AirPods available now

Sad Professor

Maybe it's just me, but I find find the wired EarPods far superior to Apple's earlier earphones. I even prefer them to my Sennheisers.

MillField

How are they for noise cancellation?

Blazer

MillField wrote: »

How are they for noise cancellation?

I don't think they have noise cancellation?
Friend has them and I'm considering them for the car etc.

guil

This review suggests they do have noise cancellation
https://youtu.be/Uf5x2aamcpM

Oafley Jones

guil wrote: »

This review suggests they do have noise cancellation
https://youtu.be/Uf5x2aamcpM

They don't. If they had it Apple would have marketed as such.

Nonoperational

No noise cancellation.

super_furry

I'd be interested if they weren't based on the awful, awful stock Apple earphones. First thing I do when I get a new iPhone is dump them, I wouldn't buy the Airpods if they were €20.

Blazer

I am impressed with the size of the box..its bloody tiny..about the size of small box of tic-tacs...bluetooth pairing was instanteous and the recharging of the case was very fast, if in black I'd buy.

Dades

murpho999 wrote: »

I just feel if you're buying a headset/headphones that the most important issue should be the sound quality and I don't get why people would order/buy these without having tried them first and considering the better quality products that are out there.

If people are looking at bluetooth sets I'd say convenience and usability is at least as important as sound quality. It's all about getting rid of the wires with the least amount of replacement headaches.

Everyone is different. I find EarPods extremely secure and comfortable for long periods, and the sound is as good as I care it to be. I also hate the feel of rubber plug type headphones so that limits choices when it comes to bluetooth sets.

Haven't made my mind up on these but am watching with interest.

DubDJ

Surprised at how well received the AirPods have been, I didn't like the look of them at first and didn't see the benefit of the proper wireless earphones.

What I will say is, these seem to be the best pair of completely wire-free in-ears. They might not look or sound the best, but when you're buying something like this you have to accept the trade-offs.

Vudgie

The apple website is currently saying a delivery time of 6 weeks, does anyone have experience of buying them and what was the timing like?

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Vudgie wrote: »

The apple website is currently saying a delivery time of 6 weeks, does anyone have experience of buying them and what was the timing like?

I haven't bought the AirPods, but Apple website seems to always be accurate. If anything, the orders sometimes arrive before quoted date

murpho999

BDJW wrote: »

I haven't bought the AirPods, but Apple website seems to always be accurate. If anything, the orders sometimes arrive before quoted date

So the website is not accurate then?

omb0wyn5ehpij9

murpho999 wrote: »

So the website is not accurate then?

:rolleyes:

Take it that your order will be delivered when they say it will be, which is what happens in almost all cases.
You might be one of the lucky few who it might arrive early for

Creamy Goodness

Apple will rarely deliver late, they'll either be bang on or one or two days before.

For my AirPods I got them 3 days early and my iPhone 7 Plus came a week than specified.

I've had my AirPods quite a while now, will write a quick review of my thoughts up here when I've a bit more time.

Dades

CompuB said they wouldn't have them in until at least February. No fixed date.

yermandan

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

Apple will rarely deliver late, they'll either be bang on or one or two days before.

For my AirPods I got them 3 days early and my iPhone 7 Plus came a week than specified.

I've had my AirPods quite a while now, will write a quick review of my thoughts up here when I've a bit more time.

I'll be interested in your review CG.

I'm expecting delivery of these next week as I got in as a super early backer for 60 euros last year.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/air-acoustically-stunning-wireless-headphones-audio--2#/

Creamy Goodness

Mr.S wrote: »

How do you find them staying in place when moving?

To be very honest, I haven't done a whole lot of walking with them in my ears, however the fit is perfect for me, they fit the same as the EarPods so if they fit your ears then the AirPods will fit the same.


As for the review, I must preface it with the following:

1. I bought these purely for wearing in the office/around the house when I need to be aware of surroundings.
2. These mainly get use whilst listening to podcasts where audio quality of the source files aren't up to flac/oog quality or whatever is the audiophile's lossless format of choice is.
3. I've currently 10 pairs of head/ear phones and each serve a completely different purpose.

The delivery: Apple promised a Delivery of the 22nd of December (Thursday), but I got the shipment notification on the 19th of December (Monday) and received them on the 20th of December (Tuesday).

The packaging: Typical Apple style here, small box, with impeccable quality, simply lift the lid off the box, pull the tab and out pops the AirPods charging case into your hands. Note here, there's a Lightning cable underneath insert that holds the AirPods case. This was a nice bonus for me as I didn't expect one so for me made the €179 price tag a little more palatable considering these are €25 on apple.com/ie/.

The pairing: I'll let the video do the talking but I can say without doubt this was the easiest and best pairing process of any wireless head/ear phones.

The Fit: As eluded to above, if the EarPods don't fit you, then spend your money elsewhere. Buy a pair of Bose QC range if you're in a noisy environment, or get a good pair of AKG's. If EarPods do fit you, then these may be for you.

Will they fall out of my ears?: If EarPods fit you, then no.

I'm a runner will they fall out of my ears?: If EarPods fit you, no. In fact they're better as there's no cable to tug them out of your ears.

Will I lose them?: Short answer, no. longer answer, no because if you're like me when you lay some of your hard earn cash down on something tangible you tend to look after it. Also iOS 10.3 Find my iPhone has a "Find my AirPods" feature which will emit the last known location where the AirPods were within Bluetooth range of your iOS device. I also wouldn't use them on a plane, I could imagine in the confines of coach I'd fumble them into a seatback and not find them until the end of the flight. Stick with Noise Cancelling headphones.

Sound quality: These are not going to blow your mind with superior sound quality, but they are better than the EarPods. Bass is a little more noticable and the highs are more pronounced. They're not going to win any sound quality awards though. I do however love the seemless switching to mono with just one Airpod in, I find this is a great way to save on battery life whilst doing chores around the house.

Battery Life: Getting the stated 5 hours here, but as I mainly wear one AirPod at a time the battery lasts much longer. I'd say I have to charge the case once every week about the same as a Pebble "Smartwatch".

Problems:
1. Often when I place the AirPods in my ears, flick up Control Centre and press Play, the Play button turns to pause but no audio will happen. Quickly pressing pause, then play will fix the issue. I'm guessing they're not connecting as quick as they are saying they are. This happens rarely enough, maybe once every forthnight but often enough to be annoying.
2. The double tap to enable Siri or Play/Pause. This gesture is only successful about 80% of the time, enough to question using it. Also the sensation of double tapping the AirPod when its in your ear is awful, it's extremely uncomfortable so much so I rely on the action of taking one out of my ears to pause, and just using my phone/watch for Siri.
3. I find it hard to find out the battery level of the case, it only pops up when you open the case and remove an AirPod. It doesn't show up in the Battery widget unless it's charging and I have one AirPod in the case. I'm probably doing something wrong here.

Conclusion: I'm really happy with the purchase, they are far from perfect (read the problems section), but they are the best in-ear bluetooth earphones I've ever used and I think if they could iron out the issues I'd use them even more.

Dades

Thanks for that.

Your usage would be very similar to mine, mainly using headphones for podcasts within indoor environments where you might need to move about. Earpods already fit me perfectly and I'm no audiophile.

The question is, can I wait till my birthday in March, or do I look for money in the Black Ops budget? :pac:

Creamy Goodness

Dades wrote: »

The question is, can I wait till my birthday in March, or do I look for money in the Black Ops budget? :pac:

The lead time is currently 6 weeks, I'd buy now and worst case Apple will ship in 4 weeks and you'll be charged early.

Dades

Will bear that in mind, thanks, while I divert funds through several offshore accounts in an attempt to hide the money trail.

If Mrs Dades asks me about the new earpods I'll just tell her I cut the cables off my old ones.

Blazer

just ordered mine..main use is really for the car for calls..I prefer them over the cars bluetooth as everyone just bitches about the noise

Creamy Goodness

Blazer wrote: »

just ordered mine..main use is really for the car for calls..I prefer them over the cars bluetooth as everyone just bitches about the noise

Forgot to mention I use them for in the car too but only if a call comes in, answer it, switch source from AUX (headphones) to AirPods and then return back to AUX when the car is stopped at lights.

Doodah7

I see the new Beats X headphones are up for sale on the apple website, €150. One day shipping for the black and white with 7-10 days delay for the blue and grey.

Might have to punt for the grey. Although I have a voucher for Curry's so might wait and see when they will be getting stock of them.

They seem to be getting good reviews with better sound isolation, more bass (that is not overwhelming) and that it comes with a free three-month pass for Apple Music.

Creamy Goodness

tallpaul wrote: »

I see the new Beats X headphones are up for sale on the apple website, €150. One day shipping for the black and white with 7-10 days delay for the blue and grey.

Might have to punt for the grey. Although I have a voucher for Curry's so might wait and see when they will be getting stock of them.

They seem to be getting good reviews with better sound isolation, more bass (that is not overwhelming) and that it comes with a free three-month pass for Apple Music.

Yeh the 3 free months of Apple Music is nice, shame they didn't do that with the AirPods. The better sound isolation is a fair point as they're built for mainly for active people as they'd made from sweat resistant plastics (AirPods are sweat resistant too but they're glossy as opposed to the material the BeatsX are made from).

I watched a review from Austin Evans last night on Youtube who gave them a glowing review but the one thing that put me off them was how long the actual cable is between them, he never mentioned if that's adjustable or not but coming from someone who was annoyed at Jaybird X2's and the length of cable, these just wouldn't be for me.

Dades

Good and all as the Beats X look, in-ear headphones annoy the heck out of me.

Doodah7

Dades wrote: »

Good and all as the Beats X look, in-ear headphones annoy the heck out of me.

I'm the opposite!! MUCH prefer in-ears having used them for 25 years and more. The length is one this that I have noticed. Can't seem to find out how long the cord is that I can test with a piece of string!!

Dades

To each their own!

Creamy Goodness

Earphones/headphones are like clothes. It's rarely a one size fits all.

Sad Professor

Never bought or used Bluetooth earphones before, but the Beats X are very tempting.