I was thinking about how my AirPods have been integrated into my life and others. I see so many people from all ages and walks of life using them. If I compare them to any other headphones, including AirPods max. They just win in every comparable arena for me. Mac/IPad/IPhone/Airpods are what make apple great.
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AirPods are one of kind.
- Thread starter C. Robert
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I still think pound for pound, price to value, they are still one of the best inventions apple has made in the 21st century and it's the reason why they have sold so incredibly well. They are just super convenient, they sound good, the connection is nearly flawless (especially with the updated chip in gen 2) and the charging case was genius. There is good reason why they sold over 60 million units in 2019. I've bought them for friends and family over the years as gifts because they are reasonably priced and I wanted them to experience this.
I’m pretty late to the game. Only got my first ever AirPods yesterday. They are suprisingly very good, a jack of all trades, music sounds good as does phone calls.
Yes, all the AirPods models are great in most areas.
But to me, above all, it comes down to Apple providing a solution to one single issue that no other company cared to solve or wanted to solved before the 1st gen AirPods launched: Improving Bluetooth connectivity to a point where it's actually usable and something as simple as switching between devices is seamless or very close to seamless.
That's not to say that other manufacturers haven't been adopting the latest Bluetooth standard or don't have the same range or signal strength as Apple, or that others don't offer features that AirPods don't deliver. Because all of that is close to or as good as what Apple can deliver.
It's really the easy pairing and switching between devices that makes the AirPods much more a productivity tool than any other brand of headphones.
I'm by no means an AirPods or Apple "fanboy", I'd gladly purchase headphones from another brand if the features were better or the price lower than what Apple offers. And I've tried to find something comparable but there just isn't anything.
The only thing that has come close is Apple's own "other" brand, Beats. And while the various W1 and H1 chipped Beats models are decent alternatives, the build quality and design aesthetic does feel quite cheap and gaudy by comparison to the various AirPods models. If the price of something like the Powerbeats Pro was half of the AirPods Pro or AirPods (2nd generation) then I would definitely be willing to compromise.
But nothing comes close to AirPods and AirPods Pro.
*I'm also a big fan of how neutral the AirPods sound and don't buy into the whole idea that they lack bass and low end in general: We've been blasting our ears with in-ear headphones for years that all sold themselves on having the most aggresive low-end possible. But music and sound in general benefits from neutral reproduction and suffers with over-emphasized bass. The AirPods feature sound that's just right for most types of media and music genres.
But to me, above all, it comes down to Apple providing a solution to one single issue that no other company cared to solve or wanted to solved before the 1st gen AirPods launched: Improving Bluetooth connectivity to a point where it's actually usable and something as simple as switching between devices is seamless or very close to seamless.
That's not to say that other manufacturers haven't been adopting the latest Bluetooth standard or don't have the same range or signal strength as Apple, or that others don't offer features that AirPods don't deliver. Because all of that is close to or as good as what Apple can deliver.
It's really the easy pairing and switching between devices that makes the AirPods much more a productivity tool than any other brand of headphones.
I'm by no means an AirPods or Apple "fanboy", I'd gladly purchase headphones from another brand if the features were better or the price lower than what Apple offers. And I've tried to find something comparable but there just isn't anything.
The only thing that has come close is Apple's own "other" brand, Beats. And while the various W1 and H1 chipped Beats models are decent alternatives, the build quality and design aesthetic does feel quite cheap and gaudy by comparison to the various AirPods models. If the price of something like the Powerbeats Pro was half of the AirPods Pro or AirPods (2nd generation) then I would definitely be willing to compromise.
But nothing comes close to AirPods and AirPods Pro.
*I'm also a big fan of how neutral the AirPods sound and don't buy into the whole idea that they lack bass and low end in general: We've been blasting our ears with in-ear headphones for years that all sold themselves on having the most aggresive low-end possible. But music and sound in general benefits from neutral reproduction and suffers with over-emphasized bass. The AirPods feature sound that's just right for most types of media and music genres.
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