I think we can agree that Apple headphones are not for you. Future Apple headphones may also not be for you. There are quite a few people who do like Apple headphones, but they are definitely not a product that is for everyone.
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Apple's AirPods Team Wants 'More Bandwidth' Than Bluetooth Provides
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Too bad all the "extensive measurements" and "deep statistical research" didn't result in AirPods that stayed in my (apparently) tiny earholes. Loved the sound, hated the fit, returned them to keep my 2's. Hope they improve the 2's someday, but I won't hold my breath.
Yep same here! Returned the 3 and got a spare set of the Airpods Gen2 wireless case for foreseeable future. They were just too damn big for my ears and the Gen2 actually fit my ears perfectly even giving me a partial seal for decent bass.
I also tried the AirPods max for a better home audio experience but they were ultimately too heavy and too expensive to justify keeping them.
I’ve been saying this for a very long time. Bluetooth is simply not adequate for wireless headphones, Apple needs to develop their own communications protocol to really take things to the next level. 16/44.1 lossless should really be the bare minimum quality standard they are aiming for. Only then will it be a match for a portable Discman anyone would have been able to purchase 35 years ago. We need to stop going backwards and lowering standards in the name of convenience - it’s time for a true generational step forwards.
Pretty sure nothing you can say will convince him otherwise. He has his agenda and it’s been on full display for a while now.
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If they eager to press the issue so hard, why not pushing the single port MacBook Pro on those latest M1 MacBook Pro 14” and 16”, kill off iPhone ports as soon as iPhone 11, resist customer complain and push “modern” safari on Monterey and iOS 15, among other things? If customer feedback is so meaningless and stifles innovation, why bother?
You’d have thought so.
But I’m finding that when the record companies re-digitize a track to hi res, they take more care/do a better job than when they previously created the 256k AAC version
So it can sound better
No way they'd bring back the 3.5mm jack, it's a standard connector. Apple will "innovate" by creating a tiny, proprietary connector and sell you tons of dongles for it to convert it to 3.5mm.
Now *that* is innovation!
Which needs to change. It’s 2022 and iOS is still pausing music constantly while browsing safari and all the auto play garbage. ITS TIME!!!
This explains absolutely nothing. I asked you directly for a claim that you made. Therefore, back up your statement. That’s what a credible person does, not deflect to ‘look-up’ something. It’s fairly rudimentary Ben.
Well, there are two basic ways to improve audio transmission: a bigger pipe or a more efficient one. Advanced codecs take the second approach, and they can be very helpful even if/when you get a bigger pipe.
I'm rather surprised no one has yet mentioned the Bluetooth SIG's answer: LC3 and LC3plus codecs for LE Audio, adopted as the Bluetooth 5.2 (and higher) standards released over 2 years ago. Fraunhofer IIS and Ericsson jointly developed these codecs. According to Fraunhofer, LC3plus scales up to 24-bit/96 kHz audio (albeit not lossless; this is still a lossy codec, which fits for Bluetooth and low power/long battery life) and down to 5 ms of latency. LC3 is mandatory for conformance, so Apple is going to have to adopt it anyway in all Bluetooth 5.2+ devices -- or not support Bluetooth beyond 5.1, which I *suppose* is a choice. LC3plus support is optional in the spec. LC3plus products are already starting to hit the market, though.
LC3 replaces SBC, which is still supported. Of course LC3 is way better than SBC, and except for the "audiophiles" perhaps it should tick all the boxes. LC3plus competes with aptX Adaptive (Qualcomm), LDAC (Sony), Samsung Scalable, and LHDC (Savitech).
For listening to plain music/content without any ”head-tracking surround” effects, I’d say bluetooth bandwidth is fine. The problem comes in when the mic is activated at the same time. Simply put, bluetooth headphones don’t sound that nice when taking calls, and the one listening to your mic won’t really be wow’ed by your voice fidelity either.
It’s long overdue to have a new/updated standard with at the very least double bandwidth.
It’s long overdue to have a new/updated standard with at the very least double bandwidth.
I just think it’s funny that apple wants to get ahead of the technology when themselves were always behind the tech, not to mention that we can’t even own our High Res Music for the moment so why bother in the first place.
Which is why they can’t ignore the resurging PMP market, they could bank with an iPod Classic something I’m willing to go back to hell, Sony’s making a killing with their walkman line up, I wouldn’t mind forking over heavy cash for a hardcore media player from Apple, iOS won’t cut it anymore since they focus everything celular improvements over anything else. I’m foolishly waiting for something that won’t happen but still, something Has got to give, can’t focus on one feature over another when they turn their attention on the whole device as hole I guess.
I think right now, Apple is studying the idea of using ultra wideband (UWB) to wireless connect between the iPhone and Apple/Beats branded wireless headphones. It would work with the iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13 and newer models that have UWB already enabled. Problem is, it may be too complex an issue for Apple to solve themselves. As such, it may be a lot cheaper for Apple to support Bluetooth 5.2 plus the Sony LDAC codec, which offers high quality wireless audio transmission no much lesser than true lossless transmission.
Sony LDAC is 200+ ms of latency. That’s fine when you’re just waiting an extra 200 ms for non-interactive content like a song or movie, but it’s FAR too long for anything you’re expecting to have change as you turn your head, which is the use case the engineers are talking about.
Apple’s audio engineers likely already have it figured out, they’re just being coy.
And, when you think about it, they have not only devised a “Spatial audio” solution by themselves but also have more of those spatial audio devices in actual customers hands (and ears) than any of their competitors in that space.