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Hands-On With Apple's New Second-Generation AirPods

Imdougurnot said:
And anyone who thinks that these things have good sound quality need to put an actual quality headphone in their ears.
All of this “they sound so much better” and “are faster” is nothing more than people trying to justify spending another $200 on a piece of crap product.
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If it is a piece of crap product, why are you following and responding to posts on a message boards about them?
 
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So what happens if you try to connect the AirPods 2 to an "incompatible" Apple device like an iPhone 5c running iOS 10 or a Mac running High Sierra or Sierra? Will it gracefully degrade to function just like AirPods 1, basically slower connection times and no Hey Siri? Will it only get basic generic Bluetooth headphone functionality? Or will it not work at all?
 
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djcerla said:
They’re fast at connecting, have a longer range compared to my girlfriend’s Gen 1 and sound very good to me.

The sound “inflates” beautifully as the volume goes up rather than distorting/thinning. A major improvement over my Powerbeats.

Problems:

1) I had to reboot the case and reconnect as the right earbud was quickly draining its battery while the left one reached 100% in no time. After that, all OK.

2) Hey Siri had a very long lag before activating (seconds), but I only tried a few times, will investigate further.
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Yes I do realise that right earpod seem to drained off faster than the left.
 
When they came out with what changes were made for the AirPods 2 (really more like 1.2), I decided to get something else.

Just got my Jabra Elite Active 65t. Did the research and they seem to be about the best true wireless in-ears, and good for working out as well. They sound fantastic!

Passed my AirPods 1 to my daughter. And those got the firmware upgrade today. I don’t think she’ll use them, but didn’t want to toss ‘em.
 
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MacRumors said:



Apple's second-generation AirPods, announced last week, started showing up on people's doorsteps this morning and also became available for purchase in Apple retail stores. We picked up a set of AirPods 2 to see how they compare to the original AirPods.



Second-generation AirPods actually come in two configurations: with a new Wireless Charging Case and with a Lightning-only charging case, with the former priced at $199 and the latter priced at $159. We purchased the version with the Wireless Charging Case, as the new case is one of the major changes.

Design wise, you're not going to be able to tell the new AirPods from the original AirPods. They're still only available in white and they continue to feature the exact same design - white plastic buds with a stem at the bottom.

All of the changes to the AirPods are actually internal. There's a new H1 chip that replaces the W1 chip and brings quite a few improvements. In our experience, AirPods 2 connect to your devices much more quickly than the original AirPods, and swapping between devices is faster.

Latency has been cut down, and because the AirPods 2 support Bluetooth 5.0, you may see some range and quality improvements. We think the AirPods 2 seem to sound a bit better, especially at higher volumes.

There's a new "Hey Siri" feature that lets you activate Siri hands-free without the need to tap on the AirPods, and when talking on the phone, battery life is now three hours instead of two.

A major difference between AirPods 1 and AirPods 2 is the aforementioned Wireless Charging Case, which comes with AirPods 2 and can be purchased on a standalone basis for AirPods 1 for $79. The Wireless Charging Case lets you use any Qi-based wireless charger to charge up your AirPods, and it will let the AirPods work with the AirPower if Apple ever releases it.

AirPods 1 and AirPods 2 are not interchangeable -- if you try to use an original AirPod with a second-generation AirPod in the AirPods Charging Case, it will flash red to let you know about the incompatibility.

There's no real way to visually tell the two versions apart, but if you connect them to your iPhone, you can see which version you have by opening up the Settings app, choosing General, and scrolling down to the AirPods section. You can tell the Charging Case from the standard case because the LED light that indicates charging is on the outside of the case rather on the inside.

The second-generation AirPods shipped without features many were hoping for such as a new color and health tracking capabilities, but still mark a solid upgrade over the original version. What do you think of Apple's new AirPods? Let us know in the comments.

Article Link: Hands-On With Apple's New Second-Generation AirPods
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What about the other half of the AirPods, the microphone quality testing, which is arguably a more important part of any review of these for people that hope to use them for important phone calls?

Spectrum analysis is very easy to do.
 
I am very happy with the gen 1 Airpods but might get a pair of the cordless Powerbeats mentioned earier.
 
In two years time, the value will be significantly drop. Not worth it as an investment gadget, total crap and expensive. I'd rather get Bose products!
 
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citysnaps said:
"We think the AirPods 2 seem to sound a bit better, especially at higher volumes."
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That sound is going to be subjective. Certain people are going to hear better sound, others are going to hear no difference. According to MKBHD, Apple confirmed the sound was the same. Grain of salt, based on your level of trust in his words. Approx. 4:35 into the vid.
 
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Well, my Airpods Gen 2 arrived today and I took them out tonight on a typical dog walk and they did not disappoint!

As I was leaving the house I thought about whether to bring my iPhone X or not since I usually just stream podcasts from my Apple Watch S3. But I took the phone anyway since that is what I had “paired” the new Airpods with earlier and I didn’t want to find that my watch wasn’t on the same page during the walk.

So, I started my podcast from my iPhone and started walking. After a minute or two I thought, “oh, I’ve not started my outdoor walk workout” at which point I was faced with a dilemma. Do I use the touch interface on my Watch to start the workout given that my Airpods are connected to my phone? Or do I use “Hey Siri” on the Airpods but then start the workout on my phone and miss out on heart rate data?

Well, I just did the obvious thing and said, “Hey Siri, start outdoor walk” and to my delight, she replied, “Starting workout on your Apple Watch” or words to that effect!

Now, I’m a software engineer with 25 years experience and currently I’m contracting for a client developing a voice assistant product for the hospitality sector and I have to say this blew me away! The level of sophistication required to have two independent Airpod devices plus an iPhone and Apple Watch all work together with the iPhone delivering podcast audio to the Airpods while they listen for “Hey Siri” and then somehow my Watch being told to start a workout and then seamlessly carrying on my podcast from my iPhone is just mind blowing!

Anyone who has worked with Bluetooth on a technical level will appreciate the Airpods far more than is rational. I am one of those people and I can tell you this is not far short of witchcraft!
 
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