[Tommy C]

I want to warn any possible SoundPeats H1 owners who downloads their app to NOT try their adaptive EQ test.

After going through the test, letting them know if you hear a series of beeps or not, I played some music and for some reason it seems like they have NO volume limiter so the sound was not only distorted, it was so loud that I right now possess some way louder than usual ringing in my ears where my ears feel kinda weird and crap, and it hurt like a mother****er, i ripped them out of my ears as fast as I could but alas the damage had already been done. The volume wasn't even cranked to the max at all....

If I was American (which i'm not) and SoundPeats wasn't a chinese company (which... it is) I'd consider suing their asses because that was honestly one of the most painful volume experiences I've ever had.

This is horrible. So sorry to hear that.
I hope it’s not a permanent damage and you bounce back quickly.

 

[regancipher]

Thank you, I think I understand now. Let me explain from a Bluetooth protocol perspective for AAC and hopefully make some sense of this:

Bluetooth uses the A2DP specification for delivering music on top of the various Bluetooth radio protocols (aka 4.x and 5.x). A2DP is an old standard that is being replaced with a (large) set of protocols/specifications branded as "LE-Audio." In the standard you have for "AAC":
1. Negotiation between e.g phone and TWS to see what is acceptable
2. Encoding/decoding
3. Wrapping the encoded sound in a format able to be sent over the radio protocol (technically: the media payload format)

In this case, I believe that the sound was being decoded using the 1997/1st specification of AAC (sometimes called MPEG-2 AAC, which isn't quite the later defined AAC-LC profile BTW). This is common in virtually all of the TWS since that is now out of protection so is free.

What is being referred to is the wrapping of the encoded sound (4.5.4 in the A2DP 1.3.2 spec) and what is needed to change the format of the stream to fit into the wrapping format. This is normal stuff, though granted the specification is a bit vague, so someone coming new to this may make some errors. It also isn't a "file" problem but between the bluetooth driver in the e.g. phone and the bluetooth decoder in the TWS. The only issue could be that the decoder in the TWS can't retransform the stream into a format the "AAC" decoder can use, but that would result in horridness easily picked up.

What isn't normal is fixed bit rate AAC. The TWS as the Bluetooth decoder must support variable bit rate "AAC" or it is not compliant with the spec. In other words, if the encoder decides to do variable bit rate in (1) then TWS must accept and decode it.

"AAC" being the same bitrate as AptX is possible from the spec viewpoint but again, it the encoder that determines the rate (all the TWS can do is reject it). In my experience this sounds a bit high as https://www.aptx.com/aptx says 384Kbps and on TWS the "AAC" encoding is normally VBR around 200 Kbps. If you have a decoder (TWS) that can only do constant bit rate and not variable bit rate then you will get glitches though for some content I'm pretty sure you won't notice it.

Also, you'll note I put AAC in quotes. This is because AAC is a spec that has constantly evolved since the first one in 1997 and AAC refers to the whole specification which is a toolbox of many, many, many tools. You implement a profile of AAC (as with other MPEG based specifications like the video ones) and that's what you refer to, so just saying "AAC" for an implementation is meaningless from an engineer or sound quality/bit perspective. Sadly, the Bluetooth A2DP spec, which is coming up for 20 years old, was done at a time when AAC was way less complicated so was also imprecise with wording to further compound this issue.

Yep, you're quite right

 

[dweaver]

Well my day started great, sold some old gear, one $60 on the lottery. The. I get a phone call, my garage was broken in to, they stole my summer tires and possibly some other bits and bobs, now going to have replace the tires this spring plus new rims and sensors, so there goes 2G, looking in to insurance but in any case it sucks...

Going to be selling those 2 big headphones just to help cover expenses... Good news is I have the winter to save up for the tires. Might just not bother with the sensors... Will see...

 

[Tommy C]

Well my day started great, sold some old gear, one $60 on the lottery. The. I get a phone call, my garage was broken in to, they stole my summer tires and possibly some other bits and bobs, now going to have replace the tires this spring plus new rims and sensors, so there goes 2G, looking in to insurance but in any case it sucks...

Going to be selling those 2 big headphones just to help cover expenses... Good news is I have the winter to save up for the tires. Might just not bother with the sensors... Will see...

Bummer man, sorry to hear that.

 

[Juturna]

This is horrible. So sorry to hear that.
I hope it’s not a permanent damage and you bounce back quickly.

Thank you. i think it'll be fine honestly but it might take awhile for it to go back completely.

 

[Violator Mx]

I've got a 20% discount on ebay for multiple items including some of the earbuds, so now I can consider, for example, Shure Aonic Free which are $160 with coupon in brand new sealed condition. Are these good enough to sacrifice ANC (which I don't really need but would be nice to have)? Are they better than Sennheiser CX Plus ($120), Klipsch T5 II ANC($91), Technics AZ70($90), Sony XM4($200)?

 

[dj24]

So in a straight fight between the Jabra Elite 75t and 85t where would your money go? Some cracking Amazon deals on both but I struggle with fit as a rule (M&D MW07 sound amazing the 1% of the time I can get them to stay put…) Source is mainly amazon music HD via an iPhone.

Thanks in advance

Jabra Elite 75t IMHO. And if you're amenable to the funky light beige/ gold color (also have black and grey)- they're a steal for a measly $64 at target right now.

 

[dweaver]

Bummer man, sorry to hear that.

Thanks Tommy, I had good news when I got home! Turns out the tires were still there. It actually looks like they never took much of anything, thank God. So replaced the door knob with a higher quality lock and will hope that they leave us the hell alone.

 

[dweaver]

AZ60 ordered!!! The site said 5-15 days, hopefully they will be here fast

 

[Canabuc]

Tempted to buy while on sale. Is nice price. Too bad Amazon doesn't price match

 

[SciOC]

Ok. Decided to start watching movies in bed on my phone with wireless IEMs. The dongle I have is less than ideal... Want a cheap, ok, easy, TWS... What's a good starter set, KZ SK10, kz z1 pro? Others? Trying to keep it cheap and basically for this sole purpose... Sick of the dongle.

 

[Tommy C]

Ok. Decided to start watching movies in bed on my phone with wireless IEMs. The dongle I have is less than ideal... Want a cheap, ok, easy, TWS... What's a good starter set, KZ SK10, kz z1 pro? Others? Trying to keep it cheap and basically for this sole purpose... Sick of the dongle.

My vote goes to the Fiil T1XS. You can often find them on Amazon for $50 and 40% off coupon which brings the price down to $27. The have low latency mode so great for watching videos and stuff and they sound awesome and punch above their weight.

 

[Tstorey]

Jabra Elite 75t IMHO. And if you're amenable to the funky light beige/ gold color (also have black and grey)- they're a steal for a measly $64 at target right now.

Thanks, what makes you go for the 75t if you don’t mind me asking?(sadly UK based so can't take advantage of target)

 

[dj24]

^^^^ Here's my take from one of my older posts in this thread..

Spoiler: My review

Quote :
I agree with you. A bit of tinkering in the sound+ app where you lower the base a a smidge or two and increase the mids and treble a bit and they sound great...

I'm probably in the minority here but one thing that's not talked about as much about TWS is long term comfort. I'm on constant non stop Cisco jabber VOIP work calls 8-10 hours straight with one or maybe two 20 minute breaks during my entire shift. We are "definitely not there yet" if you're me once you get to the 5-6 hour mark and your ears start feeling like someone is bench pressing on them. The 75t Active is the first TWS that I have owned that are truly comfortable for my loong work marathon call sessions and even then I initially almost gave up on them when I first tried them on. The quality of their stock silicone tips (although a perfect fit for me in the smallest size) are just horrendous and a calling for an immediate allergy reaction/ ear infection. Those things itch and burn like you would never imagine possible once you get to the 4 hour mark. The crazy thing is that they feel excellent for the first 3 hours or so. What the hell is that about? I almost sent them back when luckily I saw @ AudioNoob post a link to his 75t review on this thread recommending the Spinfit 360s and 1025s for them. I got the 360s and with them they feel as smooth as silk for the entire 8-10 hours I have them on and haven't looked back since then.

Fun fact. Most TWS manufacturers truly exaggerate when they list the specs for their battery life. For my work call scenario they're usually off by about 1-2 hours. The 75t Active's truly live up to their 7.5 hour mark and I've actually managed to squeeze an extra 8-10 minutes on top of that a few times. They are truly a swiss army knife that excel at everything you throw at them. Their multipoint is the gold standard when it comes to handling VOIP and regular cell networks without dropping either one of them. I also usually run about 5 miles a day after work and their IP57 rating is flawless. I sweat excessively and unfortunately for me everything goes down the side of my head and my ears right into them. I've lost count of the number of IPX7 TWS (mostly Chi-fi) where they've stopped working only after 4-5 months due to sweat degradation and minerals/ oils affecting them over time. 8 months in and the 75t Active's still look and sound brand new. In fact there was an ebay code a few days ago ( didn't last very long) that dropped their price down to just $57 that I managed to get on and order an extra set. These ones will strictly be for work and I'll relegate my current ones to outside use and my workouts. I feel like I've committed highway robbery by getting these at such a ridiculous price and suggest everyone grab one without thinking about it too much if they go back down in the $60 range.

I know there are a few people here lurking and waiting for the mighty all in one and I say to all of you look no further for now. For their current $75 asking price here @ target and just $85 for the same version but with wireless charging- they do it all. Good to great sound quality (not excellent or close to current reference TWS by any means), reference multipoint and excellent battery life, true IP57 protection for running and swimming (yes, I've done that), Excellent call quality (reference once you add the jabra link 370/ 380 to the mix if you use a computer for music or work calls), good ANC, very good hear through, reference app customization and likewise for both the left/ right earbuds. The downsides that I can think of are just far and few. Left earbud is a slave to the right one so not independent by itself (I never understood why this is a big deal for most people if you can use the right one), bloated bass (which I truly believe is one that applies to the regular 75t and not to the slightly differently tuned 75t active which while is still much out of the box is definitely not bloated and can be tamed in the sound+ app) and finally the amount of refurbs floating out there. This last one is frankly one I have no answer for. I can only speculate that quality control is an issue when they're brand new or people like to abuse the return process. I'm sure it honestly falls somewhere between the two. At the same time I have bought 12-15 or so of these for coworkers, family and friends (all Jabra refurbs) all within the last few months and not one has gone bad so far. If you're worried about this just purchase them online @ Target and return them in store within 30 days no questions asked. Oh yeah and currently Jabra automatically upgrades your warranty from 6 months for the refurbs to a full 2 years if you register them in the sound core app.

Enough said. I'm starting to sound like a kid who just discovered candy for the first time

 

[Tstorey]

^^^^ Here's my take from one of my older posts in this thread..

[/SPOILER]

Thanks for that, much appreciated