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Airpods are very, very expensive compared to competitors with 90% of the same features. I've been using a $30 set for several years and the main drawback is it'

Airpods are very, very expensive compared to competitors with 90% of the same features. I've been using a $30 set for several years and the main drawback is it's difficult to switch devices—because apple doesn't allow third parties to use access the proprietary comms that allows this for airpods. Also, I think the white is ugly. But kids seem to love it.

hedora 1y ago
AirPods (and Bose QuietComfort) make me dizzy/nauseous. Also, they don’t have decent passive noise cancellation, so they’re not appropriate for mowing the lawn, etc. My Sennheiser ear buds solve all these problems for a much lower price, and their sound quality is much better than the last pair of AirPods I tried. To each their own, I guess.
- lurking_swe 1y ago
  well to be fair, some people simply don’t tolerate ANC well. Likely due to a more sensitive vestibular system. I believe this group often (not always) also struggles with motion sickness.
- kjkjadksj 1y ago
  It should be stated that noise cancellation is not hearing protection, if you were using it for that while mowing. An old groundskeepers trick for having music and ear protection is to get those big over ear protectors and put your buds on with that over them, just being mindful of volume of course.
  - hedora 1y ago
    Another trick is to get earbuds with passive noise isolation. The Sennheisers are a hybrid. They are solid ear plugs even with the power turned off, but support active cancellation too. With the big over ear hearing protectors that works much better than either in isolation. Sadly, you usually have to find third party tests to find out what the passive noise isolation rating is for different brands. Manufacturers are terrible at marketing it.
    - kjkjadksj 1y ago
      You could also go hybrid the opposite way. They make some of those protective earmuffs with built in blutooth speakers now.
oliyoung 1y ago
I'll happily pay the premium for "it just works", especially device switching iPhone to iPad to MacBook to Apple TV, it works first time, every time. I have a pair of Sony XM5s, and even at that price point, pairing and device switching can be a crapshoot some of the time. Bluetooth honestly feels like a non-deterministic stack sometimes, it even took Apple 4 years to support it on the iPhone, how they have the AirPods working is close to magic.
- mschuster91 1y ago
  > how they have the AirPods working is close to magic They control the entire ecosystem and keep the variants and with it, the testing complexity, down as far as possible. That's how Apple stuff works so damn seamlessly. Meanwhile, the rest of the world has to contend with dozens if not hundreds of Bluetooth chipsets, driver combinations, OS stacks... and each of these has their own quirks, and even if a bug gets fixed in a Bluetooth driver or controller firmware, good luck getting that distributed to users...
bombcar 1y ago
You absolutely know they have tanks and tanks of colored plastic ready to hit those molds the moment sales slow down a tiny bit ...
raw_anon_1111 1y ago
I doubt very seriously your $30 headphones sound as good as AirPods Pro or have the ANC. But you can buy much cheaper headphones with the H1 chip for fast switching between devices by buying one of the Beats headphones. I love my $60 Beats Fiex with the double flange ear tips for traveling.
- MangoToupe 1y ago
  I have proper over-ear headphones for when I want to listen to music. I'm not sure what ANC is or why it's worth hundreds of dollars—hence why I said 90%. I don't know what the h1 chip has to do with the fast switching—surely this is a bluetooth protocol detail, yea?
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - Telaneo 1y ago
    > I'm not sure what ANC is or why it's worth hundreds of dollar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_noise_control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_noise_control > I don't know what the h1 chip has to do with the fast switching—surely this is a bluetooth protocol detail, yea? A detail apparently no-one else bothers to deal with. The amount of hardware out there that does bluetooth the worst way possible is horrendous, and I will gladly pay extra to not have those in my life.
    - MangoToupe 1y ago
      It seems the $30 headphones by the brand I use (soundcore) do offer noise canceling in the years since I last looked. Is it as good? Probably not. But I'm not going to spend $200 for slightly better earbuds.
      - Telaneo 1y ago
        Bad noise canceling is worthless. Good noise canciling is like magic. The airpods offer pretty good noise canceling.

hedora 1y ago

AirPods (and Bose QuietComfort) make me dizzy/nauseous. Also, they don’t have decent passive noise cancellation, so they’re not appropriate for mowing the lawn, etc. My Sennheiser ear buds solve all these problems for a much lower price, and their sound quality is much better than the last pair of AirPods I tried. To each their own, I guess.

lurking_swe 1y ago
well to be fair, some people simply don’t tolerate ANC well. Likely due to a more sensitive vestibular system. I believe this group often (not always) also struggles with motion sickness.
kjkjadksj 1y ago
It should be stated that noise cancellation is not hearing protection, if you were using it for that while mowing. An old groundskeepers trick for having music and ear protection is to get those big over ear protectors and put your buds on with that over them, just being mindful of volume of course.
- hedora 1y ago
  Another trick is to get earbuds with passive noise isolation. The Sennheisers are a hybrid. They are solid ear plugs even with the power turned off, but support active cancellation too. With the big over ear hearing protectors that works much better than either in isolation. Sadly, you usually have to find third party tests to find out what the passive noise isolation rating is for different brands. Manufacturers are terrible at marketing it.
  - kjkjadksj 1y ago
    You could also go hybrid the opposite way. They make some of those protective earmuffs with built in blutooth speakers now.

oliyoung 1y ago

I'll happily pay the premium for "it just works", especially device switching iPhone to iPad to MacBook to Apple TV, it works first time, every time. I have a pair of Sony XM5s, and even at that price point, pairing and device switching can be a crapshoot some of the time. Bluetooth honestly feels like a non-deterministic stack sometimes, it even took Apple 4 years to support it on the iPhone, how they have the AirPods working is close to magic.

mschuster91 1y ago
> how they have the AirPods working is close to magic They control the entire ecosystem and keep the variants and with it, the testing complexity, down as far as possible. That's how Apple stuff works so damn seamlessly. Meanwhile, the rest of the world has to contend with dozens if not hundreds of Bluetooth chipsets, driver combinations, OS stacks... and each of these has their own quirks, and even if a bug gets fixed in a Bluetooth driver or controller firmware, good luck getting that distributed to users...

bombcar 1y ago

You absolutely know they have tanks and tanks of colored plastic ready to hit those molds the moment sales slow down a tiny bit ...

raw_anon_1111 1y ago

I doubt very seriously your $30 headphones sound as good as AirPods Pro or have the ANC. But you can buy much cheaper headphones with the H1 chip for fast switching between devices by buying one of the Beats headphones. I love my $60 Beats Fiex with the double flange ear tips for traveling.

MangoToupe 1y ago
I have proper over-ear headphones for when I want to listen to music. I'm not sure what ANC is or why it's worth hundreds of dollars—hence why I said 90%. I don't know what the h1 chip has to do with the fast switching—surely this is a bluetooth protocol detail, yea?
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- Telaneo 1y ago
  > I'm not sure what ANC is or why it's worth hundreds of dollar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_noise_control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_noise_control > I don't know what the h1 chip has to do with the fast switching—surely this is a bluetooth protocol detail, yea? A detail apparently no-one else bothers to deal with. The amount of hardware out there that does bluetooth the worst way possible is horrendous, and I will gladly pay extra to not have those in my life.
  - MangoToupe 1y ago
    It seems the $30 headphones by the brand I use (soundcore) do offer noise canceling in the years since I last looked. Is it as good? Probably not. But I'm not going to spend $200 for slightly better earbuds.
    - Telaneo 1y ago
      Bad noise canceling is worthless. Good noise canciling is like magic. The airpods offer pretty good noise canceling.