Airpods - new owners views, problems and questions

[Aneres11]

So I have just been to pick my order up of my new AirPods. Got them delivered to a store here.

Connected to my iPad straight away (also got my iPad yesterday!)

I am blown away by them. Sound is alright, but I didn't buy them for incredibly rich sound. But the way they connect and the whole take out of your ear and it pauses, double tap to pause / play etc. Amazing.

Really really pleased with my purchase. I was so fed up of wearing headphones round the house and getting my wires tangled in cupboard door handles etc whilst washing up or cleaning! No more!

Does make me want to move back to iPhone too haha. But not yet...!

 

[filipe.esposito]

I've been using my AirPods for about four months, and I'm loving it! My only complaints are about the low audio quality while the microphone is being used and that the AirPods case gets dirty very easily.

 

[RadioGaGa1984]

I've been using my AirPods for about four months, and I'm loving it! My only complaints are about the low audio quality while the microphone is being used and that the AirPods case gets dirty very easily.

You might want to have them checked, the microphone audio quality is excellent.

 

[filipe.esposito]

You might want to have them checked, the microphone audio quality is excellent.

When the microphones are being used, the audio I hear is noisy, which seems to be the limitation of Bluetooth based on what I've read on internet. There are others AirPods at home, and the same thing happens to them. Maybe it's a "problem" with my "old" devices like iPhone 6 Plus? I didn't tested AirPods on newer devices like iPhone 7, so...
[doublepost=1496034519][/doublepost]There are more people with this same issue.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7794112?start=15&tstart=0

https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/5jadst/contrary_to_reports_the_airpod_microphones_are/
[doublepost=1496035552][/doublepost]https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/282705/airpods-extremely-poor-mic-quality-on-mac

 

[teidon]

When the microphones are being used, the audio I hear is noisy, which seems to be the limitation of Bluetooth based on what I've read on internet.

It is Bluetooth limitation. There's nothing you can do about it.

 

[filipe.esposito]

It is Bluetooth limitation. There's nothing you can do about it.

On the one hand, I am more relieved. On the other hand, it's sad. Anyway, it's not something that really trigger me, I rarely use the AirPods microphone for a long time.

 

[ascender]

I'm still being an idiot.... How do you control volume from your apple watch when streaming audio from your phone? The guides I've seen seem to tell me how to send audio from the watch to the airpods but that's obviously not what i'm doing....

 

[EDH667]

I'm still being an idiot.... How do you control volume from your apple watch when streaming audio from your phone? The guides I've seen seem to tell me how to send audio from the watch to the airpods but that's obviously not what i'm doing....

You can use it on the your watch face by adding the music option to one of your watch complications. Once that is on your watch face, while using your AirPods, touch the music note icon on the watch face and you will see the + - control and also be able to use the Digital Crown to adjust the volume.

 

[ascender]

You can use it on the your watch face by adding the music option to one of your watch complications. Once that is on your watch face, while using your AirPods, touch the music note icon on the watch face and you will see the + - control and also be able to use the Digital Crown to adjust the volume.

Thank you, will give that a try shortly.
[doublepost=1496153738][/doublepost]

You can use it on the your watch face by adding the music option to one of your watch complications. Once that is on your watch face, while using your AirPods, touch the music note icon on the watch face and you will see the + - control and also be able to use the Digital Crown to adjust the volume.

Done!

I can't believe how simple that was to do, feel like a right idiot for not figuring it out for myself.

Thanks again!

 

[Ralfi]

They're actually called 'complications'?

That's not very ergonomic in any sense of the word. Very unApple-like.

 

[filipe.esposito]

They're actually called 'complications'?

That's not very ergonomic in any sense of the word. Very unApple-like.

Yep, it's complications on watchOS (and on any real watch).
[doublepost=1496159250][/doublepost]

Thank you, will give that a try shortly.
[doublepost=1496153738][/doublepost]

Done!

I can't believe how simple that was to do, feel like a right idiot for not figuring it out for myself.

Thanks again!

You can even use the "Now Playing" screen that appears on Apple Watch Dock when you're listening something on your iPhone.

 

[eclipse01]

sometimes when I make a phone call my airpods sound very "muffled" I have to hang up and call again for a normal sounding phone call.

anyone else experience this?

 

[MacRazySwe]

Had mine for about two weeks now and they are absolute amazing.

The AirPods to me act as a reminder of the old Apple, the Apple I love. They are not the first wireless earphones, not the most powerful, but they do everything I need them to do without ever getting in the way. Unlike many other Bluetooth devices, they just work - brilliantly!

Everything from the magnetic latch on the battery case, how the AirPods pop into place and charge, to the pairing process and actual usage is created with the user in mind. This is unlike many of the other products they have released lately.

 

[Cole Slaw]

Had mine for about two weeks now and they are absolute amazing.

The AirPods to me act as a reminder of the old Apple, the Apple I love. They are not the first wireless earphones, not the most powerful, but they do everything I need them to do without ever getting in the way. Unlike many other Bluetooth devices, they just work - brilliantly!

Everything from the magnetic latch on the battery case, how the AirPods pop into place and charge, to the pairing process and actual usage is created with the user in mind. This is unlike many of the other products they have released lately.

I agree with your comments 100%.
Perhaps the sound quality could be a bit better, though.

 

[filipe.esposito]

Had mine for about two weeks now and they are absolute amazing.

The AirPods to me act as a reminder of the old Apple, the Apple I love. They are not the first wireless earphones, not the most powerful, but they do everything I need them to do without ever getting in the way. Unlike many other Bluetooth devices, they just work - brilliantly!

Everything from the magnetic latch on the battery case, how the AirPods pop into place and charge, to the pairing process and actual usage is created with the user in mind. This is unlike many of the other products they have released lately.

Exactly! I see AirPods as the coolest product that Apple has launched in the last few years. I see the "Apple Magic" here.

 

[Ralfi]

sometimes when I make a phone call my airpods sound very "muffled" I have to hang up and call again for a normal sounding phone call.

anyone else experience this?

I get an underwater-like sound once in a blue moon & how I fix it is by changing the output from Airpods to Speaker & then back to Airpods again. Try that.

 

[ascender]

The new Airpod-specific EarSkinz are brilliant. What a difference they make to fit and in turn the sound quality. Highly recommended if AirPods aren't a great fit.

I've also used Earhooks/z (?) and the EarSkinz are much better in my experience.

 

[arkitect]

The new Airpod-specific EarSkinz are brilliant. What a difference they make to fit and in turn the sound quality. Highly recommended if AirPods aren't a great fit.

I've also used Earhooks/z (?) and the EarSkinz are much better in my experience.

How durable are the AirPod EarSkinz since you have to take them off each time to enable charging?
With all this extra stretching while taking them on / off I am worried they'll tear apart soon.

 

[ascender]

How durable are the AirPod EarSkinz since you have to take them off each time to enable charging?
With all this extra stretching while taking them on / off I am worried they'll tear apart soon.

The plastic material they use seems to be a bit thicker than that used on Earhooks for example. Its not that stretchy. But yeah, I've had the same thought so will have to see how they go.

 

[dubvulture]

The new Airpod-specific EarSkinz are brilliant. What a difference they make to fit and in turn the sound quality. Highly recommended if AirPods aren't a great fit.

I've also used Earhooks/z (?) and the EarSkinz are much better in my experience.

Ditto. I've had mine for several weeks and I use them every day. So far they are holding up very well. Haven't used the Earhooks since I got the Earskinz.

 

[Aibocyrus]

My only complaint, and I mean only, is the lack of music control on the AirPods. I'd like to be able to skip tracks by gesture. Hoping this will come as an update in the future.

 

[DanielDD]

I have three complaints about the AirPods.

- Lack of music controls. This actually does not bother me as much, because I usually listen to music with my Solo 3. However, there are times that I cannot bother to switch between both, and I really do miss them.
- They do not have the same range as Solo 3. The main reason I bought AirPods is to be able to freely move around my house while listening to Podcasts, News, or taking a phone call. My house is quite big, at around 3500 sq ft. Still, since my bed is roughly in the middle of the house, so I can make Solo 3 work at any corner of the house. I cannot do that with the AirPods.
- Problem when switching between W1 powered devices. My MacBook Pro (2016) freaks out every-time I switch from the AirPods to the Solo 3. I have to disable bluetooth, restart all the headphones, and then reenable bluetooth again. This does not happen when I switch from Solo 3 to AirPods. So, whenever I want to listen to music on my Solo 3, I first need to put the AirPods in the case, wait for the computer to unpair, and then switch on my Solo 3.

 

[wdam123]

I may or may not be in the right place, but I'm having this really annoying problem with my AirPods. The left AirPod makes a distinctive high frequency sound when the AirPod isn't playing a song. Also, over the period of about 5 seconds the frequency of the sound climbs and increases until it reaches a really high pitch that can just about be heard very quietly. So I'm not sure whether it's a faulty AirPod I have or if any of you guys' ones are doing the same.

 

[Perene]

Is it just me or the Airpods aren't loud enough?

Also, I may be imagining things, but didn't this last update started to waste the Airpods battery faster? I barely start listening to them and they already drop almost 5% in minutes.

Edit: it appears it's not loud enough in the iPAD. Maybe it depends on the source. I don't think over time the volume starts to decrease (that was implied in my message, I don't know if you noticed). As for battery issues, I am always skeptical that is working as it should.

*******

And a very important update:

The problem described here is gone! Finally!

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...s-and-questions.2022574/page-51#post-24596542

It seems that last Windows 10-64 bit updates have fixed this issue (Creator's one). I no longer need to do the procedure described in that link, and switching between audio/subtitle tracks while using MPC-HC and other players does not mute the audio anymore while using the Airpods!

So, after all this time it was all a bug in Windows? Not the dongle's fault... I was even planning to buy a new one.

 

[filipe.esposito]

Is it just me or the Airpods aren't loud enough?

Well, I've noticed this too... my EarPods are louder than my AirPods. By the way, iOS 11 beta now allows to back/skip songs on AirPods using double taps on each earpiece side.