AirPods Impressions: Potential 'Game-Changer' With Good Design, but Will They Stay in the Ear?

[blacktape242]

You will notice in that video they were not looking at her "ears" jumping up and down.....

I will be interested to see what the reviews are.

Maybe, airpod-gate? Youre putting it in wrong?
BAM! thanks ill be here all week folks!

 

[Bubba Satori]

It looks like 'Game changer' has acquired a new definition.
That or Cnet staff wear kool-aid IVs.
Maybe they meant game changing courage.

 

[VulchR]

These AirPods are amazing technologically and the price is a lot less than what I expected, but the biggest breakthrough IMO is Apple's W1 chip.

I hope they license that out to other manufacturers because I'd love to see more wireless headphone options using that chip.

OK - but do we know what the chip actually achieves that other BT chip sets don't?

 

[riffcat]

I think ill use those ropes they use to hold a pair of glasses around your neck. that would work to hold them together

That was my immediate thought when i first saw these. Some sort of tie that connect both devices and wraps behind the neck.

 

[Iconoclysm]

What I'd like to know is if they'll be capable of better sound quality than standard BT headphones, perhaps due to the chip, or other modifications to the wireless connection?

That's what I'm wondering as well. For a company that makes AirPlay because of its advantages over Bluetooth, they have to know better.

 

[Costino1]

I'm curious to know if these are just the regular ear buds you get for free with your iPhone with the wires chopped off, or if the sound is much better.

I'm no audiophile and I think the free earbuds are 'okay,' but really curious to try these out and seeing if these are just 'wireless ear buds' that we all get for free.

 

[Iconoclysm]

OK - but do we know what the chip actually achieves that other BT chip sets don't?

For certain, a more power efficient connection. Anything else is still unknown.

 

[dannyyankou]

Interested to see what Bose comes out with as a competing product. People love to hate on Bose but their SoundSport earphones ($100) are a great upgrade. And most likely Bose will have black or grey.

While I agree they sound great, I've had to get mine replaced 3 times due to wear on the cable.

Maybe I'll check out their wireless options.

 

[BMcCoy]

Amazing.. I just searched back through MR, and found what I think might be the first new story about losing the headphone jack in the iPhone 7... and it's from November 2015!

Some of the comments are hilarious!

 

[keysofanxiety]

Those wireless airpods should of came with the iPhone instead of people buying them separate.Not Cool Apple!!!!!!

Had Apple shipped them with the iPhone, people would probably be moaning about them being easy to lose, and they should've shipped them with wired ones. "Not everybody wants headphones that can only last 5 hours", they'd scoff.

Had Apple shipped them with both wired and wireless, people would probably be moaning that they should have picked one or the other, and reduced the price of the iPhone instead. "Ugh. Not even Apple can decide on what standard to stick to. Lack of leadership."

Had Apple shipped with no headphones, then stuff really would have gone down. I almost wish they had, just to witness the sea of salt in the comments section.

 

[Iconoclysm]

IMO, the coolest part of the presentation yesterday was learning about the JBL headphones which had active noise cancellation delivered through the lightning port (i.e. without batteries in the actual headphones.) That's pretty cool. I say that as someone who really does not like that Apple is abandoning 3.5mm jacks.

I believe someone else did that with USB C recently too...and this is why Lightning needs to go. I'm not going to purchase anything of the sort until at least next year, because I have a feeling Lightning might be on the way out.

 

[0029937]

I'd love to try them on but at an expected C$200+ I'll pass.

Doesn't Apple have a decent 15-30 day return policy? I know some people hate doing this: "buy and try and return if needed" but I think we should take advantage of it.

 

[Karma*Police]

The issue I have with these is simple: are these worth the money? I will never know because I'm not going to risk the money to find out.

You can buy it and return it within 14 days. That's what I intend to do if I don't like it. My main concerns will be sound quality and how well it fits my ears.

 

[riffcat]

I like their direction, the custom silicon, and ease of connection.

Price isn't horrific, but $99 would've made them a quick top seller.

My only qualm is that these style earbuds suck in my ears. They also don't do a good job of isolating outside noise.

I'll stick to my Jaybirds for now

Give it 6 months to a year and these will cost $99 then $79 then i wager they will settle to a measly $49 in a year or two.

 

[cdmoore74]

I just can't tolerate hard plastic in my ear. I still have 2 pairs of Apple pods unused from my iPhone 6S and iPhone SE purchase. And soon a 3rd when I get my iPhone 7 plus. That being said I've been using stereo Bluetooth headphones for almost 3 years, I have 2 pairs of LG tones and their super comfortable.

 

[blasto2236]

Try a 15 - 30 minute run, after the ear has changed from being dry.
The AirPods design ain't crash hot either, two thin cigarettes coming out of one's ear.
This mock design is closer to being right.

​

But the sound on something like this would likely be not very good. The stems in the EarPods serve a function, it's not just an aesthetic choice. The slit in the top on the outside (also missing in this render) combined with the slit in the stem, create a kind of echo chamber that is responsible for the low end sounds. It creates a deeper bass than you usually get with relatively cheap headphones.

 

[Iconoclysm]

It looks like 'Game changer' has acquired a new definition.
That or Cnet staff wear kool-aid IVs.
Maybe they meant game changing courage.

You do realize that all of this flak is exactly why he said courage, right? They're betting on this being the right choice and they know what mud they're going to be drug through. The fact that using the word courage is ALSO causing flak is nuts.

 

[KALLT]

It looks like 'Game changer' has acquired a new definition.
That or Cnet staff wear kool-aid IVs.
Maybe they meant game changing courage.

Halfway down in the ‘hands-on’ article, he says this:

I haven’t used the new AirPods yet

That is all you need to know about the state of the mainstream tech press. The Macworld article is just as pathetic. Criticism about uncomfortable wear of the EarPods was just brushed away without explanation for the AirPods, with a blazing praise to boot.

 

[JEDB]

I think Apple should concentrate on what they do best that is computers and iDevices and give the tools to third parties to produce great accessories. I think they are loosing their focus.

Also since the first rumours about these Airpods started to appear I was expecting them to use something like Airplay which provides lossless streaming as I recall that Bluetooth requires some kind of compression. More and more people are investing in lossless music (not to mention music with sample rate higher than 44.1), I have long abandoned lossy music formats.

 

[BobVB]

These appear to be the same shape as the current earbuds.

I don't understand all of the "will these stay in my ears?" questions...

Did the earbuds in your recent iPhone(s) stay in? Yes? Then chances are these will too. No? Probably won't want to get these....

Why is this such a big question when we have a nearly identical product in our hands today?

Because with the earbuds they are still connected to you and pretty darn cheap to buy replacements. These are $150 a pop and lots of situations where if one falls out it is just gone.

I have the ears that don’t work with the wired ones (have to continually put them back in after falling out) so as tempting as these are I will have to wait for others to beta test.

 

[bobbydinCO]

Unfortunately, I have no doubt, they will fall out of my ears, probably within 10 feet of the starting line, as no earbuds stay in place in my apparently weirdly shaped ears. Hell, Apples earbuds fall out of my ears, sitting at my desk! I run a lot, and the only earphones that work, must wrap around the ear. The new Powerbeats3 may work, but not happening at $199! I'll stick with my multiple pairs of cheap corded $15 Sony's wrap-arounds, crappy sound, but on a run, I could care less.

 

[blasto2236]

I predict a lot people being asked why they only have an AirPod in one ear and the wearer realizing he/she lost one.

Given that the music stops playing as soon as one is removed, I don't foresee that happening very often.

 

[nebo1ss]

If you're truly even considering them, most stores offer at least two weeks to try before returning. I get it though. $160 isn't exactly nothing.

Trying and returning Ear Buds is a dubious business. I would never want to buy something that might have been in someone else ears. Its no different than buying and returning underwear just not done.

 

[Rigby]

So are these simply Bluetooth or do they use another wireless method?

Nobody outside of Apple knows for sure, but they very likely use standard Bluetooth EDR for audio streaming (otherwise they wouldn't work with existing Macs and iOS devices) with some extensions that allow devices to discover nearby airpods for auto pairing and -connecting (this is probably based on Bluetooth LE). It remains to be seen if it's possible to pair them with non-Apple devices too.

 

[Sunday Ironfoot]

"rich, high quality AAC audio"

Does this mean that the raw AAC audio data is streamed directly to the AirPods and decoded on chip? Because *that* would be a game changer, no (additional) loss in audio quality introduced by the wireless connection.