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I think the AirPods Pro were a regression from the OG AirPods for four reasons: - Idle life took a huge dive from the originals. My OGs haven't been charged in

by nunez 5y ago

I think the AirPods Pro were a regression from the OG AirPods for four reasons: - Idle life took a huge dive from the originals. My OGs haven't been charged in something like six months, and the case is still at something like 20%. Meanwhile, the case holding the APPs would die in less than a week and the buds inside of them a week after that. My wife's APPs have been lost for a while because of this. - Noise cancellation performs worse than the original firmware. They have actually been outclassed by other offerings, such as the Sony WF1000XM4. - The buds themselves have a design flaw wherein earwax will accumulate in its inner grille severely enough to significantly compromise bass response. There's a thread in MacRumors that's something like 36 pages long acknowledging this. Apple quietly fixed this in version 2 of the APPs (with the MagSafe case). - The mic isn't as good. The original APs performed extremely well in wind and loud surroundings. I think the downward beam-forming mics were a big part of this. The mic on the APPs perform worse in these scenarios IMO. I'm glad that Apple went back to beam-forming mics. Regardless, I'm thankful for Apple for lighting up the true wireless headphone industry. The APs were a dream come true when they came out; nothing before it compared (and I had $600 custom IEMs that were waterproof and had a control scheme controlled by head nods). The APPs accelerated the creation of noise cancelling true wireless. I'm excited for the next iteration of these products.

throwanem 5y ago
> The buds themselves have a design flaw wherein earwax will accumulate in its inner grille severely enough to significantly compromise bass response Not to be glib, but maybe clean your ears more often? You can also take the tips off (invert, then pull) and blow them out from the back with canned air to clear the outer grilles which are integral with the eartip. As fine as those outer grilles are, you'd really have to have wax packed in there for it to extrude through to the inner grille. I do this with mine, but only very occasionally, because my ear hygiene is such that wax very rarely even appears on the outer part of the tip, and almost never in the sound channel. I listen to a lot of podcasts and often run down one or the other bud by 60-80% in a single go, so it seems very reasonable to suggest that if serious wax problems were really that hard to avoid, I would run into them too. (Of course, if you're using third-party tips without integral grilles - well, I suppose now we know why the original engineers saw fit to include them, you know?)
- renewiltord 5y ago
  AFAIK canonical ear advice today is to just not fuck with your ears. Just leaving them be will usually ensure not having to deal with impacted ear wax. It’s not unhygienic to just let it be.
  - oblio 5y ago
    Yeah, I remember something like: "don't stick anything smaller than an elbow in your years".
    - throwanem 5y ago
      An AirPod is smaller than even a newborn's elbow. By the standard you cite, we should never use those! But if we're going to anyway, it behooves us to consider what problems that may cause, and figure out how to deal with them before they ramify.
      - oblio 5y ago
        It depends on how far you're pushing it. An AirPod probably doesn't go anywhere near the actual eardrum.
        throwanem 5y ago
        Certainly not; the AirPod is designed to be impossible to push that far. But it does, like anything that occludes the meatus, go far enough to stop wax draining. In general, all our holes are there for a reason, and blocking them up for long periods is rarely if ever well advised. But in this age we also suffer the siren song of podcasts, and it is therefore incumbent upon us to either deal with the problems we thus make ourselves, or go to urgent care and get our ears hosed out with warm saline.
        oblio 5y ago
        I think some ORL specialists can "vacuum" your ears. From what I hear it's far less intrusive than other options.
GhettoComputers 5y ago
Try the galaxy buds plus they’re much better at everything for me. This firmware update probably kneecapped the pros too, either a patent issue or worries about people walking into traffic. https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/21069953/apple-airpods-pro-noise-cancellation-problems-firmware-2b588-2c54 https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/21069953/apple-airpods-pr...
- smoldesu 5y ago
  +1 here. The base Galaxy Buds destroy the Airpods in sound quality any day of the week, and they're mega-comfortable too. I don't use mine anymore, but I loved it when I did.
- antihero 5y ago
  How slick is the GB integratation with iOS devices in comparison to the AirPods. Been considering getting some AP3s because I keep forgetting my ATH-M50Xs as they are large.
  - GhettoComputers 5y ago
    Never had AirPods but comparing the Powerbeats I had, not much of a noticeable difference. Touch controls work, I hold to change volume, they fit and don’t fall out, it’s got 11hr batteries on a single charge. It turns off when you take them off, pipewire connects to them automatically on Linux.
- ascottAtSlync 5y ago
  Just a personal note on the galaxy buds plus, I have a pair and while the sounds quality is good when it works, I've had a lot of problems with desyncing between the two earbuds, audio breakup, and the touch sensors are sensitive to a fault where they're not really usable. The case is also pretty flimsy feeling. Overall, I'm not incredibly impressed by them but YMMV
- nunez 5y ago
  I did. I got the Galaxy Buds Pro. They are excellent. They don't have an app for iOS, but I used an Android phone to configure them. Something changed in their firmware earlier this year that made noise cancelling imbalanced (for me). After replacing them for a new set, I landed up getting Sony WF1000XM4s, which have also been excellent and even better at NC than the Pros were.
Otek 5y ago
> Idle life took a huge dive from the originals. My OGs haven't been charged in something like six months, and the case is still at something like 20%. Meanwhile, the case holding the APPs would die in less than a week and the buds inside of them a week after that. That shouldn't happen. Try to unpair, restart and pair again your headphones

by nunez 5y ago

throwanem 5y ago

> The buds themselves have a design flaw wherein earwax will accumulate in its inner grille severely enough to significantly compromise bass response Not to be glib, but maybe clean your ears more often? You can also take the tips off (invert, then pull) and blow them out from the back with canned air to clear the outer grilles which are integral with the eartip. As fine as those outer grilles are, you'd really have to have wax packed in there for it to extrude through to the inner grille. I do this with mine, but only very occasionally, because my ear hygiene is such that wax very rarely even appears on the outer part of the tip, and almost never in the sound channel. I listen to a lot of podcasts and often run down one or the other bud by 60-80% in a single go, so it seems very reasonable to suggest that if serious wax problems were really that hard to avoid, I would run into them too. (Of course, if you're using third-party tips without integral grilles - well, I suppose now we know why the original engineers saw fit to include them, you know?)

renewiltord 5y ago
AFAIK canonical ear advice today is to just not fuck with your ears. Just leaving them be will usually ensure not having to deal with impacted ear wax. It’s not unhygienic to just let it be.
- oblio 5y ago
  Yeah, I remember something like: "don't stick anything smaller than an elbow in your years".
  - throwanem 5y ago
    An AirPod is smaller than even a newborn's elbow. By the standard you cite, we should never use those! But if we're going to anyway, it behooves us to consider what problems that may cause, and figure out how to deal with them before they ramify.
    - oblio 5y ago
      It depends on how far you're pushing it. An AirPod probably doesn't go anywhere near the actual eardrum.
      - throwanem 5y ago
        Certainly not; the AirPod is designed to be impossible to push that far. But it does, like anything that occludes the meatus, go far enough to stop wax draining. In general, all our holes are there for a reason, and blocking them up for long periods is rarely if ever well advised. But in this age we also suffer the siren song of podcasts, and it is therefore incumbent upon us to either deal with the problems we thus make ourselves, or go to urgent care and get our ears hosed out with warm saline.
        oblio 5y ago
        I think some ORL specialists can "vacuum" your ears. From what I hear it's far less intrusive than other options.

GhettoComputers 5y ago

Try the galaxy buds plus they’re much better at everything for me. This firmware update probably kneecapped the pros too, either a patent issue or worries about people walking into traffic. https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/21069953/apple-airpods-pro-noise-cancellation-problems-firmware-2b588-2c54 https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/17/21069953/apple-airpods-pr...

smoldesu 5y ago
+1 here. The base Galaxy Buds destroy the Airpods in sound quality any day of the week, and they're mega-comfortable too. I don't use mine anymore, but I loved it when I did.
antihero 5y ago
How slick is the GB integratation with iOS devices in comparison to the AirPods. Been considering getting some AP3s because I keep forgetting my ATH-M50Xs as they are large.
- GhettoComputers 5y ago
  Never had AirPods but comparing the Powerbeats I had, not much of a noticeable difference. Touch controls work, I hold to change volume, they fit and don’t fall out, it’s got 11hr batteries on a single charge. It turns off when you take them off, pipewire connects to them automatically on Linux.
ascottAtSlync 5y ago
Just a personal note on the galaxy buds plus, I have a pair and while the sounds quality is good when it works, I've had a lot of problems with desyncing between the two earbuds, audio breakup, and the touch sensors are sensitive to a fault where they're not really usable. The case is also pretty flimsy feeling. Overall, I'm not incredibly impressed by them but YMMV
nunez 5y ago
I did. I got the Galaxy Buds Pro. They are excellent. They don't have an app for iOS, but I used an Android phone to configure them. Something changed in their firmware earlier this year that made noise cancelling imbalanced (for me). After replacing them for a new set, I landed up getting Sony WF1000XM4s, which have also been excellent and even better at NC than the Pros were.

Otek 5y ago

> Idle life took a huge dive from the originals. My OGs haven't been charged in something like six months, and the case is still at something like 20%. Meanwhile, the case holding the APPs would die in less than a week and the buds inside of them a week after that. That shouldn't happen. Try to unpair, restart and pair again your headphones