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iPod Earpods are pretty impressive

Weren't the earpods supposed to have some kind of noise cancellation?

Still posters in this thread and posters elsewhere on forums, as well as Engadgets review, indicates that they are as useless as the old ones in noisy environments. Did I misunderstand the noise canceling bit?

I can only speak for myself, but the noise of a 1M+ city (esp. around the subway) makes over- or in-ear headphones a must. Me, I like neither of them (hate my Klipsch s4i, but they're the best I could find) and was hoping for the earpods to be good enough at blocking noise.
 
iEvolution said:
Find me a bud style that is as good as these at this price.

Not talking about in ears nor am I comparing them to head phones.

Best bud style earphones I've found. They are definitely a step up from the previous generation.

I love how so many people think that heavy bass is the only thing that matters.
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Why would you even want that bud-style? The best bud-style is always in-ear, it always has stronger bass and better noise isolation. You can't really enjoy your music if your bud style is the same as the EarPods, the noise will not be blocked.

Anyways, Samsung has richer bass and better noise isolation. It doesn't even have a price, it comes with the Galaxy S3.

Apple should have taken their In-ear earphones, make the bass richer and bundle it with the iPhone 5.

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DMSWE said:
Weren't the earpods supposed to have some kind of noise cancellation?
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No. You can hear every bit of noise even with the EarPods on, it's not designed for noise cancellation.
 
They were never intended to be isolating or have massive amounts of bass. If you are looking for either, look elsewhere. Fortunately for me, I dislike both of those things, so for $30, I think they sound great. (Yes, I went and paid for them, I was curious about them but not about the iPods.) I can enjoy most music with them and still hear what's going on around me, without hearing my own breathing and cord movement amplified, and without my music drowning in bass. I said most music because heavy metal still doesn't sound right, especially toned-down guitars, but I've never found an earbud or IEM that gets those right. Apparently I have to get custom-molded tips, but that seems like too much work right now, and I'm happy to listen to something else until I have my Sony MDR-V6s or loudspeakers available.

My only complaint is the left and right earpods sit in my ear differently, so the sound level is always higher in my left ear. I'd love if there was a way to equalize the levels to compensate for that.
 
I just got them today but like them so far. The best sounding earbuds I've ever owned. But the most I've ever spent is $25, so I can't really compare to a more expensive brand. But the sound is impressive. They are comfortable, but I have to find the right positioning to get the best sound and the best comfort at the same time, which is kind of difficult.
 
Wondering how they feel after wearing them for long periods of time?
 
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guspasho said:
[...]My only complaint is the left and right earpods sit in my ear differently, so the sound level is always higher in my left ear. I'd love if there was a way to equalize the levels to compensate for that.
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Well, assuming that you're using an iPhone, there is but it's hidden under Settings > General > Accessibility instead of the obvious - Sounds.
 
I listen to primarily bass-heavy music, and I have to agree with OP. The earpods are a massive improvement over the previous generation earbuds. The bass is noticeably heavier, and the remote control gives a very satisfying click. I have some $80 Skullcandys at the moment; if they ever go out, I'd just get another set of $30 earpods. Very good value for the cost.
 
Tyga said:
I listen to primarily bass-heavy music, and I have to agree with OP. The earpods are a massive improvement over the previous generation earbuds. The bass is noticeably heavier, and the remote control gives a very satisfying click. I have some $80 Skullcandys at the moment; if they ever go out, I'd just get another set of $30 earpods. Very good value for the cost.
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Previous generations earbuds are not a very good comparison though as they are some of the worst earbuds I've ever had included with a phone/mp3-player.
 
DMSWE said:
Well, assuming that you're using an iPhone, there is but it's hidden under Settings > General > Accessibility instead of the obvious - Sounds.
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Brilliant! Thank you! The only drawback now is I use different headphones when I'm on the bus and when I'm at my desk at work, but at least I can switch back and forth now. Thanks again!
 
I used them for 1 week, they seemed much better than the original design, however 3 days into week one - the pain! Oh how my ears hurt, the hard plastic has bruised the inside of my ear, not at all comfortable. Maybe I have odd ears?!

Any way picked up some b&w c5's, not only are they comfortable, they sound a LOT better than the pods.
 
basesloaded190 said:
Nilay Patel from The Verge seems to disagree with you:

"I bought these Skullcandy buds in desperation at LGA for $30 and they're dramatically better than EarPods. You can do better still."
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He is wrong , and do you have your own opinion? I really like them and are the most comfortable for long term use I have used
 
Blackberryroid said:
Why would you even want that bud-style? The best bud-style is always in-ear, it always has stronger bass and better noise isolation.
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But sometimes people don't want to block out the whole world, like when riding on a subway.

It's also annoying to hear your own breathing, every little bite your teeth make, every time you move the headphone cord...and god forbid you want to snack on something with your in-ear headphones on. I think they make prisoners in Guantanamo do that.
 
Drunken Master said:
But sometimes people don't want to block out the whole world, like when riding on a subway.

It's also annoying to hear your own breathing, every little bite your teeth make, every time you move the headphone cord...and god forbid you want to snack on something with your in-ear headphones on. I think they make prisoners in Guantanamo do that.
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Still a better sound than not actually hearing your song in noisy environments...
 
Drunken Master said:
I give up.
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I've been following this conversation, laughing the whole time. I get the same type of argument from my 11 year old daughter...! She will ask a question and then proceed to tell you why all your answers are wrong, and why her 11 year old friends know better than you. She hasn't grown up enough yet to be able to understand the perspective of anyone else other than herself - it's foreign to her to think that both she AND someone else could be right at the same time!
 
They're way too quiet for me. When riding the T (that's Bostonian for Metro), I had to have the earpods on full volume and they were still not loud enough to overcome the sound of the train at some points. Meanwhile, the $25 Zagg Smart.Buds do that just fine, on less than half volume.

In a quiet room, the Earpods sound ok. Certainly better than the earlier apple earbuds, but I expect better from a $30 set.

For those that don't know: The Yuin PK3 is probably the best set non-in-ear earbuds you can buy for less than $40. Hands down, no debate. Every single audiophile forum on the internet agrees.
 
oplix said:
They didn't do anything amazing. Lets be honest cheap headphones haven't progressed much in the last two decades. All apple did was bring disposable head phones into the 21st century. That's still not saying much.
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This is Apple in a nutshell right here. Sure, "all they did" was improve something. Something that needed to be improved. Something the improvement of which improves the quality of our lives. Not like curing cancer improvements, but hey, the things cost $30, free with an iDevice.

So you can downplay that: "All Apple did" But you know what? Nobody else did it. Not Sony, not Google, not Shure, not Grado. Sure, anyone could have taken Xerox's mouse and desktop metaphor and sold it to the mass market. But nobody else did. Anyone could have put a proper web browser and proper MP3 player in a phone, but nobody else did. Apple is not the only company to innovate, but they have a remarkable track record of doing things that improve, or even revolutionize, industries, which in hindsight seem so obvious, so derivative, yet for years NOBODY ELSE DID.
 
I think the bottom line with EarPods is that they're better than the normal earbuds, which is good, since most people don't know better than to just use the headphones that come with the iPhone, etc. that they buy.

However, if you're serious about sound, it's not the headphone for you.
 
Mike in Kansas said:
I've been following this conversation, laughing the whole time. I get the same type of argument from my 11 year old daughter...! She will ask a question and then proceed to tell you why all your answers are wrong, and why her 11 year old friends know better than you. She hasn't grown up enough yet to be able to understand the perspective of anyone else other than herself - it's foreign to her to think that both she AND someone else could be right at the same time!
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No, he's wrong, I'm right.

Seriously though, I have a pair of in-ear headphones but I only use them when flying. The only other time I really use my headphones is while jogging and popping on a pair of in-ears for that sounds lousy.
 
I've heard more than a couple apple fans say that the original earbuds were good. So I am a bit inclined to be skeptical about people saying the new ones rival $100 earbuds.

And it amazed me to see, when i'd go out on the street, how many people were using the craptastic earbuds. I think its because they were trying to show off, by using the white earbuds.

Yeah I bought a top of the line iPhone, and I used decent quality earbuds, that were black.
 
Blackberryroid said:
No, they aren't impressive. Not even close.

From thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1457651/
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First of all, quoting yourself as an authoritative source is kinda lame. Second, the ear pods are not designed to compete with higher end headphones, but with models such as the Apple Earbuds, sub $30 SkullCandy/Sony/JVC, etc. Compared to the SkullCandy headphones I was using, the Ear Pods are noticeably better, and because of the design, I can actually keep the volume at a lower level than with other headphones (even my noise canceling Sony set requires a higher volume.)
 
I love them! Definitely better than the previous ones. I mostly listen to my music on my Bose Quiet Comfort 15's but the new earpods are better for when I'm walking around campus. One thing I don't like; they don't cancel out ANY noise whatsoever.
 
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