5 ms·

airpods are literal garbage; I never understood why everyone uses them

by Lacerda69 3y ago

wilg 3y ago
because they aren't literal garbage
- archerx 3y ago
  High priced garbage.
  - wilg 3y ago
    They're no more expensive than any of the other products in the category: https://www.theverge.com/21309820/best-wireless-earbuds https://www.theverge.com/21309820/best-wireless-earbuds They're not garbage! What are you talking about!?
    - archerx 3y ago
      I will never buy any Bluetooth streamed headphones. I will always prefer good wired headphones.
      - wilg 3y ago
        That's fine but obviously not having a wire is very useful for many situations.
- smoldesu 3y ago
  Brush yourself off, man. Apple used to make $20 wired Earpods that had a better mic and driver than the $180 disposable Airpods. They are, in fact, trash. Expensive garbage, intended to occupy your landfill and drive an upgrade cycle.
  - wilg 3y ago
    They still do: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMTN2AM/A/earpods-lightning-connector https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMTN2AM/A/earpods-lightni... The AirPods are a great product. This is very likely why they are so popular.
    - smoldesu 3y ago
      It very well could be part of it. Part of it could also be the exclusive API access Apple has as a first-party manufacturer. It's kinda like saying "The App Store is a great product, this is very likely why it is so popular". They're not really correlated; the App Store is the only product of it's class on iOS. Apple makes sure of that using their monopoly (eg. "vertical") integration. If you wanted to create wireless earbuds the same way Apple does, Apple would not give you the software access you need. Quality aside, Airpods are part of an artificially-enforced market segment. They could be (and have been) the worst wireless headphones on the market - people buy them anyways. It's why designating Apple as a Gatekeeper is so important for a competitive market.
tjbiddle 3y ago
Because Apple. The mass market are shills for Apple products. Don't get me wrong - I love my MacBook; but I don't buy it because Apple - I just happen to love MacOS and the hardware. But I hate their phones and headphones. In my co-working center, probably 75% of people with over-ear headphones have AirPod Max. I did my own research and decided no way in hell I wanted those, nor would suggest for my partner (Who loves Apple). Both of us happy with Sony MX headsets. I laugh internally whenever I see the other people because I'm sure they bought it just on brand recognition alone.
- minimaul 3y ago
  Or, perhaps, there are more nuanced reasons? I had a pair of Sony WH-1000XM3. The earpads collapsed quite badly after about a year of constant use at work, and the inside of the (very shallow!) ear cups starting pressing on my ears, which ended up being painful to wear for more than a few hours. I contacted Sony, expecting to be able to buy replacement earpads like basically every major headphone manufacturer on earth supplies (yes, even Apple and Bose), and they informed me that earpads are not user serviceable and that I would have to send the headphones into their service centre for a paid for repair. The repair would have ended up costing more than a new pair of the same headphones from Amazon. I'm not replacing my headphones annually, it's ridiculous (both from a cost and a waste PoV). I looked online and found replacement pads available from third parties, and tried a set of Dekoni pads, which noticeably changed the sound signature of the headphones and caused ANC problems. So I started looking for a replacement, discounted Sony's line completely, and ended up buying AirPods Max from Amazon when they were decently discounted in a Prime sale, and... they're fine. ANC is competent, sound quality is reasonable, unlike the WH-1000XM3 when I want to move them between Apple devices I don't have to do the re-pairing mess or stop bluetooth from autoconnecting on my other devices, earcups are lovely and deep, and the pads are user replaceable. They're honestly not a bad product, they're just a bit too expensive without a discount.
- ok_dad 3y ago
  My 1000-mx3 headphones have garbage cancellation compared to my AirPods. I live next to a busy street and can hear everything with the Sonys on. With AirPods, I thought we were having an earthquake recently but it was just a car with very loud music. I had to remove my AirPods to realize that.
thebruce87m 3y ago
You should think on that a bit. There’s an opportunity for self growth there.
- Lacerda69 3y ago
  I tried them a few times but plugs are just not my thing; the quality is horrendous; they are overpriced; connect badly or not at all to non apple device; and break easily. If using airpods is selfgrowth im very happy to stay small
  - thebruce87m 3y ago
    I meant reflecting on why other people like them, understanding the needs and likes of other people. Understanding where the value of a product comes from.
    - Brian_K_White 3y ago
      No actual adult ever says grow up. Some self growth to reflect on there for ya master yoda.
- i5-2520M 3y ago
  I don't think AirPods are bad, but Apple's mindshare and consumers' lack of awareness towards other options certainly contributes a lot to their popularity. A few years back when I was looking at it, compared to the Base AirPods (2 maybe?), the Huawei FreeBuds 4i had about twice the in ear battery life, ANC / transparency, perfectly okay sound quality and comparable / better splash resistance. And all that for like half the price or less. I don't know what the options look like today. Airpods do have the auto switching thingy, but most people only have iPhones here, so that shouldn't matter.
  - seec 3y ago
    Yeah that are OK but really not worth the asking price. The reality is that it doesn't matter to most peoples who buy them. I learned this when I was younger quite a while ago (about 20 years). I had the 1.5 gen iPod and a friend's big brother had the 2nd or 3rd gen and he complained that he had lost the earbuds. I told him that I could find him some pretty good earbuds for a decent price but then he asked me if they would have the same look. Of course I told him that they would look pretty different but it didn't matter because they would have better audio quality anyway. But he really didn't see it that way, he would rather pay the same amount of money and get the looks. This day I learned how vain people can be (this guy is rather smart, nowadays he has a PhD...). I barely used the earbuds sold with the iPod ; I thought they were included just to have something usable but not to expensive and it wasn't in Apple's core competence to provide something better. In the end it seems that most people would chose the worse experience just to signal they have an expensive product and I believe this is what happens with the AirPods as well. I had some, used them for a year, found they had many annoyances and too short battery life after just one year of middling use. I bought a replacement for half price that are better in most ways and sold the airpods to a friend for 30 bucks. He knew all the criticism I had for them as well as the short battery life ; I even told him that for 20 bucks more he would find something that could be more satisfying. He didn't care and as soon as he had them he started wearing them in public everywhere even though he had never been using earbuds previously. The funny thing is that considering how cheap you can buy them second hand and how everybody and their mothers has them it cannot be seriously taken as a sign of wealth nor appartenance to a special community in the know. It really all boils down to vain irrationality...

airpods are literal garbage; I never understood why everyone uses them

wilg 3y ago

because they aren't literal garbage

archerx 3y ago
High priced garbage.
- wilg 3y ago
  They're no more expensive than any of the other products in the category: https://www.theverge.com/21309820/best-wireless-earbuds https://www.theverge.com/21309820/best-wireless-earbuds They're not garbage! What are you talking about!?
  - archerx 3y ago
    I will never buy any Bluetooth streamed headphones. I will always prefer good wired headphones.
    - wilg 3y ago
      That's fine but obviously not having a wire is very useful for many situations.
smoldesu 3y ago
Brush yourself off, man. Apple used to make $20 wired Earpods that had a better mic and driver than the $180 disposable Airpods. They are, in fact, trash. Expensive garbage, intended to occupy your landfill and drive an upgrade cycle.
- wilg 3y ago
  They still do: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMTN2AM/A/earpods-lightning-connector https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MMTN2AM/A/earpods-lightni... The AirPods are a great product. This is very likely why they are so popular.
  - smoldesu 3y ago
    It very well could be part of it. Part of it could also be the exclusive API access Apple has as a first-party manufacturer. It's kinda like saying "The App Store is a great product, this is very likely why it is so popular". They're not really correlated; the App Store is the only product of it's class on iOS. Apple makes sure of that using their monopoly (eg. "vertical") integration. If you wanted to create wireless earbuds the same way Apple does, Apple would not give you the software access you need. Quality aside, Airpods are part of an artificially-enforced market segment. They could be (and have been) the worst wireless headphones on the market - people buy them anyways. It's why designating Apple as a Gatekeeper is so important for a competitive market.

tjbiddle 3y ago

Because Apple. The mass market are shills for Apple products. Don't get me wrong - I love my MacBook; but I don't buy it because Apple - I just happen to love MacOS and the hardware. But I hate their phones and headphones. In my co-working center, probably 75% of people with over-ear headphones have AirPod Max. I did my own research and decided no way in hell I wanted those, nor would suggest for my partner (Who loves Apple). Both of us happy with Sony MX headsets. I laugh internally whenever I see the other people because I'm sure they bought it just on brand recognition alone.

minimaul 3y ago
Or, perhaps, there are more nuanced reasons? I had a pair of Sony WH-1000XM3. The earpads collapsed quite badly after about a year of constant use at work, and the inside of the (very shallow!) ear cups starting pressing on my ears, which ended up being painful to wear for more than a few hours. I contacted Sony, expecting to be able to buy replacement earpads like basically every major headphone manufacturer on earth supplies (yes, even Apple and Bose), and they informed me that earpads are not user serviceable and that I would have to send the headphones into their service centre for a paid for repair. The repair would have ended up costing more than a new pair of the same headphones from Amazon. I'm not replacing my headphones annually, it's ridiculous (both from a cost and a waste PoV). I looked online and found replacement pads available from third parties, and tried a set of Dekoni pads, which noticeably changed the sound signature of the headphones and caused ANC problems. So I started looking for a replacement, discounted Sony's line completely, and ended up buying AirPods Max from Amazon when they were decently discounted in a Prime sale, and... they're fine. ANC is competent, sound quality is reasonable, unlike the WH-1000XM3 when I want to move them between Apple devices I don't have to do the re-pairing mess or stop bluetooth from autoconnecting on my other devices, earcups are lovely and deep, and the pads are user replaceable. They're honestly not a bad product, they're just a bit too expensive without a discount.
ok_dad 3y ago
My 1000-mx3 headphones have garbage cancellation compared to my AirPods. I live next to a busy street and can hear everything with the Sonys on. With AirPods, I thought we were having an earthquake recently but it was just a car with very loud music. I had to remove my AirPods to realize that.

thebruce87m 3y ago

You should think on that a bit. There’s an opportunity for self growth there.

Lacerda69 3y ago
I tried them a few times but plugs are just not my thing; the quality is horrendous; they are overpriced; connect badly or not at all to non apple device; and break easily. If using airpods is selfgrowth im very happy to stay small
- thebruce87m 3y ago
  I meant reflecting on why other people like them, understanding the needs and likes of other people. Understanding where the value of a product comes from.
  - Brian_K_White 3y ago
    No actual adult ever says grow up. Some self growth to reflect on there for ya master yoda.
i5-2520M 3y ago
I don't think AirPods are bad, but Apple's mindshare and consumers' lack of awareness towards other options certainly contributes a lot to their popularity. A few years back when I was looking at it, compared to the Base AirPods (2 maybe?), the Huawei FreeBuds 4i had about twice the in ear battery life, ANC / transparency, perfectly okay sound quality and comparable / better splash resistance. And all that for like half the price or less. I don't know what the options look like today. Airpods do have the auto switching thingy, but most people only have iPhones here, so that shouldn't matter.
- seec 3y ago
  Yeah that are OK but really not worth the asking price. The reality is that it doesn't matter to most peoples who buy them. I learned this when I was younger quite a while ago (about 20 years). I had the 1.5 gen iPod and a friend's big brother had the 2nd or 3rd gen and he complained that he had lost the earbuds. I told him that I could find him some pretty good earbuds for a decent price but then he asked me if they would have the same look. Of course I told him that they would look pretty different but it didn't matter because they would have better audio quality anyway. But he really didn't see it that way, he would rather pay the same amount of money and get the looks. This day I learned how vain people can be (this guy is rather smart, nowadays he has a PhD...). I barely used the earbuds sold with the iPod ; I thought they were included just to have something usable but not to expensive and it wasn't in Apple's core competence to provide something better. In the end it seems that most people would chose the worse experience just to signal they have an expensive product and I believe this is what happens with the AirPods as well. I had some, used them for a year, found they had many annoyances and too short battery life after just one year of middling use. I bought a replacement for half price that are better in most ways and sold the airpods to a friend for 30 bucks. He knew all the criticism I had for them as well as the short battery life ; I even told him that for 20 bucks more he would find something that could be more satisfying. He didn't care and as soon as he had them he started wearing them in public everywhere even though he had never been using earbuds previously. The funny thing is that considering how cheap you can buy them second hand and how everybody and their mothers has them it cannot be seriously taken as a sign of wealth nor appartenance to a special community in the know. It really all boils down to vain irrationality...