2 ms·

I've never used AirPods but I can say their microphones are awful: whenever I'm talking to someone who is on AirPods, I can immediately tell it from the very lo

I've never used AirPods but I can say their microphones are awful: whenever I'm talking to someone who is on AirPods, I can immediately tell it from the very low audio quality. This happens with many, many people. When they switch to their iPhone mic, it literally sounds like the audio version of upgrading from 144p to 4K.

pyman 1y ago
True. The AirPod's mic is awful. People keep telling me they can hear all the background noise.
mrtesthah 1y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41695756 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41695756 Apple may have already fixed this issue in newer firmware/models.
DavidPeiffer 1y ago
I've had a couple coworkers attempt to use AirPods with Windows computers, and the audio quality has been awful and unusable. They sound super distant even with sound turned up all the way.
kjkjadksj 1y ago
Earpod mic was noticeably better because it actually dangled down by your mouth.
seec 1y ago
Most of the wireless earbuds are the same thought. Fundamentally they are fighting an uphill battle with physics and they'll probably never win no matter how much tech is developed. They have settled on multiple mics with noise suppression technology to try to isolate and amplify just the voice but it's still so much worse than the cheap approach of a single mic along a cable not too far from your mouth that it's laughable really. In my opinion this is a case of tech for the sake of tech, it only exists to "fix" a perceived inconvenience (at least marketed) of having a cable but to do so it creates more inconveniences and actually degrades the experience/quality. When you think about it, it's really marketing genius that they are able to sell them at all. Basically, selling worse audio quality (both mic and speaker) than what was available in the late 2000's at 2-3 times the price, all that to not have a cable.

pyman 1y ago

True. The AirPod's mic is awful. People keep telling me they can hear all the background noise.

mrtesthah 1y ago

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41695756 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41695756 Apple may have already fixed this issue in newer firmware/models.

DavidPeiffer 1y ago

I've had a couple coworkers attempt to use AirPods with Windows computers, and the audio quality has been awful and unusable. They sound super distant even with sound turned up all the way.

kjkjadksj 1y ago

Earpod mic was noticeably better because it actually dangled down by your mouth.

seec 1y ago

Most of the wireless earbuds are the same thought. Fundamentally they are fighting an uphill battle with physics and they'll probably never win no matter how much tech is developed. They have settled on multiple mics with noise suppression technology to try to isolate and amplify just the voice but it's still so much worse than the cheap approach of a single mic along a cable not too far from your mouth that it's laughable really. In my opinion this is a case of tech for the sake of tech, it only exists to "fix" a perceived inconvenience (at least marketed) of having a cable but to do so it creates more inconveniences and actually degrades the experience/quality. When you think about it, it's really marketing genius that they are able to sell them at all. Basically, selling worse audio quality (both mic and speaker) than what was available in the late 2000's at 2-3 times the price, all that to not have a cable.