AirPods Delay Attributed to Apple Ensuring Both Earpieces Receive Audio at Same Time [Updated]

[Chupa Chupa]

This isn't the first time Apple made the mistake of announcing a product and then missing a product time frame, repeatedly. Or just never releasing a product to a market ever. Hardly a Tim thing at all.

But never at the frequency that it seems to be happening at TC's Apple. And also in the absence of any other really great new product being released during his tenure. I didn't even list all the half-baked product that were released when they were but should not have like iMaps.

Says the guy who doesn't and can't do any of this stuff on any technical level and has no product developed by himself.

What does my ability to do anything have to do with Apple announcing a product that it knows it cannot ship when it says it can? Total non-sequitur.

They get a pass for waiting and not releasing it, unlike some companies who don't wait, release, and stuff starts exploding.

Two wrongs do not make a right, sorry. Both situations are bad. One obviously worse but that doesn't give Apple an excuse just the same.

 

[Arran]

Apple's problem is, there are already products that work exceptionally well that are already being sold and bought.

I know. I stumbled upon a pallet of Bragi Dash in Costco last night. $250/pair, I think. Tempting now.

 

[Art Mark]

OK...First - we don't know what the real issue is. This is an opinion shared by...someone. It is not highly reliable. As pointed out, test units didn't appear to have this issue. It may be related to software updates still in progress on hardware or the firmware, or whatever it is called, in the headphones themselves. A lot of issues could be in play but saying Apple missed something seems a bit disingenuous. It may be an issue that seemed to be fixed until a new set of issues came to light. And the fact remains they didn't release them - so they obviously are doing something for some reason which means - they caught some kind of issue. Still better than releasing phones that burst into flames and then pretending they don't.

 

[macduke]

Are these available to try-on in the store yet? I'm still not convinced they will be secure in my large ear canals.

 

[truthertech]

That's... uh, a good thing to fix?

How did they even get this far in development -- with a planned release date in October -- with such a major issue!?

I'm concerned for Apple.

To put your mind at ease, Apple deciding to make sure the Airpods are as close to perfect as they can be, is a positive sign. To further ease your stress, Apple is setting records this quarter with Macbook sales, with App store sales and with Apple Watch sales, and the iPhone is now garnering almost 100% of the entire industry profits this quarter. When the Airpods are released, they will sell tens of millions. Relax, Apple will survive.

 

[yaxomoxay]

OK...First - we don't know what the real issue is. This is an opinion shared by...someone. It is not highly reliable. As pointed out, test units didn't appear to have this issue. It may be related to software updates still in progress on hardware or the firmware, or whatever it is called, in the headphones themselves. A lot of issues could be in play but saying Apple missed something seems a bit disingenuous. It may be an issue that seemed to be fixed until a new set of issues came to light. And the fact remains they didn't release them - so they obviously are doing something for some reason which means - they caught some kind of issue. Still better than releasing phones that burst into flames and then pretending they don't.

Well, it must be a reason serious enough to miss Christmas season.

 

[Lepton]

I wonder if these things get software updates. The watch gets updates via the phone, which talks to the Internet and the watch. I hope the pods can do the same!

 

[Ronald Reagan]

Apple ought to add one more word to their product page, "Wireless. Effortless. Magical. Unobtainable."

Of course they should take the time to fix whatever ails them, but with all due respect to Mr. Tim Cook, what a clusterf&$%! You market the technology so heavily, post it prominently on the website, and release the w1 chip a couple months ago for the beats solo 3 and now the powerbeats 2...

 

[MacEngineerForLife]

You guys and gals do realize that this is a rumor site? Don't assume that the problems attributed to the development have anything to do with reality.

 

[yaxomoxay]

To put your mind at ease, Apple deciding to make sure the Airpods are as close to perfect as they can be, is a positive sign. To further ease your stress, Apple is setting records this quarter with Macbook sales, with App store sales and with Apple Watch sales, and the iPhone is now garnering almost 100% of the entire industry profits this quarter. When the Airpods are released, they will sell tens of millions. Relax, Apple will survive.

It's the first time in my entire life that I use this... but talk about drinking the Kool-Aid.
Apple is losing its reputation FAST, and it has to thank a mishap by Samsung that the process is less painful.

 

[Applebot1]

Apple quality control has to be questioned. They ram home about quality and tight software/hardware integration..and charge a premium

 

[naeS1Sean]

Interesting that those with review units didn't notice the issue... must have cropped up in rare instances.

Thank you for not being extreme and ridicules with your comment. It was refreshing.

 

[StevieD100]

This makes no physical sense what so ever. These buds are, what a foot apart and bluetooth happens at the speed of ***** light. Receiving the signal at the same time is nonsense. If it is two independent signals and the problem is that the earbuds aren't receiving the right signals at the right time, its because the right signals aren't being broadcast at the right time.

And honestly, how is such a simple problem such a huge obstacle for Apple? For how long have we been broadcasting simultaneous stereo radio signals?

There might just possibly be that lump of skin, bone, hair and brain that attenuates the signal. Think about the case where the BT transmitter is off to one side of the reciever. Yes, the radio waves get to the far bud at the same time. What if the attenuation is such that the earBud decides it wants the sender to re-transmit the packet.
You get in effect a digital delay line to the second bud. It might be invisible in some cases but in others it might be enough to make the resulting sound you know sound odd and out of phase.

 

[sexiewasd]

If the audio were being transmitted in analog form, via FM or AM modulation, or even, maybe, old fangled 16 bit @ 44.1kHz raw digital you might have had a point.

Its not - its being transmitted in digital form, highly compressed (probably with variable bit-rate: i.e. x bits of data doesn't correspond to y seconds of sound) over a low-power connection that probably relies heavily on error detection and correction. There will be a significant (probably noticeable) decoding lag between the radio signal arriving and the uncompressed sound coming out of the earpiece - and the two earpods will still have to keep the two channels in sync with millisecond accuracy (or the phase differences will give you an unplanned 3D audio experience).

(Maybe there's a Bluetooth audio expert there who will correct my mistakes but, bottom line, what's going on in a bluetooth earpiece is a few orders of magnitude more complex than you're imagining).

The question is, did anybody ask the engineers about this before the Apple Design Team handed them a sketch of the AirPods and said "we're removing the audio jack to make the phone thinner, so make these!"

It also puts the digital stream in a small buffer as soon as it's received, then pulls from the buffer and not from the stream directly, to allow for smooth playback with variable length delays from error correction.

 

[Ghost31]

I know. I stumbled upon a pallet of Bragi Dash in Costco last night. $250/pair, I think. Tempting now.

Warning you now. Don't. They have serious connectivity issues that bragi says were fixed in an update that weren't really fixed. If you're into the whole truly wireless headphone thing, get the new "Bragi headphone". They're half the price

 

[zukeveui]

Like Louis Ck said once the entitlement for something you didn't know existed 10 minutes ago is mind boggling.

 

[themick4u]

OMG.... Really?
Again, another issue in Apple's QA dept....

 

[Pootmatoot]

Given the audio/visual delay that borks using bluetooth to watch video on all other headphones... I'm hoping they've somehow managed to solve this?

Given this is the first pair to be directly sold for an audio/visual device - rather than music - they better have done, else there are going to be a lot of grumpy customers.

 

[Modernboy]

The delay on these definitely sucks and I am sure no one is more frustrated or angry about this than Tim Cook. This issue is not just that they announced them before they were complete. The issue is that Apple has backed themselves into a corner with their mobile product release cycle. Apple wouldn't release something like the AirPods outside of one of their big presentations and it isn't a product worthy of it's own presentation. Then you have the fact that they had to release a new phone in September, especially now that they have the iPhone Upgrade Program for reasons I won't get into here. So as a result of needing to release the phone, they had to announce the AirPods at the same time as they were part of the bigger story Apple was trying to tell. It is certainly frustrating that this happened and even more frustrating that this issue (if real) was caught so late in the game. If anything I would blame head of worldwide marketing Phil and not Tim. But I think this is a difficult position that Apple has put themselves in and until they change the way they release and announce products it isn't going to get any better.

 

[atlatnesiti]

Tim Cook should really step down. Whoever he put in charge of product testing/development should be fired.

Yep, Apple should place you in charge, you obviously know it all.

 

[DanielSw]

Leave it to you bozos to always find something to gripe about.

On the positive side, it's far better for Apple to work out this chink BEFORE the Air Pods are released, both to quell potential customer complaints/class action suits, and to perfect the technology in order to solidify any new patents involved, thereby distancing and proofing themselves further from the inevitable copy cats.

On another positive side, while I'm waiting, myself, for the Air Pods, I bought a pair of PowerBeats3 Wireless which I really like. They're noticeably better than PowerBeats2 which I had used for years. There's no fragile little flap over the charging port, the signal doesn't cut out when I turn my head (with my iPhone in my front pants pocket on the opposite side from the PowerBeats antenna), the charge lasts longer, and Bluetooth switching between devices (iPhone, iMac, AppleTV, Apple Watch) is a snap! You don't have to disconnect one device before connecting the new one.

I also solved the problem of the wire always binding up around my neck and collar: I run it in FRONT of my neck and between the top two buttons of my shirt. There's plenty of slack that way so as not to restrict my head movements, and I can simply take them out when I want to and let them dangle on my chest.

The Air Pods are still intriguing to me, assuming that they'll stay in my ears securely. I like the idea of being able to use just one at times.

 

[Ghost31]

Like Louis Ck said once the entitlement for something you didn't know existed 10 minutes ago is mind boggling.

I don't think people need to paste this into forums everytime someone is upset something bad happened. People don't seem to me to be overly entitled. Apple announced something. People had expectations. Then were let down. If people were in here straight up whining, sure. But its totally reasonable to be disappointed in Apple and how things are going with airpods right now

 

[atlatnesiti]

Are these available to try-on in the store yet? I'm still not convinced they will be secure in my large ear canals.

In ear buds will never be available to try-on for health issues.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Like Louis Ck said once the entitlement for something you didn't know existed 10 minutes ago is mind boggling.

1) this is getting old
2) Apple hyperbole was "courage". If you use such a strong word you better deliver, because in my dictionary "courage" is reserved for other kind of stuff.

 

[flszen]

I'd rather Apple take their time than have these things go full Note7 in my ears.