8 ms·

Anyone who ever wanted to listen to music while waiting for a video call to start with airpods on knows that bluetooth is holding any wireless headphones back.

netizen-936824 5y ago
Bluetooth works fine for high quality audio in cases where the hardware is good. My audio setup for on the go uses Bluetooth and its world's better than the audio quality from airpods
- Xylakant 5y ago
  I think the problem that the parent is alluding to is a different one: AFAIR Bluetooth has a high quality profile without microphone support for music and the like, and a low quality profile for headsets with microphone support. Waiting for a call obviously requires using the low quality profile since you intend to use the microphone. (Take this with a grain of salt, my memory on this is fuzzy and I’m not an expert in this matter)
  - netizen-936824 5y ago
    According to this source, it sounds like you're right. https://mostechtips.com/how-to-fix-bluetooth-headset-poor-quality-issues-in-windows-10/ https://mostechtips.com/how-to-fix-bluetooth-headset-poor-qu... Personally I never use headsets for calls, but I also never make calls. I only use headphones for music (and would never touch airpods with a 10 foot pole)
    - brandall10 5y ago
      I’m an an ASR-type (sound science) audiophile, primarily headphones but have some decent home systems (buchardt A500 living room, kef lsx bedroom - dsp controlled, anechoalically flat measuring systems w/ lfe tuned to the spaces they’re in). My earphone system when out and about are Shure KSE1200 tuned to Harman IE, electrostats that are easily the best in the world when PEQ’ed. I also use AirPods Pro in a pinch. They’re pretty good - even from an audiophile perspective for those who care about proper engineering - I’d give them an A for their tuning and a B for technicalities… which surely could be improved off Bluetooth. They are decently well reviewed AFA tuning on places like Rtings, Crinacle, and are well regarded for the type of device they are on Head-fi. If you spent any time on ASR you’d know the vast majority of headphones have highly flawed FR, even the very high end. I’d prefer to listen to the lowly AirPods Pro, at least without hefty amounts of PEQ, over most headphones. Fwiw I found head-fi nearly 20 years ago, have been to several CanJams, have run my own meets, and probably owned over $50k in headphone rigs over the years... I know what what the 'best' sounds like. Edit: shame about the downvote, but saying "wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole" is a kneejerk thing to say that has no basis in their actual performance or engineering.
      - netizen-936824 5y ago
        I've read good things about the pro version, my comment was about the base version. In my opinion they sounded horribly tinny I personally use a qudelix with Dan Clark aeon rt. For in ear I use tin audio p(1 or 2, can't remember off the top of my head) and from my experiences the original airpods can't even come close to the tin HiFi planar in ears (yes they do have their flaws, but tinny is not one of them)
        brandall10 5y ago
        Oh nice, that's a great budget setup for sure. Yeah my comments are only for the Pro... the originals were really just a wireless version of the free inears they used to include. The gen 3 Airpods are supposed to incorporate much of the tech of the pros in an open back format. The iso w/ dsp give the Pros pretty good LFE.
- delusional 5y ago
  I'm guessing the reason the video call is important is because that activates the microphone, which causes the bluetooth headset to go into HSP mode.
thelittleone 5y ago
I wake up and run early each day. Used to use wired headphones but decided in 2021 to try earbuds (not apple). Most mornings only one will pair so there I am unpairing and repairing several times before I run, I'm generally a calm person but have come quite close to rage destroying phone and airbuds in response. Bluetooth and I are not friends.
- randomsearch 5y ago
  Have exactly the same problem.
- gilrain 5y ago
  “My knockoff AirPods don’t work well.”
  - steveBK123 5y ago
    Gimme a break. Big Apple fan here, but AirPods work really great for the first 12-18 months and then.. Especially Gen1
    - lotsofpulp 5y ago
      I expect devices which go through constant charging/discharging to start noticeably degrading after 500 cycles, and to be very degraded by 1,000 cycles. Have consumer goods progressed beyond this yet?
      - champagnois 5y ago
        No, they have not. Companies probably see no reason to innovate here either -- it is one of two major reasons for their customers to buy new devices. (1) Battery is nearly useless. (2) The vendor decided to artificially slow the device with forced updates, or worse, the vendor decided to publish a list of CVEs and then declare your device ineligible for the necessary security updates going forward.
        5y ago
aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago
The trick is to use the microphone of your laptop instead of the AirPods. (option-click the speaker icon on the system status bar)
chrisseaton 5y ago
Use your laptop's microphone.
- orev 5y ago
  So you can make everyone else on the call suffer your horrible audio quality instead (room echo, etc.)? Probably not the smartest option when trying to get Management to get comfortable with work from home.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    > So you can make everyone else on the call suffer your horrible audio quality instead (room echo, etc.)? No you're confused - the point is it's better quality. There's no limited bandwidth, and it's physically a larger microphone than the very limited micro one in your headset. It picks up the same background noise that its geometry can't eliminate, and can do the same processing to try to remove it.
    - Nextgrid 5y ago
      Wouldn't the signal to noise ratio be better on earphones as they are relatively closer to your mouth and are "dampened" by your body as opposed to on a laptop where it's more likely to pick up keyboard/fan/environment noise as it's closer to those and has no/very little vibration dampening?
      - chrisseaton 5y ago
        Doesn't seem to overcome the bandwidth or microphone quality - try it yourself! Quality is clearly better for me.
    - lnanek2 5y ago
      Not only that, many laptops and tablets nowadays use microphone arrays, not just one - so get better quality from that. Also there's no time lag. Half the people dialing into meetings in airpods at my company have a very noticeable delay for their audio to come out when they start speaking. It's difficult to not accidentally interrupt them.

netizen-936824 5y ago

Bluetooth works fine for high quality audio in cases where the hardware is good. My audio setup for on the go uses Bluetooth and its world's better than the audio quality from airpods

Xylakant 5y ago
I think the problem that the parent is alluding to is a different one: AFAIR Bluetooth has a high quality profile without microphone support for music and the like, and a low quality profile for headsets with microphone support. Waiting for a call obviously requires using the low quality profile since you intend to use the microphone. (Take this with a grain of salt, my memory on this is fuzzy and I’m not an expert in this matter)
- netizen-936824 5y ago
  According to this source, it sounds like you're right. https://mostechtips.com/how-to-fix-bluetooth-headset-poor-quality-issues-in-windows-10/ https://mostechtips.com/how-to-fix-bluetooth-headset-poor-qu... Personally I never use headsets for calls, but I also never make calls. I only use headphones for music (and would never touch airpods with a 10 foot pole)
  - brandall10 5y ago
    I’m an an ASR-type (sound science) audiophile, primarily headphones but have some decent home systems (buchardt A500 living room, kef lsx bedroom - dsp controlled, anechoalically flat measuring systems w/ lfe tuned to the spaces they’re in). My earphone system when out and about are Shure KSE1200 tuned to Harman IE, electrostats that are easily the best in the world when PEQ’ed. I also use AirPods Pro in a pinch. They’re pretty good - even from an audiophile perspective for those who care about proper engineering - I’d give them an A for their tuning and a B for technicalities… which surely could be improved off Bluetooth. They are decently well reviewed AFA tuning on places like Rtings, Crinacle, and are well regarded for the type of device they are on Head-fi. If you spent any time on ASR you’d know the vast majority of headphones have highly flawed FR, even the very high end. I’d prefer to listen to the lowly AirPods Pro, at least without hefty amounts of PEQ, over most headphones. Fwiw I found head-fi nearly 20 years ago, have been to several CanJams, have run my own meets, and probably owned over $50k in headphone rigs over the years... I know what what the 'best' sounds like. Edit: shame about the downvote, but saying "wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole" is a kneejerk thing to say that has no basis in their actual performance or engineering.
    - netizen-936824 5y ago
      I've read good things about the pro version, my comment was about the base version. In my opinion they sounded horribly tinny I personally use a qudelix with Dan Clark aeon rt. For in ear I use tin audio p(1 or 2, can't remember off the top of my head) and from my experiences the original airpods can't even come close to the tin HiFi planar in ears (yes they do have their flaws, but tinny is not one of them)
      - brandall10 5y ago
        Oh nice, that's a great budget setup for sure. Yeah my comments are only for the Pro... the originals were really just a wireless version of the free inears they used to include. The gen 3 Airpods are supposed to incorporate much of the tech of the pros in an open back format. The iso w/ dsp give the Pros pretty good LFE.
delusional 5y ago
I'm guessing the reason the video call is important is because that activates the microphone, which causes the bluetooth headset to go into HSP mode.

thelittleone 5y ago

I wake up and run early each day. Used to use wired headphones but decided in 2021 to try earbuds (not apple). Most mornings only one will pair so there I am unpairing and repairing several times before I run, I'm generally a calm person but have come quite close to rage destroying phone and airbuds in response. Bluetooth and I are not friends.

randomsearch 5y ago
Have exactly the same problem.
gilrain 5y ago
“My knockoff AirPods don’t work well.”
- steveBK123 5y ago
  Gimme a break. Big Apple fan here, but AirPods work really great for the first 12-18 months and then.. Especially Gen1
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    I expect devices which go through constant charging/discharging to start noticeably degrading after 500 cycles, and to be very degraded by 1,000 cycles. Have consumer goods progressed beyond this yet?
    - champagnois 5y ago
      No, they have not. Companies probably see no reason to innovate here either -- it is one of two major reasons for their customers to buy new devices. (1) Battery is nearly useless. (2) The vendor decided to artificially slow the device with forced updates, or worse, the vendor decided to publish a list of CVEs and then declare your device ineligible for the necessary security updates going forward.
      - 5y ago

aaaaaaaaaaab 5y ago

The trick is to use the microphone of your laptop instead of the AirPods. (option-click the speaker icon on the system status bar)

chrisseaton 5y ago

Use your laptop's microphone.

orev 5y ago
So you can make everyone else on the call suffer your horrible audio quality instead (room echo, etc.)? Probably not the smartest option when trying to get Management to get comfortable with work from home.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  > So you can make everyone else on the call suffer your horrible audio quality instead (room echo, etc.)? No you're confused - the point is it's better quality. There's no limited bandwidth, and it's physically a larger microphone than the very limited micro one in your headset. It picks up the same background noise that its geometry can't eliminate, and can do the same processing to try to remove it.
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    Wouldn't the signal to noise ratio be better on earphones as they are relatively closer to your mouth and are "dampened" by your body as opposed to on a laptop where it's more likely to pick up keyboard/fan/environment noise as it's closer to those and has no/very little vibration dampening?
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      Doesn't seem to overcome the bandwidth or microphone quality - try it yourself! Quality is clearly better for me.
  - lnanek2 5y ago
    Not only that, many laptops and tablets nowadays use microphone arrays, not just one - so get better quality from that. Also there's no time lag. Half the people dialing into meetings in airpods at my company have a very noticeable delay for their audio to come out when they start speaking. It's difficult to not accidentally interrupt them.