If Apple does in fact release AirPower, and it works well, I'll probably upgrade to these. A better charging situation is one of the things that could improve the AirPods.
Just today my AirPods case wasn't charging because lint got into my lightning port. I didn't realize the case wasn't charging until I realized my AirPods were low on power despite me charging the case a lot the last few days. Inductive charging is a lot more durable in a lot of ways.
I take my AirPods everywhere with me. They fit perfectly into a pair of jeans. They are one of Apple's best products in years.
I find myself listening to way more audiobooks and podcasts because of this. If I have a minutes to burn, I can just pull them out and listen. Also, AirPods are great for phone calls. I use them for almost every phone call, and having them always on me has changed how I interact with computing devices. If the Apple Watch ever really gets full featured (with more robust cellular features in particular), I could see myself often just having a Watch and AirPods with me, while leaving my phone behind.
The other things I would like to see Apple do are: Official water resistance ratings to better work for athletics and in the rain; and the ability to have different tips on them to increase fit for more people and to provide the option of sealing out outside noise.
I honestly can't say I understand the draw to drop significant money on a new set of headphones that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone, and can't be charged while being used.
I've had the same set of high quality in-ear wired headphones for the last 5 years or longer and have zero issues with them (I just replace the foam every so often for about $5). What is the improvement I am missing here?
I think what you are missing is that different people value things differently. These don't make sense for you? That's fine, don't buy them. They don't make sense for me either, so I don't buy them.
However, I can understand how it would make sense for someone else. Arguing the money aspect doesn't make sense because we never know a person's income, expenses and savings. $200 for one person is nothing, while it can be the difference between making rent for another.
Arguing sound quality doesn't make sense either, because despite all of the numbers that people throw around, people perceive and enjoy sound differently. It isn't objective, its subjective.
Same thing with the presence of wires. I would have liked these (or, more likely, a larger set of wireless cans) when I lived in Japan and commuted by train daily. Now that I commute by car, my headphone use is limited to netflix in bed and when I'm playing guitar. Wireless doesn't do anything for me in those situations.
Long story short, different strokes for different folks.
Being wireless is just that good. Especially when exercising or otherwise out-and-about.
The charging is not nearly that obnoxious, I've gone through a wide range of wireless sets and they've all had multi-day charges.
Personally I have a nice set of IEMs for longer, sitting use cases and otherwise use a cheap (~$20) wireless set; so that when it inevitably breaks/gets lost/battery wears down after a ~year, it's negligible to just replace it.
Also, nowadays, wireless headphones have surprisingly good audio; especially if you're just listening to podcasts.
I'll just address this point, because it is categorically incorrect and something many people misunderstood when they were first released.
There are two of them. You can use them independently from one another. When you hear the "low battery" tone, it's trivial to remove one and continue to use the other. By the time the tone plays again in the one you continued to use (signaling critically low battery), you just swap which earbud is in the case. The one that was in the case will be almost fully charged at this point.
The effect is that you can pretty much use them indefinitely without a full interruption. And using only one at a time is mostly unnoticeable.
I love my AirPods. I am in full panic mode when I realize that I forgot them at home (happens rarely). They are the best Apple products in years. Why? Because they simply work, seamlessly. Product development in perfection.
Can’t be charged while being used? Who cares? They last long enough. 1 out of 50 times I wear them they run out of battery. Charging them takes 5 minutes, so it’s not a big deal.
Also, the whole point is that they’re wireless. If you don’t care about this specific feature it’s no wonder you don’t see them as an improvement.
It would take a significant amount of charging inconvenience to get me to go back to wired earbuds instead of wireless. I can't speak for others, but for me wireless AirPods were a really dramatic improvement in the experience of listening to music outside of my home office. Almost revolutionary, if I can risk being a bit overzealous in my praise.
I think the confusion on charging comes in with the case - you "charge" the airpods by keeping them together in the case. You charge the case by plugging it in. The case has about 24 hours of battery, so I charge the case about once every two weeks with around 2 hours a day of conference calls/podcast listening. I generally hate having a wire attached from my laptop to my ears because it inevitably will get snagged at least once a week.
Also for my use case (calls) you can charge while listening by using only one bud at a time.
I have many pairs of headphones, wired and wireless, but I just ordered a new set of AirPods because they are simply the most convenient headphone I've ever used (Presuming you use primarily Apple products.) Far from the best sounding - but I've found for a general use headphone they are more than adequate.
I will never go back to wired headphones, especially on the go.
After experiencing AirPods, I will pay any amount of $ to replace them if they ever get lost. They really are that good and they’re probably the best purchase I’ve made in years.
If you go to the gym at all, they’ll be a game changer.
Let me put it this way - sometimes I completely forget they’re even in my ear.
These get charged way less than your phone. The case has about 24-hours worth of charge in it. I’m much more likely to have my phone low on charge than my AirPods. Wireless case charging will make it so that my case is almost always well charged.
Not needing to have your phone on your body constantly.
Source: Wife owns AirPods and I use them from time to time. For me these two points are HUGE plus points.
But I won’t buy them as i find them too expensive and don’t listen to audio often enough (wired or wireless) on my phone anyway.
> I honestly can't say I understand the draw to drop significant money on a new set of headphones that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone, and can't be charged while being used.
Maybe if you are using them 24/7. The battery in the case can charge the airpods batteries several times.
Being able to connect to multiple devices at once, not having a chord get in the way or getting tangled while in pocket (happened to me a lot while exercising), not being tethered to a device (not a big deal with a phone, but it can be annoying when you are using a laptop or desktop), some headphones overlay external noises over your music (anti-noise canceling?) so you can be more aware of your surroundings/people talking to you.
These are just a few I thought of off the top of my head, but they may not be worth the price tag for everyone.
Literally the only significant attraction is not having the wire. Ever since wireless headphones started to actually work reliably, I've used them exclusively (big over-the-ear ones for music, airpods for things like calls or online meetings).
For me it was all about the fucking tangle. I don't care much about having the cable on while I am using them. But having to do that stupid devil-horns-figure-eight winding technique to avoid the cable getting tangled into a knot, every single time I want to put the headphones into my pocket, which I do several times a day... ugh.
For me, going back to wired headphones would be like going back to getting on the train by going up to a vending machine, putting coins into it, pushing buttons, waiting for it to emit a paper ticket, and then getting on the train.
It's only a difference of a few seconds, usually, but it something I do over and over and over and over, so that's why it's worth it to me.
(I dropped significant money on a new iphone as soon as it finally got train-pass functionality here in Japan, too.)
Having to occasionally charge a pair of headphones, and not being able to charge while in use, is easily worth the trade off of being wireless. I would never go back to wired headphones, regardless of quality/price/features
I can carry AirPods always in pocket and easily pop them to ear before answering call. I did not like wired ones, because wire would get tangled with keys etc. Is this worth the price? For me yes, but certainly not for everybody.
Why is charging while using a feature even worth mentioning? AirPods gain 3 hours of battery life (listening time) with 15 minutes of charging in the case, vs. 5 hours of total battery life between charges. That's very little difference, and if you're doing something important where interruptions are unacceptable (like a phone/video call), you can always charge one AirPod at a time in the case (they both have microphones). In practice I just don't find it hard to believe that very many people would ever need or even use the "charge while using" feature.
I’m with you but got AirPods as a gift and did not return them.
Pretty much all BT solutions are a pain pairing wise and sound lag wise.
Apple’s are very well designed, a luxury object. Almost no lag with sound. Very good phone call experience. Sound is mediocre but always available.
Still, they are disposable by design and I find it repulsive that we have normalized the pollution associated with buying this product. I won’t be buying another pair and will be pressing Apple to establish a recycling program.
My etimotic headphones sound great and have a long life.
I love the Apple wired earphones that come with the phone. However, if you travel a lot or move around, the wires tend to tangle and when you need the headset in the split of a second they don't work. It's not a critical use case but the more you travel, the more you move around, the tangled headphones start annoying you more and more. You'll reach a point at which $150 or $200 doesn't seem like a big deal to get rid of this annoyance.
If you fly a lot, then you'll really appreciate over the ear headphones, preferably the noise cancelling ones. That being said, these wireless over the ear phones are too bulky to use in day to day life such as commute etc. So now you end up owning one pair of wireless noise cancelling headphones for flying, air pods for your day-day commute. You see where I am going with this .. welcome to capltalism :)
True wireless headphones for me is a big improvement. It’s just so darn convenient. Also, during the year I’ve had mine I’ve never found myself in a situation where I’ve had to use them while charging. Having one more thing to keep charged is of course a downside, but when compared to the convenience they bring it’s a small one.
My first pair of Airpods, even after 2 years, still worked for hours on a charge. And of course “charging” just means putting them in your pocket. I just wish I had waited to run them through the laundry until today. I bought a new pair just recently.
How many meetings do you do on your phone? The people at my company that have them and love them have daily phone meetings. Keeping your hands free while talking and moving around is the critical feature that people seem to love.
>that need to be charged at least as often as a my phone
That's not true at all with AirPods. I use them nearly every day and I haven't had to charge them in almost 2 full weeks since charge while in the case and 5 minutes of charge lasts a few hours.
They're seriously awesome. I never would have purchased them myself or asked for them for the price they're asking but I got them as a gift and I think they're amazing.
I don't own any, but I do have a 3rd party wireless headset. For me, ditching the cable means avoiding the inexplicable and over-the-top rage I experience when wired earphones/headphones get suddenly yanked on the occasion they catch on something. Once in a while I'll meet somebody else that has this type of reaction. It's weird.
Freedom of movement more than anything. I bought a pair and they sounded about as mediocre as the wired apple earbuds. I loved the freedom it provided. I don't know how many times I flung my phone or macbook to the ground because I was wired.
I had to return them because one of my ears isn't a good fit. One earpod stuck out almost 45 degrees out of my ears and loosen over prolonged use.
You need to charge them roughly a magnitude less than your phone. That's once a week or more if you charge your phone everyday because your usage of your phone is supposed to directly correlate with your usage of the airpods.
So, unless you use your wired headphones on other devices, it's not a good comparison.
I charge my AirPods case probably less often than every month. With heavier usage that might be weekly. (The AirPods themselves are recharged by the case, which is where they go when they're not in my ears anyway.)
+1 and mini-jack headsets doesn't need an additional power plants. Think about it when in the next keynote they'll say how "green" and "clean" they are ...
It is a trade off and not for everybody. But for me I value my time and comfort of not having to untangle / untie the stupid pieces of Earpod wire every time I want to use it.
My experience differs from yours. I find the lightning port to be considerably robust. I drop my AirPods case fairly regularly and keep it in my jean pocket on work days (though I find myself not using them all too much). I charge my pods maybe once a week and don't have battery life problems. If the AirPods were only chargeable inductively, they would (presumably) take considerably longer to charge and thus impact my experience.
>and the ability to have different tips on them to increase fit for more people and to provide the option of sealing out outside noise.
This is the single biggest reason why I won't upgrade to the AirPods. For me, the AirPods simply fall out of my ears. That's why I stick with the Etymotic Ear Phonnes: https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones.html
For whatever reason, that flanged shape fits my ears so perfectly well and blocks out all other noises that I don't see myself using any other Ear Phones for a long while. If AirPods provided the option of a flange shape like the Etymotics, then I'd be compelled to buy an AirPod.
I actually bought these. Yes, it's a pile of money, wireless charging for AirPods probably isn't all that useful (though I may grab a new wireless charger for the desk where my AirPods usually sit anyway), etc.
But, reality is: AirPods are by far the most convenient way to casually do anything with apple products and headphones. Stick 'em in a pocket, and if you want to listen to music or be on a conference call, pull them out and pop them in. And my old ones are having the battery wear-out problem. And I'm in the apple ecosystem.
So I'll happily pay a premium to have new AirPods with better battery (and cleaner!). And then I don't need to feel guilty about the old ones to the gym and ruining them further with sweat. (The one thing I'm mad about is that there's nothing about sweat proofing on these.)
I own a pair and as well as everything you mentioned, the killer feature for me is not dropping out. Every other pair of bluetooth earbuds I've had were constantly dropping out on me when running through an airport or if I decided to pace around a room on a conference call unless I held my phone just so. I've found the range on AirPods to be fantastic. I work from home and if I want to pace around the house while I'm on a conference call, no problem. I couldn't even walk around in the same room before.
I've definitely had great connectivity and range with my AirPods too (although I admittedly haven't tried many other Bluetooth headphones in several years, during which time I suspect they've all improved somewhat). The only time mine cut out is very briefly but consistently when I'm on pedestrian crossings. My theory is that it's induction loop vehicle detectors.
This may have to do with the signal power put out by each AirPod. One site in particular has noted that AirPods transmit at power levels equivalent to an Apple Airport base station. I wish there were more data out there corroborating these claims, though.
Note: I own AirPods and use them regularly at the gym. That is to say, I'm not afraid of my own AirPods, but acknowledge that they broadcast pretty loudly.
Yeah, I'm wearing ear buds so much I just don't care that I'm paying a stupid amount for them. I'm going to buy the Apple ones because at this point my ears have probably changed their shape to conform to them. And I even keep an extra pairs on hand because heaven forbid I ever go without for even a minute because one broke, was lost, or ran out of battery.
Since you mentioned: "be on a conference call". There is nothing more annoying then a participant in a conference call (or any call) using AirPods especially when they are at a busy place. My experience is that you hear everything around them and most of the time they are hard to understand because of how the voice is picked up. I always ask them to switch back to the phone so i can understand. Not sure if the new version improves that or if it's just my experience.
Yep, I own AirPods and they are terrible when walking around town. Every person I talk to has commented on it. Which never happened with the regular wired ones.
I still enjoy them for music. But the battery life alone for calls is weak — I only get about 1 hour of talk time.
I find that interesting. I often talk on my airpods while driving, and have done so in both of my cars. One has incredibly loud road noise (like I think there is a problem), and the other has no A/C and I live in the south--so, windows open.
In both cases I have received no complaints, and have even inquired about how the noise is recently. People can't hear my obnoxiously loud road noise at all, it gets canceled out.
This is definitely true, but it's a terrible idea to be on a conference call in a busy place anyway. It's incredibly obnoxious for everyone around one. My use case is just sitting in my relatively quiet office; without headphones the person in the next office over can hear everything, with any other headphones there are annoying wires and such.
I've found the call quality to be substantially better and, like you've said, have had no noticeable depreciation in battery life. I just wished they looked a bit better aesthetically. I've had a couple of people say that they thought I was wearing some sort of hearing aid...
I have the same Jabra headphones with my iPhone X and MBP. Great product. Jabra is a calls-first company, so the talk clarity is incredible, and the Bluetooth pairing is strong enough to walk between rooms.
The very best feature, though, is that they’re much less conspicuous than AirPods. AirPods are a visual distraction.
What would be the reason that one model of wireless earphones would have worse battery wear-out than another? Wouldn't it depend almost entirely on how many recharge cycles the battery gets? If so, then I suppose it would only depend on the battery life of the earphones (if we hold the usage rate constant).
I accidentally put mine through a wash cycle, the buds not the charging case, and amazingly they survived! The sound was muffled for a while. Would not recommend as a solution to your cleanliness problem them.
I spend a lot of time on conference calls and AirPods really change everything. Sometimes I will be on a call and only get pulled in once or twice. It's kind of a waste to not be doing other stuff during that time and they definitely make that easier.
I haven't had any issues after sweaty runs either. Occasionally they won't sit right in the case and won't be charged though, likely due to being upside down in the gym bag.
I just can't get over the fact that people are dropping $160 ($199 now) to get the same earbuds they've been shipping with every iPhone (unless Apple took that out of the box too), but without a wire.
Does my wire get snagged and the earbud falls out? Sure it does, but that probably happens to me once every 6 months and that doesn't get me pissed off enough to hand apple $160. Airpods don't come without their costs, too. You loose that super handy control/microphone on the wire, you have one more thing to keep charged, and in 2 years when the battery shits you have to pony up $50 per ear to replace them. I still use the headphones that came with my iPhone 5, seven years later.
"Earbuds without a wire" is a reductive characterization of the AirPods. The audio delivery mechanism leads to a bunch of quality-of-life changes:
- You don't need your device on your person. I leave my iPhone around the house somewhere and use these while cooking, or run with AirPods + Apple Watch (cellular not required, I just download podcasts or audiobooks).
- You are not tethered to a listening device. I don't worry about the cable catching on kitchen drawer handles or gym equipment (this happened to me way more often than every 6 months). I can jump from phone podcasts to a video call with a few clicks or taps, instead of changing headphones or transferring cables.
- Your call quality improves dramatically from wired headphones. Others are complaining about background noise, but wired headphones are far worse, with their microphones on their remotes (IIRC). I hated "speaking up" by holding the little remote to my mouth.
The concerns you mention are also minimal in practice. The case has excellent battery life, requiring a charge only weekly or so. If you're on a streak of calls, you can charge one AirPod at a time to stay connected. I have also used mine for over 18 months almost daily, and the battery has been fine.
Are AirPods a convenience? Yes. But there's always a market for convenience.
It is still $160 for the airpods, and $200 if you want wireless charging. Tapping the Airpod, uou still have 2 controls vs. the 5 with an inline mic. You can almost say 3 controls since pulling one out of your ear acts as play/pause.
Mine were a gift, but I'll likely drop $160 on a set in the future if these crap out in a year or two.
About once a week, I used to get my wire snagged and it would sometimes yank my phone out of my pocket. Luckily it was on carpet and I had a case on it so there wasn't any damage.
More importantly, the convenience has been well worth it. Even if I'm just saving 30s a day untangling, that is worth the price to me over a few years. Throw in being able to sleep with one pod in and my phone plugged in across the room and this has might be my favorite and most used gadget of the past few years.
The issue is that you have tiny chemical batteries inside and they deteriorate with use and time, so it will hardly hold any charge after 3 years (some report much faster deterioration). Does Apple replace those batteries? How much does it cost? And can it be done outside of US? (e.g. in EU countries with no official Apple Store presence). Otherwise it's pretty expensive to pay $200 for a pair headphones and throw them away after 3 years.
You're not expected to keep them that long, it's targeted to people who buy the new generations pretty much as soon as they are released.
Who's going to pay 30%-50% of a new version to replace his airpods or apple watch battery ? [0]
It's the same with all these hi tech gadgets relying on tiny glued/soldered batteries. You can't replace them yourself because it's either proprietary hardware or you need to literally break the product to get to the battery. And companies either don't offer replacements or charge insane amount of money for them.
Apple can boast all day long about ecology and using 100% recycled aluminium, at the end of the day they're shipping unfixable gadgets. [1][2] But it's thin and slick looking so I guess most people don't give a damn.
The first time I saw a bose QC25 with AA batteries I almost burst out laughing but it's actually much more convenient than proprietary battery packs. Compare that to the new QC35: > As you were correctly advised, battery replacement is not a service that is offered. [3]
We'll drown in these gadgets way before we drown due to the sea level rising.
[0] > Run through your battery, and it’ll likely cost you $138 to replace both year-old batteries, which is nearly the cost of a new pair.
I absolutely agree with everything in this post, but the newest model of QC35s has like 15 hours of battery life. Even if it degrades 50% over 3 years they will be perfectly usable. Airpods don't have enough physical size to overprovision battery that much.
Unserviceable laptop and cellphone batteries are terrible and apple is by far the biggest offender.
I often hear people saying that making such things repairable would entail massive increases in complexity and less thinness/etc., but in this case it's relatively easy to imagine how Apple could have made the batteries in each AirPod replaceable (as for the charging case, that one is pretty trivial...) while maintaining the dimensions and weight:
This is a metal-cased cell, like an AAA battery, only smaller. They could simply make the "stem" of the AirPod unscrew from the top to access the battery. They came up with an unserviceable design because they didn't want to, not because they couldn't. Think of things like quartz watches too --- they have just as small if not smaller dimensions, and yet you can still replace the batteries in them. (And if you think threads of that size are impossible for Apple... look at the few screws that hold iPhones together.)
You're not wrong, but I have no noticeable issues with my QC35 or AirPods after 2 years. the battery life on the QC35 is simply astounding. I once wore them on a transatlantic flight including lounge stays. Got to my destination after 16+ hours of them being on the entire time, save 60mins during a nap. Some noise cancelling, lots of podcasts and music... Battery was at 60% still.
I pre-ordered my Airpods the first day they were available at the end of 2016 and have used them almost exclusively for conference calls. I use them maybe once every day or so, and they sit in their charging case the rest of the time (which gets recharged periodically)
I had a call yesterday and the Airpods were beeping that they were dying at the 20min mark, and didn't make it to 30min on the call.
I love the form factor, and I just ordered the "new" Airpods, because I am hoping the battery life has improved - the old ones are basically a disposable item after the first year, from my experience.
I also use them for conference calls. I think one of the super awesome but barely talked about features of the airpods is how you can use it to handle calls nonstop all day long -- you can just wear one at a time. Both airpods have a microphone. So while you're using one, the other one is in the charging case! You can even switch them out in the middle of a call. So no need to go "oh crap I need to recharge my headset", just swap them out and you're at 100% for continuous non-stop talking.
Most days, however, I don't have calls all day long, and I can just wear both no problem and not run into the low battery beep.
Airpods dying on conference calls has become another common part of the joke that is conference calls generally. Seeing that happen constantly has turned me off buying them :-/
Well, that and the fact that I'd definitely lose one in the first month of ownership.
I’ve had my AirPods for a while. The battery life has indeed degraded, but they’re pretty good for an hour of listening, and I never really do more. I’d be more disappointed as a heavy user.
They’re also the only earphones I can stand while exercising. Before the AirPods, the annoyance of the wire flopping around or on my skin, etc. made me mostly just not listen to anything. So, I don’t really compare them to anything wired, because I don’t consider them an actual alternative. I just won’t listen anymore.
Interestingly, I seem to be one of the few people the AirPods don't work for when it comes to exercising - they don't fit well in my ears, so they'd fall out if I tried to exercise in them :( .
Love them in general though, they are good enough for the price & what they do.
Yeah the price doens’t really scale but if you consider your time worthwhile, then add up the total amount of time it has saved you from having to untwist a jumbled mess of earphones / roll up earphones into some easily tangled roll.
I have bose wireless earbuds that are connected to each other by a short cable. It never gets tangled. And when I want to take them out I just pop them out and they hang round my neck. As a bonus, since they aren't in a pocket I don't run them through the wash. I don't know how much time airpods uses spend fumbling around in their pockets (for the airpods....), but I spend 0 time doing that and 0 time untangling cables.
you should also consider the time it takes to charge the case and the times when you want to listen to music but alas, you forgot to charge your earphones! The jumbled mess of earphones don't need to be charged.
Keeping cables nicely coiled is a solved problem. Humanity has used string and rope for millennia. There's been plenty of time to figure this out.
To this old fart, this sounds like the thousand other cases of "why learn a simple and generally useful skill, when we can use modern technology to avoid this one specific case?"
Learning a basic transferable skill is the scalable solution to this problem. You're not using wireless power cables, wireless rope to tie things to your car, wireless thread in your sewing machine, etc.
It isn't hard or time-consuming or even thought-consuming to coil 2.5' of headphone cable and stick it in your pocket in such a way where it comes back out still in a coil. Ball it up and shove it among your keys and pens and wallet and phone and of course it will be tangled.
As an aside, this is the most HN justification possible for these. "Just estimate your time spent coiling headphones and multiply it by your hourly rate then you will see how $160 is fair." Absurd.
I'm fine with 3 years replacement. 3 years is a very long time for a particularly small and useful device. Also $200 is not a lot of money. Inflation is under-rated in the USA.
I’ve had mine since they were released and have experienced very little deterioration. I even left them outside and out of their case for A MONTH! During summer I was house sitting, left them outside at my house for a month by complete accident, came back home and found them. Once I charged them up they worked like a charm. During this month it rained a few times too.
That’s not really the deterioration people are talking about. Using them every day multiple times will destroy them quite quickly. Seems to be around the year and a half mark.
Having used my airpods 2-3 hours every day, since release. I've found the talk time to drop to a little over an hour. It hasn't been too much of an issue for me as I just charge one bud in the case when it's low and swap it out with the other.
3 years? These things are consumables. Toss them at least annually, they won't sound as good as new by that point.
[edit: Really? You guys expect 3 years life out of your socks and underwear too? If you use the hell out of it, even a wired pair that's a year old doesn't sound as good as a pair fresh out of the box.]
It's all about conspicuous consumption. AirPods are not a lot less conspicuous than the long earlobes of the Dayaks[0] (nor in my opinion a lot less ugly), but in order for them to fulfill their signalling function they must be consumed.
I really, honestly believe that in a decade we're going to look back at AirPods as our generation's bell-bottoms. Only bell-bottomed trousers at least have some function: AirPods are a style & sustainability own goal.
First, the form factor of AirPods are integral to their function. There is no separating them. Wires are a major design tradeoff.
Also, the function (multiple actually) -- social communication, gaining knowledge, entertainment -- is of high importance to many. So even small improvements are valuable.
I really don't think you're understanding this correctly.
Funny how there's so much criticism everywhere for these products yet you step outside and loads of people have them. Usual reaction to Apple products I guess.
I have a feeling it’s more of an emotional self-rightous rant similar to the ones people have when picking their favorite football team or car brand. I’ve read many of the anti apple comments around here - and most of the criticisms have solid reasoning. But, I still got a new MacBook Pro, and low and behold it works great.
And here's the other comment that appears in every HN thread about a new Apple product. Just need someone to complain that Apple forgot about its pro users and I'll have a bingo.
AirPods have a lot of criticism? I would understand that if you made the same claim about iMac, Mac mini, iPad mini, i9 MacBook Pro or the stupid butterfly keyboards.
AirPods sold 36 million units and everyone and their grandma got it on Christmas. They have been sold at most holidays.
I personally think this is one of the best device Apple has created in a long time. It’s not for everyone but once you get used to it, you won’t go anywhere without them.
Yeah, I was shocked by how many teenagers in my neighborhood had them until I realized they were all knock-offs. I doubt Apple is concerned, though. Airpods solidified their dominance of earbud design
Knockoffs? Having shopped for AirPods for my kids, and also shocked by the price, I'd be eager to hear more. Most of the other brands use an "in ear" design which my kids wouldn't like (ex: AirDots)
I mean their overpriced and look absolutely stupid.
Airpods seem to be entirely an US thing and a result of great marketing. If anyone could convince people to buy and wear this it would be apple in USA.
Apple removed headphone jacks from their phones, so some AirPod owners probably would have been happy to not own them and continue with traditional headphones.
I would have bought AirPods regardless of an audio jack (I love them to death), but am furious about the removal nonetheless. It isn't often that I find myself needing the jack, but whenever I do it's infuriating, either to have to go hunt for the adapter, or to just not have the ability to export audio at all in that circumstance.
It isn't often that we achieve a universal connector format with basically no downsides (how many iterations of USB have there been now?), but we actually accomplished it with the 1/8" audio jack, and it's exasperating to see that coordination equity be so "bravely" discarded.
Anyone who bought an iPhone without a headphone jack got a pair of Lightning compatible wired headphones in the box.
If they bought Airpods they decided against using those headphones, getting a Lightning-headphone adapter to use with their favorite wired headphones, or buying any other type of bluetooth headphones.
AirPods are so convenient compared to wired earbuds for me, I’d say they’re in my top 3 electronics purchases of last year. They’re not simply a “lifestyle brand” as you’re dismissing them as.
Being deeply into buying "the most powerful technology," or "the most customizable technology" is also a lifestyle choice and tribal signalling choice.
There is no "I'm above choosing things for their lifestyle or tribe membership implications" position to take.
I own QC35 and some Jaybirds X3. Went back and forth on buying the AirPods forever. Figured it'd be a waste of money. Did it anyway.
I LOVE them. Single-ear is the killer use for me, I used them bike commuting in my non-traffic ear, and i frequently listen to a podcast in just one ear. It sounds stupid, but it's SO much more convenient than having another bud dangling from a cord like I'd have to with the Jaybirds.
And the difference between a hard plastic case and a floppy vinyl carrying pouch is the difference between something that is part of my every day kit, in my pants pocket, and something that sits.. at home.. in a drawer, probably. Somewhere. I have no idea where, frankly.
I haven't heard of others with connectivity that is even close. The fact that the airpods simply work, even long distances from my charging phone in the office, make them very valuable to me.
Huh? I think people buy these despite them looking a little goofy because they are quite convienent. Which company offers the best wireless pods in your mind?
This is a disappointing update. Introducing the wireless charging case at an additional charge without an accompanying release of Airpower is curious. No new color options. More importantly, no new control options. I can't change volume without resorting to my Apple Watch or phone. Hey Siri is a non feature akin to the Bixby button on Samsung phones.
The battery on my first gen Airpods has deteriorated but this isn't the upgrade I was waiting for. I'll give the Galaxy buds a go or maybe even venture into the wireless noise-cancelling headphones category which has greatly improved since Airpods first launched
They obviously over promised on Airpower. My suspicion was that these Airpods weren't originally supposed to be Qi compatible (only Airpower compatible), but the delay of Airpower forced their hand and they probably had to redesign these. I think this is a better outcome (even though I was trying to hold out for wireless charging to buy any in the first place) because now you're not beholden to Apple Airpower for charging these wirelessly.
as an airpods user the first thing that disappointed me was how we don't have as many controls on the airpods as we did on the wired earphones that they replaced. You can change the double tap functionality to be any one of: siri, next track, previous track, play/pause... but honestly it would be better if you could do all of those things. I was hoping they would address that with this update.
The "old" airpods will work with the new wireless charging case, so that's not really much of an upgrade on the headphones themselves.
Looks like the only real upgrade is longer battery life. Always welcome, but still not drastically different. I was googling for airpods 2 release all this week, but now that I see it, I'm not sure if I want to go through the hassle of buying the new ones and liquidating my old ones. I probably will though. Maybe the slightly longer battery life will be worth it, and if I can disable "hey siri" I might be able to eek out just a bit longer battery life.
it is odd. That said, everyone was expecting Apple to force you to buy their new product. It's actually fairly un-Apple-like to release the new product with the OPTION of paying extra for the new wireless charging case, or NOT paying for it if you don't want wireless charging, OR buying the case separately if you don't want to throw away your old product.
They're making their money, but at least they're not also encouraging folks to throw out old tech that works just fine. (well, except for your old case, i guess :)
This is true. However, the build quality is abysmal. Plastic pieces have come unglued and buttons are faulty on both my fiancée's pair and mine. I don't think I can recommend the SoundSports as much as the QC35s.
It's not the battery life per charge, it's the battery lifespan. Similar to iPhones (which are rated for only 500 charge cycles because gotta pad those profit margins... so good luck using one battery for even 2 years), AirPods experience battery degradation to a point where they last < 1 hour and just shut down randomly because they can't provide enough charge to the buds. In just 2-3 years.
I was among the first to receive my AirPods back in end of 2016. They are now down to <2.5hours listening on my iPhone and <2hours on my MBP (for some unknown reason). They are great on the go but the lack of sound isolation is problematic because you really have to crank the volume up. That really isn’t ideal in the long run. I also suspect the sound quality has degraded somewhat because of the dirt etc that has accumulated behind the vents.
I’m probably going to use them till the batteries are too degraded and change to BT ANC headphones afterwards.
I think those are just the different classes of headphones. Even with wired headphones earbuds were my daily driver. I had over the ear for isolation on airplanes, but they were way too inconvenient for day to day and kind of gross if I was working out. There are a bunch of other big types, but I've never had a need for things like in-ear monitors or open air headphones.
My wife was actively looking for something with active "pass thru" and tried a few headphones. I suspect (like you) she was expecting airpods to have more isolation because she's very happy with them.
I imagine your MBP supports different bluetooth specs and is slightly older. Since people upgrade their phones more often they tend to get these things first. Last month I got a loaner MBP and completely forgot my mouse requires BT4 and would work. I never tried airpods, but I suspect they either wouldn't work at all or be forced to use higher-powered, older BT protocols. I also remember hearing something about the mic being on in unexpected circumstances, killing battery life.
I actually like the Airpods lack of sound isolation. I use them when I want to be able to hear things around me still, walking/biking/etc.
When I want quiet and music I switch to my Shure SE215's w/Bluetooth. Way better sound quality and with the foam earplug style earbuds they really block out the noise.
They should first make AirPods that can connect reliably to BlueTooth. Half the time I need to connect mine to my MacBook Pro I need to massage the BT and Speaker icons for 20 seconds.
I used to have similar issues, however they have gone away after I stopped ever clicking the bluetooth icon, and only ever paired them via the speaker icon. Not sure if our problems are related or not, but may be worth trying.
- If it is already connected to an iPhone, it'll delay its appearance. Disconnect them from the iPhone.
- If you have lots of wireless devices (mouse, phone, wifi, keyboard, etc...) you'll probably run into an interference problem. My airpods connection doesn't drop often but my Wifi connection does.
They may have quietly made Bluetooth improvements but not mentioned it, in the same way you won't see Apple acknowledge fixing the constant problems with their keyboard on descriptions of their newer Macbook pros.
Readit News
Just today my AirPods case wasn't charging because lint got into my lightning port. I didn't realize the case wasn't charging until I realized my AirPods were low on power despite me charging the case a lot the last few days. Inductive charging is a lot more durable in a lot of ways.
I take my AirPods everywhere with me. They fit perfectly into a pair of jeans. They are one of Apple's best products in years.
I find myself listening to way more audiobooks and podcasts because of this. If I have a minutes to burn, I can just pull them out and listen. Also, AirPods are great for phone calls. I use them for almost every phone call, and having them always on me has changed how I interact with computing devices. If the Apple Watch ever really gets full featured (with more robust cellular features in particular), I could see myself often just having a Watch and AirPods with me, while leaving my phone behind.
The other things I would like to see Apple do are: Official water resistance ratings to better work for athletics and in the rain; and the ability to have different tips on them to increase fit for more people and to provide the option of sealing out outside noise.
I've had the same set of high quality in-ear wired headphones for the last 5 years or longer and have zero issues with them (I just replace the foam every so often for about $5). What is the improvement I am missing here?
I think what you are missing is that different people value things differently. These don't make sense for you? That's fine, don't buy them. They don't make sense for me either, so I don't buy them.
However, I can understand how it would make sense for someone else. Arguing the money aspect doesn't make sense because we never know a person's income, expenses and savings. $200 for one person is nothing, while it can be the difference between making rent for another.
Arguing sound quality doesn't make sense either, because despite all of the numbers that people throw around, people perceive and enjoy sound differently. It isn't objective, its subjective.
Same thing with the presence of wires. I would have liked these (or, more likely, a larger set of wireless cans) when I lived in Japan and commuted by train daily. Now that I commute by car, my headphone use is limited to netflix in bed and when I'm playing guitar. Wireless doesn't do anything for me in those situations.
Long story short, different strokes for different folks.
The charging is not nearly that obnoxious, I've gone through a wide range of wireless sets and they've all had multi-day charges.
Personally I have a nice set of IEMs for longer, sitting use cases and otherwise use a cheap (~$20) wireless set; so that when it inevitably breaks/gets lost/battery wears down after a ~year, it's negligible to just replace it.
Also, nowadays, wireless headphones have surprisingly good audio; especially if you're just listening to podcasts.
I'll just address this point, because it is categorically incorrect and something many people misunderstood when they were first released.
There are two of them. You can use them independently from one another. When you hear the "low battery" tone, it's trivial to remove one and continue to use the other. By the time the tone plays again in the one you continued to use (signaling critically low battery), you just swap which earbud is in the case. The one that was in the case will be almost fully charged at this point.
The effect is that you can pretty much use them indefinitely without a full interruption. And using only one at a time is mostly unnoticeable.
Can’t be charged while being used? Who cares? They last long enough. 1 out of 50 times I wear them they run out of battery. Charging them takes 5 minutes, so it’s not a big deal.
Also, the whole point is that they’re wireless. If you don’t care about this specific feature it’s no wonder you don’t see them as an improvement.
Also for my use case (calls) you can charge while listening by using only one bud at a time.
I have many pairs of headphones, wired and wireless, but I just ordered a new set of AirPods because they are simply the most convenient headphone I've ever used (Presuming you use primarily Apple products.) Far from the best sounding - but I've found for a general use headphone they are more than adequate.
After experiencing AirPods, I will pay any amount of $ to replace them if they ever get lost. They really are that good and they’re probably the best purchase I’ve made in years.
If you go to the gym at all, they’ll be a game changer.
Let me put it this way - sometimes I completely forget they’re even in my ear.
Not needing to have your phone on your body constantly.
Source: Wife owns AirPods and I use them from time to time. For me these two points are HUGE plus points. But I won’t buy them as i find them too expensive and don’t listen to audio often enough (wired or wireless) on my phone anyway.
Maybe if you are using them 24/7. The battery in the case can charge the airpods batteries several times.
These are just a few I thought of off the top of my head, but they may not be worth the price tag for everyone.
For me it was all about the fucking tangle. I don't care much about having the cable on while I am using them. But having to do that stupid devil-horns-figure-eight winding technique to avoid the cable getting tangled into a knot, every single time I want to put the headphones into my pocket, which I do several times a day... ugh.
For me, going back to wired headphones would be like going back to getting on the train by going up to a vending machine, putting coins into it, pushing buttons, waiting for it to emit a paper ticket, and then getting on the train.
It's only a difference of a few seconds, usually, but it something I do over and over and over and over, so that's why it's worth it to me.
(I dropped significant money on a new iphone as soon as it finally got train-pass functionality here in Japan, too.)
Pretty much all BT solutions are a pain pairing wise and sound lag wise.
Apple’s are very well designed, a luxury object. Almost no lag with sound. Very good phone call experience. Sound is mediocre but always available.
Still, they are disposable by design and I find it repulsive that we have normalized the pollution associated with buying this product. I won’t be buying another pair and will be pressing Apple to establish a recycling program.
My etimotic headphones sound great and have a long life.
If you fly a lot, then you'll really appreciate over the ear headphones, preferably the noise cancelling ones. That being said, these wireless over the ear phones are too bulky to use in day to day life such as commute etc. So now you end up owning one pair of wireless noise cancelling headphones for flying, air pods for your day-day commute. You see where I am going with this .. welcome to capltalism :)
That's not true at all with AirPods. I use them nearly every day and I haven't had to charge them in almost 2 full weeks since charge while in the case and 5 minutes of charge lasts a few hours.
They're seriously awesome. I never would have purchased them myself or asked for them for the price they're asking but I got them as a gift and I think they're amazing.
I had to return them because one of my ears isn't a good fit. One earpod stuck out almost 45 degrees out of my ears and loosen over prolonged use.
So, unless you use your wired headphones on other devices, it's not a good comparison.
I do agree charging it hurts.
Deleted Comment
Dead Comment
Dead Comment
But I would do inductive 99% of the time, most likely at night while I sleep.
This is the single biggest reason why I won't upgrade to the AirPods. For me, the AirPods simply fall out of my ears. That's why I stick with the Etymotic Ear Phonnes: https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones.html
For whatever reason, that flanged shape fits my ears so perfectly well and blocks out all other noises that I don't see myself using any other Ear Phones for a long while. If AirPods provided the option of a flange shape like the Etymotics, then I'd be compelled to buy an AirPod.
But, reality is: AirPods are by far the most convenient way to casually do anything with apple products and headphones. Stick 'em in a pocket, and if you want to listen to music or be on a conference call, pull them out and pop them in. And my old ones are having the battery wear-out problem. And I'm in the apple ecosystem.
So I'll happily pay a premium to have new AirPods with better battery (and cleaner!). And then I don't need to feel guilty about the old ones to the gym and ruining them further with sweat. (The one thing I'm mad about is that there's nothing about sweat proofing on these.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_loop
https://macintoshhowto.com/hardware/extreme-emf-exposure-fro...
Note: I own AirPods and use them regularly at the gym. That is to say, I'm not afraid of my own AirPods, but acknowledge that they broadcast pretty loudly.
I still enjoy them for music. But the battery life alone for calls is weak — I only get about 1 hour of talk time.
In both cases I have received no complaints, and have even inquired about how the noise is recently. People can't hear my obnoxiously loud road noise at all, it gets canceled out.
They're not much cheaper than the airpods however.
The very best feature, though, is that they’re much less conspicuous than AirPods. AirPods are a visual distraction.
Dead Comment
Does my wire get snagged and the earbud falls out? Sure it does, but that probably happens to me once every 6 months and that doesn't get me pissed off enough to hand apple $160. Airpods don't come without their costs, too. You loose that super handy control/microphone on the wire, you have one more thing to keep charged, and in 2 years when the battery shits you have to pony up $50 per ear to replace them. I still use the headphones that came with my iPhone 5, seven years later.
- You don't need your device on your person. I leave my iPhone around the house somewhere and use these while cooking, or run with AirPods + Apple Watch (cellular not required, I just download podcasts or audiobooks).
- You are not tethered to a listening device. I don't worry about the cable catching on kitchen drawer handles or gym equipment (this happened to me way more often than every 6 months). I can jump from phone podcasts to a video call with a few clicks or taps, instead of changing headphones or transferring cables.
- Your call quality improves dramatically from wired headphones. Others are complaining about background noise, but wired headphones are far worse, with their microphones on their remotes (IIRC). I hated "speaking up" by holding the little remote to my mouth.
The concerns you mention are also minimal in practice. The case has excellent battery life, requiring a charge only weekly or so. If you're on a streak of calls, you can charge one AirPod at a time to stay connected. I have also used mine for over 18 months almost daily, and the battery has been fine.
Are AirPods a convenience? Yes. But there's always a market for convenience.
Mine were a gift, but I'll likely drop $160 on a set in the future if these crap out in a year or two.
About once a week, I used to get my wire snagged and it would sometimes yank my phone out of my pocket. Luckily it was on carpet and I had a case on it so there wasn't any damage.
More importantly, the convenience has been well worth it. Even if I'm just saving 30s a day untangling, that is worth the price to me over a few years. Throw in being able to sleep with one pod in and my phone plugged in across the room and this has might be my favorite and most used gadget of the past few years.
Still disappointed they haven’t added more feaures, especially as competition getting hotter...
Who's going to pay 30%-50% of a new version to replace his airpods or apple watch battery ? [0]
It's the same with all these hi tech gadgets relying on tiny glued/soldered batteries. You can't replace them yourself because it's either proprietary hardware or you need to literally break the product to get to the battery. And companies either don't offer replacements or charge insane amount of money for them.
Apple can boast all day long about ecology and using 100% recycled aluminium, at the end of the day they're shipping unfixable gadgets. [1][2] But it's thin and slick looking so I guess most people don't give a damn.
The first time I saw a bose QC25 with AA batteries I almost burst out laughing but it's actually much more convenient than proprietary battery packs. Compare that to the new QC35: > As you were correctly advised, battery replacement is not a service that is offered. [3]
We'll drown in these gadgets way before we drown due to the sea level rising.
[0] > Run through your battery, and it’ll likely cost you $138 to replace both year-old batteries, which is nearly the cost of a new pair.
https://www.inverse.com/article/49363-airpods-battery-warran...
[1] https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Apple+Watch+Battery+Replacement...
[2] https://ifixit.org/blog/8690/airpods-are-disposable/
[3] https://community.bose.com/t5/Headphones-Archive/Bose-Quietc...
Unserviceable laptop and cellphone batteries are terrible and apple is by far the biggest offender.
disclaimer: typed from a macbook :(
https://photos5.appleinsider.com/gallery/30055-49077-999-Air...
This is a metal-cased cell, like an AAA battery, only smaller. They could simply make the "stem" of the AirPod unscrew from the top to access the battery. They came up with an unserviceable design because they didn't want to, not because they couldn't. Think of things like quartz watches too --- they have just as small if not smaller dimensions, and yet you can still replace the batteries in them. (And if you think threads of that size are impossible for Apple... look at the few screws that hold iPhones together.)
I really don't think that's the case. I was really quite tempted by them, but was put off by the lifespan.
$50 per airpod for new batteries.
I'm guessing they don't literally give you yours back with new batteries, but instead give you replacements and then send yours for refurbishing.
Are there any tips to make the batteries last longer?
I had a call yesterday and the Airpods were beeping that they were dying at the 20min mark, and didn't make it to 30min on the call.
I love the form factor, and I just ordered the "new" Airpods, because I am hoping the battery life has improved - the old ones are basically a disposable item after the first year, from my experience.
Most days, however, I don't have calls all day long, and I can just wear both no problem and not run into the low battery beep.
Well, that and the fact that I'd definitely lose one in the first month of ownership.
They’re also the only earphones I can stand while exercising. Before the AirPods, the annoyance of the wire flopping around or on my skin, etc. made me mostly just not listen to anything. So, I don’t really compare them to anything wired, because I don’t consider them an actual alternative. I just won’t listen anymore.
Love them in general though, they are good enough for the price & what they do.
I've had mine almost two years. I listen at work M-F, 8am-11:30am, then let them recharge at lunch, then use them 1:00pm-4:00pm. So far, so issues.
How long do you think I have before the batteries start to degrade?
To this old fart, this sounds like the thousand other cases of "why learn a simple and generally useful skill, when we can use modern technology to avoid this one specific case?"
Learning a basic transferable skill is the scalable solution to this problem. You're not using wireless power cables, wireless rope to tie things to your car, wireless thread in your sewing machine, etc.
As an aside, this is the most HN justification possible for these. "Just estimate your time spent coiling headphones and multiply it by your hourly rate then you will see how $160 is fair." Absurd.
Deleted Comment
[edit: Really? You guys expect 3 years life out of your socks and underwear too? If you use the hell out of it, even a wired pair that's a year old doesn't sound as good as a pair fresh out of the box.]
I really, honestly believe that in a decade we're going to look back at AirPods as our generation's bell-bottoms. Only bell-bottomed trousers at least have some function: AirPods are a style & sustainability own goal.
0: https://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/where_we_work/borneo_for...
First, the form factor of AirPods are integral to their function. There is no separating them. Wires are a major design tradeoff.
Also, the function (multiple actually) -- social communication, gaining knowledge, entertainment -- is of high importance to many. So even small improvements are valuable.
I really don't think you're understanding this correctly.
Edit: Oh well the reference is almost 20 years old. I knew someone wouldn't know it.
https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...
A lot of this is very US-specific.
AirPods sold 36 million units and everyone and their grandma got it on Christmas. They have been sold at most holidays.
I personally think this is one of the best device Apple has created in a long time. It’s not for everyone but once you get used to it, you won’t go anywhere without them.
Dead Comment
They're literally best in class for the money.
A) used the included lightning headphones
B) used the lightning adapter that come with the iPhones until this year and are now $9.99 and used any other headphones
C) used third party lightning headphones
D) used any BT headphones.
No one was forced to buy $160 Airpods.
Apple has successfully turned the airpods into a fashion/status symbol, which was their goal. "only smelly android users have headphones with a CORD"
It isn't often that we achieve a universal connector format with basically no downsides (how many iterations of USB have there been now?), but we actually accomplished it with the 1/8" audio jack, and it's exasperating to see that coordination equity be so "bravely" discarded.
If they bought Airpods they decided against using those headphones, getting a Lightning-headphone adapter to use with their favorite wired headphones, or buying any other type of bluetooth headphones.
Also, Baader-Meinhof phenomenon and all that.
Dead Comment
Being deeply into buying "the most powerful technology," or "the most customizable technology" is also a lifestyle choice and tribal signalling choice.
There is no "I'm above choosing things for their lifestyle or tribe membership implications" position to take.
I LOVE them. Single-ear is the killer use for me, I used them bike commuting in my non-traffic ear, and i frequently listen to a podcast in just one ear. It sounds stupid, but it's SO much more convenient than having another bud dangling from a cord like I'd have to with the Jaybirds.
And the difference between a hard plastic case and a floppy vinyl carrying pouch is the difference between something that is part of my every day kit, in my pants pocket, and something that sits.. at home.. in a drawer, probably. Somewhere. I have no idea where, frankly.
Afaik other companies make similarly priced wireless buds with better sound quality and similar battery life.
The battery on my first gen Airpods has deteriorated but this isn't the upgrade I was waiting for. I'll give the Galaxy buds a go or maybe even venture into the wireless noise-cancelling headphones category which has greatly improved since Airpods first launched
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/09/reports-apple-airpow...
The "old" airpods will work with the new wireless charging case, so that's not really much of an upgrade on the headphones themselves.
Looks like the only real upgrade is longer battery life. Always welcome, but still not drastically different. I was googling for airpods 2 release all this week, but now that I see it, I'm not sure if I want to go through the hassle of buying the new ones and liquidating my old ones. I probably will though. Maybe the slightly longer battery life will be worth it, and if I can disable "hey siri" I might be able to eek out just a bit longer battery life.
They're making their money, but at least they're not also encouraging folks to throw out old tech that works just fine. (well, except for your old case, i guess :)
I’m probably going to use them till the batteries are too degraded and change to BT ANC headphones afterwards.
My wife was actively looking for something with active "pass thru" and tried a few headphones. I suspect (like you) she was expecting airpods to have more isolation because she's very happy with them.
I imagine your MBP supports different bluetooth specs and is slightly older. Since people upgrade their phones more often they tend to get these things first. Last month I got a loaner MBP and completely forgot my mouse requires BT4 and would work. I never tried airpods, but I suspect they either wouldn't work at all or be forced to use higher-powered, older BT protocols. I also remember hearing something about the mic being on in unexpected circumstances, killing battery life.
When I want quiet and music I switch to my Shure SE215's w/Bluetooth. Way better sound quality and with the foam earplug style earbuds they really block out the noise.
- If it is already connected to an iPhone, it'll delay its appearance. Disconnect them from the iPhone.
- If you have lots of wireless devices (mouse, phone, wifi, keyboard, etc...) you'll probably run into an interference problem. My airpods connection doesn't drop often but my Wifi connection does.