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gim

macrumors 6502
Jul 27, 2014
441
953
JBL isn't even on that list?
I'm very happy with my JBL Everest 700 Elite.
 

El Hikaru

macrumors regular
Dec 3, 2013
221
79
Is that really?
I never thought to buy the earphone.
I live in an urban area and ambient sound is just too much to listen music without noise concealing/canceling.
 

MrMac2015

macrumors member
Apr 15, 2015
93
45
Micro-USB charging cable knocks off a full point for anything I look into these days. Airpods too, because I know damn well Apple is going to embrace USB Type C
I think next iPhone will have USB c and they will sell USB c AirPods and continue selling lighting too. Also I think the premium iPhone will be called the iPhone pro. You heard it here first
 

dannyyankou

macrumors G5
Mar 2, 2012
13,014
27,998
Westchester, NY
This proves what everyone has been saying. Removing the headphone jack truly was a stupid idea, and Tim Cook must be fired.
People could use the adapter that comes with their iPhone 7 to use existing headphones.

But they're choosing to go wireless instead. Wireless will soon outsell wired, and Apple saw that coming. Airpods and other wireless headphones are selling like hotcakes. It was a smart idea and competitions are removing the headphone jack from their phones now.
 

GenesisST

macrumors 68000
Jan 23, 2006
1,802
1,055
Where I live
The Bose QC35 are basically perfect wireless headphones and they're $349. They also released new wireless earphones with a heart beat sensor but I'm not sure how well those are doing.

I do love my QC35. Amazing when travelling (or to filter out the kids and wife :) ).

I know they are not the best according to audiophiles, but lucky for me, I don't have audiophile ears. That would be both a blessing and a curse, imho.

About the AirPods, I was sceptical, but colour me surprised. I wouldn't get them, though. I use earphones for the gym and buy cheap ones because I sometimes forget them in my short pockets and wash them... Surprisingly, they do last 2-3 washings! :)
 

gugy

macrumors 68040
Jan 31, 2005
3,891
5,309
La Jolla, CA
I wasn't originally considering the AirPods but after all the great reviews and record sales I might jump in. The normal pods fit well on my ears so I see no issues with the wireless ones. The price is not so bad. Good job Apple.
 

skinned66

macrumors 65816
Feb 11, 2011
1,373
1,225
Ottawa, Canada
Can't really say I'm surprised they've sold well. That said I prefer headphones with more controls that fit my ears properly. At least they're bringing other people joy.
 

lookatchu

macrumors regular
Sep 25, 2013
222
50
Interested in getting them, but I'm hesitant because I don't want to upgrade from El Capitan to Sierra on my late 2015 iMac. I hear there are too many problems and slow-downs.

I suppose I can pair them to El Capitan via Bluetooth (right?), though it won't take advantage of the W1 chip. Does it matter?
 

TheBing1980

macrumors member
Oct 15, 2013
94
110
Michigan
It's also long past time for the many pundits who criticized the Beats deal to acknowledge that it was an ingenious acquisition. Everybody focused on the streaming aspects, itself worthwhile, but most didn't realize the enormous value in the headphone business. Whatever you think of the audio quality of the Beats, they are enormously profitable based on markup and sales volume. From that perspective alone, Apple got a bargain and Apple is now the largest seller of wireless headphones in the world, and they have over 60% of the world wide market for premium headphones. Kudos to Tim Cook for his business acumen in this purchase.

You nailed it!
 

canadianreader

macrumors 65816
Sep 24, 2014
1,133
3,152
10 hours battery life and I'll buy a pair
[doublepost=1484168011][/doublepost]
Interested in getting them, but I'm hesitant because I don't want to upgrade from El Capitan to Sierra on my late 2015 iMac. I hear there are too many problems and slow-downs.

I suppose I can pair them to El Capitan via Bluetooth (right?), though it won't take advantage of the W1 chip. Does it matter?
I'm running a 2012 mac mini and Sierra is working fine. I think you can pair them with any bluetooth device including Android phones and tablets
 

gsmornot

macrumors 68040
Sep 29, 2014
3,584
3,693
I have a set on order that won't deliver until Feb 28th.
[doublepost=1484168124][/doublepost]
10 hours battery life and I'll buy a pair
[doublepost=1484168011][/doublepost]
You get 24 total with the case battery. You can top them off in 15 minutes to get another 3 hours of listening time, 1 hour to fully charge. That is not bad.
 

GeneralChang

macrumors 68000
Dec 2, 2013
1,676
1,513
I might have misunderstood the article, but I didn't think we were looking at market share
Isn't this talking about market revenue?

I have considered headphones for the most part disposable, preferring to spend under $10 for mine. I haven't spent more than $20 on Bluetooth headphones and I don't see any of the brand's I use listed.
None of my sub-$20 bluetooth headphones have actual brands. ;)
[doublepost=1484170794][/doublepost]
I'm glad the AirPods still use the same charger as the iPhone. Far more likely that I'll need to charge the AirPods when I have an iphone charger with me than the USB C cable that currently only powers 2 products in Apple's lineup.
I think he's going on the suspicion that the next iPhone will switch to USB C. It's a suspicion I kinda share.
[doublepost=1484171377][/doublepost]
So the competition was lousy, and Apple did something about it. That's fine with me, but I think I'd rather wait until some real wireless headphones come around that make the airpods sound like trash.
And the best part about this whole thing is that with this push, the market will probably produce these within a year or so.
 

69Mustang

macrumors 604
Jan 7, 2014
7,895
15,043
In between a rock and a hard place
Since you mentioned the Samsung EarPods...just a general FYI to everyone...I've got these http://www.samsung.com/us/audio/headphones/in-ear/gear-iconx-black-sm-r150nzkaxar/

I don't know if they're defective or what, but they sound so tinny. I have to put the volume higher than I would prefer just to hear anything and when I do...everyone sounds tinny with about as much depth and resonance as The Chipmunks.

And talk about popping out of my ears...they don't just pop out and fall down...they practically self eject from my ears and go flying.

There are three ear tip pieces total to try out but they go deep into the ear canal which may be why they work themselves out and self eject as I move my head around. No headbanging to heavy metal with these earbuds in! Thank goodness my husband got them for free. They came bundled as part of a bunch of freebies when my husband got me a Galaxy S7 and Gear VR bundle for Christmas (the S7 and the VR goggles are very nice).

My husband has the Air Pods. I got to try them and they fit nicely enough on me like the regular Apple earbuds do. The sound is good. Not great, but very good. They totally kick Samsung's IconX's butt. The Samsung ones look so much better and the Apple ones look absolutely ridiculous, but it's all about the sound and in that respect, Apple wins, at least with the particular ones I got to try.
I'm repeating a sentiment from an earlier post in another thread. Apologies if you've heard it before. The Icon X sounds the way it does because of what it is: essentially a faceless smartwatch to jam in your ear. Samsung and everyone else, save Apple, did the expedient thing. They took the fitness aspects of smartwatches and adapted it to a headphone. Unnecessarily. Apple smartly realized there's no need for all of the extraneous accouterments in a wireless headphone. The AirPod is decent speaker, microphone, and control architecture. That's all that was needed. The next iteration of the Icon X will have a decent speaker, microphone, and control architecture. The same goes for everyone else. Bragi's already gone down that road with The Headphone. When Sammy gets rid of all the extras, there will be more room for the most important aspect of any headphone, better sound. Like you, I think the Icon X's look much better than the AirPods. But if they don't sound good, what's the point.
 

JamesPDX

Suspended
Aug 26, 2014
1,056
495
USA
People could use the adapter that comes with their iPhone 7 to use existing headphones.

But they're choosing to go wireless instead. Wireless will soon outsell wired, and Apple saw that coming. Airpods and other wireless headphones are selling like hotcakes. It was a smart idea and competitions are removing the headphone jack from their phones now.

Is this for "existing" bluetooth or the new v5 -would/could that be a simple firmware update pushed out by Apple? What's the data spec on dynamic range and frequency response for Bluetooth headphones/airpods? Is it like turning an uncompressed 24/192 BWF into a VBR mp3 by the time the analog signal hits your ear canal? Or is this now factored into the mp3/AAC conversion assuming that it will be streamed via Bluetooth? -Which could mean "harder compression" for this new tech so that the hardware doesn't have to work as hard recompressing the file for streaming?

It makes me wonder if there's any point in studios spending huge amounts of money on Neumanns, Royers, and Neve Mic pre's and DAWs that produce mix stems that can go way beyond 24/44.1 -or 48khz in Post. Maybe we can just slap an L1 on the Master bus, bounce it, use the Mastered for iTunes droplet (which is quite impressive if you tweak the settings to 320 CBR) and call it good.

Apparently convenience and fashion now trump audio quality. -But if consumers are just listening to (insert latest pop/rap here) and not orchestral or solo piano music, then they won't notice much difference anyway. I'm all for convenience, but it's kind of sad knowing that there's a whole generation (including part of my own) that has:
[a] Never experienced great recordings without data compression.
Have listened to so much mp3 and mp4 material that they have lost their ear-training.
[c] It's a+b and only recording engineers care about this of which I write.

Read if you like. The articles are still relevant:
http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/what-data-compression-does-your-music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_compression#Audio
 

GoodWheaties

macrumors 6502a
Jul 8, 2015
787
838
I see. Well, for example, my son's iPad mini is starting to get a bit flaky in terms of the Lightning connector, and that's just from a few years of less than careful plugging/unplugging
Check for lint in the connector. My iPhone 5 is nearly 3.5 years old and anytime there is a flaky connection it has always been lint. It will be so packed in there that it won't look like anything is there but if you dig around (with something non conductive is best) you will get stuff out.
 

EM2013

macrumors 68020
Sep 2, 2013
2,480
2,309
Amazing how people's sense of quality has utterly diminished. To actually pay THAT amount of money for a pair of WIRELESS headphones that can't even turn up/down the volume of the iPhone. This is a joke.

Wake Up !
As long as it's an apple product people will buy it. If they were beats the same people would've been trashing it.
 
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bigjnyc

macrumors 604
Apr 10, 2008
7,856
6,746
The other advantages the AirPods have are zero wires and the W1 for seamless pairing and switching across all your Apple devices.

I can appreciate the use of the Jaybirds though. Have used a few different pairs for nearly 6 years consistently for workouts.



Quite sure it's rated at 8 hours of use. From my use of older Jaybirds, the battery life was always excellent.

I had a pair of X2's and they definitely last the 8 hours quoted, i use to spend all week on my commute without charging them.

I currently have a pair of Jaybird freedom's which the company sent me for free after my X2's stopped working on one side.

the thing that has turned me off to Jaybird is their new charging method, the little clip that has to be added on in order to charge is a bit of an inconvenience and I'm afraid it's too easy to lose when traveling. Also what if I forget it at home when I go away? now I don't have headphones for my whole trip.
 

carletonguy

macrumors member
Jun 19, 2009
82
120
You really should discuss about business and strategy because you don't really understand it. So in your bizaro world, Apple should NEVER had come out with the iPhone because it destroyed the iPod sales? Apple should abandon their 5+ billion/quarter iPad business because if draws money away from their 4 billion/quarter Mac business?

You keep leaving the /s tag off so I have to assume you are serious.

lol Business strategy is what I do, and I'm quite good at it. Although any discussion about a strategy that doesn't understand the full road map is inherently flawed, a comparison between the iPhone and the iPod is sophomoric at best, but likely just plain dumb. The iPhone was a new category of product, not a product line within the same product category. That's a difference you seem to miss in your fallacious analogy. The iPhone created new category that wholly encompass multiple old categories, and that is the natural order of technological advancement, hence it's a perfectly valid strategy.

My observations is about Beats. Allowing a product from the Beats brand to remain stagnant, thus creating space for competitors to make more compelling products and thus grow their market share... well, that's just poor. When a new product comes out that is an entirely different line within the headphone category, and it eats away at sales from disparate lines within the company's portfolio... well, that's just not promising.
[doublepost=1484174104][/doublepost]
Since you mentioned the Samsung EarPods...just a general FYI to everyone...I've got these http://www.samsung.com/us/audio/headphones/in-ear/gear-iconx-black-sm-r150nzkaxar/

I don't know if they're defective or what, but they sound so tinny. I have to put the volume higher than I would prefer just to hear anything and when I do...everyone sounds tinny with about as much depth and resonance as The Chipmunks.

And talk about popping out of my ears...they don't just pop out and fall down...they practically self eject from my ears and go flying.

There are three ear tip pieces total to try out but they go deep into the ear canal which may be why they work themselves out and self eject as I move my head around. No headbanging to heavy metal with these earbuds in! Thank goodness my husband got them for free. They came bundled as part of a bunch of freebies when my husband got me a Galaxy S7 and Gear VR bundle for Christmas (the S7 and the VR goggles are very nice).

My husband has the Air Pods. I got to try them and they fit nicely enough on me like the regular Apple earbuds do. The sound is good. Not great, but very good. They totally kick Samsung's IconX's butt. The Samsung ones look so much better and the Apple ones look absolutely ridiculous, but it's all about the sound and in that respect, Apple wins, at least with the particular ones I got to try.

I agree with you. They sound horrible. Same with the Sol Republics. That bass on the Sol's are far better than anything out now, but there's an electronic distortion that erodes audio quality. I took both the Samsung and Sol's back. I love my AirPods. They are the right balance of audio quality, fit, and tech.
[doublepost=1484174290][/doublepost]
???? Are you serious? Seriously? Or did you forget the /s tag at the end.

With half a brain you will notice Apple went from 24% share to 41% share. And you think this is bad? Seriously?

NOTE: If you are not willing to eat your own young in business, a competitor will.

Short term gains are not interesting at all, particularly with how Apple's new product launches work. This is pretty par for the course for new product lines. Anyone with any experience in long term business strategy will immediately jump to the loss in market share they experienced from more mature product lines that should not really compete with AirPods. The Beats product line has no direct competitor for the AirPods, so losing market share in their lines while your competition grows market share is what actually looks interesting.
[doublepost=1484174476][/doublepost]
They still went from 24% to 40% of an expanding market. That's a good thing. I'm sure they expected to cannibalize Beats sales. Apple does that all the time (better that they do it than someone else take their market share).

I hope they didn't expect to cannibalize too much... the AirPods don't compete with any Beats headphones. Totally different audience and user. These aren't workout headphones, so the PowerBeats line shouldn't lose much. They are over-ear, so the Studios and Solos shouldn't lose much. They are losing share to Bose and then losing to their own (cheaper) AirPods. Any company that releases a product that generates less revenue (and my assumption here, less profit) than it's existing lines will be in trouble long term. Do I think Apple is in trouble? No. But do I think there is not much to celebrate here, and actually some signs of concern? Yep.
 
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