
  "They are the best Apple products in years. Why? Because they simply work, seamlessly. Product development in perfection." I can't remember ever trying to use headphones/earphones and not have them "just work."
  - baxtr 8y ago
    Wireless ones? Really?
RobLach 8y ago
The improvement they're buying isn't to their listening experience.
outworlder 8y ago
> I honestly can't say I understand the draw to drop significant money on a new set of headphones that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone, and can't be charged while being used. Maybe if you are using them 24/7. The battery in the case can charge the airpods batteries several times.
- gnicholas 8y ago
  Not even if you are using them 24/7, since that would drain your phone battery. That is one downside, though — that your phone battery drains more quickly with wireless headphones. I've noticed this on my 7 Plus for sure.
mmgutz 8y ago
Freedom of movement more than anything. I bought a pair and they sounded about as mediocre as the wired apple earbuds. I loved the freedom it provided. I don't know how many times I flung my phone or macbook to the ground because I was wired. I had to return them because one of my ears isn't a good fit. One earpod stuck out almost 45 degrees out of my ears and loosen over prolonged use.
jxdxbx 8y ago
My first pair of Airpods, even after 2 years, still worked for hours on a charge. And of course “charging” just means putting them in your pocket. I just wish I had waited to run them through the laundry until today. I bought a new pair just recently.
jpalomaki 8y ago
I can carry AirPods always in pocket and easily pop them to ear before answering call. I did not like wired ones, because wire would get tangled with keys etc. Is this worth the price? For me yes, but certainly not for everybody.
philwelch 8y ago
I charge my AirPods case probably less often than every month. With heavier usage that might be weekly. (The AirPods themselves are recharged by the case, which is where they go when they're not in my ears anyway.)
veidr 8y ago
Literally the only significant attraction is not having the wire. Ever since wireless headphones started to actually work reliably, I've used them exclusively (big over-the-ear ones for music, airpods for things like calls or online meetings). For me it was all about the fucking tangle. I don't care much about having the cable on while I am using them. But having to do that stupid devil-horns-figure-eight winding technique to avoid the cable getting tangled into a knot, every single time I want to put the headphones into my pocket, which I do several times a day... ugh. For me, going back to wired headphones would be like going back to getting on the train by going up to a vending machine, putting coins into it, pushing buttons, waiting for it to emit a paper ticket, and then getting on the train. It's only a difference of a few seconds, usually, but it something I do over and over and over and over, so that's why it's worth it to me. (I dropped significant money on a new iphone as soon as it finally got train-pass functionality here in Japan, too.)
tangue 8y ago
+1 and mini-jack headsets doesn't need an additional power plants. Think about it when in the next keynote they'll say how "green" and "clean" they are ...
dpkonofa 8y ago
>that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone That's not true at all with AirPods. I use them nearly every day and I haven't had to charge them in almost 2 full weeks since charge while in the case and 5 minutes of charge lasts a few hours. They're seriously awesome. I never would have purchased them myself or asked for them for the price they're asking but I got them as a gift and I think they're amazing.
manuisin 8y ago
You need to charge them roughly a magnitude less than your phone. That's once a week or more if you charge your phone everyday because your usage of your phone is supposed to directly correlate with your usage of the airpods. So, unless you use your wired headphones on other devices, it's not a good comparison.
deepGem 8y ago
I love the Apple wired earphones that come with the phone. However, if you travel a lot or move around, the wires tend to tangle and when you need the headset in the split of a second they don't work. It's not a critical use case but the more you travel, the more you move around, the tangled headphones start annoying you more and more. You'll reach a point at which $150 or $200 doesn't seem like a big deal to get rid of this annoyance. If you fly a lot, then you'll really appreciate over the ear headphones, preferably the noise cancelling ones. That being said, these wireless over the ear phones are too bulky to use in day to day life such as commute etc. So now you end up owning one pair of wireless noise cancelling headphones for flying, air pods for your day-day commute. You see where I am going with this .. welcome to capltalism :)
nswest23 8y ago
some people are more susceptible to marketing tactics.
originalbryan2 8y ago
I don't own any, but I do have a 3rd party wireless headset. For me, ditching the cable means avoiding the inexplicable and over-the-top rage I experience when wired earphones/headphones get suddenly yanked on the occasion they catch on something. Once in a while I'll meet somebody else that has this type of reaction. It's weird.

nilkn 8y ago

It would take a significant amount of charging inconvenience to get me to go back to wired earbuds instead of wireless. I can't speak for others, but for me wireless AirPods were a really dramatic improvement in the experience of listening to music outside of my home office. Almost revolutionary, if I can risk being a bit overzealous in my praise.

brandon272 8y ago
For me, switching to bluetooth earbuds (PowerBeats) was a game changer. Switching to AirPods was a level above that. I wear them for most of the day and don't really have an issue with having them be charged. I pop them in their case when I take a break or go for lunch and then charge the case itself now and then and things work out just fine. The charging is very fast.

vrutberg 8y ago

True wireless headphones for me is a big improvement. It’s just so darn convenient. Also, during the year I’ve had mine I’ve never found myself in a situation where I’ve had to use them while charging. Having one more thing to keep charged is of course a downside, but when compared to the convenience they bring it’s a small one.

oaw-bct-ar-bamf 8y ago

Not having a cable dangling on your body. Not needing to have your phone on your body constantly. Source: Wife owns AirPods and I use them from time to time. For me these two points are HUGE plus points. But I won’t buy them as i find them too expensive and don’t listen to audio often enough (wired or wireless) on my phone anyway.

deleted 8y ago

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gcommer 8y ago

Being wireless is just that good. Especially when exercising or otherwise out-and-about. The charging is not nearly that obnoxious, I've gone through a wide range of wireless sets and they've all had multi-day charges. Personally I have a nice set of IEMs for longer, sitting use cases and otherwise use a cheap (~$20) wireless set; so that when it inevitably breaks/gets lost/battery wears down after a ~year, it's negligible to just replace it. Also, nowadays, wireless headphones have surprisingly good audio; especially if you're just listening to podcasts.

avcdsuia 8y ago
How about getting a pair of BeatsX earbuds, cut those crappy units off and make what's left a Bluetooth adapter with MMCX connectors that are compatible with your IEMs. Seems to have the best of the both worlds.
- ryanlol 8y ago
  This works quite well, but I still often use my airpods instead of my shures because the airpods don’t block out all the sounds around me.

zachm0 8y ago

Being able to connect to multiple devices at once, not having a chord get in the way or getting tangled while in pocket (happened to me a lot while exercising), not being tethered to a device (not a big deal with a phone, but it can be annoying when you are using a laptop or desktop), some headphones overlay external noises over your music (anti-noise canceling?) so you can be more aware of your surroundings/people talking to you. These are just a few I thought of off the top of my head, but they may not be worth the price tag for everyone.

askafriend 8y ago

I will never go back to wired headphones, especially on the go. After experiencing AirPods, I will pay any amount of $ to replace them if they ever get lost. They really are that good and they’re probably the best purchase I’ve made in years. If you go to the gym at all, they’ll be a game changer. Let me put it this way - sometimes I completely forget they’re even in my ear.

ktran03 8y ago
Me too. Lost my v1's, just ordered the new one last night. If I lose these, I'd get a third. I too forget that they're in my ear, sometimes sleeping the whole night rolling around, then waking up and their still in my ear. Been using my wired one's waiting for this to come out. It's a work of a difference, wires are a total pain.

andrei_says_ 8y ago

I’m with you but got AirPods as a gift and did not return them. Pretty much all BT solutions are a pain pairing wise and sound lag wise. Apple’s are very well designed, a luxury object. Almost no lag with sound. Very good phone call experience. Sound is mediocre but always available. Still, they are disposable by design and I find it repulsive that we have normalized the pollution associated with buying this product. I won’t be buying another pair and will be pressing Apple to establish a recycling program. My etimotic headphones sound great and have a long life.

askafriend 8y ago
https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in https://www.apple.com/shop/trade-in They have a broad recycling program already in place.
- andrei_says_ 8y ago
  Thank you, this helps.

ksec 8y ago

It is a trade off and not for everybody. But for me I value my time and comfort of not having to untangle / untie the stupid pieces of Earpod wire every time I want to use it. I do agree charging it hurts.

x0x0 8y ago

How many meetings do you do on your phone? The people at my company that have them and love them have daily phone meetings. Keeping your hands free while talking and moving around is the critical feature that people seem to love.

jclardy 8y ago

I think the confusion on charging comes in with the case - you "charge" the airpods by keeping them together in the case. You charge the case by plugging it in. The case has about 24 hours of battery, so I charge the case about once every two weeks with around 2 hours a day of conference calls/podcast listening. I generally hate having a wire attached from my laptop to my ears because it inevitably will get snagged at least once a week. Also for my use case (calls) you can charge while listening by using only one bud at a time. I have many pairs of headphones, wired and wireless, but I just ordered a new set of AirPods because they are simply the most convenient headphone I've ever used (Presuming you use primarily Apple products.) Far from the best sounding - but I've found for a general use headphone they are more than adequate.

katbyte 8y ago
> I generally hate having a wire attached from my laptop to my ears because it inevitably will get snagged at least once a week. I actually finally understand why some people may want wireless now, thank you. Personally somehow I never get my earbud cable snagged, even when snowboarding or climbing. However that tangled mess of wires when i take it out of my pocket...
- swozey 8y ago
  What about having to have your phone in your pocket and a wire coming out of it into your ears? I've always found that annoying and usually wind up running the wire up inside my shirt so that it's not moving around or getting caught on things. I've never liked having phone holder armbands. I absolutely loathe working out with wired headphones. Even with them inside my shirt occasionally I'd wind up with enough slack to get them caught on something. Usually when I'm bench pressing or working with free weights. On the flip side, before BT5 and my S10 I had nothing but problems with all of my wireless headphones constantly skipping. I've actually posted here before that my $200 Jabra 65ts on my S8 would skip just walking to work to the point I'd run wired on my "commute." My S10 solved that, thankfully. With that said I still refuse to buy a phone without a headphone jack (I'm on an S10 now). I have 2 sets of great (Jabra 65t Elites and Galaxy s10 buds) wireless but if I'm just taking the dogs for a quick walk I throw in whatever wired buds are laying around nearby. Or I'm at someones house/pool and just want a quick way to plug into their speakers. It really is genius that you charge the holder which charges the buds, though, as opposed to charging the headphones. I can run them (not airpods) down and toss them in the charger for 20 minutes and get a few more hours of listening. Helps battery anxiety quite a bit.

ktran03 8y ago

Like many Apple products, as an outside observer it seams ridiculous the amount of money people put down for their products. But once you use them, the ah-ha moment eventually kicks in. Contrary to popular belief, Apple didn't become the biggest company in the world from Marketing alone, they actually make great products.

stouset 8y ago

> and can't be charged while being used I'll just address this point, because it is categorically incorrect and something many people misunderstood when they were first released. There are two of them. You can use them independently from one another. When you hear the "low battery" tone, it's trivial to remove one and continue to use the other. By the time the tone plays again in the one you continued to use (signaling critically low battery), you just swap which earbud is in the case. The one that was in the case will be almost fully charged at this point. The effect is that you can pretty much use them indefinitely without a full interruption. And using only one at a time is mostly unnoticeable.

deleted 8y ago
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EpicEng 8y ago
That's all well and good if using one were the same as using two. Of course, it isn't...
- asudosandwich 8y ago
  It helps in a pinch if you’re on a really long conference call and the batteries start to run low. I’ll pop one briefly back in the case to top it off and not have to miss anything said.
  - EpicEng 8y ago
    Sure, it's a fine workaround for a dying pair, but the GP said: >I'll just address this point, because it is categorically incorrect and something many people misunderstood when they were first released
    - stouset 8y ago
      GP said they "can't be charged while being used". Which is categorically incorrect. They can, and on the scale of Things That Are a Big Deal, it's an 0.3 out of 10.

okmokmz 8y ago

Having to occasionally charge a pair of headphones, and not being able to charge while in use, is easily worth the trade off of being wireless. I would never go back to wired headphones, regardless of quality/price/features

pwthornton 8y ago

These get charged way less than your phone. The case has about 24-hours worth of charge in it. I’m much more likely to have my phone low on charge than my AirPods. Wireless case charging will make it so that my case is almost always well charged.

jen729w 8y ago
This, for sure, but also the AirPod case can be charged whenever, whereas you usually want to charge your phone at night. I’m struggling to find words to explain what I mean ... there’s rarely a time when I realise I need to charge my AirPods and it’s an inconvenience, whereas the phone always seems to run low at just the wrong time. I dunno. Plus, you can have the AirPods in your ears, listening to a thing, while the case charges. This takes nothing away from your experience. You can use your iPhone while it charges, but that’s a PITA because now you’re tethered to a wall. TL;DR: charging them isn’t an issue that should prevent you from buying them. They’re amazing.
geoelectric 8y ago
Plus (and this isn't unique to AirPods) the lower charge the AirPods are the faster they recharge. As long as you keep the case charged you can drop the pods in for a couple-few minutes while you give your ears a break and you'll get a decent playback duration when you come back.

sosborn 8y ago

> What is the improvement I am missing here? I think what you are missing is that different people value things differently. These don't make sense for you? That's fine, don't buy them. They don't make sense for me either, so I don't buy them. However, I can understand how it would make sense for someone else. Arguing the money aspect doesn't make sense because we never know a person's income, expenses and savings. $200 for one person is nothing, while it can be the difference between making rent for another. Arguing sound quality doesn't make sense either, because despite all of the numbers that people throw around, people perceive and enjoy sound differently. It isn't objective, its subjective. Same thing with the presence of wires. I would have liked these (or, more likely, a larger set of wireless cans) when I lived in Japan and commuted by train daily. Now that I commute by car, my headphone use is limited to netflix in bed and when I'm playing guitar. Wireless doesn't do anything for me in those situations. Long story short, different strokes for different folks.

SiVal 8y ago
Like you, I haven't chosen to get them for myself, but I got them for my wife who loves them. Reasons: I have pockets big enough to always be holding my phone, and I can just run a wire up from my pocket under my shirt and into my ears. No snags. She doesn't have such pockets and wouldn't wire herself in any case. She cares about fashion. I'm a programmer. I care about more important stuff like compilers and her. We'll leave it at that. I have a headphone jack in my phone. She doesn't, so wireless is mandatory for her. It's just a question of lower quality, big, and clunky, or these. Now that I got these for her, the lower-quality option is forever off the table. She can cruise around the kitchen cooking while "watching" a video that's playing on a laptop on the counter. I did that using my MacBook Pro's built-in speakers, which eventually blew out both speakers. My phone-in-the-pocket, wired solution limits me to audio-only. So, yes, there are reasons, and whether they matter depends on the person.
- Nullabillity 8y ago
  Basically every generation of phones' regressions are based on looking at what Apple manages to get away with, and copying it. Even if I would never buy their junk myself (or encourage anyone else to), it's basically impossible to get away from their aftershocks. Unremovable batteries? Apple got away with it from the start. Hell, they even managed to get people to pay ridiculous markups to replace them after it was discovered that they tampered with device performance. Unremovable storage? Just look at what Apple manages to charge for storage upgrades! Dropping the headphone jack? iPhone 7 got away with it, and drove the sale of plenty of adapters. USB-C? Well, if Apple could get people to buy new Lightning devices and chargers... These are standard "features" now. Every phone has this now. There are no other options for me to "vote for" with my wallet anymore, even though I always did when the I had the option to. There is no way for me, as a single consumer, to get away from this bullshit. Fashion doesn't spring up from thin air. It's crafted by people. With agendas. And accessories to sell. Hell, nobody seemed happy about any of these changes when they were introduced. But the manufacturers had the pockets to outlast the outrage. And eventually, fashion changed. And, just maybe, ask why on earth a whole industry exists around fake pockets, and what accessories they exist to sell.

baddox 8y ago

Why is charging while using a feature even worth mentioning? AirPods gain 3 hours of battery life (listening time) with 15 minutes of charging in the case, vs. 5 hours of total battery life between charges. That's very little difference, and if you're doing something important where interruptions are unacceptable (like a phone/video call), you can always charge one AirPod at a time in the case (they both have microphones). In practice I just don't find it hard to believe that very many people would ever need or even use the "charge while using" feature.

fuckyah 8y ago

u could charge one at a time, while using the other

baxtr 8y ago

I love my AirPods. I am in full panic mode when I realize that I forgot them at home (happens rarely). They are the best Apple products in years. Why? Because they simply work, seamlessly. Product development in perfection. Can’t be charged while being used? Who cares? They last long enough. 1 out of 50 times I wear them they run out of battery. Charging them takes 5 minutes, so it’s not a big deal. Also, the whole point is that they’re wireless. If you don’t care about this specific feature it’s no wonder you don’t see them as an improvement.

FPGAhacker 8y ago
"They are the best Apple products in years. Why? Because they simply work, seamlessly. Product development in perfection." I can't remember ever trying to use headphones/earphones and not have them "just work."
- baxtr 8y ago
  Wireless ones? Really?

RobLach 8y ago

The improvement they're buying isn't to their listening experience.

outworlder 8y ago

> I honestly can't say I understand the draw to drop significant money on a new set of headphones that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone, and can't be charged while being used. Maybe if you are using them 24/7. The battery in the case can charge the airpods batteries several times.

gnicholas 8y ago
Not even if you are using them 24/7, since that would drain your phone battery. That is one downside, though — that your phone battery drains more quickly with wireless headphones. I've noticed this on my 7 Plus for sure.

mmgutz 8y ago

Freedom of movement more than anything. I bought a pair and they sounded about as mediocre as the wired apple earbuds. I loved the freedom it provided. I don't know how many times I flung my phone or macbook to the ground because I was wired. I had to return them because one of my ears isn't a good fit. One earpod stuck out almost 45 degrees out of my ears and loosen over prolonged use.

jxdxbx 8y ago

My first pair of Airpods, even after 2 years, still worked for hours on a charge. And of course “charging” just means putting them in your pocket. I just wish I had waited to run them through the laundry until today. I bought a new pair just recently.

jpalomaki 8y ago

I can carry AirPods always in pocket and easily pop them to ear before answering call. I did not like wired ones, because wire would get tangled with keys etc. Is this worth the price? For me yes, but certainly not for everybody.

philwelch 8y ago

I charge my AirPods case probably less often than every month. With heavier usage that might be weekly. (The AirPods themselves are recharged by the case, which is where they go when they're not in my ears anyway.)

veidr 8y ago

Literally the only significant attraction is not having the wire. Ever since wireless headphones started to actually work reliably, I've used them exclusively (big over-the-ear ones for music, airpods for things like calls or online meetings). For me it was all about the fucking tangle. I don't care much about having the cable on while I am using them. But having to do that stupid devil-horns-figure-eight winding technique to avoid the cable getting tangled into a knot, every single time I want to put the headphones into my pocket, which I do several times a day... ugh. For me, going back to wired headphones would be like going back to getting on the train by going up to a vending machine, putting coins into it, pushing buttons, waiting for it to emit a paper ticket, and then getting on the train. It's only a difference of a few seconds, usually, but it something I do over and over and over and over, so that's why it's worth it to me. (I dropped significant money on a new iphone as soon as it finally got train-pass functionality here in Japan, too.)

tangue 8y ago

+1 and mini-jack headsets doesn't need an additional power plants. Think about it when in the next keynote they'll say how "green" and "clean" they are ...

dpkonofa 8y ago

>that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone That's not true at all with AirPods. I use them nearly every day and I haven't had to charge them in almost 2 full weeks since charge while in the case and 5 minutes of charge lasts a few hours. They're seriously awesome. I never would have purchased them myself or asked for them for the price they're asking but I got them as a gift and I think they're amazing.

manuisin 8y ago

You need to charge them roughly a magnitude less than your phone. That's once a week or more if you charge your phone everyday because your usage of your phone is supposed to directly correlate with your usage of the airpods. So, unless you use your wired headphones on other devices, it's not a good comparison.

deepGem 8y ago

I love the Apple wired earphones that come with the phone. However, if you travel a lot or move around, the wires tend to tangle and when you need the headset in the split of a second they don't work. It's not a critical use case but the more you travel, the more you move around, the tangled headphones start annoying you more and more. You'll reach a point at which $150 or $200 doesn't seem like a big deal to get rid of this annoyance. If you fly a lot, then you'll really appreciate over the ear headphones, preferably the noise cancelling ones. That being said, these wireless over the ear phones are too bulky to use in day to day life such as commute etc. So now you end up owning one pair of wireless noise cancelling headphones for flying, air pods for your day-day commute. You see where I am going with this .. welcome to capltalism :)

nswest23 8y ago

some people are more susceptible to marketing tactics.

originalbryan2 8y ago

I don't own any, but I do have a 3rd party wireless headset. For me, ditching the cable means avoiding the inexplicable and over-the-top rage I experience when wired earphones/headphones get suddenly yanked on the occasion they catch on something. Once in a while I'll meet somebody else that has this type of reaction. It's weird.