[MICHAELSD]

The people who designed the AirPods obviously never have to worry about taking public transportation.

Part of the design is so that you don’t have to isolate yourself on public transportation and remain aware of your surroundings.

 

[Michial]

Part of the design is so that you don’t have to isolate yourself on public transportation and remain aware of your surroundings.

I agree. I’m on a busy bus and I just turn them up, but not even all the way. I just had an issue with mine I bought a few months ago. I walked into my Apple store a few minutes away and they swapped them out with a brand new sealed box. Apple always is at the tops with customer service. I’ll take these AirPods any day over the competition.

 

[RickB]

I commute with them on the bus in Seattle and they work great. I don’t need a sealed recording room. They work just fine.

I could never use them on the bus, as I would have to turn up the volume to dangerous levels to block out ambient noise and I would be annoying my fellow passengers to boot.

If it works for you, that's great though.

 

[Bob24]

The people who designed the AirPods obviously never have to worry about taking public transportation.

Or taking public transport is not what they specifically designed them for.

Clearly it the goal is to mainly use them in noisy environnements, they are not a great choice (I have my QC30 for that). But still I find them to be a very good product.

 

[Michial]

I could never use them on the bus, as I would have to turn up the volume to dangerous levels to block out ambient noise and I would be annoying my fellow passengers to boot.

If it works for you, that's great though.

The volume on these can’t go high enough to be dangerous. It’s not like pair of wired that are twice as loud. They’re not meant to block ambient noise, but you can still hear podcasts and music easily on a busy bus.

 

[RickB]

Or taking public transport is not what they specifically designed them for.

Clearly it the goal is to mainly use them in noisy environnements, they are not a great choice (I have my QC30 for that). But still I find them to be a very good product.

I agree. I bought them mainly as a curiosity and as very interesting technology. They are good for listening to podcasts at home. I would love a version 2 that offered sealing and noise blocking and, dare I say it, a black color option.

 

[Bob24]

I agree. I bought them mainly as a curiosity and as very interesting technology. They are good for listening to podcasts at home. I would love a version 2 that offered sealing and noise blocking and, dare I say it, a black color option.

I think the way Apple sees it is that they are as much a headset to talk on the phone and interact with Siri as they are earphone to listen to music. And for the former isolation could be awkward. Plus some people don’t like the feel of IEMs while this design is much less intrusive.

I would also like a model with better isolation (though probably not a tight seal), but I’m really not holding my breath.

They might introduce some kind of adaptative ANC at some point though which would be very low or disabled in certain use cases but fully enabled when listening to music.

 

[MICHAELSD]

It might just be because I’m listening at 80% volume and will probably end up getting fatigued quickly, but the AirPods sound better than I remember. It sounds surprisingly full with adequate bass (which could stand to get a little deeper), mids, and treble. The soundstage is fairly wide as well, not incredibly deep but they still sound like open headphones. I’m much more impressed this time around. Also, zero audio degradation due to the AAC codec. Mids may even be better than the Solo3.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Also of note which I found out recently: the AirPods do use a different 7.5mm driver than the EarPods’ 7mm driver.

 

[SparkOnShore]

It might just be because I’m listening at 80% volume and will probably end up getting fatigued quickly, but the AirPods sound better than I remember. It sounds surprisingly full with adequate bass (which could stand to get a little deeper), mids, and treble. The soundstage is fairly wide as well, not incredibly deep but they still sound like open headphones. I’m much more impressed this time around. Also, zero audio degradation due to the AAC codec. Mids may even be better than the Solo3.

I was saying to you all a few posts back on this thread (see page 24), especially to some so called audiophiles like Bob24, but there was a general denial about AirPods’ audio quality, mainly due to the classic misconceptions and bias. Yes I agree with you, AirPods are quite good in everything! A very big creativity moment for Apple!!

 

[SparkOnShore]

Also of note which I found out recently: the AirPods do use a different 7.5mm driver than the EarPods’ 7mm driver.

Yes you are right, and you are the first to notice! Driver of AirPods is different than the one of EarPods. Sound wise is quite obvious! And all “journalists” who have no idea about audio, have been writing all this time that the sound of AirPods is the same with the one of EarPods! Which can’t be further from the truth!! What can you say? Internet is full of ***t these days...

 

[MICHAELSD]

I was saying to you all a few posts back on this thread (see page 24), especially to some so called audiophiles like Bob24, but there was a general denial about AirPods’ audio quality, mainly due to the classic misconceptions and bias. Yes I agree with you, AirPods are quite good in everything! A very big creativity moment for Apple!!

Quite good for truly wireless headphones, but the flaws start to come out the more I listen. They do sound slightly boomy, even if they’re adequate for the environments they’ll likely be used in.

 

[MICHAELSD]

Yes you are right, and you are the first to notice! Driver of AirPods is different than the one of EarPods. Sound wise is quite obvious! And all “journalists” who have no idea about audio, have been writing all this time that the sound of AirPods is the same with the one of EarPods! Which can’t be further from the truth!! What can you say? Internet is full of ***t these days...

They’re really not bad, definitely a bit better than the EarPods.

Out of curiousity, how loudly do you listen?

 

[ceeloChamp]

Part of the design is so that you don’t have to isolate yourself on public transportation and remain aware of your surroundings.

People always get so excited about how well IEMs isolate, that's one of the reasons I wear the AirPods 90% more than any other headphone I have.

 

[SparkOnShore]

They’re really not bad, definitely a bit better than the EarPods.

Out of curiousity, how loudly do you listen?

70% at home, 80% in the street. Never more because its treble seems harsh to me in higher volume, coming from my loving relaxed Shures.