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Next up: EU launches investigation against Apple for not opening up the instant pairing to Android and PC users
Lots of competition in the headphone market.

Also, wouldn't it be kind of hypocritical to do so at the behest of the Kings of Proprietary (Sony), of all companies. 😉
 
TBH apple should do the made for iPhone thing and open the pairing chip to high quality manufacturers. They already hand it out like candy to crappy cable manufacturers. Sony is offering something different from Apple's offering in this case, and sure they'd pay a royalty to Apple for the chip, but so many customers. That being said, my QC35II can connect to multiple devices simultaneously and is a better experience than my AirPods switching between MacBook and iPhone.
 
People complained about how Airpods look in the ears but Sony's are even worse and they're uncomfortable, I had the OG ones maybe they've improved.
 
I buy Apple products because of their integration. Nothing else comes close and no other company seems to even value that. So the AirPods would have to be vastly inferior in major ways for me to consider something else.
Anecdotal evidence iOS has poor experience with Bluetooth devices.

Also, I hate the label truely wireless.
 
If you care about sound quality the pro’s aren’t it.
it’s easy. Sound quality group get sony’s. If you want the iphone integration get the pro’s. Even if they sound like 20$ earbuds.
 
I buy Apple products because of their integration. Nothing else comes close and no other company seems to even value that. So the AirPods would have to be vastly inferior in major ways for me to consider something else.
It's almost like Apple have more access/permissions than third party developers!
 
I buy Apple products because of their integration. Nothing else comes close and no other company seems to even value that. So the AirPods would have to be vastly inferior in major ways for me to consider something else.
Well they are inferior in sound quality. So depending what you use your earphones for, that may be important.

I have both, and use the AirPod pro more regularly as they are lighter and good enough. But if I want to enjoy the music, there’s no question the Sony sound better to my ear.
 
without an H1 chip it’s a no-buy for me. spatial audio is just way too fun/nice IMO.
There’s a setting in the iOS music settings you can change that will allow spatial audio with non Apple Bluetooth headphones. 9to5mac had an article about it yesterday. Don’t know if it works with these new WF1000xm4 earbuds but it definitely works well with my WH1000xm4 headphones.
 
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The awkwardly named WF-1000XM4 buds are priced at $279, just a bit higher than the AirPods Pro at $249, although we've been regularly seeing discounted pricing on AirPods Pro in the $200 range (including $189.99 for Prime Day), so that's one factor in favor of the AirPods Pro, at least for now.
🤣

Wow. Dinging the Sony's because they're "awkwardly named" and they aren't being discounted right off the bat (launched June 8).... If you wanted to give readers the idea of this being a fair and honest review, you just blew it.
 
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Nice write up! Poke fun at the name, don’t cover audio quality. This for an earphone that is arguably the best sounding wireless noise cancelling earbud on the market.

But Sony haven’t followed the tech trend of naming conventions.
 
The ANC and sound quality are really great with the Sony's. The fine tuning you can do to the sound and ANC is just fantastic. I can't believe in 2021 Apple still doesn't have an EQ you can adjust manually in the OS.
 
So I have the Sony XM4 over ear headphones and they do sound fantastic and have best of class noise cancelling and battery life...
BUT

When you configure it to be the least annoying as possible you still have to put up with the assistant voice saying "Bluetooth Device 1... Connnected".
Connected to two devices and take a phone call? 5 seconds into the phone call "Bluetooth Device 2... Disconnected" drowning out the other person.

Listen to a funny podcast and laugh? It pauses playback thinking you're talking to somebody.

When the next version of the stupidly expensive over ear Apple headphones comes out in a year or two, I might seriously consider getting them just to avoid the "helpful" features of Sony.
 
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Check out the Bowers & Wilkins pi7 instead. Best sound quality yet in the wireless earbuds range.
Just ordered a pair of these. B&W are my favorite audio brand. I have a pair of Airpods Pros, and while I really liked the airpods at first, I'm not a fan any more. They audio and phone call quality isn't good. The battery life is not good, and they have terrible connectivity and auto-pairing issues. I'm audio quality all the way. I will probably pick up a pair of these sony's as well and ditch the airpods.
 
My dad got the Sony headphones and they sound amazing. I prefer my Airpods because of their convenience and spatial audio.
 
So, would people still complain that AirPods are overpriced? Seems like the competitors have no problem exceeding Apple's price without being called overpriced.
 
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I have the Sony WF-1000XM3’s and have had several issues with them from day-one. They have very bad Bluetooth performance and sometimes takes minutes to connect to my iPhone. I’ve even had them replaced with very little difference. Won’t buy Sony in-ears again.
Believe me not as much as I’ve had with both of my airpod Pro pairs.
 
For Dolby Atmos, which is better?
Dolby Atmos is a fad in music that will not last long, just as when they tried to do 5.1 DVD Audio records that took nowhere. I’m much more interested in finally getting lossless than this.
 
Here is an advice, for Apple the Air pods are an accessory, they may integrate nice with iPhone, decent sound, but is still an accessory for Apple, product quality is not that important. They won't put much effort on them becasue anything can be solved by returning the product. In the other hand earbuds and headphones are one of Sony's specialty. Buy a Sony if you want a solid product that lasts. Same applies for Microsoft, these big companies make a lot of money by selling masses of overpriced and in some cases garbage accessories with no quality, because you can return them, so quality doesn't matter that much.
 
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