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Airpods - new owners views, problems and questions
- Thread starter dave2010
- Start date
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I tested this just now - the person sitting 1-1.5 meters away from me started hearing the higher frequencies of the music I was listening to at 2/3 of max volume in a quiet room. The AirPods sit snuggly in my ears and that level of volume was too much for me to listen to for any length of time.
Love my AirPods but frustrated with random disconnects during calls and random pauses listening to podcasts while walking. Also mine have the stepped seam in the plastic that seems abnormal for Apple's level of attention to detail.
Turns out, like others reported, I can solve the random disconnects during calls by only using one AirPod. Disabling cellular (airplane mode then re-enable wifi and Bluetooth) solves random pausing while listening to podcasts on my walk. Not acceptable workarounds though.
Considering exchanging them in hopes of a fix. Can't imagine this wasn't noticed as a critical show-stopper during testing.
Turns out, like others reported, I can solve the random disconnects during calls by only using one AirPod. Disabling cellular (airplane mode then re-enable wifi and Bluetooth) solves random pausing while listening to podcasts on my walk. Not acceptable workarounds though.
Considering exchanging them in hopes of a fix. Can't imagine this wasn't noticed as a critical show-stopper during testing.
I just received my AirPods last night. Although I'm sure this thread is FULL of useful opinions of peoples experiences with them, I just don't feel like reading through 25 pages (or searching for that matter). I've had an issue with mine that if I move my head a certain way the audio cuts out. Also, does the case have a separate connection or does it share one with the AirPods? I tried leaving the case on my desk and taking care of some tasks in our server room and it cut out. Walked back to my desk to grab the case to see if there was a difference and it seemed like there was a notable difference.
Anyone experiencing anything like this? Sorry for the long winded post.
Anyone experiencing anything like this? Sorry for the long winded post.
The case is essentially dumb, it has no communication hardware of its own, it uses the communication hardware of the AirPods themselves to communicate with other devices. Which is why you need at least one AirPod in the case to get it's battery status.
Can't help with the audio cutting out without more information I'm afraid, there's so many factors involved. Like, how far from your device were you, what obstructions were between you and your device, were there a lot of other devices polluting the 2.4Ghz band (routers, wireless keyboards, Bluetooth, microwave and so on and so on,) how good a fit are the AirPods? Could they be loose and moving?
And of course there's the old, sometimes they will just glitch out, which will likely be improved as time rolls merrily on.
Moving your head a certain way and having the audio cut out is odd indeed. The case does nothing but charges the battery of the airpods and sends the battery case info to the airpods. There is no radio in the case. So having the case on your possession while in the server room should not increase the signal at all.
Audio quality is subjective, but the reason AirPods don't sound substantially different from wired EarPods, is precisely because the EarPods are at best of average fidelity. Let's use fidelity to clearly differentiate between sound quality which includes noise and digital compression related issues. The sound quality of the EarPods is definitely higher than that of the AirPods, because they are unaffected by any of the BT compression issues, digital artifacts and radio noise. However, the fidelity of the EarPods, and their cousin the AirPods is comparable -- that is to say, far less than an audiophile would accept, and lower than a good pair of headphones. That's not to say they don't sound pretty good for an average pair of earbuds -- I much prefer them to the cheap headphones they provide on an airplane, then again, that's not saying much. So I'm not at all surprised you don't hear any difference in fidelity between them. And, since the fidelity of the Pods isn't really high enough to register many of the BT sound quality issues inherent to that technology, those will mostly go unnoticed, especially when you consider there is no real sound isolation blocking ambient noise. Add to that the AirPods have really improved on much of the noise and dropouts that were endemic to most earlier BT headphones.
As for Siri, currently they can't really cache any commands for local execution, because they most likely lack the processor to do it. As I understand it, all the AirPods do is send the audio out to a processor capable of interpreting language, and the proper data commands or audio response are then returned to the AirPods. So until Apple upgrades the onboard processing power, quick Siri commands are not likely.
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1. That actually makes a lot of sense and can't believe I didn't notice that. It's been a long week.
2. I was sitting at a desk, phone was on the desk. All wired equipment. AirPods fit great and the audio cutting out isn't like a pause, it's more of a dead air skip. I might try using them on my iPad just to see if it's not an issue with my iPhone.
It could just be my office. When I'm at home I have no issues whatsoever.
Abhhh the pains of being an early adopter.
My AirPods have been great so far, except for some minor glitches when switching between various devices.
As for range and connectivity, I live in an old factory with thick brick walls, and my AirPods stay connected when I go down two floors to my mailbox. On the other hand, I get a lot of noisy feedback if I wear my AirPods near my microwave when it's heating something.
Speaking of which, how are AirPods going to be updated? A standalone firmware download? I've connected mine to my 2016 MBP for charging purposes, and while they charge fine, they don't pop up in iTunes as a connected device and they aren't mounted on the desktop.
As for range and connectivity, I live in an old factory with thick brick walls, and my AirPods stay connected when I go down two floors to my mailbox. On the other hand, I get a lot of noisy feedback if I wear my AirPods near my microwave when it's heating something.
Speaking of which, how are AirPods going to be updated? A standalone firmware download? I've connected mine to my 2016 MBP for charging purposes, and while they charge fine, they don't pop up in iTunes as a connected device and they aren't mounted on the desktop.
My AirPods make a small high pitched click noise right before they start playing something, like a song. And if I pause the song the airpods will make another small high pitched click a couple seconds after pausing as if they are cutting power from the speaker and entering a sleep state. Its a small thing but driving me bonkers once I noticed it. Is anyone else noticing this?
Mine do this as well, another small annoyance unlike Apple.
Mine do this as well, another small annoyance unlike Apple.
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I've experienced a similar thing with mine, just once so far and coincidentally also when I was at my desk streaming from my Mac. I've had no such issue when using my iPhone so at the moment I'm chalking it up to wireless interference from the nearby router which is a bloody powerful one. Could your office environment be causing a similar problem or are you predominantly wired connections?
I'll play it by ear (pardon the pun) and see how it goes. This is only day two with them, though I've racked up a fair few hours already with them.
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Well there's certainly scope for them to receive firmware updates. Though I also believe that there will be changes on the iOS/macOS side of things to improve them as well.
The charging case uses an STMicroelectonics STM32L072 which, among many other things, has a USB 2 controller and flash storage. So that could feasibly be updated using the Lightning connection. It may not show up in iTunes at the moment, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can't. Apple would just have to release an updated iTunes.
The AirPods themselves meanwhile have a Cypress CY8C4146FN system-on-a-chip. Which again is comprised of many things including a processor and flash storage. So the AirPods themselves could receive over the air firmware updates. Or potentially via the case? I haven't investigated enough to know if the contact points of the AirPods are connected only to the charging circuitry or if they are also capable of basic data transmission. I suspect that they are capable of transferring data in this way as I assume that's how they obtain and pass on the battery status of the case.
They are, perhaps not surprisingly, rather complex pieces of kit. Packing in many different technologies into such tiny spaces and they definitely have room to grow.
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An update on this...
I returned the problematic AirPods and had them replaced. The replacements don't do any of the stuttering, dropping connection or crackling. This demonstrates to me that it is possible to get a great set, but having to return a couple of pairs to find them doesn't give me much confidence in Apple's quality control.
I am finally happy with the set I have and feel like it was one of the best £159 I've spent in some time.
Just thought I'd throw this in here. I've just put my AirPods on charge after a few hours of listening (full details of my first 24 hours coming up,) so it's back over to my trusty old Sony MDRXB950BT cans for a little while.
Jesus, after just one day with the AirPods the Sony's feel huge, bulky, heavy and awkward. I can feel them moving about on my head far more than I'm sure I used to. Probably just because I'm very aware of them at the moment after the AirPods which I can barely tell I'm wearing.
Sure the Sony's sound significantly better but no matter how hard I slap my head Siri doesn't work
they don't even pause when I take them off my noggin. Oh the deprivation
Jesus, after just one day with the AirPods the Sony's feel huge, bulky, heavy and awkward. I can feel them moving about on my head far more than I'm sure I used to. Probably just because I'm very aware of them at the moment after the AirPods which I can barely tell I'm wearing.
Sure the Sony's sound significantly better but no matter how hard I slap my head Siri doesn't work
they don't even pause when I take them off my noggin. Oh the deprivation So here’s my initial impressions after my first 24 hours with the AirPods.
Far, far Tl;dr I really like them. Sorry, I ended up waffling on and on and on before I knew it, the below had happened. But I've typed it, so I'm posting it
First impressions were of course up to the usual high Apple standard. My AirPods arrived in a box big enough to hold a small HiFi, seriously well protected from the supplier, some may say overkill.
This is the lovely AirPods box:
And this is the box they thought would be most suitable to send it in
Nice packaging, usual Apple subtle, elegant, straightforward box and unpacking was as nice an experience as any Apple product. Yeah I may be weird but I like the way Apple do things, some manufacturers don’t give a damn about the whole unboxing experience.
On first sight of the AirPods case I couldn’t believe how small it is, my wife described it as “cute”, I’ll say easily pocketable. I don’t know why I was surprised by the inclusion of a Lightning cable, of course it should have one, I just hadn’t even considered that one was included.
Flipping open the lid, well you all know what’s coming here, initiated the simplest, quickest most efficient pairing process I have ever experienced in my life. Tap one button on the iPhone screen and they are paired with all of my devices? Yes please, more of that kind of simplicity in the future.
Taking the AirPods from their case they were exactly what I was expecting, EarPods with the wires cut off. No complaints from me there, sorry to disappoint the haters but I like the design, I wouldn’t have purchased them otherwise.
I’ll mention at this point that my experience with EarPods in the past has been limited. I’ve used them (very) occasionally when exercising but not for more than about half an hour or so. However in the run-up to my purchasing the AirPods I decided to give the EarPods a fair try, basically to make sure I was happy enough with the fit and to make sure the sound quality was acceptable to me.
I’m glad I did, if I wasn’t so determined to give them a fair go I would have thrown them aside after the first hour or so and not considered AirPods at all. They fit my ears perfectly fine, they stay in incredibly well, but by god did they hurt. But as I say, determined to give them a fair hearing (pun intended) I made myself persevere. I did just that for a couple of weeks and by the end of the first week(ish) they no longer hurt my ears and had actually become quite comfortable.
The second thing I discovered in my tryout of the EarPods and this also applies equally to the AirPods, is just how important putting them in properly is. Like I said it’s not as if I’d never worn them before but on those occasions they were just plopped in my lug holes quickly to serve a purpose, not to sit and enjoy music. But more on this later.
So, back to the AirPods then. I love the magnetic closure of the case, it has a nice action, that might sound odd but the feel of it and the sound of it clicking shut is about as addictive to fiddle with as my Zippo, or popping packing material. I need to stop doing it before I break the bloody thing but it is secure enough when closed. The case as I’m sure you’ll all know also pulls the AirPods in magnetically which I think is a nice touch too, better than them just sitting in there or being held in place by friction. That’s if you could get friction off these super smooth pieces of plastic.
As I’ve already mentioned I accustomed my ears to the EarPods prior to getting the AirPods, so being all but identical I find the AirPods to be quite a comfy and secure fit. I’ve not been able to shake them loose yet, even after a spot of moshing. Well I had to give them a good go didn’t I And I’d recommend that anyone who’s considering the AirPods spends a few days with the EarPods first if they haven’t already. I mean, we’ve all got at least one pair of them lying around somewhere surely haven’t we?
My left AirPod is a glorious work of art, it looks as though its hewn from a single solid piece of plastic, so good is the fit and finish. The right one, not so much. It’s minor, we’re lucky if we’re talking a mm here, but there are parts of the seam on the right one which just don’t line up perfectly. Which is a real shame when compared to the left one. It’s also just enough that you can feel it a little when you’re wearing it, it’s subtle but definitely not as comfortable as the left one, so I’m undecided as to what (if anything) I’m going to do about that yet. But it is a little disappointing that they [Apple] can't get better consistency. Of course there's going to be issues with mass manufactured products, but when it's both Apple and a product which is made to be worn inside a part of oneself, I expect better. Maybe I'm just too fussy.
I’ve already had several hours of listening from the AirPods, got to get them broken in after all and that’s where the previous comment on moving these in my ears played a big part in my enjoyment of them. Initially (and in the past) I’ve found the EarPods to be, shall we say lacking, in their sonic abilities especially in the low end. But to my surprise actually taking the time to play around with different positions in my ear, even by just turning them a little one way or the other, plays a massive part in what these can do. I assume this is just getting the speakers properly lined up with the ear canal, but when I found the sweet spot the sound was transformed into a much fuller, more balanced, enjoyable sound with significantly more presence in the bottom end.
So ultimately I’m happy with the sound. They’re never going to replace my wired cans for sound quality, or even my Sony Bluetooth headphones which sound much better. But as much as I like my music and the quality of it, I’m not an audio snob. I’m happy to make compromises for certain things. I compromise with the Sony’s for the convenience of Bluetooth, I compromise with Apple Music for the convenience of a massive on-demand music library wherever I am. When I want to enjoy music with the best quality I’ll listen on my HiFi, or with my wired headphones with lossless audio, CD’s or gasp, vinyl. So, I’m perfectly happy to compromise on a bit of sonic ability for the convenience, the sheer brilliance of being completely wireless of the AirPods, which are mainly going to be used for Apple Music anyway, it’s not the highest quality of sources and the AirPods do a really good job with it. Crucially, I am enjoying listening to Apple Music on the AirPods and at the end of the day that’s all that matters to me. YMMV.
Call quality has been very good as well, for both myself and the people on the other end of the phone, who had no idea I was actually on a Bluetooth headset. The beam forming microphones in the AirPods are doing a stellar job of picking up my voice, without having to speak above a normal level. If anything I can speak a bit quieter with these than any other Bluetooth headset or headphones I’ve ever owned. So no complaints in that department.
One other aspect which has really impressed me is the work Apple has done with the W1 chip. Beyond that lovely pairing process, which is nice, the actual performance of the AirPods Bluetooth receivers is nothing short of astounding. Especially when you consider just how tiny both the AirPods are and how power efficient they have to be with their small batteries. There's one point in my house where no Bluetooth signal has ever penetrated if I leave my iPhone in the office upstairs. Not a single pair of Bluetooth headphones, no matter how expensive, have ever managed to maintain their connection if I go to the back corner of the pantry, which is downstairs at the back of the house. The AirPods though, didn't only manage to keep their connection when I went there, they kept a perfect connection, not a bit of breakup. Believing this to be some kind of witchcraft I just had to open the kitchen door and go out into the back garden to make sure there wasn't some kind of invisible wire attached to my head Sure enough they lost the signal in the back garden, thank goodness for that.
Ironically for such a strong reception, the worst I've heard from them was sitting in front of my Mac, streaming music from it. It's only happened once so far and it was only for a couple of seconds. I've been in front of my Mac working away streaming from the iPhone again and there's not been a blip. So I'm wondering if it's something gin macOS thats needing tweaked by Apple. Time will tell.
I’ve had no problems so far with battery life, the AirPods seemingly living up to Apple’s claims, though it’s obviously very early days so I’ll see how it goes. In the meantime here’s a breakdown of my first 24 hours battery life with the AirPods;
I love the little touches with the AirPods, like when you take one out of your ear and the music pauses, then resumes when you pop it back in. Or when you’re listening to music on your iPhone, which I normally do when I’m cooking. Then you take your AirPods, pop them in your ears and the music automatically transfers to the AirPods.
I like how easy it is to switch between my iPhone and Apple Watch, the AirPods just knowing what to do all on their own. I hope that comes to the iPad and Mac too as Apple seemingly promised in the early days before they were released. In the meantime I’m still happy that it’s nice and easy to just select the AirPods with just two taps or clicks, no un-pairing and re-pairing.
Lastly I like having Siri in my ear and it’s pretty reliable at picking up my requests, in a quiet room you can almost speak sub-audibly, not quite but close. I do wish that Apple would enable the AirPods to work with “Hey Siri” as well as the double tap of the AirPods (which for me actually works pretty reliably.) Siri however takes me on to my main complaint with the AirPods….
…. I bloody hate Siri as the main interface for the AirPods, who’s idiot idea was this anyway? There I said it and I know I’m not going to be alone. Don’t get me wrong, I like Siri as I mentioned and I like Siri as a control option for the AirPods. But I think Siri should have been exactly that, an option, not the primary way of interacting with the AirPods. I mean, we need the internet to control our headphones? Really? Genius! We need to speak as our primary way of interfacing with our headphones? Great, there goes sneaking in the football in church, Siri rewind I missed if that was a goal or not…..Amen, ahem sorry.
Yes I’m blowing that out of proportion a little, but only a little. A voice assistant should not be the primary interface, not yet, the world just isn’t ready for that yet. Christ I live in Scotland, 80% of this place has no internet for goodness sake, I’d better not wander outside of a city or major town. Thankfully I have options, I can use my iPhone or whatever I’m listening on to control things, or I can use my Apple Watch which is my preferred option. The Apple Watch actually works great with the AirPods, it solves all of the little control niggles, unless you happen to be wearing gloves that is.
I’d be happy to compromise, well ok I’ve no choice just now, but I’d like at least just one thing added to the AirPods. I can pause the music by removing an AirPod from my ear and resume it by popping it back in there, I can cope with that. I can control the volume by putting my hand in my pocket and pressing the volume buttons on my iPhone, or if I’ve set my Apple Watch up correctly. By which I mean as I have a series 0, I need to set the Watch to show the last used app on wrist raise and make sure the last app is the Music app. That way, gloves or not, I can easily control the volume. Which leaves me with just one thing I’d love to see to cover my three main controls and that is track skipping. A triple tap sequence, or something, added in a firmware update would make me a happy chappie and solve my min niggle with the AirPods.
Other than that I love them, I already couldn’t be without them and I couldn’t recommend them highly enough. They are the best completely wireless headphones I’ve tried so far (and I’ve tried a few) and they have raised the game in that category with their (subjectively) nice styling, well thought out features, good hardware, great battery life and more than acceptable sound quality. Fix the utter dependence on Siri, which I believe would also help Apple a bit in shifting a few pairs to non-iOS users and I think that for now the AirPods definitely need to be near the top of your shortlist if you’re in the market for this kind of wireless freedom.
Oh, and as there's been people asking and few people taking up on the offer I'll offer up this photo of the AirPods in-ear. I really don't mind them at all, excuse the ugly old bloke in the photo ruining the look of a perfectly nice AirPod.
Wow, I've written dissertations shorter than that lot Sorry, once the morphine kicks in and I start typing I lose all track of, well, everything some times. Still, there might be something useful to someone in there
**Edit**
Ok, I know, as if there wasn't enough waffling to read through already I've decided to add more
This is rather specific to me, though anyone in a similar situation may find it useful. As any long suffering readers of my rambling may know I have severe nerve damage and take a lot of very serious medication. The meds combination with the nerve damage when it's acting up (which is often) means that when I type, I make many many mistakes.
So it takes me a while to type anything properly, or you get a message from me that needs a code breaker to decipher.
Anyway, I've just now been using Siri with the AirPods to text back and forth with my wife. Nothing new, I've used Siri on my iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch/Mac to do the same. However the microphones in the AirPods must be better than any of the others because the messages have been coming out perfectly.
It's such a simple process, gentle double tap on an AirPod, wait a second for the beep, say "text the wife to bring milk home" Siri promptly and I have to say very clearly reads the message back and asks if I want to send it now. I say yes and the jobs done.
So if anyone else ever has trouble with their hands and finds Siri sometimes a bit unreliable, I have to say I'm finding it with the AirPods to be much better.
Oh and it's really good with swear words surprisingly, I almost laughed out loud when she read back the word forking. (It wasn't forking, you know the one I mean )
Far, far Tl;dr I really like them. Sorry, I ended up waffling on and on and on before I knew it, the below had happened. But I've typed it, so I'm posting it
First impressions were of course up to the usual high Apple standard. My AirPods arrived in a box big enough to hold a small HiFi, seriously well protected from the supplier, some may say overkill.
This is the lovely AirPods box:
And this is the box they thought would be most suitable to send it in
Nice packaging, usual Apple subtle, elegant, straightforward box and unpacking was as nice an experience as any Apple product. Yeah I may be weird but I like the way Apple do things, some manufacturers don’t give a damn about the whole unboxing experience.
On first sight of the AirPods case I couldn’t believe how small it is, my wife described it as “cute”, I’ll say easily pocketable. I don’t know why I was surprised by the inclusion of a Lightning cable, of course it should have one, I just hadn’t even considered that one was included.
Flipping open the lid, well you all know what’s coming here, initiated the simplest, quickest most efficient pairing process I have ever experienced in my life. Tap one button on the iPhone screen and they are paired with all of my devices? Yes please, more of that kind of simplicity in the future.
Taking the AirPods from their case they were exactly what I was expecting, EarPods with the wires cut off. No complaints from me there, sorry to disappoint the haters but I like the design, I wouldn’t have purchased them otherwise.
I’ll mention at this point that my experience with EarPods in the past has been limited. I’ve used them (very) occasionally when exercising but not for more than about half an hour or so. However in the run-up to my purchasing the AirPods I decided to give the EarPods a fair try, basically to make sure I was happy enough with the fit and to make sure the sound quality was acceptable to me.
I’m glad I did, if I wasn’t so determined to give them a fair go I would have thrown them aside after the first hour or so and not considered AirPods at all. They fit my ears perfectly fine, they stay in incredibly well, but by god did they hurt. But as I say, determined to give them a fair hearing (pun intended) I made myself persevere. I did just that for a couple of weeks and by the end of the first week(ish) they no longer hurt my ears and had actually become quite comfortable.
The second thing I discovered in my tryout of the EarPods and this also applies equally to the AirPods, is just how important putting them in properly is. Like I said it’s not as if I’d never worn them before but on those occasions they were just plopped in my lug holes quickly to serve a purpose, not to sit and enjoy music. But more on this later.
So, back to the AirPods then. I love the magnetic closure of the case, it has a nice action, that might sound odd but the feel of it and the sound of it clicking shut is about as addictive to fiddle with as my Zippo, or popping packing material. I need to stop doing it before I break the bloody thing but it is secure enough when closed. The case as I’m sure you’ll all know also pulls the AirPods in magnetically which I think is a nice touch too, better than them just sitting in there or being held in place by friction. That’s if you could get friction off these super smooth pieces of plastic.
As I’ve already mentioned I accustomed my ears to the EarPods prior to getting the AirPods, so being all but identical I find the AirPods to be quite a comfy and secure fit. I’ve not been able to shake them loose yet, even after a spot of moshing. Well I had to give them a good go didn’t I
And I’d recommend that anyone who’s considering the AirPods spends a few days with the EarPods first if they haven’t already. I mean, we’ve all got at least one pair of them lying around somewhere surely haven’t we?My left AirPod is a glorious work of art, it looks as though its hewn from a single solid piece of plastic, so good is the fit and finish. The right one, not so much. It’s minor, we’re lucky if we’re talking a mm here, but there are parts of the seam on the right one which just don’t line up perfectly. Which is a real shame when compared to the left one. It’s also just enough that you can feel it a little when you’re wearing it, it’s subtle but definitely not as comfortable as the left one, so I’m undecided as to what (if anything) I’m going to do about that yet. But it is a little disappointing that they [Apple] can't get better consistency. Of course there's going to be issues with mass manufactured products, but when it's both Apple and a product which is made to be worn inside a part of oneself, I expect better. Maybe I'm just too fussy.
I’ve already had several hours of listening from the AirPods, got to get them broken in after all and that’s where the previous comment on moving these in my ears played a big part in my enjoyment of them. Initially (and in the past) I’ve found the EarPods to be, shall we say lacking, in their sonic abilities especially in the low end. But to my surprise actually taking the time to play around with different positions in my ear, even by just turning them a little one way or the other, plays a massive part in what these can do. I assume this is just getting the speakers properly lined up with the ear canal, but when I found the sweet spot the sound was transformed into a much fuller, more balanced, enjoyable sound with significantly more presence in the bottom end.
So ultimately I’m happy with the sound. They’re never going to replace my wired cans for sound quality, or even my Sony Bluetooth headphones which sound much better. But as much as I like my music and the quality of it, I’m not an audio snob. I’m happy to make compromises for certain things. I compromise with the Sony’s for the convenience of Bluetooth, I compromise with Apple Music for the convenience of a massive on-demand music library wherever I am. When I want to enjoy music with the best quality I’ll listen on my HiFi, or with my wired headphones with lossless audio, CD’s or gasp, vinyl. So, I’m perfectly happy to compromise on a bit of sonic ability for the convenience, the sheer brilliance of being completely wireless of the AirPods, which are mainly going to be used for Apple Music anyway, it’s not the highest quality of sources and the AirPods do a really good job with it. Crucially, I am enjoying listening to Apple Music on the AirPods and at the end of the day that’s all that matters to me. YMMV.
Call quality has been very good as well, for both myself and the people on the other end of the phone, who had no idea I was actually on a Bluetooth headset. The beam forming microphones in the AirPods are doing a stellar job of picking up my voice, without having to speak above a normal level. If anything I can speak a bit quieter with these than any other Bluetooth headset or headphones I’ve ever owned. So no complaints in that department.
One other aspect which has really impressed me is the work Apple has done with the W1 chip. Beyond that lovely pairing process, which is nice, the actual performance of the AirPods Bluetooth receivers is nothing short of astounding. Especially when you consider just how tiny both the AirPods are and how power efficient they have to be with their small batteries. There's one point in my house where no Bluetooth signal has ever penetrated if I leave my iPhone in the office upstairs. Not a single pair of Bluetooth headphones, no matter how expensive, have ever managed to maintain their connection if I go to the back corner of the pantry, which is downstairs at the back of the house. The AirPods though, didn't only manage to keep their connection when I went there, they kept a perfect connection, not a bit of breakup. Believing this to be some kind of witchcraft I just had to open the kitchen door and go out into the back garden to make sure there wasn't some kind of invisible wire attached to my head
Sure enough they lost the signal in the back garden, thank goodness for that.Ironically for such a strong reception, the worst I've heard from them was sitting in front of my Mac, streaming music from it. It's only happened once so far and it was only for a couple of seconds. I've been in front of my Mac working away streaming from the iPhone again and there's not been a blip. So I'm wondering if it's something gin macOS thats needing tweaked by Apple. Time will tell.
I’ve had no problems so far with battery life, the AirPods seemingly living up to Apple’s claims, though it’s obviously very early days so I’ll see how it goes. In the meantime here’s a breakdown of my first 24 hours battery life with the AirPods;
Code:
Date Time AirPods Case Message
06/01/2017 15:25 100% 100% (Start music playback. First full charge of AirPods and case)
06/01/2017 19:00 40% 98% (Stop music playback, AirPods back in case)
06/01/2017 20:02 100% 89%
07/01/2017 01:00 100% 88%
07/01/2017 06:03 100% 80%
07/01/2017 08:51 100% 72% (Start music playback, AirPods removed from case)
07/01/2017 11:28 58% (Not Checked) (Stop music playback, keep AirPods out of case)
07/01/2017 13:56 50% (Not Checked) (Start music playback)
07/01/2017 15:36 13% L / 23% R 68% (Stop music playback, AirPods back in case)
07/01/2017 16:26 100% 45% (AirPods still in case)I love the little touches with the AirPods, like when you take one out of your ear and the music pauses, then resumes when you pop it back in. Or when you’re listening to music on your iPhone, which I normally do when I’m cooking. Then you take your AirPods, pop them in your ears and the music automatically transfers to the AirPods.
I like how easy it is to switch between my iPhone and Apple Watch, the AirPods just knowing what to do all on their own. I hope that comes to the iPad and Mac too as Apple seemingly promised in the early days before they were released. In the meantime I’m still happy that it’s nice and easy to just select the AirPods with just two taps or clicks, no un-pairing and re-pairing.
Lastly I like having Siri in my ear and it’s pretty reliable at picking up my requests, in a quiet room you can almost speak sub-audibly, not quite but close. I do wish that Apple would enable the AirPods to work with “Hey Siri” as well as the double tap of the AirPods (which for me actually works pretty reliably.) Siri however takes me on to my main complaint with the AirPods….
…. I bloody hate Siri as the main interface for the AirPods, who’s idiot idea was this anyway? There I said it and I know I’m not going to be alone. Don’t get me wrong, I like Siri as I mentioned and I like Siri as a control option for the AirPods. But I think Siri should have been exactly that, an option, not the primary way of interacting with the AirPods. I mean, we need the internet to control our headphones? Really? Genius! We need to speak as our primary way of interfacing with our headphones? Great, there goes sneaking in the football in church, Siri rewind I missed if that was a goal or not…..Amen, ahem sorry.
Yes I’m blowing that out of proportion a little, but only a little. A voice assistant should not be the primary interface, not yet, the world just isn’t ready for that yet. Christ I live in Scotland, 80% of this place has no internet for goodness sake, I’d better not wander outside of a city or major town. Thankfully I have options, I can use my iPhone or whatever I’m listening on to control things, or I can use my Apple Watch which is my preferred option. The Apple Watch actually works great with the AirPods, it solves all of the little control niggles, unless you happen to be wearing gloves that is.
I’d be happy to compromise, well ok I’ve no choice just now, but I’d like at least just one thing added to the AirPods. I can pause the music by removing an AirPod from my ear and resume it by popping it back in there, I can cope with that. I can control the volume by putting my hand in my pocket and pressing the volume buttons on my iPhone, or if I’ve set my Apple Watch up correctly. By which I mean as I have a series 0, I need to set the Watch to show the last used app on wrist raise and make sure the last app is the Music app. That way, gloves or not, I can easily control the volume. Which leaves me with just one thing I’d love to see to cover my three main controls and that is track skipping. A triple tap sequence, or something, added in a firmware update would make me a happy chappie and solve my min niggle with the AirPods.
Other than that I love them, I already couldn’t be without them and I couldn’t recommend them highly enough. They are the best completely wireless headphones I’ve tried so far (and I’ve tried a few) and they have raised the game in that category with their (subjectively) nice styling, well thought out features, good hardware, great battery life and more than acceptable sound quality. Fix the utter dependence on Siri, which I believe would also help Apple a bit in shifting a few pairs to non-iOS users and I think that for now the AirPods definitely need to be near the top of your shortlist if you’re in the market for this kind of wireless freedom.
Oh, and as there's been people asking and few people taking up on the offer I'll offer up this photo of the AirPods in-ear. I really don't mind them at all, excuse the ugly old bloke in the photo ruining the look of a perfectly nice AirPod.
Wow, I've written dissertations shorter than that lot
Sorry, once the morphine kicks in and I start typing I lose all track of, well, everything some times. Still, there might be something useful to someone in there **Edit**
Ok, I know, as if there wasn't enough waffling to read through already I've decided to add more
This is rather specific to me, though anyone in a similar situation may find it useful. As any long suffering readers of my rambling may know I have severe nerve damage and take a lot of very serious medication. The meds combination with the nerve damage when it's acting up (which is often) means that when I type, I make many many mistakes.
So it takes me a while to type anything properly, or you get a message from me that needs a code breaker to decipher.
Anyway, I've just now been using Siri with the AirPods to text back and forth with my wife. Nothing new, I've used Siri on my iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch/Mac to do the same. However the microphones in the AirPods must be better than any of the others because the messages have been coming out perfectly.
It's such a simple process, gentle double tap on an AirPod, wait a second for the beep, say "text the wife to bring milk home" Siri promptly and I have to say very clearly reads the message back and asks if I want to send it now. I say yes and the jobs done.
So if anyone else ever has trouble with their hands and finds Siri sometimes a bit unreliable, I have to say I'm finding it with the AirPods to be much better.
Oh and it's really good with swear words surprisingly, I almost laughed out loud when she read back the word forking. (It wasn't forking, you know the one I mean
)
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OK. Today I've ordered UPS to return my AirPods to Apple.
Apple asked me for lots of information during the last days.. Without any result.
I'm fed up with this first version and I will try a new delivery.
Let's see.
Honestly I'm a bit irritated about the very slow and weak Apple support.
That's very unusual.
My problems were bad battery and bad sound quality for Siri responses.
Next delivery date is Feb. 27.
Andy
Apple asked me for lots of information during the last days.. Without any result.
I'm fed up with this first version and I will try a new delivery.
Let's see.
Honestly I'm a bit irritated about the very slow and weak Apple support.
That's very unusual.
My problems were bad battery and bad sound quality for Siri responses.
Next delivery date is Feb. 27.
Andy
I agree with the weak support from Apple. Returning with faults and being told to get to the back of the queue is very unexpected, and a very different tack for Apple support. I wonder why this is the case? Were they expecting a higher than usual return rate? The mind boggles.
With the AirPods it's most likely a supply and demand issue. It seems that they just can't make them fast enough to fulfill demand. I know it might not sound fair but we can't expect to jump the queue all of the time when there are so many people waiting on the product.
If supply improves then Apple will expedite replacements. Which is why if you walked into an Apple Store today with a faulty iPhone 7, you'd walk out with a new one. You wouldn't have managed that a few months ago.
I'm not being biased when I'm saying this either as I fear I'll be in the same situation this week. I think I'll be returning mine because of the right AirPods less than perfect construction. It's bothering my ear a bit, if it weren't for that I wouldn't bother, I'd just keep it. But these are expensive luxuries and I expect to be able to wear them in comfort.
[doublepost=1483826706][/doublepost]The difference being is that when new iPhones are launched, stores earmark some stock to be reserved for replacing faulty iPhones on the spot. Applecare can also issue immediate replacements. This clearly is not the case for the AirPods launch.
Stores try to earmark stock for immediate replacements but thats certainly not always the case. Not in all stores at least, when I went to get my 7+ there was at least one person being told they couldn't get a replacement 7 Plus Jet Black because all of the stock they had was for other customers and they would have to wait until the phone became available.
They know their 'dead on arrival' and faulty rates and will have that figure worked out and this is the % that will be reserved for new launches. Apple know their game well and provide an exceptional level of customer care. That's what's very unusual about the AirPod launch. This philosophy seems to have been torn up and thrown away.
That they do, Apple are exceptionally good at managing their supply chain, normally.
But at the end of the day it's quite simple, they can't give you what they don't have.
I don't like it either, as I say I'll possibly be exchanging mine, unless my ears adapt quickly to the slight rough edge. In which case I'll just keep them because otherwise they are perfect and there's no point returning them for what could end up as an insignificant issue.
If they do end up being returned, the prospect of waiting potentially the best part of a couple of months for replacements isn't ideal, in fact it's pretty poor. But them's the breaks, it is what it is. I know Apple will issue me with a replacement as fast as they possibly can, I've been there before. In the meantime we just have to be grown up about it and wait, there's no other option, so there's no point getting worked up about it.
I notice sometimes I get drop outs on the AirPods when my Apple Watch is retrieving data or a message. Hope Apple can fine tune these a bit with software upadates.
Yes there are definite areas for improvement. I've just noticed that when I open the camera, or switch modes in the camera, the audio cuts out for a split second. I'm assuming it's probably something to do with the microphone being set for the camera? But as it's photos and not video that shouldn't even be initiated, so there are definitely things to fix.
I had this exact problem and returned and had them replaced. The replacements don't have this problem at all so I'd recommend you follow that line and get them swapped. I believe there's an issue and mine are completely different in their connection reliability.
Thanks, I just tried repairing them first and will do some more testing. I know I get dropouts with all BT headsets I've tried I just don't know whats considered acceptable or defective. At least its painless swapping these out vs a phone or mac lol. Hopefully they wont require Genius Bar appointments after the return period.
I wonder how these choose what 2.4xxx frequency to use? Maybe sometimes they choose something too close to other devices we are using AW etc and that why some get more dropouts. Not sure if repairing will cause it to use a different freq or if thats set at the factory.
I wonder how these choose what 2.4xxx frequency to use? Maybe sometimes they choose something too close to other devices we are using AW etc and that why some get more dropouts. Not sure if repairing will cause it to use a different freq or if thats set at the factory.