Apple AirPods Pro

[SauRoNZA]

Nah, sorry bud, but I think you are full of it. You are interpolating all of the negatives and making them fit your narrative. Yet every review I’ve read or watched has them as an overwhelmingly positive product.

But you are now making it sound like it’s like listening to your favourite music with potatoes in your ears when that is far from reality. It maybe not audiophile quality, I’m not an audiophile, but for the majority of people who live on planet earth, it ticks the daily driver boxes across a number of areas and that is more than enough.

Tell me, what headphones or earbuds do you use?

I think your use of the term daily driver proves the point exactly and that is where they win over and over again.

More so if you have multiple devices and it just hands over between them without you ever doing anything that is a daily driver feature that puts it above everything else.

I just wonder if these Pros will finally work on the bike for me.

 

[SauRoNZA]

I've had my Airpods Pro since the launch date.

You feel them in your ears a lot more than the original Airpods, but you get used to it. They are not going to replace my 1000XM3 for flights, but for general subway and city walking they are good.

If you are in a quiet office already then getting the Pro over the originals probably isn't going to be a big difference.

-edit- I also really dont like the control. The original with the tap on left or right Airpod for previous/next song was quick and efficient. Having to find the Airpod and squeeze it 2-3 times I just find slower.

What I would have really liked to are more options for customisation to just adjust the bloody volume on the bud.

That still seems insane to me.

Especially with Siri not having a local cache for commands. No internet no volume change.

 

[SauRoNZA]

This sounds like ANC speak. The 'narrative' is that audio quality trumps all other features of earphones/headphones for me. I have been clear about my reservations and that they pertain specifically to audio quality. Reviews seem to spend almost no time on actually critiquing the audio quality of the AirPods Pro. It's always about noise cancellation, setup, passthrough etc. rather than if they're actually any good as a pair of earphones.

I've gone through many headphones and earphones. I used the Klipsch S4i earphones for a while and currently use the T5, which are pretty good but seldom used. Not an earphone fan. For headphones, I mostly rely on the Audio Technica M50x for their natural soundstage, or at least what has become a natural feel to me. And I drift between the Sennheiser HD 650 and Sony XB950. The 650 is phenomenal for classical music but I find it soulless for pretty much everything else. The Sony's have totally overpowered bass, which works great for some genres. I have a Kickstarter pair of ORA GQ graphene headphones shipping soon, and I'm expecting them to become the only thing I use to listen to music. Not sure why any of this is relevant. You don't have to be an audiophile (I'm absolutely not one) to recognise the below-par quality of EarPods and AirPods.

Cerebus below makes a decent-enough argument for buying these, as not intended for serious music appreciation but other convenience factors. And if you can throw $250 at that convenience and not have to sacrifice an alternative listening experience, then no one can argue against that.



Yeah, fair enough. Clearly the AirPods Pro excels at everything other than high-quality music listening.

But if you wanted to audio quality at the fore front then you shouldn’t be using anything wireless at all, not so?

So doing that alone already means you’ve chosen convenience over quality.

If you want the purist audio quality then unfortunately you’ll always need to be moored to your DAC at home using a fancy wire and playing it through a Marantz CD player (or god forbid vinyl...kill me now) because all things digital are garbage remember.

The entire equation is about convenience over quality.

 

[Bryn]

But if you wanted to audio quality at the fore front then you shouldn’t be using anything wireless at all, not so?

So doing that alone already means you’ve chosen convenience over quality.

If you want the purist audio quality then unfortunately you’ll always need to be moored to your DAC at home using a fancy wire and playing it through a Marantz CD player (or god forbid vinyl...kill me now) because all things digital are garbage remember.

The entire equation is about convenience over quality.

The ORA graphene headphone can run wired and wireless, and they supposedly need very little power given the graphene driver. And there is enough reliable feedback for it (Pascal Shefteshy, George Massenburg, Richard King, Brian Losch and others) that indicate there is something ridiculous about (allegedly) the world's first proper graphene headphone. It's almost 2 years behind schedule, but finally they're shipping to backers around now.

It's an understatement to say I've been eagerly awaiting my graphene headphones. To hear comments from folks with over 15 grammies between them say things that imply the headphones are the most impressive they've ever heard had me grabbing my credit card pretty quickly, back when orders were still open.

I've ordered a Schiit Audio DAC and headphone amp. Should go perfectly fine with the ORA.

 

[Spizz]

The ORA graphene headphone can run wired and wireless, and they supposedly need very little power given the graphene driver. And there is enough reliable feedback for it (Pascal Shefteshy, George Massenburg, Richard King, Brian Losch and others) that indicate there is something ridiculous about (allegedly) the world's first proper graphene headphone. It's almost 2 years behind schedule, but finally they're shipping to backers around now.

It's an understatement to say I've been eagerly awaiting my graphene headphones. To hear comments from folks with over 15 grammies between them say things that imply the headphones are the most impressive they've ever heard had me grabbing my credit card pretty quickly, back when orders were still open.

I've ordered a Schiit Audio DAC and headphone amp. Should go perfectly fine with the ORA.

Sounds great. What size of battery will you have to run it all in your backpack?

Just kidding, but I think you have highlighted perfectly just what an achievement any kind of true wireless earbud with ANC actually is at this level of quality. Both these and the Sony of course. Like any other area of technology, the envelope keeps being pushed and improvements come with time. I have Bose Sleepbuds for example, and even a year or two ago there was talk about the technology not being there to stream music through these small in ear buds, but look where we are now on a unit not so much bigger. And not only streaming music, but ANC and voice commands/calls at a quality level that is pretty remarkable given the size.

So when there is only one alternative to truly wireless with ANC for those of us who travel a lot and have been looking forward to a good all rounder, your rant is pretty uncalled for when you consider the size of the field. I'll take the sound quality drop of the AirPod Pro, it's unrestricted ease of use and it's portability over fiddling about with airports, taxi's and overhead lockers and bags to get my B&W P5s any day of the week.

EDIT: I just realised when reading this back, that AirPods Pro (if I buy them) will replace my original Airpods, my Beatsx and my Bose Sleepbuds, all of which I travel with and use at different stages of a journey.

Next week I've got 2 days in the back of a taxi followed by 3 flights from Borneo to Java to Singapore to Cape town via Johannesburg and trust me, portability is an issue. A R3800 purchase duty free at Singapore might just be on the cards for that last 13 hour flight home.

2nd EDIT: I forgot transit passengers get a $20 voucher at Changi airport, so that’s another R220 off.

 

[whatwhat]

What I would have really liked to are more options for customisation to just adjust the bloody volume on the bud.

That still seems insane to me.

Especially with Siri not having a local cache for commands. No internet no volume change.

That's what the Apple Watch is for.

 

[whatwhat]

Sounds great. What size of battery will you have to run it all in your backpack?

Just kidding, but I think you have highlighted perfectly just what an achievement any kind of true wireless earbud with ANC actually is at this level of quality. Both these and the Sony of course. Like any other area of technology, the envelope keeps being pushed and improvements come with time. I have Bose Sleepbuds for example, and even a year or two ago there was talk about the technology not being there to stream music through these small in ear buds, but look where we are now on a unit not so much bigger. And not only streaming music, but ANC and voice commands/calls at a quality level that is pretty remarkable given the size.

So when there is only one alternative to truly wireless with ANC for those of us who travel a lot and have been looking forward to a good all rounder, your rant is pretty uncalled for when you consider the size of the field. I'll take the sound quality drop of the AirPod Pro, it's unrestricted ease of use and it's portability over fiddling about with airports, taxi's and overhead lockers and bags to get my B&W P5s any day of the week.

EDIT: I just realised when reading this back, that AirPods Pro (if I buy them) will replace my original Airpods, my Beatsx and my Bose Sleepbuds, all of which I travel with and use at different stages of a journey.

Next week I've got 2 days in the back of a taxi followed by 3 flights from Borneo to Java to Singapore to Cape town via Johannesburg and trust me, portability is an issue. A R3800 purchase duty free at Singapore might just be on the cards for that last 13 hour flight home.

2nd EDIT: I forgot transit passengers get a $20 voucher at Changi airport, so that’s another R220 off.

I fly a lot, and the Airpods Pro are ok for short trips. Especially if you are planing on using them to the airport, they will be dead by the time you get to the plane, and then need to sit and wait for them to charge.

Will keep using my 1000XM3 for planes, and the Pro will be for everything else.

 

[SauRoNZA]

The ORA graphene headphone can run wired and wireless, and they supposedly need very little power given the graphene driver. And there is enough reliable feedback for it (Pascal Shefteshy, George Massenburg, Richard King, Brian Losch and others) that indicate there is something ridiculous about (allegedly) the world's first proper graphene headphone. It's almost 2 years behind schedule, but finally they're shipping to backers around now.

It's an understatement to say I've been eagerly awaiting my graphene headphones. To hear comments from folks with over 15 grammies between them say things that imply the headphones are the most impressive they've ever heard had me grabbing my credit card pretty quickly, back when orders were still open.

I've ordered a Schiit Audio DAC and headphone amp. Should go perfectly fine with the ORA.

How much though?

 

[SauRoNZA]

That's what the Apple Watch is for.

True. When you have that it does kind of replace that function.

Still a simple software choice in the matter would have been nice.

 

[Bryn]

How much though?

C$400 excl. international shipping, which at the time was R4.2k + R460 I think. I don't recall the creators mentioning what sort of pricing they're considering for the first retail unit, but some updates did give the impression that this whole exercise was either being done at cost or below cost.

 

[SauRoNZA]

C$400 excl. international shipping, which at the time was R4.2k + R460 I think. I don't recall the creators mentioning what sort of pricing they're considering for the first retail unit, but some updates did give the impression that this whole exercise was either being done at cost or below cost.

So we can safely agree the Airpods Pro while not nearly as good are in fact cheap by comparison at half the price?

 

[cerebus]

What I would have really liked to are more options for customisation to just adjust the bloody volume on the bud.

That still seems insane to me.

Especially with Siri not having a local cache for commands. No internet no volume change.

I use my Watch dial to change volume. It’s a pretty good solution

 

[SauRoNZA]

I use my Watch dial to change volume. It’s a pretty good solution

Yeah I forgot about that, which is ironic since I use my watch most to listen to music.

 

[Bryn]

So we can safely agree the Airpods Pro while not nearly as good are in fact cheap by comparison at half the price?

I wasn't comparing them. And C$400 is $301. The AirPods Pro costs 83% of that price. A scary thought tbh.

 

[Spizz]

I wasn't comparing them. And C$400 is $301. The AirPods Pro costs 83% of that price. A scary thought tbh.

Not really, that’s Apples and oranges.

Maybe it’s more pertinent and revealing to consider that Sony WF1000-XM3 and AirPods Pro are the same price as Bose Sleepbuds.

 

[Bryn]

Not really, that’s Apples and oranges.

Maybe it’s more pertinent and revealing to consider that Sony WF1000-XM3 and AirPods Pro are the same price as Bose Sleepbuds.

The Sleepbuds were more of a medical device, priced for its niche market, played built-in ambient sounds and the product was crap on top of that. For people who need to drift off with music playing or ambient sounds, SleepPhones or CozyPhones are infinitely better.

You guys are glossing over my main point though: it's not good enough just that the AirPods Pro isn't so objectively bad in terms of audio quality that any layman would agree. We're talking about a trillion dollar company with a history of pushing technology/trends forward at several crucial moments. Nothing in the world is stopping Apple from including killer audio quality in their products. With their resources and economies of scale, the AirPods Pro should have exceptional audio quality. And those expensive Beats products should be mindblowing. But no, everyone gives them a pass because the quality isn't garbage.

 

[Spizz]

The Sleepbuds were more of a medical device, priced for its niche market, played built-in ambient sounds and the product was crap on top of that. For people who need to drift off with music playing or ambient sounds, SleepPhones or CozyPhones are infinitely better.

Seriously, come on man. You're running with subjective reviews and making them objective in your mind. Surely you haven't tried all 3 of those products so how would you know which ones are infinitely better? I checked out a lot of options and opted for the Bose and have to say I'm super delighted with them.Doesn't mean I'd say they are far better than the alternatives, how would I know? And not everyone is me. I mean where do you get niche from? Sure, they don't suit everyone, but you are again resorting to type as you've done with the Airpods and are taking a few reviews and running with it as dyed in the wool fact. It's not, it's an opinions game. And you opinion is based on your needs, not mine.

You guys are glossing over my main point though: it's not good enough just that the AirPods Pro isn't so objectively bad in terms of audio quality that any layman would agree. We're talking about a trillion dollar company with a history of pushing technology/trends forward at several crucial moments. Nothing in the world is stopping Apple from including killer audio quality in their products. With their resources and economies of scale, the AirPods Pro should have exceptional audio quality. And those expensive Beats products should be mindblowing. But no, everyone gives them a pass because the quality isn't garbage.

Why would you think that this is the best Apple or Sony can come up with and the technology doesn't allow for a better audio experience? Maybe there is a reason there are only 2 competitors in this market and they both review similarly with various plus/minuses.

 

[Bryn]

Seriously, come on man. You're running with subjective reviews and making them objective in your mind. Surely you haven't tried all 3 of those products so how would you know which ones are infinitely better? I checked out a lot of options and opted for the Bose and have to say I'm super delighted with them.Doesn't mean I'd say they are far better than the alternatives, how would I know? And not everyone is me. I mean where do you get niche from? Sure, they don't suit everyone, but you are again resorting to type as you've done with the Airpods and are taking a few reviews and running with it as dyed in the wool fact. It's not, it's an opinions game. And you opinion is based on your needs, not mine.

Why would you think that this is the best Apple or Sony can come up with and the technology doesn't allow for a better audio experience? Maybe there is a reason there are only 2 competitors in this market and they both review similarly with various plus/minuses.

You tend to get quite personal with your replies. Calm down man. We're just talking tech on a forum.

Earbuds meant to be used while sleeping and that contain ambient sleep tracks is clearly a niche product. Nothing controversial here. And it goes without saying that any person's opinion is based on their own needs and their biased idea of what other people's needs are.

I have family members who struggle to sleep and have purchased an assortment of sleeping aids over the years. The Sleepbuds were one such purchase (among a whole drawer of similarly abandoned gadgets) and were never touched again after discovering the comfy wrap-around headbands like SleepPhones and CozyPhones. Not sure which brand they have but it looks pretty much the same, and those were reported by both concerned parties as being finally an adequate solution.

There is no way that the AirPods Pro and Beats headphones are the best that Apple can come up with. I don't think anyone would believe that. It's more like meticulously honed quality levels that are the minimum that consumers will accept at various price levels, both to minimise costs and provide maximum headroom for miniscule future improvements.

Sony has nowhere close to the resources and economies of scale of Apple, nor the shrewd business sense. It should be concerning when Apple can do little to no better than any given Sony product within their field of expertise.

 

[Spizz]

You tend to get quite personal with your replies. Calm down man. We're just talking tech on a forum.

Earbuds meant to be used while sleeping and that contain ambient sleep tracks is clearly a niche product. Nothing controversial here. And it goes without saying that any person's opinion is based on their own needs and their biased idea of what other people's needs are.

I have family members who struggle to sleep and have purchased an assortment of sleeping aids over the years. The Sleepbuds were one such purchase (among a whole drawer of similarly abandoned gadgets) and were never touched again after discovering the comfy wrap-around headbands like SleepPhones and CozyPhones. Not sure which brand they have but it looks pretty much the same, and those were reported by both concerned parties as being finally an adequate solution.

There is no way that the AirPods Pro and Beats headphones are the best that Apple can come up with. I don't think anyone would believe that. It's more like meticulously honed quality levels that are the minimum that consumers will accept at various price levels, both to minimise costs and provide maximum headroom for miniscule future improvements.

Sony has nowhere close to the resources and economies of scale of Apple, nor the shrewd business sense. It should be concerning when Apple can do little to no better than any given Sony product within their field of expertise.

Apologies if I come across strong, it's not intended.

 

[Mr Scratch]

Just got the SMS, delivery next Monday.