tinyman392
Be nice to noobs, we were all noobs at one point in our life.
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- Apr 27, 2011
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Interesting App review. Very favorable overall, but reams them bad on SQ for the price.
I agreed with a lot of the non-audio portions of the review, at least the portions I could confirm myself. I think there were a few things I could find (not audio related) was when he said the stems were capacitive and force sensitive, they're only force sensitive (this is a good thing actually). Put on a pair of non-touch screen gloves and the stems still register. This was one of the first things I tested with them actually (out of curiosity). He makes a statement that Apple isn't the first to do any of the new features in the Pros. I don't think I've seen or heard of another headphone that does ANC within the ear canal nor have I heard of a company creating an internal automated seal test (even if the feature doesn't quite work the best, I have magical ears like him!), do correct me if there is another headphone that does either of these. AKG did have a full-sized headphone that adjusted the headphone's output based on internal microphones that tried to map the shape of your ear.
I actually ended up disagreeing quite a bit with lots of the audio aspects of the review. Let's start foam tips vs silicone tips. Yes, foam absorbs more sound (vs silicone that reflects it), but it also alters every headphone you give it and creates a darker tilt to the headphone. I absolutely hate this about foam tips, granted properly prepping the tips for insertion helps, it doesn't fix the issue entirely. If you prefer a darker sound, this will do it for just about any headphone. I'll agree that they are much more comfortable and isolate much better (thought it comes at a cost since they need to be replaced more readily than their silicone counterparts). In terms of SQ, foam absorbs mids and highs, silicone reflects, that internal ANC kind of minimizes both by just canceling it. All three will have their own effect on the SQ. What's best? Depends on your needs. Want something longer lasting, go silicone. Want more isolation, foam. Want a darker sound, foam. Want a brighter sound, silicone.
ANC and the effect of headphones. Whenever I turn on ANC on any headphone I've had that have it, I tend to not hear the reduction of treble. What I do hear with just about every headphone I've tried with ANC is that it rolls off the sub-bass for whatever reason (the AirPods included).
Move on to the OG AirPods and their SQ... The bass is a somewhat dirty, veiling mess; so I agree there, it's not good. Unless the midrange consists of only vocals, vocals, and more vocals, then yes, the AirPods and AirPod Pros have the same quality of midrange (kind of the reason why they work so well for phone calls). Unfortunately the Pros have a more forward midrange which has its downsides (see my post above about a neutral-ish signature) but helps in detailing, clarity, timbre, and a whole slew of other things. I'd give the original AirPods a D or C- in terms of Midrange, the new ones are probably closer to an A-. In terms of treble, the Pros are slightly more refined and have a better detailing. A lot of the issues of the original AirPods do stem from the fact that the bass is just overwhelming (a simple bass reduction EQ fixes much of it). Saying they have the same quality is a complete understatement in my mind when the Pros improve upon the bass, midrange, and treble compared to its predecessor. His opinion is that they are "meh", and I'm not going to take that away from him because a lot of people would have said the Brainwavz B2 are "meh", Etymotics are "meh", RE0s are "meh", etc. due to their own personal reasons and they have every reason to feel that way. It's kind of interesting, but the majority of headphones with a very polarizing opinion on them tend to be very midrange-focused: HiFiMan TWS, Etymotics, RE0s, even something like the HiFiMan HE-560 had somewhat of a polarizing feel when they released. Apple's not new to this either, the ADDIEM comes to mind (which was another headphone the Pros reminded me of) which have polarizing opinions on their sound.
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