6 ms·

What do these Apple headphones do that others don't? Perhaps maybe other than ecosystem lock?

na85 6y ago
They signal you have enough disposable income to buy them. It's like a Rolex you wear on your head. Edit: I'm not being facetious, this is an excellent move for Apple to make as it continues to pursue dominance in the luxury tech-wearables market.
- runawaybottle 6y ago
  Not sure why you are being downvoted. This is obviously a real dynamic. Expensive tech gear is somewhat like an entry level luxury vehicle for the masses. You’re not seriously rich enough for a S-Class Benz, but you could live that aspiration via older model CLA. So yeah, not quite rich enough to buy a house in major cities, but hey, you can certainly splurge on this kind of stuff.
binaryblitz 6y ago
For me, the ability to switch between audio on all my devices instantly. Listening on my mac, answer a call on my iPhone automatically. I realize this is a niche use case, but would be really nice for me. The ability to just take them off and have them pause is icing on the cake as well. If other headphones have these features, I'm open to them.
- whatevertrevor 6y ago
  My Jabra elites do both those things (multiple devices with instant switch on calls & auto pause with on-ear detection), and are much cheaper. The only thing they don't have is the adaptive EQ but the jury's still out on how much of that is just a marketing gimmick.
  - dkonofalski 6y ago
    I have a Jabra elite headphones and you're either overselling it by a lot or only switch between 2 devices. They're garbage compared to my Airpods and their app is absolutely terrible. It wouldn't even let me connect to Zoom without upgrading the firmware on them which failed every time. Without the upgrade, it sounded like a crappy phone call whenever I'd get a Zoom call. After the upgrade, it sounds like a slightly less crappy phone call.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - binaryblitz 6y ago
      Yeah, that's my issue. I have a pair of Anker in-ears (Liberty Pro 2) for working out and they're great for that. When it comes to being at my desk during work, seamless switching is what I need.
    - whatevertrevor 6y ago
      No I'm not, your experience is not universal. I use them consistently between my phone and laptop without issue. I've never really needed to connect headphones to more than 2 devices. If you're using a macbook you need to ensure you're using the AAC codec, for some reason macOS makes SBC as the default codec for lots of devices and you've to force it to use the non-garbage codec.
      - dkonofalski 6y ago
        How can you say "No, I'm not" when I've explicitly made the point that the Jabra headset can only have 2 active connections. Just because you've never needed to connect more than 2 devices doesn't mean that this isn't an important distinction for me or others. I literally said "you're either overselling this or only using 2 devices".
        whatevertrevor 6y ago
        No I'm not (overselling). It's really that easy to understand my comment, not everything is a literal logical response.
- 00deadbeef 6y ago
  Sure they can do that if you can upgrade to Big Sur without bricking your MacBook
  - dkonofalski 6y ago
    I guess I'm lucky then. We upgraded all my Macs at home and all the Macs at the office to Big Sur without bricking any of them. Or maybe you're just being contrarian...
    - 00deadbeef 6y ago
      It’s a known issue with older MBPs

na85 6y ago

They signal you have enough disposable income to buy them. It's like a Rolex you wear on your head. Edit: I'm not being facetious, this is an excellent move for Apple to make as it continues to pursue dominance in the luxury tech-wearables market.

runawaybottle 6y ago
Not sure why you are being downvoted. This is obviously a real dynamic. Expensive tech gear is somewhat like an entry level luxury vehicle for the masses. You’re not seriously rich enough for a S-Class Benz, but you could live that aspiration via older model CLA. So yeah, not quite rich enough to buy a house in major cities, but hey, you can certainly splurge on this kind of stuff.

binaryblitz 6y ago

For me, the ability to switch between audio on all my devices instantly. Listening on my mac, answer a call on my iPhone automatically. I realize this is a niche use case, but would be really nice for me. The ability to just take them off and have them pause is icing on the cake as well. If other headphones have these features, I'm open to them.

whatevertrevor 6y ago
My Jabra elites do both those things (multiple devices with instant switch on calls & auto pause with on-ear detection), and are much cheaper. The only thing they don't have is the adaptive EQ but the jury's still out on how much of that is just a marketing gimmick.
- dkonofalski 6y ago
  I have a Jabra elite headphones and you're either overselling it by a lot or only switch between 2 devices. They're garbage compared to my Airpods and their app is absolutely terrible. It wouldn't even let me connect to Zoom without upgrading the firmware on them which failed every time. Without the upgrade, it sounded like a crappy phone call whenever I'd get a Zoom call. After the upgrade, it sounds like a slightly less crappy phone call.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - binaryblitz 6y ago
    Yeah, that's my issue. I have a pair of Anker in-ears (Liberty Pro 2) for working out and they're great for that. When it comes to being at my desk during work, seamless switching is what I need.
  - whatevertrevor 6y ago
    No I'm not, your experience is not universal. I use them consistently between my phone and laptop without issue. I've never really needed to connect headphones to more than 2 devices. If you're using a macbook you need to ensure you're using the AAC codec, for some reason macOS makes SBC as the default codec for lots of devices and you've to force it to use the non-garbage codec.
    - dkonofalski 6y ago
      How can you say "No, I'm not" when I've explicitly made the point that the Jabra headset can only have 2 active connections. Just because you've never needed to connect more than 2 devices doesn't mean that this isn't an important distinction for me or others. I literally said "you're either overselling this or only using 2 devices".
      - whatevertrevor 6y ago
        No I'm not (overselling). It's really that easy to understand my comment, not everything is a literal logical response.
00deadbeef 6y ago
Sure they can do that if you can upgrade to Big Sur without bricking your MacBook
- dkonofalski 6y ago
  I guess I'm lucky then. We upgraded all my Macs at home and all the Macs at the office to Big Sur without bricking any of them. Or maybe you're just being contrarian...
  - 00deadbeef 6y ago
    It’s a known issue with older MBPs