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$549 a pair. Yikes. I'm fairly confident I've reached my own personal peak for Apple pricing. As a spectator I've no doubt these will sell massive numbers but
by headmelted 6y ago
$549 a pair. Yikes.
I'm fairly confident I've reached my own personal peak for Apple pricing. As a spectator I've no doubt these will sell massive numbers but I'm curious to learn what the market will bear for Apple's products.
- Slikey 6y agoEspecially if you consider the inherent issues with Bluetooth call quality. No matter how good their microphones in them are, they will mangle the audio back to the 90s. $549 seems entirely detached and I am baffled, even as an ANC enthusiast.
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoI did hear Rumours (I never looked into it) that there will be an upcoming feature in bluetooth that will allow for higher quality. I believe currently the tradeoff is audio quality vs latency. My bluetooth headphones (Sony) switch between high quality but ~500ms latency (guess), to low quality but no noticeable latency when doing calls.
- slawwwc 6y agoTrue, Bluetooth 5.2 is introducing LE Audio that will use a new codec (LC3) and should enable higher audio quality also for calls when microphone from the headset is in use.
- stetrain 6y agoWhatever protocol Apple uses for calling with Airpods + Apple devices isn't the same as the usual bluetooth call codec.
- newhouseb 6y agoYeah, they use their own proprietary protocol over Bluetooth Low Energy (which you can basically use as a raw packet transport). For some reason the Bluetooth consortium was years behind the ball in standardizing a high quality bidirectional audio transport, versus the phone-quality "Hands Free Profile" and "Headset" Profile using 90s era codecs (uni-directional is fine since it uses a higher quality "Advanced Audio Distribution" profile). The consortium launched Bluetooth Low Energy audio last year (or maybe this year?), but I'm not sure if it's actually shipping in anything yet.
- stetrain 6y agoYeah, whenever I use Bluetooth headphones that have a microphone with my PC I have to be sure to disable all of the headset profiles so it doesn't switch to dial-up quality as soon as an app requests microphone access. An update to that spec would be much appreciated.
- whywhywhywhy 6y agoI'm skeptical if the protocol makes that much difference, the experience with Beats X basically felt the same as any normal BT headphones, AirPods definitely felt less fussy and more seamless despite them both using the same W1 chip. My theory is the AirPods start getting ready for syncing as soon as you open the case/detects you touching them, while the Beats X had a traditional on button and were entirely unimpressive to me.
- stetrain 6y agoI was referring more to audio quality. Airpods seems to be able to act in headset mode (audio + microphone) without killing the quality of the audio you are listening to. Most headphones switch to a very low bitrate mode when you activate the microphone.
- cactus2093 6y agoHave you used Bluetooth headphones this decade? And airpods in particular? There’s not really any problem with audio quality they sound pretty much indistinguishable from wired headphones in real world use (sure if you’re sitting alone in a quiet room with an audiophile setup listening to FLAC files because 320kbps mp3s aren’t high quality enough, then you may want something else).
- numpad0 6y agocall quality still sucks because of HFP. That hasn’t changed for over a decade.
- Slikey 6y agoThis is just demonstrably not true. Bluetooth Hands-Free mangles the sample rate to 16 / 24 kHz. See this video for a collection of pretty much all common devices from "this decade". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmGS_WWk7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmGS_WWk7o
- runako 6y agoSaving others the time: this link doesn't cover any Apple headsets.
- read_if_gay_ 6y agoMy AirPods reportedly sound like shit on calls and the same is true for any AirPods [Pro] user I've been on a call with.
- gnicholas 6y agoI use FaceTime Audio for calls to family because it sounds so much better than VoLTE. FT Audio sounds like you're in the same room as the person, even over non-Pro Airpods.
- CGamesPlay 6y agoYou are referring to listening, but the recording quality of all of Bluetooth earbuds is abysmal.
- Etheryte 6y agoFor comparison, Sony's WH-1000XM4 which are currently widely considered the state of the art in the active noise cancelling over-ears, will cost you anywhere between $300-$400 depending on where you are. (I was very surprised the price can vary that widely, actually. On Sony's US page they're $279, while in the EU they're €380 which is about $460.)
- bilal4hmed 6y agoA few weeks before black friday I picked up new 1000XM3 for a $100. These better be something amazing for that price
- bosie 6y agoi had both the sony wh-1000xm4 and now use the sennheiser momentum 3. via bluetooth i have the same problem on both my macbook pro and iphone: they lag. i watch a youtube video (on ios in the app; on osx browser or a video app) and the sound is a few ms behind (very noticeably though). any idea what's going on there and/or if apple would solve this somehow with airpods max?
- clawoo 6y agoI sometimes have the same issue with my Bose QC35, usually resolved by turning the headphones off and on again.
- ferongr 6y agoI think that's some iOS peculiarity, or non-standard latency compensation implementation. On Android all bluetooth headphones I've tried seem to work fine for non realtime applications, and many (like Sony's great wf-1000xm3) have none or barely perceptible latency in games.
- bosie 6y agoi have this on osx as well though. will try on an android phone, thanks.
- 6y ago
- 10yrengineer 6y agoYou aren't their target demographic. The lower class uses luxury products as signaling. It's why iphones sell despite being lower quality. Impracticality is necessary in luxury products.
- nickpeterson 6y agoTheir target is people that want to buy an nice appliance not a pocket computer.
- doovd 6y ago"The lower class" lol. Could you not phrase that better?
- wayoutthere 6y agoAt least it’s better than calling them “the poors” which is usually what people say in relation to Apple products. (Agree that “working class” is generally less offensive though)
- frockington1 6y agoI get what he's saying though. The target demographic for $80 white tee shirts and $600 tennis shoes isn't people who can afford them
- hu3 6y agoYep. Time and time again I see people abuse their credit cards to buy iPhones or Galaxy Notes. And then complain when unexpected events throw then into an evergrowing interest snowball. Financial education should be taught in elementary school.
- headmelted 6y agoI’m just relieved it wasn’t peasants or “street trash”.
- tcldr 6y agoExpensive, yes, but I haven't seen much evidence of iPhones being objectively lower quality devices overall.
- ordinaryradical 6y agoIn the same boat. Love music, love hi fidelity headphones, very enthusiastic about wireless for home office use, not at all interested in these. “One touch set up” is just not a feature anywhere on my Venn Diagram of excitement.
- jesusthatsgreat 6y ago$549 today isn't as much as $549 was 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. The world is getting wealthier. Money is getting cheaper. We've just printed trillions of dollars this year to keep the good times rolling baby. We live in an era where people would rather pay $549 for a set of headphones than save it in a bank account or save for a house, cuz there's no way in hell they'll ever be able to afford a house. So why not blow it on experiences and shiney stuff instead of clinging on to a dream that can never be realised? That's the mentality of a lot of Apple's target market.
- headmelted 6y ago“Think different” I guess..
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- bnj 6y agoDon't worry in a few short years you'll be able to lease your Apple Car and Apple House. /s-sortof.
- meesterdude 6y agomeanwhile the last time the federal minimum wage was raised was in 2009, to $7.25 an hour. At that rate, you'd need to work ~76 hours to afford these headphones. From a company that priced a monitor stand at $1000, this is at least more functional. But for most people, a pair of $30 headphones will be just as good, albeit without the status symbol element.
- blisterpeanuts 6y agoRealistically, a premium product like this one is not targeted at minimum wage earners.
- meesterdude 6y ago