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Apple Says Latest 13-Inch MacBook Air Now Supports Bluetooth 5.3

macduke said:
Right! How is it that all of these newer routers are so buggy?!?? My AC Extreme served me well for a long time but had struggled with all of the smart devices I added to my network when stuck at home in 2020 with nothing to do but buy things with government checks. So I bought an ASUS ZenMax Wi-Fi 6 pair and had so many problems but it would happen spontaneously because of software updates. Turned that to manual once I got a good update but then there are security updates and things have slowly gotten better over time.

It was giving me issues again though towards the end of last year so I got a top of the line Eero Pro 6E pair and that thing was super buggy!! I’ve never had so many problems with a router in my life. Worked through a bunch of things with customer support, tried rolling back different versions, and everything sucked.

Fortunately I hadn’t yet traded my Asus back to Amazon as I had a good deal where I would’ve gotten $75/each and had another deal where the Eero was $299 so the whole thing would’ve been $149. I see now why they were trying to sell them for so cheap.

The solution I ended up going with to fix my problems with the Asus was to turn the wireless backbone into another access band and use a MoCA to connect them across the house wired over coaxial. Now it’s nearly 99.9% stable and I just reboot it if it acts up once every couple months and that sorts it.

Apple really needs to get back into the router game. Idc how much it costs—good, reliable, trouble-free home Wi-Fi is worth a router’s weight in gold!
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One of the benefits with multiple Apple access points is that they struggle less, since the various connected devices get spread around the network. That’s assuming of course that not all the devices are in the same room connecting to the same access point.
 
Yes. Difference between 5 and 5.3 is firmware update. Hardware wise they are similar chips. Bt 4 devices cant get 5 or 5.3 because they dont have the hardware but they still will work just fine
 
Chytin said:
You need serious audio equipment to tell a difference between 256 AAC and Lossless. And even then, many fail while doing a blind test. That is why Apple and the music industry prefers Dolby Atmos because then you really hear a difference.
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…but any first time buyers, and/or young people deserve to hear the best audio…so give it to them.
 
macduke said:
Right! How is it that all of these newer routers are so buggy?!?? My AC Extreme served me well for a long time but had struggled with all of the smart devices I added to my network when stuck at home in 2020 with nothing to do but buy things with government checks. So I bought an ASUS ZenMax Wi-Fi 6 pair and had so many problems but it would happen spontaneously because of software updates. Turned that to manual once I got a good update but then there are security updates and things have slowly gotten better over time.
...
Click to expand...

We always like the TC and Airports, but I had to replace them eventually. I tried various netgear routers (Orbi and Nighthawk) and they were unreliable, but we've had the ASUS AiMesh ZenWIFI ET8 since it came out and it has been much more reliable than the others. It has several nodes connected by Ethernet backhaul. Wifi 6E etc.

If Apple took the HomePods (and minis and Apple TVs) and added mesh routing capability and built their own router to go with it (or allow one of the HomePods to serve as it), HomePods would be an easy sale: "get a HomePod, get a mesh network for free." Or "get a mesh network, and have three (or whatever) HomePods around the house as a bonus".
 
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macduke said:
Right! How is it that all of these newer routers are so buggy?!?? My AC Extreme served me well for a long time but had struggled with all of the smart devices I added to my network when stuck at home in 2020 with nothing to do but buy things with government checks. So I bought an ASUS ZenMax Wi-Fi 6 pair and had so many problems but it would happen spontaneously because of software updates. Turned that to manual once I got a good update but then there are security updates and things have slowly gotten better over time.

It was giving me issues again though towards the end of last year so I got a top of the line Eero Pro 6E pair and that thing was super buggy!! I’ve never had so many problems with a router in my life. Worked through a bunch of things with customer support, tried rolling back different versions, and everything sucked.

Fortunately I hadn’t yet traded my Asus back to Amazon as I had a good deal where I would’ve gotten $75/each and had another deal where the Eero was $299 so the whole thing would’ve been $149. I see now why they were trying to sell them for so cheap.

The solution I ended up going with to fix my problems with the Asus was to turn the wireless backbone into another access band and use a MoCA to connect them across the house wired over coaxial. Now it’s nearly 99.9% stable and I just reboot it if it acts up once every couple months and that sorts it.

Apple really needs to get back into the router game. Idc how much it costs—good, reliable, trouble-free home Wi-Fi is worth a router’s weight in gold!
Click to expand...
Simple answer is...they're not all so buggy. Back when I was working for a client that had AirPort Extreme's hardwired around the office, I was constantly having to reboot them as they would stop working and a reboot was the fix. Finally replaced with non-Apple gear and problem solved.

Nowadays, there are plenty of great mesh systems available, and you don't have to spend a mint to get fast, reliable performance. In my home and about half dozen clients offices and homes, I've put the TP-Link Deco X60 mesh system. Hardwired all X60's when possible (like in my own home). Absolutely flawless. Easily 600-700 down and great reach out to the patio and typically on sale for under $200 for a 3-unit pack. I would never spend top-dollar for some of these companies high-end gear. I have to look twice sometimes at the price tag for some of these mesh systems.

The WIFI market is saturated. Apple can't get any traction in a market with so much competing product already. They'd have to have a trick up their sleeve, different from everyone else, and we know Apple isn't so much into that these days and if they were, it'd take them 3-4 years to release it (after a handful of delays).
 
jezbd1997 said:
we have got a bunch of airports, ac extreme, express and n extreme.
all showing their age for sure with 10 devices connected.
went back to these though due to buggy google wifi!
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I had 4 Airports of various versions. Two recently died; only Airport Extreme Tower and Airport Express still running. However, the AE 5Ghz radio stopped and now only runs in 2.4Ghz mode. The Extreme Tower still performs very well but it will not join or extend any third party router; only Apple ones so limited utility when I add a new router.
 
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marstan said:
I had 4 Airports of various versions. Two recently died; only Airport Extreme Tower and Airport Express still running. However, the AE 5Ghz radio stopped and now only runs in 2.4Ghz mode. The Extreme Tower still performs very well but it will not join or extend any third party router; only Apple ones so limited utility when I add a new router.
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I actually had the most issues with the AC tower. Overheating and something getting damaged. Had 2 of them get to a point where they would turn off until unplugging for a bit. Probably components failing in power supplies.
Wish they would release a new mesh model
 
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Aston441 said:
My Gen1 Google Mesh thingies are rock solid now.

When they switched from the standalone app, to the GHome app, there was about 18 months where they were completely inaccessible, but they still worked 🤪.

Finally the GHome app was updated so I could get back into them.

I have 6 of them running fine, for years and years.

What was your issue?
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Do you have original gen?
We bought 2 nest routers so I could hardwire. Originally and for a year I believe they worked flawlessly.
Also actually had less issues with the GoogleWiFi app!
After one of the firmware updates it all went downhill. I even got one of the routers replaced by Google.
Dropouts, IPv6 bug causing chaos for everyone (provider even contacted us about it) and most recently the reason that got me to reconnect the AirPorts, was random latency spikes even over wired connections (forum link).
Absolutely shouldn't need to be doing troubleshooting on a consumer router advertised to fix itself.

Coming from using AirPorts for the previous 13 years where they could go months on end without being restarted it was a nightmare
 
macos9rules said:
In my opinion, Lossless audio is snake oil. I'm an audio engineer, multi-instrumentalist with perfect pitch, pro audio gear, and I really can't tell the difference between a lossless file and a high quality MP3 or AAC file. People around me who thought they could tell the difference always failed in blind tests. If you can tell the difference in a blind test, I'd be curious to know.
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I believe I responded to you one of the other threads. And my answer is "yes", with decent headphones, depending how well I know the original source material for comparison, how well it was mastered and when it was mastered.

IMHO lowering latency is a bigger issue that needs to be addressed when it comes to bluetooth headphones or speakers.
 
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deevey said:
I believe I responded to you one of the other threads. And my answer is "yes", with decent headphones, depending how well I know the original source material for comparison, how well it was mastered and when it was mastered.

IMHO lowering latency is a bigger issue that needs to be addressed when it comes to bluetooth headphones or speakers.
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There you bring up a topic that may influence how people perceive lossless music vs lossy. When the songs were converted to lossless, many of them were remastered and that process likely produces a perceptible difference in the lossy and lossless versions.
 
Tagbert said:
There you bring up a topic that may influence how people perceive lossless music vs lossy. When the songs were converted to lossless, many of them were remastered and that process likely produces a perceptible difference in the lossy and lossless versions.
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Yes I'd guess it will sound quite different. Apple have their own "Mastered for iTunes" initiative - but even they acknowledge lossless will be "different".

The double blind audio test however lossless files and converts it to lossy. Not a different master - so it's fair as can be (at least acoustically) in it's current state.

However I find the double blind "test" more as ammo for the lossless lovers than actually being very accurate unless they allow us to:

a) listen to the track full length (artifacts or filtering may only show up in certain areas).
b) select tracks you are extremely familiar with already.

If the above was implemented, you might find more people finding the actual perceivable differences and make better informed choices rather than settling for "as-good-as CD quality" audio.
 
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deevey said:
Yes I'd guess it will sound quite different. Apple have their own "Mastered for iTunes" initiative - but even they acknowledge lossless will be "different".

The double blind audio test however lossless files and converts it to lossy. Not a different master - so it's fair as can be (at least acoustically) in it's current state.

However I find the double blind "test" more as ammo for the lossless lovers than actually being very accurate unless they allow us to:

a) listen to the track full length (artifacts or filtering may only show up in certain areas).
b) select tracks you are extremely familiar with already.

If the above was implemented, you might find more people finding the actual perceivable differences and make better informed choices rather than settling for "as-good-as CD quality" audio.
Click to expand...
CD quality (44k/16bit) is actually pretty damn good. All the lossy stuff is less than that. I don't even understand the need for lossy audio today given the storage capacities and speeds of devices these days. Streaming 44k/16 bit is absurdly trivial.

With regard to double-blind tests agree on whole tracks but I would add that DB tests can, and maybe should, go on for days. Small irritations and distortions can accumulate in the ear/brain over an extended period of time that may not show up in short, fast switching tests.
 
dmylrea said:
Simple answer is...they're not all so buggy. Back when I was working for a client that had AirPort Extreme's hardwired around the office, I was constantly having to reboot them as they would stop working and a reboot was the fix. Finally replaced with non-Apple gear and problem solved.

Nowadays, there are plenty of great mesh systems available, and you don't have to spend a mint to get fast, reliable performance. In my home and about half dozen clients offices and homes, I've put the TP-Link Deco X60 mesh system. Hardwired all X60's when possible (like in my own home). Absolutely flawless. Easily 600-700 down and great reach out to the patio and typically on sale for under $200 for a 3-unit pack. I would never spend top-dollar for some of these companies high-end gear. I have to look twice sometimes at the price tag for some of these mesh systems.

The WIFI market is saturated. Apple can't get any traction in a market with so much competing product already. They'd have to have a trick up their sleeve, different from everyone else, and we know Apple isn't so much into that these days and if they were, it'd take them 3-4 years to release it (after a handful of delays).
Click to expand...
Isn't TP Link one of those companies charging an annual fee now to use all the functions of the router?
 
marstan said:
CD quality (44k/16bit) is actually pretty damn good. All the lossy stuff is less than that.
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Amen.
marstan said:
I don't even understand the need for lossy audio today given the storage capacities and speeds of devices these days. Streaming 44k/16 bit is absurdly trivial.
Click to expand...
Says no-one with a low end mac or iPad ..... EVER.

Lossy has it's place, so does lossless. Different tools for different jobs. The tip of knife is not a screwdriver even if some insist it does it "just as well".
marstan said:
With regard to double-blind tests agree on whole tracks but I would add that DB tests can, and maybe should, go on for days. Small irritations and distortions can accumulate in the ear/brain over an extended period of time that may not show up in short, fast switching tests.
Click to expand...
Ear fatigue can set in after just a few minutes depending on the volume and source material.
 
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