AirPod Pros

RSN Diaspora

molests goats for comedy
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Jul 29, 2005
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So with life basically being one conference/Zoom/GoToMeeting/WebEx call after another, I decided to fight every inclination I have and plopped down a couple bills for some AirPod Pros.

One, these things are great--I used to make fun of the obsession some had with them, but I kinda get it now.

Two, the biggest failing I've found so far is the inability to mute/unmute a call from the AirPods themselves. Everything I've found online says it isn't possible, but most of those discussions predate the Pro version. Does anyone know if there's any way to do this? I spend a decent amount of my day toggling between mute and unmute as I'd guess a lot of us here do now.
 

dirtynine

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Dec 17, 2002
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This isn’t an AirPod solution, but on Zoom you can mute yourself and just hold down the space bar on your keyboard to temporarily unmute while you are speaking. A lot simpler than constantly clicking.
 

RSN Diaspora

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Jul 29, 2005
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This isn’t an AirPod solution, but on Zoom you can mute yourself and just hold down the space bar on your keyboard to temporarily unmute while you are speaking. A lot simpler than constantly clicking.
Thanks. TBH this is more of a thing on conference calls than video chats, the latter of which require me to be in front of the computer anyway.
 

Gash Prex

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Apr 18, 2002
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I know this is stupid, but do they have a microphone in them? I have a pair and I just listen to them for music. I never got whether they worked for phone calls etc...
 

AlNipper49

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Apr 3, 2001
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While this would be awkward for this particular application, don't sleep on Siri listening to them. It's super useful.
 

mauf

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I know this is stupid, but do they have a microphone in them? I have a pair and I just listen to them for music. I never got whether they worked for phone calls etc...
Honestly, this is the best thing about them -- the voice quality is outstanding.

They aren't a substitute for the $400 Beats/Bose/Sony noise-cancelling phones for listening to music, and they don't stay in my ear as well as the $100 Bose buds I bought years ago -- I would still use those for a workout, even though that means dealing with a wire. But the AirPods are absolutely perfect for phone calls. To the point where if someone calls me unexpectedly and the conversation is going to last more than 3 minutes, I ask them to hold on for a second so I can pop them in.
 

Gash Prex

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Apr 18, 2002
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Thank you all - I did not realize the audio was so good. I just assumed it would be worse for some reason. I usually just mow the lawn while wearing mine.
 

RSN Diaspora

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Jul 29, 2005
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Thank you all - I did not realize the audio was so good. I just assumed it would be worse for some reason. I usually just mow the lawn while wearing mine.
Everything about them is pretty great...save for the fact that I can't figure out a way to mute/unmute from the AirPods themselves. Considering that I saw a decent amount of discussion regarding that shortcoming in older versions, I'm really surprised it's either impossible or difficult to do so on the Pro version.
 

kenneycb

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Dec 2, 2006
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Does anybody have an opinion on these versus other wireless options? I've read good things about the Jabra ones and they're cheaper but I don't feel like shelling out $400+ to do test runs between multiple options.
 

Koufax

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Purchased on Amazon for $36:

Wireless Earbuds, Cshidworld Bluetooth 5.0 Earbuds Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones 30H Cycle Playtime Hi-Fi APT-X CVC8.0 Sweatproof Earphones with mic, in-Ear Headset with Charging Case

They are larger than the Apple product, so not as cool looking. Sometimes one falls out of my ear, especially when I am active. For phone calls and music they are excellent. I think that the microphone is good as well, but one someone on a phone called complained of an echo. I think that the two earbuds were not in perfect synch. Mostly I get no complaints.
 

jtn46

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Oct 10, 2004
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I think mine are pretty broken.

If I have either of the audio processing modes on (Noise Cancelling or Transparency) any kind of loud noise, even if I'm not actually listening to anything plays distortion, it's like a speaker clipping if the input is too loud. If I'm in a phone conversation on them and my voice is too loud this happens, for example. Also about a quarter of the time one of them just doesn't connect even though it's charged. It just happened this morning with the left one and a few hours later both connected fine without me charging them, it was like it forgot about the left one on wake up. I should probably bug Apple.
 

SumnerH

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Jul 18, 2005
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Anyone have a recommendation for something with good music quality, good voice quality for calls, and long (at least 8 hours, preferably 9-10) battery life?

My SoundPeats have great music quality and battery life, but awful voice quality. My AirPods have decent music quality and good voice quality, but die partway through the work day.
 

SumnerH

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Powerbeats Pro claims up to 9 hours of battery life without the case.
Yeah, but they have trash music quality like the rest of the Beats lineup.

I spend most of the day listening to music/podcasts and want something good for that but also acceptable for taking calls throughout the day.
 

Scott Cooper's Grand Slam

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Jul 12, 2008
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Anyone have a recommendation for something with good music quality, good voice quality for calls, and long (at least 8 hours, preferably 9-10) battery life?

My SoundPeats have great music quality and battery life, but awful voice quality. My AirPods have decent music quality and good voice quality, but die partway through the work day.
The HomePod makes a surprisingly great conference speaker. Voice quality is as good as AirPods. Music quality is 100x better than AirPods. There are no batteries. Plug it into the wall and you can talk on it hands free for days.

Downsides: it requires an iPhone and there is no audio privacy. But the privacy issues can be mitigated if you’re working in a home office with the door closed. It’s also easy to transfer HomePod calls to an iPhone (with or without AirPods) when discretion is needed.
 

BlackJack

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Oct 11, 2007
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I have the the One More Stylish earbuds and they are great. $99, good sounds quality, good for phone calls, you can pause, mute, adjust volume all from the earpiece itself. And they stay in ear very well, no issues moving around at all.

There was a thread a while back that had the recommendation and I bought them based on that. Best earbud headphones I’ve ever had.
 

B H Kim

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Yeah, but they have trash music quality like the rest of the Beats lineup.

I spend most of the day listening to music/podcasts and want something good for that but also acceptable for taking calls throughout the day.
I find that if I’m not using noise cancellation, my Airpods Pro will last all day with about a 1/2 hour in the case at some point around mid-day.
 

TallerThanPedroia

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Jul 19, 2005
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I bought some Pixel Buds, figured they'd be good since I have a Pixel 3. I was pretty disappointed. I guess I'm just one of those people who don't like the earbuds that go all the way into your ear, but even so, the sound kept dropping, seemingly every time I moved my head enough to break the seal a little. And the touch controls were just too unstructured to have any confidence that they'd do what I intended them to do.

The only Apple product I own is their stock, because I'm always impressed by their hardware but want nothing to do with their software or ecosystem. But I started looking around and was shocked that they were the only wireless earbuds that don't go halfway into your brain. I searched around Amazon and other sites but couldn't find anything. I was even looking into how to make Airpods work with Android.

But then, I don't know what I did, because they didn't show up under any search that should lead to them, these popped up on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086D6FS4P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1


And I've got them in my ears right now and they are exactly what I was looking for. So if you're persnickety in my particular way, maybe give them a look. They sit in my ears just fine, but I don't sound like I'm underwater when I talk. The sound is good. They connect automatically. They have a nice beefy charging case, which can double as an emergency charging station for other devices. They have a touch capacative button, so there's no physical button that you have to push too hard, but there are also no gestures. Touch the right one to increase the volume, left to lower it. Double tap either one to pause/play. Long press right/left to skip to next/previous track. Triple tap to activiate my phone's assistant is a little clunky, but I rarely use that and when I do, it's just easier to grab my phone anyway. I wasn't looking for anything to wear for exercise (I have Trekz for that) but I've shaken my head until I'm dizzy and these have stayed in, so I'd trust them on a walk or on the T if I ever use public transportation again.

Battery life seems shorter than most, only about three or four hours without a charge. On the other hand: $40!!

Maybe they'll be dead in six months, but I've rarely been so satisfied with a purchase.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Jun 15, 2002
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I think mine are pretty broken.

If I have either of the audio processing modes on (Noise Cancelling or Transparency) any kind of loud noise, even if I'm not actually listening to anything plays distortion, it's like a speaker clipping if the input is too loud. If I'm in a phone conversation on them and my voice is too loud this happens, for example. Also about a quarter of the time one of them just doesn't connect even though it's charged. It just happened this morning with the left one and a few hours later both connected fine without me charging them, it was like it forgot about the left one on wake up. I should probably bug Apple.
I got a pretty swift replacement on their online thing for the exact same problem, so I do recommend doing that.

Of course, my second pair are exhibiting a similar problem, so I need to take my own advice here.

It’s frustrating. They do sound better than the regular Airpods and the extra features are great, but the extra microphones appear to make it the least reliable hardware product of Apple’s that I’ve owned since those iPod Photos where the tiny hard drive would conk out.
 

Average Game James

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Apr 28, 2016
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Anyone have or test out the AirPods Max yet?
They are overpriced for sure, but I've had mine for almost a month now and I wouldn't return them if given the option. I'm probably wearing headphones 8+ hours a day right now working from home and these are the most comfortable I've worn for an extended period - the headband really distributes the weight well and the pivoting for the ear cups makes for a very good fit. That alone is worth some premium for me, though if you aren't tethered to Zoom calls all day that could be less of a factor. Sound quality is very good, though I don't think there's a big difference vs. headphones in the $300 tier like a Bose. I think the noise cancelling is excellent, though most reviews I read suggested they aren't as good as Bose in this department, but I've found that most active noise canceling headphones give me a headache and these don't so in my personal experience it's a big improvement.
 

NJ_Sox_Fan

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They are overpriced for sure, but I've had mine for almost a month now and I wouldn't return them if given the option. I'm probably wearing headphones 8+ hours a day right now working from home and these are the most comfortable I've worn for an extended period - the headband really distributes the weight well and the pivoting for the ear cups makes for a very good fit. That alone is worth some premium for me, though if you aren't tethered to Zoom calls all day that could be less of a factor. Sound quality is very good, though I don't think there's a big difference vs. headphones in the $300 tier like a Bose. I think the noise cancelling is excellent, though most reviews I read suggested they aren't as good as Bose in this department, but I've found that most active noise canceling headphones give me a headache and these don't so in my personal experience it's a big improvement.
Thank you, I will probably just pick up some AirPod Pros instead then. I have the Bose QC headphones that I used on planes, and I work in healthcare so no work from home options for me, so probably not worth the $500+ for me to just use for watching something on my iPad/phone/MacBook Pro or to just listen to music etc.
 

CarolinaBeerGuy

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Mar 14, 2006
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Bought the AirPods Pro on Amazon for $209 and got them yesterday. So far, I’m loving them. Easily the most comfortable earbuds I’ve ever worn and the sound quality is good.
 

jtn46

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Oct 10, 2004
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I've had Max's for about a week.

They sound great, especially with movies (I watched The Sound of Metal on Amazon last night with them and they were so incredible for that because it's such a unique film sonically). Device switching is cool as long as you don't want to say watch a video without sound on one device and listen to another (I do this with sports often where I have the video going but not the audio). They're very comfortable. I bought $7 silicone covers off Amazon but I doubt I'd really beat them up with normal use.

I think if I have any real complaints, one is that the Apple TV box is pretty old and it doesn't seem like they're going to update it to work as well as other devices like my iPhone and iPad so the spatial audio feature that is very cool isn't a thing on that, and it's also a process to connect them on that where it's so simple on other devices. I have had a couple of minor interference issues as well but moving my head a few inches solved them, I have tons of wireless devices in my condo so it's understandable. I guess the case is stupid but the battery life is so good I don't even put them in the case.

I've never spent more than like $60 on headphones so I don't have much of a comparison for sound quality, I'm in TV so do at times wear professional headphones but these are processing in for me a way that's positive for music but also for movies, where professional headphones are a more pure passthrough. I bought them kind of as an alternative to a home theater system because I had been watching movies with regular AirPods so to me $550 is OK, but I have a lot of Apple devices. Regular AirPods are pretty routinely on sale so I think these probably will be more like $450 pretty routinely eventually once demand drops, right now they're very tough to get.