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It's wild how much money Apple has made from Bluetooth headphones that don't suck. That's literally it. They're portable, pair easily and (somewhat) work with m

It's wild how much money Apple has made from Bluetooth headphones that don't suck. That's literally it. They're portable, pair easily and (somewhat) work with multiple devices. I have top of the line Bose Bluetooth headphones that still, in 2022, have issues with multiple devices. I can't count how many times I've started playing music on my iPhone only to realize that the headphones think my laptop is playing, so they just silently suppress my phone. And the only way to fix it is to go into the inane Bose app and disconnect the laptop. Why the hell can't you just tell the headphones to play from the phone and keep the laptop connected? It's so bad.

astrange 4y ago
The main selling point of AirPods Pro is replaceable tips and noise cancelling. People say competitors have mostly caught up in Bluetooth quality, but it’s the only noise cancelling I’ve used without the sucking feeling that hurts your ears.
- chrismeller 4y ago
  Interestingly enough that's what I miss about my Bose. The in-ear QuietComfort earbuds I had were _far_ more comfortable (and stable in my ear) and the noise cancelling was so far ahead of my AirPods Pro that you wouldn't even consider the two devices in the same genre.
joshstrange 4y ago
This makes me think of the "What if AirPods was a company?" [0] post from 2019. It's really wild how big that one product is alone. [0] https://jonahlupton.medium.com/what-is-airpods-was-a-company-a6c1cd75b8bf https://jonahlupton.medium.com/what-is-airpods-was-a-company...
- matt-attack 4y ago
  Would love to see an updated version of this analysis.
  - aqme28 4y ago
    It looks like they still sell about 60MM per year, so not much has changed
- SergeAx 4y ago
  > What if AirPods was a company? They wouldn't release a single product, because of proprietary Apple ecosystem and patents wall around it.
emadabdulrahim 4y ago
Yup. Unfortunately every other Bluetooth headphones suck when it comes to connectivity and stable playing. Been using Airpods Max for a year and never had a connection issue.
- entropie 4y ago
  I had no issues with 3 phones and my notebook with my like two years old sony WF-1000XM3.
- jmspring 4y ago
  I ended up giving my airpod pros to my partner. I found both the connectivity and sound quality (as well as noise canceling) much better on my Sony WF-1000MX4s. edit: isolation replaced with canceling
  - caeril 4y ago
    The WF-1000MX4s are absolutely PERFECT with the sole exception of the non-tactile controls. If they replaced the touch sensors with actual buttons, they would be the best earbuds on the market.
    - balakk 4y ago
      I have a pair, but haven't used too many gestures, since it seems somewhat limited. I was very surprised that you cant even accept/reject a call with a gesture. Just curious, why would you get buttons instead of sensors?
      - caeril 4y ago
        > Just curious, why would you get buttons instead of sensors? Two things: 1. Long hair. If your hair is in the way, you have to brush it away before the sensors will correctly register your input. 2. Beanies. If you wear an acrylic beanie (due to the aforementioned long hair), there is enough capacitance detected in contact with the material to generate spurious, and unwanted, inputs. Tactile buttons would solve both of these issues.
smoldesu 4y ago
> Why the hell can't you just tell the headphones to play from the phone and keep the laptop connected? This is something that baffled me on Windows and MacOS, but I don't seem to experience on Linux/Android/iOS. Windows was particularly "greedy"; whenever you'd turn on your headphones it would attempt to steal the connection away (even booting other multipoint connections off). MacOS is slightly more graceful, but still hiccups when it initializes a new sound source and (for some godawful reason) launches iTunes for me. Thanks Apple. On my FireTV and Linux desktop/laptop, they seem to have lazy-negotiation enabled by default. Turned-on devices will connect and acknowledge one another, but won't switch audio sources until the other device starts playing audio. I really think this ought to be the standard for all Bluetooth audio stacks. (Note: this is a relatively recent development on the Linux side of things. Before PipeWire, it's Bluetooth audio stack was worse than Windows.)
- ezfe 4y ago
  Part of it is probably that iOS/Android have a far more fundamental "is media playing" understanding
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    That's probably a large piece of it, considering Linux has a similar interface that would work just as well (MPRIS controls). I wouldn't be surprised if all of those implimentations used media data to determine connection priorities.
- philsnow 4y ago
  I haven't experienced the issue with iTunes starting on bluetooth connections, but some people pointed me to this project to deal with it: https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes You can also set it to start something else (Spotify, whatever) instead
  - smoldesu 4y ago
    I'm personally just miffed that it's enabled by default. Reminds me of something Microsoft would do (Hey, I see you connected your headphones! Want to launch Groove Music?)
dereg 4y ago
Moreover, it's amazing how they've managed to make a bluetooth accessory that is intuitive to older folks. I never bothered buying my parents bluetooth devices because they'd always end up in the drawer from disuse. They use their Airpods daily and never ask me for help. A wonder.
- 8ytecoder 4y ago
  I’ve seen people minimize the usability of the AirPods. My dad who’s quite technology-averse, figured it out in 2 minutes while I helped him over FaceTime. The only reason he agreed to even try it was because the wired EarPods broke. Since then he just loves his AirPods.
  - aqme28 4y ago
    This is Apple’s strength in general. Much easier for older folks to use.
    - ASalazarMX 4y ago
      ...with other Apple products. FTFY Being Bluetooth, technically the Airpods will connect to say, a Dell laptop, but in practice they will have erratic behavior, which you can solve by buying a mac... and teaching said old folks how to use MacOS instead of Windows.
      - puyoxyz 4y ago
        While they don’t have the excellent UX of Airpods with Apple products when used with non-Apple products, I’ve never experienced this “erratic behavior”. They just work like bluetooth headphones with no weird issues. I regularly use them with my desktop on both Linux and Windows, I’ve used them with my Nintendo Switch, etc… and no erratic behavior
        MBCook 4y ago
        Agreed. You put them in the case, hold the one button (basically the “pair” button) for a sec, and connect from your device. Bam. Work perfectly after that.
lph 4y ago
I guess "don't suck" is relative, but my AirPods failed after about a year. It's a coin toss now whether their microphone will work or not, rendering them unreliable and worse than useless for the work Zoom meetings I bought them for. Maybe I'm old-fashioned for expecting any piece of technology to last longer than a year.
- xirdstl 4y ago
  This is my complaint as well. On multiple pairs, the microphone becomes unreliable after some number of months. If I'm lucky, it's within the warranty period.
  - moe 4y ago
    The mic is pretty bad anyway. And to add insult to injury, your listening audio quality also gets degraded whenever it's on... So it's a lose-lose for both sides every time you use it. My main complaint is that OSX has no setting to completely disable it. I have to manually switch to the Macbook internal mic basically before every call. I wish they would just sell a model without the crappy mic. I would even happily pay less for it.
    - mort96 4y ago
      The audio quality thing is a Bluetooth limitation AFAIK. There is no standard which lets you stream high quality audio bidirectionally, their high fidelity mode has only one audio stream going to the headphones.
- Angostura 4y ago
  It sucks. But in the EU/UK you would have simply got them replaced.
  - astrange 4y ago
    There was an extended repair program for AirPods Pro, so they would've got them replaced anyway.
muro 4y ago
I think you can hit one of the buttons on the headphones to re-pair.
johnwalkr 4y ago
They also don’t do this: “BEEP. CONNECTED. BATTERY LEVEL IS 50%.”
- xsmasher 4y ago
  My "sleep headphones" start chanting "battery low" every 20 seconds when the battery drops too low, which inevitably happens after I'm asleep. Who thought that was a good idea?
  - dzhiurgis 4y ago
    So does airpods. Either way it should just be a setting.
    - saagarjha 4y ago
      No, they make a noise once and then shut up.
      - robotresearcher 4y ago
        Warning sound at ~10 mins before shutdown, then the shutdown sound when they give out. Noise twice. OK by me.
        dzhiurgis 4y ago
        It def woke me up multiple times
  - lajosbacs 4y ago
    Airpods have a low battery announcement that will pop your eardrums and it cannot be turned off.
- smileybarry 4y ago
  Eh, they have a dis/connection chime and a low battery chime too. But yeah, no obnoxious maybe-TTS voice.
cube2222 4y ago
Yeah. I remember my reason for switching to AirPods Max. My Sony xm3 kept connecting to the laptop in my backpack - which was asleep - when I was getting on my bike. I had to unpair my phone and re-pair it to force it to "own" the headphones. It was such a pita. That really was the biggest value add of the Apple headphones, and it works absolutely great. It almost (a 99.5%+ kind of almost) always connects to the device I want it to connect to, right away. It's a pity though that they have the common issues of Bluetooth, and turning on the microphone immediately kills the sound quality... It's one of the cases where I'd appreciate them just using a proprietary protocol. The headphones basically only work well with Apple devices anyway.
- aceazzameen 4y ago
  I have an XM3 also. Only occasionally does it try to pair with the wrong device. That might have a lot to do with me turning bluetooth off on unused devices though. However, in the rare instances where it does connect to the wrong device, I hold the power button down which forces it to enter pairing mode and disconnect. And almost always, the device I want to use will then connect. It hasn't happened often enough to be an annoyance yet.
  - dzhiurgis 4y ago
    I have XM3. Hold power for 7 seconds and it will enter pairing mode. Fairly minor issue for me as I mostly use them for coding. Amazing headphones otherwise.
    - Larrikin 4y ago
      Also if you have a phone with NFC (or possibly any device with NFC other than an iPhone) you can just slide the device over the NFC logo and it will switch over to being paired with that device. Really convenient when switching from my computer to phone.
      - dzhiurgis 4y ago
        Will have to try. Strange Apple refuses to put NFC in macbooks.
jasonlotito 4y ago
> Bluetooth headphones that don't suck That isn't a ringing endorsement. Not sucking isn't the least you can do, and for the price they charge, it should be better than not sucking.
ycta3402937498 4y ago
Sony WH-1000XM4s I'd say are the most comparable in terms of ease of use and pairing well. I haven't had any dropout problems with them like I have with others (including my gen 3 airpods). I use my AirPods for my phone/tablet and my XM4s with my 2020 Mac Mini.
- coconut08 4y ago
  I've daily driven the xm3's and the xm4's for years and their multi-device support is so bad that it literally makes it worse than not having it at all. I explicitly disable multi-device support for them because the headphones will randomly jump around for seemingly no reason at all making them entirely unusable. Apple's bluetooth headphones, assuming you are living exclusively inside of the apple ecosystem, are the only bluetooth headphones that have multi-device support that is actually functional. If you chain your xm4's to a single device then they work pretty much flawlessly but that is also way less convenient.
  - BuckRogers 4y ago
    I disable the multiconnect on my XM4s as well. They switch based on what's currently sending signal, but one has to stop broadcasting first. It disables LDAC support anyway if you use that. I was torn between the XM4s and Airpods Max but ultimately am tired of picking up more Lightning connector devices. I will no longer purchase things that don't charge via USB-C. I use my XM4s daily as well for over 1.5 years now (Jan 2021), and have to be in my top 5 things I've bought in my life that I feel were worth every dollar. I'll be buying the XM5s on launch day. I also had a pair of Airpods Pros, they're so close to being the perfect single pair of headphones for everyone. But they hurt my ear canal with anything but the small tips, and then they wouldn't seal.
    - Reason077 4y ago
      > "I'll be buying the XM5s on launch day." Err, the XM5s have been out for a few months now. https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/all-headphones/p/wh1000xm5-b https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/all-headphones...
didip 4y ago
This is how Apple operates, no? It makes products that people widely need at a quality that's a class on its own.
georgelyon 4y ago
> and (somewhat) work with multiple devices I was hoping for AirPods which synthesize audio from all of your devices using spacial positioning... maybe next generation
- kergonath 4y ago
  That would be a hell of a feature. I am not sure Bluetooth is up to the task, though, I don’t think it handles simultaneous connexions to a single device very well.
spaceman_2020 4y ago
Personally, I absolutely hate Bluetooth headphones At this point in my life, I want fewer things to remember to charge, not more. My wired earphones will never run out of “battery” in the middle of a flight. I’m a complete grump about this stage of the headphones cycle.
- scarface74 4y ago
  I fly often. Just the idea of always getting wired headphones tangled in something is a pain. I use Beats Flex headphones though. It’s a lot easier to just hang them around my neck and they don’t fall to the floor if they fall out my ear. They also last 12 hours. Wired headphones are especially a pain when running,
- spaghettiToy 4y ago
  I just got a brand new phone with an Aux port, I have 1 set of $2 earphones at each desk, in each car, next to my running stuff, gym bag, backpack, etc ... I had to pay a premium for a phone with an aux port, but extra features are worth it to me.
- TillE 4y ago
  They're fantastic for exercise, or light usage like listening to podcasts around the house. Certainly if you want to listen to music at decent quality, buy real headphones with a replaceable cable.
- saiya-jin 4y ago
  I always had issue with in-ear phones passing some of the friction down the ear canal. Sure over the ear ie kosses work flawlessly, but then I have to carry usb-3.5mm conversion kit all the time (and keep forgetting and then having useless headphones), no premium non-chinese phone with good camera has the port anymore. And I have small kids, so good, I mean the best on the market camera always with me is a must I will thank myself later for, as does/will all my close family. As for airpods, I don't get the hype, but thats mostly true for any Apple announcements apart from their CPUs. Yet they have the capitalization they have so they are doing something right, athough it feels its mostly marketing and "we are US" which means nothing to Europeans for good reasons unfortunately... I prefer higher quality customizable phone who respects me as user, higher quality cameras on it, higher quality in ear buds (even relatively mediocre Sennehiser Momentum 2 TW sounds miles and lightyears better, last longer, use HD codecs with anything ever created that has it too, which now means tons of devices, and pair flawlessly so far). I saw first hand my boss struggling and failing repeatedly to even pair his (back then) brand new Iphone 13 pro max pair with out-of-box charged airpods pro. WTFs all around the office, he was so ashamed... It was not the last time we all saw it from front seats, still happens quite regularly. My wife has Garmin fenix watch. Apple watch are a bad joke if you have it for something else than showing off how "in" you are and not an "old boring fart", which seems mostly marketing/sales guys these days. My wife, based on my recent recommendation which I am beginning to regret, just bought iphone 13 mini. Battery life is proper meh, seriously I expected better based on what online world says. The device with useless notch is fugly as hell, thick, heavy, screen has huge black borders - it looks like cheap chinese phone from cca 2015. OK, whatever, quality must be inside, and some is, some isn't. You can't have a fucking unlocking pattern, because Apple knows better what you need, and you should learn what you actually want. Because 'security', so either full Face ID which she finds no-go because its her opinion and I respect it (and so should Apple), or some 6-digits idiotic code for every fucking unlock which is plain stupid and arrogant, or completely unsecured phone. No pattern draw like every other sane device since 2015 unless you want to straight jailbreak whole device and lose all warranty. Fuck you Apple, I really, truly expected more from your devices in 2022, and so did my wife. Its not about how many things you get right (there are plenty of devices who get many things right), but where you fail hurts, especially when one is used to basic things working for many, many years. At least resale value is quite good, especially when Apple decided to not continue their smallest line for whatever stupid reasons so this is last of the line, with A15 chip. Maybe she will eventually start liking it, but man I truly expected more from Apple since right now Samsungs seem a much better offer for people like her, if you are not counting pennies on resales
gigatexal 4y ago
Yup! The killer feature just got better. They claim noise cancellation is better and there’s a way yo adjust volume up and down on the stems. So dope. And more battery life! These are insta buys for us.
Buttons840 4y ago
I would have completely agreed until I tried to pair my AirPods with Linux; they're the only device I've had trouble pairing with my Linux desktop. Even so, I mostly agree. What's going on at all the other companies that cannot get this right?
- oynqr 4y ago
  They seem pretty picky, but usually work with Intel wireless on the hardware and (recent) pipewire on the software side.
aeyes 4y ago
They do suck if someone who is using them calls you. I wish they didn't have a microphone. People on the receiving end of the calls truly suffer when callers use them.
cafed00d 4y ago
All of this has a super simple explanation: the shitty products always have org structures that treat software dev as shitty cost centers. It took a long time to realize that the most compelling devices have good, well maintained software. I don’t mean to say that software devs are geniuses or that these orgs have to hire the best of the best. No, they just need to create an org that prioritizes software dev. Low attrition, increased visibility, the usual. You don’t need fancy new features. Just make sure the intern who wrote your v1 Bluetooth driver feels compelled enough to stay on to become a staff engineer running a team that still assures bugs get fixed. Simple.
- snowwolf 4y ago
  > It took a long time to realize that the most compelling devices have good, well maintained software. I continue to hold the view that Tesla's success is because they are really a software company, not a car company.
- s3r3nity 4y ago
  I think you're 85-90% right - but I wouldn't undersell the impact of Apple's proprietary W1 / H1 / H2 chips in their headphones either.
  - epolanski 4y ago
    Nobody cares about those, not to the point of paying such premiums.
    - tomphoolery 4y ago
      I mean, if there was another "commodity" processor one could just insert into their earbuds and write some awesome software, why hasn't anyone done that yet? If you could offer the same features as AirPods (and other Apple headphones) at half the cost, you'd make serious money. People might not care too much about those technical features of them, but I know they care about consistently good performance, and the AirPods have so far delivered on that promise. Making something that works just as well, but doesn't require you to be locked in to the Apple ecosystem, would absolutely change the game for the headphone market.
danso 4y ago
I'll just chime in and say that while I'm reasonably satisfied with my Airpods Pro, I've been pretty happy with much cheaper Bluetooth wired (i.e. connected buds) earphones -- the noise canceling is nice but I don't depend on it. A couple months ago I bought Airpod Pros on sale for my mom. And it's the one gadget gift, out of countless that I've bought her, that I've actually seen her regularly use. Not only that, but she'll get pretty annoyed when something goes temporarily wrong with them (e.g. foam tips fall out, case fails to charge), rather than give up on them like any other superfluous accessory. The gadgets I've bought my mom that she's neglected and forgotten include: PC and Mac laptops, her iPhone (in lieu of getting her another Android), Apple Watch, and of course, various kinds of headphones, bluetooth and wired. She's a pretty big luddite and I honestly had never really seen her use her iphone for much other than talking and texting -- e.g. when she's lost in the city, she will ask every random stranger for help and never think to use the phone GPS. But since she took to using the Airpods, it's opened up all the (obvious) possibilities of the phone as portable entertainment device. Sorry if all this sounds like shilling for the Airpods (again, I'm personally meh on them and will likely try out Anker's offerings if I need to replace mine) -- it's just this comment thread triggered in me the pleasant experience I've had with it as a Mother's day gifter.
nytesky 4y ago
My Jlab headphones have a solution -- whenever they turn on they are in "pairing" mode as if they are brand new. They seem to figure out when they find an existing paired device, but if not they are discoverable every time. Still can't pair to two devices without dueling but just drop it form one.
smileybarry 4y ago
It’s upsetting how (non-AirPods) device switching — even Bluetooth 5 multipoint — is still just meh. Some devices accept connect requests and gracefully disconnect from the current device (good but manual), some just ignore them, some don’t gracefully disconnect causing the original device to ping-pong reconnect, etc. And “real” BT5 multipoint can also break if an app happens to use “phone call” audio priority, and you get yanked off the second device. The only device I have that does it well (and with non-Apple platforms) is an Xbox Wireless Headset, and that’s only because it literally has 2 wireless audio chipsets connected at the same time: Xbox Audio and Bluetooth. Sadly that means it’s also 2x the power and 0.5x the battery life. But yeah, switching from iPhone to iPad with AirPods is really nice. I wish I had that on Windows (without MagicPods).
drewg123 4y ago
Uninstall the Bose app? I never installed it, and my Bose QC35ii headphones work better than my airpod pros. With the airpods, they will almost always bind to the wrong device until I go into settings and force a connection. The Bose connects to both, and actually works..
- theshrike79 4y ago
  The Boses are pretty nice as long as you're in the "both" range of connected devices. Add a third, fourth or a fifth device to the mix and you need to hold yourself back to not slam the headphones to the nearest wall in frustration.
- sleepybrett 4y ago
  I use and like the Bose wireless noise cancelling earbuds as well. Though have never had airpods. These have lasted me two years of daily use. They just announced preorders for a new revision.
alberth 4y ago
> It's wild how much money Apple has made from Bluetooth headphones that don't suck. It also helps that Apple removed the headphone jack.
com2kid 4y ago
> only to realize that the headphones think my laptop is playing, Some browser tab has some media playing that is keeping hold of the BT audio connection. Same reason why laptops, neither my Windows or Mac laptops, can figure out when they should go to sleep. Some broken browser tabs keeps the CPU at max speed, and turns on the GPU.
williamscales 4y ago
I've never had an issue with Jabra bluetooth earbuds. Great multi device support too.
sbf501 4y ago
Funny, I have a friend with Apple airpods and has he walks through his house they ask / try to connect to all his apple devices. That's part of the reason why I prefer a cord.
tomphoolery 4y ago
> (somewhat) work with multiple devices. This feature _alone_ made me buy the 1st generation AirPods Pro once I got an Apple Watch. They really hook you into that ecosystem! ;-) In all seriousness, these are the best-sounding and most reliable earbud headphones I've ever owned. I hear the Beats Pro are a little better sound bass-wise, but I bet that tech will be in the new generation of the AirPods Pro as well. The fact that my AirPods can move between my multiple computers, phone, watch, and even television relatively easily is just amazing. It goes to show how hard this problem was to solve, though, since Apple had to literally invent their own processor to make this work.
mpalczewski 4y ago
This was why I originally loved my airpods pro. Then it started going random and they no longer would connect to the device I expect. Much of the problem is that for some reason even if the laptop lid is closed apple's laptop still connect to your headphones. Right now my bose work better than the apple stuff, they connect to my laptop and headphones and music plays out of which ever one is going at the time.
andreyk 4y ago
IMO there's been Bluetooth headphones that don't suck (aside from multi devices, which I don't care about personally) way before Airpods. Perhaps this was many peoples' introductions to quality Bluetooth headphones though, as the ones I like tend to be in the 100-150 range. I still much prefer U-shaped headphones worn over the neck, much less hassle, more battery, better sound. Samsung's entry in that category was very good, I hope they keep putting those out and not go all in on airpod type products.
- sleepybrett 4y ago
  i upgraded from the u shaped bose earbuds to the newish no-u version. Very similar battery life and better sound on the new ones. shrug I do miss the U for the whole 'can't lose one of these' though .. that said I haven't yet lost one of these (it's been about 2 years).
operator-name 4y ago
If you have apple devices maybe. An acquaintance purchased a pair that was solely linked to his windows laptop and had a miriad of issues. This persisted with different device and was finally resolved when he switched to a different pair of Bluetooth headphones. The issues you're describing sound more Bluetooth related, and given the above experience I suspect the experience would be just as bad on non apple devices.
postalrat 4y ago
Take away the most convenient interface (the 3.5mm mini plug) that works on all devices equally and replace it with something you can do better than anyone else. Most companies don't have those types of options.
atlgator 4y ago
Weird. I've got the QC35 (v1) and have no issues switching devices. I don't even have the Bose app on my phone.
- drewg123 4y ago
  I'm starting to think the Bose app is the problem. I don't have it installed either, and I also don't have issues with multiple devices..
- poglet 4y ago
  QC35 here and have been surprised how much better they were then the Sony equivalent at the time. If I stop audio on my iPhone, then play audio on my iPad - the headphones switch automatically. In saying that, it seems to fail with more then 2 devices despite being able to remember 3 devices at a time. If I have the headphones connected to iPhone and iPad, then want to use my laptop I will normally need to switch bluetooth off on the mobile devices before turning on the headphones - allowing it to connect to the computer. A little annoying but still faster then messing around with cables.
redorb 4y ago
Honestly I still feel they forced the success by removing the headphone jack. I know the market is 'proving me wrong' but a market without a choice isn't purely voting with their dollars but voting with a single option.
xyclos 4y ago
I think you’re talking about the QC 35 ii/45. The same switch you use to turn them on can be used to switch devices. Press it once, and the voice prompt will say what it is currently connected to. Keep pressing it and it’ll start listing other previously connected devices each time you press it. Once it says “hardwaregeeks iPhone” stop clicking the switch and it’ll switch to that. It’s actually pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it. Also you can disconnect the second device by connecting the first device “twice”. Hope this helps.
- ehsankia 4y ago
  Yeah, I've used a lot of headphones (Sony, Microsoft, Sennheiser, Bose), and honestly the Bose are some of the better one. Also love the hardware buttons, touch ones are always a PITA. Every time I go to double tap to go forward, it registers 1 tap and pauses, so I have to tap again to unpause, and double tap again. They also act out in the winter cold. Bose also connects blazingly fast, which is nice.
stjohnswarts 4y ago
I have some oneplus ones that cost me 1/4 as much and are just as good as my set that died (airpods) the initial (no) setup (needed) was the only advantage for apple's product. People give apple a bit too much credit for this stuff.
suzzer99 4y ago
They also are the first wireless headphones that constantly don't fall out of my ear, or go bad quickly when exposed to sweat. Game changer.
r0m4n0 4y ago
Honestly I've always felt they do suck, I've owned 6 pairs and they all have had connectivity or charging issues of some sort. Personally my bose set suck less but I hate the form factor. The simple airpod that doesn't have a rubber gasket jammed in your ear has me coming back buying them again and again
licebmi__at__ 4y ago
I had a couple of airpods as my daily driver and was pretty surprised of how little they suck, but a couple of months ago, I bought some shitty headband with bluetooth headphones which is advertised as running gear. I actually bought it to sleep covering my eyes with the headband and put some white noise, and since they costed 20 bucks that’s all that was asking from them. So I was greatly surprised because they sound pretty decent, and they are able to pair on several devices, automatically switching, keeping the annoyance on a pretty low level, you still need to turn them on by long pressing a button and they still emit annoying sound when battery is low for a lot of time, but since they were just shitty 20 bucks generic gear I was thinking that maybe companies have finally solved Bluetooth. Time skip to 5 days ago, I lost my airpods and thought to give non apple headset a chance, since I’m more into over ear stuff. So I bought a pair of not so cheap sony headphones… and yesterday I returned them. Bluetooth still sucks and maybe the generic ones were just a lucky hit. It seems like I will get a new set of airpods.
sli 4y ago
After moving from Airpods (not Pros) to some Sennheiser MTW2s, I want to go back to Airpods. My Airpods worked and were reliable. These Sennheisers on the other hand have needed one of them to be replaced due to a stuck button, and now need the other one replaced due to it outright dying out of nowhere, but Sennheiser support is basically nonexistent right now. I never needed an Airpod replaced, or any other kind of support. They just worked and were reliable, and honestly, stayed in my ears SO much better. I love my HD600s but I will never buy another wireless Sennheiser product. They're garbage. Apple definitely did this one right.
nikau 4y ago
Except they do stuck - at least as the other person having to listen to their awful microphone quality.
lenkite 4y ago
They just don't fit and stay inside a significant minority of people's ears when they are moving - including mine - necessitating the need of third party Ear Hooks - which I have to keep taking out and putting on while charging. Which is a pain. I went back to Bose. I will give apple full marks for stupendous glitz and marketing though. Any other company would have been slaughtered in the feedback. The reality distortion field has been well-inherited by the company.
- mcintyre1994 4y ago
  I'm hoping Apple will keep making Beats Powerbeats Pro and keep them kinda up to date. I don't really want to buy headphones without ear hooks to find out whether they fall out when I run.
nunez 4y ago
a lot of the seamlessness comes from (a) airpods being designed to work with iOS and, for the last few years, the H1/H2 chips. BT by itself is really troublesome and (b) apple being able to spend a lot of time and money on design. for most, headphones are extremely low margin; before the airpods, heaphones over $200 were also really low volume.

astrange 4y ago

The main selling point of AirPods Pro is replaceable tips and noise cancelling. People say competitors have mostly caught up in Bluetooth quality, but it’s the only noise cancelling I’ve used without the sucking feeling that hurts your ears.

chrismeller 4y ago
Interestingly enough that's what I miss about my Bose. The in-ear QuietComfort earbuds I had were _far_ more comfortable (and stable in my ear) and the noise cancelling was so far ahead of my AirPods Pro that you wouldn't even consider the two devices in the same genre.

joshstrange 4y ago

This makes me think of the "What if AirPods was a company?" [0] post from 2019. It's really wild how big that one product is alone. [0] https://jonahlupton.medium.com/what-is-airpods-was-a-company-a6c1cd75b8bf https://jonahlupton.medium.com/what-is-airpods-was-a-company...

matt-attack 4y ago
Would love to see an updated version of this analysis.
- aqme28 4y ago
  It looks like they still sell about 60MM per year, so not much has changed
SergeAx 4y ago
> What if AirPods was a company? They wouldn't release a single product, because of proprietary Apple ecosystem and patents wall around it.

emadabdulrahim 4y ago

Yup. Unfortunately every other Bluetooth headphones suck when it comes to connectivity and stable playing. Been using Airpods Max for a year and never had a connection issue.

entropie 4y ago
I had no issues with 3 phones and my notebook with my like two years old sony WF-1000XM3.
jmspring 4y ago
I ended up giving my airpod pros to my partner. I found both the connectivity and sound quality (as well as noise canceling) much better on my Sony WF-1000MX4s. edit: isolation replaced with canceling
- caeril 4y ago
  The WF-1000MX4s are absolutely PERFECT with the sole exception of the non-tactile controls. If they replaced the touch sensors with actual buttons, they would be the best earbuds on the market.
  - balakk 4y ago
    I have a pair, but haven't used too many gestures, since it seems somewhat limited. I was very surprised that you cant even accept/reject a call with a gesture. Just curious, why would you get buttons instead of sensors?
    - caeril 4y ago
      > Just curious, why would you get buttons instead of sensors? Two things: 1. Long hair. If your hair is in the way, you have to brush it away before the sensors will correctly register your input. 2. Beanies. If you wear an acrylic beanie (due to the aforementioned long hair), there is enough capacitance detected in contact with the material to generate spurious, and unwanted, inputs. Tactile buttons would solve both of these issues.

smoldesu 4y ago

> Why the hell can't you just tell the headphones to play from the phone and keep the laptop connected? This is something that baffled me on Windows and MacOS, but I don't seem to experience on Linux/Android/iOS. Windows was particularly "greedy"; whenever you'd turn on your headphones it would attempt to steal the connection away (even booting other multipoint connections off). MacOS is slightly more graceful, but still hiccups when it initializes a new sound source and (for some godawful reason) launches iTunes for me. Thanks Apple. On my FireTV and Linux desktop/laptop, they seem to have lazy-negotiation enabled by default. Turned-on devices will connect and acknowledge one another, but won't switch audio sources until the other device starts playing audio. I really think this ought to be the standard for all Bluetooth audio stacks. (Note: this is a relatively recent development on the Linux side of things. Before PipeWire, it's Bluetooth audio stack was worse than Windows.)

ezfe 4y ago
Part of it is probably that iOS/Android have a far more fundamental "is media playing" understanding
- smoldesu 4y ago
  That's probably a large piece of it, considering Linux has a similar interface that would work just as well (MPRIS controls). I wouldn't be surprised if all of those implimentations used media data to determine connection priorities.
philsnow 4y ago
I haven't experienced the issue with iTunes starting on bluetooth connections, but some people pointed me to this project to deal with it: https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes https://github.com/tombonez/noTunes You can also set it to start something else (Spotify, whatever) instead
- smoldesu 4y ago
  I'm personally just miffed that it's enabled by default. Reminds me of something Microsoft would do (Hey, I see you connected your headphones! Want to launch Groove Music?)

dereg 4y ago

Moreover, it's amazing how they've managed to make a bluetooth accessory that is intuitive to older folks. I never bothered buying my parents bluetooth devices because they'd always end up in the drawer from disuse. They use their Airpods daily and never ask me for help. A wonder.

8ytecoder 4y ago
I’ve seen people minimize the usability of the AirPods. My dad who’s quite technology-averse, figured it out in 2 minutes while I helped him over FaceTime. The only reason he agreed to even try it was because the wired EarPods broke. Since then he just loves his AirPods.
- aqme28 4y ago
  This is Apple’s strength in general. Much easier for older folks to use.
  - ASalazarMX 4y ago
    ...with other Apple products. FTFY Being Bluetooth, technically the Airpods will connect to say, a Dell laptop, but in practice they will have erratic behavior, which you can solve by buying a mac... and teaching said old folks how to use MacOS instead of Windows.
    - puyoxyz 4y ago
      While they don’t have the excellent UX of Airpods with Apple products when used with non-Apple products, I’ve never experienced this “erratic behavior”. They just work like bluetooth headphones with no weird issues. I regularly use them with my desktop on both Linux and Windows, I’ve used them with my Nintendo Switch, etc… and no erratic behavior
      - MBCook 4y ago
        Agreed. You put them in the case, hold the one button (basically the “pair” button) for a sec, and connect from your device. Bam. Work perfectly after that.

lph 4y ago

I guess "don't suck" is relative, but my AirPods failed after about a year. It's a coin toss now whether their microphone will work or not, rendering them unreliable and worse than useless for the work Zoom meetings I bought them for. Maybe I'm old-fashioned for expecting any piece of technology to last longer than a year.

xirdstl 4y ago
This is my complaint as well. On multiple pairs, the microphone becomes unreliable after some number of months. If I'm lucky, it's within the warranty period.
- moe 4y ago
  The mic is pretty bad anyway. And to add insult to injury, your listening audio quality also gets degraded whenever it's on... So it's a lose-lose for both sides every time you use it. My main complaint is that OSX has no setting to completely disable it. I have to manually switch to the Macbook internal mic basically before every call. I wish they would just sell a model without the crappy mic. I would even happily pay less for it.
  - mort96 4y ago
    The audio quality thing is a Bluetooth limitation AFAIK. There is no standard which lets you stream high quality audio bidirectionally, their high fidelity mode has only one audio stream going to the headphones.
Angostura 4y ago
It sucks. But in the EU/UK you would have simply got them replaced.
- astrange 4y ago
  There was an extended repair program for AirPods Pro, so they would've got them replaced anyway.

muro 4y ago

I think you can hit one of the buttons on the headphones to re-pair.

johnwalkr 4y ago

They also don’t do this: “BEEP. CONNECTED. BATTERY LEVEL IS 50%.”

xsmasher 4y ago
My "sleep headphones" start chanting "battery low" every 20 seconds when the battery drops too low, which inevitably happens after I'm asleep. Who thought that was a good idea?
- dzhiurgis 4y ago
  So does airpods. Either way it should just be a setting.
  - saagarjha 4y ago
    No, they make a noise once and then shut up.
    - robotresearcher 4y ago
      Warning sound at ~10 mins before shutdown, then the shutdown sound when they give out. Noise twice. OK by me.
      - dzhiurgis 4y ago
        It def woke me up multiple times
- lajosbacs 4y ago
  Airpods have a low battery announcement that will pop your eardrums and it cannot be turned off.
smileybarry 4y ago
Eh, they have a dis/connection chime and a low battery chime too. But yeah, no obnoxious maybe-TTS voice.

cube2222 4y ago

Yeah. I remember my reason for switching to AirPods Max. My Sony xm3 kept connecting to the laptop in my backpack - which was asleep - when I was getting on my bike. I had to unpair my phone and re-pair it to force it to "own" the headphones. It was such a pita. That really was the biggest value add of the Apple headphones, and it works absolutely great. It almost (a 99.5%+ kind of almost) always connects to the device I want it to connect to, right away. It's a pity though that they have the common issues of Bluetooth, and turning on the microphone immediately kills the sound quality... It's one of the cases where I'd appreciate them just using a proprietary protocol. The headphones basically only work well with Apple devices anyway.

aceazzameen 4y ago
I have an XM3 also. Only occasionally does it try to pair with the wrong device. That might have a lot to do with me turning bluetooth off on unused devices though. However, in the rare instances where it does connect to the wrong device, I hold the power button down which forces it to enter pairing mode and disconnect. And almost always, the device I want to use will then connect. It hasn't happened often enough to be an annoyance yet.
- dzhiurgis 4y ago
  I have XM3. Hold power for 7 seconds and it will enter pairing mode. Fairly minor issue for me as I mostly use them for coding. Amazing headphones otherwise.
  - Larrikin 4y ago
    Also if you have a phone with NFC (or possibly any device with NFC other than an iPhone) you can just slide the device over the NFC logo and it will switch over to being paired with that device. Really convenient when switching from my computer to phone.
    - dzhiurgis 4y ago
      Will have to try. Strange Apple refuses to put NFC in macbooks.

jasonlotito 4y ago

> Bluetooth headphones that don't suck That isn't a ringing endorsement. Not sucking isn't the least you can do, and for the price they charge, it should be better than not sucking.

ycta3402937498 4y ago

Sony WH-1000XM4s I'd say are the most comparable in terms of ease of use and pairing well. I haven't had any dropout problems with them like I have with others (including my gen 3 airpods). I use my AirPods for my phone/tablet and my XM4s with my 2020 Mac Mini.

coconut08 4y ago
I've daily driven the xm3's and the xm4's for years and their multi-device support is so bad that it literally makes it worse than not having it at all. I explicitly disable multi-device support for them because the headphones will randomly jump around for seemingly no reason at all making them entirely unusable. Apple's bluetooth headphones, assuming you are living exclusively inside of the apple ecosystem, are the only bluetooth headphones that have multi-device support that is actually functional. If you chain your xm4's to a single device then they work pretty much flawlessly but that is also way less convenient.
- BuckRogers 4y ago
  I disable the multiconnect on my XM4s as well. They switch based on what's currently sending signal, but one has to stop broadcasting first. It disables LDAC support anyway if you use that. I was torn between the XM4s and Airpods Max but ultimately am tired of picking up more Lightning connector devices. I will no longer purchase things that don't charge via USB-C. I use my XM4s daily as well for over 1.5 years now (Jan 2021), and have to be in my top 5 things I've bought in my life that I feel were worth every dollar. I'll be buying the XM5s on launch day. I also had a pair of Airpods Pros, they're so close to being the perfect single pair of headphones for everyone. But they hurt my ear canal with anything but the small tips, and then they wouldn't seal.
  - Reason077 4y ago
    > "I'll be buying the XM5s on launch day." Err, the XM5s have been out for a few months now. https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/all-headphones/p/wh1000xm5-b https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/all-headphones...

didip 4y ago

This is how Apple operates, no? It makes products that people widely need at a quality that's a class on its own.

georgelyon 4y ago

> and (somewhat) work with multiple devices I was hoping for AirPods which synthesize audio from all of your devices using spacial positioning... maybe next generation

kergonath 4y ago
That would be a hell of a feature. I am not sure Bluetooth is up to the task, though, I don’t think it handles simultaneous connexions to a single device very well.

spaceman_2020 4y ago

Personally, I absolutely hate Bluetooth headphones At this point in my life, I want fewer things to remember to charge, not more. My wired earphones will never run out of “battery” in the middle of a flight. I’m a complete grump about this stage of the headphones cycle.

scarface74 4y ago
I fly often. Just the idea of always getting wired headphones tangled in something is a pain. I use Beats Flex headphones though. It’s a lot easier to just hang them around my neck and they don’t fall to the floor if they fall out my ear. They also last 12 hours. Wired headphones are especially a pain when running,
spaghettiToy 4y ago
I just got a brand new phone with an Aux port, I have 1 set of $2 earphones at each desk, in each car, next to my running stuff, gym bag, backpack, etc ... I had to pay a premium for a phone with an aux port, but extra features are worth it to me.
TillE 4y ago
They're fantastic for exercise, or light usage like listening to podcasts around the house. Certainly if you want to listen to music at decent quality, buy real headphones with a replaceable cable.
saiya-jin 4y ago
I always had issue with in-ear phones passing some of the friction down the ear canal. Sure over the ear ie kosses work flawlessly, but then I have to carry usb-3.5mm conversion kit all the time (and keep forgetting and then having useless headphones), no premium non-chinese phone with good camera has the port anymore. And I have small kids, so good, I mean the best on the market camera always with me is a must I will thank myself later for, as does/will all my close family. As for airpods, I don't get the hype, but thats mostly true for any Apple announcements apart from their CPUs. Yet they have the capitalization they have so they are doing something right, athough it feels its mostly marketing and "we are US" which means nothing to Europeans for good reasons unfortunately... I prefer higher quality customizable phone who respects me as user, higher quality cameras on it, higher quality in ear buds (even relatively mediocre Sennehiser Momentum 2 TW sounds miles and lightyears better, last longer, use HD codecs with anything ever created that has it too, which now means tons of devices, and pair flawlessly so far). I saw first hand my boss struggling and failing repeatedly to even pair his (back then) brand new Iphone 13 pro max pair with out-of-box charged airpods pro. WTFs all around the office, he was so ashamed... It was not the last time we all saw it from front seats, still happens quite regularly. My wife has Garmin fenix watch. Apple watch are a bad joke if you have it for something else than showing off how "in" you are and not an "old boring fart", which seems mostly marketing/sales guys these days. My wife, based on my recent recommendation which I am beginning to regret, just bought iphone 13 mini. Battery life is proper meh, seriously I expected better based on what online world says. The device with useless notch is fugly as hell, thick, heavy, screen has huge black borders - it looks like cheap chinese phone from cca 2015. OK, whatever, quality must be inside, and some is, some isn't. You can't have a fucking unlocking pattern, because Apple knows better what you need, and you should learn what you actually want. Because 'security', so either full Face ID which she finds no-go because its her opinion and I respect it (and so should Apple), or some 6-digits idiotic code for every fucking unlock which is plain stupid and arrogant, or completely unsecured phone. No pattern draw like every other sane device since 2015 unless you want to straight jailbreak whole device and lose all warranty. Fuck you Apple, I really, truly expected more from your devices in 2022, and so did my wife. Its not about how many things you get right (there are plenty of devices who get many things right), but where you fail hurts, especially when one is used to basic things working for many, many years. At least resale value is quite good, especially when Apple decided to not continue their smallest line for whatever stupid reasons so this is last of the line, with A15 chip. Maybe she will eventually start liking it, but man I truly expected more from Apple since right now Samsungs seem a much better offer for people like her, if you are not counting pennies on resales

gigatexal 4y ago

Yup! The killer feature just got better. They claim noise cancellation is better and there’s a way yo adjust volume up and down on the stems. So dope. And more battery life! These are insta buys for us.

Buttons840 4y ago

I would have completely agreed until I tried to pair my AirPods with Linux; they're the only device I've had trouble pairing with my Linux desktop. Even so, I mostly agree. What's going on at all the other companies that cannot get this right?

oynqr 4y ago
They seem pretty picky, but usually work with Intel wireless on the hardware and (recent) pipewire on the software side.

aeyes 4y ago

They do suck if someone who is using them calls you. I wish they didn't have a microphone. People on the receiving end of the calls truly suffer when callers use them.

cafed00d 4y ago

All of this has a super simple explanation: the shitty products always have org structures that treat software dev as shitty cost centers. It took a long time to realize that the most compelling devices have good, well maintained software. I don’t mean to say that software devs are geniuses or that these orgs have to hire the best of the best. No, they just need to create an org that prioritizes software dev. Low attrition, increased visibility, the usual. You don’t need fancy new features. Just make sure the intern who wrote your v1 Bluetooth driver feels compelled enough to stay on to become a staff engineer running a team that still assures bugs get fixed. Simple.

snowwolf 4y ago
> It took a long time to realize that the most compelling devices have good, well maintained software. I continue to hold the view that Tesla's success is because they are really a software company, not a car company.
s3r3nity 4y ago
I think you're 85-90% right - but I wouldn't undersell the impact of Apple's proprietary W1 / H1 / H2 chips in their headphones either.
- epolanski 4y ago
  Nobody cares about those, not to the point of paying such premiums.
  - tomphoolery 4y ago
    I mean, if there was another "commodity" processor one could just insert into their earbuds and write some awesome software, why hasn't anyone done that yet? If you could offer the same features as AirPods (and other Apple headphones) at half the cost, you'd make serious money. People might not care too much about those technical features of them, but I know they care about consistently good performance, and the AirPods have so far delivered on that promise. Making something that works just as well, but doesn't require you to be locked in to the Apple ecosystem, would absolutely change the game for the headphone market.

danso 4y ago

I'll just chime in and say that while I'm reasonably satisfied with my Airpods Pro, I've been pretty happy with much cheaper Bluetooth wired (i.e. connected buds) earphones -- the noise canceling is nice but I don't depend on it. A couple months ago I bought Airpod Pros on sale for my mom. And it's the one gadget gift, out of countless that I've bought her, that I've actually seen her regularly use. Not only that, but she'll get pretty annoyed when something goes temporarily wrong with them (e.g. foam tips fall out, case fails to charge), rather than give up on them like any other superfluous accessory. The gadgets I've bought my mom that she's neglected and forgotten include: PC and Mac laptops, her iPhone (in lieu of getting her another Android), Apple Watch, and of course, various kinds of headphones, bluetooth and wired. She's a pretty big luddite and I honestly had never really seen her use her iphone for much other than talking and texting -- e.g. when she's lost in the city, she will ask every random stranger for help and never think to use the phone GPS. But since she took to using the Airpods, it's opened up all the (obvious) possibilities of the phone as portable entertainment device. Sorry if all this sounds like shilling for the Airpods (again, I'm personally meh on them and will likely try out Anker's offerings if I need to replace mine) -- it's just this comment thread triggered in me the pleasant experience I've had with it as a Mother's day gifter.

nytesky 4y ago

My Jlab headphones have a solution -- whenever they turn on they are in "pairing" mode as if they are brand new. They seem to figure out when they find an existing paired device, but if not they are discoverable every time. Still can't pair to two devices without dueling but just drop it form one.

smileybarry 4y ago

It’s upsetting how (non-AirPods) device switching — even Bluetooth 5 multipoint — is still just meh. Some devices accept connect requests and gracefully disconnect from the current device (good but manual), some just ignore them, some don’t gracefully disconnect causing the original device to ping-pong reconnect, etc. And “real” BT5 multipoint can also break if an app happens to use “phone call” audio priority, and you get yanked off the second device. The only device I have that does it well (and with non-Apple platforms) is an Xbox Wireless Headset, and that’s only because it literally has 2 wireless audio chipsets connected at the same time: Xbox Audio and Bluetooth. Sadly that means it’s also 2x the power and 0.5x the battery life. But yeah, switching from iPhone to iPad with AirPods is really nice. I wish I had that on Windows (without MagicPods).

drewg123 4y ago

Uninstall the Bose app? I never installed it, and my Bose QC35ii headphones work better than my airpod pros. With the airpods, they will almost always bind to the wrong device until I go into settings and force a connection. The Bose connects to both, and actually works..

theshrike79 4y ago
The Boses are pretty nice as long as you're in the "both" range of connected devices. Add a third, fourth or a fifth device to the mix and you need to hold yourself back to not slam the headphones to the nearest wall in frustration.
sleepybrett 4y ago
I use and like the Bose wireless noise cancelling earbuds as well. Though have never had airpods. These have lasted me two years of daily use. They just announced preorders for a new revision.

alberth 4y ago

> It's wild how much money Apple has made from Bluetooth headphones that don't suck. It also helps that Apple removed the headphone jack.

com2kid 4y ago

> only to realize that the headphones think my laptop is playing, Some browser tab has some media playing that is keeping hold of the BT audio connection. Same reason why laptops, neither my Windows or Mac laptops, can figure out when they should go to sleep. Some broken browser tabs keeps the CPU at max speed, and turns on the GPU.

williamscales 4y ago

I've never had an issue with Jabra bluetooth earbuds. Great multi device support too.

sbf501 4y ago

Funny, I have a friend with Apple airpods and has he walks through his house they ask / try to connect to all his apple devices. That's part of the reason why I prefer a cord.

tomphoolery 4y ago

> (somewhat) work with multiple devices. This feature _alone_ made me buy the 1st generation AirPods Pro once I got an Apple Watch. They really hook you into that ecosystem! ;-) In all seriousness, these are the best-sounding and most reliable earbud headphones I've ever owned. I hear the Beats Pro are a little better sound bass-wise, but I bet that tech will be in the new generation of the AirPods Pro as well. The fact that my AirPods can move between my multiple computers, phone, watch, and even television relatively easily is just amazing. It goes to show how hard this problem was to solve, though, since Apple had to literally invent their own processor to make this work.

mpalczewski 4y ago

This was why I originally loved my airpods pro. Then it started going random and they no longer would connect to the device I expect. Much of the problem is that for some reason even if the laptop lid is closed apple's laptop still connect to your headphones. Right now my bose work better than the apple stuff, they connect to my laptop and headphones and music plays out of which ever one is going at the time.

andreyk 4y ago

IMO there's been Bluetooth headphones that don't suck (aside from multi devices, which I don't care about personally) way before Airpods. Perhaps this was many peoples' introductions to quality Bluetooth headphones though, as the ones I like tend to be in the 100-150 range. I still much prefer U-shaped headphones worn over the neck, much less hassle, more battery, better sound. Samsung's entry in that category was very good, I hope they keep putting those out and not go all in on airpod type products.

sleepybrett 4y ago
i upgraded from the u shaped bose earbuds to the newish no-u version. Very similar battery life and better sound on the new ones. shrug I do miss the U for the whole 'can't lose one of these' though .. that said I haven't yet lost one of these (it's been about 2 years).

operator-name 4y ago

If you have apple devices maybe. An acquaintance purchased a pair that was solely linked to his windows laptop and had a miriad of issues. This persisted with different device and was finally resolved when he switched to a different pair of Bluetooth headphones. The issues you're describing sound more Bluetooth related, and given the above experience I suspect the experience would be just as bad on non apple devices.

postalrat 4y ago

Take away the most convenient interface (the 3.5mm mini plug) that works on all devices equally and replace it with something you can do better than anyone else. Most companies don't have those types of options.

atlgator 4y ago

Weird. I've got the QC35 (v1) and have no issues switching devices. I don't even have the Bose app on my phone.

drewg123 4y ago
I'm starting to think the Bose app is the problem. I don't have it installed either, and I also don't have issues with multiple devices..
poglet 4y ago
QC35 here and have been surprised how much better they were then the Sony equivalent at the time. If I stop audio on my iPhone, then play audio on my iPad - the headphones switch automatically. In saying that, it seems to fail with more then 2 devices despite being able to remember 3 devices at a time. If I have the headphones connected to iPhone and iPad, then want to use my laptop I will normally need to switch bluetooth off on the mobile devices before turning on the headphones - allowing it to connect to the computer. A little annoying but still faster then messing around with cables.

redorb 4y ago

Honestly I still feel they forced the success by removing the headphone jack. I know the market is 'proving me wrong' but a market without a choice isn't purely voting with their dollars but voting with a single option.

xyclos 4y ago

I think you’re talking about the QC 35 ii/45. The same switch you use to turn them on can be used to switch devices. Press it once, and the voice prompt will say what it is currently connected to. Keep pressing it and it’ll start listing other previously connected devices each time you press it. Once it says “hardwaregeeks iPhone” stop clicking the switch and it’ll switch to that. It’s actually pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it. Also you can disconnect the second device by connecting the first device “twice”. Hope this helps.

ehsankia 4y ago
Yeah, I've used a lot of headphones (Sony, Microsoft, Sennheiser, Bose), and honestly the Bose are some of the better one. Also love the hardware buttons, touch ones are always a PITA. Every time I go to double tap to go forward, it registers 1 tap and pauses, so I have to tap again to unpause, and double tap again. They also act out in the winter cold. Bose also connects blazingly fast, which is nice.

stjohnswarts 4y ago

I have some oneplus ones that cost me 1/4 as much and are just as good as my set that died (airpods) the initial (no) setup (needed) was the only advantage for apple's product. People give apple a bit too much credit for this stuff.

suzzer99 4y ago

They also are the first wireless headphones that constantly don't fall out of my ear, or go bad quickly when exposed to sweat. Game changer.

r0m4n0 4y ago

Honestly I've always felt they do suck, I've owned 6 pairs and they all have had connectivity or charging issues of some sort. Personally my bose set suck less but I hate the form factor. The simple airpod that doesn't have a rubber gasket jammed in your ear has me coming back buying them again and again

licebmi__at__ 4y ago

I had a couple of airpods as my daily driver and was pretty surprised of how little they suck, but a couple of months ago, I bought some shitty headband with bluetooth headphones which is advertised as running gear. I actually bought it to sleep covering my eyes with the headband and put some white noise, and since they costed 20 bucks that’s all that was asking from them. So I was greatly surprised because they sound pretty decent, and they are able to pair on several devices, automatically switching, keeping the annoyance on a pretty low level, you still need to turn them on by long pressing a button and they still emit annoying sound when battery is low for a lot of time, but since they were just shitty 20 bucks generic gear I was thinking that maybe companies have finally solved Bluetooth. Time skip to 5 days ago, I lost my airpods and thought to give non apple headset a chance, since I’m more into over ear stuff. So I bought a pair of not so cheap sony headphones… and yesterday I returned them. Bluetooth still sucks and maybe the generic ones were just a lucky hit. It seems like I will get a new set of airpods.

sli 4y ago

After moving from Airpods (not Pros) to some Sennheiser MTW2s, I want to go back to Airpods. My Airpods worked and were reliable. These Sennheisers on the other hand have needed one of them to be replaced due to a stuck button, and now need the other one replaced due to it outright dying out of nowhere, but Sennheiser support is basically nonexistent right now. I never needed an Airpod replaced, or any other kind of support. They just worked and were reliable, and honestly, stayed in my ears SO much better. I love my HD600s but I will never buy another wireless Sennheiser product. They're garbage. Apple definitely did this one right.

nikau 4y ago

Except they do stuck - at least as the other person having to listen to their awful microphone quality.

lenkite 4y ago

They just don't fit and stay inside a significant minority of people's ears when they are moving - including mine - necessitating the need of third party Ear Hooks - which I have to keep taking out and putting on while charging. Which is a pain. I went back to Bose. I will give apple full marks for stupendous glitz and marketing though. Any other company would have been slaughtered in the feedback. The reality distortion field has been well-inherited by the company.

mcintyre1994 4y ago
I'm hoping Apple will keep making Beats Powerbeats Pro and keep them kinda up to date. I don't really want to buy headphones without ear hooks to find out whether they fall out when I run.

nunez 4y ago

a lot of the seamlessness comes from (a) airpods being designed to work with iOS and, for the last few years, the H1/H2 chips. BT by itself is really troublesome and (b) apple being able to spend a lot of time and money on design. for most, headphones are extremely low margin; before the airpods, heaphones over $200 were also really low volume.