14 ms·

Amazon Echo Buds

152 points by Zaheer 7y ago

pavelmark 7y ago
>>Bose Active Noise Reduction Technology Interesting that Bose would license this out. Seems like Amazon would be a major threat to them.
- throwanem 7y ago
  It's just a white-label version. No IP licensing is necessary, or indeed at all likely; there'd just be a contract for the branding, and a post-final assembly step in which the branding is applied.
- hbosch 7y ago
  This doesn't make them a threat, it makes them a customer. Clearly these are, more or less, Bose earbuds with Alexa built into them.
chinathrow 7y ago
We're on a slippery slope. These buds have microphones, obviously. I do not want my voice captured by random folks on the street without my consent and sent to Alexa. How will opt-in looks like for such systems?
- xxpor 7y ago
  People have already been doing that for years with siri and google assistant.
- petschge 7y ago
  Same as for google glasses. Shame the person wearing them and refuse to hang out with them. All the glassholes seemed to get it pretty quickly.
  - filoleg 7y ago
    Yeah, that’s totally why google glass failed, not because the product and the UX were subpar.
    - jimbob45 7y ago
      Google glass kinda seems like the inventions in this sketch, where it's clear that it could have a purpose one day and it's designed well, but right now, it just seems mostly foolish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa_hiLXLbTc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa_hiLXLbTc
    - dawg- 7y ago
      Exactly, google glass was ugly and boring. That's why Google spinoff Niantic pivoted to gamify AR with Pokemon GO in order to take a different strategy. The idea was to get people comfortable with it using the cultural capital of Pokemon; then comes the next version of Google Glass.
  - NikolaNovak 7y ago
    Hmm, are we supposed to also shame everybody with a mainstream smartphone ("Hey Siri" / "OK Google"), home hub, etc? That's a LOT of shaming, when here I thought we were already shaming people quite sufficiently/too much... :-/ Honestly, never quite got the hate on Google Glass - they merely made it obvious and convenient, what so much accepted technology already does anyway :-/
    - NikolaNovak 7y ago
      Aaaaaaaand... ironically and conveniently.... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G62GWS4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G62GWS4 Echo Frames... apparently, not enough shaming;)
  - fortran77 7y ago
    Do you really thing "shaming people" is an appropriate, mature response?
- throwanem 7y ago
  The same way it does for the ubiquitous smartphones that capture your voice now: there isn't any.
- jonknee 7y ago
  Yes, these buds have microphones like almost every other pair of earbuds and headphones (not to mention the phone they're connected to!). If you don't want people to hear you, it's probably best not to talk. Airpods even have a feature that uses the mic to boost ambient sounds, specifically so you can better hear people.
- bdcravens 7y ago
  So do Airpods. Some of Bose's headphones have had integration with Alexa etc for some time. I've noticed I've trigger Siri accidentally several times (imagine saying, "... but hey, seriously ..." in a conversation).
- whoisjuan 7y ago
  Do you realize that smartphones also have mics and they have been around for more than a decade? Sorry buddy, but your voice has already been captured by random folks on the street without your consent for years.
- vonseel 7y ago
  My echo dot is visible in the kitchen from the couch in the living room. You would be surprised how often I see the Alexa device lighting up because it thinks some dialogue on TV has triggered its “Alexa... “ behavior. The number of false positives is not small. At least once per day. Fortunately, I don’t think the device asks “sorry, I didn’t catch that” anymore since they added quiet mode.
  - ineedasername 7y ago
    I still get Alexa butting into conversations with the "sorry" thing. The typical response in my household is "no one asked you Alexa". And then to get a little creeped out that it hears everything.
tus88 7y ago
I am not sure about these. I think I would rather be plugged into my phone where I can do things like ask to make a phone call or ask for directions, plus everything Alexa can do too. Unless these can pair with your phone for that purpose?
- misterdoubt 7y ago
  Yes. In fact, I think it has to be connected to some other device with the Alexa app. >Hands-free with Alexa – Echo Buds work with the Alexa app to stream music, play Audible audiobooks, make calls, or get directions—just ask.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- vineyardmike 7y ago
  They also work with the existing phone voice controls.
binarysolo 7y ago
Looks like this is basically a Bose product with Amazon branding so it should be pretty good. That being said, as an owner of both the Bose QC35 and the Apple Airpods, I'm curious to see how this fits a use case. The over-ear Bose headphones have just enough comfort for its noise-canceling that I can use it for work and flights, and the Airpods I use for workouts - and intentionally don't want it to block out too much noise so when I'm running/biking I can be situationally aware. Am curious what upsides and downsides of these two niches it'll hit.
- CriticalCathed 7y ago
  Aside from the active noise cancelling tech that bose uses, their products aren't synonymous with pretty good. From a technical standpoint the driver units in their headphones are crap. Even random chinese headphones at a fifth of the price can produce better sound than Bose products.
  - favorited 7y ago
    The old refrain: "No highs, no lows, must be Bose!"
    - mcqueenjordan 7y ago
      Buy Other Sound Equipment?
  - mbell 7y ago
    Not sure why you've been downvoted here, you are completely correct. Bose's noise canceling is good, but everything else they build is really quite poor acoustically. This isn't really even up for much debate as it's pretty easy to demonstrate the awful frequency response of the vast majority of their products. They are a bit of a poster child for marketing over technical merit, the MongoDB of speakers really.
- cj 7y ago
  > Airpods I use for workouts I just bought airpods yesterday, and tried running with them for the first time today. I couldn't run more than 30 seconds without them falling out of my ear. (Kind of disappointing after spending $200) I also have a Bose over the ear headphone. Too clunky for running. These Amazon buds actually look like they could be better than Airpods for running. Looks like they have the "suction cup" type of design, which usually do a much better job staying in the ear when moving around.
joaomoreno 7y ago
If I were a retailer I'd love to know what my potential customers are talking about in their day-to-day so I can give them a great deal on exactly that.
- cheschire 7y ago
  This comment needs to be higher. Some topics here talk about paranoia about government spying before and after the Snowden revelations. Some talk about privacy issues and there are people decrying companies for emphasizing ad revenue and ignoring privacy. And yet after all that some people seem motivated to virtually sprint into an ecosystem where a company that doesn't care about you as anything more than a revenue stream is trying to sell you an always-on microphone.
  - linuxftw 7y ago
    People absolutely have to part of the in-group. Television advertisements work. I know several people with listening devices in their home. Each time it's been demonstrated to me, you know what they do? They ask it to tell me the weather. That said, the headphones do make sense. Seems everyone is trying to avoid any sense of being around other humans as often as possible. Better to isolate yourself from the outside world when you're forced to go about whatever rat-race life you live than be forced to interact with society.
mh- 7y ago
These seem interesting. The biggest downside I see is that you have to use the Alexa app, which is hands-down the worst iOS app I have the displeasure of interacting with regularly. [..] including the ability to mute the mics with the Alexa app.
dawg- 7y ago
I have been teetering on the edge of full blown luddism ever since the first iPhone came out. Then social media took over . I have never used social media, and only just recently used a smartphone. Even though I hate the form it has taken on in this particular decade, I'm still open to the possibility that smartphones and social media could one day be ethical and healthy ways to communicate with other people. That being said, the colonization of the human body is a step too far for me. I will use a smartphone, I might even use Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat one day if they ever embraced more human-centered ethical design. But I will never, ever, ever allow a company to intervene between my physical senses and the physical world. That's the line I personally choose to draw, hopefully many others will draw it with me.
- badger_bravo 7y ago
  > But I will never, ever, ever allow a company to intervene between my physical senses and the physical world So no headphones in general? what about vision-correcting glasses? I'm very confused by this line you're drawing.
  - king_panic 7y ago
    Nitpicking. The argument is clear.
  - dawg- 7y ago
    Headphones are dumb, single-purpose objects. The long term vision of airpods are that they are part of users' everyday interface with the world - with someone else in the middle harvesting data. Ditto with glasses.
  - frenchyatwork 7y ago
    I admire your pedantry, but there's a clear distinction between these things and what dawg- referred too. One is a product with a behaviour that is clearly understood, and not proprietary (for the most part). More importantly, it's behaviour is not under the control of anyone else. I can see why you might think this line is a little restrictive and arbitrary. Collectively we've already gotten used to running so much software that we have little to no oversight over, so this seems like such a small thing.
sudosteph 7y ago
Does anyone here actually use voice control commands in public (at a coffee shop, on the sidewalk) like the ads for this are suggesting? If so, does it feel awkward? Expecting people to speak their commands in public just seems intrusive and I don't understand companies trying to pretend it's a norm to sell their products. I really don't want to know what song the person next to me is listening to. That's the point of headphones. People with visual disabilities often already have better tools to interact with their phones with privacy, and nobody minds people using voice for people with physical disabilities either (and these tools exist already too). Related: it's about to be even more weird for everyone in the world named "Alexa".
- codemac 7y ago
  > Does anyone here actually use voice control commands in public (at a coffee shop, on the sidewalk) like the ads for this are suggesting? If so, does it feel awkward? Most people I know actually use them in the car frequently, but in public rarely.
- heavyset_go 7y ago
  They've been around for nearly two decades now, but I am consistently caught off guard by people talking into well-concealed Bluetooth earpieces. Those are awkward enough.
  - steelframe 7y ago
    About 19 years ago some guy at my school was by himself. He started talking as I walked by, and I naturally thought he was talking to me, so I stopped and asked, "Sorry, what was that?" He just stared away from me with an annoyed look on his face while he kept talking. At first I thought he had a disability, but when it became obvious he was on a phone call, that's when I first realized that wireless in-ear things like that were starting to exist. It's still a little strange when people just randomly start talking when I'm the only other person around.
    - jkestner 7y ago
crazygringo 7y ago
Wait a minute -- this actually seems too good to be true. It offers "Bose Active Noise Reduction Technology" in wireless earbuds, when even Bose doesn't offer noise cancellation in wireless earbuds -- or anybody else as far as I can tell. (AirPods, Bose SoundSport, Jabra Elite -- none do noise cancellation. Bose offers the larger QuietControl 30 buds [1], but the tech is still in a bulky "headband" connected by short wires.) So... is "noise reduction" different from, or weaker than, the "noise cancelling" which Bose products already provide? Or is Amazon actually somehow producing/licensing a product better than anything Bose itself sells, and for only half the price? Something isn't adding up here... but I want it to be true, because I've been wanting a pair of genuine wireless noise-cancelling earbuds for so long now! [1] https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/earphones/quietcontrol-30.html https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/earphones/qui...
- blawson 7y ago
  Bose announced they will be shipping wireless noice cancelling earbuds. Next year though. https://www.bose.com/en_us/better_with_bose/new-headphones.html https://www.bose.com/en_us/better_with_bose/new-headphones.h...
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- sikhnerd 7y ago
  The Sony WF-1000XM3 sounds like what you're looking for.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - crazygringo 7y ago
    Oh thanks I missed that -- looks like they came out two months ago, awesome!
  - nash 7y ago
not_a_cop75 7y ago
Great design to optimize for gliomas. Probably not a problem for people in their 20's but I wouldn't recommend these for anyone past 40.
- cj 7y ago
  Can you elaborate?
  - not_a_cop75 7y ago
    While not "positively proven" sticking something that generates radio frequencies for long periods of time so close to your head can have potential negative effects, especially in those that are more prone to getting cancer. Oddly, the two groups I would say are most affected are the elderly, with poor DNA repair and poor immune response, and young people who are still actively growing (think under 21). At least with the iphone airpods, the damn thing still has a antennae that is positioned away from your head, but the use of bluetooth is supposedly several times more radiation over just normal cell phone use. These radiation levels, as far as I have read have not been studied for 10-40 years of constant exposure. I love my smart device and technology, but I generally try to turn my device wireless (and bluetooth) off when not using it. The convenience is not really worth getting cancer over. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-exposure/cellular-phones.html https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-exposu... "A recent large study by the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) exposed large groups of lab rats and mice to RF energy over their entire bodies for about 9 hours a day, starting before birth and continuing for up to 2 years (which is the equivalent of about 70 years for humans, according to NTP scientists). The study found an increased risk of tumors called malignant schwannomas of the heart in male rats exposed to RF radiation, as well as possible increased risks of certain types of tumors in the brain and adrenal glands. But some aspects of this study make it hard to know just how well these results might be applied to cell phone use in people. For example, there was no clear increased risk among female rats or among male or female mice in the study. The doses of RF radiation in the study were also generally higher than those used in cell phones (ranging from 1.5 W/kg to 6 W/kg in rats, and 2.5 W/kg to 10 W/kg in mice), the animals’ entire bodies were exposed, and the amount of time they were exposed was longer than most people typically spend on the phone each day. The male rats in the study exposed to RF waves also lived longer, on average, than the rats who were not exposed, for unclear reasons. Because of this, the NTP has noted that the study results cannot be directly applied to humans. Still, the results add to the evidence that cell phone signals might potentially impact human health." And... "The 13-country INTERPHONE study, the largest case-control study done to date, looked at cell phone use among more than 5,000 people who developed brain tumors (gliomas or meningiomas) and a similar group of people without tumors. Overall, the study found no link between brain tumor risk and the frequency of calls, longer call time, or cell phone use for 10 or more years. There was a suggestion of a possible increased risk of glioma, and a smaller suggestion of an increased risk of meningioma, in the 10% of people who used their cell phones the most. But this finding was hard to interpret because some people in the study reported implausibly high cell phone use, as well as other issues. The researchers noted that the shortcomings of the study prevented them from drawing any firm conclusions, and that more research was needed."
smn1234 7y ago
frequency, impedance, sensitivity? aac or aptx HD codecs? Where are the tech specs?
pastor_elm 7y ago
Are bluetooth ear buds really worth the cancer risks?
markstos 7y ago
I only need one bud, how about $65 for the left ear bud?
- deweller 7y ago
  I think you might have been joking. But, seriously, can you buy a pair and split them with a friend? Or do you have to pair both ear buds to the same device?
  - markstos 7y ago
    Not really joking. I would mostly use them to listen to podcasts while running. I like to keep one ear open to the world and don't need immersive audio to listen to speech. Old school Bluetooth earpieces work fine for this and are cheaper anyway.
- mxuribe 7y ago
  I immediately thought of Chris Rock's character from I'm gonna git you sucka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgHcYxKjwVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgHcYxKjwVE
tony 7y ago
I think one reason some may protest is these just aren't hacker-friendly to most IMO. They're consumption devices, and aren't tweakable enough, a la: - Homebrew - Custom firmware - API's / SDK's - Custom services / frameworks to orchestrate in-out-around vendors ecosystem (IFTTT?) Not really enough to get at the gears of it. Is Alexa, by itself, the kind of ecosystem a startups would want to devote to? I imagine to make a really good Alexa product, it tends to be very specialized, and it's risky to be stuck with just one market. Not to say Amazon's future isn't looking prosperous, but they control the APIs, the commission/royalty fees, etc. Whose to say 10 years from now, they wake up and say, you know, Alexa isn't financially viable anymore, your hardware has no site to connect to, and Alexa just shows the red loop/line of doom? [1] https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-voice-service/api-overview.html https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-voice-service/api-ov... I guess there's this.
- mxuribe 7y ago
  > Whose to say 10 years from now, they wake up and say, you know, Alexa isn't financially viable anymore, your hardware has no site to connect to... Oh, you mean, whose to say that they won't pull a "Google", and kill off one of their products/services? ;-) (BTW, i fully agree with you!)
  - xeromal 7y ago
    The number of people that keep headphones for 10 years don't matter to retailers.
miguelmota 7y ago
The design is quite decent compared to the Apple Airpods which I love how they function but can't stand the dangly part. I have big ears so also like that the Echo buds offer different sizes.
robbrit 7y ago
Be careful, these are the first step to being turned into a Cyberman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQs3gVobcfg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQs3gVobcfg
- ineedasername 7y ago
  Is that an improvement over an Amazon Basics toilet plunger that wants to exterminate you? http://tardis.soup.io/post/393507531/1-The-Dalek-Plunger-Used-By-The http://tardis.soup.io/post/393507531/1-The-Dalek-Plunger-Use...
whenchamenia 7y ago
Bose is second only to Beats for sounding terrible yet somehow having a good brand image. What gives?
keyle 7y ago
I like them for the form factor. Bose + noise cancelling. Can I just use them as bluetooth iPhone earbuds, or do I need to have the Alexa mind-rape that comes with it?
emdowling 7y ago
I want to, but the online requirement for seemingly basic commands like “next track” renders the feature useless when I need it the most: the London Tube. I often have no hands free when travelling in peak hour and connectivity at stations is patchy at best. Looking forward to TfL finally rolling out cell coverage from 2020 though. Long time coming.
protomyth 7y ago
Got: This item requires special handling and cannot be shipped to your selected location. using a street address (not PO Box). Wonder what's up with that.
- x2f10 7y ago
  I had the same warning. My address is in a big city. Normal street address - no PO or even an apt.
a13n 7y ago
At first glance, the design looks super similar to the Zolo Liberty earbuds, which I love. https://zoloaudio.com/pages/liberty_series https://zoloaudio.com/pages/liberty_series
kraig911 7y ago
Now with Alexa in full force I really wish Amazon would try their hand at a phone again. Phones are just so blah lately. We need someone to shake it up.
- seph-reed 7y ago
  I really wish Amazon would just stop trying to take over every single industry on Earth and act like responsible adults in capitalist society (ie not in support of monopolies).
wcpines 7y ago
Am I the only one here seeing an uncanny resemblance to the Bragi Dash? (RIP)
jezhou 7y ago
Is there an advantage of keeping the port micro-usb? I am very surprised that in 2019 Amazon is still making devices that don't have usb-c. It's become a huge selling point for me personally.
- okbake 7y ago
  It could be a matter of size, but it's since the charging port isn't on the earbuds itself it might not matter. usb-c connectors are (8.4mm x 2.6mm) whereas micro-a is (6.85mm x 1.8mm) and micro-b is (6.85mm x 1.8mm) It might just be a matter of simplicity, since USB-C seems to have a larger surface area for the spec, but I don't really know if that's the case.
- untog 7y ago
  Probably cost. Micro is still cheaper than USB C in almost all cases.
PascLeRasc 7y ago
Amazon needs a different look for their own products' pages. Something about an item with zero reviews, the same style of photos as the off-brands they sell, and a wall of plain text phrases like "immersive sound" makes them seem really cheap.
- nyolfen 7y ago
  seriously, my immediate impression was that they're visually indistinguishable from $30 rebadged aliexpress crap
tossaouta 7y ago
Every time something new and exciting comes out from these guys (AMZN, GOOG, MSFT, etc.), it's like HN (as a whole) forgets about all privacy, etc. So, Echo spies. We know that. And now we're (the at least 117 upvotes so far) OK with putting Echo directly into our ears? And barely anyone in the comments section seems to care either... what is going on in here?
- noitsnot 7y ago
  I'll take a wild guess and say you have a ton of employees from those companies as top posters on HN.
- fragmede 7y ago
  There's some confirmation bias - there were more than a few comments on Facebook's purchase of CTRL-labs about privacy, Cloudflare's announcement of WARP going GA had more than a few.
Hasz 7y ago
It's like somebody dared amazon to put a mic into every new item they sell. The TV remote has a mic. The outlet has a mic. The earbuds have mic(s). and so on. I mean, I get it, they want me to talk to Alexa, so it can figure out how to sell me more junk. But seriously, I do not understand the desire to be listened to 24/7. I do not want a live mic in my home, nor in my pocket when I run, nor anywhere else it's not necessary.
- prepend 7y ago
  It actually seems really useful when running. “What’s my pace per mile?” “How far have I gone?” “Reply to my spouse and say yes I’ll get the milk.” It’s hard to get my phone out while running. Not impossible but an annoyance. This removes an annoyance so that’s a nice option.

152 points by Zaheer 7y ago

>>Bose Active Noise Reduction Technology Interesting that Bose would license this out. Seems like Amazon would be a major threat to them.

throwanem 7y ago
It's just a white-label version. No IP licensing is necessary, or indeed at all likely; there'd just be a contract for the branding, and a post-final assembly step in which the branding is applied.
hbosch 7y ago
This doesn't make them a threat, it makes them a customer. Clearly these are, more or less, Bose earbuds with Alexa built into them.

chinathrow 7y ago

We're on a slippery slope. These buds have microphones, obviously. I do not want my voice captured by random folks on the street without my consent and sent to Alexa. How will opt-in looks like for such systems?

xxpor 7y ago
People have already been doing that for years with siri and google assistant.
petschge 7y ago
Same as for google glasses. Shame the person wearing them and refuse to hang out with them. All the glassholes seemed to get it pretty quickly.
- filoleg 7y ago
  Yeah, that’s totally why google glass failed, not because the product and the UX were subpar.
  - jimbob45 7y ago
    Google glass kinda seems like the inventions in this sketch, where it's clear that it could have a purpose one day and it's designed well, but right now, it just seems mostly foolish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa_hiLXLbTc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa_hiLXLbTc
  - dawg- 7y ago
    Exactly, google glass was ugly and boring. That's why Google spinoff Niantic pivoted to gamify AR with Pokemon GO in order to take a different strategy. The idea was to get people comfortable with it using the cultural capital of Pokemon; then comes the next version of Google Glass.
- NikolaNovak 7y ago
  Hmm, are we supposed to also shame everybody with a mainstream smartphone ("Hey Siri" / "OK Google"), home hub, etc? That's a LOT of shaming, when here I thought we were already shaming people quite sufficiently/too much... :-/ Honestly, never quite got the hate on Google Glass - they merely made it obvious and convenient, what so much accepted technology already does anyway :-/
  - NikolaNovak 7y ago
    Aaaaaaaand... ironically and conveniently.... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G62GWS4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G62GWS4 Echo Frames... apparently, not enough shaming;)
- fortran77 7y ago
  Do you really thing "shaming people" is an appropriate, mature response?
throwanem 7y ago
The same way it does for the ubiquitous smartphones that capture your voice now: there isn't any.
jonknee 7y ago
Yes, these buds have microphones like almost every other pair of earbuds and headphones (not to mention the phone they're connected to!). If you don't want people to hear you, it's probably best not to talk. Airpods even have a feature that uses the mic to boost ambient sounds, specifically so you can better hear people.
bdcravens 7y ago
So do Airpods. Some of Bose's headphones have had integration with Alexa etc for some time. I've noticed I've trigger Siri accidentally several times (imagine saying, "... but hey, seriously ..." in a conversation).
whoisjuan 7y ago
Do you realize that smartphones also have mics and they have been around for more than a decade? Sorry buddy, but your voice has already been captured by random folks on the street without your consent for years.
vonseel 7y ago
My echo dot is visible in the kitchen from the couch in the living room. You would be surprised how often I see the Alexa device lighting up because it thinks some dialogue on TV has triggered its “Alexa... “ behavior. The number of false positives is not small. At least once per day. Fortunately, I don’t think the device asks “sorry, I didn’t catch that” anymore since they added quiet mode.
- ineedasername 7y ago
  I still get Alexa butting into conversations with the "sorry" thing. The typical response in my household is "no one asked you Alexa". And then to get a little creeped out that it hears everything.

tus88 7y ago

I am not sure about these. I think I would rather be plugged into my phone where I can do things like ask to make a phone call or ask for directions, plus everything Alexa can do too. Unless these can pair with your phone for that purpose?

misterdoubt 7y ago
Yes. In fact, I think it has to be connected to some other device with the Alexa app. >Hands-free with Alexa – Echo Buds work with the Alexa app to stream music, play Audible audiobooks, make calls, or get directions—just ask.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
vineyardmike 7y ago
They also work with the existing phone voice controls.

binarysolo 7y ago

Looks like this is basically a Bose product with Amazon branding so it should be pretty good. That being said, as an owner of both the Bose QC35 and the Apple Airpods, I'm curious to see how this fits a use case. The over-ear Bose headphones have just enough comfort for its noise-canceling that I can use it for work and flights, and the Airpods I use for workouts - and intentionally don't want it to block out too much noise so when I'm running/biking I can be situationally aware. Am curious what upsides and downsides of these two niches it'll hit.

CriticalCathed 7y ago
Aside from the active noise cancelling tech that bose uses, their products aren't synonymous with pretty good. From a technical standpoint the driver units in their headphones are crap. Even random chinese headphones at a fifth of the price can produce better sound than Bose products.
- favorited 7y ago
  The old refrain: "No highs, no lows, must be Bose!"
  - mcqueenjordan 7y ago
    Buy Other Sound Equipment?
- mbell 7y ago
  Not sure why you've been downvoted here, you are completely correct. Bose's noise canceling is good, but everything else they build is really quite poor acoustically. This isn't really even up for much debate as it's pretty easy to demonstrate the awful frequency response of the vast majority of their products. They are a bit of a poster child for marketing over technical merit, the MongoDB of speakers really.
cj 7y ago
> Airpods I use for workouts I just bought airpods yesterday, and tried running with them for the first time today. I couldn't run more than 30 seconds without them falling out of my ear. (Kind of disappointing after spending $200) I also have a Bose over the ear headphone. Too clunky for running. These Amazon buds actually look like they could be better than Airpods for running. Looks like they have the "suction cup" type of design, which usually do a much better job staying in the ear when moving around.

joaomoreno 7y ago

If I were a retailer I'd love to know what my potential customers are talking about in their day-to-day so I can give them a great deal on exactly that.

cheschire 7y ago
This comment needs to be higher. Some topics here talk about paranoia about government spying before and after the Snowden revelations. Some talk about privacy issues and there are people decrying companies for emphasizing ad revenue and ignoring privacy. And yet after all that some people seem motivated to virtually sprint into an ecosystem where a company that doesn't care about you as anything more than a revenue stream is trying to sell you an always-on microphone.
- linuxftw 7y ago
  People absolutely have to part of the in-group. Television advertisements work. I know several people with listening devices in their home. Each time it's been demonstrated to me, you know what they do? They ask it to tell me the weather. That said, the headphones do make sense. Seems everyone is trying to avoid any sense of being around other humans as often as possible. Better to isolate yourself from the outside world when you're forced to go about whatever rat-race life you live than be forced to interact with society.

mh- 7y ago

These seem interesting. The biggest downside I see is that you have to use the Alexa app, which is hands-down the worst iOS app I have the displeasure of interacting with regularly. [..] including the ability to mute the mics with the Alexa app.

dawg- 7y ago

I have been teetering on the edge of full blown luddism ever since the first iPhone came out. Then social media took over . I have never used social media, and only just recently used a smartphone. Even though I hate the form it has taken on in this particular decade, I'm still open to the possibility that smartphones and social media could one day be ethical and healthy ways to communicate with other people. That being said, the colonization of the human body is a step too far for me. I will use a smartphone, I might even use Facebook/Instagram/Snapchat one day if they ever embraced more human-centered ethical design. But I will never, ever, ever allow a company to intervene between my physical senses and the physical world. That's the line I personally choose to draw, hopefully many others will draw it with me.

badger_bravo 7y ago
> But I will never, ever, ever allow a company to intervene between my physical senses and the physical world So no headphones in general? what about vision-correcting glasses? I'm very confused by this line you're drawing.
- king_panic 7y ago
  Nitpicking. The argument is clear.
- dawg- 7y ago
  Headphones are dumb, single-purpose objects. The long term vision of airpods are that they are part of users' everyday interface with the world - with someone else in the middle harvesting data. Ditto with glasses.
- frenchyatwork 7y ago
  I admire your pedantry, but there's a clear distinction between these things and what dawg- referred too. One is a product with a behaviour that is clearly understood, and not proprietary (for the most part). More importantly, it's behaviour is not under the control of anyone else. I can see why you might think this line is a little restrictive and arbitrary. Collectively we've already gotten used to running so much software that we have little to no oversight over, so this seems like such a small thing.

sudosteph 7y ago

Does anyone here actually use voice control commands in public (at a coffee shop, on the sidewalk) like the ads for this are suggesting? If so, does it feel awkward? Expecting people to speak their commands in public just seems intrusive and I don't understand companies trying to pretend it's a norm to sell their products. I really don't want to know what song the person next to me is listening to. That's the point of headphones. People with visual disabilities often already have better tools to interact with their phones with privacy, and nobody minds people using voice for people with physical disabilities either (and these tools exist already too). Related: it's about to be even more weird for everyone in the world named "Alexa".

codemac 7y ago
> Does anyone here actually use voice control commands in public (at a coffee shop, on the sidewalk) like the ads for this are suggesting? If so, does it feel awkward? Most people I know actually use them in the car frequently, but in public rarely.
heavyset_go 7y ago
They've been around for nearly two decades now, but I am consistently caught off guard by people talking into well-concealed Bluetooth earpieces. Those are awkward enough.
- steelframe 7y ago
  About 19 years ago some guy at my school was by himself. He started talking as I walked by, and I naturally thought he was talking to me, so I stopped and asked, "Sorry, what was that?" He just stared away from me with an annoyed look on his face while he kept talking. At first I thought he had a disability, but when it became obvious he was on a phone call, that's when I first realized that wireless in-ear things like that were starting to exist. It's still a little strange when people just randomly start talking when I'm the only other person around.
  - jkestner 7y ago

crazygringo 7y ago

Wait a minute -- this actually seems too good to be true. It offers "Bose Active Noise Reduction Technology" in wireless earbuds, when even Bose doesn't offer noise cancellation in wireless earbuds -- or anybody else as far as I can tell. (AirPods, Bose SoundSport, Jabra Elite -- none do noise cancellation. Bose offers the larger QuietControl 30 buds [1], but the tech is still in a bulky "headband" connected by short wires.) So... is "noise reduction" different from, or weaker than, the "noise cancelling" which Bose products already provide? Or is Amazon actually somehow producing/licensing a product better than anything Bose itself sells, and for only half the price? Something isn't adding up here... but I want it to be true, because I've been wanting a pair of genuine wireless noise-cancelling earbuds for so long now! [1] https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/earphones/quietcontrol-30.html https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/earphones/qui...

blawson 7y ago
Bose announced they will be shipping wireless noice cancelling earbuds. Next year though. https://www.bose.com/en_us/better_with_bose/new-headphones.html https://www.bose.com/en_us/better_with_bose/new-headphones.h...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
sikhnerd 7y ago
The Sony WF-1000XM3 sounds like what you're looking for.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- crazygringo 7y ago
  Oh thanks I missed that -- looks like they came out two months ago, awesome!
- nash 7y ago

not_a_cop75 7y ago

Great design to optimize for gliomas. Probably not a problem for people in their 20's but I wouldn't recommend these for anyone past 40.

cj 7y ago
Can you elaborate?
- not_a_cop75 7y ago
  While not "positively proven" sticking something that generates radio frequencies for long periods of time so close to your head can have potential negative effects, especially in those that are more prone to getting cancer. Oddly, the two groups I would say are most affected are the elderly, with poor DNA repair and poor immune response, and young people who are still actively growing (think under 21). At least with the iphone airpods, the damn thing still has a antennae that is positioned away from your head, but the use of bluetooth is supposedly several times more radiation over just normal cell phone use. These radiation levels, as far as I have read have not been studied for 10-40 years of constant exposure. I love my smart device and technology, but I generally try to turn my device wireless (and bluetooth) off when not using it. The convenience is not really worth getting cancer over. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-exposure/cellular-phones.html https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/radiation-exposu... "A recent large study by the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) exposed large groups of lab rats and mice to RF energy over their entire bodies for about 9 hours a day, starting before birth and continuing for up to 2 years (which is the equivalent of about 70 years for humans, according to NTP scientists). The study found an increased risk of tumors called malignant schwannomas of the heart in male rats exposed to RF radiation, as well as possible increased risks of certain types of tumors in the brain and adrenal glands. But some aspects of this study make it hard to know just how well these results might be applied to cell phone use in people. For example, there was no clear increased risk among female rats or among male or female mice in the study. The doses of RF radiation in the study were also generally higher than those used in cell phones (ranging from 1.5 W/kg to 6 W/kg in rats, and 2.5 W/kg to 10 W/kg in mice), the animals’ entire bodies were exposed, and the amount of time they were exposed was longer than most people typically spend on the phone each day. The male rats in the study exposed to RF waves also lived longer, on average, than the rats who were not exposed, for unclear reasons. Because of this, the NTP has noted that the study results cannot be directly applied to humans. Still, the results add to the evidence that cell phone signals might potentially impact human health." And... "The 13-country INTERPHONE study, the largest case-control study done to date, looked at cell phone use among more than 5,000 people who developed brain tumors (gliomas or meningiomas) and a similar group of people without tumors. Overall, the study found no link between brain tumor risk and the frequency of calls, longer call time, or cell phone use for 10 or more years. There was a suggestion of a possible increased risk of glioma, and a smaller suggestion of an increased risk of meningioma, in the 10% of people who used their cell phones the most. But this finding was hard to interpret because some people in the study reported implausibly high cell phone use, as well as other issues. The researchers noted that the shortcomings of the study prevented them from drawing any firm conclusions, and that more research was needed."

smn1234 7y ago

frequency, impedance, sensitivity? aac or aptx HD codecs? Where are the tech specs?

pastor_elm 7y ago

Are bluetooth ear buds really worth the cancer risks?

markstos 7y ago

I only need one bud, how about $65 for the left ear bud?

deweller 7y ago
I think you might have been joking. But, seriously, can you buy a pair and split them with a friend? Or do you have to pair both ear buds to the same device?
- markstos 7y ago
  Not really joking. I would mostly use them to listen to podcasts while running. I like to keep one ear open to the world and don't need immersive audio to listen to speech. Old school Bluetooth earpieces work fine for this and are cheaper anyway.
mxuribe 7y ago
I immediately thought of Chris Rock's character from I'm gonna git you sucka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgHcYxKjwVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgHcYxKjwVE

tony 7y ago

I think one reason some may protest is these just aren't hacker-friendly to most IMO. They're consumption devices, and aren't tweakable enough, a la: - Homebrew - Custom firmware - API's / SDK's - Custom services / frameworks to orchestrate in-out-around vendors ecosystem (IFTTT?) Not really enough to get at the gears of it. Is Alexa, by itself, the kind of ecosystem a startups would want to devote to? I imagine to make a really good Alexa product, it tends to be very specialized, and it's risky to be stuck with just one market. Not to say Amazon's future isn't looking prosperous, but they control the APIs, the commission/royalty fees, etc. Whose to say 10 years from now, they wake up and say, you know, Alexa isn't financially viable anymore, your hardware has no site to connect to, and Alexa just shows the red loop/line of doom? [1] https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-voice-service/api-overview.html https://developer.amazon.com/docs/alexa-voice-service/api-ov... I guess there's this.

mxuribe 7y ago
> Whose to say 10 years from now, they wake up and say, you know, Alexa isn't financially viable anymore, your hardware has no site to connect to... Oh, you mean, whose to say that they won't pull a "Google", and kill off one of their products/services? ;-) (BTW, i fully agree with you!)
- xeromal 7y ago
  The number of people that keep headphones for 10 years don't matter to retailers.

miguelmota 7y ago

The design is quite decent compared to the Apple Airpods which I love how they function but can't stand the dangly part. I have big ears so also like that the Echo buds offer different sizes.

robbrit 7y ago

Be careful, these are the first step to being turned into a Cyberman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQs3gVobcfg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQs3gVobcfg

ineedasername 7y ago
Is that an improvement over an Amazon Basics toilet plunger that wants to exterminate you? http://tardis.soup.io/post/393507531/1-The-Dalek-Plunger-Used-By-The http://tardis.soup.io/post/393507531/1-The-Dalek-Plunger-Use...

whenchamenia 7y ago

Bose is second only to Beats for sounding terrible yet somehow having a good brand image. What gives?

keyle 7y ago

I like them for the form factor. Bose + noise cancelling. Can I just use them as bluetooth iPhone earbuds, or do I need to have the Alexa mind-rape that comes with it?

emdowling 7y ago

I want to, but the online requirement for seemingly basic commands like “next track” renders the feature useless when I need it the most: the London Tube. I often have no hands free when travelling in peak hour and connectivity at stations is patchy at best. Looking forward to TfL finally rolling out cell coverage from 2020 though. Long time coming.

protomyth 7y ago

Got: This item requires special handling and cannot be shipped to your selected location. using a street address (not PO Box). Wonder what's up with that.

x2f10 7y ago
I had the same warning. My address is in a big city. Normal street address - no PO or even an apt.

a13n 7y ago

At first glance, the design looks super similar to the Zolo Liberty earbuds, which I love. https://zoloaudio.com/pages/liberty_series https://zoloaudio.com/pages/liberty_series

kraig911 7y ago

Now with Alexa in full force I really wish Amazon would try their hand at a phone again. Phones are just so blah lately. We need someone to shake it up.

seph-reed 7y ago
I really wish Amazon would just stop trying to take over every single industry on Earth and act like responsible adults in capitalist society (ie not in support of monopolies).

wcpines 7y ago

Am I the only one here seeing an uncanny resemblance to the Bragi Dash? (RIP)

jezhou 7y ago

Is there an advantage of keeping the port micro-usb? I am very surprised that in 2019 Amazon is still making devices that don't have usb-c. It's become a huge selling point for me personally.

okbake 7y ago
It could be a matter of size, but it's since the charging port isn't on the earbuds itself it might not matter. usb-c connectors are (8.4mm x 2.6mm) whereas micro-a is (6.85mm x 1.8mm) and micro-b is (6.85mm x 1.8mm) It might just be a matter of simplicity, since USB-C seems to have a larger surface area for the spec, but I don't really know if that's the case.
untog 7y ago
Probably cost. Micro is still cheaper than USB C in almost all cases.

PascLeRasc 7y ago

Amazon needs a different look for their own products' pages. Something about an item with zero reviews, the same style of photos as the off-brands they sell, and a wall of plain text phrases like "immersive sound" makes them seem really cheap.

nyolfen 7y ago
seriously, my immediate impression was that they're visually indistinguishable from $30 rebadged aliexpress crap

tossaouta 7y ago

Every time something new and exciting comes out from these guys (AMZN, GOOG, MSFT, etc.), it's like HN (as a whole) forgets about all privacy, etc. So, Echo spies. We know that. And now we're (the at least 117 upvotes so far) OK with putting Echo directly into our ears? And barely anyone in the comments section seems to care either... what is going on in here?

noitsnot 7y ago
I'll take a wild guess and say you have a ton of employees from those companies as top posters on HN.
fragmede 7y ago
There's some confirmation bias - there were more than a few comments on Facebook's purchase of CTRL-labs about privacy, Cloudflare's announcement of WARP going GA had more than a few.

Hasz 7y ago

It's like somebody dared amazon to put a mic into every new item they sell. The TV remote has a mic. The outlet has a mic. The earbuds have mic(s). and so on. I mean, I get it, they want me to talk to Alexa, so it can figure out how to sell me more junk. But seriously, I do not understand the desire to be listened to 24/7. I do not want a live mic in my home, nor in my pocket when I run, nor anywhere else it's not necessary.

prepend 7y ago
It actually seems really useful when running. “What’s my pace per mile?” “How far have I gone?” “Reply to my spouse and say yes I’ll get the milk.” It’s hard to get my phone out while running. Not impossible but an annoyance. This removes an annoyance so that’s a nice option.