8 ms·

Amazon warns Alexa Echo Buds earphones pose overheating safety risk

70 points by pbhowmic 6y ago

bearjaws 6y ago
$129 and lesser quality than most ear buds, this isn't even a new design, there's dozens of ear buds that look similar.
- bowmessage 6y ago
  Really? I hear they're the hottest earbuds on the market.
  - dmix 6y ago
    There's tons of bluetooth earbuds on Amazon that you'd never hear about but are top ranking sellers in their category. I've bought 5 different pairs over the last 3yrs and they've all been great (I lose them or buy them for other people). They all sell for $30-60 and are the same quality as Amazons. It's like how Apple is the #1 phone seller even though there are 5x more Android phones in circulation under 10 different brands.
    - stevenpetryk 6y ago
      woosh
  - wzsddtc 6y ago
    (I usually try to not comment when there's not much value added)... but I see what you did there...
  - screye 6y ago
    The Samsung galaxy buds+ are a lot better. Rtings seems to agree as well. Truth is, Amazon tries to be an everything company, and that simply does not work well, when the competitors have honed their specialty skills for way longer. I find that Google faces a similar problem with hardware. At least with Microsoft, I can respect them going out of their way to make their products weird and unique in an Apple-esque manner. (Surface book, Surface pro, The Surface headphones, the surface buds) On the contrary, Samsung and Apple for eg. derive their music prowess from AKG and Beats respectively. Bose and Sony have a long history in music. It simply isn't possible for even the biggest of players to break into the market if treat it like 'any other product'.
  - ValentineC 6y ago
    I preordered the Echo Buds when they were first announced, and tried them out for a while. Had to return them because the microphonics while walking were really bad, and the noise cancellation didn't seem comparable to the Bose QC30's I still use, even though the Echo Buds's were supposedly "powered by Bose".
    - wenc 6y ago
      Can't comment on microphone while walking because I rarely talk while walking. But Amazon's were advertised as Bose "noise reduction" rather than straight out "noise cancellation" (this was made very clear in the specs and in reviews), and in that respect, it does what it's supposed to. I wear my Echo Buds on my daily walks listening to podcasts and for all purposes it works pretty well. (I also own a pair of Bose headphones which are too bulky to wear on walks) I will say that the Echo Buds' noise reduction don't work well on a plane, I'll give you that. Tried it. Apple's AirPods Pro has real noise cancellation, but it's also double the price. I'd say Echo Buds are pretty good deal at the $100+ price range.
      - ValentineC 6y ago
        > Can't comment on microphone while walking because I rarely talk while walking. I was talking about microphonics [1][2] i.e. the noise caused by the earbuds vibrating(?) when I walk. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphonics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphonics [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/dd4gqi/tws_iem_microphonics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/dd4gqi/tws_iem_...
        wenc 6y ago
        Thanks, I wasn’t familiar with that technical term. I just put on my Echo Buds and started walking. If I’m understanding microphonics correctly, it means a rustling electrical sound when there’s mechanical vibration. This does not happen with my Echo Buds. However, I do hear the thud of my footsteps. I’ve accepted that this happens with any in ear headphones. Not sure if there are any IEMs out there that don’t have the footstep problem.
- beervirus 6y ago
  Looks aren't really the most important aspect.
- xeromal 6y ago
  They may catch on fire but I don't necessary think they're lesser quality. I'm pretty sure they're using bose proprietary tech which probably wasn't cheap.
- wenc 6y ago
  > $129 and lesser quality than most ear buds I don't know if that's true. I bought my pair on the day they were released, and they're decent quality. They're not cheaply made, and everything works. (pairing took a little bit to get right, but not a deal breaker). What do you mean when you say they're of "lesser quality"? What dimensions do you mean? The fact that they might overheat alone? (but it got patched today; it's amazing to me that you can patch firmware on ear buds)
- stronglikedan 6y ago
  How many different ways can ear buds look? I haven't seen any new designs in ages.
venki80 6y ago
Amazon is the new Walmart. Low quality products. Increasingly the top brands aren't even available on the site and all you have is Chinese no-name crap.
- josefresco 6y ago
  I've been shopping online directly lately and the service and shipping times have been phenomenal. It's almost as though Amazon and small ecommerce shops have swapped places when it comes to quality assurance, service and shipping times.
- whoisjuan 6y ago
  What you’re describing has been Amazon for at least a decade and it’s transparently what they offer and how they market themselves, so the Walmart comparison is not even necessary. If you are using Amazon to find top premium brands / products, you’re shopping in the wrong place to begin with.
- evanriley 6y ago
  For me its even worse than Walmart. No matter how shitty it is, at least I know what I'm getting at there. With Amazon its pretty much a gamble whether or not I'm getting what I actually ordered or some cheap knock-off crap. For the entirety of quarantine I've been ordering directly from companies and its saved a lot of headache, sure theres no 2-day shipping, but I'm no longer receiving a fake Anker charger four times in a row.
  - libraryatnight 6y ago
    Quarantine has also taught me Amazon is just terrible at handling some stuff. I ordered a new French press from them, which came broken both times. Ordered from Crate & Barrel and it came wrapped and packaged beautifully. Special bubble wrap with creased edges for folding to the contours of the box, and a box that actually fit the product (as opposed to Amazon: "let's toss this in a box 3 times the size of the item, with 3 squares of inflated plastic. Surely nothing bad will happen as it bangs around in there.") I'll never order any glassware or glass products from Amazon again. And before I tried Crate & Barrel I actually was making excuses for Amazon. "Well, shipping glass and ceramic is hard. I knew there was a chance it would break in shipping." Still valid concerns, but easier to stomach a bad experience when it shows they put forth effort and thought.
josefresco 6y ago
Meanwhile I couldn't be happier with my $16 earbuds that I got for free. Sound quality isn't great but for watching streaming video, podcasts or a quick workout they're fantastic. If I lose them or they break, no big deal.
- ebg13 6y ago
  I like that you're happy with the ones you have, but it's a weird flex to say that you "couldn't be happier" _and_ that "sound quality isn't great". Would you not be any happier if sound quality _were_ great? I know that there's a kind of pleasure from not worrying about disposably cheap products, but there's also a kind of pleasure from having nice things with extra features where the trade is usually just taking care of them slightly better. Personally I'll never go back to wired headphones after experiencing the freedom of wireless ones. Know of any wireless $16 throwaways?
  - deepinthewoods 6y ago
    Yes! Just search eBay/AliExpress. They work and sound great. I get the appeal of having nice things, but earbuds? They're tiny plastic things that just sit in your ear and could easily fall down a sewer grate at any moment.
    - ebg13 6y ago
      Knowing what I know about the expected quality of things found on AliExpress, I'm hesitant to put batteries found there in my ears.
      - josefresco 6y ago
        You overestimate the quality of your "trusted" brands.
        ebg13 6y ago
        Nearly every problem I've ever had with electronic components in my life has been caused by counterfeits that either lie about their capabilities, lie about what they're made of, or lie about whether they were QC tested. Maybe that means the SD card only stores a few real megabytes before trashing all of your photos. Maybe that means your phone charger destroys your phone. Maybe that means the battery in your ear explodes [0]. The thing about trusted brands is that at least they have brands to protect. [0] - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/lithium-ion-batteries-amazon-are-exploding/587005/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/lithi...
MegaDeKay 6y ago
This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "My ears are burning."
jb775 6y ago
Probably overheating because Amazon "accidentally" leaves the mic on thruout the day.
- delecti 6y ago
  I don't know why "accidentally" is in scare quotes when that's literally an advertised feature.
cactus2093 6y ago
Seems pretty mundane, the headphones can overheat while charging in rare cases and it's fixed with a software update. It's not like they're burning people's ears during regular use or catching on fire. Lots of comments taking the opportunity to complain about Amazon the storefront, and issues with fake reviews, counterfeiting, etc. but that doesn't really have anything to do with this story. Amazon's hardware generally has a pretty decent reputation, from Kindle and Echo that have been huge successes and basically created brand new product categories, to amazon basics cables and batteries and whatnot that are reliable at a good price.
- rmdashrfstar 6y ago
  This is an excellent DC post.
  - the_jeremy 6y ago
    What does DC mean?
    - scubbo 6y ago
      I assume, Damage Control - that is, rmdashrfstar (hah) is accusing cactus2093 of working for Amazon, and downplaying the importance of the article.
    - jmkb 6y ago
      "Damage control" would be my guess.
- sulam 6y ago
  Journalism in action here, the relevant line is WELL below the fold: “We recently determined that in very rare cases it is possible for Echo Buds to overheat while in the charging case." Good job as usual, HN community.
  - cma 6y ago
    If it overheats in he charging case, and then you put them in your ears, isn't it at risk of fire?
m3kw9 6y ago
Is there a phrase from ear drums melting?
orthecreedence 6y ago
I guess playing sound while simultaneously recording and broadcasting all your conversations back to the mothership is CPU intensive. Who knew.
- choward 6y ago
  Some people may not take your comment seriously, but I don't understand how a software update fixes this unless something like this is going on. When I put my earbuds in the charging case, they power off (which disconnects from bluetooth) which means they shouldn't be running software to the best of my knowledge. Do the Amazon ones not do this? I would be interested to know. If you have these can you please let me know if the bluetooth disconnects from your phone when you put them in the charging case? They could still be storing audio on the earbuds or charging station itself then transmitting when connected but that seems somewhat unlikely.

70 points by pbhowmic 6y ago

bearjaws 6y ago

$129 and lesser quality than most ear buds, this isn't even a new design, there's dozens of ear buds that look similar.

bowmessage 6y ago
Really? I hear they're the hottest earbuds on the market.
- dmix 6y ago
  There's tons of bluetooth earbuds on Amazon that you'd never hear about but are top ranking sellers in their category. I've bought 5 different pairs over the last 3yrs and they've all been great (I lose them or buy them for other people). They all sell for $30-60 and are the same quality as Amazons. It's like how Apple is the #1 phone seller even though there are 5x more Android phones in circulation under 10 different brands.
  - stevenpetryk 6y ago
    woosh
- wzsddtc 6y ago
  (I usually try to not comment when there's not much value added)... but I see what you did there...
- screye 6y ago
  The Samsung galaxy buds+ are a lot better. Rtings seems to agree as well. Truth is, Amazon tries to be an everything company, and that simply does not work well, when the competitors have honed their specialty skills for way longer. I find that Google faces a similar problem with hardware. At least with Microsoft, I can respect them going out of their way to make their products weird and unique in an Apple-esque manner. (Surface book, Surface pro, The Surface headphones, the surface buds) On the contrary, Samsung and Apple for eg. derive their music prowess from AKG and Beats respectively. Bose and Sony have a long history in music. It simply isn't possible for even the biggest of players to break into the market if treat it like 'any other product'.
- ValentineC 6y ago
  I preordered the Echo Buds when they were first announced, and tried them out for a while. Had to return them because the microphonics while walking were really bad, and the noise cancellation didn't seem comparable to the Bose QC30's I still use, even though the Echo Buds's were supposedly "powered by Bose".
  - wenc 6y ago
    Can't comment on microphone while walking because I rarely talk while walking. But Amazon's were advertised as Bose "noise reduction" rather than straight out "noise cancellation" (this was made very clear in the specs and in reviews), and in that respect, it does what it's supposed to. I wear my Echo Buds on my daily walks listening to podcasts and for all purposes it works pretty well. (I also own a pair of Bose headphones which are too bulky to wear on walks) I will say that the Echo Buds' noise reduction don't work well on a plane, I'll give you that. Tried it. Apple's AirPods Pro has real noise cancellation, but it's also double the price. I'd say Echo Buds are pretty good deal at the $100+ price range.
    - ValentineC 6y ago
      > Can't comment on microphone while walking because I rarely talk while walking. I was talking about microphonics [1][2] i.e. the noise caused by the earbuds vibrating(?) when I walk. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphonics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphonics [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/dd4gqi/tws_iem_microphonics/ https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/dd4gqi/tws_iem_...
      - wenc 6y ago
        Thanks, I wasn’t familiar with that technical term. I just put on my Echo Buds and started walking. If I’m understanding microphonics correctly, it means a rustling electrical sound when there’s mechanical vibration. This does not happen with my Echo Buds. However, I do hear the thud of my footsteps. I’ve accepted that this happens with any in ear headphones. Not sure if there are any IEMs out there that don’t have the footstep problem.
beervirus 6y ago
Looks aren't really the most important aspect.
xeromal 6y ago
They may catch on fire but I don't necessary think they're lesser quality. I'm pretty sure they're using bose proprietary tech which probably wasn't cheap.
wenc 6y ago
> $129 and lesser quality than most ear buds I don't know if that's true. I bought my pair on the day they were released, and they're decent quality. They're not cheaply made, and everything works. (pairing took a little bit to get right, but not a deal breaker). What do you mean when you say they're of "lesser quality"? What dimensions do you mean? The fact that they might overheat alone? (but it got patched today; it's amazing to me that you can patch firmware on ear buds)
stronglikedan 6y ago
How many different ways can ear buds look? I haven't seen any new designs in ages.

venki80 6y ago

Amazon is the new Walmart. Low quality products. Increasingly the top brands aren't even available on the site and all you have is Chinese no-name crap.

josefresco 6y ago
I've been shopping online directly lately and the service and shipping times have been phenomenal. It's almost as though Amazon and small ecommerce shops have swapped places when it comes to quality assurance, service and shipping times.
whoisjuan 6y ago
What you’re describing has been Amazon for at least a decade and it’s transparently what they offer and how they market themselves, so the Walmart comparison is not even necessary. If you are using Amazon to find top premium brands / products, you’re shopping in the wrong place to begin with.
evanriley 6y ago
For me its even worse than Walmart. No matter how shitty it is, at least I know what I'm getting at there. With Amazon its pretty much a gamble whether or not I'm getting what I actually ordered or some cheap knock-off crap. For the entirety of quarantine I've been ordering directly from companies and its saved a lot of headache, sure theres no 2-day shipping, but I'm no longer receiving a fake Anker charger four times in a row.
- libraryatnight 6y ago
  Quarantine has also taught me Amazon is just terrible at handling some stuff. I ordered a new French press from them, which came broken both times. Ordered from Crate & Barrel and it came wrapped and packaged beautifully. Special bubble wrap with creased edges for folding to the contours of the box, and a box that actually fit the product (as opposed to Amazon: "let's toss this in a box 3 times the size of the item, with 3 squares of inflated plastic. Surely nothing bad will happen as it bangs around in there.") I'll never order any glassware or glass products from Amazon again. And before I tried Crate & Barrel I actually was making excuses for Amazon. "Well, shipping glass and ceramic is hard. I knew there was a chance it would break in shipping." Still valid concerns, but easier to stomach a bad experience when it shows they put forth effort and thought.

josefresco 6y ago

Meanwhile I couldn't be happier with my $16 earbuds that I got for free. Sound quality isn't great but for watching streaming video, podcasts or a quick workout they're fantastic. If I lose them or they break, no big deal.

ebg13 6y ago
I like that you're happy with the ones you have, but it's a weird flex to say that you "couldn't be happier" _and_ that "sound quality isn't great". Would you not be any happier if sound quality _were_ great? I know that there's a kind of pleasure from not worrying about disposably cheap products, but there's also a kind of pleasure from having nice things with extra features where the trade is usually just taking care of them slightly better. Personally I'll never go back to wired headphones after experiencing the freedom of wireless ones. Know of any wireless $16 throwaways?
- deepinthewoods 6y ago
  Yes! Just search eBay/AliExpress. They work and sound great. I get the appeal of having nice things, but earbuds? They're tiny plastic things that just sit in your ear and could easily fall down a sewer grate at any moment.
  - ebg13 6y ago
    Knowing what I know about the expected quality of things found on AliExpress, I'm hesitant to put batteries found there in my ears.
    - josefresco 6y ago
      You overestimate the quality of your "trusted" brands.
      - ebg13 6y ago
        Nearly every problem I've ever had with electronic components in my life has been caused by counterfeits that either lie about their capabilities, lie about what they're made of, or lie about whether they were QC tested. Maybe that means the SD card only stores a few real megabytes before trashing all of your photos. Maybe that means your phone charger destroys your phone. Maybe that means the battery in your ear explodes [0]. The thing about trusted brands is that at least they have brands to protect. [0] - https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/lithium-ion-batteries-amazon-are-exploding/587005/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/lithi...

MegaDeKay 6y ago

This gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "My ears are burning."

jb775 6y ago

Probably overheating because Amazon "accidentally" leaves the mic on thruout the day.

delecti 6y ago
I don't know why "accidentally" is in scare quotes when that's literally an advertised feature.

cactus2093 6y ago

Seems pretty mundane, the headphones can overheat while charging in rare cases and it's fixed with a software update. It's not like they're burning people's ears during regular use or catching on fire. Lots of comments taking the opportunity to complain about Amazon the storefront, and issues with fake reviews, counterfeiting, etc. but that doesn't really have anything to do with this story. Amazon's hardware generally has a pretty decent reputation, from Kindle and Echo that have been huge successes and basically created brand new product categories, to amazon basics cables and batteries and whatnot that are reliable at a good price.

rmdashrfstar 6y ago
This is an excellent DC post.
- the_jeremy 6y ago
  What does DC mean?
  - scubbo 6y ago
    I assume, Damage Control - that is, rmdashrfstar (hah) is accusing cactus2093 of working for Amazon, and downplaying the importance of the article.
  - jmkb 6y ago
    "Damage control" would be my guess.
sulam 6y ago
Journalism in action here, the relevant line is WELL below the fold: “We recently determined that in very rare cases it is possible for Echo Buds to overheat while in the charging case." Good job as usual, HN community.
- cma 6y ago
  If it overheats in he charging case, and then you put them in your ears, isn't it at risk of fire?

m3kw9 6y ago

Is there a phrase from ear drums melting?

orthecreedence 6y ago

I guess playing sound while simultaneously recording and broadcasting all your conversations back to the mothership is CPU intensive. Who knew.

choward 6y ago
Some people may not take your comment seriously, but I don't understand how a software update fixes this unless something like this is going on. When I put my earbuds in the charging case, they power off (which disconnects from bluetooth) which means they shouldn't be running software to the best of my knowledge. Do the Amazon ones not do this? I would be interested to know. If you have these can you please let me know if the bluetooth disconnects from your phone when you put them in the charging case? They could still be storing audio on the earbuds or charging station itself then transmitting when connected but that seems somewhat unlikely.